Inputs Diagnosis Whole Foods Essay

The range of competitors within the overall industry include chain and independent supermarkets (Krogers, Safeway, others); mass merchandisers and super centers (Wal-mart,Target); convenience stores; wholesale clubs (Sam’s); restaurants and fast food chains andnatural food stores (Whole Foods, Wild Oats Generally the concentration of competitors has been fragmented by geography. However, through recent consolidations, the emergence of regional and national chains has started to prevail along with the decline of the independent/local shops. This consolidation activity has allowed many companies to spread their fixed costs over a wider range of output, thus creating more efficiency in operations. Often, it is cheaper for a company to acquire an incumbent due to the location of their stores and access to customers rather than to raise the capital for entirely new stores, which is how Whole Foods has been able to expand following their growth model strategy. Whole Foods acquisitio n growth plan has helped them to gain enough economies of scale to better compete with the Wal-marts and Sam’s Clubs. Threat of Substitutes Price of substitutes plays a role in determining a company’s profitability. Organic food is priced at a premium to conventional food reflecting the high labor costs in cultivating the product. The price premium may be one reason why organic food has not become mainstream. Another reason is that consumers either lack education about its benefits (or don’t care) so that the price premium does not appear to be justified. However, when comparing upscale organic and prepared foods to competitors such as restaurants, the benefit/cost ratio appears more justified. Market research conducted shows that â€Å"20 percent of shoppers as dedicated to healthy eating†.(PRNEWSWIRE, 2013) These shoppers tend to be better educated, more affluent, couples or singles without children, and generally in better physical shape than the rest of the population. These individuals that actively seek out health and nutritional information, are younger to middle aged, and have medium to high household incomes. Thus, this market segment likely has a higher propensity to substitute than the segment above, but still is probably lower than the overall market. In total, the organic segment of the market has captured â€Å"73 percent of consumers as of 2008†.(QSRMAGAZINE, 2013) Buyer Power The retail grocery market is typically considered somewhat resistant to economic downturns, thus, to some degree, consumers’ food budgets are price insensitive. However, there is risk that consumers will switch from high quality / high margin stores to mass merchandisers (Walmart, Shop N Save) to stretch declining incomes further in a downturn market. Furthermore, while individual consumers typically lack significant buyer power to affect the specific prices of products, collectively, they can exert influence on retailers to sell or not sell specific types of products. Supplier Power The organic food suppliers are not highly concentrated, so natural food retailers have some power over them. Also, the natural food retailers may have the ability to backward integrate with partnerships and joint ventures with local growers. In addition, there is a trend for top conventional food manufacturers to invest in national/organic food companies as shown by the following excerpt * Kraft (NYSE: KFT ) : Boca Foods, Back to Nature * PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP ) : Naked Juice * General Mills (NYSE: GIS ) : Cascadian Farm, Muir Glen * Dean Foods: Horizon, The Organic Cow of Vermont, Alta Dena, White Wave/Silk * ConAgra (NYSE: CAG ) : Lightlife, Alexia Foods * Kellogg (NYSE: K ) : Morningstar Farms, Kashi, Gardenburger, Bear Naked * Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO ) : Odwalla * M&M Mars: Seeds of Change * Hain Celestial (Nasdaq: HAIN ) : Nile Spice, Health Valley, Bearitos, Earth’s Best, Walnut Acres (FOOL, 2013) Thus, the larger number of suppliers of organic products, the less influence one supplier can have in the market. Threat of New Entry Because the retail grocery market is typically low margin, â€Å"typically in the mid-single digit range†.(VALUELINE, 2013) It is critical for companies to have some type of cost advantage over peers, the larger chains may be able to obtain better and cheaper access to products than the independent stores(economies of scale). Labor is also a significant cost to retail grocers, representing 50% to 53% of total operating costs (EHOW, 2013). Other operating costs (including rent, utilities, transportation, and technology) are controllable by the company. Lastly, technology costs are key in the retail grocery industry in order to increase efficiency in operations and aid marketing aids. Point-of-sale systems can help to increase inventory turnover and sales and lead to better targeted customer marketing (COUNTERPOINTPOS, 2013) Other areas that affect new entry into a market include capital requirements, economies of scale, and brand identity. All of these factors have been discussed to some degree under other forces. Retaliation by incumbent competitors is an important element in determining the threat of new entry. Specifically, Whole Foods faces a threat from conventional supermarkets and mass merchandisers who may move to carry organic products within their stores. CONGRUENCE MODEL In conducting the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model, of Whole Foods Market’s inputs and how they align with the strategy. I have resubmitted the model for your review The congruence model has four modals for analysis: 1. Inputs – resources used by the organization but also its history and its social, economic and market position. Resources include people, technology, capital and reputation 2. Strategies – what strategies best match the inputs to produce and how to produce those outputs from the available inputs. 3. Organizational components – allows the analyst to isolate the individual influences and adjust them for a good fit 4. Performance -include the ability to pinpoint where performance is not adequate and to trace the reason back to a lack of congruence in the model’s part (SMALLBUSINESS 2013) The model is good for input diagnosis and it can be broken down with the following steps: TASKS The work itself does not need any specific skill set or knowledge except to be as personable as possible and like dealing with people. While there are materialistic rewards to working at whole Foods the other reward is the ability to have a vote in how things happen in the company. Whole Foods runs on â€Å"democratic capitalism; where all of the work is teamwork.†(Fastcompany, 2013) the system itself tends to creative while at the same time it is mechanistic as everything has to be in its correct spot just so-so. The work flows from the top down with a healthy response for the department teams. The department teams have the sole discretionary right to hire and approve new hires which upper management screens first. The work is through, caring and precise. The teams are interdependent as they are all an integral part of the stores success as a whole together. PEOPLE The people of Whole Foods are a team oriented group with a single mindedness to have their store succeed with a democratic disciplined outlook. Most of the employees are young, well-educated individuals whose participation reinforces attention to performance and profit. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE: The organization is set up as a virtuous circle which has a two way avenue to company policies to improve the company’s bottom line. Whole Foods has a knack to please their customers and every employee is empowered to correct as discrepancy that is brought to their attention by a customer. Each department is s3et up as a team which has a direct bearing on bonuses through â€Å"gainsharing†. (Fastcompany, 2013) Sales per labor hour the productivity metric at Whole Foods, democracy reinforces discipline. If someone doesn’t do the work and gets a poor rating then the team suffers in lost bonus money. Culture People work as a team to get the product out the door and keep customers happy and returning for repeat business. With that said the company’s success is driven by their employee’s attention to detail and satisfying the customer. Whole Foods has open salary concept where everyone knows what everybody else makes salary and bonuses. Also every store knows what another store is doing in sales, salary and bonuses. With that being known an individual wanting to transfer to another store or state knows what that store is doing financially and is able to make a well informed decision as to what to do with their career. There appears to be no political intrigue involved with the company and the â€Å"Hill† as most of the food wholesale segment is already tightly monitored as far as food safety and other regulation. The above listed modals are in in alignment with the major strength of Whole Foods in comparison to the Congruence model and Porters Five Forces Model. Their strength is the fact tht they can withstand entry of new competition due to their market chare and market segmentation. While company’s can enter into the retail food market they would be hard pressed to copy Whole foods business strategy in empowering their employees and making it work as far as satisfying their customers and meeting Whole Foods profit margin. Porter’s five forces strength model aligns quite well with the resources modal of the congruence model and several of the segments blur as everything is not cut and dried and able to be placed in the puzzle of what is Whole Foods. As a whole the strategies under the congruence and Porters model align with the complete Porter’s Five Forces Model well to give a rounded view of what Whole Foods is and what they can do if they stick to their mission statement and core values. Under the restraints of this report all of the congruence segments critical to the analysis as broken down the model reinforce Porters with their strength segment. As listed above the three input factors complement each other in regards to the strengths of the company as a whole. Also if you review my earlier reports all of my suppositions are supported and well documented as to how Whole Foods supports its marketing style and fills a niche with customers in search of alternatives to non-natural food stuffs.. References Percent health food consumers retrieved February 2013 from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-survey-shows-shoppers-eating-more-meals-at-home-cooking-meals-to-save-money-62056997.html Flat Lining Organics retrieved February 2013 from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-survey-shows-shoppers-eating-more-meals-at-home-cooking-meals-to-save-money-62056997.html Investing in organics retrieved February 2013 from http://www.fool.com/investing/high-growth/2009/01/16/investing-in-organics.aspx Retail grocery market industry analysis retrieved February 2013 from http://www.valueline.com/Stocks/Industry_Report.aspx?id=7243 calculate food

On Compassion

Annotated Bibliography â€Å"On Compassion† Ascher, Barbara. â€Å"On Compassion†. 5O Essays. Ed. Samuel Cohen. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004. 35-38. Print. Barbara Ascher’s essay offers examples of everyday life in New York City to support her thoughts about compassion. She uses two different encounters to back up her arguments and points. The first encounter involved a woman, with a child, giving money to a homeless person as he starred at the precious child. Ascher questioned as to why the woman gave to the homeless. Was it fear or compassion that motivated the gift?The second encounter involved a homeless person coming into a cafe, smelling of cigarettes and urine and the owner rushing to hand the man a coffee and a bag of food. Twice Ascher has witnessed this and one argument made was, what compelled the woman to feed the man? Was it because of pity? Care? Compassion? As winter comes the mayor kicks all the homeless of the streets and into Bellevue Hosp ital. Ascher thinks that what the mayor is doing shows compassion, but another side of her fears it is because of â€Å"raw humanity offending our sensibilities†(38).She uses interesting words to basically describe how people don’t like to face reality and see how life really is. People just walk past the homeless, pretend nothing is wrong and life is perfect; forgetting about the other humans in rags, starving, and living day to day on the street and in parks. For most it wasn’t a lifestyle chosen, yet people only see what is right in front of their eyes; â€Å"An awareness of rags with voices that make no sense and scream in inarticulate rage†(38). Ascher believes and states that, â€Å"Compassion is not a character trait like sunny disposition.It must be learned, and it is learned by having adversity at our windows, coming through the gates of our yards, the walls of our towns, adversity that becomes so familiar that we begin to identify and empathize with it. †(38) Ascher then, compares the homeless to the Ancient Greeks, reminding us of our common humanity. In my opinion, I believe that the point of this essay was to speak to people through writing. Ascher made very good points about her beliefs on compassion. For example, how she believes compassion is learned and not just a character trait. I for one agree with her.Being compassionate is not something that you should describe yourself as, but more so an action of doing or giving without second-guessing, or thinking of it. It’s something you pick up as a child in your home and community and it grows on you, it becomes part of your identity. In Ascher’s essay she gets her point across with plenty of arguments to back it up. She uses encounters from everyday life so readers can see and understand where she is coming from. Ascher made me change how I see and think about compassion. That’s why she is such a great writer because the execution of her work is just excellent.

Impact Of Technology On Healthcare Health And Social Care Essay

Medical information engineering is frequently thought of in the modern context of computing machines, but the careful aggregation and analysis of information related to observation of patient status, effectivity of different interventions, and design of new interventions dates back to the clip of Hippocrates ( ca. 460 BC – ca. 370 Be ) ( Washburn & A ; Hornberger, 2008 ) . Hippocrates took punctilious notes that enabled him to do legion discoveries both in the apprehension of the workings of the human organic structure and in the moralss and attack to thought that are indispensable to modern medical pattern and probe ( Olguin, Gloor & A ; Pentland, 2009 ) . Relatively small invention took topographic point in furthering, the pattern of medical specialty from the clip of Hippocrates until the early twentieth century, with developments such as the variola vaccinum in 1901. During the twentieth century, the growing of medical engineering has increased continuously, with inventions such as penicillin, X-ray, PET/MRI scanning, computing machines, robotic surgery, radiation therapy, chemo-therapy, and many other signifiers of engineering and interventions ( Garson, 2008 ; Munnelly & A ; Clarke, 2007 ) . While the usage of medical hardware and information engineering has been indispensable to healthcare for 1000s of old ages, these same tools can make hard jobs ( Appari & A ; Johnson, 2010 ; Ziefle & A ; Rocker, 2010 ) . For illustration, the over-use of antibiotics has caused a new signifier of pathogen normally called super-bugs, such as methicillin-resistant staphylococci aureus ( MRSA ) and other antibiotic opposition strains that are highly hard and expensive to handle. Healthcare installations ( edifices ) can besides be considered to be a signifier of engineering. As with other signifiers of engineering, physical installations involve a common interaction between users of the engineering and the engineering Anderson & A ; Wittwer, 2011 ) . In healthcare contexts, the physical installations are frequently closely interrelated with the staff and other engineering that the edifice contains ( Munnelly & A ; Clarke, 2007 ) . Often, engineering is integrated into the edifice itself. As with other signifiers of engineering in health care, organisations spend important amounts of money on their installations. If these financess are non spent sagely, they contribute to the lifting cost of health care and can impact the fiscal or operational viability of the organisation ( Aziz et al. 2006 ; Washburn & A ; Hornberger, 2008 ) . Among the innovators of Healthcare Technology, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ) has been one of the most supportive. Concerned with the health of the spacemans during infinite missions, NASA scientists developed technological devices for the measuring and transmittal of physiological and medical informations between infinite and Earth Stationss in the sixtiess ( Lankton & A ; Wilson, 2007 ) . This attempt was subsequently applied in the 1970s to back up medical services to the rural Papago Native American Reservation in Arizona utilizing a manned nomadic medical unit linked to local infirmaries. The first full service Healthcare Technology operation appeared in 1968 between Logan Airport Health station and the Massachusetts General Hospital ( MGH ) of Harvard Medical School ( Garson, 2008 ; Munnelly & A ; Clarke, 2007 ) . The service included 10 remote sites linked through the New Hampshire-Vermont Medical Interactive Television Network with a cardinal hub s tationed at Dartmouth. The service supported medical instruction and forte medical services including psychopathology, malignant neoplastic disease, and dermatology ( Pai & A ; Huang, 2011 ) . Another important Healthcare Technology event occurred in the 1990s when NASA launched the first big graduated table international Healthcare Technology undertaking, Spacebridge. Spacebridge presently supplies a assortment of medical specializer audiences and medical educational chances to the Eastern European part ( Sneha & A ; Varshney, 2007 ; Varshney, 2009 ) . Modern Healthcare Technology in the last century evolved from basic telephone audiences as experimental undertakings. Propelled by emerging engineerings and the information expressway, Healthcare Technology has resurfaced with new content and significance. Healthcare Technology experiments that are presently used in pilot signifier will turn out to be everyday in the hereafter. Impact of Technology on Healthcare The intent of this subdivision is to reexamine the literature on the impacts of engineering in health care. Evidence on the impact of engineering in health care is assorted. Literature on engineering impacts in health care have looked at both concluding result steps, such as productiveness or end product or mortality, every bit good as intermediate public presentation steps such as mistake rates, rhythm times, use, and complications ( Pai & A ; Huang, 2011 ) . A revenant subject among surveies on engineering and health care is the function of clip slowdowns ; the empirical grounds by and large supports the impression that engineering investings require a significant clip period for users to larn how to utilize the engineering ( Ziefle & A ; Rocker, 2010 ) . Surveies pulling from engineering literature base, consistent with the literature on engineering investing, appeared more likely to include complementary investing factors such as concern procedure reengineering ( BPR ) and preparation ( Varshney, 2009 ) . These surveies find positive impacts to engineering and frequently included ( Varshney, 2009 ) . Surveies based in the medical literature painted a more assorted position of results engineering investing ( Bardram, 2008 ; Coronato & A ; Pietro, 2010 ) . These surveies by and large did non include complementary investings and by and large took a â€Å" tool position † of engineering investings. The surveies based in the medical literature used a more nuanced pick of results ; consistent with the thought that health care is a alone context, including outcome steps such as mistake rate, differential mortality, use rates, and complication rates ( Sneha & A ; Varshney, 2007 ; Varshney, 2009 ) . What is losing from this literature is a survey that takes into history the alone nature of engineering investing, every bit good as the alone context of health care. Theory and grounds about the impacts of engineering investing suggest that engineering: a ) is a all-purpose engineering which frequently requires complementary investings to give positive returns, B ) lowers search costs, which lower the discrepancy of results, degree Celsius ) installations the accretion of â€Å" memory capital † over clip, vitamin D ) lowers monitoring costs, vitamin E ) speeds information diffusion, and degree Fahrenheit ) exhibits web effects ( Ziefle & A ; Rocker, 2010 ) . While many of the possible impact of engineering would look to ensue in positive returns in health care, findings on the impact of engineering in health care to day of the month are mixed. Most surveies on the impacts of engineering in health care have either: a ) used a rich apprehension of engineering investings focuse d upon the impact of engineering on traditional result steps such as profitableness or response clip, or B ) used a simplified position of engineering investing with a rich understand of the peculiar phenomena which arise out of the alone context of health care ( Coronato & A ; Pietro, 2010 ) . What is needed in this literature is a survey which takes into history the peculiar impacts of engineering investings on phenomena which are alone to healthcare, such as intervention incompatibility. Research Conceptual Framework and Theoretical Background Present research examines the factors that influence patient Healthcare Technology acceptance pulling support from the following theory. Theory of Reasoned Action The Theory of Reasoned Action asserts that beliefs influence attitudes. Attitudes, in bend, act upon the purposes that guide behavior, and credence of engineering is so demonstrated through behavior. TRA is well-tested and has been proven valid in foretelling and explicating behaviors in general human behavior. The construct of Theory of Reasoned Action was founded on Fishbein and Ajzen ‘s societal psychological science research. TRA suggested that important dealingss exist between beliefs, attitudes, purposes, and behaviors ( Aziz et al. 2006 ; Washburn & A ; Hornberger, 2008 ) . Harmonizing to TRA, most societal behaviors are non automatic actions ; alternatively, they are under volitional controls. TRA asserts that people consider the deductions of their action based on the information available to them before they decide to execute behavior ( Aziz et al. 2006 ; Washburn & A ; Hornberger, 2008 ) . Since behavior is a consequence of cognitive logical thinking, behavior is predictable. Theory of Reasoned Action is built on three concepts: attitude ( AT ) , subjective norm ( SN ) , and behavioral purpose ( BI ) . TRA has been examined and tested through legion research surveies. In TRA, attitude reflects personal behavioral beliefs and subjective norm refers to societal influences. TRA suggests that behavior purpose is a map of two determiners, a individual ‘s attitude and the subjective norm. A individual ‘s behavioral purpose, in bend, is the immediate determiner of the existent action ( Aziz et al. 2006 ; Washburn & A ; Hornberger, 2008 ) . Based on the pictural presentation of TRA by Ajzen and Fishbein, TRA may be expressed as: BI = AT + SN and existent behavior = BI. A individual holds different beliefs from past experience about objects, actions, and events. Beliefs service as the immediate deciding factors of a individual ‘s attitude ( Aziz et al. 2006 ; Washburn & A ; Hornberger, 2008 ) . Positive belief means stronger strong belief and credence toward the behavior in inquiry. With positive beliefs, a individual tends to garner positive attitudinal purpose to behaviour, which in bend leads to more possible realisation of the behavior. Attitude is a individual ‘s rating of the entity in inquiry ( Lankton & A ; Wilson, 2007 ) . Attitude arises as a map of beliefs. Beliefs may alter due to clip and fortunes or be replaced by new beliefs ; these alterations in bend affect a individual ‘s attitude. Social scientists have long established that attitude is a critical behavioral temperament ( Lankton & A ; Wilson, 2007 ) . However, a individual ‘s favorable or unfavorable perceptual experience to behaviour in consideration entirely does non ever produce the behavioral result. To accurately predict attitude, an extra variable must be taken into history of the attitude-behaviour relationship. This extra variable in TRA is the subjective norm ( Aziz et al. 2006 ; Washburn & A ; Hornberger, 2008 ) . Subjective norm refers to a individual ‘s sensed outlooks from relevant persons or groups on whether or non to execute the behavior in inquiry ( Varshney, 2009 ) . Subjective norm is a map of normative beliefs, the ensuing influence of the societal environment. Social force per unit area can coerce an person to execute or avoid behavior in consideration regardless of the individual ‘s bing purpose. Since it has the potency of overruling a individual ‘s ain purpose, subjective norm is an independent concept to attitude in the TRA theoretical account. Concept of Pervasive Healthcare Technology Many Pervasive Healthcare Technology devices have undergone experimental tests in infirmaries every bit good as in patients ‘ places. Infrared engineering, gesture detectors ( infra-red sensing or acoustical sensing ) , picture cameras, and so on, that usage radio, Internet, ISDN, and telephone lines have been installed in health care installations ( Snyder, 2007 ) . Traditional non-invasive Pervasive Healthcare Technology frequently requires patient battle with devices at a set clip and location. For at hazard instances, such as post-stroke and postoperative wound-related complications where a close un-obstructive proctor is important in the recovery procedure, periodic monitoring may non catch episodic marks at the critical clip ( Washburn & A ; Hornberger, 2008 ) . Recent development of permeant monitoring systems focuses on automated and un-obstructive Pervasive Healthcare Technology without the limitations of clip and topographic point. Pervasive health care requires wireless engineerings and the duplicate substructure capablenesss. Permeant services are supported through radio LANs, cellular GSM/3G webs, satellite-based systems, and so forth ( Varshney, 2007 ) . Pervasive health care applications include â€Å" permeant wellness monitoring, intelligent exigency direction system, permeant health care informations entree, and omnipresent Mobile Healthcare Technology † ( Varshney, 2007 ) . Research on permeant Healthcare Technology started in the early 2000s utilizing the so budding permeant calculating engineerings. The end was to use omnipresent communicating engineerings to better patient liberty and health care mobility through uninterrupted monitoring. In instances such as myocardial ischaemia and station abdominal operations, uninterrupted physiological informations for timely sensing of impairment can alter the full attention result. Extended from Varshney ‘s definition for permeant health care ( 2007 ) , present research defines permeant Healthcare Technology as a Pervasive Healthcare Technology for anyone, anytime, and anyplace without location, clip, and other restraints. Earlier permeant Healthcare Technology experimented with video-telephony installings ( Thuemmler et al. 2009 ) . These devices provide unrecorded picture synergistic communicating through field old POTS for its broad handiness and comparatively low costs ( Lankton & A ; Wilson, 2007 ) . Using video-telephony, the healthcare professional can reexamine the therapies and supply support in real-time. More significantly, these devices alleviate the spread of distance, leting attention suppliers to supervise the patient ‘s emotional and mental provinces and non merely physiological information ( Olguin, Gloor & A ; Pentland, 2009 ) . Other types of permeant Healthcare Technology are enabled by portable topical detectors that integrate wireless engineering with clinical devices. Tele-devices such as tele-ECG and ring-sensors are worn by the patients for Pervasive Healthcare Technology. Data, such as ECG, pulsation rate, respiration rate, and O impregnation degrees, is collected and forwarded to the health care suppliers automatically ( Tu, Zhou, & A ; Piramuthu, 2009 ; Varshney, 2007 ) . This continuously monitored informations can supply of import clinical penetration for timely and accurate diagnosing. Advanced permeant devices for automatically roll uping multiple clinical parametric quantities have shown success in a organic structure detector web system ( Nachman et al. 2010 ) . This Pervasive Healthcare Technology system equipped with multiple detectors is able to roll up, procedure, and wirelessly convey the received informations via a secured nexus to a laptop for farther diagnosing. Pervasive Healthcare Technology devices that do non necessitate patients to have on the tele-devices besides have been developed in the past old ages. For illustration, mattresses, lavatories, kitchen contraptions, and vesture embedded with proctors can feel sleep form, organic structure weight, organic structure temperature, pulse rate, and so forth ( Bardram, 2008 ; Coronato & A ; Pietro, 2010 ) . Further experiments on advanced tele-sensing systems utilize the Doppler radio detection and ranging technique to garner scattered critical marks from throughout the organic structure ( Ziefle & A ; Rocker, 2010 ) . These systems can garner multiple clinical parametric quantities and are able to run autonomously without upseting the lives of the patients. Pervasive Healthcare Technology is built on widely deployed radio webs and advanced calculating engineerings. Pervasive Healthcare Technology solutions have focused chiefly on at hazard disease direction Anderson & A ; Wittwer, 2011 ) . However, a turning market in a broad scope of the healthcare field is ready to impel the development and ingestion of permeant Healthcare Technology. This pattern has had

Joirnal Summary on Risk of Poverty Research Paper

Joirnal Summary on Risk of Poverty - Research Paper Example The ability to overcome poverty then becomes linked to trends and complexities that occur within the household and which link to patterns in the economic cycle. The author’s show that combinations of domestic violence, social environment, the mother’s schooling and other family influences are prevalent in the poverty which has occurred. The first association which is made with the article is the sociodemographic factors that are a part of the study. The social implications are based on the Latin American basis that each holds. Sixteen countries are studied to offer a wide variety of individuals and diverse numbers of families. The main demographics are then defined by differences in ethnicity of those living in poverty as well as the location which is associated with this. The article further explains the study through the examination of the family household and the dependent variables which may contribute to poverty. Education, dynamics of the family and social relatio nships that take place within the household are all examined for a deeper understanding of poverty. The main ideology which is found is that domestic violence and ethnicity are the two factors which continue to relate to the cycle of poverty and the association which many have in terms of the inequalities which take place. However, the study also notes secondary factors which cause the prevalence of poverty to continue among children. The risk of poverty that contributes to the article is based on the understanding of the cycle of poverty. This states that there is an intergenerational influence that occurs when one is in poverty. If the parents are in poverty, then children are more likely to fall under the same economic conditions. The risk is furthered with specific factors that are studied in the survey of the article. The risks that are examined include family factors, schooling and health. The risk of poverty was furthered with types of family dynamics, such as the number of c hildren in the household, association with the parental education and the dynamics that occurred socially. The study also showed a direct relationship to where one lived in Latin America. For instance, one living in Peru would be more likely to complete a secondary education than in Puray. This was further linked to the amount of education the mother and father received, number of siblings, gender, migration and household income. The less schooling in the family, the more siblings and the lower the household income also led to higher amounts of risk of poverty for the children in the household. Not only does the article look at the various factors for the risk of poverty but also considers how the discrimination factors lead to layers of poverty. Low – income poverty and other marginal factors are considered and relate to the dynamics of the family and sociodemographic factors of the household. By looking at this concept, there is the ability to see if there is a direct relat ionship between the demographics, social factors and the amount of income which one receives. It is found that there is a direct division based on the demographics in the household and the social and economic environments that are a part of the household. The changes in economy then create a direct link with the family factors that are noted in the household. It is

Healthcare and Social Media Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Healthcare and Social Media - Research Paper Example It has been noticed that the application of social media has become more significant in recent days. During the last decade, it has been determined that the application of social media has increased enormously in the field of global healthcare industry (Sultz & Young, 2009). Presently, a large number of healthcare organizations have adopted social media tools for developing a better communication system with consumers and build strong relationship. In accordance with PricewaterhouseCoopers (2012), 42% of the global healthcare industry consumers have used social media in order to access health related services and information (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2012). Healthcare organizations usually use social media in order to accomplish organizational goals of communicating and building relationship with patients. Additionally, healthcare organizations have utilized social media platform as an intermediary with the intention of sharing healthcare related information and researches globally. It has been implemented by healthcare organizations in order to enhance care and treatment provisions (Sultz & Young, 2009). According to the report published by Computer Science Corporation (2012), it has been identified that during the year 2011, 65% of the healthcare organizations had used Twitter as a marketing strategy, whereas Facebook and YouTube had been used by 54% and 50% of healthcare organizations respectively (Computer Science Corporation, 2012). According to report of KPMG International Cooperative (2011), social media has offered and introduced several new dimensions with respect to communication and marketing in front of the healthcare industry. Social media has provided the platform through which healthcare professionals and organizations are sharing ideas, information and experiences with each other in order to enhance the quality of medical services, care and treatment facilities (KPMG International Cooperative, 2011). On the contrary, healthcare

The impact of internet marketing in retailing Essay

The impact of internet marketing in retailing - Essay Example The information would be sent to the grocery shop through Internet and the grocery would be delivered at our doorsteps. The concept of E- com goes even beyond this; various firms would float their needs, projects and tenders through Internet web. The management consultant, vendors, engineering consultants and other business groups would come online to discuss various aspects of the project. All mandatory information relating to costing, engineering details calculations, and prices would also be shared here on- line. The orders would be discussed and then placed on-line. And the executions would also be done through Internet. The various aspects of information transfer would involve management and engineering information then all types of text, graphics, tables and figures. The process of E-com is getting a big momentum in global industry as a whole unit after globalization. Currently, the most serious application of Internet is in the area of internet marketing. E-mail services are v ery cheap and are used by businessmen and individuals worldwide for information transfer. ... ng the creation of a national information backbone, which would be used for national information infrastructure and for the promotion of Internet services. We must get out of the agricultural age and must jump on to information technology bandwagon. The possibilities on Internet marketing are endless. For example, it would be possible to have marketing through voice transmission via Internet. All the major national streams—defense, industry, software development and exports, international trading, bilateral agreements, information exchange and information needs for daily usage—would benefit from this latest technological marvel (Cotter, 2002). Today, there is a lack of a good data transmission networks. According to a survey, there is likely to be a demand of 50, 00,000 Internet connections in the metropolises. Internet Marketing Strategies The major strategies used for internet marketing is as follows: Web design First of all we must have a good web site where we shoul d display the articles to sell. Since there are billions of web pages are there in internet, one should design his web site to catch attention from the customers. The customer should be able to know the various features of the product he wants to know. So, one should be able to display the web site well in style to catch good customers (Armistead & Keily, 2003). Free publicity As internet is a plat form where all the buyers and sellers meet, it offers ample scope to market his products and services. So we can use all social marketing tools for the same. We have face book, twitter and a number of web related plat forms are there to interact with the customers and buyers. Sending effective e- mails is the powerful tool as far as the internet marketing is concerned (Hoffman & Novak, 1996). SEO Search

Altar Cross, 12th century Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Altar Cross, 12th century - Research Paper Example The history of Altar Cross is associated with the Abbey of Bury Saint Edmunds. The Altar Cross is the only handy item of religious significance which contains brief historic record and expression of the followers. The five pieces of walrus tusk integrate to form Altar Cross which contains ninety-two figures and ninety-eight inscriptions. The inscriptions on the Altar Cross revealed the hatred shared by Jews against Jesus; this cross contains certain statements and inscriptions against Jesus. The historic facts indicate that strong resentment which prevailed among the dwellers in England, and is evidence of the anti-Semitism in the English society. The origin of this cross is with the time frame of 12th century, because it was in 13th century when the Jewish were expelled from England. The Altar Cross was reunited with the central plague in fourteenth-century. A group of historian believe that Altar Cross has Catalan or Aragonese origin. The paintings of the few Italians in the period of Medieval and Renaissance confirmed the existence of the crosses in the churches. These crosses were installed in the churches as mark of respect for Jesus. The Altar Cross has been â€Å"installed upon pedestal in the centre of the altar" (Benson, 2003); this position is regarded because of its supreme importance. The cross is widely popular among the followers, and is regarded as "simple in design and inexpensive, or most elaborate and valuable" (Benson, 2003). The Altar Cross depicts the history of Christianity, and the brutality experienced by the Christians under Jewish command. Christianity has remained victim of desolation, terror, abuse and anguish; the Altar Cross is the symbolic representation of all these acts of violence faced by Christians and validates the vigour, zeal and courage with which the community fought and emerged victorious. The inexpensive Altar Cross is made of "wood, brass, bronze, copper and pewter" (George, 2003). However with

Global Operations Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Global Operations Management - Essay Example For a manufacturing company like PPQ Parts Manufacturing Company software enabled supply chain management is the most needed for sustainability in the industry. Materials Requirement Planning For managing the inventory which is needed for the producing the end product materials requirement planning is needed, which is mainly software based in the companies in these days. It is required to maintain the right level of inventory; company should make sure that there is no shortage of raw materials or no excessive materials (Chase et al, 2006, p.675-676). A manufacturing company should be more focused in this area to increase efficiency of business. Capacity Requirement Planning Capacity requirements planning is the process of evaluating that the company can meet the current need and projected need of production with the installed capacity or not. If there is need for additional capacity then the concerned authority takes the remedies (Heim and Compton, p.209). For a manufacturing company like PPQ Parts periodical analysis is necessary and this would be more effective if software tool is used for assistance. Enterprise Resource Planning Enterprise Resource Planning is a system which integrates the departments of an organization to make the management system more effective. For a manufacturing company it is needed to improve the efficiency of the work process which includes management of production, sales management and the financial affairs of the company (Leon, 2007, p.14). Pros and cons of the Software Systems To effectively manage the process of the organization the management of the company should take help of a software system instead of doing it manually. The management should take care that the software product is best for their organization which depends on many factors like the size of the organization, the cost of the software product, the user-friendliness of the product and the compatibility of the product with the current systems. PPQ parts manufacturin g company wants a software package to make efficient their overall process. To suggest efficient software package the factors which are necessary for an analyst are the size of the firm, the employees working in the company, how many users would use the software directly, which information are not given. The six software systems selected by the analyst and their pros and cons are as follows: Software Cost Compatibility with Current Systems Functionality User-Friendliness Other Factors Remarks Intuitive (Consona) Average. The system used is Microsoft .Net and database is SQL server 2003 Administration and installation much easier (as .Net used). Simple process in the ERP package. Easy to use. Efficient Business Intelligence. 10% MS Access used. Internet compatibility outside the server environment requires MS terminal Server and Advanced Configurator Efficient but cost may be higher for some companies SAP Business One (SAP) Per User Licensing Model ($20000 for 5 users). Depend upon c ustomization Compatible with basic systems Provide accurate information, help to take

The Influence of Japonism in Van Gogh's Works Essay

The Influence of Japonism in Van Gogh's Works - Essay Example Van Gogh was an enthusiastic buyer of Japanese prints, most of which he acquired from the shop of a man named Bing, a Paris-based dealer who specialised in Japanese art. Later, in the South of France, Van Gogh wrote his brother Theo (who was in Holland) to describe the reasons for his love for the art of Japan. He told Theo that Japanese art makes us â€Å"happier and more cheerful.† It is an art of great simplicity, for the Japanese artist can find beauty in â€Å"a single blade of grass† and can create pictures rapidly, â€Å"with a few confident strokes.† Van Gogh particularly admired the prints: â€Å"Japanese prints, coloured in flat tones, are admirable†. Many of Van Gogh’s own paintings contain allusions to Japan. For example, Japanese prints are depicted in the background of his portraits of Pà ©re Tanguy and Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear. Some of his paintings are very â€Å"Japanesey† in their subject matter, for example Branches of an Almond Tree in Blossom. But more important was influence which the Japanese prints had on the actual style of Van Gogh’s work. At first sight, his painting Emperor Moth has no obvious connection to the art of Japan, but if we examine it more closely we can see how deeply Van Gogh had absorbed Japanese aesthetic principles. He told Theo that he had encountered â€Å"a rather rare night moth called the ‘death’s head’, its coloration astonishingly distinguished: black, grey, white, shaded, and with glints of carmine or vaguely tending towards olive green†.... What also strikes us about the painting is its bold design and draughtsman-like qualities. The forms are edged with hard outlines, like the forms in a Japanese print. The painting has a decorative and semi-abstract quality, possibly reminding us of Japanese textile patterns, while the wings of the moth could almost make us think of the patterns on a kimono. The earlier letter to Theo had praised the â€Å"flat tones† of Japanese prints, and the painting is basically a flat design, without much perspective depth. The letter to Theo praised the rapid, calligraphic brushwork of Japanese painting, seen here in the rapid delineation of the grasses and the leaves. Van Gogh had also written to Theo about the Japanese love of nature and simplicity, seen here in his own painting of a single moth, set against a background of plants. Hokusai – most famous for his print of The Great Wave at Kanagawa - was a Japanese printmaker whom Van Gogh much admired, and we could compare Van Go gh’s Emperor Moth with prints like Hokusai’s Irises and Meadow Cicada and Hibiscus and Sparrow, which depict details of nature (illustrated in Fahr-Becker 154-155). Hokusai wrote that he wanted to understand â€Å"the nature of birds, animals, insects, fishes – the vital nature of grasses and trees† (Stanley-Baker 192), which reminds us of Van Gogh’s paintings of butterflies, clumps of grass, lilacs and irises, all of which he painted around the same time as his moth picture (McQuillan184). It is important that Hokusai devoted a great deal of attention not just to flowers but also to their stems and their leaves. This can be seen in Van Gogh’s Emperor Moth painting,

American Airline Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

American Airline - Essay Example At the same time, it maximizes on the profits whenever apparent (Oliver, 108). In addition, this strategy trims down the stiff competition from rival airlines and enhances quality services (Koontz, 439). To understand how the airline maximizes profits and selling amount needed to determine the optimal mix of fare for this flight, the super 80 jet with a carrying capacity of 125 to calculate was provided. Exhibit 1 shows past information of this flight’s cumulative graph and shows that the fare for this flight ranges from $170-$750 per seat. Chances are that 20-25 booking opportunities will be vacant for us to retain the customers, as all tickets are refundable. This gives us enough time to bid new prices for the flight before any booking announcement has taken place. Additionally there is a 15% and 20% no show flow of local passengers, and obviously, demand is greater for the lower charge than the higher charge; hence, no fiscal records for no-shows. Profits are an unconstructive action due to spoilage and over-sale penalties, yet it is an affirmative action due to the optimal mix fares. The percentage of cost incurred due to spoilage is $150 each, and the penalty for over-sa le is $100 per passenger for five passengers and below, $250 per passenger for six to ten passengers and $500 per passenger for eleven and more passengers. Fares are determined by the rule of supply and demand; that is, when the departure date is near, and the fare decreases when the flight is sparsely booked, and seats start to run out the fare increases. In regard to the super 80 jet, the capability of bidding the prices is used to compel acceptance or rejection of bookings, which is from $170-$750 per seat. For example, a customer asked for the pro-rated fare, which is greater or equal to your bid price, the entire passengers are accepted with the same fare, thus determining the proceeds. As stated earlier, profits are determined

Restrictionist Policy, Mexican Labor, and Immigration Essay Example for Free

Restrictionist Policy, Mexican Labor, and Immigration Essay The article on Jewish refugees, Mexican guestworkers and administrative politics vividly describes the immigration policies that the United States followed during the turn of the twentieth century.   A cursory reading of the article would show what type of policy regime the United States followed with regards immigration and the factors that affected the same.   The article also depicted the different treatments towards Southern and/or Latin American immigrants, more specifically Mexicans, and European and/or Asian immigrants, more specifically Jewish Germans.    This paper is a summary of the article, focusing on the two abovementioned topics.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The United States immigration policy during the turn of the twentieth century was coined to be a two-tiered bureaucracy.   The first layer was the new State Department and consular officials â€Å"employed exclusionary powers to all but shut down European and Asian immigration.†Ã‚   The second layer was administered by the Labor Department, which was characterized by the legal and illegal immigration of southern and Latin Americans, more specifically the Mexicans.   This second layer was actually described as an â€Å"iron triangle,† illustrated by â€Å"southwestern growers, immigration bureau officials, and powerful congressional committees dominated by southern and western conservatives.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This two-tiered immigration regime was actually a result of the rise of the World War I protectionist state, wherein there was a need for self-defense against foreigners since they were considered as dangerous and/or inferior.   This protectionist regime is highlighted by the Passport Control Act of 1918 wherein aliens are required to obtain a visa from consular officials abroad before they were allowed to enter the United States.    Note however that despite the end of the war, there was a move to continue implementing the Passport Control Act of 1918 as the country is still vulnerable to national security threats.   This law actually complemented the Immigration Act of 1917 and both previous laws were in turn supported by the 1924 Quota Act wherein inspections overseas where done prior to embarkation for the United States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The restrictionist or nativist regime being discussed by the article was illustrated by two examples.   The first example is one for the first layer, or the shutting down if immigration to Europeans and Asians.   In fact, this shut down affected not only workers but refugees as well.   With the rise of Nazi Germany in Europe, and ideas of anti-Semitism spreading fast, many German Jews and Germans who opposed the Nazi Government were seeking asylum, to protect themselves from the Nazis. However, there seemed to be an unmistakable prejudice against the Germans and the Jews, bolted by an executive order in 1930 which barred aliens who were likely to be of public charge (or those wage earners who are coming to the United States without means of support).   There was a move to loosen this strict executive order by allowing bonds for entering refugees, which was actually ineffective since this was a double barrier for the refugees who were seeking asylum:   they needed a bond to enter the United States and yet the Nazi Government did not allow them to take capital out of the country. True, it was claimed that the idea of asylum as the special commitment of the American people.   And yet the article had enumerated a couple of reasons why despite the special commitment, the entrance of refugees cannot be as lax as those of Mexicans since refugees will only be a public charge, and attention should be paid to the many citizens of the United States who are homeless, unemployed and are struggling as well.   And yet another irony occurs, the strict policy was only on the German Jews and not on the British who were seeking refuge in the United States, and granting visas to Chinese immigrants, justified only by courting alliance with the Chinese during the war. The complete opposite of the experiences of the Jewish refugees were the Mexican workers.   This is actually the second tier of the regulatory policies on immigration by the United States government.   As compared to the European immigrants, the Mexican immigrants had an easier time entering the United States.   Despite the increase in illegal immigration due to inefficient and unmonitored security of the Canadian and Mexican borders, which was blamed on the lack of funds, lack of men and lack of facilities to effectively guard the borders of the United States, there were more legitimate reasons why the Mexican workers were easily granted immigration into the country.    One reason is that there is a need for unskilled workers.   Nativist and restrictionist politicians believed that the reason why Americans are being sent to school is so that they will not do the back-breaking work that unskilled laborers do.   Another reason, which is tied to the first, is that Mexican workers mean cheaper labor.   And lastly, the stay of Mexican migrant workers in the United States is but temporary and they can easily be expelled and sent back to their home countries.   In fact, this was proven when rumors started spreading that even immigrants will be enlisted in the armed forces to fight during the war.   Instantly, the Mexican workers returned to their native countries. Of course, the increase in Mexican guestworkers was not continuous as the Great Depression raised sentiments that the Mexicans were taking the work of the Americans and there was a heightened deportation campaign.   But this did not last long since the construction of highways and the invention of automotive traveling.  Ã‚   Once again, Mexican immigration was on the rise. The abovementioned summary of the article â€Å"Two-Tiered Implementation† definitely shows a great disparity of treatment between the Europeans and the South Americans.   But the same is understandable as the article sufficiently explained the justification for such. The United States, although committed to granting asylum to refugees, is practical in the sense that refugees will be taken care of the public and at the time of the implementation of the nativist immigration policies, the economic situation of the country just does not permit it to loosen immigration of refugees.   But on the other side, the United States gain greatly from the entry of cheap Mexican workers, allowing the Americans to concentrate on skilled jobs, and without having to worry about the deportation of the workers as their native country is just a border away. Indeed, there were good reasons, supported by evidence, that the article posed in explaining the restrictionist regime and the differences in immigration between the Jews and the Mexicans.

Facebook in Asia, Europe and North America Essay Example for Free

Facebook in Asia, Europe and North America Essay The purpose of this report is to develop an insight about the growing use of the web and the number of business opportunities that resulted from it. The report describes some online business opportunities along with the pros and cons of stepping into such businesses. This report will later examine how Facebook has become a successful business enterprise and how it continues to develop in the competitive market of social networking. Introduction There are 389 million online users worldwide and most of them have home internet connections. Figure-1 in the Appendix shows internet user ship by world regions. The figure shows that the major chunk of internet users is in Asia, Europe and North America. The user ship among women and senior citizens especially in the US is increasing. The youth in the US spends a major proportion of their income using the internet and spends many times more than adults do via the internet. Businesses have realized that there are many marketing opportunities that can be realized through the internet. It is predicted that the online advertising expenditure will exceed $106 billion in 2011.   Search and Display advertisements will be the major type of internet advertisements and company spending in such advertisements is expected to grow by 50% till 2011. Online Business Opportunities Of Today Below are some types of online businesses opportunities: Affiliate marketing Affiliate marketing is a way of selling goods on the internet through affiliations or partnerships. The affiliate seller earns commissions for selling the other party’s products. The Amazon.com was the pioneer of the affiliate marketing concept(Holzner,2008). Network marketing Network Marketing is a direct marketing technique. The goods are generally promoted directly using word of mouth and references to consumers in return for compensations. Promoters can keep their own sales force and also earn part of the revenues the sales force brings to them. Niche marketing It is not feasible to compete with bigger and established businesses online or otherwise as these businesses have the necessary resources and expertise to drive out smaller competitors. Through niche internet marketing one can identify the areas ignored by these huge companies and cater to them effectively and efficiently. Hence this requires limiting the focus and target customers. Selling a specialty product or service is an example of niche marketing(Goldman,2008). Blogging One can sell advertisements on blogs and make money as viewership increases. Topics such as love and relationships generate more traffic. Selling private label rights products In such a business you have the authority to modify and sell a pre-existing product such as an online book. The seller even has the right to sell the product under his own brand name and keep all the profits earned.   Email marketing This is a great way to promote goods and services using email. Sending personal emails to target customers regarding latest promotions, sending newsletters and carrying out promotions on third party sites are some examples of email marketing. EBook Writing Talented writers can access sites such as elance.com to find customers .Bidding on subjects you are knowledgeable about is the best approach(Gillin,2008). Online Business Advantages Following are the advantages of starting a business online:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The capital and overhead costs are low as there is no need to acquire new assets.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   You have control over your life. Hence you are your own boss.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Internet connection is easy to acquire. The speed of the internet is a bonus and not a requirement. Internet businesses are often private and do not require too much interaction with the outside world(Jag,2008).  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is no need to commute to another location.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is no fixed timing. Work schedules are flexible. One can take a vacation or work part time.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Internet allows access to millions of people worldwide efficiently and effectively.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The internet provides many promotional opportunities often for free.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One can start many businesses at once.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The internet business does not require good communication and sales skills. However one must be hard working and determined(Gerakines,2008). Online Business Disadvantages Computer Skills The business owner must be computer literate order to work efficiently. This must be so regardless of the fact that he can hire experts to work for him. Privacy issues Even though many good security mechanisms can be used to protect information online, there are still security issues especially with credit card transactions. Confidential information can be hacked and misused relatively easily. Intellectual Property Rights Law enforcing bodies find it hard to impose copyright restrictions on online businesses as effectively as they can on other businesses. This is because internet is without boundaries. A business plan can easily be copied and regardless of its origin(Facebook,n.d.). Waste The internet is accessible to everyone hence focusing communication to the right market is difficult and leads to wastage. Distractions Interruptions from family, friends, pets, television etc can affect productivity( Veer,2008). Motivation Internet businesses require the owners to be self disciplined and self motivated. It is tempting to delay tasks as there is no accountability to anyone but to oneself. Balance Jiggling family, friends and the online business can be even harder when one has a full time job or other online businesses.

Oral Erythroplakia Case Study

Oral Erythroplakia Case Study ABSTRACT- Oral Erythroplakia is considered a rare potentially malignant lesion of the oral mucosa. Oral Erythroplakia is a clinical term to describe any erythematous area on a mucous membrane that cannot be attributed to any other pathology. Oral Erythroplakia are very few, only the true, velvety, red homogeneous oral Erythroplakia has been clearly defined while the terminology for mixed red and white lesions is complex, ill-defined and confusing. Oral Erythroplakia is predominantly seen in the middle aged and elderly. The most common affected areas are the soft palate, the floor of the mouth and the buccal mucosa. A specific type of Oral Erythroplakia occurs in Chutta smokers in India. Lesions of Oral Erythroplakia are typically less than 1.5 cm in diameter. Keywords Biopsy, Erythroplakia, Laser, INTRODUCTION- The word erythroplakia means red patch, and is derived from the Greek words ÃŽ µÃ Ãâ€¦ÃŽ ¸Ã ÃŽ ¿Ãâ€š red and πΠ»ÃƒÅ½Ã‚ ¬ÃŽ ¾ plate The World Health Organization defines oral erythroplakia as follows: â€Å"Any lesion of the oral mucosa that presents as bright red velvety plaques which cannot be characterized clinically or pathologically as any other recognizable condition† It has been reported that prevalence of Oral Erythroplakia varies between 0.02%1 and 0.2%2 (adapted from Reichart et al.)3 Clinically, it can be flat or depressed and sometimes it can be found together with leukoplakia (erythroleukoplakia); it pre-dominantly occurs in the floor of the mouth, the soft palate, the ventral tongue and the tonsillar fauces. There are usually no symptoms. However, some patients may complain of a burning sensation and or sore. Heavy alcohol consumption and tobacco use are known to be important aetiological factors. The main purpose of identifying oral premalignant lesions is to prevent malignant transformation by initiating adequate intervention. It is widely approved that the oral premalignant lesions erythroplakia, show a significant tendency to malignant transformation. The differential diagnosis includes: erythematous candidiasis, early squamous cell carcinoma, local irritation, mucositis, lichen planus, lupus erythematosous, drug reaction and median rh omboid glossitis.4 Surgical excision is the treatment of choice though more studies are needed.The treatment5 modalities include change of lifestyle factors such as tobacco and alcohol intake,medication with retinoids or antimycotics,surgical excision,cryosurgery,laser evaporation or laser excision.Laser surgery has become a reliable treatment6 option for oral cancer as well as for precancerous lesions. Widely used lasers in oral and maxillofacial tumor surgery are the CO2 laser, the Er:YAG laser, the Nd:YAG laser and the KTM laser. The use of lasers in tumor surgery has several advantages: remote application, precise cutting, hemostasis, low cicatrization, reduced postoperative pain and swelling, can be combined with endoscopic, microscopic and robotic surgery. Here we report a case of erythroplakia in soft palate region treated with diode laser. CASE REPORT- A, 63 years old, male patient (Fig 1), came to the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery, with the chief complain of red patches at the hard and soft palate region. Patient gave the history of pan, tobacco chewing and smoking since 20 yrs. Medical history was negative for any findings and all the vitals were under the normal limit. No significant findings were noticed on extra oral examination. (Fig-1). On intraoral examination, multiple red patches were seen at the mucosal surface of the palate. All those patches were less than 1.5 cm in diameter. (Fig- 2). On palpation it was soft and velvety on touch. A provisional diagnosis of Erythroplakia, with differential diagnosis Lichen planus , Erythematous candidiasis ,Early squamous cell carcinoma were made. All necessary blood investigation done, and were found under normal limit. To establish a definitive diagnosis, a biopsy was performed using a local anaesthesia. The biopsy specimen was taken from hard and soft palate, and sen t for histopathological examination (Fig 3) which confirmed the final diagnosis of Erythroplakia. The red appearance is due to the thin atrophic epithelium with prominent subepithelial vascularity and inflammation. Almost all erythroplakic lesions contain dysplastic cells. The histopathology may be mild or moderate epithelial dysplasia, severe dysplasia or carcinoma in-situ. Carcinoma in-situ is characterized by a complete disorganization of cells throughout all layers of the epithelium, with no keratin pearls. Laser ablation was planned as the treatment modality under local anaesthesia. (Fig-4) Diode laser was used at 2.5watts (Fig 5). Post operative instructions given and patient was recalled after 24 hours. Patient came for follow-up, reported with slight pain. Healing was uneventful. After that patient was asked to report at weekly interval. Healing was satisfactory after 3 weeks.(Fig 6) DISCUSSION- Erythroplakia and speckled leukoplakia are uncommon lesions of the mouth. Erythroplakia of the oral cavity is a specific disease entity which must be differentiated from other specific or nonspecific inflammatory oral lesions, although this can only be done in most cases by biopsy. The term erythroplakia of the oral cavity as used in this report and as accepted by most authors describes the clinical appearance of a red patch of the mucous membrane which does not represent some specific or nonspecific inflammatory lesion. However, in most cases the clinician cannot distinguish with certainty the true erythroplakia as discussed here and the more innocuous inflammatory lesions, thus mandating biopsy. Most, and probably all, cases of true clinical erythroplakia represent some epithelial atypia, ranging from mild epithelial dysplasia to invasive carcinoma.7 Furthermore; there is no correlation between the clinical appearance of erythroplakia and the histologic findings. Erythroplakia is t he leukoplakia like term used to describe clinically red and well demarcated macules of the oral mucosa which cannot be attributed to inflammatory or traumatic factors, and which have a much higher propensity for progression to carcinoma than leukoplakia8. The histopathological9 feature of erythroplakia includes a marked epithelial atrophy associated with epithelial dysplasia. A relative reduction in keratin production and increase in vascularity accounts for the clinical color of the lesion. Cellular infiltration and capillary distention were remarkable. Nowadays laser surgery has become a reliable treatment6 option for precancerous lesions. Widely used lasers in oral and maxillofacial tumor surgery are the CO2 laser, diode laser, the Er:YAG laser, the Nd:YAG laser and the KTM laser. In our case we use diode laser in erythroplakia. Laser has many distinctive advantages, such as the ability to cut, coagulate, ablate or vaporize target tissue elements, enabling dry-field surgery thro ugh the sealing of small blood vessels (haemostasis) disinfection of the tissue, reduced post-operative edema (through the sealing of small lymphatic vessels) decreased amount of scarring. It contributes to faster and more effective treatment resulting in improved treatment outcome and increased patient comfort and satisfaction. CONCLUSION- Oral cancer is one of the 4 major non communicable diseases leading to Death10. Soft tissue health in the oral cavity is essential for overall dental and medical health and a successful maintenance of any restoration. The clinical and pathological features of the lesions analyzed in our study support the data in other published studies. Although their prevalence is low, histopathological features ranging from epithelial dysplasia to invasive carcinoma. This justifies placing these lesions among the oral lesions with the highest malignant potential. Additionally, regardless of histopathology and therapy, periodic monitoring of these patients and cessation of risk factors are essential measures.

William Gibson’s Neuromancer: the Creation of a Language :: Essays Papers

William Gibson’s Neuromancer: the Creation of a Language Published in 1984, Gibson’s Neuromancer, with its vision of technological and impersonal life in the twenty-first century, echoes George Orwell’s ironic commentary on the controlling and dehumanising bureaucracy associated with post-war society. Writing in an era when technological and scientific advances are increasingly prominent, often to the detriment of humanity, Gibson differs from other science fiction writers in that he uses existing contemporary themes and issues, forecasting a possible and believable future and simultaneously providing a commentary on late twentieth-century society which his audience can relate to. His version of this not-so-distant future stems from an observation of contemporary post-colonial society in which national identity is shown to be insignificant, as uniformity reigns supreme. Speaking of the influences on his fiction, he states: I see myself as a kind of literary collage-artist, and sf as a marketing framework that allows me to gleefully ransack the whole fat supermarket of 20th century cultural symbols (Maddox, Tom. â€Å"Cobra, She Said: An Interim Report on the Fiction of William Gibson.† Fantasy Review 4: April 1986, 46- 8). Through the novel Gibson was responsible for creating the terms â€Å"virtual reality† and â€Å"cyberspace†, and in an increasingly computer literate age these terms would be adopted by a generation of users, becoming an independent and universal language. Within the novel cyberspace is described as a consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts... A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. (Gibson, William. Neuromancer, 67). As technology has advanced with inventions such as the Internet and computer simulated images, the possibility of existing within this alternative world has become a reality. Therefore it can be argued that Gibson’s futuristic vision has in fact been realized, within a few years of the novel’s publication, and reinforces the view put forward by Maddox: â€Å"If the 20th century has a distinct narrative voice, this is it† (Maddox. Fantasy Review, 46-8). Gibson addresses global concerns with his depiction of advances in technology leading to the computer becoming an independent life form. Despite the intentions of those responsible for creating this technology, it is this artificial intelligence which triumphs at the end of the novel. Echoing the viewpoint of Jean Baudrillard, who believes that reality is shown to be irrelevant in contemporary society due primarily to technological advances, the simulated world of cyberspace is shown to offer individuals greater possibilities and rewards than the harsh reality ever could.

Aluminum Essay -- Elements Natural Resources Science Essays

Aluminum Hello buddy! How is the weather in Paris? It is extremely cold in New York and there is snow all over the place. The reason I am writing is to give you the information you wanted on aluminum. I have everything you would possibly want to know about everything from mining to recycling, but I will begin with a little background on the element first. Aluminum is the third most abundant element in the Earth's crust and was probably formed during the birth of our solar system through collisions of hydrogen atoms under intense heat and pressure. Aluminum never occurs as a metal in nature and is only found in the form of its compounds, such as alumina, because of its strong affinity with oxygen. It is this special bond for oxygen that explains why it withstood all attempts to prepare it in its elemental form until well into the nineteenth century. The aluminum industry was founded in 1854, but it was not until the late 1880's that a method was found to bring down the prices and permit aluminum to be used in a wide variety of ways. Most of the aluminum in the world today is made from Bauxite. It was first discovered in 1821 near Les Baux, France. It was formed by the weathering of aluminous rocks such as feldspar, nepheline, and clays. During the weathering, these rocks are decomposed and leached out, leaving behind a residue of ore rich in alumina, iron oxide, and silica. Most of these large Bauxite deposits are found in the tropical and the subtropical climates, where heavy rainfall, warm temperatures, and good drainage combine to encourage the weathering process. Because Bauxite is usually found near the surface, it is mined by open-pit methods. After the extraction of the Bauxite, it must be converted to A... ...dditional information, you could get in touch with the Reynolds Aluminum Recycling Company of America for tips to construct your program. Lorin Industries could also help since they are the worlds largest job shop anodizer of aluminum. As for myself, I could just call any of my references that I leave on the bottom of this letter if I need any additional information. Take care pal and I will see you very soon. References 1. Altenpohl, D. G., Aluminum Viewed from Within, (1981). 2. Ammen, C. W., Casting Aluminum, (1985). 3. Bakker, M., Encyclopedia of Packaging Technology, (1986). 4. Burkin, R. R. Production of Aluminum and Alumina, (1987). 5. King, F., Aluminum and its Alloys, (1987). 6. Pampillo, C. And Biloni, H., Aluminum Transformation Technology and Applications, (1980). 7. Peck, M. J., ed., World Aluminum Industry in a Changing Era, (1988).

Analysis of Burns Poem A Red, Red Rose :: Burn Red Red Rose Essays

Analysis of Burn's Poem A Red, Red Rose 'A Red, Red Rose', was first published in 1794 in A Selection of Scots Songs, edited by Peter Urbani. Written in ballad stanzas, the verse - read today as a poem – pieces together conventional ideas and images of love in a way that transcends the "low" or non-literary sources from which the poem is drawn. In it, the speaker compares his love first with a blooming rose in spring and then with a melody "sweetly play'd in tune." If these similes seem the typical fodder for love-song lyricists, the second and third stanzas introduce the subtler and more complex implications of time. In trying to quantify his feelings - and in searching for the perfect metaphor to describe the "eternal" nature of his love - the speaker inevitably comes up against love's greatest limitation, "the sands o' life." This image of the hour-glass forces the reader to reassess of the poem's first and loveliest image: A "red, red rose" is itself an object of an hour, "newly sprung" only "in June" and afterw ard subject to the decay of time. This treatment of time and beauty predicts the work of the later Romantic poets, who took Burns's work as an important influence. 'A Red, Red Rose' is written in four four-line stanzas, or quatrains, consisting of alternating tetrameter and trimeter lines. This means that the first and third lines of each stanza have four stressed syllables, or beats, while the second and fourth lines have three stressed syllables. Quatrains written in this manner are called ballad stanzas. The ballad is a old form of verse adapted for singing or recitation, originating in the days when most poetry existed in spoken rather than written form. The typical subject matter of most ballads reflects folk themes important to common people: love, courage, the mysterious, and the supernatural. Though the ballad is generally rich in musical qualities such as rhythm and repetition, it often portrays both ideas and feelings in overwrought but simplistic terms. The dominant meter of the ballad stanza is iambic, which means the poem's lines are constructed in two-syllable segments, called iambs, in which the first syllable is unstressed and the second is stressed. As an example of iambic meter, consider the following line from the poem with the stresses indicated: That's sweet / ly play'd / in tune.

Night World : Black Dawn Chapter 15

Maggie shuffled behind Chamber-pot Emptier,heading back toward the castle. She was carryingpiles of folded linen sheets given to her by Laun dress, and she was doing her best to look like a slave. Laundress had smudged her face artisticallywith dirt to disguise her. She had also sifted ahandful of dust into Maggie's hair to dull the auburn into a lifeless brown, and when Maggie bowedher head over the sheets, the hair further obscuredher features. The only problem was that she wasconstantly afraid she was going to sneeze. â€Å"Those are the wild animals,† Chamber-pot Emptier whispered over her shoulder. She was a bigboned girl with gentle eyes that reminded Maggieof the calves tethered by Laundress's hut. It had taken Laundress a while to make her understandwhat they wanted of her, but now she seemed tofeel obligated to give Maggie a tour. â€Å"They're brought in from Outside,† she said. â€Å"And they're dangerous. Maggie looked sideways at the wicker cageswhere Sylvia and Gavin had walked earlier. Fromone a brown-gray wolf stared back at her with afrighteningly sad and steady gaze. In another a sleek black panther was pacing, and it snarled asthey went by. There was something curled up inthe back of a third that might have been a tigerit was big, and it had stripes. â€Å"Wow,† she said. â€Å"I wouldn't want to chase that.† Chamber-pot Emptier seemed pleased. â€Å"Andhere's the castle. It's called Black Dawn.† â€Å"It is?† Maggie said, distracted away from theanimals. â€Å"That's what my grandpa called it, anyway. Helived and died in the courtyard without ever goingin.† Chamber-pot Emptier thought a moment andadded, â€Å"The old people say that you used to be ableto see the sun in the sky-not just behind theclouds, you know. And when the sun came up inthe morning it shone on the castle. But maybethat's just a story.† Yeah, maybe it was just a story that you couldsee the sun in the sky, Maggie thought grimly.Every time she thought this place couldn't surpriseher anymore, she discovered she was wrong. But the castle itself was impressive †¦ awe inspiring. It was the only thing in view that wasn't dusty brown or pallid gray. Its walls were shinyand black, almost mirror-like in places, and Maggie didn't have to be told that it wasn't built of anyordinary human stone. How they had gotten it tothis valley was a mystery. Delos lives here, she thoughtasEmptier led herup a stone staircase, past the ground floor which was just cellars and storage rooms. In this beautiful, frightening, impressive place. Not only lives init, but commands it. It's all his. She got just a glimpse of the great hall, whereshe'd seen slaves setting a long table yesterday. Chamber-pot Emptier led her up another floor andinto a series of winding corridors that seemed to go on for miles. It was dim in this internal labyrinth. The windows were high and narrow and hardly let any ofthe pale daylight in. On the walls there were candles in brackets and flares in iron rings, but theyonly seemed to add wavering, confusing shadowsto the twilight. â€Å"His bedroom's up here,† Emptier murmured finally. Maggie followed her closely. She was justthinking that they had made it all the way withouteven being challenged, when a voice sounded from a side corridor. â€Å"Where are you going? Who's this?† It was a guard, Maggie saw, peering from underher hair. A real medieval guard, with, of all things,a lance. There was another one in the opposite cor ridor just like him. She was fascinated in the middle of her terror. But Chamber-pot Emptier of the not-so-quickwits reacted beautifully. She took time to curtsey, then she said slowly and stolidly, â€Å"It's Folder fromthe laundry, sir. Laundress sent her with the sheetsand I was told she could help me. There's morework because of the guests, you know.† â€Å"It's Chamber Maid's work to spread sheets,† theguard said irritably. Chamber-pot Emptier curtsied again and said just as slowly, â€Å"Yes, sir, but there's more work because of the guests, you see-â€Å" â€Å"Fine, fine,† the guard broke in impatiently. â€Å"Whydon't you go and do it, instead of talking about it?†He seemed to think that was funny, and he turned and elbowed the other guard in the ribs. Chamber-pot Emptier curtseyed a third time and walked on, not hurrying. Maggie tried to copy the curtsey, with her face buried in the sheets. There was another endless corridor, then a doorway, and then Emptier said, â€Å"We're here. Andthere's nobody.around.† Maggie lifted her face from the sheets. â€Å"You're absolutely wonderful, you know that? You deservean Academy Award.† â€Å"A what?† â€Å"Never mind. But you were great.† â€Å"I only told the truth,† the girl said placidly, butthere was a smile lurking in the depths of her gentle cowlike eyes. â€Å"There is more work when guestscome. We never had them before three years ago.† Maggie nodded. â€Å"I know. Look, I guess you'd better go now. And um-Emptier?† She couldn't bring herself to say the entire name. â€Å"I really hope you don't get in trouble because of this.† Chamber-pot Emptier nodded back, then went toreach under the bed and retrieve a ceramic container. She walked out again holding it carefully. Maggie looked around the room, which was verybig and very bare. It was somewhat better lit thanthe corridors, having several bowl-shaped oil lampson stands. The bed was the only real piece of furniture in it. It was huge, with a heavy wooden frameand carved bedposts. Piled on top of it were quiltsand what looked like fur coverlets, and hanging allaround it were linen curtains. I'm probably supposed to take all that stuff off and put the clean sheets on, Maggie thought. Shedidn't. The rest of the furniture seemed to be largechests made of exotic-looking wood, and a fewbenches and stools. Nothing that offered a hidingplace. But on one side there was a curtaineddoorway. Maggie went through it and found a small anteroom-the wardrobe Jeanne had mentioned. It wasmuch bigger than she'd expected, and seemed tobe more of a storeroom than a closet. Okay. So I'll just sit down. There were two stools beside a figure thatvaguely resembled a dressmaker's dummy. Maggie dropped her sheets on a chest and pulled one ofthe stools close to the doorway. Through the spacebetween the linen curtains she could see almost theentire bedchamber. Perfect, she thought. All I have to do is wait untilhe comes in alone. And then She stiffened. She could hear voices from somewhere beyond the vast bedroom. No, she couldhear a voice, a musical girlish voice. Oh, please, she thought. Not her.Don't let him come in with her. I'll have to jump out and hit herwith something; I won't be able to stop myself†¦ . But when two figures came in the room, she hadno desire to jump out. It was Sylvia, all right, but she wasn't with Delos.She was with Hunter Redfern. Maggie felt ice down her spine. Now, what werethese two doing in Delos's bedroom? Whatever itwas, if they caught her, she was dead meat. Sheheld herself absolutely still, but she couldn't tear herself away from the curtain. â€Å"He's out riding, and he won't be back for another half hour,† Sylvia was saying. She was wearing a dark holly-green gown and carrying a basket.†And I've sent all the servants away.† â€Å"Even so,† Hunter Redfern said. He gently movedthe heavy wooden door until it was almost shut.Not all the way, but enough to screen the bedchamber from anyone outside. â€Å"You really think he's spying on our rooms?† Sylvia turned in a swirl of skirts to look at the tallman. â€Å"He's brightmuch smarter than you give himcredit for. And these old castles have spy-holes and listening tubes built in; I remember. It's a stupidprince who doesn't make use of them.† He remembers, Maggie thought, for a moment too full of wonder to be scared. He remembers thedays when castles were built, he means. He's reallybeen alive that long. She studied the handsome face under the bloodred hair, the aristocratic cheekbones, the mobile mouth-and the quick flashing eyes. This was thesort of man who could fascinate people, she decided. Like Delos, there was a sort of leashed tension about him, a reserve of power and intelligence that made an ordinary person feel awed. He was a leader, a commander. And a hunter, Maggie thought. All these peopleare hunters, but he's the Hunter, the epitome ofwhat they are. His name says it all. But Sylvia was talking again. â€Å"What is it that he'snot supposed to know?† â€Å"I've had a message from Outside. Don't ask how,I have my ways.† â€Å"You have your little bats,† Sylvia said demurely.†I've seen them.† There was a pause, then Hunter said, â€Å"You'd better watch yourself, girl. That mouth's going to getyou in trouble.† Sylvia had her face turned away from him, butMaggie saw her swallow. â€Å"I'm sorry. I didn't knowit was a secret. But what's happened?† â€Å"The biggest news in your short life.† Hunter Redfern laughed once and added with apparentgood humor restored, â€Å"And maybe in mine. Thewitches have seceded from the Night World.† Maggie blinked. It sounded impressive the wayhe said itbut more impressive was the way Sylviafroze and then whirled breathlessly. â€Å"What?† â€Å"It's happened. They've been threatening for amonth, but most people didn't believe they'd reallydo it.† Sylvia put a hand to her middle, pressed flatagainst her stomach as if to hold something in.Then she sat on the fur-covered bed. â€Å"They've left the Council,† she said. She wasn'tlooking at Hunter Redfern. â€Å"They've left the Council and everything else.†Ã¢â‚¬ All of them?† Hunter Redfern's fine red eyebrows went up. â€Å"What did you expect? Oh, a few of the blackestpractitioners from Circle Midnight are arguing, butmost of them agree with the liberals in Circle Twilight. They want to save the humans. Avert thecoming darkness.† He said it exactly the way Maggie had heard lumberjacks say, â€Å"Save the spotted owls. Ha!† â€Å"So it's really beginning,† Sylvia murmured. Shewas still looking at the stone floor. â€Å"I mean, there'sno going back, now, is there? The Night World issplit forever.† â€Å"And the millennium is upon us,† Hunter said,almost cheerfully. He looked young and†¦personable, Maggie thought. Somebody you'd vote for. â€Å"Which brings me to the question,† he said smoothly, looking at Sylvia, â€Å"of when you're goingto find her.† What her? Maggie's stomach tightened. Sylvia's face was equally tight. She looked up and said levelly, â€Å"I told you I'd find her and I will.†Ã¢â‚¬ But when?You do understand how important this is?† â€Å"Of course I understand!† Sylvia flared up. Herchest was heaving. â€Å"That's why I was trying to sendher to you in the first place-â€Å" Hunter was talkingasif he didn't hear her. â€Å"If it gets out that Aradia, the Maiden of all the witches,is here in the valley-‘ Iliknow!† â€Å"And that you hadher and let her slip throughyour fingers-â€Å" â€Å"I was trying to bring her to you.I thought thatwas important,† Sylvia said. She was bristling and distraught. Which was exactly what Hunter wantedher to be, Maggie thought dazedly. He really knows how to play people. But the analysis was faraway, in the shallowestpart of her mind. Most of her consciousness wassimply stricken into paralyzed amazement. Aradia. The Maiden of all the witches. So it wasn't Arcadia at all, Maggie thought. She might have mentioned that,after I've been calling her Cady for days. But then she hasn't been conscious much, and when she was we had more urgent things to talk about. Aradia. Aradia. That's really pretty. The name had started an odd resonance in hermind, maybe bringing up some long-forgotten mythology lesson. Aradia was a goddess, she thought.Of†¦ um, sylvan glades or something. The woods.Like Diana. And what Maiden of all the witches was, she hadno idea, but it was obviously something important.And not evil, either. From what Hunter was saying, it was clear that witches weren't like other NightPeople. She was the maiden Bern and Gavin were talkingabout, Maggie realized. The one they were supposed to deliver. So Sylvia was bringing her toHunter Redfern. But Cady herself told me-I mean, Aradiatold me-that she was already coming tothis valley for a reason. Before she could even properly phrase the question, her mind had the answer. Delos. In a coincidence that lifted the hair on Maggie'sarms, Sylvia said, â€Å"She won't get to Delos.† â€Å"She'd better not,† Hunter said. â€Å"Maybe you don't realize how persuasive she can be. An ambassador from all the witches, coming to plead her case †¦ she just might sway him. He has a despicable softspot-a conscience, you might call it. And we know he's been in contact with the human girl who escaped with her. Who knows what messages the little vermin was carrying from her?† No messages, Maggie thought grimly. Not withthis vermin anyway. But I would have carried themif I'd known. â€Å"Gavin said Aradia was still unconscious fromthe truth potion-that she was practically dead,†Sylvia said. â€Å"I don t think she could have given any messages. I'd swear that Delos doesn't know she'sin the valley at all.† Hunter was still brooding. â€Å"The witches have oneWild Power on their side already.† â€Å"But they won't get another,† Sylvia said doggedly. â€Å"I've got people looking for her. All the nobles are on our side. They won't let her get toDelos.† â€Å"She should have been killed in the beginning,†Hunter mused. â€Å"But maybe youhave a soft spotfor herlike you do for that human boy.† Behind the linen curtains, Maggie stiffened. Like you do.Not like you did.And who else couldthe human boy be? She gritted her teeth, listening so hard she couldhear the blood in her ears, willing them to talkabout Miles. But Hunter was going on in his smooth voice,†Or maybe you still have some loyalty to thewitches.† Sylvia's pale face flushed. â€Å"I do not! I'm finishedwith them, and you know it! I may be a spellcaster, but I'm not a witch anymore.† â€Å"It's good to see you haven't forgotten whatthey've done to you,† Hunter said. â€Å"After all, youcould have been a Hearth-Woman, taken yourrightful place on the witch Council.† â€Å"Yes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Like your grandmother and her mother beforeher. Theywere Harmans, and so was your father.What a pity the name isn't passed through the maleline. You ended up being just a Weald.† â€Å"I wasa Harman,† Sylvia said with muted ferocity. She was staring at the floor again, and sheseemed to be speaking to herself rather than toHunter. â€Å"I was. But I had to stand there and watch my cousins be accepted instead of me. I had towatch half humansbe accepted-be welcomed.They took my place-just because they were descended through the female line.† Hunter shook his head. â€Å"A very sad tradition.† Sylvia's breath came raggedly for another minuteor so, then she looked up slowly at the tall man in the center of the room, â€Å"You don't have to worryabout my loyalty,† she said quietly. â€Å"I want a placein the new order after the millennium. I'm through with the witches.† Hunter smiled. â€Å"I know it,† he said, lightly and approvingly, andthen he started pacing the room. He got what hewanted out of her, Maggie thought. Almost casually, he added, â€Å"Just be sure thatDelos's power is kept in check until everything's decided.† Sylvia bent and lifted the basket, which Maggiehad forgotten about. â€Å"The new binding spells will hold,† she said. â€Å"Ibrought special ingredients from one of the oldestMidnight witches. And he won't suspect anything.† â€Å"And nobody but you can take them off?† â€Å"Nobody but me,† Sylvia said firmly. â€Å"Not eventhe Crone of all the witches. Or the Maiden, forthat matter.† â€Å"Good girl,† Hunter said, and smiled again. â€Å"Ihave every confidence in you. After all, you havelamia blood in you to balance the witch taint.You're my own eighth-great-granddaughter.† Maggie wanted to punch him. She was confused and frightened and indignantand furious, all at once. As faras she could tell,Hunter Redfern seemed to be manipulating everybody. And Delos, Delos the prince and Wild Power,was just another of his puppets. I wonder what they plan to do if he won't join their new order? she thought bleakly. After a few minutes, Hunter turned in his pacingand walked by the door. He paused brieflyasiflistening, then glanced at Sylvia. â€Å"You don't know how happy it makes me just to think about it,† he said, in a voice that wasn't strained, or overly cheerful, or too loud, or anything that rang false. â€Å"To finally have a true heir.A male heir of my own line, and untainted by witchblood. I would never have married that witchMaeve Harman if I had known my son was still alive. And not only alive, but out having sons! Theonly true Redferns left in the world, you mightsay. Maggie, with her teeth set in her lower lip, didn'tneed to guess who was on the other side of thedoor. She watched tensely. And Delos came in, right on cue.

The Perils of Obedience by Stanley Milgram

In â€Å"The Perils of Obedience† by Stanley Milgram, Milgram explains that obedience is a natural occurring behavior, which acts on instinct ignoring a persons ethics, sympathy, and moral conduct (Milgram 343). In this experiment two people come into the laboratory where they are told they will be taking part in a study of memory and learning. One subject is the â€Å"teacher† and the other is the â€Å"learner†. The teacher is ask to read a list of simple word pairs. If the learner does not remember the word pair the teacher was instructed to send out electric shocks of increasing intensity as punishment to the learner. Whereas, â€Å"The Stanford Prison Experiment† by Philip Zimbardo is an essay which explains why society has a need to â€Å"learn† to become compliant and authoritarian (Zimbardo 363). Zimbardo created a mock prison setting consisting of ten prisoners and eleven guards. They were instructed to take over the role of guards and prisoners. Zimbardo wanted to test the effect that prison has on guards and prisoners. Milgram and Zimbardo were both interested in how people obey under authoritative circumstances, using â€Å"fake† settings to test obedience; however the writers differ in the seriousness of the fight for individuality and the use of reality. Under any given circumstance people tend to obey authority differently. Milgram tested this theory out by putting his volunteers into a laboratory setting and having them pressing a button shocking the other person for a wrong answer. The majority of Milgram’s volunteers went through the experiment, not wanting to disobey the authority figure. Milgram stated, † The essence of obedience is that a person comes to view himself as the instrument for carrying out another person’s wishes, and he therefore no longer regards himself as responsible for his actions (Milgram 354). † With Zimbardo’s volunteers they sought out to dispense order and receive orders. Since Zimbardo’s volunteers knew that they would be able to leave the prison and that it was not real, the experiment had no true effect. Real prisoners know that they are in for a long time and not just 14 days. However, in just six days and six nights their experiment was ended. The experiment got away from dealing with the intellectual exercise and started dealing with the psychological mishaps. â€Å"If normal, young, healthy, educated men could so radically transformed under†¦ a â€Å"prison environment†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ in so short of a time,†¦ then one can shudder to imagine what society is doing both to the actual guards and prisoners†¦ (Zimbardo 374). † Milgram’s experiment was in a fake setting because the subjects were not likely to act in that behavior since the setting was not a reality situation. Being in a laboratory trying to test out obedience is not normal. Humans tend to act differently out in the real world. â€Å"The studies of obedience cannot meaningfully be carried out in a laboratory setting, since obedience occurred in a context where it is appropriate. (Milgram 362) Take for instance the Adolf Hitler era. Testing done other than by natural observation is merely a reflection of what is expected to happen. Zimbardo’s prison setting was not ideal to a real prison nor real criminals. â€Å"†¦ t is impossible to separate what each individual brings into the prison from what the prison brings out in each person. Zimbardo 365) Volunteers knew that would be set free after a given date. The volunteers in Milgram’s experiment were fighting their subconscious minds. The person had complete power over the other individual, whom he could punish whenever he saw fit. The subject had to decide if what they where doing was right (causing pain to another). They were not fighting for their own individuality because they still had that. Zimbardo’s prisoners were fighting for their individuality. Subjects were taken from the streets and thrown into a prison where all their fights as citizens were taken away.