Friday, December 27, 2019

Impact of Electronic Media on Cognitive Development of...

Impact of Electronic Media on Cognitive Development of Children There have been many changes in the technological scene in the last few years. This has prompted the argument on what people stand to benefit from these advancements. This is why there have been many studies and researches that are all intended to show how the electronic media assists in learning amongst children. However, there has been little attention as to what the electronic media does to the same children. The electronic media has become a favorite amongst the learners and in particular children. It is imperative to note that the learning process is not passive. This is because the children do not just heed to the instructions and assume that anything is learnt. The process of learning is active and cognitive. Therefore, the environment under which a child is in has a significant influence on the learning process. It is vivid from this argument that the media has a significant role in the shaping of the children. Electronic media is very beneficial in the learning process but it is imperative that there are regulations because it has a dominant role in cognitive development of children. Even at the most tender of ages, children are already active in the use of the media. The television is the main media that the children are exposed to at this early age. It may seem that the children do not understand anything in the televisions and could lead to some disputing the idea of its involvement inShow MoreRelatedThe Impact Of Electronic Media On Physical, Cognitive, Social And Behavioral Development Of Children1749 Words   |  7 Pages IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA ON PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE, SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN Manal S.El Defrawy MD1, Ola G. Behairy MD1, Mona A. Elawady MD2, Doaa Mohammad MSC1 Pediatrics Department, Faculty of Medicine, Benha University, Egypt1 Community Department, Faculty of Medicine, Benha University, Egypt2 Abstract Background: Our lives become saturated with technology and mobile phones are an essential part of our daily activity, and many of our entertainment is provided through theRead MoreIs Electronic Media Beneficial in Children’s Education? Essay1408 Words   |  6 PagesIs Electronic Media beneficial in Children’s Education? Over the last decades, it is generally realized that the educational technology has developed dramatically. Electronic media has benefitted the system of education in an enormous way. Electronic media is the media which uses electronics or electromechanical energy for the audience to access the content. Video recording, audio recording, multimedia presentations, CD-ROM and online content are all forms of electronic media and any equipment usedRead MorePlay Station And Video Games1710 Words   |  7 Pagesall age groups all around the world. The young children aged from 5 to 10 years old occupy the largest percentage of users. Today there is wide variety of games attributed to the advancement in technology. The report is a detailed documentation of the impact of gaming on children with references to recent scholarly articles. It also touches on other involved parties in the management of the media entertainment. Introduction The platform of electronic gaming dates back to 1971 that was in the formRead MoreThe Effects Of Media And Screen Time Children On Children917 Words   |  4 PagesWith the advancement in technology it has become common for infants, toddlers, and young children to be exposed to electronics such as televisions, computers, and videogames for hours at a time. Environmental factors affect children in significant ways. The effects the media and screen time children are revealed to influence their physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Television and media can both hinder and encouraging their growth. It is important for guardians, caregivers, teachersRead MoreThe Teen Sleep Loss Epidemic : What Can Be Done? Essay806 Words   |  4 Pagesphenomenon that adolescent children are suffering from a lack of sleep. The loss of sleep can negatively af-fect a teenager’s academic performance, driving capabilities, cognitive abilities and more. Bryant and Gomez provide recomm endations for combating the sleep deficiency with teens, which includes their caffeine intake, establishing specific bedtimes, and the use of technology. The authors reference several other articles done specifically on the use of electronic devices and their effects onRead MoreHow Media Affects The Socialization Of Children1562 Words   |  7 PagesHow Media Affects the Socialization of Children As mass media continues to expand through our use of everyday electronics, children s socialization skills may be suffering by the lack of face to face, physical, and natural interaction. Mass media like television, computers, radios, newspapers, video games and many others play a huge role in socialization in children. Children need interaction, and mass media offers no physical interaction at all. Children are spending more and more time in theRead MorePersonal Statement And Field Studies979 Words   |  4 Pagesbecome accustomed to spending a large amount of time on their electronics, and see it as something normal. In the end, they become less productive and produce less quality work since full time and effort was not applied. In order to keep a balance between work and time spent on electronics that is not relevant to work; people need to prioritize on what is most important. By spending one-two hours a day on Internet browsing or social medias upon having chores or work completed, people will feel lessRead MoreThe Illusion Of Technology1535 Words   |  7 Pagesprocess of a child’s mind is one of the most significant aspects of their development. The neuropathways intrinsically wired into the central nervous system can be incredibly impacted by the rapid over load that technology constantly exposes children to. A child’s brain is like a sponge, and when electronic devices are repeatedly absorbed, there are some serious long term effects. This can hinder children’s physiological development, attention span, reading comprehension, and emotional behavior. ModernRead MoreEffects of Gadgets on Students672 Words   |  3 Pageswe can easily found children as young as two years old are playing with an electronic devices and gadgets anywhere. That is not only the video games that make the children stay, it is also includes television, mobile phones and smart phone application, computers, tablet computers, PSP games and etc. Children t end to be active consumers, many electronic products and gadgets’ commercial have been targeted to young children market. Parent may find it easier to make their children stay in one place byRead MoreTelevision Is An Essential Means Of Socialization1258 Words   |  6 Pagesbrings families together, informs with news and media, and educates with knowledgeable programs. Although the television has great values of socializing, some programs on the TV can have negative and detrimental effects, corrupting some viewers. An average American family views television, and can consider watching TV a major activity in their home. But who is not only viewing the programs, but retaining the information in their developing minds? Children ages two to five spend on average 32 hours a

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Conflict Essay- English - 1596 Words

Synthesis Response Conflict is the true test of an individual’s internal strength and understanding, encountering conflict can evoke an individual to reassess their values, morals and beliefs’, staying true is the best way to deal with the animosity. It is through this that social order can deteriorate into conflict and anarchy with disturbing ease; it is a fear of difference and is not always easy to distinguish the innocent from the guilty in contesting situations. Conflict can be the struggle between the protagonists or antagonists against nature, contradictory emotions or opposing forces, manipulating an individual to fulfill the desire of one’s unmeasured flame. Applying a prevailing and emphatic depth into the concept of internal and†¦show more content†¦The sensory details of touch and sight enhances the emotion that Big Brothers controlling government manipulates all internal aspects of an individual. The present reality will be conformed through the party’s laws, traditions and ideology’s, distorting the truth and all the authenticity divulged within life. The audience conveys that as derealisation enhances the alteration in the perception or experience of the external world appears to be eccentric and unreal; the environment resembles an absence of spontaneity, emotional colouring and depth, contrasting to the authenticity of reality. The psychological connections between Winston Smith and Othello are formulated through the internal battle to stay true to core values, morals and beliefs when dealing with the animosity. The conflict of the party being enabled to control and manipulate the encounters of the past, formulating an altered present truth while subduing the minds of innocent humans erupts. The internal strength and understanding of Winston Smith becomes embroiled and absorbed through the power and manipulating force of the party’s propaganda. Racial superiority is mere pigments of the imagination that infiltrates individuals by devaluing their identity and secluding there embodiment from society.Show MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Literary Elements In Literature1180 Words   |  5 Pagesto use common literary elements to help us read into a story beyond the text. From the first independent book we read to short stories we read together in class, we have all improved drastically as writers. The first thing we did in starting our English ten honors course was to pick an independent book to read over the summer. I picked The Da Vinci Code written by Dan Brown. Our assignment for this was to name three literary elements the author used well. I said that the best used literary elementsRead MoreMartin Espada And Richard Rodriguez1267 Words   |  6 Pagesshare in their essays their personal stories about being immersed into the English culture and learning the language. They share their views of what bilingualism means to them personally and make arguments about the importance of the concept. The two essayists bring awareness to the major role bilingualism plays in the communities today and highlight the effects of disagreements between cultural groups. According to Martin Espada, in his essay, â€Å"The New Bathroom Policy at English High School,† bilingualismRead MoreConflict Within Romeo And Juliet By William Shakespeare1295 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout Romeo and Juliet the theme of conflict is conveyed in many forms, mostly through physical violence; reflected in the era of the Renaissance where there was political turmoil and many European nations were at war. Shakespeare presents the theme in other forms as well; family versus family, sacred versus profane, parent versus child and language versus inner conflict. Conflict is a key in the structure of the play; it is highlighted in the beginning, middle and end. As an audience we areRead MoreMother Tongue by Amy Tan Essay1070 Words   |  5 PagesIdentity and Culture Amy Tan’s ,â€Å"Mother Tongue† and Maxine Kingston’s essay, â€Å"No Name Woman† represent a balance in cultures when obtaining an identity in American culture.   As first generation Chinese-Americans both Tan and Kingston faced many obstacles. Obstacles in language and appearance while balancing two cultures. Overcoming these obstacles that were faced and preserving heritage both women gained an identity as a successful American. In the work of Amy Tan’s â€Å"Mother’s Tongue† she providesRead MoreClass Conflict1431 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction: This essay aims to examine the extent to which class conflict affects education and life opportunities. The following paragraphs seek to illustrate how factors such as class position and parental attitudes affect education and life opportunities among different social classes and the conflict that lies between them. In order to understand the content of this essay it is first necessary to understand all of the possible variables involved. Throughout this essay I will examine the definitionsRead MoreShould College Be High School?849 Words   |  4 Pageshypothesis was wrong, college is not like how I expected it to be at all. When entering english 5a I had thought it would be a walk through of what I learned in high school but again I made a wrong conclusion. English 5A consisted weekly readings from the book in Everything that is done in college should be done with quality over quantity. I couldn t try to do my essays over night like how I did in highschool because the essay would be built with poor quality, resulting myself to fail to understand the conceptRead MoreReflection Paper1004 Words   |  5 Pagesinto my DNA.† (para 1) Although the sentence itself was strong, in my opinion, it lacked style. While reviewing my narrative I felt as if I needed to add a sentence with more style, therefore, I made the claim, â€Å"I will always remember Vija Lee my English II teacher. Before taking her class, I never fully considered all of the different aspects of literature. In Ms.Lee’s class, students write consistently, receive feedback on their writing and give feedback to others, are introduced to academic writingRead MoreMother Tongue, by Amy Tan819 Words   |  4 Pages Despite growing up amidst a language deemed as â€Å"broken† and â€Å"fractured†, Amy Tan’s love for language allowed her to embrace the variations of English that surrounded her. In her short essay â€Å"Mother Tongue†, Tan discusses the internal co nflict she had with the English learned from her mother to that of the English in her education. Sharing her experiences as an adolescent posing to be her mother for respect, Tan develops a frustration at the difficulty of not being taken seriously due to one’s inabilityRead MoreThrough My Creative Writing And Reading Experience, I Have1156 Words   |  5 Pagesclass, I have chosen the genre of creative non-fiction. My focus will be literary essays that address humanity’s universal desire for a sense of identity and belonging; these essays will be written from a personal perspective, containing anecdotes, internal conflicts, and external opinions. Free verse poetry is one of the reasons I became a writer. In high school, it was my outlet to express myself. When I took English 240 (Regent University), I wrote a poem titled â€Å"Open City,† and I was convincedRead MoreThe Life Of A New Language And An Invisible Woman By Writers Eva Hoffman And Bharati Mukherjee Essay1606 Words   |  7 Pagesembrace a distant set of ideals is a difficult task. Naturally, an inner conflict arises within a person as to whether they should discard the old values in favour of the new ones and become a member of the new country, or to retain the old values and therefore remain estranged from the new citizens. To cope with this struggle, a person might manufacture two identities: one of the old country and one of the new country. In the essays â€Å"Life in a New Language† and â€Å"An Invisible Woman†, writers Eva Hoffman

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

The Logistics Strategy of Zara Company-Free-Samples for Students

Question: How can Zara maintain its competitive advantage, here the concept of sustainability may be introduced? Are there similarities between Zara Dells and Myers formula for success and could this be suitable for other companies and if so explain why, if not explain why? Answer: Introduction The following paper is about the comparison between the two giants in the clothing and accessories retail industry Zara and Dell and Myer. These two companies have been the potential competitors for a long time now. The prime focus will have to be on the logistics and supply chain management of these two companies. The logistics and supply chain management of the two companies will be discussed and contrasted in order to find the basic differences. Zara has been one of the most successful companies in the clothing and accessories retail industry (Zara.com 2017). Supply chain management is one of the main aspects of success for all the companies. Another company is Myer that will be discussed in this paper as well. Myer is one of the Australian fashion retailer organizations that have been very popular. The companies should look for better supply chain and logistics management so they can reach to their customers faster and smoother. The customer segmentation should be fixed properly by the organizations and they should look to utilize on these things in a better way. The logistics management of Zara has been looked upon as one of the best in the industry. This is why the delivery of the products is done on the correct time. The decision making process of the officials should be proper and Zara has been efficient in executing all their plans of serving the customers with proper logistics supply. Overview of Zara Zara is located in Spain and this organization was founded in the year 1975. They are considered to be the largest retailer in the world. Zara is the main brand of the Inditex group (Zara.com 2017). They have expanded in various countries so they will require a strong logistics supply. Their online presence is quite strong so they have acquired the trust of millions across the globe. The inventory management of the company is exclusive in the sense that they have used the RFID technology to respond better to the requirements of their customers (Zhu, Mukhopadhyay and Kurata 2012). The manufacturing process of Zara is quite fast as well since they are able to innovate new designs and spread them into the market (Caniato et al. 2014). They have upgraded their distribution of the merchandise through reverse milk-run production and distribution facilities (Zara.com 2017). Overview of Dell Dell and Myer has been one of the companies that work in the telecommunications industry. They produce laptops and other accessories (Dell.com 2017). This is why the logistics and supply chain management between the two companies will be very useful indeed. The organizational structure of these two companies is also very different. This is why the logistics supply chain will be different as well. Both these companies have their individual logistics supply chains (Dell.com 2017). Logistics management of Zara The logistics management of Zara is unique. They have also focused a lot on the inventory management as well. The main thing that is responsible for so much success of Zara is the centralization. Their centralized logistics management has earned them a huge place in the concerned industry (Fawcett, Ellram and Ogden 2013). The decision making of this organization is done with much co-ordination. The rhythm of Zaras logistics is deep and fast. They are always concerned about the fulfillment of orders at their stores. All the outlets of Zara send two orders per week on specific days and times. The trucks leave from the warehouses at specific times and they arrive at the stores with the shipments at specific times. The garments that are ordered by the customers are always labeled and they are priced as they reach their destination. This is a very smooth process and all the staffs from all the departments have a clear idea on what things they have to do (Christopher 2016). These departmen ts are procurement, production, distribution and the retail ones. This is how Zara carries out a proper logistics network. The distribution channels of the company are so good that it takes about only twenty four hours to deliver all the goods (Stadtler 2015). This is applicable for the European outlets of Zara. Tn the countries of Asia and America, it takes about 40 hours to deliver the goods. Zara maintains some of the basic of the logistics and supply chain management. These are:- They always segment their customers according to their service needs of various groups. They adapt the supply chain management properly so they can give the customer segments what they need. They have customized their logistics network according to the requirements of service and profits of their customer segments. They tend to listen to the market signals and arrange the supply chain according to the service needs. They are able to make difference between products that are closer to the customer and speed conversion of the supply chain (Jacobs and Chase 2013). Zara is able to manage the total costs of supply and manage the sources with proper technological strategy. Zara is able to develop a supply chain wide strategy that backs up the several levels of decision making. Competitive advantage of Zara Zara has been extremely successful in their quest to become the most successful organization in the fashion retail industry. They have been extremely successful in global retailing. They have also received the best points in the stock market index for the social responsible investment (West, Ford and Ibrahim 2015). They have been focusing on innovation, improvement and collaboration. These things have contributed a lot to the learning organization. The new product development and innovative thinking process of Zara has been acclaimed all around the world. The other causes for the competitive advantage for Zara are the fact that they have been constantly fostering for the international expansion and constant invention. They have been the global leaders in this industry for a big reason indeed (West, Ford and Ibrahim 2015) The approach of Zara has been continuously customer-oriented and this has driven them to focus on the requirements of the customers. In the modern international mark et, one of the key components is the brand credit. Zara has been largely successful in establishing a brand supremacy over its competitors. The value chain analysis of Zara shows how they have dominated the market. Comparison with Myer Myer has been considered as one of the most famous clothing retail chains in Australia (Myer 2017). However, it has not been so much successful as that of Zara. This is because Zara has segmented their markets along with their quality of products with a division between their customers on the basis of psychographic and demographic lines (Riefler, Diamantopoulos and Siguaw, 2012). Myer has not yet shown any intention to do all these things. This is why their target segmentation is not quite appropriate for the benefit of their customers. The brand value of Zara is so much high that they offer money value to their customers. It has been observed by certain experts that the concept of My Store by Myer is quite full of ambiguity (Myer 2017). The target market of Myer is a simple general target market of all groups. Whereas, the target market of Zara is the fashionable young people between 20 and 35 years of age. Myer has been considered as a departmental store along with an extensive col lection of products. Their customer service is not much satisfying contrasting that of Zara (Riefler, Diamantopoulos and Siguaw, 2012). The logistics service of Zara is always on time. This is why the Just-in-time policy of Zara is considered to be the market leaders. Myer always offers several discounts as part of their sales strategies to attract the customers. However, it has been seen that Zara offers their young customers with many fashion products that lures the customers with promotional marketing (Powell 2013). Logistics and supply chain of Zara It has been observed that Zara has achieved its competitive advantage through the proper logistics and supply chain strategies that they have adopted so far. In this way, they have been able to land with many effective marketing strategies that will benefit their customers and they will be able to receive their orders within the specified time indeed. The inventory management costs have been minimized by Zara that would help them to focus more on the production costs and improve the product quality (Qrunfleh and Tarafdar 2014). All the manufacturing units of Zara try to utilize these sources. Zara has focused more on the costs of technology that will be beneficial for them to strengthen their operations and improve the level of customer satisfaction (Best 2012). They are very active in the social media marketing process as a part of their integrated marketing communications. In this way Zara has modernized itself. They have increased their customer value proposition by the use of the se means. Comparison between Dell and Zara Dell is one of the leading firms in the production of electronic devices like laptops and computers. The supply chain management strategy of Dell and Zara are quite different from each other since they deal in two different segments of products. However, their purpose is the same and i.e. to do good business. The supply chain of Zara is totally vertically integrated where Dell does not take part in the production process actively. They tend to hire the third party suppliers for their completed goods (Sodhi and Tang 2012). These goods would be delivered by the third party suppliers within a given time. Zara keeps their control over all the phases of production of the garments. All the units including manufacturing, crafting and delivery process is looked after the company. This is why Zara has received such an immense success in fashion retail industry (Qrunfleh and Tarafdar 2014). The customer preferences change very quickly and the company has to be aware about these things very cau tiously. This is one of the most important factors that the entire control of the company has made this possible to hold all sections of the operations. This total control helps Zara to launch new designs of clothes within a very short time. Dell makes these operations through third party suppliers so they take some more time to execute these operations. This is one of the main contrasts between Zara and Dell (Qrunfleh and Tarafdar 2014). Dell has to make a coordination of several small processes to execute this. However, this is quite proper for Dell since they can make the necessary changes that are needed (Sodhi and Tang 2012) Logistics supply channels of Zara and Dell Dell follows an indirect distribution channel that includes the retailers, suppliers, assimilator, distributors and the end customers. Dell follows the business to business marketing process that permits their customers to order the laptops online (Sodhi and Tang 2012) Dell connects to their clients directly and they get rid of all the channels that fall in between. On the other hand, it has been observed that the manufactured products of Zara are shipped from Corunna depot or Zara logistica in Spain. They do not stock and pile up their inventories at the warehouse. Rather they send them to the Zara stores from where these orders are distributed. Zara would stop the production of all those products that are not selling. This would mean that Zara does not want to pile up their old stocks rather they only want to make new stocks be available to their customers. They send the ordered products to their customers and the customers can track their orders anytime after they are being shippe d (Lehmacher 2017). Sustainability of Zara Zara has been named as one of the most sustainable organizations in the fashion retail industry. They have been manufacturing their products with quality cotton that will be very much important for keeping the quality of the products. Zara has built up the eco-efficient stores that will be very helpful for all the customers indeed (Joy et al. 2012). They have begun to focus on the lower electricity consumption. This will be beneficial for the customers to avoid the greenhouse gas emissions. They have taken up the pledge of zero landfill waste because of which they began to reuse the packing supplies and they want to achieve that goal within 2020. They have produced an enormous amount of textile waste, paper and cardboard waste in the year 2015. They are looking forward to reduce it so that their production can be eco-friendly. It is very obvious that the textiles cannot be recycled. This is why Zara has made partnerships with the famous universities, social organizations and the lead ing organizations to find out the proper effective solutions to these problems (Joy et al. 2012). Suitability of success formula to other companies The formula of success that have been showed by Zara, Dell and Myer are very much dependent on the proper service delivery and building of a proper logistics and supply chain management. The new startup companies who want to become successful in the future with a huge profit margin should always keep in mind the fact they should give the utmost priority to their customers at first (Perreault Jr, Cannon and McCarthy 2013) Next, they should think about changing preferences of the customers. This will drive them to promote their products with the innovative marketing strategies. There are some similarities between Zara, Dells and Myer. All of them want to provide their customers with the best service quality with the best quality products. They have given much importance to supply chain strategies. However, the target segmentation of Myer has not been that much effective indeed (Perreault Jr, Cannon and McCarthy 2013) The marketing strategies along with the logistics strategies have bee n the most appropriate indeed. The strategies taken in by Zara are the most appropriate ones indeed. This is why the just in time policy, proper dispatching of the goods from the warehouses to the shipping addresses and a strong presence in the social media should be highly recommendable. These strategies will be indeed suitable for their growth (Perreault Jr, Cannon and McCarthy 2013) Conclusion This paper can be concluded by saying that Zara has been the leading fashion retail industry in the world and they have been operating in the universal basis. Their marketing and promotional strategies, logistics and supply chain strategies have been very much in demand to follow for the startup companies. The other companies like Myer and Dell have also their own strategies. These strategies would not be that much effective especially for Myer. Their target segmentation process has not been that much effective. The companies should be putting in some effective logistics and supply chain management strategies to enhance their business capacity. If they follow these ways and with a timely delivery of the quality products, they will surely be getting a good place in their industry References Best, R., 2012.Market-based management. Pearson Higher Ed. Caniato, F., Caridi, M., Moretto, A., Sianesi, A. and Spina, G., 2014. Integrating international fashion retail into new product development.International Journal of Production Economics,147, pp.294-306. Christopher, M., 2016.Logistics supply chain management. Pearson UK. Dell.com. (2017).Dell Official Site - The Power To Do More | Dell | Dell UK. [online] Available at: https://www.dell.com/en-uk [Accessed 8 Dec. 2017]. Fawcett, S.E., Ellram, L.M. and Ogden, J.A., 2013.Supply Chain Management: Pearson New International Edition: From Vision to Implementation. Pearson Higher Ed. Jacobs, R. and Chase, R., 2013.Operations and supply chain management. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Joy, A., Sherry Jr, J.F., Venkatesh, A., Wang, J. and Chan, R., 2012. Fast fashion, sustainability, and the ethical appeal of luxury brands.Fashion Theory,16(3), pp.273-295. Lehmacher, W., 2017. Global Dynamics and Key Trends. InThe Global Supply Chain(pp. 67-112). Springer International Publishing. Myer. (2017).Myer. [online] Available at: https://www.myer.com.au/ [Accessed 8 Dec. 2017]. Perreault Jr, W., Cannon, J. and McCarthy, E.J., 2013.Basic marketing. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Powell, H., 2013.Promotional Culture and Convergence: Markets, Methods, Media. Routledge. Qrunfleh, S. and Tarafdar, M., 2014. Supply chain information systems strategy: Impacts on supply chain performance and firm performance.International Journal of Production Economics,147, pp.340-350. Riefler, P., Diamantopoulos, A. and Siguaw, J.A., 2012. Cosmopolitan consumers as a target group for segmentation.Journal of International Business Studies,43(3), pp.285-305. Sodhi, M.S. and Tang, C.S., 2012. Strategic approaches for mitigating supply chain risks.Managing Supply Chain Risk, pp.95-108. Stadtler, H., 2015. Supply chain management: An overview. InSupply chain management and advanced planning(pp. 3-28). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. West, D.C., Ford, J. and Ibrahim, E., 2015.Strategic marketing: creating competitive advantage. Oxford University Press, USA. Zara.com. (2017).Women's New In Clothes | Autumn Winter 2017 | ZARA Spain. [online] Available at: https://www.zara.com/es/en/woman-new-in- [Accessed 8 Dec. 2017]. Zhu, X., Mukhopadhyay, S.K. and Kurata, H., 2012. A review of RFID technology and its managerial applications in different industries.Journal of Engineering and Technology Management,29(1), pp.152-167.

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Seattle King County Homelessness Social Work Essay Essay Example

Seattle King County Homelessness Social Work Essay Essay Seattles homeless population has continued to turn since the execution of Mayor Shells Zero Homelessness Family Pledge. The current economic clime, turning unemployment and other factors will non let the accomplishment of this end at present. In order to successfully battle homelessness, staff recommends implementing schemes based on a public policy model that incorporates employment policy, lodging policy, and schemes designed to maintain people in their places. By concentrating on full employment, low-cost lodging and societal safety cyberspaces such as exigency aid for rent, eviction protection and service centres, the City of Seattle and King County will be able to take preventive steps to halt the turning figure of homeless and make an interrelated networked alliance of concerned citizens and organisations to work to the promotion of this undertaking. We will write a custom essay sample on Seattle King County Homelessness Social Work Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Seattle King County Homelessness Social Work Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Seattle King County Homelessness Social Work Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer King County, City of Seattle, and environing organisations are and will be committed to assist the homeless within King County reconstruct their lives by supplying services in the community s clip of demand. Background Summary Mayor Shell s proclamation has raised consciousness and increased community engagement within Seattle. We are committed to the end of stoping homelessness. The City has so put its money where its oral cavity is to turn to turning concerns. In 1998, the City of Seattle spent about $ 7.8 million on services for stateless people, about twice every bit much as it did in 1989 . ( Norton, 2006 ) Many believe Seattle s stateless population is around 9,000 people ( Anonymous, 2009 ) ; and likely 1,000 are kids. Many of the services Seattle has implemented include plans such as exigency shelters, homeless shelters, low-income lodging, and hygiene plans. Other helpful entities include the Community Psychiatric Clinic which provides about 5,000 mentally sick clients with services per twelvemonth. Private shelters, soup kitchens, and nutrient Bankss are portion of the Seattle web to stop homelessness. The Seattle Housing Authority provides merely over 5000 public lodging units which supports around 25,000 occupants. ( Block, B. , 2009 ) Several different plans have played critical functions in a 10 twelvemonth program to stop homelessness. The Committee to End Homelessness in King County made up of representatives from non-profit-making organisations, concern, local authorities, homeless protagonism groups, and the religion community, has developed and adopted the program. The plan besides offers support those who are in danger or on the brink of going homeless. Harmonizing to the King County Office of Human Services safe seaport system, Seattle and King County services provided important aid to upwards of 20,000 persons and non merely the 9,000 homeless who are estimated to be stateless on any given dark. In the 2009 study Hunger and Homelessness in US Cities , it was reported that San Francisco, Charleston, Kansas City, Dallas, Boston, Nashville, and Sacramento observed record-breaking household homelessness additions. Harmonizing to the metropoliss, the current recession, unemployment and foreclosures were the major causes of the increased homelessness. This study displayed 25 % rises in petitions for aid, which is the greatest addition since 1991. Because the metropolis of Seattle has the support of its citizens and has made a committedness to stop homelessness, the demand has non increased every bit much in Seattle as it has in other metropoliss. ( Committee to End Homelessness, 2009 ) Many other metropoliss have implemented ten twelvemonth programs like Seattle s with similar consequences, such as Denver Colorado. Denver has a stateless population of 8,700 people, a similar homeless population as Seattle, and has besides implemented a 10 twelvemonth program. As a whole, they are encouraged by their advancement yet must confront an addition in their homeless populations due to hard economic times. ( Committee to stop Homelessness, 2009 ) Seattle has an of import advantage Denver does non hold, the support of the populace. Seattle electors overpoweringly passed statute law to assist the homelessness population with health care. Some steps passed with every bit much as 70 % of the ballot. ( Rasmussen, T. 2010 ) Homeless Estimates/Identification and Analysis of Problems The City s plans have continued to turn probably because of the troubled economic clime. The One Night Count offers a snapshot of the stateless population: The figure of unsheltered homeless in Seattle is 1,977 is merely over two tierces of the entire unsheltered homeless count in King County. The Committee to End Homelessness in King County states that the Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness throughout the County has a end to travel people quickly from homelessness to lodging construct the public and political will to stop homelessness, increase the efficiency of the bing systems, and step and study results. ( Committee to End Homelessness, 2009 ) The Ten-Year Plan , has non been successful in its original purposes. Homelessness will non be ended within the 10 twelvemonth timeframe. The plan has, nevertheless, brought the job of homelessness to the attending of citizens. Additionally, the program has allowed Seattle to maintain homelessness at sensible degrees as compared to other metropoliss. although there have been big additions in Seattle s stateless population, we do non see the record-breaking household homelessness additions in Seattle as we do in other metropoliss such as San Francisco, Charleston, Kansas City, Dallas, Boston, Nashville, and Sacramento. In the current system, harmonizing to the Office of Strategic Planning and Performance Management, the figure of homeless in King County is 2,827 ( 2009 One Night Count ) . This is up from 2008 which was 2,681 ( 2008 One Night Count ) . Additionally, the homeless population has continued to turn at a steady gait since 1998. Harmonizing to county records, the figure of homeless was 784 individuals in 1998, which is much less than the stateless population in 2009, which was of 2,827. Harmonizing to the U.S. Conference of Mayors in their 2007 study, Hunger and Homelessness in US Cities , there were three major causes of homelessness in the United States: unemployment, high lodging costs and low rewards. Additionally, Foreclosure to Homelessness 2009: The Forgotten Victims of the Subprime Crisis ( 2009 ) found that in 2009 many people became stateless as a consequence of foreclosures. The City of Seattle had a foreclosure rate of merely less than 1 per centum in 2009, and 11.6 per centum of Seattle s population is below the national poorness line. ( McLean, 2009 ) Again, the recession has caused the figure of participants in homelessness related plans to lift significantly. Harmonizing to Sard, ( 2009 ) and in Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the figure of stateless households with kids has increased from 20 % 58 % in describing urban countries because of the current recession. The metropolis has been turn toing several of the countries, which experts claim are taking causes of homelessness in US metropoliss. It appears as if Seattle is one of the leaders in controling homelessness compared to other urban countries across the state. Now more than of all time, as the homeless population continues to lift, Seattle must go on to back up services to help them at this clip. Recommendations The United States Department of HYPERLINK hypertext transfer protocol: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Housing_and_Urban_Development Urban Development and Housing indicates that Seattle is one of seven metropoliss making an astonishing occupation in efficaciously cut downing its homeless population. They are making this by utilizing aggressive plans and support. As antecedently discussed, forestalling new people from going homeless is built-in to cut downing the metropolis s homeless. Because the hapless economic system is one of the prima causes of homelessness, shelters should increase employment services for persons, in add-on to other metropolis attempts. It is recommended that Seattle continue its current attempts while implementing more aggressive fiscal support and by go oning to suggest aggressive ends for stoping homelessness. The metropolis should see back uping more aggressive preventive steps for maintaining people in their places, better bing stateless shelter substructure, implementing employment policy for the homeless, and by enrolling new community leaders and by farther organizing attempts with those leaders. Harmonizing to Lindblom, ( 1991 ) one of the most of import arms to battling homelessness is to halt homelessness at its beginning, by funding bar schemes. This includes stopping evictions, work outing notice jobs, supplying hard currency progress plans, and maintaining people in shared lodging. Financially it is much more cost effectual to implement pre-emptive agencies than to seek and assist people once they already homeless. Another scheme is to increase the incomes of highly hapless. By increasing the incomes of those in danger of fring their places, we can assist them maintain themselves sheltered. The City s unemployment rate rose from 4 per centum in 1998 to about 8.2 per centum in 2009. ( Anonymous, 2009 ) In future old ages, plans will necessitate to be reevaluated based on economic and employment conditions. In the current clime, it is recommended that the metropolis foremost offer more exigency and transitional services for the turning figure of homeless. Additionally, we need to offer more subsidised lodging, more employment chances, more lasting supportive lodging for persons with disablements, prevent evictions, work out notice jobs, supply hard currency progress plans, and maintain people in shared lodging. The current web of services is a solid foundation for assailing the job of homelessness in Seattle. Current Network of Services Seattle included the undermentioned plans in the 2009 budget in an attempt to battle homelessness: Impermanent Shelter The metropolis provides impermanent shelter plans which offers receivers instance direction and a topographic point to kip. The end of the impermanent shelter is to assist receivers transition to stable long-run lodging. Funding varies from twelvemonth to twelvemonth. In 2008 $ 6 million was allocated to the plan and in 2009 the figure increased to $ 7.1 million. Impermanent Shelters are an built-in portion of maintaining persons off the street and doing the passage to permanent lodging which, as antecedently stated is an of import constituent for stoping homelessness. ( King County Department of Community and Human Services, 2009 ) . Service Centers Several centres provided by the metropolis offer citizens laundry service and showers. In add-on service centres are able to mention them to lodging and health care services. These centres frequently provide reding, employment referrals, hot repasts, and a topographic point to hive away properties. 2008 saw $ 2.6 million distributed to these service centres. In 2009 that figure increased to $ 3.8 million. Service centres support those who are drastically affected by the economic system, once more, a taking cause of homelessness. ( King County Department of Community and Human Services, 2009 ) . Transitional Housing Transitional lodging helps persons take the first stairss towards long-run lodging. The plan aims to hold citizens in new lodging within two old ages of come ining the plan. The plan offers reding, employment, instruction, life accomplishments preparation, health care, child care, transit, lodging and other services to assist people make the Eventual passage to longer-term lodging. Funding for this plan has increased to $ 5.8 million in 2009 from $ 1 million in 2008. Transitional lodging seeks to bridge the employment and instruction spread which causes so many to be stateless. ( King County Department of Community and Human Services, 2009 ) . Eviction Prevention Because the metropolis s end is the riddance of homelessness, eviction bar is another of import metropolis service provided. Persons at high hazard for eviction and in federally subsidized lodging are offered authorities services such as instance direction, making programs to forestall eviction services to stabilise lodging and maintain persons off the street. 2008 saw $ 1 million budgeted for this plan. In 2009 this figure rose to $ 2.7 million. By maintaining persons from going homeless, we greatly increase our ability to cut the figure of people in demand of homeless services. ( King County Department of Community and Human Services, 2009 ) . Rent Aid The metropolis has two rent aid plans which help forestall homelessness by assisting persons in danger of falling short on their rent payments. $ 728,197 was distributed in 2008, while $ 554,129 was distributed in 2009 for this plan. Similar to eviction bar, by maintaining persons from going homeless, we greatly increase our ability to cut the figure of people in demand of homeless services. ( King County Department of Community and Human Services, 2009 ) . Emergency Rent Assistance Around 515 low-income families receive exigency rent aid each twelvemonth. Both, a long-run, and short-run plan are available. ( King County Department of Community and Human Services, 2009 ) . The 2009/2010 budget includes: The entire 2010 budget for the Department of Health and Human Services is $ 146,778,456. Of that figure, $ 28,377,592 is allocated for plans specifically designed to stop homelessness. ( City of Seattle 2010 Proposed Budget, 2009 ) . The chief resources for these undertakings come from assorted grants. These grants include direct federal grants, private income beginnings, and general bomber fund support. There are revenue enhancement parts which besides provide a limited beginning of support. The plans rely on the continued support of not-for-profits and private industry. Additionally, grants pay for a big part of these plans. ( Tokuda, K, 2009 ) . The budget has $ 2.5 million for homeless services and lodging including: 70 new shelter beds for persons relocated from campsites, hotel/motel verifiers to help 10 stateless households to acquire off the street, installation support for the new First Methodist Church shelter ; expanded twenty-four hours and hygiene services and instance direction services for inveterate stateless persons in business district Seattle ; support services for over 100 stateless persons populating in Housing-first units ; capital support for an extra 32 units of lodging units for stateless persons. The City of Seattle has been having federal support through the McKinney Grant ; about $ 10 million in 2009 ( City of Seattle 2010 Proposed Budget, 2009 ) . Seattle receives one of the largest McKinney awards each twelvemonth ( Norton, 2006 ) . The City Council besides added increased eviction bar support of $ 50,000 in both 2009 and 2010 ( Johnson, J. et all, 2009 ) . City of Seattle Budget: 2007 2008 2009 2010 Community Facilities 1,163,637 674,626 729,843 752,263 2007 2008 2009 2010 Emergency and Transitional Services 19,505,082 21,990,995 27,461,399 27,625,329 ( Johnson, J. et all, 2009 ) Policy Plan Further Aims Support preventive steps: Keep people in their places by fostering rent aid plans and eviction protection. Improve and spread out low cost lodging to better affordability, as mentioned, one of the prima causes of homelessness. Provide employment policy by quickly associating them with employment and/or benefits. Again, the fiscal crisis is one of the major grounds for homelessness. If we can acquire people into occupations the homeless population should diminish. Any building should be assorted usage in nature as the homeless population is likely to cyclically alter. As discussed, homelessness is that one of the highest points in recent memory. Because of this installation should be created which support the stateless population now, and can be used for community events in the hereafter. Coordinating community outreach will enable more people to entree the web of services provided. Provide lodging for those being discharged from public establishments ( infirmaries, prisons, gaols, mental wellness installations ) . A big figure of homeless is released from these establishments with no other support. Further coordination of attempt with them could better our ability to command the section of the stateless population. Recruit new community leaders and farther co-ordinate attempts. Reduce the figure of homeless by 30 % in the following 2 old ages. In order to make our ends we must get down by offering more subsidised lodging, more employment chances, more lasting supportive lodging for persons with disablements, prevent evictions, work out notice jobs, supply hard currency progress plans, and maintain people in shared lodging. First, strongly back uping preventive steps should be at the head of metropolis thought. Second, bettering impermanent lodging to assist extinguish the on the street stateless population is a necessary following measure. Working within the10 twelvemonth program of Seattle, it is non unreasonable to see the stateless population bead by 30 % in the following two old ages. As the economic system begins to settle, the metropolis should reassess the economic clime and alter our ends. In order to be successful, claims Toepfer, ( 2000 ) schemes to battle homelessness should be based on public policy models which combine employment and lodging policy, and supports societal safety cyberspaces including lodging allowances. The manner we will accomplish these ends will be by first, guaranting the metropolis has the needed lodging substructure it needs to back up and care for the stateless population. As people enter and issue homelessness we need to do the continuance of homelessness every bit short as possible. With the needed substructure, force per unit area will be taken away of other public bureaus such as exigency response squads, infirmaries, jurisprudence enforcement, gaols, and mental wellness installations to supply excess services caused by deficiency of basic human demands. Following, we must guarantee that anyone with merely one household income makes more than minimal pay in support. Harmonizing to Dolbeare ( 1999 ) , no one doing minimal pay in the United States can afford a one sleeping room flat based on the federal criterion of affordability. A full-time worker must gain at least $ 11.08/hour to afford a rental unit with two sleeping rooms. Servicess must be provided non merely for the jobless but besides for those whose income does non let them to pay for their ain lodging. Harmonizing to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, a rapid nexus to lodging is an of import portion of outreach to the homeless community. The agreement must necessitate low demands on receivers, doing stateless people feel safe and secure. This besides helps with persons enduring from hapless physical and mental wellness. When people feel safe, they are more likely to take part in intervention and engage in the procedure of happening new lodging. With the continued focal point on employment, low-cost lodging and societal safety cyberspaces such as exigency rent aid, eviction protection and service centres will be will to take preventive steps to halt the turning figure of homeless. On average the chronic homeless individual uses $ 40,000 worth of services per twelvemonth. ( Incorporate Council on Homelessness, 2009 ) The New York Coalition for the Homeless estimates that the cost of for good lodging a inveterate stateless individual can be every bit small as $ 12,500 per twelvemonth instead than $ 40,000, presuming they are housed. The 150,000 inveterate stateless people in the United States cost $ 10.95 billion per twelvemonth in public financess. If these persons were all for good housed, the disbursal would be expected to fall to $ 7.88 billion. The social benefit of $ 40,000 worth of services for persons dropping to $ 12,500 per inveterate stateless individual warrants the $ 5,000,000 addition in our budget. ( Forbes, 2009 ) There are presently a sum of 253 service suppliers which target primary populations i.e. households, unattached young person, immature grownups, and grownups. Nonprofit organisations, concern, local authorities, homeless protagonism groups, other authorities sections, and the religion community offer the anchor of the community s web of suppliers. ( Johnson, J. et. all, 2009 ) It should be the end of our plan to supply a minimal criterion of life for all individuals in the metropolis. As public retainers it is our occupation to ease this in whatever manner we can. We should besides seek to restrict turnover in staff which work straight with the homeless, as informations suggests staff acquaintance will better plan success. ( Anonymous 2009 ) Execution Budget Staff proposes the current budget be approved with additions in all service countries and enlargement of financess for lodging, a $ 5,000,000 addition. These additions can be justified as other metropolis sections will hold fewer loads as a consequence of the added financess to homelessness ( infirmaries, prisons, gaols, mental wellness installations ) . Changes to the budget will include increasing exigency rent aid, eviction protection, employment plans, and increase in low cost lodging, half-way lodging, income supplementation and community outreach. Money from transitional lodging and services will be used to pay for these additions. This will be a $ 5 million displacement in financess and a $ 5 million addition of financess. Changes will, better substructure, prevent persons and households from fring their places or flats, and offer low-demand lodging for a safe topographic point to have intervention. In the short term, the budget allotment for exigency and transitional services will offer the homeless population immediate aid. Our proposed budget is listed below: Homeless Budget 2010 New 2010 Proposed Community Facilities 2,000,000 Emergency and Transitional Services 25,000,000 Outreach 1,000,000 Employment Stimulation 3,000,000 Emergency Income Supplementation 1,500,000 Entire: 32,000,000 28,377,592 At the terminal of the twelvemonth, reevaluate the province of Seattle s homelessness and increase the budget in countries of demand. Budgetary alterations should be determined by the success of plans this twelvemonth. Likely, an across the board addition of 5-10 % to current services will be appropriate, depending on the strength of the economic system. Further Avocation for the Budget Given the current economic times, this is the minute to guarantee a roof over every caput. As antecedently stated, more than $ 25,000 worth of public services can be saved per twelvemonth for each inveterate stateless individual housed. This is the ground for the proposed addition in community installations. Based on the current cost to the City, $ 3,257 per individual ( $ 28,377,592 ( 2010 proposed budget ) / 8712 ( on the street stateless population ) = $ 3,257 ) it would drastically better the state of affairs of the on the street stateless population and subsidise more low income lodging than the metropolis s proposed budget. The homeless job will go on to turn for the following few old ages because of the hard economic times and the budget addition will guarantee the City is prepared. We still need the continued support of local concerns, community members and faith-based every bit good as non religion based organisations to go on the success of metropolis plans. Community outreach plans will supply a medium for people to donate clip and aid within the community, taking a interest in their vicinity and City. Seattle has the beginnings of substructure and community support in topographic point to do important paces in stoping homelessness. We will all profit from theses budget add-ons. Additionally, focal point groups will be set up in communities around Seattle. These groups will roll up information and gage the support of local citizens. Hospitals, gaols, mental wellness establishments, and other installations overburdened as a consequence of homelessness will besides be contacted to analyze forms of discharge and be given whatever support we can offer. Current grosss are deficient for run intoing the homeless population s demands. Hospitals, prisons, gaols and mental wellness installations are overburdened and no longer supplying the original service for which they were intended. An equal investing in homelessness now will ensue in a more humane, safe, and in fiscal matters sound hereafter. In these economically disputing times it is our occupation as civil retainers to supply for those who need it most in their clip of demand. The budget is a political papers which reflects our moral precedences. As Samuel Johnson said in Boswell: Life of Johnson, A nice proviso for the hapless is the true trial of civilisation. It is clip we stand up for the rights of all people in our society and put an terminal to the excess taxpayer disbursement that chronic homelessness causes. Decision The Mayor s pledge has left The City of Seattle with the beginning substructure it needs to make zero homelessness. The citizens, faith-based and non-faith based organisations and the City of Seattle have created a favourable clime for alteration. Our metropolis is resilient, compassionate and has all the tools needed to do homelessness in Seattle a thing of the yesteryear. The City is taking the manner, demoing the remainder of the United States what needs to be done to battle this societal ill. Seattle has one of the most progressive and quality plans for controling homelessness in the state. We must non halt here nevertheless. Our job has grown due to issues in the lodging market, and economic clime. This is the clip to put in our community. We have the chance to assist so many people. If we invest decently now, we make major advancement toward Mayor Shell s Zero Homelessness Pledge.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Rosalind Franklin Treated Unfairly free essay sample

Rosalind Franklin Treated Unfairly Francis Crick amp; James D. Watson †¢Franklin was beaten to publication Of DNA structure by Crick and Watson †¢Crick amp; Watson were awarded the nobel prize in Physiology or medicine in 1962 †¢Behind the story of Watson amp; Crick unfairness towards Rosalind Franklin. Early Years Rosalind Elsie Franklin was born on July, 25, 1920. She grew up in Notting Hill London. Rosalind was the fifth child out of four in her family. Along with Rosalind parents Ellis Aurthur Franklin a Merchant Banker and her mother Murie Frances Waley. While growing up Franklin showed nothing more but her scholastic abilities especially at St Paul’s Girls School where she succeed in science Latin and sports. The Two Men who benefited from her work without giving her credit. Controversy Franklin fought an uphill battle as a scientist. Her partner Maurice Wilkins treated her as an assistant instead of his equal partner. We will write a custom essay sample on Rosalind Franklin Treated Unfairly or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Regardless, she continued her research of DNA. Franklin photograph DNA using X-Rays. Wilkins found Franklin picture and showed it to Watson. From the picture, Watson was able to figure out the DNA molecule structure. He then published the results in a scienific journal. As a result, Watson amp; Crick received credit for discovering the DNA molecule,even though their discovery was based on Franklin private photo. In 1962 Watson and Crick were awarded the Noble Prize but Franklin was not. Caption describing picture or graphic. Her Death and Legacy In 1956 Franklin discover that she had two cancerous tumors in her abdomen. Rosalind Franklin underwent two years of treatment, but tragically died from it on April 16 1958. Franklin work with DNA lead to the ultimate discovery of the DNA structure and forever change the way we now understand the make up of the human body. Even though Franklin did not receive recognition during her life time, she is widely accepted as a DNA pioneer. Caption describing picture or graphic. Christmas 2004 ? Volume 1, Issue 1 ? Your Family’s Name ? (242) 555-0193 Page 2 A special message from our family Our Family Address line 1 Address line 2 City, ST ZIP Code Phone: (242) 555-0167 Fax: (242) 555-0168 E-Mail: [emailprotected] com Web Site: www. widgets. msn. com Our kids’ favorite Christmas joke: What do you call a person who is afraid of Santa Claus? Claustrophobic! On the back of your family’s newsletter, you may want to add a simple greeting, poem, or an example of your children’s artwork. This is the first part of the newsletter that your loved ones will see, so make sure that it is festive and eye-catching. You can add your own artwork to th e back of a family newsletter by scanning in a drawing or a photograph. Season’s greetings! A great way to add content to this newsletter is to include a calendar of upcoming events or a special memory that your family shares. You can also transcribe the words of a song or a poem onto the back of your newsletter to set the tone for the rest of your message. With a little creativity and imagination, creating a holiday newsletter can be a great way to say â€Å"Season’s Greetings! † A favorite family phrase or slogan can go here. Our Family’s Name Address line 1 Address line 2 City, ST ZIP Code Friend’s Name Street Address City, State Zip Code

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Rip Mix Burn Steal essays

Rip Mix Burn Steal essays After a dramatic federal court ruling that has shut Napster down, will have an effect on sharing music files on the internet. Napster has been one of the hottest sites on the internet in the last eighteen months, with more than fifty million users. Napster allows anyone with a CD burner to and a modem to download free music and burn it to a CD. The main purpose or as it seems, is to avoid the cost of new CDs. But some argue that it has different uses. Some musicians say that it allows them to get their music out to the public by avoiding the record companies. Others say they use it to hear a groups music before they buy their CD. While others say that it is stealing. That it keeps musicians from making money off of their music. Which also keeps record companies from making money. Plus, it also takes sales away from record stores. The recording industry could do one of two things: First, Succeed in killing off Napster. But with the Sons of Napster popping up all over the place, and with the music industry always one step behind the nineteen-year old software designers creating the new peer-to-peer programs like: Gnutella, Aimster, LimeWire, BearShare, Audiogalaxy Satellite, and Morpheus. Although none of these have achieved the success of Napster they are collectively approaching its popularity. Second, it could go online and start to offer its own music services. The moment if went after Napster it should have offered its own online services at a reasonable price, but it didnt and now they have to deal with a large amount of copy-cat music-sharing programs. The industry also wants users to rent songs. Users would pay a monthly fee and get access to the music. Once they stopped paying the fee the music would stop. The recording companies will ultimately have only one thing to offer-public relations s ervices to promote artists off-line. ...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Management Decision Making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Management Decision Making - Essay Example Unfortunately, many of the other employees don’t feel the same. Some have even threatened to resign if the management doesn’t do something about Jack. Roger is concerned that production might be affected either way. Serious consequences can occur if he releases Jack and the same might be true if he retains him at work. The opportunity cost seems the same either way. Roger is concerned that they will lose a valuable member of the team if he releases or transfers Jack, but he is also concerned that they will lose quantity and be piled with workloads if Jack is allowed to stay without any change in his attitude towards work and other people. Although coaching has helped with the frequency of his complaints, there are still others who complain about him. The situation can be summarized as thus: â€Å"Coming to a decision of what to do with Jack such that it will come to a win-win situation for Jack, the company, and the other employees.† This can be viewed as follows. A parent is desperately looking for a way to reconcile her two children. They fight most of the time about seemingly unimportant matters. The older one often complains that the younger child seems to be wasting too much time playing with his toys rather than helping with the chores at home. The parent does understand the older child’s concern. There is work to be done at home and an extra pair of hands can definitely help. However, she also noticed that the younger child seems to have a talent for storytelling and she wants him to develop it. Obviously, the parent cannot choose between her two children that easily, nor can she simply let go of one of them. But there must be reconciliation if there is to be peace within the household. The plan is to bring the two into some sort of agreement so that there will be no more arguments. A win-win situation is also necessary, not simply preferred, because the parent cannot lose any of her two children. In this case, both

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Foreign Direct Investment and Its Impact on Economy and Ecological Essay

Foreign Direct Investment and Its Impact on Economy and Ecological Issues - Essay Example In addition to this, the review of this impact on economic state of affairs in developing countries also considers the negative and positive impacts of foreign direct investment. Apart from this, the report also discusses how foreign direct investment influences ecological and environmental issues and takes into consideration the particular kind(s) of foreign direct investment which gives rise to such ecological and environmental issues. Before going into details of these issues, it is pertinent to understand what foreign direct investment means (Fedderke and Romm; Chakraborty and Nunnenkamp). Foreign Direct Investment Foreign direct investment refers to the investment or investments made by a corporate entity or investment institution, which operates in one country, in another corporate entity or investment institution which operates or is based in another country. In other words, foreign direct investment is an investment which comes in a country from another country directly. It i s pertinent to distinguish between foreign direct investment and those investments which are indirect, as for instance, investments made by corporate entities from foreign countries in the equity of corporate entity or entities operating in the country. ... oreign direct investment has been regarded by a number of researchers in the past as having a positive impact on the economic development of countries, where such investment takes place. An instant evidence in this regard can be put forward as an example of Chinese economy; China has been reported by the United Nations as the largest receiver of foreign direct investment in the first 6 months period of previous year 2012. The total amount of foreign direct investment received by China in initial six months of year 2012 was $ 59.1 billion, which surpassed foreign direct investment received by United States in the same period by $ 1.7 billion. This information can be directly related with the unmatched economic development which has taken place in the past few decades in China (Reuters). Since after the end of World War 2, foreign direct investment has played an important role in generating significant amounts of financial support for the developing countries. However, the flow of fore ign direct investment halted after 1970 as there was an increase in the flow of investment from foreign countries in developing countries and the financial institutions particularly commercial lending institutions found their role as diminishing. However, after certain regulatory measures were taken by the bodies and respective authorities in the developing world, foreign direct investment was again allowed to gain momentum in the mid of 90s (Vo). Upon reviewing the theoretical propositions related to the impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth, it is found that there are differing views in this respect. According to the neo-liberal school of thought, foreign direct investment has a positive and direct relation with the economic development of a region. In light of this

Sunday, November 17, 2019

The Influence of Gender and Age on the Second Language Acquisition of Research Paper

The Influence of Gender and Age on the Second Language Acquisition of University Students in South Korea - Research Paper Example It is so important that some companies and industries like healthcare include English proficiency among their requirements (Lorenzo, 2007). Moreover, many families travel abroad for several reasons, and this may require that they speak the language of the country they are in other than their native language (Gordon, 2000). Like learning a native language, secondary language acquisition is influenced by a variety of factors and outcomes may vary depending on the leaning style of the student, age, gender, and even culture. Similar to secondary language acquisition, learning style is influenced by age and gender. Learning style is defined as a persons personal choice of the way or method on how he can best gather data, process it, and put it to later use in terms of concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. It was suggested by Kolb (1976) that an individual learner has particular strengths with related to his particular learning style. Moreover, the term refers to the individual differences in approaches to learning based on preferences. It pertains to the ways in which an individual characteristically acquires, retains, and retrieves information (Felder and Henriques, 1995). A study conducted by Ramayah, Sivanandan, Nasrijal, Letchumanan, and Leong (2009) explored the relationship between learning style and gender among business students. The study used a questionnaire to collect and gather data, and classified the participants using VARK (Visual, Auditory, Read/Write, and Kinesthetic) by Fleming. A convenience sampling method was used to ensure that an adequate number of samples are able to participate. The results indicate that there is a significant difference between their learning styles in terms of gender, with female participants highly preferring a visual or auditory learning style than male participants.

Friday, November 15, 2019

An Analysis of the Semiconductor Industry

An Analysis of the Semiconductor Industry The semiconductor industry began when the first transistor was built in 1947 by Bell Labs. This first use was as a hearing aid. In 1971 Intel introduces microprocessors which are the brains of the computer onto one chip for the first time. Then in 2005 the semiconductor industry reaches sales of $227 Billion dollars (SIA. 2011). In 2010 the sales were about $300 Billion dollars. The growth of the semiconductor industry has been tremendous. Semiconductors are everywhere. They are used in computers, electronics, telecommunication, industrial machines, transportation, wireless systems, medical, and military. The semiconductor industry is spread out internationally. There are major manufactures in the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, and Europe. You can see the scope and geography of the semiconductor industry is immense and meets us at nearly every aspect of our lives. Its hard to comprehend how much of an impact this industry has made on the way we interact with one another on a regular basis. Semiconductors can do several things. In general, semiconductors process and display information, handle power, store data, condition signals, and alternate between light and electrical energy sources (PPRC, 2008). These processes are unseen but very present in areas mentioned in the above paragraph. The top three semiconductor producers as ranked by isupply.com are Intel, Samsung Electronics, and Toshiba. Intel and Samsung Electronics are set apart from all the others in terms of revenues as you will be able to see in a graph representing this data within the five forces framework section of the report. This industry is very competitive. As technology changes consistently, industry competitors fight to bring the latest and greatest products to market. The semiconductor industry is well known for their innovations and volatile environment. The Industry structure Supply chain End products G-STEP Global In the 1980s, Asia was primarily a place for low-cost semiconductor assembly and low-end consumer electronic product sales. Today, the region not only leads in electronic equipment production-from low-end to advanced products-but it is also a significant consumer of sophisticated electronics. China is now the largest market for cellular handsets, representing 20 percent of demand, and the second largest market for personal computers. South Korea has the most advanced nationwide cellular network in the world. The electronic equipment and semiconductor industries have evolved into a truly global market. Sociocultural Demographic Children have started getting exposed to electronic devices at a much younger age, than ever before. The electronic device manufacturers, also, use the technology to create things targeted towards children as young as 2-3 years old. This indicates that the market for these devices is continually increasing, hence, higher use of semiconductors. Another trend that we see is people switching to smartphones, which again use comparatively more semiconductors that their current phones. In companies, increasing use of cloud computing to store data also helps the sales of semiconductors go up. In general our lifestyle is changing to a world where we use a lot of semiconductors. (Rephrase the last statement) Efficiency will drive the industry. Lower power consumption wins!   doent really matter, its a very global industry. And everyone uses it. The workplace is already filled with people of different ethnicities. (What can I say about it?) (Read income distribution again!) Technological The semiconductor industry is heavily driven by the technological advancements in the products, processes and materials within the semiconductor domain. It is the technological upgrade rate that makes the industry highly cyclic. The industry is constantly striving for low cost, high speed, energy efficient and smaller chips. The technological upgrades are a prime reason for the barriers to entry in the fab segment of the industry, as the change of the fabrication process is a very expensive affair. But since then our public investment levels have been dropping. In 2011, federal investment in research and development has dropped below 1% of GDP. (http://www.scienceprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SciProgResearchandDevelopment-101.pdf) (Page 3 graph) With the emergence of associations like SEMATECH, SEMI and SIA some of the burden was taken off of the individual companies. Intellectual property is now much more perishable than ever before and there are too many challenges to solve alone. We must recognize that alliances in the early stages of technological innovation are imperative to achieving breakthrough results that will deliver against the top and bottom line. John Warlaumont, VP of Advanced Technolog http://www.sematech.org/corporate/annual/annual09.pdf In the  semiconductor industry, for example, a confluence of cost, technology and demand trends is creating a shakeout in manufacturing. Indeed, the fixed costs and minimum scale associated with building a new chip fabrication plant have risen almost as precipitously as unit costs (under Moores Law) have fallen. As a result, few companies can still make the next leap to fabs costing $4 billion apiece. This has created a new set of fabless semiconductor companies, along with the foundries, which focus on manufacturing chips designed by others. Semiconductor companies will need to carefully weigh their strategy. http://www.bain.com/bainweb/consulting_expertise/industries_detail.asp?indID=14 Economic The economy of the country has an indirect impact on this industry. As the economy does poor the wages go lower, unemployment increases. This in turn affects the sales of electronic goods in which these semiconductors are used. However, if the economic health of the country is good, the industry is rewarded. The projected growth in the industry from 2011 2013 seems to be about 10.5%. (http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=87078rt=Semiconductor-Industry-Forecast-to-2012.html). During the past recession the wages of the Silicon Valley tech workers dropped down by 10%. (http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=157950) Political/Legal In the past five years, information technology, fueled by faster and cheaper chips, has reduced the U.S. inflation rate significantly and has doubled the nations productivity growth rate. http://www.sia-online.org/cs/about_sia Semiconductor design and manufacturing facilities are strategic to our nations economic growth. However, our industry is faced with fierce global competition and our policymakers and regulators must ensure that we have balanced tax, regulatory and trade policies to allow our industry to continue to flourish in the U.S. and remain Americas largest export industry, Brian Toohey, President SIA concluded in 2010. http://www.sia-online.org/cs/papers_publications/press_release_detail?pressrelease.id=1869 The president of SIA proposed a RD tax credit for the US companies. This is in the favor of the industry, as they can spend more money in RD. (Recent paper 17th news) Industry analysis Financial Performance Based on the U.S. semiconductor companies revenues and net incomes 2007 2010 (Figures A,B,;;) the profit margins in the industry generally low. Some companies like AMD and Freescale were making losses even in 2007 before the recession hit. The three biggest U.S. semiconductor suppliers, Intel, Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, have been profitable during all the last four years. The smaller companies by revenue have clearly had worse financial performance. That suggest that the bigger players would have some advantage. Of the top three companies Intel is integrated device manufacturer wheras Texas Instruments (Not Fabless IBM REPORT) and Qualcomm are fabless companies (see Strategic Groups section). There is no clear evidence that one of the strategies would be better than the other based on the recent financial performance. Figure XXX. Top 9 U.S. Semiconductor Companies Revenues and Net Incomes 2007. Data from WRDS COMPUSTAT. Figure XXX. Top 9 U.S. Semiconductor Companies Revenues and Net Incomes 2008. Data from WRDS COMPUSTAT. Figure XXX. Top 9 U.S. Semiconductor Companies Revenues and Net Incomes 2009. Data from WRDS COMPUSTAT. Figure XXX. Top 9 U.S. Semiconductor Companies Revenues and Net Incomes 2010. Data from WRDS COMPUSTAT. The annual data for the rest of the 9 companies is not currently available. Market Shares The Top 20 Semiconductor industry players had a combined 65.2 % market share in 2010 (Figure XXX). The semiconductor industry overall is very fragmented, especially the product development. However, the amount of cutting edge technology chip manufacturers seems to be decreasing. Globally American companies hold about half of the market share. Japan and Asia-Pacific companies have about 20 % each and the rest is EMEA companies. Semiconductor business is a very global business. The importance of Asia-Pacific region has been increasing during the recent years. Figure XXX. Preliminary Estimate Semiconductor Suppliers Revenue Share % 2010. Data from iSuppli (Ford, 2011) Figure XXX. Preliminary Estimate of Global Semiconductor Revenue Share % 2010 by Headquarters Location. Data from iSuppli (Ford, 2011) Porters Five forces Threat of New Entrants Traditionally, because of the huge capital expenditures for startup, it is very difficult for those new entries to be successfully invading the semiconductor industry. Obviously, it is great news for those large companies who can control the market in their favor by using their economies of scale. Besides, the pointed end research and development are other two indispensable barriers for new entries. (Ciolli, 2011)However, recently, with the evolvement of the industry, smaller players could move their attention from manufacturing to research and development. Benefit from the subcontracting of manufacturing, smaller companies has more resources and capital to invest into research of new technologies. The cooperation of subcontracting eased the financial burden of the smaller players and reduced the barrier of semiconductor industry to them. (Investopedia, 2011) This is extremely significant for those smaller entrepreneurial corporations even for the whole structure of the semiconductor industry. Moreover, except the high technology requirement for new entry, another significant barrier to entry the semiconductor market is the software compatibility. As a powerful semiconductor player, they are required to not only create physical technology, but also need to design convenient and compatible software which could collaborate with their processors well so customers could enjoy their product. ? What is the source for this paragraph? Power of Suppliers In terms of large semiconductor companies, they have inherent advantages when choose suppliers from thousands of them (Investopedia, 2011). The large diversified companies usually use enough number of suppliers to minimize the power of each. However, in the specialized semiconductor industry, in which the fabless manufacturing model is used by most of the companies. As a result, fabless companies play an important role in this specialized sector. Besides, not every sub-contractor has the capability to satisfied the needs of the specialized companies, so suppliers are much powerful than those in the large generic semiconductor sector (Ciolli, 2011). There are several supplier groups present to the semiconductor industry. A few of those groups are; capital equipment makers, suppliers of silicon, chemicals, gases, water, energy, metals and other materials are used in manufacturing semiconductor products (PPRC, 2008). Rivalry Among Industry Players The semiconductor industry is very highly competitive. The firms within this industry compete on a daily basis to produce or manufacture a product that is smaller, faster and cheaper. The industry changes rapidly as technology changes rapidly. This keeps it competitive as each competitor can seek and opportunity to create something great before the others do. Within this competitive industry there is a constant pressure to come up with better products. The products of this industry are much undifferentiated as the products they are trying to create are essentially improvements to similar products that already exist. The accomplishments of the products change very little. The methods of production is where can see differentiation. The players are trying to come up with innovative ways to do the same things only in a smaller, faster, and cheaper manner (Investopedia, 2010). Comment by Joona: I disagree with this paragraph to some extent. For example ARM has gained very much competitive advantage with is mobile chip technology, similarly Intel has been the number one in the laptop microprocessors becaus of superior product performance The result of an industry that is this competitive is emerging technology that is cutting-edge. The technology is constantly changing into something better so for competition it makes it hard to remain at the top. What tends to happen in this type of an industry is that there are several industry players with similar size rise as the larger players. This is because no one player can keep excelling with the newest, fastest, and cheapest product available. The four main products of the semiconductor industry are memory chips, microprocessors, commodity integrated circuit, and complex SOC (system on a chip) which is a combination of a system of semiconductors compacted into one small product. The following are the top ten ranked semiconductor industry leaders as of 2010: Intel, Samsung Electronics, Toshiba Semiconductors, Texas Instruments, Renesas Electronics, Hynix, STMicroelectronics, Micron Technology, Qualcomm, and Elpida Memory (Ford, 2010). The graph below shows how these competitors are doing against each other in terms of revenue. It gives a basic understanding how they sit against each other and who are the major players. Figure XXX. Top 20 Semiconductor Suppliers Revenues 2010. Data from iSuppli (Ford, 2011). Power of buyers The buyers of the semiconductor industry are endless. There is a buyer at literally every corner. The switching costs of the buyers in the commodity semiconductor market is small as they can purchase from any semiconductor industry player who is representing the lowest cost available as long as the technology is compatible. The strong role of the industry giants like Intel and Samsung limits the bargaining power of buyers. Computers are definitely the largest piece of demand presented by the buyers in 2011, although it is declining due to the rising sales of smart phones and media tablets (Mutschle, 2011). Buyers in the semiconductor tend to be very price sensitive as the industry is constantly producing products at a lower cost to push the demand of their product. Within the buyers, there are several buyer groups that should be mentioned. The computer industry takes of the bulk of buyer demand, mobile devices and tabloids, and the medical industry to mention a few. These buyers make purchases from the semiconductor industry to continue in daily operations as they are a large part of ongoing business. Joona: This sentence needs clarification. Threat of substitutes The industry has the ability to change in a very short time. This takes away opportunities from substitutes to enter the market segment. It would not take the semiconductor industry very long to respond to a successful substitute as they would find a way to produce the product themselves. The problem that would be present is the money constraint. It can be done but at a cost. The industry players can find themselves spending a lot of money to research and develop new products just to find that their competition beat them to it by a few months. This keeps the business environment volatile and competitive. Joona: This paragraph would need some sources to back the claims up. In addition I found it hard to understand some of the logic. Strategic groups Joona: This is one way to classify the industry. I dont know if it is necessarily the best way to do it. Product line based classification is at least one alternative, but it requires some effort. Groups Based on Level of Vertical Integration Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDM) Some companies, such as IBM and Intel, have both semiconductor design and manufacturing capability. They try to achieve efficiency through vertical integration. Foundry Companies Merchant manufacturers do manufacturing for companies that do not have own manufacturing capacity. Cutting edge semiconductor manufacturing process technology is getting more and more expensive, and thus less and less companies can afford to have own production capacity (Jelinek, 2010). The largest foundry company is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). It is a pure play foundry, which means that it only offers manufacturing services without designing own products. Fabless The fabless companies do not have manufacturing capacity. They design chips and buy manufacturing capacity from foundry companies. The fabless companies do not have as large risks relating to manufacturing technology, but as the amount foundry companies decreases, the foundry companies bargaining power will likely increase. This group includes companies like Qualcomm, AMD, Nvidia, Broadcom and MediaTek (Osborne, 2010). Key Success Factors What would it take for some firm to compete successfully in the industry(9) Joona (these guesses are just out of my head, no sources, no proof of validity): Ability to constantly develop new, better, cheaper faster designs Ability to produce breakthrough innovations Ability to form effective networks and partnerships in order to gain advantage of the resources of the collaborating companies New opportunities and threats What are the major emerging trends in the industry that may impact the industry firms in a significant way?(8) The New Threats and Opportunities The most critical treat for semiconductors industry is the rapid price declines due to more player enter the market and the substitute products become available. (Joona: Are new players really a threat given the resources and money needed to enter the industry?) The research by Ross Seymore (A Deutsche Bank Equity Research analyst) suggested that compare with the 30% revenue growth in last year, the chip industry faces a 25% revenue drop due to lower average selling prices for chips and the cyclical demand for semiconductors hits a lull. Seymore also mentioned that a largest average selling price drop may be waiting for the the memory segment which could cause risk to margins across the industry following 2010s record levels as well. ( KAWAMOTO,2011). However, there are some news opportunities for semiconductors players as well. One is the Smart Grid which could save resources in the busy time to balance the application amount of the power. Currently, about two-thirds of power is wasted because of the power grid aging. Inevitably, those aging power grid will be substituted by Smart Grid, which will give a new profit growth point to semiconductors industry. (Xiaona, 2010) Another significant technical innovation will benefit the semiconductors industry is the Immersion lithography which probably will drive the the lithography solution for semiconductor devices manufacturing in the following generation. Who can grasp this new technology will take a vantage point in the next decade of competition.(JVSTB, 2004) Joona: We should try to find some big picture opportunities and threats that have could have a significant impact on the industry Predictions (Next 5 years) How dynamic is the industry, stage of its life cycle? What is the likely demand situation during the next five years?(7) High inventory levels in Q4 2010 According to iSuppli the semiconductor suppliers inventories reached the highest levels in two and a half years during the fourth quarter of 2010. If the the semiconductor industry growth slows in 2011, this could bring troubles to the companies. (Stiefel, 2011) This is another example of the cyclicality and weak predictability of the industry. Joona: Could we somehow combine this with the previous section. More predictions needed. My best guess is that the industry is going to end up in a somewhat stable situation. 2010 was a boom because of the recession 2008-2009 and low inventory levels. ************** Future : http://isscc.org/doc/2010/ISSCC2010_TechTrends.pdf http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/19/intel-to-spend-5-billion-on-new-14nm-fab-in-arizona-creating-4/ Ravi: The fortunes of the semiconductor industries are ultimately tied to the demand of the end products. (Dirk Meyer, president and CEO of AMD, NDTV, interview) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpDx7LPdhqsfeature=related   Semiconductor design and manufacturing facilities are strategic to our nations economic growth. However, our industry is faced with fierce global competition and our policymakers and regulators must ensure that we have balanced tax, regulatory and trade policies to allow our industry to continue to flourish in the U.S. and remain Americas largest export industry, Brian Toohey, President SIA concluded in 2010. http://www.sia-online.org/cs/papers_publications/press_release_detail?pressrelease.id=1869 Intellectual property is now much more perishable than ever before and there are too many challenges to solve alone. We must recognize that alliances in the early stages of technological innovation are imperative to achieving breakthrough results that will deliver against the top and bottom line. John Warlaumont, VP of Advanced Technolog http://www.sematech.org/corporate/annual/annual09.pdf

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

My Greatest Moment :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I remember one of the greatest moments of my high school career. I have played lacrosse since seventh grade and every year I’ve gotten a little better, or at least I hope I have. My first year I understood most of the rules, could catch, throw, and pick up ground balls. My second year I understood all the rules, could pass well and put my shots where I wanted them. My third year of lacrosse was the first time I had played a high school sport so I think that I developed my skills much more than ever before.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After playing lacrosse for three years I thought that I was getting fairly decent however I had never scored a goal. All of my freshman year I took good aggressive shots and most of them were on goal. In practice I would put many of my shots behind the goalie but it seemed like the goalies in the games were brick walls. I can remember it like it was yesterday I picked up the ball verses Chantilly at the restraining line and carried it to the right corner of the box. The right side is my best side for taking shots; I have a fairly strong right hand with my stick. I took my man one on one, I tried to go outside and he was there so I went on the inside of the defender. He wasn’t ready and I had an open shot about fifteen feet out from the goal, I took it. In an instant the Chantilly goalie was on his knees with his stick in the dust. I felt like the world was paused. Then very slowly I saw him get up and pass the ball to his teammate who took off for our side. He had saved the last shot I would take for that season.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The whole year after I spent time getting in shape and working on my stick skills. At least twice a week I would go and shoot at the tennis courts that were near my house. I worked and worked at getting to be the best lacrosse player I could be. I wanted to know what it felt like to have my name and number announced over the whole field and possibly if I did my very best over the P.A. system in school the next morning.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  * * *   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During the off-season after my freshman year the head coach, Coach La Chance, was replaced.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Frostbite Chapter 16

Sixteen LISSA FOUND ME LATER IN the day. I'd fallen asleep after Mason left, too dejected to leave the bed. Her slamming of the door jolted me awake. I was happy to see her. I needed to spill about the fumbled thing with Mason, but before I could, I read her feelings. They were as troubled as mine. So, as always, I put her first. â€Å"What happened?† She sat on her bed, sinking into the feather duvet, her feelings both furious and sad. â€Å"Christian.† â€Å"Really?† I'd never known them to fight. They teased each other a lot, but it was hardly the kind of thing that could nearly bring her to tears. â€Å"He found out†¦ I was with Adrian this morning.† â€Å"Oh, wow,† I said. â€Å"Yeah. That might be a problem.† Standing up, I walked over to the dresser and found my brush. Wincing, I stood in front of the gilt-framed mirror and began brushing out the snarls acquired during my nap. She groaned. â€Å"But nothing happened! Christian's freaking out over nothing. I can't believe he doesn't trust me.† â€Å"He trusts you. The whole thing's just weird, that's all.† I thought about Dimitri and Tasha. â€Å"Jealousy makes people do and say stupid things.† â€Å"But nothing happened,† she repeated. â€Å"I mean, you were there and- hey, I never found out. What were you doing there?† â€Å"Adrian sent me a bunch of perfume.† â€Å"He- you mean that giant box you were carrying?† I nodded. â€Å"Whoa.† â€Å"Yeah. I came to return it,† I said. â€Å"The question is, what were you doing there?† â€Å"Just talking,† she said. She started to light up, on the verge of telling me something, but then she paused. I felt the thought almost reach the front of her mind and then get shoved back. â€Å"I've got a lot to tell you, but first tell me what's up with you.† â€Å"Nothing's up with me.† â€Å"Whatever, Rose. I'm not psychic like you, but I know when you're pissed off about something. You've been kind of down since Christmas. What's up?† Now wasn't the time to get into what had happened on Christmas when my mom told me about Tasha and Dimitri. But I did tell Lissa the story about Mason- editing out why I had stopped- and simply driving home how I had. â€Å"Well†¦Ã¢â‚¬  she said when I finished. â€Å"That was your right.† â€Å"I know. But I kind of led him on. I can see why he'd be upset.† â€Å"You guys can probably fix it, though. Go talk to him. He's crazy about you.† It was more than miscommunication. Things with Mason and me couldn't be patched up so easily. â€Å"I don't know,† I told her. â€Å"Not everyone's like you and Christian.† Her face darkened. â€Å"Christian. I still can't believe he's being so stupid about this.† I didn't mean to, but I laughed. â€Å"Liss, you guys'll kiss and make up in like a day. More than kiss, probably.† It slipped out before I could stop it. Her eyes widened. â€Å"You know.† She shook her head in exasperation. â€Å"Of course you know.† â€Å"Sorry,† I said. I hadn't meant to let her know I knew about the sex thing, not until she told me herself. She eyed me. â€Å"How much do you know?† â€Å"Um, not much,† I lied. I'd finished brushing my hair but began playing with the brush's handle in order to avoid her eyes. â€Å"I have got to learn to keep you out of my mind,† she muttered. â€Å"Only way I can ‘talk' to you lately.† Another slipup. â€Å"What's that supposed to mean?† she demanded. â€Å"Nothing †¦ I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She was giving me a sharp look. â€Å"I†¦ I don't know. I just feel like we don't talk as much anymore.† â€Å"Takes two to fix that,† she said, voice kind again. â€Å"You're right,† I said, not pointing out that two could fix that only if one wasn't always with her boyfriend. True, I was guilty in my own way of locking things up- but I had wanted to talk to her a number of times lately. The timing just never seemed to be right- not even now. â€Å"You know, I never thought you'd be first. Or I guess I never thought I'd be a senior and still be a virgin.† â€Å"Yeah,† she said dryly. â€Å"Me either.† â€Å"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?† She grinned, then caught sight of her watch. Her smile fell. â€Å"Ugh. I've got to go to Priscilla's banquet. Christian was supposed to go with me, but he's off being an idiot†¦.† Her eyes focused hopefully on me. â€Å"What? No. Please, Liss. You know how I hate those formal royal things.† â€Å"Oh, come on,† she begged. â€Å"Christian flaked out. You can't throw me to the wolves. And didn't you just say we needed to talk more?† I groaned. â€Å"Besides, when you're my guardian, you'll have to do these things all the time.† â€Å"I know,† I said darkly. â€Å"I thought I could maybe enjoy my last six months of freedom.† But in the end, she conned me into going with her, as we'd both known she would. We didn't have much time, and I had to do a rush shower, blow-dry, and makeup job. I'd brought Tasha's dress on a whim, and while I still wanted her to suffer horribly for being attracted to Dimitri, I was grateful for her present now. I pulled on the silken material, happy to see the shade of red was just as killer on me as I'd imagined. It was a long, Asian-style dress with flowers embroidered into the silk. The high neck and long hem covered a lot of skin, but the material clung to me and looked sexy in a different kind of way than showing a lot of skin did. My black eye was practically nonexistent by now. Lissa, as always, looked amazing. She wore a deep purple dress by Johnna Raski, a well-known Moroi designer. It was sleeveless and made of satin. The tiny amethyst-like crystals set into the straps sparkled against her pale skin. She wore her hair up in a loose, artfully styled bun. When we reached the banquet room, we drew a few eyes. I don't think the royals had expected the Dragomir princess to bring her dhampir friend to this highly anticipated, invitation-only dinner. But hey, Lissa's invite had said â€Å"and guest.† She and I took our places at one of the tables with some royals whose names I promptly forgot. They were happy to ignore me, and I was happy to be ignored. Besides, it wasn't like there weren't plenty of other distractions. This room was done all in silver and blue. Midnight blue silk cloths covered the tables, so shiny and smooth that I was terrified to eat on them. Sconces of beeswax candles hung all over the walls, and a fireplace decorated with stained glass crackled away in one corner. The effect was a spectacular panorama of color and light, dizzying to the eye. In the corner, a slim Moroi woman played soft cello music, her face dreamy as she focused on the song. The clinking of crystal wineglasses complemented the strings' low, sweet notes. Dinner was equally amazing. The food was elaborate, but I recognized everything on my plate (china, of course) and liked all of it. No foie gras here. Salmon in a sauce of shiitake mushrooms. A salad with pears and goat cheese. Delicate almond-stuffed pastries for dessert. My only complaint was that the portions were small. The food seemed more like it was there to simply decorate the plates, and I swear, I finished it in ten bites. Moroi might still need food along with their blood, but they didn't need as much as a human- or, say, a growing dhampir girl- needed. Still, the food alone could have justified me coming along on this venture, I decided. Except, when the meal ended, Lissa told me we couldn't leave. â€Å"We have to mingle,† she whispered. Mingle? Lissa laughed at my discomfort. â€Å"You're the social one.† It was true. In most circumstances, I was the one who put myself out there and wasn't afraid to talk to people. Lissa tended to be shyer. Only, with this group, the tables were turned. This was her element, not mine, and it amazed me to see just how well she could interact with royal high society now. She was perfect, polished and polite. Everyone was eager to talk to her, and she always seemed to know the right thing to say. She wasn't using compulsion, exactly, but she definitely put out an air that drew others to her. I think it might have been an unconscious effect of spirit. Even with the meds, her magical and natural charisma came through. Whereas intense social interactions had once been forced and stressful for her, she now conducted them with ease. I was proud of her. Most of the conversation stayed pretty light: fashion, royal love lives, etc. No one seemed to want to spoil the atmosphere with ugly Strigoi talk. So I clung to her side for the rest of the night. I tried to tell myself it was just practice for the future, when I'd follow her around like a quiet shadow anyway. The truth was, I just felt too uncomfortable with this group and knew my usual snarky defense mechanisms really weren't useful here. Plus, I was painfully aware that I was the only dhampir dinner guest. There were other dhampirs, yes, but they were in formal guardian mode, hovering on the periphery of the room. As Lissa worked the crowd, we drifted over to a small group of Moroi whose voices were growing louder. One of them I recognized. He was the guy from the fight that I'd helped break up, only this time he wore a striking black tuxedo instead of a swimsuit. He glanced up at our approach, blatantly checked us out, but apparently didn't remember me. Ignoring us, he continued on with his argument. Not surprisingly, Moroi protection was the topic. He was the one who'd been in favor of Moroi going on the offensive against the Strigoi. â€Å"What part of ‘suicide' don't you understand?† asked one of the men standing nearby. He had silvery hair and a bushy mustache. He wore a tux too, but the younger guy looked better in one. â€Å"Moroi training as soldiers will be the end of our race.† â€Å"It's not suicide,† exclaimed the young guy. â€Å"It's the right thing to do. We have to start looking out for ourselves. Learning to fight and use our magic is our greatest asset, other than the guardians.† â€Å"Yes, but with the guardians, we don't need other assets,† said Silver Hair. â€Å"You've been listening to non-royals. They don't have any guardians of their own, so of course they're scared. But that's no reason to drag us down and put our lives at risk.† â€Å"Then don't,† said Lissa suddenly. Her voice was soft, but everyone in the little group stopped and looked at her. â€Å"When you talk about Moroi learning how to fight, you make it sound like an all-or-nothing matter. It's not. If you don't want to fight, then you shouldn't have to. I completely understand.† The man looked slightly mollified. â€Å"But, that's because you can rely on your guardians. A lot of Moroi can't. And if they want to learn self-defense, there's no reason why they shouldn't do it on their own.† The younger guy grinned triumphantly at his adversary. â€Å"There, you see?† â€Å"It's not that easy,† countered Silver Hair. â€Å"If it was just a matter of you crazy people wanting to get yourselves killed, then fine. Go do it. But where are you going to learn all these so-called fighting skills?† â€Å"We'll figure the magic out on our own. Guardians will teach us actual physical fighting.† â€Å"Yes, see? I knew that was where this was going. Even if the rest of us don't take part in your suicide mission, you still want to strip us of our guardians to train up your pretend army.† The young guy scowled at the word pretend, and I wondered if more fists would fly. â€Å"You owe it to us.† â€Å"No, they don't,† said Lissa. Intrigued gazes turned her way again. This time, it was Silver Hair who regarded her triumphantly. The younger guy's features flushed with anger. â€Å"Guardians are the best battle resources we have.† â€Å"They are,† she agreed, â€Å"but that doesn't give you the right to take them away from their duty.† Silver Hair practically glowed. â€Å"Then how are we supposed to learn?† demanded the other guy. â€Å"The same way guardians do,† Lissa informed him. â€Å"If you want to learn to fight, go to the academies. Form classes and start at the beginning, the same way the novices do. That way, you won't be taking guardians away from active protection. It's a safe environment, and the guardians there specialize in teaching students anyway.† She paused thoughtfully. â€Å"You could even start making defense part of the standard curriculum for Moroi students already there.† Astonished stares fell on her, mine included. It was such an elegant solution, and everyone else around us realized it. It gave no party 100 percent of its demands, but it met most in a way that didn't really harm the other side. Pure genius. The other Moroi studied her with wonder and fascination. Suddenly, everyone started talking at once, excited about the idea. They drew Lissa in, and soon there was a passionate conversation going on about her plan. I got shuffled to the edges and decided that was just fine. Then I retreated altogether and sought out a corner near a door. Along the way, I passed a server with a tray of hors d'oeuvres. Still hungry, I eyed them suspiciously but saw nothing that looked like the foie gras from the other day. I gestured to one that looked like some sort of braised, rare meat. â€Å"Is that goose liver?† I asked. She shook her head. â€Å"Sweetbread.† That didn't sound bad. I reached for it. â€Å"It's pancreas,† said a voice behind me. I jerked back. â€Å"What?† I squeaked. The waitress took my shock for rejection and moved on. Adrian Ivashkov moved into my line of sight, looking immensely pleased with himself. â€Å"Are you messing with me?† I asked. â€Å"‘Sweetbread' is pancreas?† I don't know why that shocked me so much. Moroi consumed blood. Why not internal organs? Still, I repressed a shudder. Adrian shrugged. â€Å"It's really good.† I shook my head in disgust. â€Å"Oh, man. Rich people suck.† His amusement continued. â€Å"What are you doing here, little dhampir? Are you following me around?† â€Å"Of course not,† I scoffed. He was dressed to perfection, as always. â€Å"Especially not after all the trouble you've gotten us into.† He flashed one of his tantalizing smiles, and despite how much he annoyed me, I again felt that overwhelming urge to be near him. What was up with that? â€Å"I don't know,† he teased. He looked perfectly sane now, exhibiting no trace of the weird behavior I'd witnessed in his room. And yeah, he looked a lot better in a tuxedo than any guy I'd seen in there so far. â€Å"As many times as we keep seeing each other? This is, what, the fifth time? It's starting to look suspicious. Don't worry, though. I won't tell your boyfriend. Either of them.† I opened my mouth to protest, then remembered he'd seen me with Dimitri earlier. I refused to blush. â€Å"I only have one boyfriend. Sort of. Maybe not anymore. And anyway, there's nothing to tell. I don't even like you.† â€Å"No?† asked Adrian, still smiling. He leaned toward me, like he had a secret to share. â€Å"Then why are you wearing my perfume?† This time, I did blush. I took a step back. â€Å"I'm not.† He laughed. â€Å"Of course you are. I counted the boxes after you left. Besides, I can smell it on you. It's nice. Sharp†¦but still sweet- just like I'm sure you are deep down inside. And you got it right, you know. Just enough to add an edge†¦but not enough to drown your own scent.† The way he said â€Å"scent† made it sound like a dirty word. Royal Moroi might make me uncomfortable, but smartass guys hitting on me didn't. I dealt with them on a regular basis. I shook off my shyness and remembered who I was. â€Å"Hey,† I said, tossing my hair back. â€Å"I had every right to take one. You offered them. Your mistake is in assuming me taking one means anything. It doesn't. Except that maybe you should be more careful with where you dump all that money of yours.† â€Å"Ooh, Rose Hathaway is here to play, folks.† He paused and took a glass of what looked like champagne from a passing waiter. â€Å"You want one?† â€Å"I don't drink.† â€Å"Right.† Adrian handed me a glass anyway, then shooed the waiter away and took a drink of the champagne. I had a feeling it wasn't his first of the night. â€Å"So. Sounds like our Vasilisa put my dad in his place.† â€Å"Your †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I glanced back at the group I'd just left. Silver Hair still stood there, gesticulating wildly. â€Å"That guy's your dad?† â€Å"That's what my mom says.† â€Å"You agree with him? About how Moroi fighting would be suicide?† Adrian shrugged and took another sip. â€Å"I don't really have an opinion on that.† â€Å"That's not possible. How can you not feel one way or another?† â€Å"Dunno. Just not something I think about. I've got better things to do.† â€Å"Like stalk me,† I suggested. â€Å"And Lissa.† I still wanted to know why she'd been in his room. He smiled again. â€Å"I told you, you're the one following me.† â€Å"Yeah, yeah, I know. Five times- † I stopped. â€Å"Five times?† He nodded. â€Å"No, it's only been four.† With my free hand, I ticked them off. â€Å"There was that first night, the night at the spa, then when I came to your room, and now tonight.† The smile turned secretive. â€Å"If you say so.† â€Å"I do say so†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Again, my words trailed off. I had talked to Adrian one other time. Sort of. â€Å"You can't mean †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Mean what?† A curious, eager expression lit his eyes. It was more hopeful than presumptuous. I swallowed, recalling the dream. â€Å"Nothing.† Without thinking about it, I took a drink of champagne. Across the room, Lissa's feelings burned back to me, calm and content. Good. â€Å"Why are you smiling?† Adrian asked. â€Å"Because Lissa's still over there, working that crowd.† â€Å"No surprise there. She's one of those people who can charm anyone she wants if she tries hard enough. Even people who hate her.† I gave him a wry look. â€Å"I feel that way when I talk to you.† â€Å"But you don't hate me,† he said, finishing the last of his champagne. â€Å"Not really.† â€Å"I don't like you either.† â€Å"So you keep saying.† He took a step toward me, not threatening, just making the space between us more intimate. â€Å"But I can live with that.† â€Å"Rose!† The sharpness of my mother's voice cut through the air. A few people within earshot glanced over at us. My mother- all five angry feet of her- stormed up to us.