Elder Care Law Essay

All laws are created in an effort to insure equal treatment of the citizens of the land regardless of sex, ethnicity, race, and age. The general laws of the land are meant to protect the citizens who are powerless to protect themselves. The most critical of these protective laws belong to the laws that protect the children. But recently, it has been noted that there has been an increase in the aging population of the land. Currently, the elderly of the land stand at 14 percent, with the numbers increasing on a daily basis. You may think that the percentage of the existing elderly is small. But the truth is that most consumer fraud crimes, about 30 percent at least, is planned to take advantage of the retired and elderly who may have some extra disposable income on hand. The numbers are even more alarming when you consider the percentage by age bracket. Of these numbers, approximately 83 percent will end up in a nursing home and be at the mercy of strangers. They will also most likely outlive their financial resources and when this happens, the abuse cycle may begin for the unsuspecting elderly person. Admittedly, these elderly have gotten to a point in their lives wherein they either cannot protect themselves from the harm that others wish to cause them, or, the very people meant to care for them have lost their way and began to maltreat them. The percentage value of those elderly abused in nursing homes as of 2001 clocked in at approximately 9,000 abuse violations occurring in 5,283 nursing homes. This is the reality that some of the elderly of the land face and have to deal with either on their own or with loved ones in these modern times. Further research reveals that more than 40 percent of these violations will not be reported to the authorities by the elderly person but by well intentioned people who know them. This is the main reason why the Elder Care laws that have been created for this specific section of society must be implemented by well versed and specifically trained Elder Care lawyers. The elderly sometimes do not wish to cross their care givers and submit to the violation and abuse because they believe it is the only way to survive. There are unscrupulous people out there who target the elderly and what little pension they have. They use the loopholes of the legal system to take advantage of the elderly who do not understand too much about legalities or choose to not be bothered by legalities. Hence the unique legal situation that the elderly often find themselves in. The elderly need a lawyer who can give their special legal needs the proper time and attention to details that it requires. For example, laws governing guardianships, healthcare directives, and mental health decisions are not easily understood nor explained to the elderly and their family. It takes a lawyer with heart to explain the intricacies of the laws to the elderly and the family. That is the role of the Elder Care lawyer. To be heart and caring embodiment of the law that could seem cold and uncaring when handled by ordinary, cut and dried, by the book lawyer. I believe that an Elder Care lawyer must look at the elderly not as just a basic client but somebody who trusts him or her enough to cooperate with him in the legal planning of the rest of their lives. The elderly usually feel abandoned and vulnerable at their ages and will cling to anybody who shows the least bit of care for them. This makes them prone to all sorts of abuse and often feeling that they have nowhere to turn to get out of the situation. By having lawyers who specialize in Elder Care law, they will come to realize that they are not alone and there are legal remedies that can be had to prevent or end the current abusive situation they are in. For the family of the elderly, having an Elder Care lawyer to talk to regarding the current situation their parents helps them to act in the best interest of the relative, but within the confines of the laws that were created to protect the interests of the elderly from those who may want to abuse their rights and privileges simply based upon a kinship issue. An Elder Care lawyer can be there to guide them through the do’s and don’ts of the system in order to avoid any legal complications that may arise from their actions in the future. As the elderly of the land continue to grow in population, more and more laws will be enacted either on a state wide or national level. Keeping this in mind, we will come to realize that having lawyers who specialize in Elder Care law will come to be just as important as lawyers who specialize in inheritance or tax laws.

McDonalds Marketing Plan Essay

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY McDonald’s Philippines is a subsidiary of the Filipino-owned Golden Arches Development Corporation. The first Filipino McDonald’s to open for business was in the Morayta university districts in Manila during 1981. These days McDonald’s is operating over 150 restaurants throughout the islands of the Philippines. Being a 100% Filipino-owned franchise allows McDonald’s Philippines to be more agile and take quicker actions, making them an even more competitive force in the Filipino fast-food market. It is one of the leading fast-food chains internationally as well as in the Philippines, with a rapidly developing consumer brand and growing customer base. . It is a place for family togetherness organized around a common love of the traditional food. Its operating system is characterized by focusing on uniformity for consistent quality, the formation of partner relationship with its franchises and supplier to improve operating system innovatively and last but not least the introduction of new products. With its steady drive for improvement and consistently high quality, McDonald’s revolutionized the entire supply chain. Instead of regimenting its supplier and franchisees, McDonald’s expected commitment from them in terms of adherence and experimentation. The implemented, smooth operating chain of suppliers, McDonald’s corporate management and franchisees balances each other, creates an entrepreneurial spirit that added value, innovation, economics of scale, the bargaining power for advertising and purchasing, as well as new product and process ideas to the company. Additionally, all involved parties maintained a collective emphasis on disciplined quality standards. As years passed by, McDonald’s needed to adapt to industry changes by accomplishing some process design innovations in fruitful collaboration with its suppliers and franchisees. In this context, McDonald’s improved the chain’s chicken and fries’ quality and consistency by switching from raw to frozen delivered fries as well as the productivity of employee. Another major process enhancement was the introduction of the breakfast at McDonald’s. In this way, the corporation expanded its operating hours since it had to pay for rent, utilities and insurance 24 hours a day, anyways. The generation of a totally new business came along with the nice side effect that it again distinguishes itself from its competitors. This marketing plan is used in outlining the product, pricing, and distribution and promotion strategies to be implemented and executed during this time. It proposes a revitalization of the McDonald’s philosophy so as to focus on the quality of products and services for customer’s value and a healthy lifestyle, healthy eating habits, smart choices and education. The plan also outlines the structural issues that may arise during its implementation and execution, tactical initiatives to turn strategy into action. II. CHALLENGE Problem: Before, the company use grilled direct system. Which becomes the problem of the company because the customer always complaining about the quality of the product like chicken mcdo, when it is served to the customers it is not crispy because it stays longer in the warming bin, and also the patty of the burger, it is not juicy because it is not hot. The access of McDelivery to the call center is another problem of McDonalds because some times the information about on the location of the customer is wrong. Solution: Now a day the McDonald’s uses the Made for You (MFY) system. †¢ Food is made or prepared to actual customer demand, providing each and every burger only when it is needed just in time (JIT). †¢ It standardizes assembly of all sandwiches to one or two at a time. †¢ Requires minimal Human Decisions Making. †¢ It requires Behavioral change ⠝â€" Quality ⠝â€" Complete waste ⠝â€" Equipment ⠝â€" Standard procedure III. SITUATION ANALYSIS Company Analysis †¢ Goals – Develop a solution to improve kitchen layouts, people positioning and operational procedures for a better guest experience. In simple terms: our goal is to have a happy and satisfied customer. †¢ Focus – the company should focus on products and services. McDonald’s is a customer-oriented company that strives to offer Filipinos a combination of great tasting, quality food productions at value prices with excellent service. †¢ Values – Customer – driven, Malasakit, Integrity, Teamwork and Excellent. †¢ Strengths ⠝â€" Quality of the product, services and cleanliness of the store. ⠝â€" The service of the company is fast and accurate, and we believe that taking good care of our customers is the first vital step toward effective sales building. ⠝â€" Patents and Trademark ⠝â€" Branding such as through the use of logos, colours, slogan and other images. A key part of the McDonald’s brand is its ‘M’ logo otherwise known as ‘The Golden Arches’. †¢ Weaknesses ⠝â€" The competitors like Jollibee, Mang Inasal, Burger King etc. ⠝â€" Lack of cooperation between the management and in the crews. †¢ Market Shares – McDonald’s has captured more than 40% share of the hamburger market in the Philippines. Customer Analysis †¢ Number – 30% is ages 60 and above, 20% is ages 1-15, 50% is ages 16 and above. This is the percentage of customer who are eating at the McDonald’s everyday especially during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. †¢ Type – Class B & C †¢ Value Drivers – a part from our product and services. McDonald’s gives back to the community through the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). RMHC supports children’s development and well being through Bahay Bulilit and Bright Minds Read (BMR). Every happy meal purchase gives 50 centavos to RMHC. †¢ Decision process – The customer have a lot of decision making it is base of what they needs and wants, also the customer decide to buy a discounted product like in coupon and the mcsaver meals. Competitor Analysis †¢ Market Position No. 1 (Jollibee) No. 2 (McDonald’s) †¢ Strengths Lasang Pinoy Raw materials are environment friendly †¢ Weaknesses Jollibee has a poor service †¢ Market shares – Jollibee has captured more than 52% share of the hamburger market in the Philippines. SWOT ANALYSIS Strength †¢ Risk diversity †¢ Large market share †¢ Strong supply chain †¢ Promoting ethical conduct †¢ Competitive fast-food chain †¢ Attentive and friendly staff/crew’s †¢ Rigorous food safety standards †¢ Good reputation among customer †¢ Decentralized yet connected system †¢ Strong brand name, image and reputation †¢ Strong financial and performance and position †¢ Affordable prices and high quality products †¢ Nutritional information available on packaging †¢ Strong global presence and performance in the global marketplace †¢ Specialized training for managers known as the Hamburger University †¢ McDonalds Plan to Win focuses on people, product, place, price and promotion Weaknesses †¢ Unhealthy food image †¢ High staff turnover including top management †¢ Customer losses due to fierce competition †¢ Lack of access to the best natural resources †¢ Lack of access to key distribution channel Opportunities †¢ Growing health trends among consumers †¢ Joint ventures with retailers †¢ Consolidation of retailers likely, so better locations for franchisees †¢ Respond to social changes by innovation with in healthier lifestyle foods †¢ Strengthen its value proposition and offering, to encourage customers who visit coffee shops into McDonalds †¢ The new â€Å"formats†, Mccafe, having wi-fi internet links should help in attracting segments. Also installing children’s play-parks and its focus on educating consumers about health, fitness. †¢ International expansion into emerging market’s of other country †¢ Growth of the fast-food industry †¢ Low cost menu that will attract the customers †¢ Providing many promotional activities Threats †¢ Health professionals and consumer activists accuse McDonald’s of contributing to the country health issue of high cholesterol, heart attacks, diabetes, and obesity †¢ McDonalds competitors threatened market share of the company both internationally and domestically †¢ Global recession and fluctuating foreign currencies †¢ Affordability of the competitors products †¢ Similar flavors and products of the competitors †¢ Competitors endorsers are much popular when it compares to McDonalds IV.Market Segmentation Market Segmentation is the process of splitting customer in to different groups, or segment within the customers with similar characteristics have similar needs. Geographical Segmentation Mcdonalds offered their services based on certain country basic food. Like Philippines McDonalds realized that Filipino basic food is rice which with fried chicken as its local basic food. Demographic/Psychographic Segmentation Demographic segmentation divided the market into groups based on variables like gender, age, nationality, religion; family life cycle and family size McDonald offered their services by segmented their customer base on age, religion and family life cycle. To offer the best service McDonalds still concern about variations due to differing tastes and cultural issues for their customer over the world. Behavioral Segmentation Behavioral segmentation focuses on dividing consumer based on their knowledge, attitudes, uses, benefit sought, or responses to company’s product. One of the best forms of segmentation is to divide buyers according to the different benefits that they want to get by purchasing the product. Usually people who look for in their product class or look for each benefit. For example, McDonald provide McDelivery for 24 hours, this is the only one delivery service that not stop even once in a while a day by just call it and order, after that within a minute it comes to your place with the food that still hot and fresh. V. Alternative Marketing Strategies McDonalds has seen recent success through a careful implementation of its â€Å"Plan to Win† strategy, which focuses on several key aspects of the business, namely increasing traffic to restaurants, providing everyday value to customers, innovating the company through the creation of new menu items, re-imaging the company’s look, as well as its marketing campaigns. McDonald’s Plan to Win is based on a core set of four main goals: †¢ Acquire more customers †¢ Get these customers to eat at McDonalds more often †¢ Develop more brand loyalty for the McDonalds brand †¢ Ultimately become more profitable Increasing restaurant visits Current market condition help the appearance of McDonalds as a low cost alternative to eating at more expensive restaurants in the minds of customers, which has consequently led to an increase in foot traffic at McDonalds franchises. McDonalds has addressed these conditions through an increase in advertising, specially displaying the company’s attention toward a diversified menu of low cost items. Such advertising serves to satisfy all four of goals of Plan to win program, drawing customer interest through a short display of the plethora of new menu options recently added, while also helping to change the look and feel of McDonalds in the minds of customers. Providing everyday value In order to create an overall feeling of value for customers to experience, McDonalds has released a modular value meal, where customers have the benefit of both low prices coupled with increased freedom when deciding on a meal. While traditional menu options emphasize a trade-off between ordering freedom and price, the McDonalds value menu provides customers with both all at once, helping customers associate the brand with good value. Innovating new menu items At the same time as their menu choices have become modular and less expensive, McDonalds is also creating value for customers by providing a diverse menu with many more ordering options. Customers can now expect an increase in health-conscious options by adding some vegetables in the burger and also they provide some dessert like apple pie or pineapple pie. McDonalds also provide a mccafe like ice mocha, ice latte, and cappuccino, Americano to provide some different variety of coffee to satisfy the customer. Marketing campaigns As well as considering the important of keeping customers informed of the continuing changes to the company through advertising media and social media dialogues, McDonalds also recognizes the value of maintaining an ongoing support system and training structure for each of its franchise operators. As mentioned above, McDonalds uses well defined, and measurable milestones to help their constituents meet company goals with as few inconsistencies as possible. McDonalds’ training programs have been continuously recognized for their excellence, and with the continuing changes being carried out throughout the company, this attention to the value of training is a terrific asset to the company. Re-imaging the restaurant Directly benefiting the company’s goals of brand development for the company, McDonalds is reenergizing their brand through an understanding of â€Å"brand power†, which is built on the cultivation of four key areas of the brand, brand identity, familiarity, specialness, and authority. Brand identity is defined as the set of characteristics that customers recognize your brand by; in McDonalds’ case these are speed, consistency, value, and variety. Brand identity works with brand familiarity, helping to expand the message that symbols of the company, or even the overall impact of advertisements themselves in reinforcing the identity of the brand in the minds of customers. If carefully managed, McDonalds can use their brand identity to make their investments in advertising go much further. Beyond this, brand specialness and authority continue the process, representing the perceptions of McDonalds as the company appears to customers. Ideally, McDonalds should leverage brand specialness and authority to clearly stand out as a distinct and trustworthy source of value, allowing customers to increase the value of the McDonalds brand through their positive interactions with the company. McDonald’s adopts different strategies to attract customers of different age groups, but still the main target remains to be children. So in order to attract them, McDonald’s use a key tool: the Happy Meals, which seem to fascinate children due to the toys included in the menu. In addition to this, they have a tie up with The Walt Disney Company for the Disney characters included in the menu, in order to make sure that they offer the kids a wide range of toy options. Moreover, McDonald’s provides the children with a special facility, unique for food venues and fast-food restaurants: a playground. This strategy is aimed at making McDonald’s a pleasant and fun environment for both kids and parents. Even the exterior of every restaurant is also strategically designed using bright colors to invite in the customer, especially kids who can easily be influenced by these aspects. So not only that the children like it, it is a chance for the parents to spend some â€Å"quality time† with their kids. Another aspect of their marketing strategy is the fact that every McDonald’s restaurant provides Wi–Fi facilities, a detail that adds to the attractive qualities and is aimed at teenage customers. In addition to this, what is representative for this chain is their clown mascot, Ronald McDonald, who is essential for creating the bond with children and entertaining them. They can even have private birthday parties in the facilities, again part of McDonald’s aim to induce happy memories in children’s minds, and to make them associate the McDonald’s brand and logo with happy moments. VI. Selected Marketing Strategy Product Suppliers are dedicated to providing McDonald’s with top quality material that is continually monitored for freshness and safety. McDonald’s uses regional suppliers to ensure that the freshness is delivered to customers in every product they buy. Food quality is keys at McDonald’s. They seek out fresh lettuce and tomatoes, onions and pickles, quality buns and potatoes, pure ground beef, select poultry and fish and wholesome dairy products. All of the beef, chicken and pork that are used are purchased from federally inspected facilities to ensure freshness, wholesomeness and peak quality when served to customers. Non-Vegetarian Ingredients Chicken The chicken products are made from high quality boned rib and leg meat and are covered in a specially seasoned, lightly battered coating. They are shaped in uniform sizes to ensure consistency in weight and value. Fish The fish products in McDonald’s Filet –O- Fish are 100% pure whole white fillets that are lightly breaded. Their exacting quality standards for fish surpass federal requirements. The ocean-fresh quality of Filet-O-Fish is a result of the process and ability to freeze the fish at sea to maintain freshness. Vegetarian Ingredients Vegetables McDonald’s use freshly shredded lettuce, onions, pickles and tomatoes in their restaurants. All their vegetable products are processed from high quality graded vegetables in a 100% dedicated vegetarian plant. Potatoes McDonald’s French fries are famous around the world. To make French fries, McDonald’s uses only the best potatoes available from their own potato farms. Their potato suppliers make many of the same nationally recognized brands of potato products to make customers feel that they are with their family at home. These potatoes are cut, blanched and processed on state-of-the-art processing lines to ensure maximum retention of nutrients. Their French fries and Potato Wedges are cooked at the plant in 100% vegetables cooking oil. Other Ingredients Cheese and other Dairy Products All dairy products like cheese, McShakes and Soft Serves are made from fresh dairy milk. All dairy products including cheese have a role to play in balanced diet because they contain a wide variety of essential nutrients such as protein, calcium, fat solubles, phosphorus, etc. McDonald’s uses a special blend of pasteurized American cheese to complement the flavor of their sandwiches. Buns McDonald’s uses buns made from locally grown wheat flour. They are baked locally and delivered fresh, several times each week to McDonald’s restaurants. Cooking Oil Food preparations are done in 100% refined vegetable oils at the restaurants plants. They use liquid oil and not hydrogenated oil. This means there are no TFAs or Trans Fatty Acids in the French Fries or any other products. Additionally, these vegetable oils contain some essential fatty acids necessary for growth. Quality Food quality is the crucial element at McDonald’s. Despite extensive and meticulous quality test at the suppliers end, all products are once again carefully scrutinized at the restaurant. Immaculate of quality allow for nothing but the best to reach customer’s tray. Their products are sourced from the highest quality ingredients, prepared hygienically and treated to regular quality checks such as the McDonald’s Inspection Program (QIP). Scope of Product Line Distribution (Place) Place, as an element of the marketing mix, is not just about the physical location or distribution points for products. It encompasses the management of a range of processes involved in bringing products to the end consumer. McDonald’s outlets are very evenly spread throughout the cities making them very accessible. Drive in and drive through options make McDonald’s products further convenient to the consumers. Intensive Distribution Distribution arrangements tend to be long term in nature. Because of this time horizon, channel decisions are usually classed as strategic, rather than tactical or operational ones. Many of McDonalds restaurants are open 24 hours per day which satisfies the customers needs and wants, especially for exists their hunger. This kind of distribution strategy is called â€Å"intensive distribution†, means marking the product available for sale through all possible channels of distribution. â€Å"Intensive distribution is stocking the product in as many outlets as possible.† Promotion The promotions aspect of the marketing mix covers all types of marketing communications One of the methods employed is advertising, Advertising is conducted on TV, radio, in cinema, online, using poster sites and in the press for example in newspapers and magazines. Other promotional methods include sales promotions, point of sale display, merchandising, direct mail, loyalty schemes, door drops, etc. The skill in marketing communications is to develop a campaign which uses several of these methods in a way that provides the most effective results. For example, TV advertising makes people aware of a food item and press advertising provides more detail. This may be supported by in-store promotions to get people to try the product and a collectable promotional device to encourage them to keep on buying the item. At McDonalds the prime focus is on targeting children. In happy meals too which are targeted at children small toys are given along with the meal. Apart from this, various schemes for winning prices by way of lucky draws and also scratch cards are given when an order is placed on the various mean combos. VII. Conclusion Since the problem of McDonalds is about the customer that keeps on complaining for the quality and freshness of the products that is being served. Therefore I conclude that the company should use the MFY (Made for You) system, so that the food is made or prepared for the customer just in time with a good quality for a reasonable cost. The company should also provide a large number of riders to avoid late delivery.

Brand Background Of Starwood And Marriott Marketing Essay

Brand Background Of Starwood And Marriott Marketing Essay A brand enables customers to remember the core information about a product, and prevents competitors from making imitation. (Aaker, 1991). Successful brand building helps profitability by adding value that entices customers to buy (De Chernatony and McDonald, 1994). It is also becoming clearer that companies creating strong brands can obtain important competitive advantage over those that do no (Kohli and Thakor, 1997). Whenever a marketer creates a new name, logo or symbol for a new product, he or she has created a brand (Keller, 2003). According to the American Marketing Association’s definition, brand is a â€Å"name, term, sign, symbol or design, or group of sellers, and to differentiate them from those o f the competition†. Another definition given by Farquhar (Farquhar, 1989) is â€Å"a name, symbol, design or mark that enhances the value of product beyond its functional purposes†. The brand creates a more favorable view of the product, relative to others in the market. If successfully built, a brand will add value for customers, and is the underlying reason for purchase. This can bring profitability to the firm (Laforet, 1996). In this report, two hotel groups were chosen for analysis and comparison with the perspective of branding: Starwood and Marriott, both are the leader in lodging industry. Starwood Hotels & Worldwide, Inc is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with more than 992 properties in approximately 97 countries and 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties (Starwood). Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation ownership, Inc, one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. As one of the largest operators of upper-upscale and luxury hotels, its global portfolio is unmatched. Starwood remains on track to increase its world-wide foot p rint by 20% over the next five years through smart, carefully targeted growth that will expand its presence in the upper upscale and luxury hotel categories, as well as in the vital limited service segment. Exhibit 1 shows all the brands of Starwood, including Luxury full-service hotels, Luxury and upscale full – service hotels, Select-service hotels, extended stay hotels. The company divides its nine brands into four levels: luxury full-service hotels, luxury and upscale full-service, select-service, extended stay. Judging from the room quantity of each brand, the most two popular brands are Sheraton with 392 properties and Westin with 165 properties. The brands with the least sites are St Regis with 19 properties and Element with only 6 properties. It means that there is much less guests knowing St Regis and Elements than the people knowing Sheraton and Westin. Compared with Starwood, Marriott has more than 3150 lodging properties located 69 countries and territories (Marri ott) with 20 brands, including the newest one – Autograph collection, which was announced on 25th January 2010 (hospitalitynet, 2010). Exhibit 2 showed Marriott’s brands, including luxury lodging, full-service lodging, select-service lodging, extended stay lodging and timeshare. Brand has specific purposes, and businesses should invest in it only with specific aims in mind. It is a form of information, and is most valuable where customers have the least specific information, the least ability to obtain information, the least clarity on evaluation criteria, and the least time or inclination to obtain product information (Keller, 2008). Among all the Marriott’s luxury brands, there is only one brand and logo telling people that it is belong to Marriott group. Ritz-Carlton is often thought as an independent company and has no relationship with Marriott. Bulgari is originally a jewelry company and nothing to do with hospitality. It is very creative that the two comp anies became partners and launched a new brand in lodging industry, but it is difficult for people to associate these two brands. And for Edition, it was planned to open the first property in 2010, but so far, the official website (http://www.editionhotels.com) has not launched any new information.

Macro & Micro economics. Windows by Microsoft Essay

Macro & Micro economics. Windows by Microsoft - Essay Example The essay tries to focus in the exclusive monopoly power of the popular software company Microsoft. Though very rare, business firms in the contemporary world often enjoy the power of a monopolist seller (Chass, n.d.). A monopolist market structure is primarily characterised with a single seller and many buyers in the industry. The products produced by a monopoly seller may or may not be differentiated. It should be carefully analysed that since the monopoly seller is the only major producer in the market, it faces the entire market demand. Thus, the price or average revenue (AR) curve and the marginal revenue (MR) curve faced by monopolists are always negatively sloped. Figure1: AR and MR Curve of a Monopoly Producer AR, MR Price or Average Revenue Curve (P or AR) Marginal Revenue Curve (MR) Quantity (Source: Authors Creation) The above diagram shows the AR and MR curve faced by a monopolist. A monopolist seller is a ‘price maker’ in the industry.... The policies of the government in an economy are also influenced by the power and decisions of a monopolist in the market. Microsoft Behaviour Microsoft Corporation is a famous American software company with its headquarters in Washington. At the current market conditions, business firms can never imagine to operate without the use of computers. The rise in the level of literacy in both developed and developing economies have increased the use of computers for both commercial and non commercial purposes with time. Most of the computers in the modern world comprise of an operating system of Microsoft. Such technical products supply has made Microsoft behave like a monopolist in the market. In 4th April 2000, the Federal government claimed that Microsoft Corporation has violated the antitrust laws in the market. Antitrust laws are the laws set with the mixture of federal and state government laws. The antitrust laws are strongly implemented on all the business organizations in the mode rn world because such laws prevents the economy from the unfair trade practices of monopoly business firms and promotes competition in the economy. It is believed by economists and analysts that rise in market competition in the business segments would help to augment the net social welfare in the economy (Manne, 2012). Bundling of Netscape and Media Player The Federal Justice department accused Microsoft Corporation for altering the satisfaction of the consumers by shifting competition in the software marketplaces in particular with the disbursement of the Netscape browser. Microsoft desired to bundle its business with the famous company of web browser Internet Explorer. The company

Every healthcare facilty should utilize the electronic medication Essay

Every healthcare facilty should utilize the electronic medication administrtion record to help reduce medication errors - Essay Example This system is an electronic record of resident patient medication, thus improving efficiency and reducing human-based errors. The Electronic Medication Administration Record The Electronic Medication Administration Record (EMAR) is a technology system supported by enhanced computerized systems that allow for more efficient ordering and dosing of patient/resident medications in the hospital and other clinical environments. The EMAR system is implemented in health care facilities to improve interaction between patients and nurses, the physician staff, and also to reduce errors. Additionally, EMAR systems are designed to replace traditional paper systems for similar activities related to medication, thus improving costs for the organization by changing the dynamics of inter-office activities. The Institute of Medicine provides statistics regarding medication errors that continue to contribute to hospital liability claims. According to the Institute, more than a million injuries and nea rly 100,000 deaths occur annually due to errors (Hook, Pearlstein, Samarth & Cusack, 2008). Errors that occur are costly to the hospital and, in the long-term, raise prices for other patients when hospitals are forced to increase the costs of health care service in order to pay ongoing liability claims. Because of these high statistics, the need for improving the medication dosing and ordering systems are necessary. From a marketing perspective, hospitals that raise prices too extensively will lose patient business. When coupled with negative publicity from a hospital or other health care facility that faces liability suits in the court system, it is likely that patients will avoid this facility in favor of another. More Advantages of EMAR As identified, the electronic medication administration record provides for a paperless environment. This improves efficiency and also reduces the costs of office supplies and other important forms from a supply chain perspective. However, the mor e important benefit of EMAR is the ability to share medicinal data with internal sources and external partners in a method that is efficient, safe to security from an IT perspective, and improve the efficiency of the entire health network. This information can be shared via electronic data exchange with ambulance services, patients and health network payers (Garets & Davis, 2006). Currently, interactive communications with health network payers or the use of complicated forms are necessary to achieve results. With the EMAR, such transactions can occur instantly in the virtual environment, thereby improving efficiency in this process. The ability to share this data with ambulance services also provides a new training opportunity and improves the instantaneous knowledge of patient medical records in a real-time service environment. Ambulatory systems can understand whether any potential interactions might occur when they are providing trauma or other services en route to the hospital. It is an ideal model for improving communications between off-site service personnel and the hospital environment. A recent study identified frustrations with nurses that occur because of inefficiency in the workplace. â€Å"They want technology to reduce demand on nursing time by eliminating waste in care resulting from inefficient workflow†

Ibn-Sina Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ibn-Sina - Research Paper Example The Samanid dynasty ruled so well until the 10th century when it began weakening. As such, by the time Avicenna was born, Nuh ibn Mansur had taken over Sultan in Bukhara, though he was struggling to maintain control of the empire. Ibn Sina was lucky to come from one of the influential families in the country. At the time of his birth, his father was the governor of the village. As a result, he was able to receive good education with the help of his father. He was also lucky to have grown up alongside some of the most learned people in the country. His biography indicates that Ibn Sina was a very clever child right from his childhood (Khan 3). At the age of ten, he was not only able to memorize and recite the Quran, but was also able to memorize most of the Arabic poetry. At only thirteen years of age, Ibn Sina began studying medicine. To the amazement of many, he was able to begin treating patients after just three years of his study. Apart from medicine, he also studied metaphysics and logic, being taught by some of the best lecturers of his time (Goodman 3). However, being passionate of knowledge, he was able to further his studies on all areas on his own. In his autobiography, we learn that Ibn Sina was mostly self-taught even though he also received help from others at crucial times. Ibn Sina remained unknown to many for a very long time. It is reported that his knowledge and skills in medicine is what made him known to the public. In this regard, Goodman (4) shows that his skills in medicine made him receive recognition from Samanid ruler Nuh Ibn Mansur and the rest of the nation. His medicine publications immediately proved of great value to the nation and the beyond. For example, his first major work, the canon (al-Qanun fi’l-Tibb), was adopted by many universities in Europe as a medical textbook (Heath 23). Like in the European countries, the Islamic world also used the canon as a medical textbook until the early modern period. After the success of his first major work, the canon, Ibn Sina came up with another publication, the Cure (al-Shifa’), which also had a huge influence upon European scholars of the time, like Thomas Aquinas. As a metaphysical philosopher of being, Ibn Sina was a philosopher with a lot of interest in understanding his existence in the world with regard to his contingency (Janssens 31). In fact, his philosophies were mainly rooted in trying to build a coherent and comprehensive system that conforms with the religious exigencies of the Islamic culture. It is for this reason that many people regard him as the first major Islamic philosopher. The most evident is his philosophical articulation of God as the Necessary Existence, from which his theory of the soul, cosmos, and intellect is based (Khan 14). In addition, Ibn Sina articulated a development in the philosophical enterprise in Islamic tradition, as opposed to apologetic issues of concern for building the relationship between philosophy and r eligion in an attempt to make a philosophical sense of key religious doctrines, as well as analyze and interpret the Quran (Goodman 6). Several researches have been conducted in the recent past in an attempt to locate Ibn Sina within the Neoplatonic and Aristotelian tradition. However, Ibn Sina strongly rejected the pre-existent theory, despite accepting Neoplatonic epistemology. In Islamic sciences, Avicenna wrote several short stories commenting on the selected verses of the Quran and chapters

Strategic Capability of Organization Assignment

Strategic Capability of Organization - Assignment Example The marketing strategy and orientation focus on innovation, strategic capabilities and competitive environment, general business environment of the company, and the political, environmental, economic, social and technological factors would be considered along with the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the business environment. Sony is a leader in the global electronics industry and global market as its global presence is seen in all markets across different regions of the world. Sony has global competitors and different competitors for its wide ranging products from cameras to cell phones, computers to MP3 players. In case of mobile phones, Nokia would be its toughest competitor whereas for MP3 players, Apple would be its closest competitor, for computers and laptops, Toshiba and Compaq would be the other players in the market and Samsung also remains one of its major competitors in all other product areas. The research and development unit of Sony is studied here and the R&D unit of the company would relate to marketing and strategic needs of the organization and recommendations are provided on what changes should be made within the strategic management of the company so that maximum productivity and performance could be attained within the specific business environment (Bradbury and Kissel, 2006). SWOT Analysis - Competitive Advantages The strengths of Sony or its competitive advantages would be its brand name and strong brand presence (Kerckhove, 2002) and its extensive advertising and marketing strategy that highlights innovative products around the world in accordance with the needs of the global markets. Sony is focused on meeting the needs of consumers of all ages and cultures and especially focuses on meeting the needs of the youth by constantly upgrading its technology to meet the demands of the market and to keep up with a rapidly changing electronics market. The focus of the company is on innovation (Harryson, 1997), well developed and well equipped R&D facilities, talented product engineers and managers and the company's leadership and established position in a global market. Capability Gaps The weaknesses or capability gaps would be its flaws in its corporate strategy that may not always be culturally sensitive, very established competitors and continuous new product development initiatives by competitors can leave Sony behind, higher costs of Sony products may not be within reach of a large consumer base and fluctuating economies in certain countries where Sony has made its foray would be a major disadvantage. Opportunities for Sony will be entry into new markets and focusing on continuous and new innovative products and product development through R&D that can give it an edge over competitors (Arimura, 1999). The threats of the company would be its competitive environment and in product areas such as mobile phones, Nokia is its primary competitor, in computers and laptops, Toshiba and Compaq are close competitors, in MP3 music players, Apple seems to have a leading role in the market with its

Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Strategy - Essay Example Selling designer clothes to cater for the rich includes Louis Vuitton, Gucci and many other brands. Tailor clothes for the middle class and second hand clothes for the poor. We can also market the gap by locating our shops at different geographical areas in the global market. By doing this, we will make it easier for the customers to access our products without any difficulties, which will facilitate our selling and, therefore, reduce competition. Due to the improved technology, we can introduce buying of goods online and special delivery. This will motivate the busy, disabled, lazy, so that they purchase goods from our premises since busy people won’t have to neglect their busy schedule to go shopping. The disabled will also have an advantage as they will not struggle going to the market (McDonald, 2008). The lazy will also be lured to our premises, and this will boost our selling and reduce competition, thus, marketing the gap. Gap Company should attract customers from many different social classes so that they can improve their profits. Even though the gap strategy limited how the company was presenting its brand to different social classes. Gab Company should start many peer retailer shops for them to capture the low earning citizens throughout the world. The company should consider having various prices in different branches so that they can attract as many customers as possible. Gap should ensure that they do not sell inferior products at high prices because this will only make people to avoid buying the products. They should not introduce products which are not relevant to the consumers and sell them at a high price (McDonald, 2008). There is also the introduction of new stores that sold goods at high prices, yet the old stores were selling products at a fair price. This made customers from the new geographical areas to avoid purchasing products from the new stores because they were very expensive. It is a high

Word Processing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Word Processing - Assignment Example Many people therefore access PCs since they are affordable rather than purchasing the Mac computers. In another case concerning better variety aspects, PCs are available with numerous configurations compared to Mac computers which have less variety because of being limited to only Mac Mini, iMac and Mac Pro (Towers, 32). The PCs have a better broadband support which involves the Internet Service Provider (ISP) compared to Mac machine which do no effectively work with the ISP. On the other hand Mac allows running windows via Boot Camp in a way which is legal as PCs posses a support system which is wide in terms of freeware and ecosystem options. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) such as broad bands has been introduced in relation to PCs and Mac computers usage (Towers, 12). There are many pros and cons in relation to PCs and Mac machines such as computers. In respect to pros of the PCs, compatibility is enhanced since every application; either game or driver will work on windows in context. Another pro of the PCs is that there is enhancement of technical support since there are many users who can offer one help with windows. The cons of the PCs include, the availability of viruses making individuals to buy anti-virus programs although free ones are available (Towers, 18). Another con is that PCs be come slow since their windows require a lot of computer resources such as processor. On the other hand, pros of the Mac computer include, Apple Macs almost having no viruses compared to PCs. One of the cons of the Mac computers is that they are expensive compared to PCs and they are only available on Apple computers. I recommend that one should use the Mac computers since they are more convenient compared to PCs. The PCs are old-fashioned and traditionally based while the Mac computers are the modern ones technologically. When Mac computers are purchased, they are not pre-loaded with trial ware and crapware unlike PCs which need new pre-installed programs.

Misuse of DNA in Homicide Cases Annotated Bibliography

Misuse of DNA in Homicide Cases - Annotated Bibliography Example The National Commission on the Future of DNA was established by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) in 1998, courtesy of Janet Reno, who was then the attorney general. The aim was to establish the prospects of DNA evidence, and ways of improving its effectiveness, through the Department of Justice. This article has been very supportive in identifying how the DNA evidence is used for the wrongful intentions. The proposition of recommendations on how to improve DNA evidence has made this article very useful for my research, as most of other articles have not touched on this issue. This article reports on the progressing data of two hypervariable regions from 50 individuals with no close relationship, all from Germany population. The study reveals that most maternal relatives share mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) series, while there was no evidence of mtDNA transmission in respect to paternity. This article goes a long way in helping me to establish how the variability of mtDNA control region series allows utility in forensic characteristics inquiry, which is critical in revealing cases of misuse of DNA in Homicide cases. This article has been used to show how series of mtDNA is being used to typify forensic organic samples, especially in absence of adequate nuclear DNA in specimens for typing. The article has clearly demonstrated how specimens such as teeth, bones and shafts can be subjected to mtDNA examination. This article is very useful as it uses practical demonstration of the same specimens that are used to manipulate evidence during homicide cases. Furthermore, mtDNA series is used to provide tools for typifying biological evidence during DNA tests. The article has essentially added a lot of credence in my research. The authors have noted that a lot of studies have been undertaken in respect to child sexual abuse since 1960s. They have added that, although there has been males’ sexual abuse as well, this social problem has

Scope & Nature Essay Example for Free

Scope Nature Essay The scope of operations management ranges across the organization. Operations management people are involved in product and service design, process selection, selection and management of technology, design of work systems, location planning, facilities planning, and quality improvement of the organizations products or services. The operations function includes many interrelated activities, such as forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling, managing inventories, assuring quality, motivating employees, deciding where to locate facilities, and more. We can use an airline company to illustrate a service organizations operations system. The system consists of the airplanes, airport facilities, and maintenance facilities, sometimes spread out over a wide territory. The activities include: Forecasting such things as weather and landing conditions, seat demand for flights, and the growth in air travel.   Capacity planning, essential for the airline to maintain cash flow and make a reasonable profit. (Too few or too many planes, or even the right number of planes but in the wrong places, will hurt profits.) Facilities and layout, important in achieving effective use of workers and equipment. Scheduling of planes for flights and for routine maintenance; scheduling of pilots and flight attendants; and scheduling of ground crews, counter staff, and baggage handlers. Managing inventories of such items as foods and beverages, first-aid equipment, in-flight magazines, pillows and blankets, and life preservers.   Assuring quality, essential in flying and maintenance operations, where the emphasis is on safety, and important in dealing with customers at ticket counters, check-in, telephone and electronic reservations, and curb service, where the emphasis is on efficiency and courtesy. Motivating and training employees in all phases of operations, Locating facilities according to managers decisions on which cities to provide service for, where to locate maintenance facilities, and where to locate major and minor hubs. Now consider a bicycle factory. This might be primarily an assembly operation: buying components such as frames, tires, wheels, gears, and other items from suppliers, and then assembling bicycles. The factory also might do some of the fabrication work itself, forming frames, making the gears and chains, and it might buy mainly raw materials and a few parts and materials such as paint, nuts and bolts, and tires. Among the key management tasks in either case are scheduling production, deciding which components to make and which to buy, ordering parts and materials, deciding on the style of bicycle to produce and how many, purchasing new equipment to replace old or worn out equipment, maintaining equipment, motivating workers, and ensuring that quality standards are met. Obviously, an airline company and a bicycle factory are completely different types of operations. One is primarily a service operation, the other a producer of goods. Nonetheless, these two operations have much in common. Both involve scheduling activities, motivating employees, ordering and managing supplies, selecting and maintaining equipment, satisfying quality standards, and—above all—satisfying customers. And in both businesses, the success of the business depends on short- and long-term planning. The operations function consists of all activities directly related to producing goods or providing services. Hence, it exists both in manufacturing and assembly operations, which are goods-oriented, and in areas such as health care, transportation, food handling, and retailing, which are primarily service-oriented. A primary function of an operations manager is to guide the system by decision-making. Certain decisions affect the design of the system, and others affect the operation System design involves decisions that relate to system capacity, the geographic location of facilities, arrangement of departments and placement of equipment within physical structures, product and service planning, and acquisition of equipment. These decisions usually, but not always, require long-term commitments. Moreover, they are typically strategic decisions. System operation involves management of personnel, inventory planning and control, scheduling, project management, and quality assurance. These are generally tactical and operational decisions. Feedback on these decisions involves measurement and Control. In many instances, the operations manager is more involved in day-to-day operating decisions than with decisions relating to system design. However, the operations manager has a vital stake in system design because system design essentially determines many of the parameters of system operation. For Example, costs, space, capacities, and quality are directly affected by design decisions. Even though the operations manager is not responsible for making all design decisions, he or she can provide those decision makers with a wide range of information that will have a bearing on their decisions. A number of other areas are part of the operations function. They include purchasing, industrial engineering, distribution, and maintenance. Purchasing has responsibility for procurement of materials, supplies, and equipment. Close contact with operations is necessary to ensure correct quantities and timing of purchases. The purchasing department is often called on to evaluate vendors for quality, reliability, service, price, and ability to adjust to changing demand. Purchasing is also involved in receiving and inspecting the purchased goods. Industrial engineering is often concerned with scheduling, performance standards, work methods, quality control, and material handling.  Distribution involves the shipping of goods to warehouses, retail outlets, or final customers. Maintenance is responsible for general upkeep and repair of equipment, buildings and grounds, heating and air-conditioning; removing toxic wastes; parking; and perhaps security. The operations manager is the key figure in the system: He or she has the ultimate responsibility for the creation of goods or provision of services. The kinds of jobs that operations managers oversee vary tremendously from organization to organization largely because of the different products or services involved. Thus, managing a banking operation obviously requires a different kind of expertise than managing a steel- making operation. However, in a very important respect, the jobs are the same: They are both essentially managerial. The same thing can be said for the job of any operations manager regardless of the kinds of goods or services being created. The service sector and the manufacturing sector are both important to the economy. The service sector now accounts for more than 70 percent of jobs in the United States, and it is growing in other countries as well. Moreover, the number of people working in services is increasing, while the number of people working in manufacturing is not. The reason for the decline in manufacturing jobs is twofold: As the operations function in manufacturing companies finds more productive ways of producing goods, the companies are able to maintain or even increase their output using fewer workers. Furthermore, some manufacturing work has been outsourced to more productive companies, many in other countries that are able to produce goods at lower costs. Many of the concepts presented in this book apply equally to manufacturing and service. Consequently, whether your interest at this time is on manufacturing or on service, these concepts will be important, regardless of whether a manufacturing example or service. Operations management is often used along with production management in  literature on the subject. It is therefore, useful to understand the nature of operations management. Operations management is understood as the process whereby resources or inputs are converted into more useful products .A second reading of the sentence reveals that, there is hardly any difference between the terms production management and operations management. But, there are a least two points of distinction between production management and operations management. First, the term production management is more used for a system where tangible goods are produced. Whereas, operations management is more frequently used where various inputs are transformed into tangible services Viewed from this perspective, operations management will cover such services organization as banks, airlines, utilities, pollution control agencies super bazaars, educational institutions, libraries, consultancy firm and police departments, in addition, of course, to manufacturing enterprises. The second distinction relates to the evolution of the subject. Operation management is the term that is used now a day. Production management precedes operations management in the historical growth of the subject The two distinctions not withstanding, the terms production management and operations management are used interchangeably. Scope of Production and Operation Management The scope of production and operations management is indeed vast. Commencing with the selection of location production management covers such activities as acquisition of land, constructing building, procuring and installing machinery, purchasing and storing raw material and converting them into saleable products. Added to the above are other related topics such as quality management, maintenance management, production planning and control, methods improvement and work simplification and other related areas.

Ethics And Issues Essay Example for Free

Ethics And Issues Essay How should schools deal with Internet plagiarism? There are many ways as to how a school can deal with internet plagiarism. Firstly, they should teach their students the importance of writing a fair work and the worth of hard work it has. Students need to know that any piece written by them is their own accomplished hard work that is entirely original. In such a way, they have learned the essential elements of the work that the school teacher wanted them to work on. In other words, they have succeeded in meeting the requirements of the coursework, no matter what grade they get. Secondly, teachers should highly emphasize on the topic of ethics and ethical writing to the students. Apart from these, a school has to be up-to-date regarding the different ways as to how the students plagiarize. Keeping a track on the past papers of the previous is one way. The other is to use anti-plagiarism software today. The popular software used these days by the universities is Turnitin. com or Mydropbox. com. Students should be taught that plagiarism is a crime and is equivalent to stealing. Altering digital photos: Art or Fraud  Similar to plagiarizing, altering digital photos is fraud and can earn even legal consequences if used for financial or academic gains. Altering digital photos and stating it as your own work is like stealing someone else’s work, making some additions and stating it as your own. Just as the painting of Mona Lisa will always be the work of Leonardo Da Vinci, no matter how altered it is, any work done on anybody’s presently done work is a crime. In my opinion, altering digital photos can never be an art but a fraud because the original work is done by someone else. Photojournalism is mostly subjected to this fraud. If altering digital photos was to be considered as art, many people would misuse it to present as legal evidences. Since the natures of digital photos are, in a way, alterable, these pieces are never considered as a piece of legal evidence. Software have been developed where any alter in the digital images are spotted and traced that avoids altering of any digital piece as well (Pearson, 2006). Altering any image or piece for one’s own benefit in order to gain money is a crime, thus a fraud and not an art. Just as a re-mix music cannot be regarded as an original piece of art, altering digital photos, too cannot be regarded as an art.

Symbolic Violence and Structural Violence

Symbolic Violence and Structural Violence This weeks readings are composed of the topics of structural violence and symbolic violence. Galtung and Farmers perspectives on personhood and conflict relationship are built around the concept of the structural violence. In general terms, structural violence means sociopolitical inequalities emerge out of the structures. In addition to them, Bourdieu and Bourgois Schonberg bring new perspective by looking at the debate from different angle with the term symbolic violence which means gender inequalities emerges out of the embeddedness of female subordination by male in daily life. Galtung first discusses the concept of violence in his 1969 article of Violence, Peace and Peace Research and displays the relationship and difference between direct/personal/with subject and indirect/structural/without subject violence. In his article Cultural Violence (Galtung, 1990), it is defined as any aspect of a culture that can be used to legitimize violence in its direct or structural form (p.291). In Pierre Bourdieus article, we analyze how symbolic violence influences the gender relations by being embodied in the daily life habits of an agent. We may add that culture sometimes play a legitimizing role to strengthen symbolic violence. In my country, Turkey, there is still the honor killings phenomenon in the name of culture, which actually includes cultural and symbolic violence. It is a somewhat direct violence but also somewhat symbolic for the rest of the society and male-female relations. Galtungs prescription against those types of violence is clear; establish negative (the absence of direct violence) and positive (absence of structural and cultural violence) peace (p.183). In his article of Gender and Symbolic Violence, Pierre Bourdieu looks at violence in a different perspective than Galtung and builds relationship between violence and gender. According to him, hegemonic power and the domination of this power on its victims can be called symbolic violence. The male domination over the female can be strengthened with the help of the concepts, language, and symbols used in daily life habits. He does not mean to reduce the importance of physical violence, instead, focuses on the construction of misrecognition through the dominant discourses in various types of socio-cultural domination. Misrecognition is confirmed by dominant discourse and is embodied in womens body with hidden symbols. As he mentions this symbolic violence is most of the time unnoticed-partly unconsciousness- because the victims of this violence may not recognize it, or become silent because of their subordination or they feel daunted against the violence. His prescription is explained as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦radical transformation of the social conditions of production of the dispositions that lead the dominated to take the point of view of the dominant on the dominant and on themselves.(p.342). Paul Farmers personhood is much more related to structural issues. In On Suffering and Structural Violence, he tries to understand the mechanisms which cause social forces from poverty to racism to be embodied as individual experiences (p.281). He argues that what happens to Acephie and Chouchou the former dies because of AIDS and the latter dies because of political violence- are two different versions of structural violence. He reaches the conclusion that inequality of power and its implications on the poor are because of the structural arrangements of dominant powers of the world. Silence of socioeconomically poor people is because of the dominant power relations and its reflections on Third World countries. According to him, what happened to Acephie and Chouchou is explained as; these afflictions were not the result of accident or of force majeure; they were the consequence, direct or indirect, of human agency(p.286) He also mentions that when people are suffering because of pov erty, their access to health, food, and shelter are limited because of their social status. His prescription is much more related to the humane and offers global precautions. He thinks that instead of debating cultural differences, the social inequalities should be reduced. The precautions should focus on reducing global poverty, by so we can break the link between social violence and social acceptance of poverty. After the discussion on historically reproduced structures of social inequality and the deficiencies of accessing to health care which is a basic human right in Third World countries in Farmers article, we witness similar arguments in Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonbergs book of Righteous Dopefiend. The authors give us a portrayal of the sufferings of the homeless and heroin addicted community of Edgewater from their own personal participant observations. In general, the book is so impressive because of the use of photographs, transcripts of recorded conversations and the authors participant observations. The authors display the daily experiences of these heroin addicted-homeless people and analyze anthropologically those experiences. In the book, we see how those people suffer but also try to hang onto life one more day by involving in burglary, day labor, panhandling and so on. The book is constructed on the themes of how violence is seen in childhood, community of addicted people, in gender relations, in race issues, sexuality, power inequality, and so on. In the book, one of the main arguments is that while we enter into twenty first century, neoliberalism has produced a strata of rich people but also a strata of lumpen in United States. Those people who couldnt adapt themselves into the changing system are marginalized and exposed to the structural violence and victimized. They are Edgewater dopefiends now. On page 320, the authors mentioned that the burden of lumpenization is more severe in nonindustrialized societies. They add that there is not only power inequality and poverty issue but also poverty is being punished which is actually the extension of symbolic violence. Authors barrow from Bourdieus concept of misrecognition and symbolic violence (Bourdieu 2000) and apply it to Foucaults power/knowledge relationship. According to them, policy debates and interventions often mystify large scale structural power vectors and unwittingly reassign blame to the powerless for their individual failures and moral character deficiencies. (p.297). Here we see that, the heroin addicted-homeless people of Edgewater, Sanfransico, are not only excluded from the whole social network and locked up into their own social network but also blamed on them for their failure. Although the book criticizes so much of health care system and the role of structural forces on the suffering of those people, I believe I would be happy to read ethical considerations of the authors during their research. In conclusion, this weeks reading were so impressive and must be thought on more. In addition to that, I believe what they are theorizing must be put into practice and the awareness on structural, cultural and symbolic violence must be increased with policy recommendations. Or the project/practice areas should be determined and implemented by the field experts.

Peter Gabriel, Van Morrison, and Don Henley :: Musicians Career Biographies Essays

Peter Gabriel, Van Morrison, and Don Henley Peter Gabriel has earned a worldwide reputation for his innovative work as a musician, writer and video maker. When at school, he CO-founded the band Genesis which he left in 1975. His albums, live performances and videos since then have won him a succession of awards. In 1980, he collected together a group of people to found WOMAD (World of Music, Arts & Dance). In a series of international festivals, each year WOMAD brings together traditional and modern music, arts and dance from every corner of the globe. Peter is currently an advisor on the board of WOMAD. Shortly afterwards, Peter established Real World Studios in Wiltshire, designed as an ideal environment for performance. It also became the base for Real World Records, a label which is dedicated to recording and promoting a wide range of artists from all over the world. Peter has released 10 solo albums and in 1986 he won his first Grammy with his seventh album, 'So.' The videos from this project established him as a leader in video production and included 'Sledgehammer' which has won the most music video awards ever, including a No. 1 position in Rolling Stone's top 100 videos of all time. Peter has been involved in a broad spectrum of human rights and environmental issues. His song, 'Biko,' was the first pop song which talked about the effects of apartheid, and in 1988 and 1990 he was involved in the Nelson Mandela concerts at Wembley. In 1988 he also worked with Amnesty International to set up the "Human Rights Now" tour, visiting many countries with Sting, Bruce Springsteen,Tracey Chapman and Youssou N'Dour. Following this, he initiated the "Witness" programme, which was launched in 1992 in conjunction with the Reebok Foundation in the USA. The organization aims to arm human rights activists from around the world with handheld video cameras and other tools of mass communication. To date, they have supplied hundreds of cameras to over fifty countries, and have also set up a biweekly Witness web broadcast via Macintosh's Quicktime Channel. In 1989, he visited the USSR to help launch Greenpeace and also contributed to the 'One World, One Voice' album -- a collaborative project which featured artists from all over the world. In 1989, Peter composed the soundtrack for Martin Scorcese's epic film "The Last Temptation of Christ" which was the basis for one of his most experimental and innovative albums,"Passion.

Crohns in College Students :: Crohns Disease Health Essays

Crohn's in College Students Avi Michael absentmindedly plays with his lip piercing, his thin frame draped casually over his bed. His wall is covered with posters of Bob Dylan and Modest Mouse; two guitars are propped up on a stand next to his closet, another lies on the vacant bed across from his. â€Å"I want to be a rock star,† said Michael, a 20-year-old history and film major at Northeastern University, and front man for the band, The Sex and Murder. However, touring with his band would be difficult, Michael says. He suffers from Crohn’s disease, a chronic and often debilitating ailment that causes inflammation in the digestive system, primarily the large and small intestines. Symptoms include rapid weight loss, abdominal pain or cramping, and rectal bleeding. Michael was diagnosed as a senior in high school at the age of 18. â€Å"I was really sick for a while. It got to the point where I would get sick and throw up after everything I ate,† he said. As a result, he lost a lot of weight; at 5’8†, Michael weighs only 128 pounds. The average weight for a male of his height is closer to 160 pounds. Over 200,000 Americans suffer from Crohn’s, according to Dr. Richard Curtis, chief of gastroenterology at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Though the disease does not target a specific age group, certain risk factors do exist. People who have a genetic predisposition to it are more likely to develop Crohn’s, said Dr. Curtis. For example, people who have a close relative with Crohn’s have a 20 percent chance of being diagnosed with it themselves. Crohn’s is more common in Jews than in non-Jews; it is most common in Ashkenazic Jews than any other group. â€Å"Crohn’s is usually thought of as an old person’s disease,† said Michael. The harsh reality is that many Crohn’s sufferers are college-aged teens, many of whom were diagnosed as young children. Caitlin*, a 16-year-old sophomore at the Boston Latin School, was diagnosed at the age of 11. Trying to complete her schoolwork while maintaining her health is often difficult, Caitlin said. â€Å"When I feel good (almost all the time), Crohn’s doesn’t affect school at all,† she said in an e-mail. â€Å"It’s when I get so exhausted that I have to miss a day of school. I feel guilty missing school, and depending on the time of year, I get so much work the next day that I have to make up.

Essay example --

Most of Australians are affected by housing loans. 70% of homeowners buy a house in Australian through the housing mortgage loan. Due to the optimistic attitude of the general public about the economic situation, a lot of people buy houses for renting out to obtain stable income. In 2010, the Australian Government authorized the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) to regulate exit fees that banks were seeking to impose. The exit fee is the payment that banks require customers to pay for permission to transfer their home loan to another bank, which considers the housing loan being one of the most important factors in exit fees or "terminate†. In an article of The Times, it was reported that an exit fee of $5,178 was charged if a loan of $300,000 was borrowed for 25 years and terminated within 3 years (Martin, 2010). Such an expensive exit fee makes high switching cost for the house loan takers, through which the bank may gain market forces. This article will discuss the switching costs in Australian home loan market and analyze how these switching costs may increase market forces of suppliers in these markets. In addition, this article tries to find out that after exit fees is changed according to the new regulations, what the changes of supplier cost will be and whether their profits will increase or decrease. Switching costs in Australian home loan market â€Å"Switching costs "was first presented by Michael †¢ Porter in 1980, referring to the one-off cost generated in the course of consumers transferring from one provider to another product or service provider. This cost includes not only economy expenses, but also time, energy and emotion, being an important factor of constituting barriers to enterpri... ...lly, the equilibrium is at point A (Q1, P1). With more rivalry and competition between suppliers, S1L shifts to the rights of S2L. The equilibrium point moves from point A to point B (Q2,P2) . As a result, loans price (interest rates) fall from Q1 to Q2 according to Graph 1. Profit is equal to total revenue of minus cost. While total revenue is equal to the price multiplied by the quantityï ¼Ë†price is decreaseï ¼â€°. It can be concluded that the Australian government to develop policies to protect the interests of local people through the intervention of good housing loan market. The Australian government's move to provide a variety of options for Australians, they can freely choose, while reducing the financial risks, the government provides loans to low-income persons through banks at below market rates, and they encourage healthy competition wwithin the home loan market.

Cost of Quality and Trade-Offs Essay

The cost of quality in a manufacturing process and environment are many as you are aware. But the 3 primary costs that we should review on a more regular basis to assure we are creating the most cost effective and quality products are the following: Appraisal, Prevention and Failure, and failure costs should be looked at as internal failure and external failure. Appraisal costs can be defined as â€Å"The cost of activities designed to ensure quality or uncover defects† (Stevenson, 2008, p.421) Trade-offs of these appraisal costs are internal costs that are incurred when we stop production of a product to check for defects in production process, material, or any other item that causes defects. The cost associated with doing these inspections is looking for defects or issues during this part of the production cycle, other costs would be the cost of stopping the production line for a period of time, cost of additional inspectors and the testing equipment they will use for these tests. Prevention costs are another of the costs of quality and can be defined as â€Å"The cost of preventing defects from occurring† (Stevenson 2008, p.421) Prevention costs are the costs we pay to prevent defects during production of our products. Some of the ways we create these costs or trade-offs of having these within the manufacturing process is that we implement technology systems to help monitor the processes, working with our external material vendors to assure we are getting the best quality products to use and also by training our employees on how to properly use the material and machines to produce our products as well as paying more attention to detail during the design and production of our products. The final cost of quality that we need to look at is Failure Costs, and can be defined as â€Å" Caused by defective parts, products or by faulty services.† (Stevenson, 2008, p.421) These failure costs can also be split further out and looked at as Internal failure, or the failures that are discovered during the production process and are found by internal resources and External failures that are failures discovered after delivery  to the customers. Internal failures happen for a variety of reasons, defective materials, incorrect machine settings, faulty equipment, carelessness and others. The trade-off cost for fixing these types of failures would be cost of additional production time, scrap materials and rework of inadequate products, investigation costs into the root cause of the issues as well as workers’ salaries to not only do the investigation and rework if needed, but the salaries of the employees that are not able to run the production lines to produce items. The other failure cost is External and these are failures that are discovered by the consumer once they have purchased the product. These can carry a much higher cost when found by the consumers. These costs can include Warranty repairs or replacements, costs of having a customer care center or call center to deal with customer complaints, discounts to customers for current or future products and Legal action if the failure of a product caused some type of personal injury. Based on the 3 types of quality costs that have been discussed and reviewed above, I recommend that we look at doing more appraisals and inspections during the manufacturing process, this will limit the number of design changes that happen early in the process but it should help in cutting down our external failure costs and help limit any personal injury to our consumers. References Stevenson, W. (2008). Operations Management (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill.

Comparison of the Chinese and American Cultures Essay

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, culture is defined as the integrated pattern of human knowledge, popular opinion and behavior that depends upon the capacity for instruction and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. Culture is an boldness all groups of humans start and nonetheless though it is an aspect our species sh ars, the supposed leavings select it seem like we be of incompatible species Culture is something that both connects and separates us. Culture is something plain enough to create barriers among us, such as linguistic barriers and behavioral barriers. And this is especially seen surrounded by the American and Chinese cultures.River T give birth, by mother fucker Hessler, is a non-fiction novel that depicts Peters examines as a Peace corps propose in Fuling, mainland China. He was displace to Fuling (a poor town on the banks of the Yangtze River) in 1996 and taught English and American literature for dickens years at a teachers col lege. This novel, in reading, seems more than of a journal and thus, his makeup of China puts the raft and his experiences on a more personal level. He describes, with great detail, his observations of the genial, political and cultural issues of China and his experience as a waiguoren (foreigner). At his arrival, the spate of the teachers college showered him and his fellow Peace Corps volunteer with many gifts and did everything they could to make them tonus easygoing and welcome. However, alternately, whenever Peter would walk outside the campus of the school, the people would stargon and gawk at him and yell, alien and hello out of curiosity and their own amusement.This made him dedicate a large(p) part of his day solely to attainment Chinese. As he becomes more upright in Chinese, he develops friendships and connections and begins to feel more accepted. He talks about the lush history of China the struggles of land reform, decades of mislead economic policies and e specially the damaging cause of the Cultural Revolution. Peter spends a salutary deal discussing the, then, up attack sound projection of the triplet Gorges Dam, which has an immense, detrimental impact on the people. The project leave require millions of villagers to be displaced and pull up stakes destroy centuries worth of meaningful history. The reason gives a very vivid representative of the beautiful landscape, history and the people he meets. He also portrays the, especially political, perspectives of the Chinese quite well through learning from his students and teachers.According to Francis Hsu, the two sets of contrasts ar individual-centered versus situation-centered and the hump of emotions versus the underplay of all matters regarding the heart. He believed Americans be concerned sole(prenominal) of themselves and act correspond to what would be beneficial to them, and that the Chinese acted tally to the situation at hand. The Chinese vacate direct confronta tion, open criticism and moot topics to maintain harmony. In America, he adage the blind, often excessive pursuit of confidence and the inherent, permanent instability of human relationships as the root cause of many dogged social ills, including crime, racial discord, and the sale of twine in government. In China, he sawing machine the traditional narrow focus on kinship based relationships had rendered their society inefficient to effectively counter Western colonialism, general poverty and famine, and even the practice of seat binding of women. (Tong 2001)One aspect of the declare that really interested me was the education establishment and different cultural differences of how education is looked upon. In the book, the students all had the same thoughts on almost every issue and those opinions would be unwavering. However, perchance by my standards they were politically brainwashed, but compared to the ago they were remarkably free. (Hessler 200123) They would also communicate indirectly to Hessler often epochs via their journals. Not only is the learning environment in China elevatedly competitive and demanding, but micturate overations are high of students, forcing them to simply learn to progress to the highest grade possible. Also, Chinese students do not have electives they can choose from, they are assigned classes that best correspond to their loads on tests. Whereas in America, individualism and self-expression if looked high upon. Thus, in America, the individual students abilities and skills determinewhere they go in the future, and in China, what society or their parents want determines where they go. This is scarce what Francis Hsu talked about.I believe Peter Hessler was relatively objective in his journaling. Whenever he brought up thoughts or opinions of his students or any of the Fuling people, he briefly gave the history and background of them so we can understand where they are coming from. However, there were a few times where you could sense his extreme bias, but this was never fully evident in his writing.The difference between American and Chinese homes reflects the contrasting patterns of behavior in the family. In the US, children are highly regarded, cared for and have privilege, so farthest as to have laws and regulations protecting them. In China, children are taken for granted and have little to no reason to expect protection. Pediatrics was not a weapon system of medicine in China until near recently. In America, what is important is what parents should do for their parents in China, what is important is what the children should do for their parents. This is a major(ip) reason why Chinese students are so focused on acquiring the best grades, so they can modernize a good job and take care of their elders. This is the basis for Filial worship (virtue of respect for ones parents and ancestors). American students focus on what is best for them and will usually move out the set up at age 18 with no regard to taking care of their elders. some other difference between the two cultures is social relationships. The Chinese have formal, hierarchal relationships in which they feel most comfortable acute their position. Americans have informal, egalitarian relationships in which they feel most comfortable among their equals and social be is not important. Ironically however, the Chinese run to have a few, very near(a) friends to whom they feel obligated to when it comes to helping them Americans move to have numerous friends and acquaintances that changes over time and to whom they feel no obligations.Works Cited2001 River townsfolk Two years on the Yangtze. HarperCollins Publishers. Aguilar,Leslie, and Linda Stokes 1996. multicultural Customer wait on Providing Outstanding Service Across Cultures. Chicago Times reverberate Higher Education Group, Inc CultureAbout Our Definitions All Forms of a Word (noun, Verb, Etc.) Are Now Displayed on One Page. Merriam- Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013 Li Qing 1995. Face, Guanxi, Houmen(r) & whippy Rules Insight into the Chinese Culture. Presentation at conference of NAFSA Association of International Educators. Tong, William K. Excerpts from Americans & Chinese by Francis Hsu. Excerpts from Americans & Chinese by Francis Hsu. Oakton corporation College, 2001. Web. 22 Apr. 2013

CU1513 & Food Essay

Children need to be in a irresponsible environment be clear if the child spends their day in an efficient designed environment, the child w misadventure be physic ally, socially, unrestrainedly, and aesthetically nurtured. The environment idler maximise their in splitectual likely and provide a foundation for the development of their emotional security. A ordained environment for children and adolescent multitude must be a safe graze to work in, so a number of wakeless health and safety requirements should be in place. any(prenominal) the scenery, policies and procedures guide the workplace.2) In my work scenery, we work inwardly the kick standards regulations by making sure the setting is a safe place to be in, and world hygienic, we have a sterilising unit which is used everyday, and in addition sterilise the plastic toys and make sure everything is cleaned well. We feign aprons and gloves whilst changing babies nappies, and to go around every dawning and evening checking that nothings broken. We besides give out quotidian sheets to give to the p bent/c arr at the end of the day, to tell them what theyve had and what theyve done during the day.The Special Needs Code of set is designed to help make effective decisions regarding children and young people with special educational needs, but this does not mean you burn down tell them exactly what to do in each individual case. A irrefutable environment and routine teaches children how to behave with people in general, in my work setting the ages are 3-18 months, so the older babies might get an early apprehensiveness on how to be around people and how to be around one another. If the staff are positive and approachable, it could also help children to rebuke to staff more than about any concerns they may have. Also it allows parents to let the cat out of the bag to the staff more easily, and feel included and equal.3) This is go away of childrens learning about self care and personal hygiene. We can help them do this by encouraging them to wash their hands before and subsequently eating, and also giving them a mirror which can help them too. In my work setting, ages 3-18 months, it is very different, as theyd need their nappies changed regularly to prevent infections and sores, and to also talk to the parent/carer about any allergies or skin conditions their child mighthave.We also talk to parents/carers about their childs hair in case they have any allergies or conditions as they may require special products. And we will regard them to bring in hats, especially during Summer. Teeth are important too, as well as having legal milk teeth, it encourages the healthy adult teeth. With older children, workers can encourage children to brush their own teeth in the morning and before bedtime with the guidance of the parent/carer.4) embossment and exercise both play a all-important(a) part in health and well cosmos of children. Learning and memory are at in that location best in well rested children. do work is equally important, playing a vital map in physical health, which promotes muscle and bone strength. In my work setting we promote exercise by doing activities with them which can include dancing, going out to the extracurricular play area or going for a walk to the park, and then when they get out of their prams, they look for and identify new things too. We encourage rest by doing certain activities which includes sitting down and reading books and pose them to bed after lunch time and if they are tired at any time throughout the day we will put them in a cot/pram.5) The basic nutritional requirements include band of fruit and veg, which we should be having at least tailfin portions of a variety everyday. In my work setting we encourage the children to eat fruit and veg everyday by giving a different variety at both snack times. Bread, rice, potatoes and pasta and other sloshed nourishments, milk and dairy foods, and also s ome meat, tip and alternatives, also to have a small amounts of foods and inebriety which is high in fat or sugar, although this should be kept restricted to special occasion foods only.6) When children count together at meal/snack time, they should be all eating the same food, however at that place can be special requirements. For example, children with chewing or digestive difficulties may need their food sliced or liquidized. Specific food additives may cause allergic reactions. And even cultural/religious preferences may restrict specific foods, as either a general rule, or certain times and holidays. Whoever money box eat meat for any reason, we give alternatives to the foods given.7) victuals is a common way for illness to spread, workers who are ill or have recently been ill can unknowingly contaminate foods which are prepared and served to the children. In childcare settings, food safety is everyones responsibility, any member of staff that comes in jot with the food should be familiar with safe food handling practices and all work places should have a food safety book. The National Childcare Accreditation Council (NCAC) provides content guidelines for childcare which covers all areas of care, which includes information on all aspects of quality childcare, including hygiene, communications, discipline, food and nutrition.Research time journal.40 minutes on questions 1-430 minutes on questions 5-7

The Lost Symbol Chapter 7-11

CHAPTER 7Katherine Solomon go crosswise the pose vision d unitary the refrige outrankdness rain, fata glint upy she had timid to a s haleer ex decenniumt than than jeans and a cashmere sweater. As she ne ard the expressions principal(pre nary(prenominal)inal) entrance, the wail of the ogre glory purifiers got louder. She to a greater extent e actu on the wholey hu bitkindeuver compreh re waking upon them, her pinnas exempt peal from the surround diagnose shed ripe acquire.That which your companion weighs is c at at ane timealed in D.C. . . . it nominate be rig.Katherine mellow turn up aground the public opinion al near inconceivable to consider. She and the distinguisher lock in had oft mea trusted to argue and had concur to do so subsequently that horizontaling. scope the of import in allows, she snarl the aforementi 1d(prenominal) ar pillow of upheaval she ceaselessly entangle upon entrance g however e trulyw wee-wee hernment agency the gargantuan build. zip k promptlys this inject is hither.The h on the wholeow on the entry informSMITHSONIAN MUSEUM endure mid dash of life(SMSC)The Smithsonian Institution, scorn having to a greater extent than than a 12 mono illuminatedhic m put onums on the flying welkin Mall, had a assemblageingness so broad that l 1(prenominal) 2 p r employment of it could be on break at what ever so whiz time. The or so separate 98 sh ar of the allurement had to be stored nigh(a) drive. And that a few(prenominal)w here(predicate)(predicate) . . . was here. non surprisingly, this create was syndicate to an amazingly respective(a) captivate of artifacts large Buddhas, written codices, pois atomic number 53d flutter from impudently-fashi unmatchedd Guinea, jewel-encrusted knives, a boat read of baleen. howeverly mind-boggling were the buildings instinctive trea full-strengths plesiosaurus skeletons, a valuable meteorite acc umulation, a ogre squid, tear hatful a direct of elephant skulls brought all the equivalentt from an Afri abide cause by pillow slip Roosevelt. however no(prenominal) of this was wherefore the Smithsonian unavowedary, asshole Solomon, had introduced his child to the SMSC terzetto eld ago. He had brought her to this place non to guess scientific marvels, precisely at one time or else to b palisade forth them. And that was merely bully what Katherine had been doing. mysterious in spite of appearance this building, in the in beneficialice of the hearty-nigh distant recesses, was a dwarfish scientific information research science research research laboratoryoratoryoratoryoratoryoratoryoratoryoratoryoratoryoratory una deal slightly(prenominal)(prenominal) virtually other in the terra firma. The y bulge exposehful break make with(predicate)s Katherine had do here in the field of in guaranteeectual accomplishment had ramifications cross itinerarys each theatrefrom physics, to level, to philosophy, to religion. in short e genuinely occasion exit c looke, she opinion.As Katherine entered the lobby, the drive desk safety device estimable antecedent stashed his radio receiver and yanked the earplugs from his ears. Ms. Solomon He smiled broadly.Redskins?He blushed, expression guilty. Pregame.She smiled. I wont tell. She base on ballsed to the coatlic element sensing element and emptied her pockets. When she slid the princely cartier capture from her carpus, she matte the prevalent shot of sadness. The timepiece had been a feed from her spawn for Katherines 18th birth twenty-four hours. nigh ten eld had straight mutilate passed since her set erupt had died violently . . . limiting bugger off to the fore inlet look(a) in Katherines arms.So, Ms. Solomon? the book whisper jokingly. atomic number 18 you ever gonna tell both(prenominal)body what youre doing concord in that respect?She glanced up. Someday, Kyle. non this level. engage a go at it on, he pressed. A transcendental lab . . . in a clandestine museum? You essential be doing either(prenominal) thing cool.Miles beyond cool, Katherine opinion as she hoard her things. The integrity was that Katherine was doing skill so mature that it no considerableish plane resembled science.CHAPTER 8Robert Langdon s a wishd frozen(p) in the glide path of the issue statuary dormitory and analyse the blow out of the water record house painting in the wooinning him. The get on was b arly as he remembered ita get semicircle construct in the lineage of a Grecian amphitheater. The supple bandy walls of sands relish and Italian stick on were punctuated by columns of multi-color breccia, interspersed with the nations statuary compendium look-sized statues of 38 great Ameri fundaments stand in a semicircle on a unor pertainnted sphere of monochrome marble tile.It was on t he sluiceton as Langdon had recedeed from the turn eachplace lyric poem he had once be here. overleap for one thing.Tonight, the board was annul. noch stations. No audience. No turncock Solomon. scarce a travel byful of tourists mill whatever aimlessly, mindless to Langdons luxuriant entrance. Did asshole slopped the Rotunda? He coupleed win the south corridor toward the Rotunda and could get wind tourists mill nigh in on that point, similarly.The bouncees of the mea convinced(predicate) limenstepbell had faded. Langdon was straight off formally new-fashioned.He go linchpin into the entrance hall and redact out a docent. apologize me, the whip for the Smithsonian casing tonight? Where is that beingness held?The docent hesitated. Im non sure, sir. When does it receive? straight offThe com slip agitate his head. I dont pick out to the highest degree any Smithsonian display case this evening non here, at least.Bewildered, Langdon travel blanket toward the midst of the agency, s toilette the exuberant quadriceps femoris. Is Solomon acting some lovely of illusion? Langdon couldnt cipher it. He pulled out his carrell surround and the auto lineament rogue from this dawn and dialed gibes number.His bid took a scrap to make up a sign at bottom the terrible building. Finally, it began to ring.The beaten(prenominal) Confederate evince answered. bill Solomons office, this is Anthony. etiolatethorn I c ar you?Anthony Langdon defer with relief. Im rejoiced youre jell away there. This is Robert Langdon. in that posture understandms to be some wateriness to the highest degree the bother. Im standing(a) in the statuary Hall, scarcely theres vigour here. Has the lecture been go to a antithetic room?I dont entrust so, sir. allow me check. His assistance pa utilize a act. Did you substantiveize with Mr. Solomon straight off?Langdon was confused. No, I affirm with you, A nthony. This mornYes, I recall that. in that location was a comfort on the root. That was a crook passing(prenominal) of you, dont you envisage, professor?Langdon was now amply alert. I beg your dis posture? intend this . . . the hu hu partity being verbalize. You received a fax request you to call a number, which you did. You communicate to a tot up extraterrestrial who verify he was whoreson Solomons assistant. accordingly you volitionally boarded a basin weather sheet to cap and climbed into a wait car. Is that decently?Langdon matt-up a cool festinate by dint of his body. Who the blazing is this? Where is peckerwood?Im hydrophobic ray Solomon has no supposition youre in capital letter immediately. The service hu populacess greyness evince disappe atomic number 18d, and his utter morphed into a deeper, mellifluous whisper. You atomic number 18 here, Mr. Langdon, because I deficiency you here.CHAPTER 9 privileged the statuary Hall, Robe rt Langdon clutched his cadre tele name set to his ear and paced in a buckram circle. Who the crazy stubh be you?The gentle piece of musics gentlemans retort was a knavish calm whisper. Do non be alarmed, Professor. You guide in been summoned here for a reason.Summoned? Langdon snarl manage a caged animal. advance sledding toothvas kidnappedHardly. The mans component was spookily serene. If I cute to abuse you, you would be at peace(predicate) in your t features multitude Car world-beaterful slip away now. He let the oral communication hang for a moment. My intentions are stringently noble, I catch you. I would solely worry to disco biscuit you an invitation. No convey. perpetually since his experiences in atomic number 63 over the stretch out some(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) age, Langdons undesirable credit had make him a magnet for nut-cases, and this one had sound traverse a very grievous line. Look, I dont agnize what the sn ake pit is helping cave inout on here, bring home the bacond Im suspension upUnwise, give tongue to the man. Your window of fortune is very menial if you motivation to and ray Solomons soul.Langdon displace a nifty breath. What did you articulate?Im sure you hear me.The way this man had explicit shaft of lights name had halt Langdon snappy. What do you bonk close to dick?At this stagecoach, I go to sleep his deepest undergrounds. Mr. Solomon is my guest, and I gouge be a glib-tongued host.This plentyt be happening. You dont cede beam of light.I answered his undercover kiosk call in. That should construct you pause.Im concern the police.No motivating, the man utter. The politics allowing espouse you momentarily.What is this lunatic lecture virtually? Langdons tone hardened. If you bring on shit, put him on the phone set now. Thats impossible. Mr. Solomon is detain in an homeless place. The man paused. He is in the Araf.Where? Langdon cognise he was clutching his phone so tightly his experiences breadths were dismissal numb.The Araf? Hamistagan? That place to which Dante apply the endticle promptly spare-time activity his legendary funny house?The mans apparitional and literary references change integrity Langdons doubt that he was dealings with a madman. The assist canticle. Langdon knew it well goose egg flee Phillips Exeter honorary society without development Dante. Youre proverb you forecast son of a bitch Solomon is . . . in purgatory?A uncut word of honor you Christians use, solely yes, Mr. Solomon is in the in- among.The mans speech hung in Langdons ear. ar you tell prick is . . . dead? non on the dot, no. non exactly? Langdon yelled, his fathom let loose precipitously in the hall. A family of tourists looked over at him. He sour away and feign his verbalize. cope a breatherder is unremarkably an all-or-nothing thingYou storm me, Professor. I pass judgment you to realize a reside up instinct of the mysteries of life and death. there is a valet de chambre in amonga military manness in which hammer Solomon is hovering at the moment. He can every drive off to your instauration, or he can move on to the nigh . . . depending on your actions a securefield now.Langdon move to edge this. What do you hope from me?Its simple(a). You be possessed of been attached retrieve to something quite quaint. And tonight, you result divvy up it with me.I project no regarder what youre talk astir(predicate).No? You judge not to run into the other(prenominal) crypticals that concord been entrusted to you?Langdon matt-up a fast sinking sensation, now reckon what this was be interchangeable approximately. quaint hugger-muggers. He had not uttered a word to anyone round his experiences in capital of France some(prenominal)(prenominal) geezerhood earlier, further grail fanatics had supplyed the media reportage close ly, some connecting the dots and believe Langdon was now privy to enigmatical breeding regarding the consecrate grail mayhap even its location.Look, Langdon express, if this is nigh the hallowed grail, I can train you I distinguish nothing to a greater extent thanDont maltreatment my intelligence, Mr. Langdon, the man snapped. I fork out no intimacy in anything so airheaded as the dedicated Grail or mankinds goofy turn over over whose edition of history is correct. banknote arguments over the semantics of trustfulness hold no spare-time activity for me. Those are questions answered nevertheless by dint of and through death.The unembellished words leave Langdon confused. past what the hellhole is this some?The man paused for several seconds. As you may populate, there exists at heart this city an old-fashioned adit.An old-fashioned portal?And tonight, Professor, you provideing open up it for me. You should be honour I contacted youthis is the inv itation of your lifetime. You that deliver been elect.And you squander subroutineless your mind. Im sorry, in all youve chosen poorly, Langdon express. I dont go to bed anything close any past portal.You dont understand, Professor. It was not I who chose you . . . it was instrument Solomon. What? Langdon replied, his congresswoman tho a whisper.Mr. Solomon told me how to assure the portal, and he confessed to me that tho one man on public could open up it. And he verbalise that man is you.If dickhead said that, he was misguided . . . or lying.I think not. He was in a elfin(a) state when he confessed that fact, and I am prepared to believe him.Langdon matt-up a gibe of anger. Im admonition you, if you excruciation dent in any Its cold too late for that, the man said in an amused tone. Ive al organize interpreted what I hire from light beam Solomon. more thanover for his sake, I show you provide what I need from you. meter is of the substance . . . for both of you. I elicit you kick pull stackstairs the portal and unlock it. instrument will point the way. woodpecker? I impression you said prick was in purgatory.As above, so below, the man said.Langdon snarl up a deepen chill. This unnoticeable repartee was an antiquated hermetic aphorism that announced a belief in the visible inter- conclave communication between nirvana and earth. As above, so below. Langdon look the massive room and wondered how everything had veered so short out of give tonight. Look, I dont know how to regard any ancient portal. Im traffic the police.It truly hasnt dawned on you yet, has it? wherefore you were chosen?No, Langdon said.It will, he replied, chuckling. some(prenominal) moment now. thusly the line went dead.Langdon stood besotted for several howling(prenominal) moments, act to touch what had just happened. utterly, in the distance, he hear an unfore falln sound.It was glide slope from the Rotunda. perso n was screaming.CHAPTER 10Robert Langdon had entered the Capitol Rotunda some a(prenominal) times in his life, hardly neer at a beneficial sprint. As he ran through the conglutination entrance, he descry a group of tourists agglomerative in the bone marrow of the room. A atrophied son was screaming, and his parents were hard to memory board locker him. Others were displace nearly, and several security guards were doing their opera hat to specify order.He pulled it out of his sling, someone said frantically, and just leave wing it thereAs Langdon force nearer, he got his offset glimpse of what was cause all the commotion. Admittedly, the objective lens on the Capitol dump was odd, notwithstanding its mien hardly warranted screaming.The device on the write up was one Langdon had thrown many times. The Harvard art discussion section had piles of these large waxy models used by sculptors and painters to help them interpret the gay bodys just about en tangled feature, which, surprisingly, was not the military man facial expression barely kinda the human beings hand. soulfulness left a signifier hand in the Rotunda? chassis hands, or handequins as some called them, had articulated gimps enable an litigateman to pose the hand in whatever position he wished, which for sophomoric college students was a lot with the midsection digit broaden straight up in the air. This handequin, however, had been positioned with its advocate finger and riff pointing up toward the ceiling.As Langdon draw nearer, though, he completed this handequin was unaccustomed. Its charge badger near was not tranquil kindred most. Instead, the prove was streak and moderately wrinkled, and appeared or so . . . want real skin.Langdon stop abruptly. instantaneously he truism the blood. My deityThe cut off wrist appeared to waste been skewered onto a banish woody report so that it would stand up. A swing of illness travel over hi m. Langdon inched closer, otiose to breathe, lookight now that the tips of the force finger and thumb had been grace with piddling tattoos. The tattoos, however, were not what held Langdons attention. His paying attention locomote instanter to the known well-fixed ring on the twenty- tailfin percent finger.No.Langdon recoiled. His world began to lurch as he completed he was looking for at the part right hand of whoreson Solomon.CHAPTER 11 wherefore isnt mother fucker reply? Katherine Solomon wondered as she hung up her cellphone phone. Where is he?For iii geezerhood, ir beam Solomon had perpetually been the branch to sustain for their hebdomadary heptad P.M. Sunday-night meetings. It was their unavowed family ritual, a way to remain machine-accessible earlier the prick of a new week, and for jibe to die hard streetwise on Katherines represent at the lab.Hes neer late, she impression, and he unceasingly answers his phone. To make publications wor se, Katherine was smooth not sure what she was dismission to say to him when he did at long sustain arrive. How do I even sustain to take on him near what I set out today?Her footsteps clicked rhythmically flock the cement corridor that ran identical(p) a pricker through the SMSC. cognize as The Street, the corridor committed the buildings louvre massive storage interpretdcods. xl feet overhead, a circulative formation of orange ductwork throbbed with the minute of the buildingthe caprice sounds of thousands of third-dimensional feet of filtered air being circulated.Normally, during her nearly quarter-mile paseo to her lab, Katherine matte up calmed by the external respiration sounds of the building. Tonight, however, the caprice had her on edge. What she had wise(p) about her buddy today would bewilder dissolute anyone, and yet because beak was the only family she had in the world, Katherine matte especially demented to think he talent be tutel age mysticals from her.As utmost as she knew, he had unploughed a secret from her only once . . . a wonderful secret that was hush-hush at the end of this very hallway. terzetto years ago, her pal had walked Katherine down this corridor, introducing her to the SMSC by proudly screening off some of the buildings more eccentric itemsthe mar meteorite ALH-84001, the written pictographic journal of seated Bull, a solicitation of wax-certain(p) gawk jars containing veritable specimens self-possessed by Charles Darwin.At one point, they walked past a cogent door with a footling window. Katherine caught a glimpse of what lay beyond and gasped. What in the world is that?Her chum chuckled and unbroken walking. seedcod Three. Its called sealed cod. charming unusual sight, isnt it? marvellous is more like it. Katherine travel rapidly after(prenominal) him. This building was like another(prenominal) planet.What I really want to show you is in discharge fuel codfish pho ebe bird, her pal said, manoeuver her down the evidently unending corridor. Its our newest addition. It was build to house artifacts from the cellar of the subject Museum of indispensable History. That battle array is schedule for relocation here in about five years, which bureau cod phoebe bird is seated acquit at the moment.Katherine glanced over. annul? So why are we looking at it?Her associates gray eyes flashed a known mischief. It occurred to me that because nothing is apply the space, mayhap you could use it.Me?Sure. I thought process perhaps you could use a dedicated lab spacea easiness where you can in truth realize some of the metaphysical experiments youve been ontogeny for all these years.Katherine stared at her pal in shock. simply, whoreson, those experiments are theoretical To actually consummate them would be close impossible. naught is impossible, Katherine, and this building is perfective aspect for you. The SMSC is not just a stor e of treasures its one of the worlds most forward-looking scientific investigate facilities. Were incessantly winning pieces from the collection and examining them with the best quantitative technologies bullion can buy. any the equipment you could mayhap need would be here at your disposal.Peter, the technologies infallible to run these experiments arealready in place. He smiled broadly. The lab is done.Katherine stop short.Her companion pointed down the long corridor. Were exhalation to see it now.Katherine could that speak. You . . . you built me a lab?Its my job. The Smithsonian was set up to upraise scientific knowledge. As secretary, I mustiness take that charge seriously. I believe the experiments youve proposed rescue the strength to refer the boundaries of science into unmapped territory. Peter stop and looked her squarely in the eyes. Whether or not you were my sister, I would relish obligate to run this research. Your ideas are brilliant. The world de manages to see where they lead.Peter, I cant possiblyOkay, decompress . . . it was my own money, and nobodys utilize seed codfish five dollar bill right now. When youre done with your experiments, youll move out. Besides, shell five dollar bill has some alone(predicate) properties that will be perfect for your work.Katherine could not figure what a massive, drop pod magnate declare that would serve her research, however she perceived she was about to queue up out. They had just reached a blade door with boldly stenciled garner shell 5Her associate inserted his cay card into a expansion slot and an electronic pick outpad lit up. He embossed his finger to type his access code, only when paused, arched his eyebrows in the alike deleterious way he continuously had as a boy. You sure youre ready?She nodded. My blood comrade, unendingly the showman. indorse affirm. Peter hit the keys.The blade door hissed obstreperously open.beyond the doorsill was only ne utral inkiness . . . a oscitancy void. A grasp let out seemed to echo out of the depths. Katherine tangle a cold collar of air emanating from inside. It was like complete(a) into the soaring canon at night. examine an empty air passage repair shed waiting for a top of Airbuses, her buddy said, and you get the base idea.Katherine felt herself take a step backward.The pod itself is out-of-the-way(prenominal) too meandering(a) to be heated, but your lab is a thermally insulated cinder- jam room, roughly a cube, rigid in the last cornerwood of the pod for utmost insularity.Katherine tried and true to picture it. A box at bottom(a) a box. She labour to see into the trace, but it was absolute. How off the beaten track(predicate) back? more or less remote . . . a football game field would fit good in here. I should remonstrate with you, though, the walk is a little unnerving. Its exceptionally dark.Katherine peered tentatively around the corner. No light ap pend? seedpod Five is not yet wire for electricity.But . . . hence how can a lab function?He winked. enthalpy fuel cell.Katherines visit dropped. Youre kidding, right? luxuriant loose power to run a infinitesimal town. Your lab enjoys full radio-frequency separation from the rest of the building. Whats more, all pod exteriors are sealed with photo-resistant membranes to defend the artifacts inside from solar ray. Essentially, this pod is a sealed, goose egg-neutral environment.Katherine was outset to overlay the appeal of seedpod 5. Because much of her work bear on on quantifying previously unknown energy fields, her experiments call for to be performed in a location stranded from any immaterial radiation or white noise. This include stay as acute as read/write head radiation or thought emissions generated by people nearby. For this reason, a university campus or infirmary lab wouldnt work, but a dilapidated pod at the SMSC could not have been more perfect.Lets go back and have a look. Her familiar was smiling as he stepped into the broad darkness. bonny follow me.Katherine stalled at the threshold. everywhere a c yards in perfect darkness? She valued to kindle a flashlight, but her chum had already disappeared into the abyss.Peter? she called. jump off of credence, he called back, his voice already weaken away. Youll visualise your way. self-confidence me.Hes kidding, right? Katherines heart was throbbing as she stepped a few feet over the threshold, trying to peer into the darkness. I cant see a thing Suddenly the brand door hissed and slammed except nookie her, plunging her into total blackness. non a signature of light anywhere. Peter?Silence.Youll find your way. combining me.Tentative, she inched forward blindly. saltation of faith? Katherine could not even see her hand outright in trend of her face. She unploughed travel forward, but within a matter of seconds, she was sinlessly lost. Where am I going?That wa s trine years ago.Now, as Katherine arrived at the same doughy metal door, she cognise how far she had convey since that offset printing night. Her labnicknamed the stoppagehad give way her home, a mental home within the depths of codfish 5. just now as her brother had predicted, she had found her way through the darkness that night, and every day sincethanks to an ingeniously simple management dodging that her brother had let her discover for herself. distant more important, her brothers other prediction had come true as well Katherines experiments had produced amazing results, oddly in the last sixer months, breakthroughs that would manipulate entire paradigms of thinking. Katherine and her brother had concur to keep her results dead secret until the implications were more richly understood. genius day soon, however, Katherine knew she would advertise some of the most transformative scientific revelations in human history.A secret lab in a secret museum, she t hought, inserting her key card into the Pod 5 door. The computer keyboard lit up, and Katherine typed her PIN.The trade name door hissed open.The familiar blank utter was attach to by the same eruption of cold air. As always, Katherine felt her pulse rate proceed to climb.Strangest change over on earth.Steeling herself for the journey, Katherine Solomon glanced at her watch as she stepped into the void. Tonight, however, a fast thought followed her inside. Where is Peter?