Renewable Energy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Renewable Energy - Research Paper Example This has led to establishment of measures to switch to renewable energy sources like wind and photovoltaic electricity. These renewable sources are clean and also maintainable considering that they do not emit gases or toxic that can pollute the environment. Some sources like wind are plentiful, easily affordable, require less maintenance and cannot get exhausted. These renewable sources can be established in rural areas and therefore this encourages establishment of industries in those areas. Wind energy convertors have a strong inbuilt framework that enable them to convert the free moving air which has kinetic energy to rotational movement whereby then it can make the generator to start working-mechanical energy (David, 2009). This is through the friction of the rotating wind and the wind turbine blades. However, before any electricity is generated there are stages that are involved. The first stage is the stage of revolution. In this stage, the blades are made with certain dimensions to help harness as much free moving air as possible. They should be able to rotate easily and should have a considerable length of about forty meters. They should also be placed in certain degrees depending on the direction of the wind. The blades are able to rotate because of the two main forces that are involved. The first one is the drag force which is horizontal to the wind direction and the lift force which is vertical to the direction of wind (David, 2009). These forces depend on the shape of the rotating blades and the angle in which the wind meets the blade. Either of these blades can be used to propel the blade. It is important to note most of the Wind Energy Converts depend mainly on the lift force. All this is illustrated in the diagrams below. The blades rotate on a rotor which is connected to the shaft. The rotor then makes the generator to convert the waves to electricity. This stage is referred to as the mechanical stage. The wind turbine should be

History week6 questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

History week6 questions - Essay Example The New World conquest yielded new lands, riches and slave labor which set-off an imperialistic hunger that spread to Africa. It was closer, larger and the natives from that continent were preferred as slaves over the natives of the Americas. The Europeans quickly claimed jurisdiction over most regions of Africa and Turkey as well. The British conquered India and did modernize its economy but it was to their own benefit. Although this trend was interrupted by the shake-ups of the 1700s and 1800s industrial, social and political revolutions, European nations readopted the strategy moving into the 20th century, introducing enough civil unrest to trigger the world’s first World War. By the early 19th century, the New World wealth had been well plundered and it was widely feared that the slaves emanating from there could spread new diseases in Europe or contract European diseases and die themselves. Africa was an attractive target to quench the Europeans’ new thirst to create far-away empires and control territories that held the raw materials needed to maintain and grow their prosperous economies which were built upon imperialistic tactics. New territories also meant the opportunity to trade with new markets. By the mid 19th century, the conquest for Africa was well underway. Gaining and controlling new territories outside the original country was justified by many explanations. A certain amount of national pride fueled the desire for an expansionist agenda. Obtaining new colonies was widely viewed as a gauge of a nation’s global prominence. Another justification was based on the prevalent racist attitude. â€Å"Europeans thought that they were b etter than Africans† (McDougal-Littell, 1999). Church officials and missionaries encouraged imperialism because the natives of conquered territories could be more easily coerced to convert to Christianity. The British East India Company owned vast tracts of land and was the

Oral Hygiene during Placement Simulation

Oral Hygiene during Placement Simulation In this essay, I will be reflecting on the importance of oral hygiene and my experience of giving and receiving oral hygiene care whilst on placement simulation. In conclusion, I will identify my own personal development in undertaking and completing this skill and achieving it. The care of a patients mouth forms an important component of assisting hygiene needs and yet is an aspect of practice which is not always afforded the attention it fully deserves. It is also a role which too often delegated to health care assistants. Research shows that, in the United States, nosocomial pneumonia ranks second in morbidity and first in mortality among nosocomial infections. The treatment of nosocomial pneumonia adds 5 to 7 days to the hospital stay of surviving patients and billions of dollars to healthcare costs. REFLECTION There are different models of reflection one of which is Gibbs (1988). Reflection is the process of reviewing an experience in order to describe, analyses, evaluate and so inform learning about practice (Reid1993). I will use this reflection model in guiding me because it has helped focusing on different aspects of an experience, and exploiting their full potential for learning will be more appreciated. Reflection in professional practice, however, gives back not what it is, but what might be, an improvement on the original (Moon 1999). Description As part of placement simulation, I was part of a group introduced to oral hygiene care. It is one of the core requirements in maintaining the hygiene needs of a patient. When we were told to bring in a towel and tooth brush, I was taken aback as to what was the need for them? I went to the multi-skills laboratory not knowing what will befall me. My lecturer introduced us to a range of chemicals for oral hygiene. I had used some before but on this occasion, there was one I had not tried and used before. I was assigned a colleague to have the opportunity of experiencing the giving and receiving of oral hygiene by cleaning his teeth with toothbrush and pepsodent and vice versa.We performed as instructed. Feelings Upon commencement of activity, my views of healthy oral care were not very clear to me. Generally I perceived cleaning your teeth as being much like washing a face. I felt very embarrassed and inadequate and consequently, felt very uncomfortable as I have not done this to anyone outside of my family. On his part, it was obvious from his reaction that he had no confidence in me, thinking I was going to brush his teeth hard. It highlighted the complex problems I have to solve in practice and the provision of care needs to patients for whom I may not have had contact with before. I thought my pride and dignity had been taken away from me but later felt comfortable having understood what it was generally. Critical Analysis Helping patients/service users to meet their hygiene needs is a fundamental component of nursing care. Again, helping patients to meet their personal hygiene needs provides any nurse with an ideal opportunity to undertake a thorough physical, emotional and cognitive assessment of the patient. Although it seemed difficult at the beginning, by the time we performed on each other for the third time with encouragement we had developed a good working relationship. Encouraging students to acknowledge their intuitive capacity helps them to appreciate their strengths and weaknesses (SWOT). Jasper (2003) regards SWOT analysis as getting to know yourself. The understanding of our skills and abilities and the awareness of where our limits lie is seen as crucial to being able to act as a professional practitioner. After identifying and analyzing of my own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, I showed no more discomfort and shown more interest in the activity as our lecturer continued talked us through. Jackson and Mannix (2001) note that amount of interest the nurse shows in the learning needs of the student and the key role he or she plays in their achievement are essential to the students development. It is strange that sometimes you do things or know what things are without ever really stopping and analysing it. Most students and many professionals note that learning acquired from placement experience is much more meaningful and relevant than that acquired in the lecture room (Quinn 2000). Boud et al 1985 argue: it is common for reflection to be treated as if it were an intellectual exercise a simple matter of thinking rigorously. However, reflection is not solely a cognitive process; emotions are central to all learning. Conclusion Caring for a patient requires a relationship and empathy. By developing collaborative relationship with patients, I can provide prompt and focused interventions which can limit illness. Action Plan My aim is to be proactive in the future by promptly opening up. I aim to develop the skill of emotional resilience to be able to deliver and receive any care. Conclusion Like many others on the group, I thought that students were there through choice, they wanted to learn. As a result of this I expected the group to be mature and behaved. Due to my lack of experience in care and the job title of student nurse, I perceived that most sessions would run in a lecture format. This was probably a very naive move on my part, however following my first two sessions, I realised that if I was to be a successful student nurse, I had to adapt my approach. I needed to focus more upon my involvement and participation, getting the group involved in sessions would help to improve my learning process. However as I develop my nursing skills and also my ability to reflect, I have begun to realise that the process of reflection is more complex than Gibbs (1988) suggests. Whilst Gibbs highlights key areas of the process, I feel that reflection is not as cyclical as this model implies. As my reflective skills develop, I am finding myself jumping some stages of the cycle, revisiting others and in some instances digressing in different directions. I feel that this represents my views of reflection as I have a start point (the experience) and an end point (the outcomes/actions), but how I get there is down to my trail of thought. Whilst at this stage of my development I would not class myself as a successful, I believe I am working to develop the skills required to be successful.

Authorial Opinion Of Wife Of Bath Essay -- essays research papers

The character of the Wife of Bath is clearly feminist. She indicates this by her extreme ideas of female â€Å"maistrye† and statements such as â€Å"I have the power duringe al my lyf upon his proper body, and nought he,† which is extremely feminist. However, Chaucer makes us see the Wife of Bath as inconsistent, at times illogical, and also amoral and adulterous, The prologue and tale is spoken by a woman of supposed vast experience, yet was written by a man. While the prologue and tale may be seemingly feminist, could it be a vehicle for a deeper anti-feminist message? The Wife of Bath had a strong argument in favour of marriage but is easy to fault. Her argument that marriage grows more virgins, while correct makes us wonder why she bore no children. And she also mentions the fact that â€Å"in wyfhood I wol use myn instrument† but her marriage did not seem to have stopped her from restraining her â€Å"Chamber of Venus from a good felawe.† The Wife of Bath confuses bigamy with remarriage and manipulates the arguments for remarriage to suit her purpose. Chaucer gives the Wife of Bath’s arguments less credibility The wife of bath strongly argued in favour of female â€Å"maistrye.† She argued this in the prologue and used the tale to bring the message home. Her arguments are weakened however by the destructive and careless behaviour of the Wife of Bath. She openly laughs at them (â€Å"I laugh whan I thinke†) when she thinks of how she made her husbands toil at night. She doesn’t seem to regret the...

Lady Macbeth and Lady Macduff Essay

Shakespeare cleverly creates sorrow for Lady Macbeth and Lady Macduff through various techniques such as order of their scenes, their company on stage and most importantly by their circumstances. In the case of Lady Macbeth we know her from the start of the play while in the case of Lady Macduff we are introduced to her with no prior knowledge only in Act 4 scene 2. Moreover with the use of dramatic irony Shakespeare lets the audience know certain events about to happen which naturally influence the emotions of viewers. Even though we feel sorrow for both the ladies there is a considerable difference in the range and type of sorrow. The basic similarity in their situation is that they cannot be helped. Shakespeare uses the basic human tendencies such as the urge to help the helpless, who in this case are both the Ladies, to amplify the feelings of sorrow and pity. We see lady Macduff first time in act 4 scene 2 talking with her cousin Ross a high ranking nobleman. She is angry with her husband for fleeing the land without them as can be inferred from lines 8-16. She feels that he has left them in mortal danger. Thus we know that the overriding emotion she experiences is fear. The fact that he ran away without any obvious reason scares her more. The audience already knows through Macbeths words- the castle of Macduff I will surprise..,give to the edge of sword his wifes, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line (act4 sc1 171-174) that he is going to massacre Lady Macduff and her children. We come to know a lot about this woman through the company of people that Shakespeare places with her. First of all we have Ross who clearly as her cousin does her the honor of visiting her and comforting her. His replies to all of her questions are short and terse. They do not give any new information but do the task of soothing her fee lings. His words in lines 25-30 I take my leave of youTo what they were before.-My pretty cousin, Blessing upon you indicate that she is a woman of honor and he does not wish to stain that honor by staying longer with her considering that she is alone. Next we have her conversation with her son which reveals that she is aware that it is not her sons fault that his father has fled and that she will not blame him for Macduffs mistakes. Lady Macduffs jokes with her son are based on reality, yet are pleasing and tell of a loving relationship between her and her son. Moreover by using the weakest group of people that  is woman and children Shakespeare creates an added feeling of sorrow. The entry of the messenger increases the tension and heightens emotions as it is right after a jolly and normal dialogue. His words are the harbinger of evil acts and they warn lady Macduff and advise her to run swiftly to safety. The very fact that the messenger is willing to put his life in jeopardy in order to try to save her life is testimony to her character. Specifically his lines 76-78 To fright you thusis too nigh your person. tell us that he not telling her this cruel truth would be more evil than telling it to her as she was a person of high stature in his eyes. Her response Whither should I fly? I have done no harm. But I remember now I am in this earthly.Do I put that womanly defense To say that I have done no harm? (Lines 81-87) to the warning shows political awareness and wisdom. At this point she knows that she is about to die and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Her end also tells the audience that she is a loyal wife for in lines 90-91 she says I hope in no place so unsanctified where such as thou mayst find him. . Her son dies so as to give his mother time to run and save herself. Thus Shakespeare creates the ultimate concept of Good vs Evil but instead of allowing good to triumph he lets evil rule. Lady Macduffs death is that of an scared, confused, loyal, loving, honorable, wise and defenseless woman dying a savage death for no reason whatsoever. On the other hand we have Lady Macbeth with whom the audience has been acquainted for a long time. Till act 5 sc 1 we have always seen Lady Macbeth as an forceful, ruthless and intelligent woman who has no remorse. In this act we see her through the eyes of a doctor and an gentlewoman. It is obvious that she is ill for a long time. Her company is not an jolly one, they are a doctor and a gentlewoman who after hearing and seeing her state of mind pity and feel sorrow for her. The gentlewoman has seen her in this state before whereas the doctor who sees her for the first time is clearly shocked. All her torments and troubles are within her mentally which is why no doctor can cure her. The words spoken by lady Macbeth speak of such darkness and blood that the doctor and the gentlewoman dare not repeat them to anyone else. All of her words in lines 37-42 refer to her past murders and crimes except for the sentence Hell is murky. Her diction and sentence structure is terse and tense. It is almost as if she reporting all her  deeds. It is very different from the loud convincing diction of the lady Macbeth we see in previous acts of the play. Even though she talks of her crimes, she never even once confesses or accepts her crimes. She is also scared and fears the blood spots on her hands will never be cleaned (lines 53-55). She is also extremely afraid of the darkness which is why she has commanded that she always have light beside her. She fears her past actions and that she always pushed Macbeth when he hesitated in murdering. Macbeth had not confided in her about the murder of lady Macduff which suggests that Macbeths taste for murder has outgrown hers. These fears are shown symbolically through her fear of darkness which compares with evil and her fear of dirty and bloody hands which compares with guilt. What is however heartbreaking and is the greatest factor in creating sorrow for her is that her suffering cannot end. She is locked in a circle of pain and only she can break out of it, no one can help her. The only way out of this circle would be by asking for forgiveness, by redeeming herself in the eyes of god. But to show remorse one needs to be sane and sadly as seen from her sleepwalking and other unnatural acts she is clearly mentally ill. Her pain is never-ending and everlasting. She is bound for hell and she cannot escape it. There are several similarities and contrasts between the two woman and the sorrow we feel for them. I personally felt more sorrow for Lady Macbeth than Lady Macduff since the suffering of Lady Macduff was short and painful while Lady Macbeth is never ending and painful. Lady Macduff suffered externally though physical pain while lady Macbeth suffered mentally. In case of Lady Macduff she was innocent and the suffering was brought upon her by Macbeth while in case of Lady Macbeth she herself had brought his suffering upon themselves. Lady Macbeth had a grim past and faces a grim future while Lady Macduff had a loving past and faces a heavenly future. Even though everyone wanted to help Lady Macduff they could not, similarly even though the doctor and gentlewoman wanted to help Lady Macbeth they could not. When death came Lady Macduff faced it by growing stronger but Lady Macbeth grew weaker. The diction of Lady Macduff drew out fear while Lady Macbeths diction imbibed it. Both the woman undergo intense emotional suffering before they die. Both of them are helpless and isolated. Though people would like to help them they cannot. Both of their husbands are not with them. Macduff went to  England thinking that his wife and children would be safe while Macbeth has probably grown so addicted to murder that he has forgotten his wifes suffering. As an audience the impact of these two sorry tragedies is huge and they come right after each other thus amplifying the impact. By playing upon natural human tendencies, cleverly placing the right characters and creating a sense of helplessness for both women Shakespeare leaves the audience with deep sorrow. Shakespeare also cleverly places brief interludes between intense scenes to increase the overall effect. The emotions depicted are intense and break the hearts of the audience. The death of Lady Macduff is unwarranted while the death of lady Macbeth is too painful and horrific. The main ideas that Shakespeare uses are that we empathise with the weak and helpless, we want to see good triumph evil and that no one wants to give anyone everlasting suffering without a ray of hope. He uses these instinctive human feelings to create sorrow for Lady Macduff and Lady Macbeth.

A Dirty Job Chapter 27

27 BITCH'S BREW Lily had been looking all night for a way to approach Minty Fresh. She'd made eye contact with him a dozen times over the course of the evening, and smiled, but with the atmosphere of dread that fell over the room she was having trouble thinking of an opening line. Finally, when an Oprah movie of the week came on the television and everyone gathered around to watch the media diva beat Paul Winfield to death with a steam iron, Minty went to the breakfast bar and started flipping through his day planner, and Lily made her move. â€Å"So, checking your appointments?† she said. â€Å"You must be feeling optimistic about how things will go.† He shook his head. â€Å"Not really.† Lily was smitten. He was beautiful and morose – like a great brown man-gift from the gods. â€Å"How bad can it be?† Lily said, pulling the appointment book out of his hand and flipping through the pages. She stopped on today's date. â€Å"Why is Asher's name in here?† she asked. Minty hung his head. â€Å"He said you've known all about us for a while.† â€Å"Yeah, but – † She looked at the name again and the realization of what she was seeing was like a punch in the chest. â€Å"This is that book? This is your date book for that?† Minty nodded slowly, not looking at her. â€Å"When did this name show up?† Lily asked. â€Å"It wasn't there an hour ago.† â€Å"Well, fucksocks,† she said, sitting down on the bar stool next to the big man. â€Å"Yeah,† said Minty Fresh. He put his arm around her shoulders. With Charlie pulling on the legs of the bobcat guy (who was doing some impressive screaming considering he had prototype vocal cords) and the squirrel people dog-piling onto the Boston terrier, they were eventually able to extricate their lieutenant from the jaws of the bug-eyed fury with only a few snags in his Beefeater's costume. â€Å"Down, Bummer,† Charlie said. â€Å"Just chill.† He didn't know if chill was an official dog command, but it should be. Bummer snorted and backed away from the surrounding crowd of squirrel people. â€Å"Not one of us,† said the bobcat guy, pointing at Bummer. â€Å"Not one of us.† â€Å"You shut up,† Charlie said. He pulled a beef jerky from his pocket that he'd brought for emergency rations, tore off a hunk, and held it out to Bummer. â€Å"Come on, buddy. I told the Emperor I'd look out for you.† Bummer trotted over to Charlie and took the beef jerky from him, then turned to face down the squirrel people as he chewed. The squirrel people made clicking noises and brandished their weapons. â€Å"Not one of us. Not one of us,† chanted Bob. â€Å"Stop that,† Charlie said. â€Å"You can't get a mob chant going, Bob, you're the only one with a voice box.† â€Å"Oh yeah.† Bob let his chanting trail off. â€Å"Well, he's not one of us,† he added in his defense. â€Å"He is now,† Charlie said. To Bummer he said, â€Å"Can you lead us to the Underworld?† Bummer looked up at Charlie as if he knew exactly what was being asked of him, but if he was going to find the strength to carry on, he was going to need the other half of that beef jerky. Charlie gave it to him and Bummer immediately jumped up to a higher, four-foot pipe, stopped, barked, then took off down the pipe. â€Å"Follow him,† Charlie said. After an hour following Bummer through the sewers, the pipes gave way to tunnels that got bigger as they moved along. Soon they were moving in caves, with high ceilings and stalactites in the ceiling that glowed in various colors, illuminating their way with a dull, shadowy light. Charlie had read enough about the geology of the area to know that these caves were not natural to the city. He guessed that they were somewhere under the financial district, which was mostly built on Gold Rush landfill, so there would be nothing as old-looking or as solid as these caves. Bummer kept on, leading them down one fork or another without the slightest hesitation, until suddenly the cave opened up into a massive grotto. The chamber was so large that it simply swallowed up Charlie's flashlight and headlamp beams, but the ceiling, which was several hundred feet high, was lined with the luminous stalactites that reflected red, green, and purple in a mirror-smooth black lake. In the middle of the lake, probably two hundred yards away, stood a great black sailing ship – tall-masted like a Spanish galleon – red, pulsating light coming from the cabin windows in the rear, a single lantern lighting the deck. Charlie had heard that whole ships had been buried in the debris during the Gold Rush, but they wouldn't have been left preserved like this. Things had changed, these caves were all the result of the Underworld rising – and he realized that this was just a hint of what was going to happen to the City if the Underworlders took over. Bummer barked and the sharp report echoed around the grotto, sending a cloud of bats into the air. Charlie saw movement on the deck of the ship, the blue-black outline of a woman, and he knew that Bummer had led them to the right place. Charlie handed his flashlight to Bob and set his sword-cane on the cave floor. He drew the Desert Eagle from the shoulder holster, checked that there was a round in the chamber, cocked the hammer, then reset the safety and reholstered the pistol. â€Å"We're going to need a boat,† Charlie said to Bob. â€Å"See if you guys can find something we can make a raft from.† The bobcat guy started down the shore with Charlie's flashlight, scanning the rocks for useful flotsam. Bummer growled, tossed his head like he had ear mites or perhaps to indicate that he thought Charlie was insane, and ran out into the lake. Fifty yards away he was still only in water up to his shoulder. Charlie looked at the black ship and realized that it was sitting way, way too high out of the water – that, in fact, it was sitting with its hull on the bottom in only about six inches of water. â€Å"Uh, Bob,† Charlie said. â€Å"Forget the boat. We're walking. Everyone quiet.† He unsheathed his sword and sloshed onward. As they approached the ship they could make out details in its construction. The railings were fashioned from leg bones lashed together, the mooring cleats were human pelvises. The lantern on the deck was, in fact, a human skull. Charlie wasn't exactly sure how his powers as Luminatus were going to manifest themselves, but as they reached the hull of the ship he found himself very much wishing it would happen soon, and that levitation would be one of the powers. â€Å"We're fucked,† said Bob, looking up at the black hull curving above them. â€Å"We're not fucked,† Charlie said. â€Å"We just need someone to climb up there and throw us a rope.† There was some milling around amid the squirrel people, then a lone figure stepped out of the little crowd – this one appeared to be a nineteenth-century French dandy with the head of a monitor lizard. His outfit – the ruffles and the coat – actually reminded Charlie of pictures that Lily had shown him of Charles Baudelaire. â€Å"You can do it?† Charlie asked the lizard guy. He held out his hands and lifted one foot out of the water. Squirrel paws. Charlie lifted the lizard guy as high as he could up to the hull, and the little creature caught ahold in the black wood, then scurried up the side of the ship and over the gunwale. Minutes passed, and Charlie found himself listening hard for some hint as to what was going on above. When the thick rope splashed down next to him, he leapt two feet in the air and barely contained blasting out a full-blown man-scream. â€Å"Nice,† said Bob. â€Å"You first, then,† Charlie said, testing the rope to see if it would hold his weight. He waited until the bobcat guy was about three feet over his head before he tucked the sword-cane down inside the Lexan plate strapped over his back and started the climb himself. By the time he was three-quarters of the way up the rope, he felt as if his biceps were going to pop like water balloons and he entwined his motocross boot into the rope to rest. As if being granted a second wind by the gods, his biceps relaxed and when he resumed climbing he felt as if he might really be gaining his power as the Luminatus. When he reached the railing, he grabbed one of the bone mooring cleats and swung himself up until he sat straddling the rail. He swung around and his headlamp caught the black shine in her eyes. She was holding the bobcat guy like an ear of corn, her claw driven through his skull, pinning his jaw shut. There was flesh and goo glowing dull red, running down her face and over her breasts as she tore another bite out of the Beefeater. â€Å"Want some, lover?† she said. â€Å"Tastes like ham.† At the breakfast bar in Charlie's apartment, Lily said, â€Å"Shouldn't we tell them?† â€Å"They don't all know about us. About this.† Minty held the date book. â€Å"Just Audrey.† â€Å"Then shouldn't we tell her?† Minty looked at Audrey, who was sitting on the couch entwined in a sleepy pile with Charlie's sister and one of the hellhounds, looking very content. â€Å"No, I don't think that would serve any purpose right now.† â€Å"He's a good guy,† Lily said. She snatched a paper towel off the roll on the counter and dabbed her eyes before her mascara went raccoon on her again. â€Å"I know,† Minty said. â€Å"He's my friend.† As he said it, he felt a tug on his pant leg. He looked down to where Sophie was staring up at him. â€Å"Hey, do you have a car?† she asked. â€Å"Yes, I do, Sophie.† â€Å"Can we go for a ride?† Without any hesitation, Charlie whipped the sword-cane out of his back and snapped it down on the Morrigan's wrist. She lost her grip on the bobcat guy, who bolted, screaming, across the deck and over the opposite railing. The Morrigan grabbed the sword-cane and tried to wrench it from Charlie's grasp. He let her – pulled the sword free, then drove it into her solar plexus so hard that his fist connected with her ribs and the blade came out her back, sinking into the wooden hull of the lifeboat she was reclining against. For a split second his face was an inch from hers. â€Å"Miss me?† she asked. He rolled away just as she slashed at him. He got his forearm up just in time to deflect the blow away from his face, the thick Lexan plate on his forearm stopping the claws from taking off his hand. She lunged for him, but the sword kept her pinned to the boat. Charlie ran down the deck away from her as she screeched in anger. He saw light coming from a door that must have led to the cabin at the aft of the ship – that same red glow – and he realized that it had to be coming from the soul vessels. Rachel's soul could still be in there. He was only a step from the hatch when the giant raven dropped in front of him and spread her wings out across the deck, as if trying to block the whole end of the ship. He backpedaled and drew the Desert Eagle from the shoulder holster. He tried to hold it steady as he clicked off the safety. The Raven snapped at him and he leapt back. The beak then pulled back, changed, bubbled into the face of a woman – but the wings and talons remained in bird form. â€Å"New Meat,† said Macha. â€Å"How brave of you to come here.† Charlie pulled the trigger. Flame shot a foot out of the barrel and he felt as if someone had hit him in the palm with a hammer. He thought he had aimed right between her eyes, but the bullet had ripped through her neck, taking half of the black flesh with it. Her head lolled to the side and the raven body flailed its wings at him. Charlie fell backward onto the deck, but pulled the pistol up and fired again as the raven was coming down on him. This one caught her in the center of the chest and sent her flying backward, up onto the cabin roof. The ringing in his ears felt like someone had driven tuning forks into his head and hit them with drumsticks – a long, painful, high-pitched wail. He barely heard the shriek from his left as another Morrigan dropped out of the rigging behind him. He rolled to the railing and brought the gun up just as she slashed at his face. The gun and his forearm pad absorbed most of the blow, but the Desert Eagle was knocked from his grasp and slid down the deck. Charlie did a somersault to his feet and ran after the gun. Nemain flicked her claws at his back and he heard the sizzle as the poison strafed the Lexan pad down his spine and burned onto the deck on either side of him. He dove for the pistol and tried to roll and come up with it pointed at his attacker, but he misjudged and came up with the back of his knees against the bone railing. She leapt, claws first, and hit him in the chest just as he fired the Desert Eagle and he was driven backward over the railing. He hit flat on the water. The air exploded from his body and he felt like he'd been hit by a bus. He couldn't breathe, but he could see, he could feel his limbs, and after a couple of seconds of gasping, he finally caught a breath. â€Å"So, how's it going so far?† asked the bobcat guy, about two feet from Charlie's head. â€Å"Good,† Charlie said. â€Å"They're running scared.† There was a big chunk bitten out of the middle of Bob's torso, and his Beefeater uniform was in tatters, but otherwise he seemed in good spirits. He was holding the Desert Eagle cradled in his arms like a baby. â€Å"You'll likely need this. That last shot connected, by the way. You took off about half of her skull.† â€Å"Good,† Charlie said, still having a little trouble catching his breath. He felt a searing pain in his chest and thought he might have broken a rib. He sat up and looked at his chest plate. The Morrigan's claws had raked the front of it, but in one spot he could see where a claw had slipped under the plate and into his chest. He wasn't bleeding badly, but he was bleeding, and it hurt like hell. â€Å"Are they still coming?† â€Å"Not the two you shot. We don't know where the one you stuck with your sword went.† â€Å"I don't know if I can make it up that rope again,† Charlie said. â€Å"That may not be a _roblem,† Bob said. He was looking up to the ceiling of the grotto, where a whirlwind of squeaking bats was spiraling around the mast, but above them was beating the wings of another creature altogether. Charlie took the pistol from Bob and climbed to his feet, nearly fell, then steadied himself and backed away from the hull of the ship. The squirrel people scattered around him. Bummer let loose with a fusillade of angry yapping. The demon hit the water about thirty feet away. Charlie felt a scream rising in his throat but fought it down. The thing was nearly ten feet tall, with a wingspan of thirty feet. Its head was as big as a beer keg, and it appeared to have the shape and horns of a bull, except for the jaws, which were predatory, lined with teeth, like a cross between a shark and a lion. Its eyes were gleaming green. â€Å"Soul stealer,† it growled. It folded its wings into two high points behind its back, and stepped toward Charlie. â€Å"Well, that would be you, wouldn't it?† Charlie said, a little breathless still. â€Å"I'm the Luminatus.† The demon stopped. Charlie took the hesitation to bring up the pistol and fire. The shot took the demon high in the shoulder and spun him to the side. He turned back and roared. Charlie could smell the creature's breath, like rotting meat, wash over him. He backed up and fired again, his hand numb now from the recoil of the big pistol. The shot knocked the demon back a step. There was shrill cheering from above. Charlie fired again and again. The slugs opened craters in the demon's chest. He wavered, then fell to his knees. Charlie aimed and pulled the trigger again. The gun clicked. Charlie backed up a few more steps and tried to remember what Minty had shown him about reloading. He managed to hit a button that released the clip from the pistol, which plopped into the water. Then he unsnapped one of the pouches under his arm to retrieve an extra clip. It slipped out and fell into the lake as well. Bob and a couple of the squirrel people splashed forward and started diving beneath the water, looking for the clip. The demon roared again, unfurled his wings, and, in one great flap, pulled himself to his feet. Charlie unsnapped the second clip and, with his hands shaking, managed to fit it into the bottom of the Desert Eagle. The demon crouched, as if to leap. Charlie jacked a shell into the chamber and fired at the same time. The demon fell forward as the huge slug took a chunk out of his thigh. â€Å"Well done, Meat!† came a female voice from above. Charlie looked up quickly, but then back to the bullheaded demon, who was on his feet again. Then he braced his wrist and fired, and again, walking forward, pumping bullets into the demon's chest with each step, feeling any second as if his wrist would just shatter into pieces from the recoil, until the hammer clicked on an empty chamber. He stopped, just five feet away from the demon when it fell over, facefirst into the water. Charlie dropped the Desert Eagle and fell to his knees. The grotto seemed to be tilting before him, his vision tunneling down. The Morrigan landed on three sides of him. Each had a glowing soul vessel in her claw and was rubbing it on her wounds. â€Å"That was excellent, lover,† said the raven woman standing closest to the fallen demon. Charlie recognized her from the alley. The stab wound his sword had made in her stomach healed over as he watched. She kicked the bullheaded demon's body. â€Å"See, I told you that guns suck.† â€Å"That was well done, Meat,† said the one to Charlie's right. Her neck was still knitting back together. She was the one he'd blasted up onto the cabin roof. â€Å"You guys do bounce back with a certain Wile E. Coyote charm,† Charlie said. He grinned, feeling drunk now, like he was watching all this from another place. â€Å"He's so sweet,† said the hand-job harpy. â€Å"I could just eat him up.† â€Å"Sounds good to me,† said the Morrigan to his left, whose head was still a little lopsided. Charlie saw the venom dripping from her claws, then looked to the wound below his chest plate. â€Å"Yes, darling,† said hand job, â€Å"I'm afraid Nemain did nick you. You really are quite the warrior to have lasted this long.† â€Å"I'm the Luminatus,† Charlie said. The Morrigan laughed, the one in front of Charlie did a little dance step. As she did, the bullheaded demon lifted his head from the water. â€Å"I'm the Luminatus,† said the demon, black goo and water running between his teeth as he spoke. The Morrigan stopped dancing, grabbed one of the demon's horns, then pulled his head back. â€Å"You think?† she said. Then she plunged her claws into the demon's throat. He rolled and threw her off, sending her sailing twenty feet in the air to smash into the hull of the ship. The Morrigan behind Charlie patted his head as she passed. â€Å"We'll be right with you, darling. I'm Macha, by the way, and we are the Luminatus – or we will be in a minute.† The Morrigan fell on the bullheaded demon, taking great chunks of flesh and bone off his body with each slash of their talons. Two took to the air and swept in, taking swipes at the demon, who flailed at them, sometimes connecting, but too weakened from the gunshots to fight effectively. In two minutes it was finished, and most of the flesh had been flayed from it. Macha held his head by the horns like she was holding the handlebars of a motorcycle, even as the demon's jaws continued to snap at the air. â€Å"Your turn, soul stealer,† Macha said. â€Å"Yeah, your turn,† said Nemain, baring her claws. Macha held the demon head out in front of her, driving it at Charlie. He backed away as the teeth snapped inches from his face. â€Å"Wait a minute,† said Babd. The other two stopped and turned to their sister, who stood over what was left of the demon's corpse. â€Å"We never got to finish.† She took one step before something hit her like a ball of darkness, knocking her out of sight. Charlie looked at the demon head coming at him, then there was a loud smack and Macha was yanked to the side as if she'd had a bungee cord attached to her ankle. The screeching started again and Charlie could see the Morrigan being whipped around in the darkness, splashing, and chaos – he couldn't follow what was happening. His eyes wouldn't focus. He looked to Nemain, who was now coming at him with her claws dripping venom. A small hand appeared at the edge of his vision and the Morrigan's head exploded into what looked like a thousand stars. Charlie looked to where the hand had appeared before his eyes. â€Å"Hi, Daddy,† Sophie said. â€Å"Hi, baby,† Charlie said. Now he could see what was happening – the hellhounds were tearing at the Morrigan. One of them broke, jumped into the air and unfurled her wings, then dove at Sophie, screeching. Sophie raised her hand as if she was waving bye-bye and the Morrigan vaporized into a spray of black goo. The souls, thousands of them, that she had consumed over the millennia, floated into the air, red lights that circled the grotto, making the whole huge chamber appear to have been frozen in the middle of a fireworks display. â€Å"You shouldn't be here, honey,† Charlie said. â€Å"Yes, I should,† Sophie said. â€Å"I had to fix this, send them all back. I'm the Luminatus.† â€Å"You†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Yeah,† she said matter-of-factly, in that Master of All Death and Darkness voice that is so irritating in a six-year-old. The hellhounds were both on the remaining Morrigan now, tearing her in half as Charlie watched. â€Å"No, honey,† Charlie said. Sophie raised her hand and Babd was vaporized like the others – the captured souls rose like embers from a bonfire. â€Å"Let's go home, Daddy,† Sophie said. â€Å"No,† Charlie said, barely able to hold up his head. â€Å"We have something we have to get.† He lurched forward and one of the hellhounds was there to brace him. The whole army of squirrel people was coming around the bow of the ship, each carrying a glowing soul vessel he'd retrieved from the ship's cabin. â€Å"Is this it?† Sophie said. She took a CD from Bob and handed it to Charlie. He turned it in his hands and hugged it to his chest. â€Å"You know what this is, honey?† â€Å"Yeah. Let's go home, Daddy.† Charlie fell over the back of Alvin. Sophie and the squirrel people steadied him until they were out of the Underworld. Minty Fresh carried Charlie to the car. A doctor had come and gone. When Charlie came to he was on his bed at home and Audrey was wiping his forehead with a damp cloth. â€Å"Hi,† he said. â€Å"Hi,† Audrey said. â€Å"Did Sophie tell you?† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"They grow up so fast,† Charlie said. â€Å"Yeah.† Audrey smiled. â€Å"I got this.† He reached behind his chest plate and pulled out the Sarah McLachlan CD that pulsated with red light. Audrey nodded and reached out for the disc. â€Å"Let's put that over here where you can keep an eye on it.† As soon as her fingers touched the plastic case the light went out and Audrey shuddered. â€Å"Oh my,† she said. â€Å"Audrey.† Charlie tried to sit up, but was forced back down by the pain. â€Å"Ouch. Audrey, what happened? Did they get it? Did they take her soul?† She was looking at her chest, then looked up at Charlie, tears in her eyes. â€Å"No, Charlie, it's me,† she said. â€Å"But you had touched that before, that night in the pantry. Why didn't it happen then?† â€Å"I guess I wasn't ready then.† Charlie took her hand and squeezed it, then squeezed it much harder than he intended as a wave of pain washed through him. â€Å"Goddammit,† he said. He was panting now, breathing like he might hyperventilate. â€Å"I thought it was all dark, Audrey. All the spiritual stuff was spooky. You made me see.† â€Å"I'm glad,† Audrey said. â€Å"Makes me think I should have slept with a poet so I could have understood the way the world can be distilled into words.† â€Å"Yes. I think you have the soul of a poet, Charlie.† â€Å"I should have made love with a painter, too, so I could feel the wave of a brushstroke, so I could absorb her colors and textures and really see.† â€Å"Yes,† Audrey said, brushing at his hair with her fingers. â€Å"You have such a wonderful imagination.† â€Å"I think,† said Charlie, his voice going higher as he breathed harder, â€Å"I should have bedded a scientist so I would understand the mechanics of the world, felt them right down to my spine.† â€Å"Yes, so you could feel the world,† Audrey said. â€Å"With big tits,† Charlie added, his back arching in pain. â€Å"Of course, baby,† Audrey said. â€Å"I love you, Audrey.† â€Å"I know, Charlie. I love you, too.† Then Charlie Asher, Beta Male, husband to Rachel, brother to Jane, father to Sophie (the Luminatus, who held dominion over Death), beloved of Audrey, Death Merchant and purveyor of fine vintage clothing and accessories, took his last breath, and died. Audrey looked up to see Sophie come into the room. â€Å"He's gone, Sophie.† Sophie put her hand on Charlie's forehead. â€Å"Bye, Daddy,† she said. EPILOGUE THE GIRLS Things settled in the City of Two Bridges, and all the dark gods that had been rising to erupt out over the world remembered their place and returned to their domains deep in the Underworld. Jane and Cassie were married in a civil ceremony that was dissolved and sanctioned a half-dozen times over the years. Nevertheless, they were happy and there was always laughter in their home. Sophie went home to live with her Aunties Jane and Cassandra. She would grow to be a tall and beautiful woman, and eventually take her place as the Luminatus, but until then, she went to school and played with her puppies and had a fairly wonderful time as she waited for her daddy to come get her. THE SHOPKEEPERS While Minty Fresh had believed in the adage that in every moment there is a crisis, his belief had been somewhat academic until he started seeing Lily Severo, when it became very practical indeed. Life jumped up several steps for him on the interesting scale, to the point where the Death Merchant part of his existence became the more prosaic of his pursuits. They became renowned around town, the giant in pastels always in company with the short, Gothic chef, but the City really stood up and took notice when they opened up the Jazz and Gourmet Pizza Place in North Beach in the building that had once housed Asher's Secondhand. As for Ray Macy, Inspector Rivera set him up with a lady pawnbroker from the Fillmore named Carrie Lang, and they hit it off almost immediately, having in common a love of detective movies and handguns, as well as a deep mistrust for most of humanity. Ray fell deeply in love, and true to his Beta Male nature, was doggedly loyal to her, although he always secretly suspected her of being a serial killer. RIVERA Inspector Alphonse Rivera has spent most of his life trying to change his life. He'd worked in a half-dozen different police departments, in a dozen different capacities, and although he was very good at being a cop, he always seemed to be trying to get out. After the debacle with the Death Merchants and the strange, unexplainable things that had gone on around it, he was simply exhausted. There had been a brief time when he'd been able to leave police work and open a rare-book store, and he felt as if that might have been the only time he had ever truly been happy. Now, at age forty-nine, he was ready to try it again: take an early retirement and just read and live in a calm, unevent-filled world of books. So he was somewhat pleased when, two weeks after the death of Charlie Asher, he went to his mailbox to find a substantial envelope that could only be a book. It was like an omen, he thought as he sat down at his kitchen table to open the package. It was a book – what looked like a very rare and bizarre children's book. He opened it and turned to the first chapter. So Now You're Death: Here's What You'll Need. THE EMPEROR The Emperor enjoyed a happy reunion with his troops and went on to rule benevolently over San Francisco to the end of his days. For leading Charlie into the Underworld, and for his boundless courage, the Luminatus gave Bummer the strength and durability of a hellhound. It would fall to the Emperor to explain how his now all-black companion – while he never weighed more than seven pounds soaking wet – could outrun a cheetah and chew the tires off a Toyota. AUDREY Audrey continued her work at the Buddhist center and did costuming for a local theater group, but she also took a volunteer job with hospice, where she helped people to the other side as she had done for so long in Tibet. The hospice position also, however, gave her access to bodies that had been recently vacated by their souls, and she used these opportunities to cycle the squirrel people back into the human flow of birth and rebirth. And for a while, there were remarkable instances of people recovering from terminal illness in the City, as she exercised the p'howa of undying. She didn't give up her work with the squirrel people altogether, however, as it was a skill she had come to over a long time and a lot of work, and it could still be extraordinarily rewarding. At least that's how she was feeling as she looked over her latest masterpiece in the meditation room of the Three Jewels Buddhist Center. He had the face of a crocodile – sixty-eight spiked teeth, and eyes that gleamed like black glass beads. His hands were the claws of a raptor, the wicked black nails encrusted with dried blood. His feet were webbed like those of a waterbird, with claws for digging prey from the mud. He wore a purple silk robe, trimmed in sable, and a matching hat with a wizard's star embroidered on it in gold thread. â€Å"It's only temporary, until we find someone,† Audrey said. â€Å"But take my word for it, you look great.† â€Å"No, I don't. I'm only fourteen inches tall.† â€Å"Yeah, but I gave you a ten-inch schlong.† He opened his robe and looked down. â€Å"Wow, would you look at that,† Charlie said. â€Å"Nice.†

The Hidden Truth About Essay Writing Services

The Hidden Truth About Essay Writing Services The Hidden Truth About Essay Writing Services: What Most of Them Dont Want You to Know There are dozens of academic paper writing services on the internet at any given time. Every single one of them promises college students that they will provide them with essays, research papers, and other documents that are guaranteed to help them earn the high grades they want. The majority of these services count on a few things: Students are broke and always looking for cheapest price. Desperation over writing assignments leads to making desperate decisions. Many students will not research the claims that they make. If a writing service develops a bad reputation, they can simply close up shop and open up again under a new name. That's right! These writing services see students just like yourself as lazy, cheap, and incapable of taking a logical approach when it comes to dealing with your workload. Keep reading, if you can stomach it, to learn more about the rip-off tactics these companies use. It All Starts With Rock Bottom Pricing Essays at Pennies Per Page! Dissertations for $100 dollars! Research Papers Completed in Under an Hour – Only $25 dollars! The people in charge of marketing and advertising for these services advertise these prices because they want to attract people with extremely cheap prices. What they do not count on is that smart students might be skeptical when they see these offers. For example, how does a company survive if they only charge pennies per page to write an essay? Let's break this down. In order to deliver an original essay to a customer that is guaranteed to be acceptable to a college instructor, there are several costs that must be considered. These include: Paying the Writer Paying for Overhead and Marketing Paying for quality assurance and editing Considering that each page of an essay is likely to take at least 15 minutes to write, is it realistic to assume that this is a a realistic offer? Of course it isn't. Now, the real question, how do these writing services offer these papers at such low prices, and how do they guarantee that these papers can be written so quickly? The essays and research papers are not original. Writing services that make these rock bottom pricing claims, or who offer papers within an unrealistic period of time simply resell the same papers over and over again. What to Expect From Reputable Essay Writing Services Good essay writing services will offer discounts, but their pricing will take into consideration the following things: Writers will be college graduates and be paid a fair wage All work will original and custom written No impossible claims will be made about the amount of time that it will take to complete an essay or research paper. Here is a good rule of thumb. If you are paying less than ten dollars per page for a research paper or essay, you should be suspicious. The writing service that you are using is taking shortcuts somewhere, and those shortcuts could destroy   your academic career. How to Research Writing Services First and foremost, never do business with a writing service that makes the outrageous claims mentioned above. However, in addition to this, there are other steps that you can take to insure that you are dealing with reputable company... Make sure their website is well designed and that all links work Read customer review and commentary Ask about originality guarantees Read the blogs and other posts Of course, the best method of determining whether or not a writing service is okay, is to simply contact their customer service or sales agents to see what they have to say. If the information they provide is realistic and reliable, there is a good chance that the company behind the website is also above board.

Alcohol1 essays

Alcohol1 essays There are some 14 million people in the United States and 1 out of every 13 adults are considered alcoholics or at least experience drinking problems to some degree. Most people just dont understand the consequences of drinking. Alcoholism is a disease and unless something is done, more and more will be affected by this dangerous drug. A bad withdraw from this drug can lead to death, not even heroin results in death as The majority of people see alcohol as a social outlet and does not consider it to be as dangerous as it may really be. Alcoholism is an often-progressive disease with symptoms that include a strong need to drink despite negative consequences, such as serious job and health problems. The thing about alcohol is that a person does not need to be an alcoholic to experience problems with alcohol. Just a couple of drinks for anyone can result in irresponsible behavior, clumsiness, slurred speech, loss of balance, If you are diagnosed as an alcoholic you can not just try to cut down on drinking and think that this will help. Studies show that nearly all alcoholics who try to merely cut down on drinking are unable to do so indefinitely. Instead, cutting out alcohol is nearly necessary for successful recovery. Alcohol has direct toxic as well as sedative effects on the body, and failure to take care of nutritional and other physical needs during prolonged periods of excessive drinking may further complicate matters. Some cases even require hospitalization. The effects on major organ systems can be dramatic. A wide rang of digestive-systems can be affected, such as ulcers, inflammation of the pancreas, and cirrhosis of the liver. The central and peripheral nervous systems can be permanently damaged. In advanced cases, abstinence from alcohol may result in a ...

Alternatives To The Instrument Landing Systems Engineering Essay

Alternatives To The Instrument Landing Systems Engineering Essay Pilots have been faced with horrors of not being able to safely carry out the whole flight envelope activities during unfavourable weather conditions. The solution was the idea of somehow aiding pilots with instruments that would help get the job done. The Instrument Landing System (ILS), being the first, did break the ice but its faults and restrictions paved way for alternatives like the MPL, JPAL, IGS and TLS amongst others. It cannot be overlooked though that the ILS is still the most common of all approaches and pilots are tested numerous times on the workings of the ILS during their flight career. The Instrument Landing System (ILS) is an instrument presented, pilot interpreted, precision approach aid. The system provides the pilot with instrument indications which, when utilised in conjunction with the normal flight instruments, enables the aircraft to be manoeuvred along a precise, predetermined, final approach path. [1] Tests of the ILS began in 1929 and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) authorised installation of the system in 1941 at six locations. The first landing of a scheduled U.S. passenger airliner using ILS was on January 26, 1938, as a Pennsylvania Central Airlines Boeing 247-D flew from Washington D.C. to Pittsburgh and landed in a snowstorm using only the Instrument Landing System.[2] The first fully automatic landing using ILS occurred at Bedford Airport UK in March 1964. [3] 1.1 Overview on the Instrument Landing System (ILS) The ILS uses two primary signals: a localizer for lateral guidance (VHF) operating between frequencies 108.10MHz and 111.95MHz; and a glide slope for vertical guidance (UHF) operating between 329.30MHz to 335.00MHz. The localizer provides course guidance throughout the descent path to the runway threshold from a distance of 18 NM from the antenna between an altitude of 1,000 feet about the highest terrain along the course line and 4,500 feet about the elevation of the antenna site. [4] On the other hand, the glide consists of two overlapping beam modulated at 150Hz and 90Hz. The centre line of the glideslope signal is arranged to define a glide slope of approximately 3Â ° above ground level with the beam being 0.7Â ° below the glideslope centreline and 0.7Â ° above the glideslope centreline i.e. 1.4Â ° in total. The transmitter is located 750 to 1,250 ft. down the runway from the threshold, offset 400 to 600 ft. from the runway centreline [5]. 1.2 Limitations facing the ILS The complexity of the ILS localizer and glide-slope system gives rise to its high installation cost. Also, there are topographic limitations with the ILS because of the complex siting requirements due to the sensitivity of both the localizer and glide slope systems. The localizer’s full functionality is limited due to effects from obstructions in the signal broadcast areas like hangers and large buildings and the glide-slope conversely is affected by the terrain in front of the glide-slope antenna. If terrain is sloping or uneven, reflections can create an uneven glide-path causing unwanted needle deflections. Additionally, the ILS only supports straight-in approaches since its signals are pointed in one direction by the positioning of the antennae arrays. Furthermore, the ILS suffers from frequency congestion because of a finite number of available frequencies (only 40 channels in all)[6], and has frequency modulation interference problems in some areas.[7] Also, the fact that it is not easily deployable makes it fall out of favour with the military. These main facts resulted into the development of the Microwave Landing System (MLS) with one intention only, to replace the ILS.

Strategic planning and system implementation Coursework

Strategic planning and system implementation - Coursework Example They achieve this in collaboration with warehouses where they can store their raw products. They also seek for raw material suppliers. In health care SCMs these include drug manufacturers and equipment manufacturers e.g. Bayer and St. Jude. Wholesalers and distributors buy goods/services from the manufacturer in bulk and sell them to end users e.g. health care facilities and retailers. They are also involved in the marketing and delivering of products. Retailers are the link between customers and the suppliers. These include chemists, pharmacies and other health care retailers. They actively seek to know customer needs, document and respond to customer requests e.g. an order for bandages and syringes. Hence, there is flow of information, funds, goods and services along the entire chain. Insurance companies also play a key role by providing insurance cover for health care facilities and practitioners. Moreover, policy and regulations entities are involved in the regulation of standards in the health care sector hence becoming part of SCMs (Uzsoy, 2005). Doctors, nurses and other health care workers are tasked with the responsibility of providing information to the department of procurement and supplies. Lists of all needed tools and services are prepared and delivered to the procurements department which undertakes research and identifies potential suppliers having the needed services or goods. Comparison is undertaken based on quality, pricing and excellent service history. The findings are presented to the health care workers and finance department. This ensures they can make informed decisions that are cost effective (Uzsoy, 2005). SCMs if utilized effectively add competitive edge to the health care facilities that employ them. They aid in reduction of redundancies hence reducing costs. In addition, they allow for better planning hence better service delivery to their customers. This translates to higher customer satisfaction

Industerial operations part 2 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Industerial operations part 2 - Coursework Example Smoothness and color are important non-dimensional attributes in the ‘Paper Pro’ punch. Its body must be designed as per customers’ wants and preferences. For instance, if it is to be used in an office, it must have a corporate look that will often appeal to the consumer. The ‘Paper Pro’ punch can be customer-tailored to meet the specific needs and preferences of divergent consumers. Steel is among the world’s toughest alloys and thus used in making ‘Paper Pro’ punch. While plastic might be used in manufacturing ‘Paper Pro’ punch, the produced product might be too weak to withstand pressure that consumers are likely to exert in the process of using the object and is, therefore, incongruous. The basic process of strengthening the lever and punches part is by using harder steel in the process of making these parts. Moreover, it is also to be noted that to strengthen the steel several factors are taken into consideration. In this regard, if the heated steel cools down at a very slow rate, then the steel would be stronger. Besides, another aspect is the galvanization of the parts to reduce the corrosion of the same for greater effectiveness. In the process of galvanization, the steel is dipped into the molten zinc. This results into the formation of zinc-oxide layer in the surface of the parts. After this special zinc paint is also applied to the same to thwart oxidization. In the process of making a better hole punch tools, the steels that are received by ‘Paper Pro’ are more braced. These steels can be used to make the final parts of punches and levers. These steels are now required to be galvanized and hence, make the punches and the levers free from corrosion. The products, which are having plastic as the material for making the lever parts should be replaced by steel. The molder must mold the steel accordingly and electrify it to circumvent it from rusting. For the purpose of galvanizing the parts, an

Independent Contractor or Regular Employee Assignment

Independent Contractor or Regular Employee - Assignment Example Statsky, Robert and Pamela (64) asserts that factors that need to be put into consideration are numerous but the main ones include, but not limited to the one summarized in the table below. An agency can be created by either through authorization by appointment (express authority) or authorization by the principal’s conduct (apparent authority). For the case where one is created through express authority and individual is chosen to act on behalf or for another. Here, there is no specific language used and the words used are adequate to show that an individual wishes to be represented by another. Mostly the mandate is issued verbally or through a resolution by the board of directors (Statsky, Robert and Pamela p 336). On the other hand, apparent authority is where the agent has the authority in cases when the principal, his words or conduct is rational in persuading the third party that the individual is authorized with the duty of binding the principal. Conduct that might include words that make agent not to doubt the principal agreement of them acting as an agent is enough to create an agency. The law finds the conduct of a person consenting knowingly and without objection for another person to be their agent to be an expression of authorization to the agent. This will keep away the possibility of the principal denying the fact that the agent was authorized. Always, the principal is estopped from refuting the agency thereby defending the third party who came into agreement with the agent in good faith (Statsky, Robert and Pamela p 444). Â  

Public law questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Public law questions - Essay Example Further, there are provisions which deal with problems that people may have in respect of a specific issue. The objective of the Act is uphold the principle of best interest for an individual. In addition the Court of Protection would help in complicated positions. The Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA) service will help persons who do not have any close support network. Further, the Act provides for criminal offence if a person is willfully neglecting someone who lacks capacity. The general application of the Act would be for people over the age of 16 years, however, it may apply to people who are younger. b. There are three parts to the Act. c. There are nine schedules to the Act. d. There are 69 sections in the Act. e. In respect of the Act, except for section 30-41 came into force by way of section 68. By virtue of Mental Capacity Act 2005 (Commencement) (Wales) Order 2007 and subject to Articles 3 and 4, sections 30 to 34 (research) of the Act came into force on 1 Octob er 2007. By way of The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (Commencement No. ... t listed in Article 2(2) also came into force on 1 April 2007 for the purposes of section 44 (ill-treatment or neglect).Section 64 (interpretation) came into force on 1 April 2007 for the purposes of Article 2(1);Article 2(2); and Article 2(3). By way of The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (Commencement No. 2) Order 2007 the following provision came into force on 1 October 2007—sections 5 to 29;sections 45 to 63;sections 65 to 69; and Schedules 1 to 7. The following provisions of the Act, which had already been commenced for limited purposes, came into force on 1 October 2007 for all purposes: section 1 (principles);section 2 (people who lack capacity);section 3 (inability to make decisions);section 4 (best interests);sections 42(4) and (5) (codes of practice); and section 64 (interpretation). f. There have been changes to the Act, which is visible in the annotations. Such changes have been brought about by way of the Mental Health Act 2007. g. There are 19 statutory instruments in r espect of the Act which include statutory instruments of Wales. There are 11 statutory instruments in respect of UK. h. The Code of Practice was issued by the Lord Chancellor on 23rd April 2007. The Code of Practice holds directions in respect of deficiency of liberty safeguards. The particular intention behind the code was guide professional who dealt with administering and providing such safeguards and is under a duty to pay heed to the Code. Further, the intent has been information to be provided by virtue of the Code to people who are or might be deprived of liberty safeguards, and for their families, friends and carers, as well as for anyone who believes that someone is being deprived of their liberty unlawfully. i. The Explanatory Notes of Mental Capacity Act were given Royal Assent on

Final Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Final Project - Assignment Example Several criteria exist for optimizing organizational performance, and these criteria are also important in organizational assessment. This paper will seek to identify and analyze the quality gaps that exist in the University of California - San Diego Medical School through performance enhancement criteria, and then proceed to discuss concepts of performance excellence, continuous quality improvement and total quality management and how they apply to UCSD Medical School. The role of the leadership in UCSD Medical School in fostering and sustaining organizational and clinical quality will also be studied. Organizational assessment allows businesses to determine their current state in terms of quality and performance and as a result formulate policies and strategies for the way forward (Perkins, Verladi, Nightingale and Rifkin p. 1). The initial assessment is important in the identification of performance gaps within an organization and hence an indicator of the areas that should receive priority. After undertaking a transformational path, organizational assessment is important in appraisal of the progress made in the achievement of the desired performance. As opposed to traditional departmental or group performance assessment, organizational performance involves a study of the wide structural and functional aspects of an organization which enable such an organization to develop and implement policies that are sustainable in the achievement of both long term and short term goals. Organizational assessment is a holistic strategy for examining the strengths and weaknesses of the program s being implemented in an organization, and besides this internal perspective, it can also serve as a measure of an organization’s performance against its competitors (Perkins et al. p. 2). The criteria utilized to enhance organizational performance are also the same ones used in organizational assessment. For a health institution such as the UCSD

Independent Contractor or Regular Employee Assignment

Independent Contractor or Regular Employee - Assignment Example Statsky, Robert and Pamela (64) asserts that factors that need to be put into consideration are numerous but the main ones include, but not limited to the one summarized in the table below. An agency can be created by either through authorization by appointment (express authority) or authorization by the principal’s conduct (apparent authority). For the case where one is created through express authority and individual is chosen to act on behalf or for another. Here, there is no specific language used and the words used are adequate to show that an individual wishes to be represented by another. Mostly the mandate is issued verbally or through a resolution by the board of directors (Statsky, Robert and Pamela p 336). On the other hand, apparent authority is where the agent has the authority in cases when the principal, his words or conduct is rational in persuading the third party that the individual is authorized with the duty of binding the principal. Conduct that might include words that make agent not to doubt the principal agreement of them acting as an agent is enough to create an agency. The law finds the conduct of a person consenting knowingly and without objection for another person to be their agent to be an expression of authorization to the agent. This will keep away the possibility of the principal denying the fact that the agent was authorized. Always, the principal is estopped from refuting the agency thereby defending the third party who came into agreement with the agent in good faith (Statsky, Robert and Pamela p 444). Â  

Final Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Final Project - Assignment Example Several criteria exist for optimizing organizational performance, and these criteria are also important in organizational assessment. This paper will seek to identify and analyze the quality gaps that exist in the University of California - San Diego Medical School through performance enhancement criteria, and then proceed to discuss concepts of performance excellence, continuous quality improvement and total quality management and how they apply to UCSD Medical School. The role of the leadership in UCSD Medical School in fostering and sustaining organizational and clinical quality will also be studied. Organizational assessment allows businesses to determine their current state in terms of quality and performance and as a result formulate policies and strategies for the way forward (Perkins, Verladi, Nightingale and Rifkin p. 1). The initial assessment is important in the identification of performance gaps within an organization and hence an indicator of the areas that should receive priority. After undertaking a transformational path, organizational assessment is important in appraisal of the progress made in the achievement of the desired performance. As opposed to traditional departmental or group performance assessment, organizational performance involves a study of the wide structural and functional aspects of an organization which enable such an organization to develop and implement policies that are sustainable in the achievement of both long term and short term goals. Organizational assessment is a holistic strategy for examining the strengths and weaknesses of the program s being implemented in an organization, and besides this internal perspective, it can also serve as a measure of an organization’s performance against its competitors (Perkins et al. p. 2). The criteria utilized to enhance organizational performance are also the same ones used in organizational assessment. For a health institution such as the UCSD

Focus on the Murder of Simon in Lord of the Flies Essay Example for Free

Focus on the Murder of Simon in Lord of the Flies Essay Read from Towards midnight to the end of Chapter 9. Contrast this description of Simons beatification to the previous description of his murder. How is Simons role in the Novel captured by this extract? The description of Simons murder and the description of his final journey out to sea after his death are completely different to each other. In the first, the boys brutally murder Simon because they think he is the beast. In the second, Simon is beatified and martyred as his body is carried out to sea. When the boys murder Simon, Goldings use of language helps to create the sense of crowd mentality that the boys are feeling as the storm around them grows. Language such as unbearable noise, explosion, and abominable, give the impression that the storm is deafening the boys, and that the cacophony of sound is contributing to the sense of hysteria that is driving the boys to their actions. In comparison to this, the use of language in the description of Simons beatification is much softer, and gives the reader a sense of calm, in contrast to the feeling of agitation in the description of Simons murder. For example, there is a wide use of language suggesting light in the description, such as, phosphorescence, moonbeams, and brightness. This gives the reader the idea that Simon is being watched over by God, or a higher being, and therefore suggesting that God is accepting Simons body as a martyr. Goldings use of pathetic fallacy also contributes strongly to the contrast between the two descriptions. In the first description, the clouds opened and let down he rain like a waterfall, and the dark sky was shattered by a blue white scar. This description of the intensity of the storm emphasises the madness of the boys. In contrast, in the description of Simons beatification, the rain ceased and the clouds drifted away, and the air was cool, moist and clear. This calming of the storm allows Golding to prepare the reader for the sense of reverence they should feel at Simons death. The manner in which the boys are presented in the first description is also significant. Language such as struck, bit, tore and teeth and claws, portray the group of terrified boys as an animal; a beast. However, the group also believes that they are killing the beast, who is in fact, Simon. This shows the boys complete descent into savagery, as they become the very thing that they are trying to destroy. In complete contrast to this, the dead body of Simon, the beast, is described using language such as silver, marble, and pearls. This use of precious white minerals suggests Simons innocence and purity, the polar opposite of the group of boys who murdered him. This extract describing Simons beatification helps to capture Simons overall role in the novel. Throughout the novel, Simon is the only moral and spiritual boy on the island. He is first singled out by Ralph and described as vivid. On the boys fist journey into the jungle, Simon is fascinated by the beauty of the candle bud plants. When the boys are supposed to be building huts on the beach, Simon is the only one who stays to help Ralph build. All this shows Simons sensitivity and moral integrity. After his death, Simon has a Christ-like quality that singles him out from the rest of the boys. This is because of the spiritual intelligence that he shows throughout the novel. This final description of Simon also captures his role as a kind of guardian angel to Ralph earlier in the novel. When Ralph is despairing that the boys were becoming savages and would never get rescued, Simon appears to comfort him. He says, I think youll get back all right. This suggests that Simon has some kind of foresight, as he realises that Ralph will get home, but that he himself will not. This foresight also contributes to his other-worldly spirituality. Overall, Goldings use of language in the description of Simons beatification helps to suggest Simons spiritual and moral role in The Lord of the Flies.

Environmental Impact Of Plastic Bags

Environmental Impact Of Plastic Bags Plastic bags are a true menace to our ecosystems and our waste diversion goals. Barely recyclable, almost all of the 400 plastic bags used per second in the state are discarded. Once discarded, they either enter our landfills or our marine ecosystem. People think of plastic bags as being free. Instead, they actually cost taxpayers millions every year. In San Francisco alone, City officials estimate that they spend $8.5 million annually to deal with plastic bag litter. That equates to around 17 cents for every bag distributed in the city. Additionally: It costs the state $25 million annually to manage plastic bag pollution. Public agencies in California spend in excess of $303 million annually in litter abatement. Southern California cities have spent in excess of $1.7 billion in meeting Total Maximum Daily Loads for trashed in impaired waterways. Cities and recyclers spend incalculable amounts removing plastic bags from their recyclables stream, where they jam machinery and add to the manual labor costs of recycling. At least 267 species have been scientifically documented to be adversely affected by plastic marine debris and it is estimated to kill over 100,000 marine mammals and turtles each year. Plastic bags are considered especially dangerous to sea turtles, who may mistake them for jellyfish, a main food source. 86% of all known species of sea turtles have had reported problems of entanglement or ingestion of marine debris. Plastic bags that enter our marine environment eventually break down into small fragments. Plastic bags, which are made from natural gas or oil, consume an energy equivalent of thousands of barrels of oil a day just to meet Californias consumption. Numerous recent international, national, state and local reports have called for the banning or drastic reduction of plastic bags due to their environmental damage. Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environmental Program, recently said there is simply zero justification for manufacturing [plastic bags] any more, anywhere. Home / Plastic Bags / Why Plastic Bags are a Problem Why Plastic Bags are a Problem Plastic bags are popular with consumers and retailers as they are a functional, lightweight, strong, cheap, and hygienic way to transport food and other products. Approximately 6.9 billion plastic bags are consumed annually in Australia: 6 billion of these are high density polyethylene (HDPE), such as supermarket singlet bags or supermarket checkout bags. 0.9 billion are low density polyethylene (LDPE), such as boutique bags. 67% of HDPE 25% of LDPE bags are imported with the remainder locally produced. There are two major environmental problems associated with our use of plastic bags. Firstly, plastic bags are one of the most damaging forms of litter. At least 80 million plastic bags end up as litter on our beaches, streets and parks each year While they are estimated to only be 2% of the litter stream, they have a significant environmental impact because they can take up to 1,000 years to break down. Their persistence in the environment means that they can entangle and harm marine life and other animals. In fact, the World Wide Fund for Nature estimates that more than 100,000 whales, seals, turtles, and birds die every year as a result of plastic bags. For example, on 24 August 2000, a Brydes whale died in Trinity Bay, 2 km from central Cairns. An autopsy found that the whales stomach was tightly packed with plastic, including supermarket bags, food packages, bait bags, three large sheets of plastic, and fragments of garbage bags. There was no food in its stomach. When the dead animal decays, the plastic bags are freed to be re-ingested by other animals in years to come. On land, plastic bag litter can block drains and trap birds. They also kill livestock. One farmer near Mudgee NSW, carried out an autopsy on a dead calf and found 8 plastic bags in its stomach. The loss of this calf cost the farmer around $500. Cleaning up this litter is expensive. Australian local and state governments spend over $200 million a year picking up litter (all forms). Source: Federal Department of Environment HYPERLINK http://www.deh.gov.au/industry/waste/plastic-bags/HYPERLINK http://www.deh.gov.au/industry/waste/plastic-bags/Heritage website Secondly, the plastic shopping bag, a single use item, is a symbol of a wasteful society: 20 million Australians used 6.7 billion plastic checkout bags this year (down from 6.9 billion the previous year). Thats nearly 1 plastic bag per person per day or 345 bags per person per year. A persons use of a plastic checkout bag can be counted in minutes however long it takes to get from the shops to their homes. The amount of petroleum used to make one plastic bag would drive a car about 115 metres. The 6.9 billion plastic checkout bags we use every year is enough to drive a car 800 million kilometres or nearly 20,000 times around the world i.e. 4 round trips to the Sun. Less than 3% of Australias plastic bags are currently being recycled, despite recycling facilities being available at major supermarkets. Only an estimated 19% of the 3.7 billion plastic supermarket shopping bags handed out in Australia every year, are being reused by households as kitchen bin liners. In many council areas, plastic bags are the single main contaminant of kerbside recycling. Plastic bags are not free to consumers they are actually adding an estimated $173 million a year to Australias grocery bills. Source: Planet Ark While these facts paint a grim picture, an October 2003 Roy Morgan study showed that 87% of Australians were concerned about the impact plastic bags have on the environment. In addition, action is being taken to reduce the impact of plastic bags, for example: Coles Bay in Tasmania have successfully banned plastic checkout bags in all their retail stores. Under an agreement between the Federal Government and the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), retailers have until December 2004 to reduce their consumption of lightweight single use plastic checkout bags by 25%. This rises to 50% by December 2005. More and more people around the world are becoming aware of the environmental issues surrounding plastic bags. Considering their somewhat placid appearance, the impact of plastic bags on the environment can be devastating. Here are some facts about the environmental impact of plastic bags: Plastic bags cause over 100,000 sea turtle and other marine animal deaths every year when animals mistaken them for food The manufacture of plastic bags add tonnes of carbon emissions into the air annually In the UK, banning plastic bags would be the equivalent of taking 18,000 cars off the roads each year Between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year Approximately 60 100 million barrels of oil are required to make the worlds plastic bags each year Most plastic bags take over 400 years to biodegrade. Some figures indicate that plastic bags could take over 1000 years to break down. (I guess nobody will live long enough to find out!). This means not one plastic bag has ever naturally biodegraded. China uses around 3 billion plastic bags each day! In the UK, each person uses around 220 plastic bags each year Around 500,000 plastic bags are collected during Clean Up Australia Day each year. Clean Up Australia Day is a nationwide initiative to get as many members of the public to get out and pick up litter from their local areas. Unfortunately, each year in Australia approximately 50 million plastic bags end up as litter. Fortunately, some governments around the world are taking the initiative to deal with the environmental impact of plastic bags by either banning plastic bags or discouraging their usage. Under current city law, large supermarkets and chain drugstores, such as Safeway and Walgreens, only may provide three kinds of bags to customers at the checkout stand: recyclable paper bags, compostable plastic bags and reusable bags. All single-use disposable bags are banned under the old law. In the new law, Mirkarimi crafted a few exemptions, which include using plastic bags for produce or for garments. He is contemplating a companion piece to his legislation that would impose a 10-cent charge for paper bags. Currently, retailers dont charge for paper bags in San Francisco, though some, such as Whole Foods and Rainbow Grocery, give customers credit for using their own bags. Mirkarimi estimates that broadening the law would remove tens of millions more bags from the environment. Plastic bags are a clear example of excess run amok, he said. People dont necessarily realize the composition of the plastic bag or the consequences of the plastic bag. Theyre omnipresent. Shari Jackson, director of the Progressive Bag Affiliates of the American Plastics Council, said Mirkarimis proposed legislation would have unintended consequences, chiefly increasing the use of paper bags, which have their own environmental problems, and taking away jobs of people who manufacture the plastic bags

Fast Food Restaurants And Food-processing Companies Are the Ghost Murde

The study is to show how the food industry and the fast-food restaurants dictate the laws of the feeding process through the manipulation of people and governments. Nowadays, the food industry calls all the shots of the game and kills little by little the American society and the animal race. The idea is to prove this hidden reality by explaining the process of the fast food restaurants, including their organization, and prove the damages on the human body, either psychologically nor physiologically. Indeed, the fast food restaurants work in cooperation with the food-processing industry, which produces, delivers and fixes the price over the market. But this intensive activity is possible because of the unethical behaviors of the companies ready to do anything to make money: increase the productivity of each living species, including ill-treatments of animals and genetic modification of plants, decrease the costs of production, and increase the seizure of power over Mother Nature . In this context, this research paper leads to the conclusion that everybody is weak in front of the money power bred by the present society. Nevertheless, some people try to fight again this limitless power in the USA with the rapid expansion of the organic food market in the USA but also the interest of famous gastronomic cookers to build restaurants in the USA to answer the demand of high social class. Unfortunately, this is just the start of the food-industry’s revival and it will take a long time to dominate this living hell. The society of the last and present century is composed of busy and in a hurry people. Priority has been given to the work, helped by the philosophy of the American dream: hard work, prosperity and success. In t... ... and nutrient intake profile." Journal of the American Dietetic Association 103.10 (2003): 1332-1338. Seelow, Soren. "Monsanto, Un Demi-sià ¨cle De Scandales Sanitaires." Le Monde.fr. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014 Spiroux De Vendomois Joel, Dominique Cellier, Christian Vellot, and Emilie Clair. Debate on GMOs Health Risks after Statistical Findings in Regulatory Tests. Tech. International Journal of Biological Sciences, 5 Oct. 2010. Web. Spiroux De Vendà ´mois Joà «l, Franà §ois Roullier, Dominique Cellier, and Gilles-Eric Sà ©ralini. A Comparison of the Effects of Three GM Corn Varieties on Mammalian Health. Rep. International Journal of Biological Sciences May 2005. Web Super Size Me. Dir. Morgan Spurlock. Perf. Morgan Spurlock. Youtube. N.p., 7 May 2004. Web. "What Are The Human Health Effects Of PCBs?" What Are The Human Health Effects Of PCBs? Ed.

Brave New World - Happiness :: essays research papers

With reference to the text, discuss Mustafa Mond’s statement: â€Å" The secret to happiness is liking what you have to do.† Mustafa Mond is presented to us as one of the Ten World Controllers in Brave New World, of that Utopian, communal and stabilized world, set six hundred years into future. This new world that contradicts the world we live in today, eliminated the Freedoms that we depend on: the freedom of choice, the freedom of thought, religion and being. They have chosen to condition their individuals in baby factories in order to ensure identity, community and stability. The fundamental tenet behind the conditioning is utilitarianism, which describes a society that seeks to create maximum happiness. Those who are happy are thought to be efficient and beneficial to society. Mond’s statement: â€Å"The secret to happiness is liking what you have to do,† applies to his ‘conditioned’ world, with abolished Freedoms, but it does not apply to the world we live in today. Huxley shows how "identity" is established in the Conditioning Centre through the selection of the embryos into each of five groups. All the individuals in Brave New World have their identity predestined by someone else. This promotes stability by creating a group of workers whose preferences are moulded by the state. I cannot concur with this idea of ‘puppet creation’ where people can be depicted as puppets and the state can be said to be their puppet master who has a right to choose their character roles. In our society, this goes against the freedom of being and becoming someone you wish to be. Mr Foster addresses the students about Epsilons and mentions, â€Å"We condition them to thrive on heat,† (p. 31). This can explain why they are predestined to like warm temperatures and why they emigrate to tropics to become miners and steel workers and in that way benefit the society. I should mention that I do not agree with their idea that one should be conditioned to be happy with what they are doing or to perform the task correctly. In today’s society, one may notice that there are people who grew up near coalmines and without anyone forcing them to work, they still feel like they should dedicate themselves to a miner’s duty. They might have been born into a miner’s family and upon their own will, might decide to follow their family’s footsteps.

Changes in Business Environment

Anyone who is familiar with the major organizations in their area probably has observed firsthand how dramatically the business environment has changed in recent years. These changes have had a significant impact on organizational efforts to be successful. In practically every instance organizations have tried to more clearly identify and then focus on factors that impact their success. One factor that seems to be receiving more attention than any other are the people who work for organizations. What organizations are realizing is that their likelihood of sustained success is most dependent on learning to get the maximum out of their employees. Such a realization has had a significant impact on the practice of human resources management (HRM). What's more, business forecasters predict that the role of employees, managers, and HRM personnel are likely to see more changes in the decades ahead. Thus, individuals entering the business environment today (and tomorrow) require both an understanding of the importance of human resources and effective HRM to organizational success. As we move further into the twenty-first century, it's becoming absolutely clear that the effective management of an organization's human resources is a major source of competitive advantage and may even be the single most important determinant of an organization's performance over the long term. Organizations have started to realize that their success is dependent on their ability to attract, develop, and retain talented employees. Robert Reich emphasizes this point when he suggests that in the future, the organization's ability to attract, develop, and retain a talented workforce will be a critical factor in developing a high-performance organization. The long-term, sustained success of an organization in today's changing and challenging business environment involves top management's commitment to designing and implementing HRM programs geared to developing both high-performing employees and organizations. This means that top management anticipates the future need for employees and develops specific plans to obtain, develop, and retain the type of employees who meet the needs of a high-performing organization. Only by anticipating and working toward the development and retention of the right type of employees can any organization expect to be successful in a global, dynamic, and continuously changing competitive environment. An important element of organizational success is an HRM strategy where every manager is an HRM manager. For example, every manager must be expected to set goals for the development and satisfaction of employees. Second, every employee is viewed as a valuable resource, just like buildings and equipment. The organization's success is dependent upon high-performing employees, and without such employees there is no competitive advantage for the organization. Finally, through effective HRM programs the organization's goals are successfully integrated with individual employee needs. It is the thesis of this paper that HRM will continue to be an important element in achieving organizational success in the years to come. What makes one organization successful whereas another fails to make use of the same opportunities? For our purposes, the key to continued survival and organizational success lies not in the rational, quantitative approaches, but increasingly in a commitment to things like people, employee involvement, and commitment. Success for the organizations of today and tomorrow is being increasingly seen as dependent on effective HRM. Effective HRM positively affects performance in organizations, both large and small. Human resources management is the term increasingly used to refer to the philosophy, policies, procedures, and practices related to the management of an organization's employees. While a great deal of research has been devoted to identifying the sources of workplace stress and its links to adverse health and organizational outcomes, little has been done to focus on interventions to improve working environments. In reviewing the practice overall of stress prevention and intervention at the workplace, three conclusions may be drawn. First, although there is a considerable amount of activity in the field of stress management, â€Å"it is disproportionally concentrated on reducing the effects of stress, rather than reducing the presence of stressors at work. † (Kahn & Byosiere, 1992) To put it differently, stress management activities focus on secondary and tertiary prevention, rather than primary prevention. Whereas the latter involves interventions aimed at eliminating, reducing or altering stressors in the working situation, the former two are aimed at the effects of stress, with secondary prevention concerning the helping of employees (who are already showing signs of stress) from getting sick (for example, by increasing their coping capacity); and tertiary prevention concerning treatment activities for employees with serious stress-related health problems (for example, stress counseling/employee assistance programmers, the rehabilitation after long-term absenteeism). Second, most activities are primarily aimed at the individual rather than at the workplace or the organization, in other words, a worker-oriented approach, for instance, by improving employees' skills to manage, resist or reduce stress, as opposed to a job or organization-oriented approach, for instance, by job redesign or in some way changing the corporate culture or management style. Moreover, as Kahn and Byosiere (1992) conclude in their literature review: ‘Even the programs that aim at stress inhibition tend to address subjective rather than objective aspects of the stress sequence; almost none consider the organizational antecedents (policy and structure) that intensify or reduce the presence of objective stressors' (p. 633). A third peculiarity in the practice of stress prevention concerns the lack of a systematic risk assessment (‘stress audit', identifying risk factors and risk groups) as well as of serious research into the effects of all these activities (Kahn and Byosiere, 1992). In the words of Kahn and Byosiere (1992): ‘The programs in stress management that are sold to companies show a suspicious pattern of variance; they differ more by practitioner than by company. When practitioners in any field offer sovereign remedies regardless of the presenting symptoms, patients should be wary' (p. 23). Against the background of (1) clear evidence of the relationship between psychosocial work characteristics and health , (2) national and international legislation that put the emphasis on risk assessment and combating risks by changing the stressful situation, and (3) the basic idea of prevention, that is, eliminating the stress producing situation (prevention at the source), the current practice of stress prevention and intervention seems disappointing. Given the current status of stress prevention, a question that deserves attention is why it is that companies express a preference for ‘post hoc' individual-directed interventions, as opposed to primary or job/organizational interventions. At least four factors seem to contribute to this rather one-sided ‘individual'-oriented approach : 1 Senior managers are often inclined to blame personality and lifestyle factors of employees who are absent from work or report health complaints, rather than the job or organizational factors, for which they are responsible. Senior management also often point to the potential role of stressful life events (family problems such as a divorce or the loss of a beloved), or responsibilities and obligations in the family life (raising children for example). Of course, on the micro-level (i. e. on the level of the individual employee) stressors at work are often accompanied by stressors in one's family situation, but because of the mutual influence and spill-over between both domains, the causes and consequences can hardly be disentangled. Furthermore, holding individual characteristics responsible for differences in experienced stress, one cannot explain why some occupations show significantly more stress complaints and higher sickness absence rates than others. A risk attached to this view is that the employee is regarded as being ‘guilty' of his or her own health problems, that is ‘blaming the victim', with the potential threat in the workplace being overlooked. 2 The second reason may be found in the nature of psychology itself, with its emphasis on subjective and individual phenomena. Many psychology-oriented stress researchers are primarily interested in stress as a subjective and individual phenomenon. To some extent, this may be a legacy of the strong tradition in psychology to focus on individual differences (i. e. differential psychology), and on individual counseling and therapy (i. e. clinical psychology). In this context, a warning seems appropriate against ‘psychologism', that is, the explanation of (a sequence of) societal events from an individual-psychic point of view. Because of this orientation, the potential impact of more ‘objective' or ‘collective' risk factors in the work situation (e. . poor management, work-overload and bullying), may go unnoticed and untreated. In stress research, there is a gap between what ‘theory' preaches (that is, properly designed longitudinal studies, involving a randomized control group, collecting both subjective and objective measures that are analyzed properly with statistical techniques), and what is possible in practice. One of the main reasons for this gap is the difficulty of conducting methodological ‘sound' interventions and evaluation studies in an ever-changing organizational environment. In the 1990s, not only the context of work is rapidly changing, but also ‘work' itself. Work organizations are in a constant state of change, due, in part, to new production concepts (for example, team based work, lean production methods, telework), ‘the flexible workforce' concept, the 24-hour economy, the increased utilization of information technology, and the changing structure of the work force (for example, more women working). These changes clearly affect the work behavior of employees, work group processes, as well as the organizational structure and culture. As a consequence, it is practically impossible to find two companies with comparable stress problems at the beginning of any intervention programme, of which the control company agrees not to undertake any action for a period of three or four years (the period a researcher might like to choose for an intervention project). A related problem is that it is often not in a company's interest to facilitate ‘sound scientific research' in the context of an ongoing business, involving interlopers from outside (i. e. researchers) and detailed data collection on the scene of sometimes confidential information. Senior managers can regard research of this kind as a nuisance to the primary organizational processes and objectives. 4 A fourth factor may be found in the discipline segregation within stress research, with a tendency of researching to neglect the collection of more objective data on the impact of stress and its prevention. Work and organizational psychologists concentrate primarily on ‘soft' outcome variables (e. g. motivation, satisfaction, effect and health complaints), and are well-known for their questionnaire-oriented approach. Traditionally, it has been observed that stress researchers are reluctant to co-operate with economists. For instance in order to study the potential ‘hard' outcome measures (that would include productivity, sickness absence rates and accident rates), as well as the financial effects of interventions. To put it differently, a history of gaining empirical insight in costs and benefits is merely lacking in stress research. Research in the field should in the future include some of the following: first, stress researchers should not only address ‘soft' outcome variables (for example, motivation and satisfaction), but extend their focus to also include ‘hard' outcome variables (for example, productivity and sickness absenteeism). Whereas work and organizational psychologists have often stated that an adequate stress prevention programme may positively affect productivity and sickness absenteeism, until now they have not laid down a sufficiently strong empirical foundation for this position. For too long, stress prevention advocates have based their arguments on a moral or humanistic appeal to the good employer (that is, on ‘industrial charity'), or on legal regulations (for example, working conditions legislation). It is beyond doubt that these are important and strong arguments. Still, it may well be that they are not enough, since these arguments are not those that primarily affect senior management, who are more ‘bottom line' driven. Second, in order to increase the impact of stress prevention in the workplace, more emphasis should be placed on such factors as the quality of product and services, organizational flexibility, continuity, absenteeism, productivity, labor market facets and improved competitivity; and for there to be a multi-disciplinary approach rather than the traditional mono-disciplinary one (for example, co-operation with economists and ergonomists). And finally, the demonstration of examples of good preventive practice is considered as a sine qua non for developing effective stress prevention procedures and for the involvement of both social partners in this field (i. e. employers and employees). Stress has always been a topic of concern for business and industry. Health educators, in response to this concern, have offered a variety of stress management or stress reduction programs. However, McGehee points out that her discussion is not about what stress is or how stress can be managed or the latest research in stress management. The literature on these topics is profuse and easy to locate. Rather, she is concerned with the nature of stress management programs inside companies that have decided to make stress management a part of their employee development. Her discussion includes the reason behind a management program, the format of stress management programs, the selection of a stress management program, work issues and stress management, and the management of the stress response. Although stress has been a constant concern, a serious and growing problem in industry today is burnout. Klarreich relates his health education program on burnout, which was extremely well received in his organization. He describes the nature of burnout, the myths associated with this phenomenon, and the societal and familial influences that contribute to this problem. He delineates a number of steps to â€Å"put out the fire. † These include self-appraisal, alteration of expectations, communication to establish social support, and determination of a behavioral option. He indicates that the healthy employee of the future will be a â€Å"hardy employee. † Achieving excellence in the workplace has become the passion of most North American corporations. Pulvermacher presents a unique health education program, which he delivers as a workshop, to many corporate employees. He states that pursuing excellence requires the application of several fundamental skills. He reviews effective goal setting strategies, methods for avoiding the trap of perfectionism, techniques for managing self-defeating attitudes and beliefs, harnessing stress advantageously, increasing one's self-discipline, managing conflict constructively, and communicating effectively. A variety of reasons for implementing stress management programs are ascribed to by the companies currently doing so. The major reasons include reducing health costs, improving productivity, and boosting employee morale. In many cases, stress management is part of a wellness program. Stress-related disorders, including certain headaches, stomach disorders, chronic muscular pain, cardiac and respiratory conditions, and psychosomatic complaints have been linked to a large percentage of doctor's office visits and hospital tests and admissions. One goal of stress management programs is to provide alternate ways to respond to stress, to prevent potential disorders, and ultimately to reduce health costs. Stress level has been found to be linked to worker productivity. At moderate amounts of stress, performance is at its highest. Stress in moderate amounts, such as from reasonable deadlines, a focus on quality, rational performance rating systems, a system of accountability, often motivates performance. When stress rises to higher levels and a number of stressors are affecting the individual, performance deteriorates. At times of high stress, an individual is not as effective in solving problems, and on-the-job performance is negatively affected. The goal of stress management programs in this case is to provide ways in which employees can cope better with increasing stress and continue to perform well on the job. Stress management programs are usually popular with employees. Attendance at talks and workshops shows that the topic is a popular one. Many companies decide to implement these programs as morale boosters because they â€Å"can't hurt anything. † Stress management has become an integral part of most preventive medicine programs. These programs attempt to include education and training in a variety of ways so that the employees can safeguard their health.