Karl Marx’s

Karl Marx’s German Ideology is a relook at the foundation of Philosophy and all combined artistic expressions of man in the new focus of material activities and quests. Since Karl Marx was influenced by the disparities in human beings and wanted to explore the conditions that either give birth to, or arise from, these disparities, his philosophy is more aligned to the more mundane daily activities.German Ideology is a critically significant relook at the philosophies of the day to incorporate the basic needs of human being as the basis for the concepts of ownership, labor and family as a unit of the society. Marx argues that 1. Concept of ownership is a convenient work around of self interest, 2. Labor forms the basis of the social structure, and 3. The relationship between man and woman has a pragmatic basis of increasing and procuring labor (more than the element of love or companionship, which is propagated through every other form of philosophy).The main differentiator of Human beings and animals is that Man produces the means of his subsistence. Marx argues that the act of production defines human being and his existence.†This mode of production must not be considered simply as being the production of the physical existence of the individuals. Rather it is a definite form of activity of these individuals, a definite form of expressing their life, a definite mode of life on their part†.Therefore any interaction between two communities or two countries is essentially a discourse between tow productive forces. The act of productivity, in order to continue in a manner that serves the self interest of each of the individual unit as well as the dependant community around it gives birth to the earliest form of ownership. Great stretches of uncultivated lands give birth to the necessity of large ownership including that of an adequate labor force.All social interactions spring out of the necessary exchanges between the different producing classe s or the labor. According to Marx, social and political relations evolve over age from the life process of individuals, not out of any empirical or imaginary form of individuals, but a realistic, form – how they operate and how they produce. Marx goes on to theorize that the production of ideas, conception and consciousness are directly â€Å"interwoven with the material activity and the material intercourse of men, the language of real life.†Production as in the means of distinguishing human beings from animals as argued in point one and the production of more human forms are both two aspects of the same function, argues Marx. According to him, creation of new need (the act of satisfying one need gives rise to the need for instruments and the labor required to produce those instruments) is the first step of creating history. In this step of history, one of the first social interactions of man is to procreate or produce more of human beings and this is to be considered as the family that we know of today.Family and reproduction start of as the essentially production oriented early steps in social interactions. These interactions, when they happen on a macro level, give birth to huge feudal or any other form of community. Marx argues that the necessity of society in Man is equivalent to the herd mentality in animals but in this association instinct is replaced by consciousness.Karl Marx gives a truly â€Å"materialistic† twist to the motives of human endeavor and in this he philosophically captures the radical views of P.B.Shelly. Shelley has been highly sanitized by later day critics in that his works like â€Å"Ozymandias† always appear to be the defeatist or woefully inadequate human ramblings in the face of unattainable immortality or eternity. In reality the highly radical views of Shelly hint at a revolt.That might be one of the reasons why Shelly is considered a very high influence on pre Raphaelites and ultimately the precurs or for labor movement. Marx also subscribes to Shelly’s views of human materialistic quest being worthy of filling the annals of history. As one radical poet wrote in favor of Marxism, â€Å"History shall henceforth be the chronicle of the palanquin bearers†

Play a View from the Bridge Essay

This play a View from the Bridge raises many complex issues. Like the fact, that Beatrice’s cousins maybe found out by the immigration services and the fact that Eddie is overprotective over Catharine but Beatrice wants her to grow up. In addition, the way Eddie objects to Rodolpho’s appearance and manner. The biggest problem Beatrice has is that there seems to be no romance in there sex life no more. She feels that there is no sex life.  It becomes clear from the very beginning that Eddie has worries about his wife’s visitors from Italy. He fears that Catharine maybe putting her self out too much for her guests which maybe be a little true. The reader can tell he has these concerns when eddies says â€Å"Beatrice, all I’m worried about is you got such a heart that I’ll end up on the floor with you and they’ll be in our bed† Act One Pg 8  This statement shows that he is not just worried about his own well being he also worried that his wife maybe to kind to notice when people are taken advantage of her.  Beside that, he is worried about his reputation in his local community. He wishes to be seen as a local hero around his community, but I think as soon as he realized that his new guests maybe a threat to reputation for two reasons. The first being that Rudolph is courting Catharine and Eddie feels that inappropriate because in courting Catharine, Rudolph is drawing the wrong kind of attention to himself. This worries Eddie that the immigration may find them out and arrest him. Therefore loosing his reputation as the rock in the community. The other worry on eddies mind is that Catharine is growing up to fast and is very overprotective over her. In everything, she does, he is always protesting and making things difficult an example of this is when he asked her why she was all dressed up and where she is going. In addition, he shows his overprotective nature when Rodolpho decides that he has sexual feelings towards Catharine. He was doing everything in his power to prevent there wedding or there progression of there relationship. He made arguments. For example in act one tried to teach Rodolpho how to box just to pick a fight with him. He even went to extremes and kissed him to prove that Rodolpho was gay. As if that was not enough he also kissed Catharine, which showed his love and caring nature towards her, but it may also show that he may have more sexual feelings than a parental love for her.  Eddie is a very old-fashioned man he believes that men should dress and act in a certain manner. To Eddie Rodolpho does not act in that manner. Eddie has his own theory that Rudolph is a homosexual. Tries to prove his theory many times. Every time failing to prove his point. Much to his embarrassment in the end, it provoked him to try to stab Rudolph and Marco. The biggest problem is that the romance between Beatrice and Eddie do not have that much romance in there life. In the beginning of the play there is barley any romance between the two by the end the pair have no love for each other at all. The main wedge between them is Catharine. She has become a wedge between them because Eddie through out the play developing feelings for Catharine romantic and otherwise. Making Eddie grow ever more distant from Beatrice. This probably made Beatrice feel unwanted and a little bit jealous. She had hostile feeling toward Eddie when the hostile feeling should be towards Catharine. The only thing she had to say to Catharine is that she has to grow up. Whereas when she confronted Eddie about it, he just shrugged it off with â€Å"it’s complicated†. This statement may have made Beatrice feel alone and unwanted.  In conclusion Eddie drove him self to a state of madness and drove his family to a point of hatred. He has forced his family to despise him. To the point of wanting to cause him, harm. Even though the main two women in his life still love, him they may feel over protected and to controlled.

Nonpoint Source Pollution

Nonpoint source pollution is land runoff from drainage, rain, and seepage and hydraulic modification. It is caused by rain or snow melt that moves through and over the ground. When the runoff moves, it collects and picks up manmade and natural pollutants and ends up spilling into lakes, rivers, streams, and coastal waters. Nonpoint source pollution can include things like motor oil, toxic chemicals, animal droppings, trash and even insecticides. Our drinking water needs to be protected. It takes the help of the community, public water systems and resource managers.We can do small things such as posting signs in our community to let others know that any pollution in the area can contaminate our everyday drinking water. You can also be careful as to how much fertilizers and pesticides you use because the more you use, the more runs off when it rain and it is in the soil as well so when the rain washes the soil, it flows through storm drains. A great plan is to get a group together and help clean up along local rivers and streams and along side of the road.It helps to limit the trash and bacteria that contaminates our water. Other solutions to help prevent non point source pollution and help keep our water clean is to keep all harsh chemical substances stored away from the ground and in their original containers. Also, If you happen to wash your car, don’t allow the runoff to drain into the streets or the sewage system as it will contaminate it. Opposing views of these issues are perhaps people not agreeing to get up and go volunteer because they have better things to do.Some people see it that the city is supposed to take care of it. Some people won’t want to change the location of where they wash vehicles at. They all want convenience of course. Many people do not have proper inspections of their lawns that have been fertilized. They can be tested by professionals but people will oppose to because it will come with a fee, and others do not have the ir septic tanks cleaned out every few years because of the price as well.Non point source pollution also contributes to eutrophication which is runoff that has nitrogen and phosphate in it and it stimulates the growth of algae and it can harm and kills fish and organisms. The algae grow to make a mat over the water and on the floor of the water that diminishes the light through the water so it lowers the growth and productivity of other plants. â€Å"The water becomes depleted in oxygen. When the abundant algae die and decompose, much oxygen is consumed by those decomposers.Oxygen in the water is also lowered by the lack of primary production in the darkened, deeper waters. Lowered oxygen results in the death of fish that need high levels of dissolved oxygen such as trout, salmon and other desirable sport fish. The community composition of the water body changes, with fish that can tolerate low dissolved oxygen, such as carp predominating. As you can imagine, changes in fish commun ities have ramifications for the rest of the aquatic ecosystem as well, acting at least in part through changes in food webs. (Muir, P. 2009)Some challenges that my plan faces is that it’s not very easy to get others to partake in community service and to also notice the small things they do really contribute to non point source pollution in my community. It takes a group effort to raise awareness on this issue, but if everyone pulls together, our drinking water will be cleaner, our lakes ponds and rivers will be safer to swim and fish in and the plants and animals in the habitats of our waters will be safer and not endangered by our hazardous wastes.This plan effects the entire community and can become a very productive and positive way to protect our environment and ourselves. Our children drink the water we contaminate, even though it has passed through water treatments, it is still not clean enough to drink safely. We can also consider raising awareness groups and contact ing your local news stations to get the word out to your community and also have your coworkers get involved as well. References Muir, Patricia. Oct. 2009. Eutrophication. At people. oregonstate. edu

LEB1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

LEB1 - Essay Example Breyer stated that â€Å"a judges job is to figure out how the Founding Fathers values apply to modern issues.† (CBS News 2011). In the United States our courtrooms operate under the adversary system. The finder of fact (the person or persons who decide which facts are the true facts) can be a judge or a jury. When the fact finder is a jury, the individual members of the jury, known as jurors, collectively decide the true facts. (Find Law 2011). The standard of proof is different in criminal and civil cases. In a civil case the jury assesses the facts according to what they believe is â€Å"more probably true than not.† This has been compared to just going over the 50 yard line in football. In criminal cases jurors must be convinced that the facts are true â€Å"beyond a reasonable doubt.† The jurors must be representative of the community in which the trial is being conducted. (Find Law 2011). â€Å"At the beginning of the trial, the judge may order that more jurors be seated than are required for the verdict. These extra jurors are known as alternate jurors, and they are selected to guard against the possibility that some of the jurors will become ill or otherwise be unable to complete the trial. An alternate would attend the trial along with the regular jurors, but would not be called to participate in reaching a verdict unless one of the regular jurors was unable to continue. †¦ it is important for alternate jurors to always pay attention to testimony because they may be required to participate in the verdict should another juror be unable to complete his or her service.† (Find Law 2011). Lawyers are the link between our legal system and the society that legal system affects. The legal system affects society in almost everything the people in our society may do. For this reason lawyers are held to the highest

Self Analysis Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Self Analysis - Personal Statement Example I just wanted to experience the culture of the United States. I had been fascinated by American movies since I was a kid and something just clicked. And thanks to the strong Japanese Yen (not good for our exporters, but good for me); I had more than enough funds. So I spent the next year applying to colleges and planning for the next few years in the United States. The big day finally arrived; I took from the Tokyo Airport and landed in Los Angeles Airport. I was very excited. I had meticulously planned everything, my first visit to the United States was nothing like I expected. It was extremely exciting. My housing was already arranged. It was a house, off campus and I had three room mates, one from California, one from Singapore and one from India. It was a most interesting combination and it seemed we had a little U.N. going. My room mates were very helpful. Naresh from India was pursuing his Masters in Engineering; Li Kwon from Singapore was also doing his Phd in Biotechnology. And Chris Adams from San Diego was a fifth year senior pursuing his degree in liberal Arts. I had already arranged for a purchase and pick up of a car before I left from Tokyo. Chris dropped me of at the dealership. Though I had an international driver's license1, I decided against driving the car out of the dealership that day. I took some driving lessons for a week and got accustomed to driving on the opposite side. Having such a varied group of room mates also was a learning experience and various perspectives. I had taken a few cultural orientation classes in Tokyo before coming here, and there was some preparation given to us to expect a few people in the U.S. (a very small minority of people.) who could be xenophobic or racist. It did stick in my mind; however I could not find these xenophobic racist people at the classes I enrolled for and even at the cafeteria where I joined to work a few hours a week. After the first week I wondered if such people existed or if they were relics of a bygone area. I asked my room mates. Naresh said that most people he met held Indians in high regard. One time someone did yell at him out of a driving car when he was trying to cross the road calling him a "camel jockey" which was slightly misplaced racism as that is a derogatory term for Arabs. Lee Kwon said, he definitely did not encounter any. Chris who was a Caucasian said, generally African Americans encountered a lot of racism, but most of it was overt and not too blatant. It was of course illegal to discriminate on race at work or school. But Chris said an over proportionate percent of the African American Population would be arrested or sent to Prison.2 "There is a long and bitter history between blacks and whites in this country" he said. "Perhaps like between us and the Chinese or us and the Koreans". Both Nar esh and Chris almost exclaimed at the same time, how can you tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese and a Korean. I was taken slightly aback. I told them that the difference between Japanese and Chinese was like between Night and Day. Chinese tended to have smaller features, while the Japanese had a much redder tinge; the Chinese had more of a yellowish tinge. However one day as I was walking in the park, an older gentleman walked by me and just said "go back jap" I was shocked , this gentleman must have been in his eighties, he lived a couple of blocks down

Managing the supply chain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Managing the supply chain - Essay Example The theoretical opposite of this is the Material Requirements Production (MRP) system, which operates using more of a ‘push’ approach. It gives more importance to predicting the raw material that will be required for production, through a budget costing approach. This means the goods are produced in advance and stored until they are demanded and consequently sold. These two methods teach very different styles of supply chain management, and yet neither of them has lost their value in the field of supply chain management due to their unique advantages for different types of goods. Furthermore, there are even some products, the production of which may benefit from the employment of a hybrid of these two methods instead of just one strict methodology. Each of these two systems is still in existence because they are very useful for products of different nature. JIT is system which is more useful goods which are of a perishable nature, or are in danger of not being demanded l ater on. For example, considering a factory which produces food products which are not made with preservatives will employ the system of JIT in its supply chain. This is because JIT ensures minimum wastage of goods produced (Hirano, 2009). The protocol it follows for production is that the production chain waits to receive an order from the customer, and only then starts the process of production. If, for example, a firm that implements JIT receives the order for a thousand units of the product, they will not already have the product in stock. Instead, they will begin their manufacturing after the order is received and confirmed, which means that these thousand units will be produced only after the order. This reduces the chance that there will be some units, which will lie in stock after production because they are not in demand. Such a situation would lead to the good either spoiling, due to its perishable nature, or becoming obsolete in sometime. The perishable goods refer mostly to food products or other goods which use perishable materials in their production, thus rendering the nature of the good prone to expiry. This is relevant to consumer goods other than food also, such as beauty products or lotions, all of which have set expiry dates. JIT is useful for such products, because otherwise if the goods are left in stock for too long, they expire and cause losses to the manufacturer. This is also relevant to durable goods, which run the risk of becoming obsolete due the continuous technological advancement that is taking place, such as computers. Thus, such goods also need to be produced in a supply chain implementing JIT, since if the goods stored in stock become obsolete, they will become useless and cause loss to the manufacturer. Another advantage of the JIT system is that it minimizes the need for storage space for the company. A disadvantage, however is that the company is forced to streamline their production method in order meet each demand in an efficient and timely manner, so that the customer does not have to wait for unreasonable amounts of time. In contrast, the MRP system ensures that the customer receives an immediate response to their demand (Hall, 2008). This system implements budgeted production, which forecasts the demand for goods it will have to meet in the near future, and then produces accordingly. The advantage of this system is it saves time and provides a

International Business Theory and Practice Essay

International Business Theory and Practice - Essay Example Starbucks is one of the leading coffee chain businesses in the world which has been exemplary in their strategies for domestic as well as global expansion processes. Starbucks Corporation in a Washington based company but over the last decade, the company has employed different innovation strategies to expand their business internationally and has increased its number of stores across the world at an accelerated rate making it one of the fasted internationally growing multinational corporations across the globe. The company is specifically focused on expanding into the emerging markets with high potential for growth like Middle East, Europe, and Asia pacific including China, Korea, India and the Latin America markets. This paper focuses on the different strategies of Starbucks in entering the emerging market of North Korea. There are a number of studies and theories presented by different scholars and researchers who have studied the different factors related to the international expansion of various multinationals. The Uppsala model for internationalization expansion processes was one of the earliest developed models for global expansion policies of multinational companies. The Porter’s diamond model for competitive advantage of nations is a critical model used to understand the different locational and company specific advantages to be considered in the international expansion process. According to the study of Chen and Mujtaba (2007) the entry mode factors considered for the expansion strategy are based on transaction cost model and can be considered the most critical step in the global expansion process (Chen and Mujtaba, 2007, p.322-337). The transactional cost model states that the implementation cost of an entry mode is a critically relevant factor in choosing the entry mode for implement ation. According to the work presented by Tang and Liu (2011), the evaluation of the

Concise scientific report on mobilisation and harvest of haemopoietic Research Paper

Concise scientific report on mobilisation and harvest of haemopoietic stem cells - Research Paper Example Transplantation of genetically identical marrow or the animals own stored marrow prevented death. These was applied by Thomas and his colleagues in 1959 in treatment of leukaemia in humans. Survival was also permitted by grafts from histo-compatible donors. In the early 1960s, allogeneic transplantation became feasible after the identification and typing of human leucocyte antigen (HLA). This work provided basis for the understanding hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Haematopoietic stem cells produce some daughter cells that retain stem cell properties. Primitive progenitors produce mature blood cells are continuously produced by less differentiated precursors which descend from the haematopoietic stem cells. In a lethally irradiated animal, a single stem cell can restore an entire lympho-hematopoietic system (Copelan, 2006). Since 2001, there has been an increase in the number of transplants occurring annually (Passweg, et al., 2014). However, when the histocompatibility antigens of the donor and the recipient are incompatible, there could be strong transplant reactions and the intensity increases with the multiple peptides generation from the degraded HLA molecules and in the presence of determinants on the HLA molecules that are recognisable on the cell surface of the cells presenting the antigen. When an immune response is stimulated, an injury referred to as graft-versus host disease (GVHD) occurs due to the preparative regimen used before transplantation causing injury (Copelan, 2006). Haematopoietic stem cell transplant is usually successful if there is a positive outcome. Many diseases are treated with either autologous or allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The type and stage of the disease, the age and functional level of the patient, the source of the stem cell to be transplanted and the degree of mismatch of HLA affect the outcome (Dainiak & Ricks, 2014). The autologous transplantation improves survival rather

My Writing Skills in English Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

My Writing Skills in English - Essay Example I was worried, and thinking deeply about what prevents me to improve writing skills in English. I realized that it is my passion and compulsive preoccupation with football. I came to a decision that I should put my passion in the back burner and set my goal to improve my writing skills. Goals are an important milestone in everybody’s life and without goals, we are directionless to reach our destination in life. My goal is very significant in the aspect that it will enhance the opportunities in my future career and better prospects in my life. However, my passion for football poses a greater threat to achieving my goal and distracts my attention to reach the goal. Each person is passionate about something or other in life. Their passion for these things are taken as indulgences which are necessary for life, otherwise, the life will become boredom. However, these petty indulgences are harmless as long as they are not coming in the way of achieving the goals in one’s life. One of my friends was obsessive with baseball. He was almost a compulsive neurotic; he gave topmost priority for baseball than any other things in his life. Result- he was careless in his studies and was thrown out of the school. His future is bleak at present with nowhere to go. Being a witness to this happening I realize that my goals in life are more important than the passion for some other interests.

Review of communication skills Essay Example for Free

Review of communication skills Essay In the group interactions, I was a class room assistant who was meeting the parents of a young child with behavioural problems.  When Mr and Mrs Shaw arrived I called them in to the office using a soft tone and with a hand gesture I offered them a seat in front of my desk. They seemed pleased to be meeting me and were very concerned about their son Matthew. They were both talking in a calm slow voice with varying tone.   I started by asking how Matthews behaviour was at home. Mr Shaw was relaxed and sitting in an open posture. He said Matthewss behaviour was fine and there was nothing wrong with him. Mrs Shaw became tensed and looked away from her husband and said she had experienced problems at home when Matthew was around other children, as he would become angry and frustrated over simple things. Mr Shaw sat upright and told his wife there was nothing wrong with Matthews behaviour and that this was normal. I reassured them both that this could be understandable as he is an only child and may not be use to sharing with other children. Maintaining good eye contact I said I was experiencing the same problems in the class as Matthew is becoming very disruptive and a lot of parents are complain that their children are frightened of Matthew. Mrs Shaw became very upset and did not keep eye contact with me, and Mr Shaw was now in a closed posture. In a strong tone Mr Shaw demanded what was doing to help Matthew. I leaned forward and using a soft tone I told them the school could offer support for Matthew as long as the parents were willing to help, I then showed them some of Matthews class work and the areas he was doing good in. His mother seemed pleased and became less tensed. I offered a special needs program pointing out the benefits where Matthew could be taken out of the class room for a few hours a week. Mr Shaw became very tensed and leaned back in his chair as his face muscles became tight. He said his son did not need a special needs program and this was a waste of time, I went over the benefits o the program again, speaking clearly as I read the most important points. Mrs Shaw was unsure and wanted to agree only if her husband would support the program, but she agreed to look at the leaflet and consider it with her husband. I explained how one to one help for Matthew would benefit him in his school work and also the other children, I then said they could discuss the program at home and decide, and then they could arrange another interview if they were happy with the program. Mr Shaw stood up and I handed Mrs Shaw the leaflets. I thanked them for their time and shock their hands, I said using a polite tone they could come see me any time if they were unhappy about any thing. I showed them to the door and Mrs Shaw was very thankful for my advice and agreed to come back and discuss the program for Matthew. Mr Shaw thanked me but did not shake my hand and made no eye contact with me as he left and I said he was very welcome to come back any time.

Important and application of data mining

Important and application of data mining Important and application of Data Mining Abstract Today, people in business area gain a lot of profit as it can be increase year by year through consistent approach should be apply accordingly. Thus, performing data mining process can lead to utilize in assist to make decision making process within the organization. This paper elaborate in detail the level of importance and also the application the application of data mining which can be adopt for various fields depends on the objective, mission, goals and purpose of conducting the study within the organization. there are three main areas take as a example which are hotel, library and hotel to observe on how data mining works to these main field. Keywords: Data Mining, KDD Process, Decision Trees, Ant Colony Clustering Algorithm; Association Rules, Neural Network, Rough Set, 1.0 Introduction As we know, organization which conducts business transaction is keeps massive of document or data in a specific database for further retrieval. The data are combine from are a few departments that carried out different task and each of their function parallel with the mission and vision of organization. According (Imberman, 2001) the number of fields in large databases can approach magnitudes of 102 to 103. Therefore, it is necessary to make proper decision making or strategic planning using the existing data where these plays important role in order to ensure any action that are taken place does not given an impact especially bring loss to the organization. Other than that, data became obsolete when it keeps on changing and easily out dated as the user requirement shifting depends on factors such as trends, money, needs and so forth. One way to analyze data is using of data mining technique which enable to assist organization by emphasize several steps to produce the valuable output in short period of time compare with the traditional method which may involves more than one methodologies and it derive to longer of time to accomplish the investigation towards a portion of data. Thus, in the business area an action should be done quickly in order to compete with other competitors and to improve performance both in giving service and produce a high quality product. Moreover, process interpretation of the result involves group of people to inject some of the creativity and synthesis which can lead to the solutions on the problem or tasks. Obviously, data mining a lot assist in various fields with different purposes and depend on the objectives that want to achieve. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 tells about definition of data mining. Section 3 determines the importance of data mining. Section 4 explains the application of data mining in various fields. Section 5 draws the conclusions. 2.0 Definition of Data Mining There are abroad definitions listed by a few researcher and academician according to their view and opinion based on the study they have done. Moreover, these will help to understand or giving an idea before discusses more in depth towards data mining technique. Basically, the main purpose use of data mining is to manipulate huge amount of data either existence or store in the databases by determine suitable variables which is contribute to the quality of prediction that will be use to solve problem. Define by Gargano Raggad, 1999. Data mining searches for hidden relationships, patterns, correlations, and interdependencies in large databases that traditional information gathering methods (e.g. report creation, pie and bar graph generation, user querying, decision support systems (DSSs), etc.) might overlook. Besides that, another author also agreed with opinion toward the data mining definition which is to seek hidden pattern, orientation and also trend. Through (Palace, 1996) added to the previous is: Data mining is the process of finding correlations or patterns among dozens of fields in large relational databases. Moreover, data mining also define as process to squeeze of knowledge or information using appropriate framework or model to analyze until produce an output that assist in fulfill the objective of the study. From Imberman, 2001: As knowledge extraction, information discovery, information harvesting, exploratory data analysis, data archeology, data pattern processing, and functional dependency analysis. The statement above agreed and adds that the framework or model that adopt definitely to expose the real circumstance. Define by Ma, Chou Yen, 2000: Data mining is the process of applying artificial intelligence techniques (such as advanced modeling and rule induction) to a large data set in order to determine patterns in the data. In the other hand, data mining is taken a few steps during analysis and this step is depending on the methodology that is chosen. Each of the methodology is not much differ from other methodology. Through Forcht Cochran, 1999: Data mining is an interactive process that involves assembling the data into a format conducive to analysis. Once the data are configured, they must be cleaned by checking for obvious errors or flaws (such as an item that is an extreme outlier) and simply removing them. 3.0 Important of Data Mining As discusses above, it can be seen that data mining will be beneficial a lot of party and multiple range of level in the organization as the model or framework that is apply can reduce time and cost. Then, the results allow the responsible knowledge worker to transform into the strategic value of information effectively by critically analyze the result. The process should be done carefully to avoid the useful variables or algorithm being removes or not be included in the extraction of reliable data. Data mining techniques will help in select a portion of data using appropriate tools to filter outliers and anomalies within the set of data. According to Gargano Raggad, 1999, there are a few others important of data mining consist of:  · To facilitate the explication of previously hidden information includes the capabilities to discover rules, classify, partition, associate and optimize. According to (Goebel Gruenwald, 1999) in order to seek the pattern of data, a few methodologies are use in clarify the vagueness as well as to identifying the relation among one variables and other variables within the databases whereas the outcome will guide in making decision or to forecast the impact when the action were take into consideration. The chosen of methodologies should be determined in a proper way suit with the rules and condition towards the data which is to be analyzed. The methodologies include: Statistical Methods: focused mainly on testing of preconceived hypotheses and on fitting models to data. Case-Based Reasoning (CBR): technology that tries to solve a given problem by making direct use of past experiences and solutions. Neural Networks: formed from large numbers of simulated neurons, connected to each other in a manner similar to brain neurons which enables the network to learn. Decision Trees: each non-terminal node represents a test or decision on the considered data item and can also be interpreted as a special form of a rule set, characterized by their hierarchical organization of rules. Rule Induction: Rules state a statistical correlation between the occurrences of certain attributes in a data item, or between certain data items in a data set. Bayesian Belief Networks: graphical representations of probability distributions derived from co-occurrence counts in the set of data items. Genetic algorithms / Evolutionary Programming: formulate hypotheses about dependencies between variables, in the form of association rules or some other internal formalism. Fuzzy Sets: constitute a powerful approach to deal not only with incomplete, noisy or imprecise data, but may also be helpful in developing uncertain models of the data that provide smarter and smoother performance than traditional systems. Rough Sets: rough sets are a mathematical concept dealing with uncertainty in data and used as a stand-alone solution or combined with other methods such as rule induction, classification, or clustering methods  · The ability to seamlessly automate and embed some of mundane, repetitive, tedious decision steps not requiring continuous human intervention. Several steps are taken in processes or analyzes on selected data where the process involves of filtering, transforming, testing, modeling, visualization and documented the result or store accordingly in the databases or data warehouse. Each of the steps functions differently and has responsibility in carries out the process with the purpose to easier and produce the high quality of assumption by automate generate towards specific conditions. For example, data warehouse also keep previous analysis and this allow eliminating the redundant output at certain steps. Through Ma, Chou Yen, 2000, they stress the characteristics of data mining define how it assist to reach the end process of analyzing. It comprises: Data pattern determination: Data-access languages or data-manipulation languages (DMLs) identify the specific data that users want to pull into the program for processing or display. It also enables users to input query specifications. Therefore, users simply select the desired information from the menus, and the system builds the SQL command automatically. Formatting capability: It generates raw data formats, tabular, spreadsheet form, multidimensional-display and visualization. Content analysis capability: Data mining also has a strong content analysis capability that enables the user to process the specifications written by the end-users. Synthesis capability: Data mining allows data synthesis to be timely executed.  · Simultaneously reducing cost and potential error encountered in the decision making process. Basically, data mining can minimize the error of forecasting by following the steps of selected methodology in well manner to avoid delaying in making decision where this situation will giving big impact for the business area. Therefore, it must be careful in handling the data throughout the steps involves whereby the strategic plan should take into consideration includes of the objectives to done the analysis, the amount of data, the variables, the relationship between variables, test adopted, and so forth. Moreover, if there is need to discuss with the professional towards the study conducted and it should be included in the planning part. In the context of organization, usually a unit or group of people are given responsible to carries this duty to discover the hidden pattern for another department. Hence, the continuously meeting should be done between the professional and researchers to ensure the end result fulfill their requirement as well as to improve the performance of work er, department and organization. In term of reducing a cost, compare to the traditional research which take time in acquiring the data from respondents and it depend on the methodologies that are use and the number of sampling. If the questionnaire method, it can be done quickly and less time consuming but if the interviewing method is adopted, it surely take time and researcher have to meets the respondent more than one time, if there is an ambiguity or the answers not meet with the requirement. For certain study, the sampling are involves from the different location which require the researcher to travel in order to gain the genuine opinion from them and this will cost a lot involves of accommodation, food, flight ticket and so forth. For data mining, it uses the existence of data (for example, data of customer transaction, data of student registration, data of patient undergo the operation process and so on) that keep in data warehouse which mostly reduce cost in aspect of acquiring data. Other than that, researc her take first action by search for the study in the data warehouse when the objective being determine at the beginning of study because previous study are store in the data warehouse. If it is found tally, a few step will be skip or easily decided towards the data and it prove that data mining can reducing the cost as well as time. Refer to Gargano Raggad, 1999, data mining also derive long term benefit which the cost incurred due to the development, implementation, and maintenance of such systems by a wide margin. 4.0 The application of Data Mining Nowadays, data mining is widely use especially to those organization that focuses on consumer orientation. For example, retail, financial, communication, and marketing organizations (Palace, 1996). Besides it, healthcare area also gain benefit by apply the data mining into the daily operations. These various of field shows each of the organization carries different transaction where all of details keep in the databases which enables to perform analysis for multiple purpose likes to increase revenue, gain more customer, improve customer satisfaction and others. Moreover, again through (Palace, 1996) the existence data allow to determine relationships among internal factor consists price, product positioning or staff skills and external factor consists economic indicators, competition and customer demographic. Hence, there three examples of data minings application in different areas which are hotel sector, library scope and also hospital with the goals to reduce or eliminate the weakness by address it using the result that is interpret in well manner to assist in making decision for the best solutions. The examples are as follows:  · A data mining approach to developing the profiles of hotel customers. A study conduct by Min, Min Ahmed Emam, 2002 with the objective to target some of the valued customers for special treatment based on their anticipated future profitability to the hotel. There are a few questions regarding to the customer profiling: Which customers are likely to return to the same hotel as repeat guests? Which customers are at greatest risk of defecting to other competing hotels? Which service attributes are more important to which customers? How to segment the customer population into profitable or unprofitable customers? Which segment of the customers best fits the current service capacities of the hotels? The researchers adopt decision trees for analyzing the data from the abroad method of data mining methodology because the ability to generate appropriate rules using visualization and simplicity. There are three steps having to follows in this process and it includes: Data collection: the process of select data that suit with objective from the previous survey. Moreover, remove the unwanted data from databases by filtering out the excel file. Data formatting: the process of converted all data in the spreadsheet to Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) for the purpose of classification accuracy. Rules induction: the process of selection of algorithms to building decision trees which is C5.0 to generate sets of rules that bring important clues in order for hotel manager to take further action. As the result, the researcher found that if-then rules as a useful in formulating a customer retention strategy with a predictive ranging from 80.9 per cent to 93.7 per cent whereas a predictive accuracy reflect to the rules conditions that affect by times (percentage).  · Using data mining technology to provide a recommendation service in the digital library. A study conducted by Chen Chen, 2006 with the purpose to provide recommendation system architecture to promote digital library service in electronic libraries. There are abroad of digital publication format likes audio, video, picture, etc. thus, it lead difficulties in analyzing or defining the keyword and content in order to gain information from the user to improve the service in the digital libraries. In the methodology section, there are two data mining models selected which consist o Ant Colony Clustering Algorithm; This model is capable to find the shortest path or reduce time to find the best output fit with the problem that existence in the organizations. Each of the steps has different function to enable they too see the relation among the variables It takes a few steps which are: Step 0: parameters and initialize pheromone trails. Step 1: Each ant constructs its solution Step 2: Calculate the scores of all solutions Step 3: Update the pheromone trails. Step 4: If the best solution has not been changed after some predefined iterations, terminate the algorithm; otherwise go to step 2. o Association rules to discover the hidden pattern. This model enables to find co-purchase items and assist in uncovered relationship algorithms in form of association rules. There are two main steps as follows: Step 1: Find all large item sets Step 2; use the large items set generated in the first step to generate all the effective association rules. As the results, these two models encounter more than one solutions and enable to gain a lot of recommendation that can be manipulate into various problem that exists in conducting digital libraries as well as to promote the usage in multiple level of user using the appropriate mechanism and providing suitable services.  · Using KDD process to forecast the duration of surgery. A study conducted by Combas, Meskens Vandamme, 2007 with the aim is to identify classes of surgery likely to take different lengths of time according to the patients profile as well as to allow the use of the operating theatre to be better scheduled. There are many issues arise in this field that lead to the study. For example, an endoscopy unit use of endoscopy tube (shared resources) during the surgery. However their availability is limited because it takes 30-45min to clean and sterilize each one. The scheduling of endoscopies (and all other operating theatre procedures) must obviously take into account the availability of these different resources. The researchers adopt Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) process to analyze this massive data from the databases. The step as follows: Step 1: data preparation which the selected data must be fulfill of requirement includes secondary diagnoses, Previous active history and system affected. Step 2: data cleaning where filter data by concerning surgical procedures that had been performed at least 40 times (at least 20 times for combinations involving both surgery and specific surgeons). Step 3: data mining which to decide appropriate method to test on the portion of data which it involves rough set and neural network. Step 4: validation by comparison consist process of interpretation by comparing the result from two methods that perform data analysis in order to observe the rate of good classification. Then, researcher added up another three steps in order to fit with the objective that is proposed and to produce the best outcomes to forecast the durations of surgery. It consists of: o Step 5: Measuring the impact of predicting the duration of surgery on planning which in this step the duration of surgery supplied by the prediction models (empirical laws, rule-based laws, etc.) based on information stored in the database is used to feed a series of algorithms and heuristics for planning purposes o Step 6: Simulation involves the present time will allow to simulate the activity of the different theatre suites in terms of the operating sequence determined by planning methods on the two scenarios which are operating data and patients profile o Step 7: validation selection of the best model where the results supplied by the simulation model should enable to assess the quality of scheduling on the basis of a series of performance indicators likes the length of time for which the operating theatres are not in use, the number of potential additional hours, and errors in predicting the duration of surgery. As the results, researchers are not particularly satisfactory. The main problem seems to be the choice of variable grouping, which might possibly have an effect on prediction quality. 5.0 Conclusion As a conclusion, data mining can be consider as an effective and efficient way to discover or to transform the invisible to visible data that retrieve from databases which have capabilities to store huge amount of data by using the right tools in assist or enable to analyze, synthesis and manipulate the content of data for various purposes and often depend on the main businesses that carries out to define the target. From the discussion above, it can be seen that there are a lot of advantages when perform data mining especially in the business area which allow the organization to predict the trends, customer requirement, the relationship and so forth as early preparation can be identify in order to seek another or a few others way to ensure that organization can still operate their daily operation after determine that organization not agree towards the result have been gain. In order to produce the end result that satisfying the organization and minimize the error as it successfully implement the information in order to perform business transaction. The key variables should be assign in well manner meet or suitable with the objective that propose in conducting the study because it have to repeat the procedures when found the errors as the decision making process could not been done according to the timeline. 6.0 References Chen, Chia-Chen Chen, An-Pin. (2006 ). Using data mining technology to provide a recommendation service in the digital library. The Electronic Library. 25(6): 711-734. Combas, C., Meskens, N Vandamme, J. P. (2007). Using a KDD process to forecast the duration of surgery. International Journal of Production Economics. 112: 279-293. Forcht., Karen A. Cochran, Kevin. (1999). Using data mining and datawarehousing techniques. Industrial Management Data Systems. 99(5), 189-196. Gargano., Michael L. Raggad, Bel G. (1999). Data mining a powerful information creating tool. OCLC Systems Services. 15(2), 81-90. Goebel, Michael Gruenwald, Le. (1999). A survey of data mining and knowledge discovery software tools. ACM SIGKDD Explorations Newsletter. 1: 20 33. Imberman, Susan P. (2001) Effective Use of the KDD Process and Data Mining for Computer Performance Professionals. in International Computer Measurement Group Conference. Anaheim: USA, 611-620. Ma, Catherine, Chou, David C. .Yen, David C. (2000). Data warehousing, technology assessment and management. Industrial Management Data Systems. 100(3), 125-135. Min, Hokey., Min, Hyesung Ahmed Emam. (2002). A data mining approach to developing the profiles of hotel customers. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 14(6): 274-285. Palace, Bill. (1996, Spring). Data Mining: What is Data Mining? retrieved March 2, 2010, from: http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty/jason.frand/teacher/technologies/palace/datamining.htm

Air Compressor Systems Introduction

Air Compressor Systems Introduction Air Compressor System provides high pressure compressed air with subsequent reduction in volume for a range of industrial and domestic applications. They have become imperative equipment in almost every industry. Due to its high efficiency, feasible operational parameters and diverse range of applications, they have gained widespread popularity and no industry is complete without a compact compressor system. The primary objective of this report is to understand the importance of air compressor systems. In addition, the report covers a wide spectrum of compressor applications and processes. The different types of compressors, along with their merits and demerits have been delineated. The important operational parameters have been defined along with their importance in the compression process. Air is free, whereas compressed high pressure air is not. True to the phrase, generating high pressure compressed air is not an economical and energy efficient process. High initial and maintenance costs can increase the overall compressor cost to a great extent. Proper and well maintained compressor systems can reduce energy consumption from 30-50%. Various steps to reduce energy consumption and increase overall efficiency have been detailed in the report. For a practical application of compressor acumen, a case study has been conducted on an ELGI Compressor which is under operation in Arabian Cement Industry. With the data collected from the study, certain operational parameters were calculated and corresponding inferences were drawn. At the end of the study, we are able to conclude the current state of the compressor and detail certain steps to improve efficiency and compressor performance. The future of air compressor systems has been a constant research topic among industrialists. The modern techniques of Heat Recovery Systems in air compressors and use of Variable Speed Drives have been briefly detailed to provide a view into a bright future of air compressor systems. CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Air Compressor Systems In most industrial applications, compressed air is considered as the fourth utility, preceded by the three essential utilities; water, electricity and natural gas. Typically, a simple air compressor is an industrial device that intakes ambient air and increases the pressurewith reduction in volume by doing work on the working fluid, namely air or gas. The primary objective of employing a compressor is to provide high pressure air using least possible power consumption. The compression can occur in any one of the three ways; adiabatic, isothermal or polytropic. For an Adiabatic compression process, there is assumed to be no heat loss or gain from the system. When the temperature of air at inlet equals temperature of compressed air at outlet, the compression process is Isothermal. Normally, a typical compression process involves Polytropic Compression. The pressure, temperature and volume of air it inlet and outlet vary with the respective conditions. The least possible work of compression is achieved in an adiabatic compression process as the net work done by the system is zero. [1] The adiabatic efficiency is the maximum possible compressor efficiency and compressors are designed with compressor efficiencies such that, there is little or no variation among the two. As mentioned earlier, compressed air is considered a utility because of their diverse applications in various industrial and metallurgical operations. The compressed air supply is clean, convenient, safe and flexible for use. Industrial uses can be attributed to when they are in connection with compressed air motors for functioning of pneumatic tools, raw material conveying through ducts, in connection with a reservoir for storage of compressed air for future applications. 1.2 Historical Background The earliest documented use of the compressor dates back to around 4th century B.C. In those times, the compressor was termed as a water organ. The water organ was invented by Ctesibius of Alexandria. The design comprised of a chamber filled with air and water, a water pump, collection of pipes of various dimensions and connecting tubes and valves. The mechanism of operation was relatively simple; by pumping water into the chamber, the air gets compressed. [2] With advancement of time and technology, various improvements and innovations were made to the water organ. In 1808, the Multi Stage Axial Compressor, designed by John Dumball, came into industrial application. However, this design did not achieve wide-spread popularity because the compressor comprised of moving blades without stationary blades to transfer the air flow into the successive compression stage. During the 19th century, the invention of the Roots Blower was a huge step leading to invention of modern air compressor systems. Philander and Francis Roots designed the Roots blower, while devising a suitable replacement for the water wheel at their woolen mill. The roots blower consisted of numerous impeller pairs rotating in opposite directions.[3] Dr. Franze Stolze designed the modern compressor in 1900; which comprised of a multi stage axial flow compressor with a combustion chamber, multi-stage axial turbine along with a regenerator to heat the discharged air utilizing exhaust waste gases. 1.3 Applications of Compressed Air High pressure compressed air is widely used for industrial and domestic applications due to their high efficiency and facile operational nature. The powering of pneumatic equipment is one of the major applications of compressed air. Pneumatic tools are lighter, deliver more power and not prone to overloading, unlike electric motor run equipment. Compressed air driven tools can achieve high overall torque and optimum speed in a short span of time. They are safer as compared to electric driven tools because of no spark conditions and less overheating. [4] Compressed air is also used for raw material transport, combustion processes; such as oxidation, thermodynamic operations; such as refrigeration and cryogenics. Filtration, aeration and dehydration processes are also driven by compressed air. Non-industrial applications of compressed air include transportation, mining and agriculture.[5] 1.4 Components of Air Compressor System Due to the diverse applications of compressed air, air compressor systems merit an intricate and complex design. Air compressor systems consist of a number of sub-systems and components, which include the air compressor, motor and drive unit, control systems, air inlet filters, air dryers, after-coolers and various other retrofitted components. During the operation of an air compressor system, the ambient air is taken into the system by air inlet filters. The motor and gear unit powers the compressor system to increase the pressure of air. The primary function of an integrated control system is to regulate the amount of air intake and air discharge from the system. Treatment equipment, such as an Air Dryer and Air Separator are used to remove contaminants and provide moisture and oil free pressurized air. The Outlet and Distribution systems play the pivotal role of transporting the compressed air to the various required sources. In typical industrial applications, the pressurized air is stored in an Air Reservoir or Storage Tank for future use. The major components of an air compressor are detailed below: Intake Air Filter: Ambient air enters the compressor via inlet air filters. Filtration elements in intake filters facilitate filtration of particulate matter present in air. This allows the entry of clean and dry air into the compressor. Compressor Cooling: A substantial amount of heat is generated during compressor process. As a result, cooling and lubrication of the system is mandatory for reducing wear and damage to the compressor spares; thereby increasing compressor efficiency. Compressors are normally cooled using air, water or oil (lubricant). [6] Inter-Stage Coolers: Inter coolers act as heat exchangers to lower the temperature of air before it enters into successive stages of compression.[7] This reduction of temperature is paramount to reduce the overall compression work and increase compressor efficiency. After-Coolers: After coolers are employed at the end of compression process to lower the discharge temperature of air. During this final stage of operation, as the temperature is lowered, moisture present in air condenses and separated from the discharge air. Air Separators: Separators act as an enhanced after-cooler. Theyare installed either after an inter-cooler or after-cooler to desiccate discharge air. Air-Dryers: Normally, after the compressed air has passed through all the above mentioned equipment, discharge air is passed into the air-dryer before storage in the reservoir. The air that reaches the dryer is saturated. If this saturated air enters the piping, it can lead to corrosion and damage to the transport equipment. The Relative Humidity (moisture content) in atmospheric air is relatively high. When this air is compressed at high pressure, it occupies a small volume and high temperature. At a specific temperature, all the moisture present in air condenses. This temperature is known as Dew Point. This process is cycled in an air-dryer to ensure that moisture-free air reaches the storage area.[8] Pressure Regulators/Flow Controller: PFCs are auxiliary equipmentthat minimizes pressure drops in the system by stabilizing system pressure. Lubrication: Lubrication is a paramount need for effective compressed air operation. A lubricator is employed to lubricate and cool the moving parts and prevent overheating. In some systems, the lubricator is retrofitted with a compressed filter and pressure flow regulator to fashion a system known as Filter Regulator Lubricant (FRL).[10] Air Receivers: The high pressure compressed air from the system is discharged to a storage tank or an air-receiver according to the demand. The capacity and type of air receiver varies depending on the demand of compressed air within the system. For spasmodic demand of compressed air, a large capacity reservoir is employed for a relatively small capacity compressor. Moreover, a receiver functions depending on demand, thereby reducing overwork and load on the compressor. Air Transport and Distribution System: The final stage in a compression process is the proper distribution of compressed air to the demand points. A common distribution system includes piping, valves and hoses. To minimize the pressure drop during distribution, it is imperative that the pipe length is kept minimum and diameter to maximum.

Death penalty Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Fifty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the trend towards worldwide abolition of the death penalty is unmistakable. When the Declaration was adopted in 1948, eight countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes; today, as of November 1998, the number stands at 63. More than half the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, and the numbers continue to grow. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty as a violation of fundamental human rights - the right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. Both of these rights are recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, other international and regional human rights instruments and national constitutions and laws. Defense of life and defense of the state may be held to justify, in some cases, the taking of life by state officials; for example, when law-enforcement officials must act immediately to save their own lives or those of others or when a country is engaged in armed conflict. Even in such situations the use of lethal force is surrounded by internationally accepted standards of human rights and humanitarian law to inhibit abuse. The death penalty, however, is not an act of defense against an immediate threat to life. It is the premeditated killing of a prisoner for the purpose of punishment - a purpose that can be met by other means. The cruelty of the death penalty is manifest not only in the execution but in the time spent under sentence of death, during which the prisoner is constantly contemplating his or her own death at the hands of the state. This cruelty cannot be justified, no matter how cruel the crime of which the prisoner has been convicted. The cruelty of the death penalty extends beyond the prisoner to the prisoner's family, to the prison guards and to the officials who have to carry out an execution. Information from various parts of the world shows that the role of an executioner can be deeply disturbing, even traumatic. The right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment are the two human rights most often cited in debates about the death penalty. But the death penalty also attacks other rights. In many cases prisoners are sentenced to death in trials which do not conform to int... ...ting the public on the uncertainty of the deterrent effect of capital punishment. A better public understanding of crime prevention and criminal justice would produce more support for anti-crime measures which are genuine and not merely palliative. At the very least, politicians should not make demagogic calls for the death penalty, misleading the public and obscuring the need for genuine anti-crime measures. Often the national debate on the death penalty is conducted in purely national terms. The international dimension needs to be brought in. Countries can learn from other countries' experience. Over the centuries, laws and public attitudes relating to torture have evolved. It is no longer permissible to use thumbscrews or the rack as legally sanctioned means of interrogation and punishment. Attitudes toward the death penalty are also changing, and bringing about abolition requires courageous political leadership, leadership that will be exercised in the defense of human rights. The requirement of respect for human rights has to include the abolition of the death penalty. It is not possible for a government to respect human rights and retain the death penalty at the same time.

By Design Essay -- Literary Analysis, Robert Frost

Redesigned: One poem with two faces Robert Frost wrote a poem – twice. The early version of the poem titled, â€Å"In White,† creates a simple scene filled with anomalies. For some reason, years later, the work beckoned for further attention. The poet complied and skillfully enhanced the work, rendering a finished poem that exceeded the scope of the original. Side by side, both versions of Frost’s poem send a nuanced message to the thoughtful reader. Open to interpretation, that message invites debate, an introspective feast. For that reason, reworking the poem fine-tuned the message. The revised poem â€Å"Design† assumes polished superiority through Frost’s mastery of imagery, amplified by devices, and unburdened language. For the purpose of clarity, explicating provides an understanding of the internal workings of this finished poem. A closer look at one poem helps to identify the differences between the two. Frost’s poem, â€Å"Design† begins in a most uncomplicated way: â€Å"I found a dimpled spider, fat and white† (1). The spider, described as such, denotes jolly innocence, an unlikely association. Introducing the first of several ironies, the heal-all, which preserves life, has a growing connection to death. In fact, the flower provides a stage for the spider, menacing in spite of its pale disguise as it sits â€Å"On a white heal-all, holding up a moth / Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth–† (2-3). Frost’s white color scheme persists into the dead moth simile. Satin, typically equated with rich finery, finds a meaning much less elegant with the adjective, rigid. Each line zooms closer to the scene at hand, no doubt something is just not righ t. The mood continues with, â€Å"Assorted characters of death and blight† (4), and ad... ..., aided by Frost’s selection of devices, such as similes. As such, the reader derives a deeper understanding of the action, like the lifting of a veil. In summary, explicating â€Å"Design† served to process both poems. Such a exercise provided a clearer perspective of Frost’s initial rendering and subsequent finished work. Thus, exposing subtle differences resulted in a way to compare the work and draw a subjective conclusion regarding the more effective poem. However, one must remain mindful that without the lesser first â€Å"draft,† the second would have had no life. Indeed, Frost refined with a delicate hand by shaping images, placed inventive markers to prod thought, and carefully gave voice to each word. The result produced a superior message, which posed more questions than solid answers about whether life (or death) happens by coincidence, or by â€Å"Design.†

Women Empowerment in Bangladesh

Women Empowerment in Bangladesh Introduction: Women’s empowerment is defined as â€Å"women’s ability to make strategic life choices where that ability had beenpreviously denied them† (Kabeer 1999). Women empowerment now is often accredited as an important aim of international development policies, and many donor agencies include women’s empowerment in their development strategies.Although empowerment is often conceptualized as a process (Cueva Beteta 2006; Kabeer 2001; Malhotra and Schuler 2005), most quantitative studies have been cross-sectional, comparing individual women with others in their communities or societies(Malhotra and Schuler 2005). In the development of indicators it is usually implicitly assumed that higher levels of empowerment represent a change from a pre-existing situation in which women have more limited power, influence, freedom, or autonomy; but such changes have rarely been measured using a common set of indicators.Such studies ca n be valuable for cross national comparisons (UNDP 1995; Ibrahim and Alkire 2007) and for documenting change over time, particularly at the macro- or meso- levels, but I would argue that the meanings and salience of empowerment indicators are likely to evolve over time both in developing interventions to foster women’s empowerment and in documenting empowerment processes.A woman's level of empowerment is defined here as a function of her relative physical mobility, economic security, ability to make various purchases on her own, freedom from domination and violence within her family, political and legal awareness, and participation in public protests and political campaigning(Sidney Ruth Schuler and Syed M. Hashemi,1994). Women empowerment in Bangladesh means giving women of the country the power to rule and govern their own lives, away from traditional and social constraints. The women empowerment movement in Bangladesh focuses on giving women the power and authority they ne ed to be men’s equals.The structures of sub ordinance that have keep women in the dark for so long must be eliminated. Women must have intellectual resources that can be acquired through good education and material resources that can be accumulated with the help of a solid job. Women in Bangladesh work in rural areas and do most of the manufacturing labor as well as most of the harvesting. This traditional practice needs to stop. The violence against women must also stop. Women need to gain a lot more power over their decision making process. They should not be seen as fertility machines that have only the goal of reproducing.Most of the violence against women that takes place in Bangladesh is located in urban and rural households. Violence against women is an old, patriarch practice that focuses on establishing the balance of power in the family. The system of early marriage for girls is also a cause for violence against women because little girls are forced into new familie s from an early age. There, they have to work like adults. Bangladesh is a society that perpetrates the myth of the mother as a divine creature. Women who do not get pregnant are considered inferior because they can’t bear children.This is a male tradition that limits the mobility of women all over the country. Global NGO’s that are working towards helping women get empowered in Bangladesh are still facing difficulties because Bangladesh is a closed society which allows very few changes. In Bangladesh, gender inequalities are a social construction that can be eliminated with time. History of Women Empowerment: Bangladesh accomplished independence from Pakistan’s economic exploitation, political and cultural suppression in 1971after a long period straggle.Though the country has homogeneous culture, language, and social norm, but social hierarchy is divided by the gender, especially women, and classes of the society. Post-independence (i. e. after 1971), womenâ₠¬â„¢s organisations focused on a broad range of issues such as political empowerment, economic equality, legal reforms of customary and gender biased laws, violence against women, reproductive rights, etc. (Jahan 1995; Kabeer 1989). Then women are involved themselves in variety economic, household and nonproductive activities that always remains them under reported.The real unexpected truth is that this types of work women always overlooked by women themselves. The main important thing is that women are the major forces behind the development of today’s civilization for extending their contribution without earning in the economic, political, social and cultural process of the modern civilization. However, women's work always remains under reported; especially women’s non? market homestead based economic activities. Theoretical perspective of the study: Credible documentation of women’s participation in economic activities is problematic particularly for women be longing to farm households.Several theoretical frameworks have been on board to explain issues surrounding women’s work and the sexual division of labor. Marxists have distinguished between productive and reproductive labor, economists have conceptualized the difference between market production and subsistence production and between wage and non-wage labor, and sociologists have drawn a line between work at home and outside home (Ferber 1982; Sachs 1988). Neoclassical economic tradition emphasized the activities undertaken to meet the demand of the markets. On that count, women’s work outside labor market has often been overlooked and excluded from economic analyses.In recent years, empirical research have tried to document the extent of women’s participation in specific responsibilities, and their contribution to GDP, economic growth, household management, education, health & politics, but the argument regarding the complication of women’s task and the interconnectedness between different types of functions remains. This paper presents some empirical evidences of recent changes in women roles in socio-economic activities, and impact of women’s participation on their empowerment and the socio-economic conditions of the household.A recent study on Bangladeshi women’s empowerment presents that the theoretical issues related to the measurement of women's empowerment, and describes findings from a recent study in the villages exploring the current salience of indicators developed fora 1992 survey. The paper mainly focus on the types of social, economic, and political change that affect the measurement of women’s empowerment; propose and explain a new set of indicators for the rural Bangladesh setting; and discuss implications for measuring women's empowerment in other settings. Sidney Ruth Schuler, Farzana Islam, and Elisabeth Rottach,2011) Another study of UNDP on women empowerment also addresses the conceptua l and methodological issues related to women’s empowerment, the trends in women’s empowerment over the last 20 years in key areas such as education, health, economic and political participation, and finally the best practices of state and non-state actors in empowering women. The trends in women’s empowerment over the past 20 years show that hile there have been gains in primary and secondary education, in political representation at the national level, and in waged labor, and a decline in fertility and maternal mortality, violence against women and HIV/AIDS continue to be endemic and these trends vary across regions and within countries urban and rural poor, ethnic minorities, and older and disabled women fare worse on all indicators with the current economic crisis reversing many gains ( Manisha,2010).Statement of the problem Are new articulations or pathways to women’s empowerment emerging as a result of these changes? What are the emerging pathways? T his article is concerned with the question of women’s empowerment where empowerment is conceptualized in terms of multidimensional processes of change rather than some final destination.These processes touch on many aspects of women’s lives, both personal and public: their sense of self-worth and social identity; their willingness and ability to question their subordinate status in society; their capacity to exercise strategic control over their own lives and to negotiate better terms in their relationships with others; and finally, their ability to participate on equal terms with men in reshaping society to better accord with their vision of social justice.Each of these changes is important in itself, but it is through their mutual interactions that the empowerment of individual women is most likely to translate into broader struggles for gender justice and social transformation. The pathways through which processes of empowerment occur are neither predetermined nor r andom. They occur within specific contexts and are shaped by them. In particular, they are shaped by the gender-related structures of constraint which prevail in a given context.Since these structures influence the pace, substance and direction of social change, as well as defining areas of ‘inertness’, pathways of empowerment are generally characterized by a certain degree of path dependence. They carry the imprint of the societies in which they occur. Significance of the study The socio-cultural situation and family structure of our country remains unchanged for centuries. Peoples belief and understanding have not changed despite of modernization and ongoing changes all around. Their life style still follows the pattern that has been followed by their ancestors for thousands of years.As women become economically productive, their spheres of influence increase. Evidence from Demographic and Health Surveys suggests that in some developing countries much of the impact of women’s overall decision making power is concentrated at the community level. Across the developing world, studies show that women’s participation in community initiatives can have long lasting benefits for women. Considering this view, this study was aimed to assess the women decision making power or empowerment in the household issues. The findings of the study would help inEmpowerment as delegation of power to someone has been a mechanism to increase personal and work life quality of woman in recent decades. Higher education and occupation is effective instrument to empowerment of women but culture role can't be denied in this relation. Social norms can directly or indirectly limited women empowerment. In this article the role of higher education and occupation in psychological empowerment of women in Tehran has been quested. Current research is a descriptive-practical research. Education and occupation were independent variable and empowerment was dependent variab le.Random sampling was used and 600 questioners were completed by women in Tehran city. To determine validity of scale we took advantages of construct validity and factor analysis. The reliability index of Cronbach's alpha was 0. 8945 and spearman correlation and structural equations model was used for statistical analysis. Results of research indicate th Objective of the study The aim of this article is to explore how processes of women’s empowerment and broader struggles for gender justice have played out in the specific context of Bangladesh.By drawing on women’s own accounts of these changes, it seeks to provide insights into what empowerment might mean in this particular context. There is no exact equivalent for the concept of empowerment in the local language. However, when women talk about forms of change in their lives that they value, and when these changes undermine the prevailing structures of patriarchy in some way, they are providing us with their own high ly articulate narratives of empowerment, ones that are grounded in their local realities and everyday lives. Scope of the study The structure of the article is as follows.The first section explores the gendered structures of constraint in the Bangladesh context, both to understand what gives these structures their resilience as well as to theorize about how they might shape the possible pathways of change. The second section documents the changing nature of state and society in Bangladesh. This includes a number of positive changes in women’s lives, including processes of individual empowerment, but as the paper notes, there is little evidence to suggest that these changes have enabled women from poor rural households to articulate and act on their vision of social justice.One exception to this generalization suggested by the author’s field research are women’s groups organized by development NGOs committed to social change. It is the experiences of this subset of women that inform the analysis in this article. The third section then examines the impact of the strategies adopted by these organizations on women’s capabilities as defined by their material position, their cognitive capacity and their relationships with others, while the fourth section explores how they have used their enhanced capabilities to take collective action against gender injustice.The concluding section draws out the theoretical implications of these findings. It suggests that the analysis of women’s strategies for dealing with various manifestations of injustice in their lives provides important insights into the values and motivations which shape their efforts to navigate change in different domains of their lives. It notes that there are injustices which they are prepared to deal with through open confrontation but others where they seek compromise and conciliation.This caution on their part testifies to the uneven pace of change in the wider structu res of constraint and the risks associated with the pursuit of autonomy. Finally, it highlights some government best practices such as quotas, cash transfer programs, gender budgeting, and community based micro enterprises, some movement practices, i. e. , local women run community based programs to combat violence and HIV/AIDS and transnational exchanges, unions campaigns such as Decent Work for Women and corporate practices such as gender equality seals and corporate social responsibility. References: . Manisha Desai, Hope in Hard Times1: Women’sEmpowerment and Human Development. 2. Women’s empowerment revisited: a case study from BangladeshSidney Ruth Schuler, Farzana Islam, and Elisabeth RottachSidney Ruth Schuler: [email  protected] org; Farzana Islam: [email  protected] co. uk; Elisabeth Rottach: 3. IMPACT Model of Women’s Empowerment, 2010. 4. Nature and Impact of Women’s Participation in Economic Activities in Rural Bangladesh: Insights from H ousehold Surveys, 2004. 5. Mobilizing for Women’s Rights and The Role of Resources: Synthesis Report – Bangladesh (February 2011).

How Do Cell Phones Affect Society? Essay

Mobile phones have changed how we negotiate our relationships with family, spouses and close friends. Increased levels of mobile phone subscriptions are linked with improvements in education, gender equality and political participation, particularly in developing countries. They are also associated with higher economic growth. These are among the findings of a research report by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research, which explores the ways in which mobile technologies influence economics, society and people’s private lives across 10 countries – the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, China, India, Turkey, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa. The report – ‘Mobile Technologies: The Digital Fabric of Our Lives’, commissioned and published by the Vodafone Institute for Society and Communications – bases its findings on numerous sources, including interviews with 10 top academic researchers and a worldwide survey of Vodafone country experts. Among the findings: Relationships: Mobile phones have altered our relationships with family, spouses and close friends. But while they seem to promise a wider social network, more than half of the average person’s calls and texts go to only four to six different people. Health: Mobile phones significantly help to maintain physical and psychological health when family members move away from home. And they enable women to maintain three roles within the household, simultaneously being wives, mothers and wage earners. Political participation: More mobile phone subscriptions are correlated with more democratic participation, less gender inequality and longer time spent in education. In all three areas, the impact of mobiles on social development indicators is stronger in developing countries. Economic growth: Mobile technologies contribute significantly to GDP growth, with a forecast range of between 1. 8% in the UK and 24. 9% in Egypt over the years 2010-2020, compared with today’s GDP. Again, the effects will be larger in developing countries.

Performance Management System of Banglalink Essay

The mark an employee receives in his/her evaluation plays a very important role in his/her chances of promotion. Banglalink uses the â€Å"Performance Review† form which is generally termed as â€Å"Adjective Checklist† The Performance Review forms are sent to all the people who act as supervisors of a certain number of employees. The supervisors are instructed to evaluate their subordinates They are specifically instructed to evaluate the â€Å"job performance† of the employee; and not to evaluate the employee himself or herself as a person. The supervisor fills out the form himself During his evaluation, he may consult with the employee if the supervisor has any remarks; he puts them on the form also. After all these are completed, he assigns marks on the rating. The marks are specified on the form. After the supervisor completes his evaluation, his section head reviews the form If he has other thoughts about the person evaluated, he then consults both the supervisor and the subordinate, whose performance was evaluated, and then clarifies the matter. He then gives his own remarks. Then the form is sent to the Departmental Head, who gives the final acknowledgement when he assesses that everything is in order. Thus all the filled out forms are gathered and sent to the Banglalink head-office, where these forms are sorted and arranged Then the top management reviews these forms. They evaluate the markings received. Then they can make a certain judgments on the employee’s abilities and performance The present position of the employee and his current salary along with the marks and recommendations he received are combined to make a matrix With this matrix, the employee’s increment is calculated. [pic] Appraisal Feedback After the evaluation has been done, the top management makes their decisions nd forms future plans Where the evaluation results are not satisfactory, the top management asks for more information After getting the information, they sit with the Departmental Head of the employee under scrutiny and then they proceed to assess the situation. Later they discuss the situation with the rater and the employee he rated and then they make their decision. When the evaluation results are positive and the top management has made their decisions about the employee’s increments or promotion, the employees are given the information in an informal manner. Thus, they are assured of the assessment that has been made of them. In this way they are kept motivated. 3. Research Methodology Type of Research The project falls in the category of exploratory and descriptive research, i. e, a research designed to evaluate the Performance Appraisal of Banglalink. This applies to the research part. Prior to that, the organizational part is helpful for the clear understanding of the existing position of Banglalink and also serves the purpose of the exploratory. Besides, a limited scale of causal research has been also included to examine the cause and effect relationship among variables. Basic Research Method The basic research method in this theoretical Knowledge, field survey and practical orientation. In that the annual report and websites were the major source of secondary data. Besides, the discussion with the concerned managers/employees (Primary data) yielded the additional information to fill up the gaps and helped in clear understanding. Sources and Method of data collection To carry out the research study, data has been collected both from primary and secondary sources Primary Data Primary data have been collected as follows Structured Questionnaire Keeping the problem statement in view, a number of questions in the form of checklist had been formulated. The checklist had been the main tool for relevant question to the primary data sources to formulated the operational definition of the problem statement and precisely find out the area of study. Questionnaire were developed incorporating mixed type of questions. One type of questionnaire for the managers at Banglalink and the other type is for employees. Some questions were common for all while some questions were exclusive for either group. Questionnaires were designed in such a way so that all-important elements of the performance appraisal system can be covered by it. After questionnaire formulation, an exhaustive and deliberate discussion was conducted and necessary adjustments were made. Pretest for screening of the questionnaire has been carried out. After pretest, the final questionnaire has been prepared.

Spirit Bound Chapter Twenty-Two

I DIDN'T TAKE THE GUY'S advice and tear off out of there, though I didn't exactly sit on the front step either. I lingered nearby in a cluster of cherry trees, figuring it would only be a matter of time before the assembly ended and people spilled out the doors. After several minutes passed and nothing happened, I flipped into Lissa's mind and discovered things were still in full force. Despite Tatiana declaring twice now that the session was over, people were still standing around and arguing in groups. Tasha was standing in one such group with Lissa and Adrian, making one of the impassioned speeches she was so good at. Tasha might not be as coldly calculating as Tatiana was when it came to political moves, but Tasha did have a keen sense of ripples in the system and recognized opportunities when they came. She was against the age-lowering decree. She was for teaching Moroi to fight. Neither of those was getting her very far, so she jumped on the next best thing: Lissa. â€Å"Why are we arguing among ourselves about how best to kill Strigoi when we can save them?† Tasha put one arm around Lissa and one around Adrian, drawing them both forward. Lissa still wore her serenely confident look, but Adrian looked ready to bolt if given half a chance. â€Å"Vasilisa–who, by the way, is indeed being denied her fair voice here, thanks to an archaic law–has shown that Strigoi can be brought back.† â€Å"That hasn't been proven,† exclaimed one man in the crowd. â€Å"Are you kidding?† asked a woman beside him. â€Å"My sister was with the group that brought him back. She says he's definitely a dhampir. He was even out in the sun!† Tasha nodded in approval at the woman. â€Å"I was there as well. And now we have two spirit users capable of doing this for other Strigoi.† As much as I respected Tasha, I wasn't entirely with her on this. The amount of power–not to mention effort involved in the staking–that Lissa had required with Dimitri had been staggering. It had even temporarily hurt the bond. That didn't mean she couldn't do it again. Nor did it mean she wouldn't want to again. She was just naively compassionate enough to throw herself into the line of fire to help others. But I knew the more power a spirit user wielded, the quicker they'd travel down the road to insanity. And Adrian†¦ well, he was almost a nonissue here. Even if he wanted to go staking Strigoi, he didn't have the kind of healing power it would take to restore one–at least not now. It's wasn't uncommon for Moroi to use their elements in different ways. Some fire users, like Christian, had skilled control of flame itself. Others could only use their magic to, say, warm the air in a room. Likewise, Lissa and Adrian had their strengths with spirit. His greatest healing triumph was mending a fracture, and she still couldn't walk dreams, no matter how much she practiced. So, really, Tasha had one spirit user capable of saving Strigoi, and that one could hardly transform legions of those monsters. Tasha did seem to recognize this a little. â€Å"The Council shouldn't be wasting time with age laws,† she continued. â€Å"We need to sink our resources into finding more spirit users and recruiting them to help save Strigoi.† She fixed her gaze on someone in the crowd. â€Å"Martin, didn't your brother get turned against his will? With enough work, we could bring him back to you. Alive. Just like you knew him. Otherwise, he's just going to get staked when guardians find him–and of course he'll be slaughtering innocents along the way.† Yeah, Tasha was good. She could paint a good image and nearly brought that Martin guy to tears. She didn't really mention people who'd turned Strigoi willingly. Lissa, still standing with her, wasn't sure how she felt about the idea of a Strigoi-saving spirit army, but she did recognize how this was all part of several other plans Tasha had–including one to get Lissa voting rights. Tasha played up Lissa's abilities and character, scoffing at what was clearly an outdated law from an era that never could have foreseen this situation. Tasha further pointed out that a full Council of twelve families would send a message to Strigoi everywhere about Moroi unity. I didn't want to hear any more. I'd let Tasha wield her political magic and talk more to Lissa later. I was still so agitated about what had happened when I'd yelled at the Council that I couldn't stand to see that room anymore. I left her mind and returned to my own, yelping when I saw a face right in front of mine. â€Å"Ambrose!† One of the best-looking dhampirs on the planet–after Dimitri, of course–flashed me a gleaming, movie-star smile. â€Å"You were so still, I thought maybe you were trying to be a dryad.† I blinked. â€Å"A what?† He gestured to the cherry trees. â€Å"Nature spirits. Beautiful women who become one with trees.† â€Å"I'm not sure if that was a compliment or not,† I said. â€Å"But it's good to see you again.† Ambrose was a true oddity in our culture: a male dhampir who had neither taken guardian vows nor run off to hide among humans. Female dhampirs often chose not to join the guardians in order to focus on raising families. That's why we were so rare. But men? They had no excuse, as far as most people were concerned. Rather than skulk off in disgrace, however, Ambrose had chosen to stay and simply work for the Moroi another way. He was essentially a servant–a high-class one who served drinks at elite parties and gave massages to royal women. He also, if rumors were true, served Tatiana in physical ways. That was so creepy, though, I promptly put it out of my mind. â€Å"You too,† he told me. â€Å"But if you aren't communing with nature, what are you doing?† â€Å"It's a long story. I kind of got thrown out of a Council meeting.† He looked impressed. â€Å"Literally thrown out?† â€Å"Dragged, I guess. I'm surprised I haven't seen you around,† I mused. â€Å"Of course, I've kind of been, um, distracted this last week.† â€Å"So I've heard,† he said, giving me a sympathetic look. â€Å"Although, I actually have been away. Just got back last night.† â€Å"Just in time for the fun,† I muttered. The guileless look on his face told me hadn't heard about the decree yet. â€Å"What are you doing now?† he asked. â€Å"This doesn't look like punishment. Did you finish your sentence?† â€Å"Something like that. I'm kind of waiting for someone now. Was just going to hang out in my room.† â€Å"Well, if you're killing time, why don't you come see Aunt Rhonda?† â€Å"Rhonda?† I scowled. â€Å"No offense, but your aunt didn't really impress me with her abilities last time.† â€Å"None taken,† he said cheerfully. â€Å"But she's been wondering about you. And Vasilisa. So, if you're just hanging around†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I hesitated. He was right that I had nothing better to do right now. I was stuck on options with both Dimitri and the Council's idiotic resolutions. Yet Rhonda–his fortune-telling Moroi aunt–wasn't someone I really wanted to see again. Despite my glib words, the truth was that in retrospect, some of Rhonda's predictions had come true. I just didn't like what they'd been. â€Å"Fine,† I said, trying to look bored. â€Å"Make it fast.† He smiled again, like he could see through my ruse, and led me off to a building I'd been to once before. It housed a luxurious salon and spa frequented by royal Moroi. Lissa and I had had our nails done there, and as Ambrose and I wound our way through it to Rhonda's lair, I felt a strange pang within me. Manicures and pedicures†¦ they seemed like the most trivial things in the world. But on that day, they'd been wonderful. Lissa and I had laughed and grown closer†¦ just before the school was attacked and everything fell apart†¦. Rhonda told fortunes in a back room that was far from the busy spa. Despite the seedy feel of it, she did a pretty brisk business and even had her own receptionist. Or, well, she used to. This time, the desk was empty, and Ambrose led me straight through to Rhonda's room. It looked exactly the same as before, like being inside a heart. Everything was red: the wallpaper, the decorations, and the cushions covering the floor. Rhonda herself sat on the floor, eating a cup of yogurt, which seemed terribly ordinary for someone who allegedly wielded mystical powers. Curly black hair cascaded around her shoulders, making the large gold hoops in her ears gleam. â€Å"Rose Hathaway,† she said happily, setting the yogurt aside. â€Å"What a nice surprise.† â€Å"Shouldn't you have seen me coming?† I asked dryly. Her lips twitched with amusement. â€Å"That's not my power.† â€Å"Sorry to interrupt your dinner,† Ambrose said, gracefully folding his muscled body as he sat down. â€Å"But Rose isn't easy to catch hold of.† â€Å"I imagine not,† she said. â€Å"I'm impressed you got her to come at all. What can I do for you today, Rose?† I shrugged and sank down beside Ambrose. â€Å"I don't know. I'm only here because Ambrose talked me into it.† â€Å"She didn't think your last reading was very good,† he said. â€Å"Hey!† I shot him a chastising look. â€Å"That's not exactly what I said.† Last time, Lissa and Dimitri had been with me. Rhonda's tarot cards had shown Lissa crowned with power and light–no surprise. Rhonda had said Dimitri would lose what he valued most, and he had: his soul. And me? Rhonda had bluntly told me that I'd kill the undead. I'd scoffed at that, knowing I had a lifetime of Strigoi-killing ahead of me. Now I wondered if â€Å"undead† meant the Strigoi part of Dimitri. Even if I hadn't driven the stake, I'd certainly played a major role. â€Å"Maybe another reading would help the other one make more sense?† she offered. My mind was putting together another fraud psychic joke, which was why it was so astonishing when my mouth said, â€Å"That's the problem. The other one did make sense. I'm afraid†¦ I'm afraid of what else the cards will show.† â€Å"The cards don't make the future,† she said gently. â€Å"If something's meant to be, it'll be, regardless of whether you see it here. And even then†¦ well, the future is always changing. If we had no choices, there'd be no point in living.† â€Å"See now,† I said flippantly, â€Å"that's the kind of vague gypsy response I was hoping for.† â€Å"Roma,† she corrected. â€Å"Not gypsy.† Despite my snark, she still seemed to be in a good mood. Easygoing attitudes must have run in their family. â€Å"Do you want the cards or not?† Did I? She was right about one thing–the future would unfold with or without me seeing it in the cards. And even if the cards showed it, I probably wouldn't understand it until afterward. â€Å"Okay,† I said. â€Å"Just for fun. I mean, last time was probably a lucky guess.† Rhonda rolled her eyes but said nothing as she began shuffling her tarot deck. She did it with such precision that the cards seemed to move themselves. When she finally stopped, she handed the deck to me to cut. I did, and she put it back together. â€Å"We did three cards before,† she said. â€Å"We've got time to do more if you'd like. Five, perhaps?† â€Å"The more there are, the more likely it is that anything can get explained.† â€Å"If you don't believe in them, then it shouldn't be an issue.† â€Å"Okay, then. Five.† She grew serious as she flipped out the cards, her eyes carefully studying them. Two of the cards had come out upside down. I didn't take that as a good sign. Last time, I'd learned that it made seemingly happy cards†¦ well, not so happy. The first one was one the Two of Cups, showing a man and a woman together in a grassy, flower-filled field while the sun shone above them. Naturally, it was upside down. â€Å"Cups are tied to emotions,† Rhonda explained. â€Å"The Two of Cups shows a union, a perfect love and blossoming of joyous emotions. But since it's inverted–â€Å" â€Å"You know what?† I interrupted. â€Å"I think I'm getting the hang of this. You can skip that one. I have a good idea what it means.† It might as well have been Dimitri and me on that card, the cup empty and full of heartache†¦. I really didn't want to hear Rhonda analyze what was already tearing my heart up. So she went on to the next one: the Queen of Swords, also upside down. â€Å"Cards like this refer to specific people,† Rhonda told me. The Queen of Swords looked very imperious, with auburn hair and silver robes. â€Å"The Queen of Swords is clever. She thrives on knowledge, can outwit her enemies, and is ambitious.† I sighed. â€Å"But upside down†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Upside down,† said Rhonda, â€Å"all of those traits get twisted. She's still smart, still trying to get her way†¦ but she's doing it through insincere ways. There's a lot of hostility and deception here. I'd say you have an enemy.† â€Å"Yeah,† I said, eyeing the crown. â€Å"I think I can guess who. I just called her a sanctimonious bitch.† Rhonda didn't comment and moved on to the next one. It was facing the right way, but I kind of wished it wasn't. It had a whole bunch of swords stuck in the ground and a woman tied and blindfolded to one. Eight of Swords. â€Å"Oh, come on,† I exclaimed. â€Å"What is it with me and swords? You gave me one this depressing last time.† It had shown a woman weeping in front of a wall of swords. â€Å"That was the Nine of Swords,† she agreed. â€Å"It could always be worse.† â€Å"I have a hard time believing that.† She picked up the rest of the deck and scanned through it, finally pulling out one card. The Ten of Swords. â€Å"You could have drawn this.† It showed a dead guy lying on the ground with a bunch of swords driven through him. â€Å"Point taken,† I said. Ambrose chuckled beside me. â€Å"What's the nine mean?† â€Å"The nine is being trapped. Unable to get out of a situation. It can also mean slander or accusation. Summoning courage to escape something.† I glanced back at the queen, thinking of the things I'd said in the Council room. Those would definitely count as accusations. And being trapped? Well, there was always the possibility of a lifetime of paperwork†¦ I sighed. â€Å"Okay, what's the next one?† It was the best-looking one in the bunch, the Six of Swords. It had a bunch of people in a boat, rowing off over moonlit water. â€Å"A journey,† she said. â€Å"I was just on a journey. A few of them.† I eyed her suspiciously. â€Å"Man, this isn't, like, some kind of a spiritual journey is it?† Ambrose laughed again. â€Å"Rose, I wish you'd get tarot readings every day.† Rhonda ignored him. â€Å"If it were in cups, maybe. But swords are tangible. Action. A true, out-and-about journey.† Where on earth would I go? Did it mean I was traveling to the Academy like Tatiana had suggested? Or was it possible that, in spite of all my rule breaking and calling her royal highness names, I might actually get an assignment after all? One away from Court? â€Å"You could be looking for something. It may be a physical journey combined with a spiritual journey,† she said, which sounded like a total way to cover her ass. â€Å"This last one†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Her eyebrows knitted into a frown at the fifth card. â€Å"This is hidden from me.† I peered at it. â€Å"The Page of Cups. Seems pretty obvious. It's a page with, um, cups.† â€Å"Usually I have a clear vision†¦. The cards speak to me in how they connect. This one's not clear.† â€Å"The only thing that's not clear is whether it's a girl or a boy.† The person on the card looked young but had hair and an androgynous face that made the gender impossible to determine. The blue tights and tunic didn't help, though the sunny field in the background seemed promising. â€Å"It can be either,† Rhonda said. â€Å"It's the lowest in rank of the cards that represent people in each suit: King, Queen, Knight, and then Page. Whoever the page is, it's someone trustworthy and creative. Optimistic. It could mean someone who goes on the journey with you–or maybe the reason for your journey.† Whatever optimism or truth I'd had in the cards pretty much disappeared with that. Given that she'd just said about a hundred things it could be, I didn't really consider it authoritative. Usually, she noticed my skepticism, but her attention was still on the card as she frowned. â€Å"But I just can't tell†¦. There's a cloud around it. Why? It doesn't make sense.† Something about her confusion sent a chill down my spine. I always told myself this was fake, but if she'd been making it all up†¦ well, wouldn't she have made something up about the Page of Cups? She wasn't putting on a very convincing act if this last card was making her question herself. The thought that maybe there was some mystical force out there blocking her sobered up my cynical attitude. With a sigh, she looked up at last. â€Å"Sorry that's all I can tell you. Did the rest help?† I scanned the cards. Heartache. An enemy. Accusations. Entrapment. Travel. â€Å"Some of it tells me things I already know. The rest leaves me with more questions.† She smiled knowingly. â€Å"That's how it usually is.† I thanked her for the reading, secretly glad I didn't have to pay for it. Ambrose walked me out, and I tried to shake off the mood Rhonda's fortune had left me in. I had enough problems in my life without letting a bunch of stupid cards bother me. â€Å"You going to be okay?† he asked when we finally emerged. The sun was climbing higher. The Royal Court would be going to bed soon, ending what had been a turbulent day. â€Å"I†¦ I wouldn't have brought you if I'd known how much it would upset you.† â€Å"No, no,† I said. â€Å"It's not the cards. Not exactly. There's a bunch of other things going on†¦ one you should probably know about.† I hadn't wanted to bring up the decree when we'd first run into each other, but as a dhampir, he had a right to hear about what had happened. His face was perfectly still as I spoke, save for his dark brown eyes, which grew wider while the story progressed. â€Å"There's some mistake,† he said at last. â€Å"They wouldn't do that. They wouldn't do that to sixteen-year-olds.† â€Å"Yeah, well, I didn't think so either, but they were apparently serious enough about it to throw me out when I, um, questioned it.† â€Å"I can just imagine your ‘questioning.' All this'll do is make more dhampirs drop out of the guardians†¦ unless, of course, being that young makes them more open for brainwashing.† â€Å"Kind of a sensitive area for you, huh?† I asked. After all, he too was a guardian drop-out. He shook his head. â€Å"Staying in this society was nearly impossible for me. If any of those kids do decide to drop out, they won't have the powerful friends I did. They'll be outcasts. That's all this'll do. Either kill off teens or cut them off from their own people.† I wondered what powerful friends he'd had, but this was hardly the time to learn his life history. â€Å"Well, that royal bitch doesn't seem to care.† The thoughtful, distracted look in his eyes suddenly sharpened. â€Å"Don't call her that,† he warned with a glare. â€Å"This isn't her fault.† Whoa. Cue surprise. I'd almost never seen sexy, charismatic Ambrose be anything but friendly. â€Å"Of course it's her fault! She's the supreme ruler of the Moroi, remember?† His scowl deepened. â€Å"The Council voted too. Not her alone.† â€Å"Yeah, but she voted in support of this decree. She swayed the vote.† â€Å"There must have been a reason. You don't know her like I do. She wouldn't want this kind of thing.† I started to ask if he was out of his mind but paused when I remembered his relationship with the queen. Those romantic rumors made me queasy, but if they were true, I supposed he might have legitimate concern for her. I also decided it was probably best that I didn't know her the way he did. The bite marks on his neck certainly indicated some sort of intimate activity. â€Å"Whatever's going on between you is your business,† I told him calmly, â€Å"but she's used it to trick you into thinking she's someone she isn't. She did it to me too, and I fell for it. It's all a scam.† â€Å"I don't believe it,† he said, still stone-faced. â€Å"As queen, she's put into all sorts of tough situations. There must be more to it–she'll change the decree, I'm certain of it.† â€Å"As queen,† I said, imitating his tone, â€Å"she should have the ability to–â€Å" My words fell off as a voice spoke in my head. Lissa's. Rose, you're going to want to see this. But you have to promise not to cause any trouble. Lissa flashed a location to me, along with a sense of urgency. Ambrose's hard look shifted to one of concern. â€Å"Are you okay?† â€Å"I–yeah. Lissa needs me.† I sighed. â€Å"Look, I don't want us to fight, okay? Obviously we've each got different views of the situation†¦ but I think we both agree on the same key point.† â€Å"That kids shouldn't be sent off to die? Yeah, we can agree on that.† We smiled tentatively at each other, and the anger between us diffused. â€Å"I'll talk to her, Rose. I'll find out the real story and let you know, okay?† â€Å"Okay.† I had a hard time believing anyone could really have a heart-to-heart with Tatiana, but again, there might be more to their relationship than I realized. â€Å"Thanks. It was good seeing you.† â€Å"You too. Now go–go to Lissa.† I needed no further urging. Along with the sense of urgency, Lissa had passed one other message through the bond that sent my feet flying: It's about Dimitri.