How Do Maya Angelou and Grace Nichols Communicate What It Means to Be a Black Woman in Today’s Society Essay

How do Maya Angelou and Grace Nichols communicate what it means to be a black woman in today’s society? In this essay I will compare two poems. The two poems I will compare is Maya Angelou’s ‘Still I rise’ to Grace Nichols’ ‘Of course when they ask for poems about the ‘realities’ of Black women’. I think Maya Angelou’s ‘Still in rise’ has a rather different message to Grace Nichols’ poem. I think they are interesting to compare because Maya Angelo is lively and spirited about writing a poem about how strong black women are and how it is to be a black woman in today’s society. Whereas, Grace Nichols is more disgruntled and irritated about writing her poem. The first poem I will scrutinize is Maya Angelo’s ‘Still I rise’. The title ‘Still I rise’ shows strength and optimism as it is a short but strong meaning title. It means that Maya Angelou will always defend herself. It makes you feel no matter what you do to Maya Angelou she will just get back up again. This makes you believe that Maya Angelou is a strong person. In the first verse, Maya Angelou starts off using an accusatory tone when she says ‘you may write me down in history with you bitter, twisted lies’. This gives the impression that she is talking to white people when she says this. I think this means she doesn’t like what white people have wrote in their history books about black people’s past as it is over exaggerated and a lot of lies. Near the end of the first verse, she uses the simile ‘but still like dust, I’ll rise’. This is once again reinforcing the idea that she is a strong black woman. By using this simile she is also comparing herself and her race to dust and this suggests that you can’t get rid of black people and that they are everywhere you go, as dust is hard to get rid of and it is everywhere as you can’t control or capture it. In the second verse, Maya Angelou is more lively and spirited when she says ‘Does my sassiness upset you? ’ This suggests that she is getting more confident as she progresses through the poem. She also uses two rhetorical questions to grip the reader’s attention ‘why are you beset with gloom? Also, in the second verse she shows more confidence when she uses the phrase ‘‘cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells pumping in my living room. ’ The use of informal language ‘cause’ shows this. This phrase also makes me think that she feels powerful, rich and important. In the third stanza, she uses a lot of similes such as ‘Just like moons and like suns’ I think she has put this simile in because it is natural imagery and she wants black people to be described as this because it is not only a part of nature but the sun and moon are beautiful; vital to the world. In the next line she continues with the natural imagery by saying ‘With certainty of tides’. This is also natural imagery as she is comparing the black race with tides. I think she chose to use the natural imagery of tides here because not only is it once again vital to the world but it also creates a sense of power as tides and waves are incontrollable, powerful and constant and waves always come back so I think maybe she was also trying to reinforce the idea that she and her race are strong. However in the fourth verse, she stops using natural imagery and changes into an interrogative mode when she says ‘did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? ’ Here she uses negative lexis such as ‘broken’ to create an image of a typical slave to the reader. I think she does this here as she wants to show people that herself and her race are not slaves and that you should not dwell on their past and think of them as slaves. In the fifth stanza, it’s more about her culture when she uses the simile ‘cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines’ I think she is implying here that she is not rich in wealth but she is rich in culture and in spirit. I think this changes the atmosphere to a more relaxed mood as she is embracing her culture. Also, when she says ‘diggin in my own back yard’ it gives you a sense of black soulful language and reinforces the fact that she embraces her culture and language. However, in stanza six, it is a more harsh verse as she uses an accusatory tone once again. She creates an atmosphere of fury and annoyance by using onomatopoeia and harsh sounds such as ‘cut’ and ‘kill’. I think this was put in so people would remember the way white people treated slaves and how violent they were towards them. I think she is trying to give an insight of how it must have felt to be a slave and make people feel guilty for treating them so unfairly. At the end of this verse, she repeats herself ‘But still, like air, I’ll rise’. I think she does this to not only make people believe she is a strong, black woman, but to also make the poem memorable for the reader and make it stand out. Also, when she uses the simile ‘like air’ it makes you think that you can’t hurt her because she is ‘like air’ and you can’t cut or hurt air. I think air was a good simile to use here because air rises and I think Angelou was implying that she will rise above all expectations people have for her, black women and black men. Also, by using the word air Maya Angelou is trying to indicate that herself and the black race are now free as black people are now free from slavery. In the seventh stanza, the atmosphere changes and you can see Angelou’s pride in her culture and race. I think Maya Angelou is trying to create a different image for black women as she says ‘does my sexiness up set you? . This suggests that she is trying to make a new image for black women that is sexy and more elegant because before they were seen as only slaves. In the third and fourth line of this verse, she says ‘that I dance like I’ve got diamonds, at the meeting of my thighs’. By using the word diamond she is implying that black women are rare, precious and tough as those are the main characteristics of a diamond. I t hink she is suggesting black women should be treasured and kept safe as they are too precious to lose. In the last stanza, Angelou breaks free from the previous set structure of the quatrains and it’s a more symbolic structure; it does not have a pattern to it. I think this is because it is supposed to imitate the slaves breaking free. Also, it has a random lay out and I think this is reinforcing the idea that you can’t capture black people like slaves anymore and that black people shouldn’t be treated unfairly anymore. The last verse also has more energy to it as it speeds up more. I think this is because when black people broke free from slavery they were lively and more spirited and had more pride in their culture and race. Also, in the last verse, Angelou uses metaphors instead of similes now such as ‘I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide’. I think she changes from similes to metaphors in this verse because she has gained more confidence and pride. It has also become a more happier, lively verse again as she uses more positive lexis such as ‘daybreak’ and ‘wondrously clear’. This is because she is happy and proud of being black and wants black women and men to be perceived as happy and lively. She has not only broken free from the quatrains in this last verse, but she has also broken free from the AB rhyming sentences and is now using rhyming couplets as well as repetition of the words ‘I rise, I rise, I rise’ to show confidence, power and pride of what it means to be a black woman. Overall, throughout the whole of the poem, I believe that Maya Angelou was trying to change the perception of black women and make black women feel as confident and as proud as Angelou does of being black. Throughout the poem Angelou’s tone differs. As in the beginning, although she started with an accusatory tone, she went on and used positive lexis such as ‘hopes springing high’ this then changed from a interrogative mood to a more lively and spirited atmosphere. However, as the poem continues she starts to use negative lexis again and the interrogative mode re-appears making the poem seem more harsh to the reader, although, when you read on the poem ends in a more lively and happier tone as she uses more absolute phrases and starts to use metaphors rather than similes now; ‘I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide’. Angelou’s use of sound imagery is interesting as she makes the reader imagine not only pretty, natural images, but harsh, cruel images as well. For instance, ‘Just like moons and like suns’ and ‘Shoulders falling down like teardrops’. I think she does this so we all can see what she wants black people to be perceived as and also what black people used to be perceived as. Overall, I think Maya Angelou wrote this poem to change the perception of black women in today’s society. The second poem I will analyse is Grace Nichols ‘Of course when they ask for poems about the ‘realities’ of black women’. This is a poem with a slightly different message. Whereas, Maya Angelou’s poem was overall lively and spirited, Grace Nichols poem takes on a more sarcastic side of what it’s like to be a black woman, compared to a white woman, in today’s society and how she feels about being asked to write a poem on what it’s like to be a black woman. The heading of Grace Nichols poem’ Of course when they ask for poems about the ‘realities’ of black women’ shows a sarcastic side as she has put realities in inverted commas. This gives you the impression that she doesn’t want to write this poem as black women are no different from white women or any other race. The first verse of the poem starts with ‘what they really want at times is a specimen whose heart is in the dust’. When she uses the word they in the beginning I think she is talking about white people, racists and those that misunderstand her race. Also, when she says the word specimen it makes you think of a different species; something that needs to be studied. I think this is what she feels racists think of the black race. When she refers to ‘whose heart is in the dust’ this makes the reader believe she thinks people pity her race. When she says ‘a mother-of-sufferer’ she is referring to ancestors of slaves and this then links to ‘trampled/oppressed’ which is the typical slave image. She’s is saying here that ‘they’, meaning white people or people that misunderstand her race, want a slave to write a poem about how it is to be a black person living in today’s society. Grace Nichols then moves on and says ‘they want a little black blood undressed and validation for the abused stereotype already in their heads’. This means that racists want a black, vulnerable person to be proof for the typical slave image, that’s a black stereotype, in their minds. When she says ‘black blood’ she is implying that black people are completely different to any other race and even have different blood, even though black people are no different from white people. She is also implying, when she says ‘For the abused stereotype already in their head’, that the stereotype has been put into people’s heads by white, biased history books. When she says, in the next verse, ‘a perfect song’ she is referring to someone that is proud of their race and would like to write a poem about being black, for example Maya Angelou. Within the next few lines, Grace Nichols talks more about how not all black women are the same and how they can’t be categorised. When she says’ I say I can write no poem big enough to hold the essence’. This means she can’t write one poem for black people or any other race as there are too many personalities and individuals to put them all into one category. When she says ‘of a black woman or a white woman or a green woman’ she is then showing her sarcasm again when she says ‘green woman’ as you can’t have green women and what she is trying to say is that we are all equal . ‘And there are Black women and Black women’ this is once again reinforcing the idea that there is not just ‘the’ black woman. There are different types of black women and they are not all the same and are individuals. In the next line she uses a very good simile when she says ‘like a contrasting sky of rainbow spectrum’. I love this simile as she is saying that there isn’t only one colour black and that when you put all the different colours together it makes something beautiful, such as a rainbow. She is also using natural imagery here and it makes you think of how special black people are to this world. As you go on in the poem, she uses the well known phrase ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ very well as she says ‘touch a black woman you mistake for a rock and feel her melting down to fudge’. I think this is implying the phrase ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ as it is saying if you insult a black woman when you think she has ‘thick skin’ she could really be vulnerable inside. In her poem, she does not only talk about different types of people and race, but she also introduces the fact of the different types of language. ‘If need be we’ll trade a piece-a-pussy’. Here she uses her own language of Creole and mixes Caribbean English with English to create a sense of her own Caribbean culture and how proud she is to be black and have her own, unique culture. Also, during her poem, Grace Nichols refers to some famous black women as she says ‘and there are black women so dangerous in South Africa they prison them away’. Here she is talking about Winnie Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s wife. She also refers to Maya Angelou throughout her poem as she says’ and there are black women strong and eloquent and focused’. Here she talks about Maya Angelou and how proud she is of her race. However, at the end of the poem, she ends on a positive note as she says’ the twisted self-negating history we’ve inherited’. I think this means even though they see their history as twisted and cruel, she wants black people to focus on the present and make their history better than that of the ancestors that were slaves. She also says ‘crushing out with each dancing step’. This shows me that she wants to crush out their past history and therefore ends on a positive note. Overall, throughout the poem, I think Grace Nichols was trying to make black women proud of their culture and race and that they are no more different than white people or any other race. I think Grace Nichols didn’t have a set structure for the poem as it is sporadic and a random layout. I think she did this because there is not a set pattern for black women and that the layout represents this. Also, the layout is random and unique and that’s what she wants black women to be perceived as instead as being in a set pattern and categorised. Grace Nichols repeats several thing throughout her poem. ‘of a black woman or a white woman or a green woman’ is repeated a lot to emphasize the point that all races are equal and it doesn’t depend on colour for how we are treated. She also repeats the phrase ‘crushing out with each dancing step’ to make her point that you shouldn’t judge people by their past and that you should forget about you and your ancestors history and create new history. I think Grace Nichols used Creole to emphasize how she is proud of her culture and that black women should be proud as well and celebrate their own culture. I think these poems differ in messages and tones as Maya Angelou’s poem ‘still I rise’ her message is that black women should be proud about their culture and to be black and that Maya Angelou wants to change the perception of black women so that it is not the typical lave image but it is more sexy and elegant. Also, I think Maya Angelou was lively and spirited throughout most of her poem, although she had some accusatory tone and interrogative mode. However, Grace Nichols’s message was different from Maya Angelou’s as Grace Nichols wanted black women to be treated fairly and equally as any other race are and that she doesn’t think its right to define black women all in one category. Also, she didn’t think it was right to be asked to write a poem about how black women feel living in today’s society as it is no different from any other race woman. Grace Nichols’s tone throughout was mainly accusatory and angry. In some ways the two poems are similar as they both feel that their race should not be treated as slave just because some of their ancestors were in captivity as slaves in past history. Also, they both feel that their race should now think about the present and not focus on the past and believe you should forget about slavery and the past. They both also want black people to celebrate their culture. I think Grace Nichols’s poem portrays the black race better as Maya Angelou categorises the black race even though they are all individuals and can’t be put into just one category. Whereas, Grace Nichols says all the way through her poem that black people are individuals and all unique and you can’t categorise them. Also, I think Grace Nichols write not just about the good things about being a black woman, but she also write about the bad things, whereas, Maya Angelou doesn’t.

The Decision of Johnson & Johnson Acquires Dabao.

The decision of Johnson & Johnson Acquires Dabao. Di Wang MGT 540 MI004 Professor: Arthur Annechino 20th February 2013 Table of Contents Executive Summary3 Introduction4 The reasons of decision6 Decision making style7 The problem in decision making process8 Recommendations9 Conclusion11 Reference12 Executive Summary This paper is talking about the Johnson & Johnson Acquires Dabao. It starts with review the two companies’ history, and then shows the problem of them before acquiring.Further analysis of Johnson & Johnson’s decision with the problems that in their decision making process and also the decision making style that could be found in the acquisition. At last, give some recommendations to JNJ and the conclusion for this whole paper. Introduction Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is an American multinational medical devices, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and t he company is listed among the Fortune 500.Johnson & Johnson is located in New Brunswick, New Jersey with the consumer division being located in Skillman, New Jersey. The corporation includes some 250 subsidiary companies with operations in over 57 countries and products sold in over 175 countries. Johnson & Johnson had worldwide pharmaceutical sales of $65 billion for the calendar year of 2011. Among JNJ’s well-known consumer products are the Band-Aid Brand line of bandages, Tylenol medications, Johnson's baby products, Neutrogena skin and beauty products, Clean & Clear facial wash and Acuvue contact lenses.Johnson & Johnson came to China in 1985, but until now, in majority of the Chinese people’s hearts, it still stay in the baby care products. In fact, Johnson & Johnson brand in the United States has more than a century history, is the products supplier with most comprehensive and the most diverse medical and health care products and consumer care in the world. The strong outstanding international performance did not make Johnson & Johnson achieve the comprehensive development of a leap in China.Especially in consumer and personal care products, Johnson & Johnson has Johnson & Johnson's Baby, Clean & Clear, Neutrogena and other brands. These brands almost cover each segment of the cosmetics industry. But in each market segment, the market share of Johnson & Johnson's product did not reach the top ten. Johnson & Johnson seems to be considered as a niche brand, which makes JNJ very depressed. In Johnson & Johnson’s view, in order to catch up with other multinationals in China, the best and quickest way is to acquire a local brand and expand its own brand extension and channel coverage.Dabao is undoubtedly the best choice to achieve this strategic goal for Johnson & Johnson. Beijing Dabao Cosmetics Co. , Ltd. its predecessor factory is Beijing Sanlu Factory, is a state welfare enterprises established by the Beijing Government for the emplo yment of the disabled. And with as many as 35% of the disabled workers. The company was founded in 1958, 1985 converting cosmetics develops, produces, sells, and exports herbal cosmetic products in China and internationally. It offers various varieties of skincare, hair care, beauty care, perfume, and clinical series products.The company’s products include slimming creams, breast configuring creams, hair stimulators, senile fleck dispeller creams, eye-bag creams, anti-wrinkle creams, ginseng shampoos and conditioners, and ginseng both lotions. Its most famous product is â€Å"Dabao SOD cream†. It sells its products through department stores and shops. The company exports its products to the United States, Switzerland, Sweden, Greece, Tunisia, Bangladesh, and Cyprus. From in 1997, Dabao won the championship of the domestic sales of skin care products for eight consecutive years. In 2003, market share of Dabao in the skincare industry was 17. 9%, much higher than the oth er competitors. Dabao was trying to get rid of the low-end positioning, but the market performance is far from satisfactory. It seems that Dabao would never enter the high-end market in the industry. In 2004, its brand market share of negative growth, accompanied by declining net profit. Industrial output value and tax sales revenue declined slightly. The total profits and taxes in the decline stage, indicating that there was fierce competition in the market at that time, Dabao brand was facing the increase impact of foreign brands, price wars, increased costs, and many other heavy pressure.On February 27th , 2007, Dabao listing to start the transfer of 100% equity at a price of 2. 3 billion yuan in the China Beijing Equity Exchange. Its transfer form is equity overall transfer. Listing period, Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment Co. , Ltd. , Unilever (China) Investment Co. , Ltd. , Kao Corporation and other international well-known cosmetics companies to come to counseling and due diligence. Johnson & Johnson and Unilever are interested transferee. The Unilever offer only 1. 7 billion yuan, much lower than the listing price. Finally JNJ won at the price of 2. 3 billion, the equity transfer agreement signed on April 18, 2008.July 30, Johnson & Johnson completed the acquisition of Dabao transactions from Beijing Sanlu Factory and the Dabao employee stock holding committee. Acquired the 83. 42% of state-owned shares and 16. 58% of employee shares from both of them. The reasons of decision There are three main reason why Johnson & Johnson make the acquire decision. Firstly, in order to catch up with other multinationals in China, the best and quickest way is to acquire a local brand and expand its own brand extension and channel coverage. Dabao is undoubtedly the best choice to achieve this strategic goal for Johnson & Johnson.Johnson & Johnson can access to the business development department directly, gain the time advantage in order to avoid time delays in pl ant construction. Secondly, Reduce a competitor, and directly get its position in the industry. Thirdly, get the use of high energy market forces. The two corporate uniform price policy, earnings higher than the revenue they gained when they were compete with each other. For example, a large number of information resources will be available for disclosure. Such as accounting income data can be used to illustrate the profitability of the enterprise, lso can be used to evaluate the changes of industry profitability. The acquisition will bring Johnson & Johnson the efficiency of production and operation, the most obvious performance was to achieved economies of scale to help Johnson to improve the control ability of Chinese market. Dabao in the second and third line markets has a strong marketing network and great attraction. Dabao have the mature path in these markets , especially advantage in the wholesale field of the second and third line markets, there will be conducive to the ex pansion of the Johnson & Johnson products field.Also can filling in gaps for Johnson & Johnson in the field of low-end mass cosmetics market. Share the Dabao development experience can reduce the learning cost of accumulated experience for Johnson & Johnson. And save the enterprise development expenses. Low-end cosmetics is very easy to research and development, but to cultivate a mature terminal need to spend more time. So acquire Dabao no doubt go a shortcut for Johnson & Johnson. But its original intention is to clear away the barriers to enter the industry and the market to get priority in China.From Dabao’s view, Dabao acquired by Johnson & Johnson who is more efficient and the replacement of managers has become inevitable, management efficiencies will brought new opportunities to Dabao in the future development. Decision making style For the decision making style in the decision making process, first I found the overestimation bias. â€Å"Overestimation occurs when peo ple overestimate their performance, chances of success or control of the situation† (Bazerman & Moore, 2009, p. 91). JNJ has full confidence for acquiring Dabao company and they believe they will gain most of the market share after they acquiring Dabao.So they give a high price to buy Dabao company, at the price of 0. 6 billion yuan more than their competitor Unilever. Actually, Dabao was facing many problems at that time and even can not survival in the market. So JNJ should did more research for the background of Dabao, and consider that seriously then give the right price to leave more chance for its self to the further development. Another bias I found is the Motivated Optimism bias. The Motivated Optimism bias is the tendency to feel positively about a situation turning out well despite evidence that proves otherwise.This bias was reflected in the staffs’ placement plan that accepted by JNJ. JNJ was positively about giving the disable employees continue working in Dabao even thought JNJ knew that is one of the mean reasons that caused Dabao developed slowly. I also tell the cultural bias from this issue. First there are culture differences between the US and China in doing business. And the two companies have totally different cultural with each other. Dabao is a state welfare company. So there must have many culture issues that JNJ can not avoid.It seems JNJ never make any prepares for that and acquired Dabao in a hurry. The problem in decision making process Because the purchase price failed to reach an agreement, the negotiations had reached an impasse after entered into an equity transfer intention agreement. Dabao listed price 23 million yuan is five times its net assets, 3. 4 times sales. Dabao audited total assets of 6. 45 billion yuan, net assets of 495 million yuan. In 2006, the main business income of 676 million yuan, net profit of 41 million. According to the 2006 assessment report, the total assets of Dabao is 2. 26 billion yuan, liabilities of 295 million yuan, the owner of the equity of 2. 241 billion yuan. The data shows that Dabao listed price of 23 million audited is of five times as net assets of 459 million yuan, which is not a cheap price. The reasonable price should be about 1. 5 billion yuan. In the others’ eyes, the price is debatable, but JNJ still acquisition of Dabao with the price ahead of the competition’s price of 600 million yuan. Another problem is the staff resettlement problem. Dabao has a characteristic, Dabao is a state welfare enterprises with as many as 35% of the disabled workers.And according to Chinese law, employees with disabilities have not been laid off, which is one of the reasons that makes Dabao development difficult. The staff placement problem hindered the acquisition process for a time. Therefore, in the acquisition, placement of workers become the most central issues in addition to price issue. After negotiated for many times, the staff placement plan has reached a consensus. After the acquisition the Dabao employees still be the employees in Dabao’s original parent company: Beijing Sanlu Factory , continues to serve Dabao brand.The employees who have not get the new jobs or do not accept the jobs of the new company's will continue as employees in Sanlu Factory. Recommendations In my opinion, I disapprove Johnson & Johnson’s decision of acquiring Dabao. Before a company makes a decision to acquire another company, two main issues must be taken into consideration: to recover the cost of investment in a short period of time; another is able to play the role of complement and enhance their own original brand. Before the acquisition, the two companies are in the decline stage.Acquired Dabao company for Johnson & Johnson is a certain risk, if Dabao continued its downward trend after the acquisition , then it will certainly contrary to the original intention of Johnson & Johnson to acquired Dabao. That will not only exacerba te the problem of Johnson & Johnson’s products market positioning in China, and it will also affect the overall development of Johnson & Johnson. If Dabao can not become a listed company, Johnson & Johnson will be difficult to recover the $ 23 billion investment cost for acquisition Dabao. Also the difficulty of integration will be to some extent prevent the development of Johnson & Johnson.The huge capital injection and Dabao placement of workers problem will increase the difficulty of the Johnson & Johnson Development. National circumstances and foreign investment risk will be a severe test. The products of the two companies does not match, the future development challenges than opportunities. After the acquisition, the biggest problem is if JNJ could make good use of the Dabao’s channel resources, after all, there are too many differences and even conflicts of the management style between multinationals and local companies.JNJ valued Dabao’s channel resources , however, these are not the hardware resources, if JNJ could not make good use of these channel resources, that may cause the channels unrest as well as loss of dealer. So I think JNJ should maintain the independence of Dabao, make Dabao like its other subsidiaries in the world, became a separate entity, independent operation. And achieve the integration of sales and channel. Dabao has weak research and development ability, so JNJ retain Dabao’s original flagship product and at the same time research and development of new products, in order to seize the market.Johnson & Johnson should change a senior management team for Dabao. Conclusion In order to catch up with other multinationals in China, Johnson & Johnson completed the acquisition of Dabao, a state welfare company has many channel resources but also has develop issues. During the decision making process, Johnson & Johnson met many problems such as the price issue, the employees settling issue. Johnson & Johnson gave a high price and accepted the employees settling plan that came up by Dabao.I do not think that is a good decision for Johnson & Johnson to acquire Dabao because it is difficult to recover the cost of investment in a short period of time and the development will be affected by the issues appeared in the decision making process in the future. Also for the further development I give the recommendations of make good use of these channel resources, maintain the independence of Dabao, retain Dabao’s original flagship product and at the same time research and development of new products, and change a senior management team for Dabao.References :analyzing the reason of johnson &johnson acquired dabao. (2008, August 06). Retrieved from http://bbs. 55bbs. com/thread-1836669-1-1. html Beijing dabao cosmetics co. , ltd.. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. dabao. com/ Enterprise merger case analysis of johnson& johnson acquired dabao. (2012, August 09). Retrieved from http://wenku. baid u. com/view/af14c431a32d7375a4178039. html Johnson&johnson. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. jnj. om/connect/ Johnson &johnson purchase dabao a sudden change in the situation. (2011, May 27). Retrieved from http://wenku. baidu. com/view/763309976bec0975f465e271. html Johnson & johnson ranks no. 1 in national corporate reputation survey for seventh consecutive year. (2005, December 07). Retrieved from http://www. harrisinteractive. com/news/allnewsbydate. asp? NewsID=999 Klovee. (2008, February 02). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://johnsonjohnsonblog. blogspot. com/2008/02/introduction. html

Informal Reading Assessment Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Informal Reading Assessment - Case Study Example Moreover, the class teacher did not brief him about the assessment. After I explained in details the purpose of our meeting, john was extremely inquisitive to know why I was assessing him. In fact, he asked me if their class teacher was not qualified enough to conduct the assessment. I explained to him that all the other students were to undergo the same test. As I was about to start the test, I realized that John was busy trying to find out what was in my laptop. I asked him what his favorite class program was, and he told me about a cartoon TV program that he always watches at home in the evening. I listen to him so that he would feel appreciated. John answered short answer questions extremely well. However, I kept quiet and looked at the laptop when I asked him to explain some questions. This was expected because at his age, a child does not like challenging things or questions. John did not have many problems on the word list. In fact, all the questions on the word list for grade three were not an issue to him. He was able to handle them with a lot of ease. His frustration manifested on instructional and partly independent level, where he could miss the pronunciation of words whose syllables are almost similar. The greatest problem is where he could say the words that are particularly common in the text books whenever he sees a similar word. For example, it was†¦. For any sentence that start with It. This also resulted to confusion of words whose last syllables changes. For instance, he said enabled instead of enabling. Another problem was reading long words. He had a habit of skipping such word because they were hard to pronounce. In addition, he would interchange the pronunciation of some words. For instance, t instead of d. this is attributed to the influence of child’s first language. Goal The teacher needs to give more concentration on john’s points of weaknesses. The best way to improve on such areas is giving more assignments on the same

Is Russia a Democratic State under Putin Research Proposal

Is Russia a Democratic State under Putin - Research Proposal Example In Russia however, since the end of the era of Stalin, which was clearly dictatorial and totalitarian, the succeeding governments through their rule have not demonstrated democracy in a clear manner. Putin has come under sharp criticism from the international fraternity regarding his governance approach in Russia. It thus becomes hard to tell whether or not Russia is a democratic state under Putin. Therefore, it is important to conduct a study in an attempt to address this uncertainty. This study will mainly focus on the situation of Russia under the leadership of Putin with regard to its adoption of democracy. Democracy is however a broad term thus will need to be broken down for effective analysis. In this regard therefore, it becomes important to adopt an analytical framework. In this case therefore, the analysis of level of democracy in Russia under Putin will be based on the 2004 UN General Assembly’s seven principles of democracy. The state of Russia will thus be analyse d based on its performance in (i) the separation and balance of power (ii) independence of the judiciary (iii) a pluralistic system of political parties and organizations (iv) the rule of law (v) accountability and transparency (vi) freedom of the media, and (vii) respect for political rights (Meyer-Resende 2011, 5). If the results show that the country performs well in all these seven areas, it will be indicative of its high level of democracy. On the other hand, if results show that the country performs poorly in these areas, it will indicate that the country is not democratic. The issue of democracy in Russia has been a major area of interest for many scholars of Political Science as well as different international organizations and the world at large. This is mainly because of the position of Russia and the contribution it makes to the world economy among other areas.

Treatment Plan for Severe Heart Failure and Diabetes Research Paper

Treatment Plan for Severe Heart Failure and Diabetes - Research Paper Example It is imperative for him to take his situation seriously and consult with his physician on a regular basis, so that, if his health condition worsens, then it can be treated timely. This problem of breathlessness could also be early symptom of lung cancer, due to this possibility; Herbert’s complete physical is strongly recommended that will help in diagnosing any subtle diseases prevailing in his body. Government should also play its due role in saving this man’s life, because he is not in a good financial position, so it is the duty of federal agencies to pay his medical dues. In many cases breathlessness and hypertension are directly responsible for heart failure (Lavine & Gellman, 2002). In the light of this observation, the role of nursing and other medical staff becomes significant in saving the life of a patient. Healthy lifestyle with mild level of exercise, minimize the breathlessness, as respiratory system has to inhale sufficient amount of air to compensate fo r fatigue, in this way it starts working properly. On the other side it also causes an individual’s appetite to normalize (Nodari, Metra, Cas, & Cas, 2003). At the same time, formalized group discussion panel containing professional doctors, was unable to develop a more effective and efficient way for the treatment breathlessness and appetite disorder, in comparison with existing ones (Kasje, Denig, Stewart, Graeff, & Haaijer-Ruskamp, 2012). A revolutionary finding is being highlighted by Mangiavacchi & et al, (2008), which points out towards the increased death rate, due to heart failure, in those diabetics who were suffering from respiratory issues, and were treated by insulin, thus concluding in the favor of non-usage of insulin on diabetic heart patients. At the same time, Metformin is recommended for the treatment of diabetes in heart patients with breathlessness (Eurich & etal, 2009). Breathlessness is caused by a malfunctioning part of a respiratory system, starting fr om nose to lungs (Bennett, 2003). On the other hand, this situation can be caused by blockage of air passages of nose, thus limiting the airflow to the lungs A problem in human’s circulatory system can also cause an individual to feel breathless, because with the sufficient amount of oxygen reaching to the cells of the body. The nerves system, therefore attempts to compensate for oxygen deficiency (Bennett, 2003). By pushing respiratory rate to a higher level, as a consequence patient feels breathless. It is believed that an early detection of breathlessness and appetite loss in elder people could be helpful in treating the disease (Boonman-de Winter & etal, 2009). In the case study Mr. Herbert has been diagnosed, with breathlessness earlier, so it will be relatively simple to devise a healthcare plan for him. Along with this, his caring attitude regarding his health is commendable. Metaformin treatment is suggested for Herbert, because it does not endanger the life of a card iac patient with breathing disorder, unlike insulin (Andersson & etal, 2010). Along with the medication, proper, light and routine exercise is also prescribed for the patient under study. However, relax home environment is critical for the health of the patient. According to the findings of a preliminary study, breathlessness could

Reflective journal on HRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Reflective journal on HRM - Essay Example While the HRM have considerable powers over the employees the ethical code amongst these HRM is not constant through out. The article describes the role of HRM in controlling the problems faced by the employees. However if the HRM himself is biased or partial the decision taken by him would not comply with the ethical code of Human Resource practice. This partiality shown by the HRM for their employees can further deepen the problem faced by the company. To solve the issues faced by the employees Dispute Resolution procedures are applied. These Dispute Resolutions help the employees to put forward their issues and get them solved accordingly. However due to the impartialities amongst the HRM the Dispute Resolution system is going through a lot of problems. As emphasized in this article a Dispute Resolution system should always involve neutral judges. The judges here can be referred to as the Human Resource Managers working in the companies. The article emphasizes further on the neutr ality and partially practiced by the Human Resource Managers. The HRM should not have a relationship of any sort with the employees as this may affect the decisions taken by them in regard to the complaints given to them. The article emphasizes on the fact that favoritism should be removed from the Human Resource system as this affects the decisions and further makes the decision unequal to one party. The Human Resource Managers should have a neutral stance towards the weak and the powerful party so that even if the powerful party commits any mistake it is brought back to the terms and conditions applied by the company. Furthermore the article describes the role of the HRM with accordance to the new legislation which was introduced in Australia in 2005. This legislation is known as the Work Choices Act. This legislation has given more powers to the HRM i.e. they can dismiss workers without settling their disputes. This power provided to the HRM could be used in a negative way too as at times the HRM would prefer dismissing the workers rather than settling the issue between the workers. The legislation has provided an edge to the HRM and the employers over the workers. As these powers vested to both the HRM and employers would help them in dismissing the workers without settling their issues. This would affect the overall ethical code of the company. As I personally have experienced having a dispute between my co-workers I think that the Human Resource Manager plays an important role in resolving the disputes and the power vested to them can be used in the negative way. The co-workers who have an understanding with the Human Resource Managers are preferred by them over other workers. As my issue was solved by a HR manager who was neutral, I figured out that HR manager played an important role in resolving the company's problems. However if the HR manager is biased the decisions passed by them would not comply with the ethical code and terms. The HR manager should not be given the powers to dismiss workers as these powers given to them would help them to dismiss the workers directly rather than solving their issues. The HR manager should be selected by the employer with extreme caution as he is the main person in handling the internal issues of the company. The HR manager s

The role of 19th century women in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Research Paper

The role of 19th century women in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - Research Paper Example The Angel was passive and powerless, meek, charming, graceful, sympathetic, self-sacrificing, pious, and above all—pure† (Melani, par. 2). Desperate to put their writing talents to effective use, the sisters used pseudonyms â€Å"to hide their sex when they published their poems and novels. They chose names which were not obviously masculine: Acton Bell (Anne Bronte), Currer Bell (Charlotte Bronte), and Ellis Bell (Emily Bronte)† (Melani, par. 3). The research hereby aims to present a critical appraisal of the role of 19th century women in the novel through one’s personal perspectives and through the points of views of various scholars who analyzed this literary work. Critical Review The prejudice and restrictions faced by women during their times provided the impetus for Bronte to relate the burning desire to assume expanded and challenging roles that encourage the use and enhancement of women’s skills beyond the home. The character of Jane Eyre, cl assified as a round character and a protagonist, focused on â€Å"the directness, even bluntness, of the young heroine's voice. Here is no prissy little-girl sensibility, but a startlingly independent, even skeptical perspective† (Oates, par. 4) – surprisingly unexpected to stem forth from a woman in 1847, the year the novel was written.

Impact of Inflation in World Economics Dissertation

Impact of Inflation in World Economics - Dissertation Example Placing in the most generic term, inflation within an economy diminishes the value of money as a result of which the common people find it difficult to survive. Inflation and growth are such two terms of the economy that are comprehensively incompatible and can never be anticipated to meet (Economy Watch, 2011). The present research paper has been designed to critically evaluate the impact of inflation upon the Asian economies. The reason for selecting the Asian economies for study is the excessively elevating rate of inflation as compared to the rest of the world during the past a few years. The following demonstration of the inflation rate has led to the undertaking of present research. The rates of inflation depicted in the figure are those of the recent period. Source: (Trading Economics, 2011). The figure is a clear representation of the rate of inflation in various countries of the world inclusive of the western countries, European countries, Australia and the major Asian count ries in terms of economic growth and also population. It is evident from the figure that rate of inflation in India and China is the highest in the entire world in recent times. This is the basis of the present research that will be concerned with finding the causes of inflation along with its effects and most importantly finding an effective way of managing inflation. 2.0 Causes of Inflation in Asian Economies According to a special report from the Asian Development Bank (2008a), during the period from the year 2007 to 2008, both structural as well as cyclical factors have contributed towards the escalating prices of food products in Asia. Before that period, major cereal stocks in the global market were reducing radically. The harsh rate of failing stock was a clear indication that the world economy had been becoming incapable of meeting up the rate of consumption (ESCAP, 2011). As a result of this, the ratio of stock-to-use had been falling massively, before it reached one of its lowest rates during the same period of 2007-2008 as shown in the figure below: Source: (Asian Development Bank, 2011). The percentage figures in the above figure had been shown with respect to three important cereals: corn, wheat and rice. Various structural factors that have been influencing the increasing rate of food prices during the period 2007-2008 are observed to be continuing their impacts upon the present episode of ever increasing food prices within the Asian economies. The factors relevant on the demand-side of the economies are inclusive of huge rate of growth in population figures, sturdy rate of growth in people’s income within the emerging economies and varying diet habits of the people from staple items of food towards meat and several other processed foods. Increased consumption of processed food items requires huge amount of feedstock and raw materials. The factors in the supply side that contributes towards increased rate of inflation are the enhanced util isation of food grains, primarily rapeseed oil and corns for the purpose of producing biofuel; alteration of the agricultural lands in order to be utilised for business purposes; enhanced shortage of resources for irrigation; lower production of crops; increasing costs of raw materials; and

Information Security Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Information Security Proposal - Essay Example This includes the recovery from network downtime. It also includes the plans and security in place for the A paradigm can have various meanings. It refers to â€Å"your basic beliefs† and your approach to the world which affects the way you define your research and how you collect and analyse data (Collis & Hussey, 2003, p. 47). The research approaches used in the study comprises a mixture of both the â€Å"phenomenological paradigm† which is also referred to as a â€Å"qualitative† approach, and the â€Å"positivistic paradigm† also known as the â€Å"quantitative† approach (Collis & Hussey, 2003, p. 47). As the research will utilize interviews to collect data, it would be advantageous to use both the qualitative and quantitative approaches. This will be useful when conducting interviews, as the phenomenological paradigm helps the researcher to â€Å"get a feel for the key issues† and provides â€Å"confidence† in the accuracy and depth of the data collected as the main issues have been covered (Saunders & Lewis & Thornhill, 2000, p. 98). Furthermore, working within the positivistic paradigm will assist in measuring the data and the correlation between the variables, and the quantitative research outcome could be measured against existing theory. Using a mixture of approaches and techniques has advantages, as all methods have pros and cons. This means using a triangulation approach, which as Denzin & Lincoln (2000) explain â€Å"has been generally considered a process of using multiple perceptions to clarify meaning, verifying the repeatability of an observation or interpretation† (p. 443). Using both methods will help ensure that the research outcome is accurate and this â€Å"will lead to greater confidence being placed in your conclusions† (Saunders & Lewis & Thornhill, 2000, p. 99). It also reduces the â€Å"possibility of getting the answer wrong† (Saunders & Lewis & Thornhill, 2000, p. 100). For the research, data will be collected from two types of sources,

Evaluating E-Commerce Strategy Development within Organisations Essay Example for Free

Evaluating E-Commerce Strategy Development within Organisations Essay Background The news about the â€Å"New Economy† has triggered many entrepreneurial ventures to exploit on the electronic commerce (e-commerce) opportunities. Ventures such as Amazon and eBay have received significant media attention and investor optimism about the potential of e-commerce. Now that the smoke has settled, both management and academic research have become interested on the impact of e-commerce on those companies that have supplemented their brick-and-mortar outlets with e-commerce initiatives. Several researches have emerged on effect of e-commerce on organisational strategy. Tapscott et al (1998) discusses the organisational changes created by B2B e-commerce and the benefits of deploying e-commerce within the organisation. O’Connell (2000) discusses the effect of e-commerce in the organisational structure in light of the resource-based view and transaction cost theory. E-commerce has been seen as improving efficiency, communication and lowering costs across business processes (O’Connell, 2000; Krovi et al., 2003; Garicano and Kaplan, 2001). In addition, researches have also shown the influence of e-commerce on brand management. Wind Mahajan (2001). discuss how the competitive environment is changing with the increasing number of Internet users and how the new technology is redefining the marketplace. The research presented a conceptual framework delineating the drivers and outcomes of marketing strategy in the context of competing in both physical and electronic marketplace. Part of the emergence of electronic marketplace is the ability of organisations to offer highly customized products to consumers, and the capability to build and to manage customer relationships (Brown, 2000). The aim of the research is to investigate the way in which an organisation develops its electronic commerce strategy over time in light of existing strategic approaches and development found within related literature. The research particularly looks into Marks Spencer e-commerce strategy as the case study for the research. The research looks into how Marks Spencer has developed and implemented its e-commerce strategy. Drawing from strategic management theories, the research specifically focuses on the how an e-commerce strategy is grounded on reducing transaction cost within the organisation and across the value chain. Furthermore, the research also looks into the importance of relationship marketing and how e-commerce is providing organisations with the necessary technology to achieve seamless exchange of information and reduced costs. Strategically, the adoption of e-commerce within an organisation hinges on these two important strategic management theories. In addition, the research is confined within the business-to-consumer (B2C) market, since business-to-business (B2B) relations are frequently characterized by a small number of customers and a strong emphasis on personal contacts between customers and salespeople as their means of marketing communication. Therefore, the research focuses on how consumers view their shopping experience within an e-commerce site, particularly Marks Spencer. The Overview of the Study   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The remainder of this study is as following statement:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Chapter 2, Literature Review, will provide a concise concept and explanation of electronic commerce within retail organisation. The review of related literature discusses the concept and application areas of e-commerce within organisation. The review will also tackle the important strategic management concepts such as transaction cost theory and relationship marketing and how e-commerce is enabling organisations achieve increased efficiency, improved communication, and lower costs across its value chain. Chapter 3, Methodology, will describe the research design of this study. The research design of this study is empirical research method using secondary data for quantitative analysis. Chapter 4, Results, will demonstrate the results of this study.   At first, the descriptive statistical data such as maximum, minimum and mean, on the consumer’s perspective on the different service attributes of e-commerce site for Marks and Spencer. Chapter 5, Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations, the â€Å"Summary† section will first provide a comprehensive summary of the major findings of this study. The â€Å"Conclusion† section will highlight the implications of the research findings. Finally, â€Å"Recommendations† will be proposed to help companies to utilize the importance of electronic commerce in their strategic assessment.   In next chapter, related researches in electronic commerce will be reviewed CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Electronic Commerce According to the International Engineering Forum, e-commerce is â€Å"an emerging model of new selling and merchandising tools in which buyers are able to participate in all phases of a purchase decision, while stepping through those processes electronically rather than in a physical store or by phone (with a physical catalog). (online International Engineering Forum)† E-commerce enables a customer to access product information, select items to purchase, purchase items securely and have the purchase settled financially.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While the notion of e-commerce as the ability of organisations or a person to sell over the Internet is very popular, the research paper will adopt the definition of Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). E-commerce can be defined as â€Å"the total of all applications that pertain to online communications and transaction (OECD, 2000).† The definition better suit our purpose of discussing e-commerce in the context of strategic management. The research views e-commerce holistically, which encompasses the communication between organisations and customer over the Internet, the completion of one-time or on-going online transactions, and e-CRM systems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The emergence of e-commerce in the retail sector is one of the most widely adopted and anticipated development in the industry. Following the success of Amazon, many brick-and-mortar retailers jumped into the dot com bandwagon and established their online presence in the World Wide Web. Many have adopted e-commerce capabilities out of a fear of falling behind competitors or as a result of the general momentum to expand the use of an existing Internet presence. Nonetheless, the main value proposition for organisations adopting an online presence is the prospect of increasing revenue from new markets and using a lower-cost, electronic-distribution channel (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With a strong demand from organisations in creating an online presence, internet service providers (ISPs) have begun to offer electronic-commerce hosting services. ISPs often position as a outsourced service provider of the customers’ electronic-commerce capabilities, managing the networking and server aspects of the initiatives. Such services are important consideration for the roll-out e-commerce sites as it allows organisations to leverage on the expertise of ISPs and allows organisations to concentrate on their core businesses (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From the customer’s perspective, the main benefit of an e-commerce system is the convenience it brings to consumers, who are constrained by busy schedule and numerous activities. The e-commerce system enables a customer to locate and purchase a desired good or service over the Internet when the customer is ready to make the purchase. Its function is synonymous to a virtual store (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From the merchant’s perspective, the e-commerce system enables the organisation to take advantage of the strengths of online store and increase revenues. One of the key benefits of implementing an online store is the capability to cover greater market reach and a complementary distribution channel to its existing brick-and-mortar stores. However, in order to effectively implement an e-commerce strategy, the e-commerce system must recreate or utilize existing data and business processes. The merchant must recreate the same shopping experience in its online store providing in-store assistance, secure payment process, catalogs and prices about the products and services, inventory management, and transaction capabilities (including credit authorization, tax computation, financial settlement, and shipping) (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Furthermore, e-commerce not only allows merchants to take advantage of market reach, but it also enables merchants to redefine and enhance an enterprise’s brand strength, customer-service capability, and supply-chain efficiency. An e-commerce site is one of the areas of an enterprise infrastructure that is open to customers via the Web, but it is linked with other information system of the enterprise value chain (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In implementing an e-commerce site, provision of the basic system requires an Internet connection, a Web-application server and e-commerce application software, and a personal computer for the shopper. Figure 1 illustrates the basic economic drivers and application requirements of an e-commerce marketplace. On the buyers side, consumers are driven to the online retail store through advertisements, interesting features, needed information, and directory. On the sellers side, merchants are driven to the online space because of its ease of entry, increasing website traffic, ability to sell and integrate marketing messages (online International Engineering Forum). Figure 1. Business Drivers in e-commerce strategy E-Commerce Strategies and Business Drivers A number of initiatives implemented within an organisation are driven by a market need. All industries are characterized by trends and new developments that gradually or speedily produce changes important enough to require a strategic response from participating firms. The popular hypothesis about industries going through a life cycle helps explain industry changes but is still incomplete (Porter, 1980 p. 157-162). The life-cycle stages are strongly keyed to changes in the overall industry growth rate (which is why such terms as rapid growth, early maturity, saturation, and decline are used to describe the stages). Yet there are more causes of industry change than an industry’s position in the life cycle (Porter, 1980 p. 157-162). While it is important to judge what growth stage an industry is in, there’s more analytical value in identifying the specific factors causing fundamental industry and competitive adjustments. Industry and competitive conditions change because forces are in motion that create incentives and pressures for change (Porter, 1980 p. 162). The most dominant forces are called driving forces because they have the biggest influence on what kinds of changes will take place in the industry’s structure and competitive environment. The Internet and e-commerce opportunities are unquestionably spawning a sweeping business revolution that altered industry boundaries, opens up all kinds of new business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) market opportunities and threats, sparks competition from new and entirely different breed of enterprises and mandates fundamental changes in business practices (Thompson and Strickland 2001).   In his book The Business of E-Commerce: From Corporate Strategy to Technology, Paul May discusses four business drivers for adopting an e-commerce strategy. First, organisations have the compulsion to catch up with competitors or to gain competitive advantage by being early adopters of the new technology. Organisation’s constant pursuit to gain competitive edge in the marketplace is a primary concern and part of a survival component in the business strategy. Second, organisations need to develop a credible e-commerce channel from its current online portfolio. Third, organisations are constantly looking for ways to reduce cost and increase efficiency within its value chain. E-commerce can be a creative force in delivering reduced transaction cost, increased communication and coordination, and improve business processes. Fourth, e-commerce enables organisations to improve its value chain by creating strategic supplier partnership and delivering customized customer solutions. It allows organisations improve business’ infrastructural capabilities to play as an extended enterprise and not merely a single business entity delivering greater value to its customers (May, 2000). Each of these drivers can be harnessed as a propulsive force for the business, rather than a deflective or immobilizing one (May, 2000). Application areas of E-commerce Six key emerging application areas in electronic commerce can be identified. It can be organized into two important domains: business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B). The application areas include categories in consumer retailing to real-time business-to-business collaboration (May, 2000).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Retailers were the first adopters of the business-to-consumer e-commerce. Retailers found selling products and services online as a promising channel of distribution for its products and reaching new markets. Nonetheless, B2C e-commerce is now more diversified and classified into three application areas which include retail, auction, and advice (May, 2000). The three application areas of B2C e-commerce are retail, auctions, and advice. Although each has its own distinguishing characteristics, and dynamics, a consistent theme underlies the development of all three. This is the increasing â€Å"busy-ness† of consumer lifestyles: the extension from work life into private life of a culture of ever-decreasing time-frames and ever-increasing obligations. Lack of time and complexity of choice drive the growth of products and services in each of these areas (May, 2000). Business-to-consumer is a term that stresses the direction of delivery: B2C e-commerce is supposedly something done by business to consumers. Yet this domain is founded on intense customer focus. Insight into the conflicting desires and pressures affecting consumers is a powerful ally in building successful strategies in this highly competitive area (May, 2000). Business-to-business, on the other hand, is the umbrella term used to refer to transactions between businesses conducted online, and the business networks and supply chains that make these transactions possible. While B2B activity has always, taken place, the Internet brings with it a new framework, B2B companies no longer need to depend on the traditional one-to-one model for business transactions (Michel, 2003). Procurement, inventory exchange, and real-time collaboration are relatively obscure categories of application, which have the potential to flip many businesses inside-out. Procurement introduces process improvements in the buying functions of organisations and also points the way to a more competitive environment in inter-company trading. Inventory exchange introduces the mechanism of the market to smooth out supply and demand inefficiencies across entire value chain, potentially lowers transaction and carrying costs, and focuses on improving exchange of supplier information. Real-time collaboration allows organisations to cooperate as fluid colonies of actors, undermining the stability of companies who prefer hands-off relationships or who prefer their reality-checks to be presented monthly (May, 2000). e-Commerce application in Retail Industry Retailers are now increasingly adopting electronic commerce as another distribution means of selling products and services. Online channels have also proved increasingly popular amongst retail companies within other formats such as hypermarkets or catalog retailers, who have attempted to expand into the sector to escape from stale growth within their respective markets (Datamonitor 2006). Datamonitor estimates the global Internet retail sector valued at $656.4 billion in 2005, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.3% over the 2001-2005 period. The estimate is based on the total revenues generated through the sale of retail goods via online channels, valued at retail selling price, with any currency conversions calculated using constant 2005 annual average exchange rates (Datamonitor 2006). With the number of Internet users increasing exponentially year-on-year, the industry has experienced strong global growth within the global Internet retail sector. Much of the demand for online purchases is due to the escalating number of working mothers and time-starved consumers who are conveniently seeking ways of shopping without the hassle of driving to a retail store and falling in-line (Datamonitor 2006). At present, drugs and health beauty aids are the sector’s most lucrative segment in 2005, accounting for a total of $154 billion in total revenues or 23.5% of the retail sector’s total value. Computer, hardware, software, and supplies contributed significant revenues in 2005, generating $114.9 billion in revenues or 17.5% of the sector’s total value (Datamonitor, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While analyst do not see a similar spectacular growth in the global Internet retail industry, experts still is optimistic the pace of revenue expansion for the next four years. Industry experts project to the expansion of industry to remain strong valuing the industry at $1.169 trillion by 2010. This translates to 12.2% CAGR over the 2005-2010 period (Datamonitor, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In terms of revenues generated per region, Datamonitor reports that Europe has the largest market share in the global Internet retail sector with 44.4% of total value, followed by the United States and the Asia Pacific with 22.5% and 21.7% respectively (Datamonitor, 2006).

Pierre Robin Syndrome, Narcolepsy and Traumatic Brain Injury

Pierre Robin Syndrome, Narcolepsy and Traumatic Brain Injury Patient Education Entries Pierre Robin Syndrome Pierre Robin Syndrome is usually referred to â€Å"Bird Face†. This condition was initially regarded as a single clinical entity but is now considered to characterize a specific result of an abnormal developmental process. Pierre Robin Syndrome’s exact cause is unknown. There is no connection between the activities of a mother that causes her baby to have this disorder (International Craniofacial Institute, 2014, n.p.). For paediatricians, the main short-term issues that need treatment are for breathing and feeding. Symptoms The lower jaw is abnormally small. Long tongue which causes its tongue to block the airway. Cleft palate Repeated ear infections Interventions (Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin, 2013, n.p.): Tongue-lip adhesion which is a temporary stitch of the tongue to the lip below. It heaves the tongue frontward to avoid obstruction on the airway. Mandibular distraction is a procedure to cut the lower jaw as pins are on the bone on either side. This technique corrects asymmetric jaws of patients. It pulls out jaws of patients with obstructive sleep apnea especially for those who suffer PRS. Tracheostomy is applicable if the first two ways dont work. This is a surgery creating a hole through the neck going to the trachea. This serves as a passage of air for breathing. In the long run, speech defect and palatal dysfunction are the effects. By 3 years old, most children with this disorder are taking an oral diet and do not have major difficulty in breathing if proper intervention in earlier years took place (Burton, 2010, para.17). Narcolepsy Narcolepsy is a disorder of having too much sleepiness during the day. It is also associated with abrupt temporary muscle weakness or cataplexy. According to a research in 2013, 1 out of 2000 people experience this disorder (UK Health Centre, n.p.). A cause of this disorder is the lack of neurotransmitter hypocretin (orexin). This is usual in the cases of narcolepsy with cataplexy. Another cause is the combination of genetics and impact of surroundings, such as hormonal imbalance, trauma, immune system problems, or stress. Narcolepsy is a life-long illness, but it does not persistently worsen. Over the time, its symptoms gradually decrease but they never totally disappear. As for adults, cataplexy lessens, but sleep disturbances can get worse. Below are the symptoms of Narcolepsy (University of Maryland Medical Centre, 2012, n.p.). Main Symptoms: Easiness to sleep during daytime even in an uncomfortable pose and few hours if they are lying down. 3 or 4 hours of drowsiness at daytime that often ends in short naps. Drowsiness isn’t noticed by the patient and they cannot clearly remember their behaviour at those times. Other Symptoms: Atonia is a condition of a sleeping person where he or she is conscious but cannot talk, move and while breathing deeply. Hypnagogic Hallucinations. These are dreams that come to mind during the onset of sleep which usually happen for 30 seconds maximum. Periodic Limb Movement Disorder. A condition where the leg muscles contract every 20 40 seconds as the patient sleeps. Interventions (National Sleep Foundation, 2013, n.p.): Light therapy helps keep a regular sleep and wake timetable. The patient is to sit in front of a light box flashing special lights for 10 to 30 minutes. The patient will somehow avoid feeling sleepy in the morning. Behavioural therapy – aims to relieve symptoms. With this therapy, patients should avoid heavy meals and alcohol given that these can disturb or induce sleep. Diet Therapy – For two months, patient is put on a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet (LCKD) wherein there is a reduction on the intake of wheat flour and grain. The effect of this therapy results to 18% reduction on afternoon sleepiness. Positive Pressure Therapy – This type of therapy is usually prescribed to patients with sleep apnoea. During this treatment, it soothes the airway through therapeutic pressure. It uses a machine that can be used before sleeping. Traumatic Brain Injury Traumatic Brain Injury takes place when a sudden trauma results damage to the brain. It is caused by a sudden, hard blow or bump to the head. The damage is classified to focal and diffuse. Focal Injury is damage focused one part of the brain while Diffuse Injury involves more than one part of the brain. Its symptoms may not show until days or weeks after the injury. It usually causes headache or neck pain, vomiting, ringing in the ears, vertigo, and fatigue. Below are other symptoms that may arise (Alzheimers Association, 2013, para.6): Symptoms Concussion Worsening headache and it does not go away Nausea Convulsion or seizures Helplessness to awaken from sleep Inaudible speech Weakness or numbness in some parts of the body Dilated eye pupils Long term problems that may arise: Alzheimers disease is a neurological disease in which the brain cells doesn’t function anymore which results to memory loss and cognitive turn down. Parkinsons disease It is a progressive disease of the nervous system that affects the motor movements. It usually starts with a tremor in just one hand. It also causes inflexibility and slowing of movement. Dementia – decline and loss of intellectual functions such as thinking, memory, and logic that is severe enough to hamper with a persons every day functioning. It is usually caused by repetitive hit to the head. Interventions (Brain Injury Association of America, n.d., n.p.): Acute Rehabilitation – Skilled health professionals will help a patient to regain strengths in doing activities for everyday life. These activities pertain to eating, toileting, walking, dressing, speaking and others. Post-acute Rehabilitation. Helps patient recover his or her overall functioning. It restores a bodys natural healing abilities. Sub-acute Rehabilitation intended for those who require a milder level of treatment services for a longer period of time. This is also appropriate for patients who have made improvement in the acute rehabilitation programs and continue to progress. Day Treatment- offers treatment in a prearranged group setting during the day and lets the patient to go back home at night. References Alzheimers Association (2013).Traumatic Brain Injury | Signs, Symptoms, Diagnosis. RetrievedFebruary2, 2014, from http://www.alz.org/dementia/traumatic-brain-injury-head-trauma-symptoms.asp> Brain Injury Association of America (n.d.).Brain Injury Treatment BIAA. RetrievedFebruary1, 2014, from http://www.biausa.org/brain-injury-treatment.htm> Burton, C. (2010, April 20). Pierre Robin Sequence | Doctor | Patient.co.uk. Retrieved February 2, 2014, from http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Pierre-Robin-Syndrome.htm> Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin (2013). Fetal Concerns Center of Wisconsin: Micrognathia and Pierre Robin Sequence. Retrieved February 2, 2014, from http://www.chw.org/display/PPF/DocID/35570/Nav/1/router.asp International Craniofacial Institute (2014, January 27). Pierre Robin Sequence | International Craniofacial Institute. Retrieved February 2, 2014, from http://www.craniofacial.net/conditions-pierre-robin> National Sleep Foundation (2013).Narcolepsy Symptoms, Treatment Remedies National Sleep Foundation. RetrievedFebruary1, 2014, from http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-related-problems/narcolepsy-and-sleep> UK Health Centre (2013). Narcolepsy. Retrieved February 2, 2014, from http://www.healthcentre.org.uk/sleep-disorders/narcolepsy.html> University of Maryland Medical Center (2012, September 29). Narcolepsy | University of Maryland Medical Center. Retrieved February 2, 2014, from http://umm.edu/health/medical/reports/articles/narcolepsy>

Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian Urn, and Ode to Autumn Essay

Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian Urn, and Ode to Autumn The casual reader of John Keats' poetry would most certainly be impressed by the exquisite and abundant detail of it's verse, the perpetual freshness of it's phrase and the extraordinarily rich sensory images scattered throughout it's lines. But, without a deeper, more intense reading of his poems as mere parts of a larger whole, the reader may miss specific themes and ideals which are not as readily apparent as are the obvious stylistic hallmarks. Through Keats' eyes, the world is a place full of idealistic beauty, both artistic and natural, who's inherent immortality, is to him a constant reminder of that man is irrevocably subject to decay and death. This theme is one which dominates a large portion of his late poetry and is most readily apparent in three of his most famous Odes: To a Nightingale, To Autumn and on a Grecian Urn. In the Ode to a Nightingale, it is the ideal beauty of the Nightingale's song - as permanent as nature itself - in the Ode on a Grecian Urn, it is the perfection of beauty as art transfixed and transfigured forever in the Grecian Urn - and in the Ode to Autumn it is the exquisiteness of the season idealised and immortalised as part of the natural cycle - which symbolise eternal and idealistic images of profound beauty. In Ode to a Nightingale, Keats uses the central symbol of a bird to exemplify the perfect beauty in nature. The nightingale sings to the poet's senses whose ardour for it's song makes the bird eternal and thus reminds him of how his own mortality separates him from this beauty. The poem begins: "My heart aches, and a drowsey numbness pains" (Norton 1845). In this first line Keats introduces his o... ...fused by the true essence of his subjects; for a bird must die and an urn must crumble and are but symbols of things imagined. Keats however, does discover his elusive eternal beauty in his Ode to Autumn, realising that it is mother nature, with her ever recurring seasons and perfection of purpose that is profoundly beautiful. Growing, maturing and dying are no longer avoided in Ode to autumn, they are embraced and accepted as necessary for the continuity of the seasons cycle. Keats, through his poetry, is constantly reminding us that the moment, whether short of duration or eternally present, is to be savoured; for all things that exist in man's world are subject to decay and death because our ability to perceive them is limited. The world is no longer simply a place of song birds, pleasing art and fruit laden trees, but a world of profound and everlasting beauty.

A Garden for the Blind :: Architecture Design Essays

A Garden for the Blind In â€Å"Dimensions of Creativity† in The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida makes note of the dramatic changes seen in the modern world’s society contrasted with society during the 1950’s. Florida delves into the more conspicuous aspects of these analogous societies and makes mention of how at first the differences between them to not seem that dissimilar at first glance. Technology, modern medicine, and other realms remained more or less the same when compared to society in the early 1900’s. What strikes the change between the 1950’s and today as â€Å"bewilderingly different† is the existing social order along with its norms and values. The driving force of this dramatic social change, taking place within the last 50 years, has been the rise of creativity which has instated itself in our economy and society, as it values creativity as well as creative impulse. Creativity in today’s world is continual and widespread. Technological creativity and economical creativity have interacted with artistic and cultural creativity to produce a â€Å"creative ethos† that compels our society through its dynamic transformation. Through the development of these creative elite in our society we are also met with a responsibility to the rest of humanity, to guide and direct them throughout the course of their lives. This must be applied especially to those who are disadvantaged and cannot take care of themselves adequately. Through innovation and design, their needs can be met so that they may harness a sense of belonging in the world. The land located immediately south of the Hume Hall Honors Residential housing consists of approximately one or two acres encircled by a number of trees, all of which is on a slope when looking at the topography of the land. A proposal has been made to build a garden for the blind on this sector of land. Different types of plants and natural resources would be installed into this area in the creation of this garden that would require the use of sensory functions other than just sight or vision. An important bodily function or sense must be greatly considered when dealing with the blind is their sense of touch. In the book Sensory Design, authors Joy Malnar and Frank Vodvarka describe haptic perception, which they quote from James J. Gibson, as â€Å"a sense of touch that includes temperature, pain pressure, and kinesthesia encompassing both body sensation and muscle movement.

Theories of Attachment: The Importance of Bonding with Infants and Todd

To infants, the world is a brand new experience full of new sights and sounds, and their parents are their first teacher who educates them about the new environment around them. In addition, they learn about their surroundings through touch which is an important part of the way infants observe this strange new world. Babies and toddlers learn about the way relationships are formed through becoming attached to their parents and bonding with them. Infants and toddlers love hugs, kisses, gentle caresses from their mom and dad as well as being sung and read to at night. Looking at parents bond with their children is a beautiful display of love and affection between parent and child. Seeing their infant smile back at them and be happy when their parents walk into the room are signs of healthy attachment. In order for infants to feel safe and secure they need to form a loving bond between their parents and caregivers. Healthy signs of attachment are eye contact with parents, feeling secu re when parents leave the room, feeling close to their parents, the infant or toddler is friendly, and is not afraid to explore their world without their parents. The first components of healthy attachment for children and toddlers are their ability to make eye contact with their parents and feeling secure when their parents leave the room. According to an article on Kidshealth.com it states that, â€Å"Eye-to-eye contact provides meaningful communication at close range† (Bonding with Your Baby, 2011). The first face an infant sees is their mother’s face. As a result, babies take cues from their mothers and fathers facial expressions and feel safe when they are in their parent’s arms. According to an article in the Encyclopedia of Children’s Health it ... ...en they have loving parents who will protect them from the dangers in the world. Works Cited: Brotherson, S. (2006). Keys to building attachment with young children. Retrieved from http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/yf/famsci/fs631w.htm n/a, . (2011). Bonding with your baby. Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/parent/pregnancy_newborn/communicating/bonding.html# n/a, . (2011). Attachment between infant and caregiver . Encyclopedia of children's health. Retrieved July 31, 2011, from http://www.healthofchildren.com/A/Attachment-Between-Infant-and-Caregiver.html n/a, . (2011). Different types of parent-child relationships. Retrieved from http://www.athealth.com/consumer/disorders/attachment.html Perry, D. (2011). Attachment: the first core strength . Retrieved from http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/bruceperry/attachment.htm

Ethnic Identity and African Americans Essay

Ethnic identity is the sum total of group member feelings about those values, symbols, and common histories that identify them as a distinct group (Smith 1991). Development of ethnic identity is important because it helps one to come to terms with their ethnic membership as a prominent reference group and significant part of an individuals overall identity. Ethnic reference group refers to an individuals psychological relatedness to groups (Smith 1991). These reference groups help adolescents sense, reflect and see things from the point of their ethnic groups in which they actively participate or seek to participate. What is ethnic identity? The establishment of identity is an important, complex task for all adolescents, and is considered a major developmental task for all adolescents. It is particularly complicated for adolescents belonging to ethnic and minority groups. Ethnic identity of the majority group of individuals is constantly validated and reinforced in a positive manner where as the minority group is constantly ridiculed and punished in a negative manner. What does this say for those adolescents who are the minority and not the majority? It is important to study or research ethnic identity because it provides better knowledge to help one understand striving for a sense of unity and connectivenesss in which the self provides meaning for direction and meaning of ethnic identity (Spencer, 1990). It is also important to study or research the differences between these groups due to beliefs and values. Adolescents that are the minority are confronted with their ethnicity at an earlier age then Caucasian adolescents majority and they are constantly aware of ethnic differences, which means it is of greater importance to understand the development of the minority individual. It should lead to different assessments when it comes to ethnic identity. For example, African American adolescents are psychologically compared to Caucasian American adolescence diagnoses, which are sometimes inaccurately assessed. Bronfenberner explains the theoretical perspective such as the ecological perspective by saying, The implications for clinical treatment of African American adolescents, mental health workers must be sensitive to the ecological context of their clients. Mental Health workers must realize that there is no single entity called the black family . The black families compared to the other families established their American family. He suggests that these families vary dramatically in backgrounds, social economic status, values, and degree of acculturation to the norms and values of mainstream America (1990). There are also, significant differences that may exist in preparation of African American adolescent, at the level of rearing family practices and in schools (1990). That is, schools continue to reflect historical values that deal with racial-stereotypes and prejudice and beliefs. At the same time there are families trying to avoid and make light out of such situations. These families and communities continue to show constancy by instilling their own beliefs and values through child rearing which maybe different from Caucasian Americas. Identity and ethnicity as adolescent issues Identity has been defined in many ways. It is the concept used to describe an individual’s sense of who he or she is (Dashefsky and Shapiro, 1976). Changes in identity occur throughout the life cycle, however, the changes in identity are usually most notable during adolescence. Integrating a positive sense of ethnic identity into one’s overall personal identity is an important task of late adolescence (Steinberg, 1996). Ethnic identity has been defined as the aspect of one’s sense of identity concerning ancestry or racial group membership (Steinberg, 1996). Ethnic identity development is an essential human need because it provides a sense of belonging and historical continuity. Ethnic socialization Minority children are confronted with their ethnicity at an earlier age than their majority counterparts (Smith, 1991). Parents can help to speed up the early stages of ethnic identity development by taking an active approach to ethnic socialization. Ethnic socialization, according to Steinberg(1996), refers to the process through which parents teach their children about their ethnicity and about the certain experiences they may have with the broader society. Ethnic socialization consists of three themes: 1) understanding one’s own culture, 2) getting along in mainstream society, and 3) dealing with racism (Steinberg, 1996). Possible outcomes of ethnic identity development. There are four ways to deal with ethnicity (Steinberg, 1996):  ·Assimilation–adopting the cultural norms of the majority while rejecting the norms of one’s own culture.  ·Separation–rejecting the majority culture and associating only with members of one’s own culture.  ·Marginality–living within majority culture but feeling estranged.  ·Biculturalism–maintaining ties to both cultures. According to Steinberg (1996) many believe that biculturalism is more successful than the other four. With biculturalism minority youth have access to the norms of the majority and minority culture depending on the situation. References  ·Smith, Elise J. Ethnic Identity Development: Toward the Development of A Theory within the Context of Majority/Minority Status. Journal of Counseling and Development: JCD. v70. n1. Sept. 1991. p. 181-188.  ·Spencer, Margaret Beale. Child Development. v61 n2. Apr. 1990. P. 290-310.  ·Dashefsky, A. (Eds. ). (1976). Ethnic identity in society. Chicago: Rand McNally College Publishing Co. Smith, E. J. (1991). Ethnic identity development: Toward the development of a theory within the context of majority/minority status. Journal of Counseling and Development, 70, 181-187.  ·Steinberg, L. (1996). Adolescence. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 15~19

15 The Navigator Out on the edge of the world, with no place to stay, no way to move on, no job, no life, no friends; hurt, confused, hot, thirsty, and irritated, Tuck was desperate. Desperate for just the momentary satisfaction that might come from attracting an attractive woman. No matter that he couldn't do anything about the attraction. What was she doing out here? Who cares? What a walk! He quickened his pace, his legs and shoulders protesting against the weight of his pack, and approached within a couple of steps of the blonde. â€Å"Excuse me,† he called. She turned. Tuck stopped and backed up a step. Something is wrong here. Very, very wrong. â€Å"Oh, baby,† she said, hand to her chest as if trying to catch her breath. â€Å"You scare little Kimi. Why you sneakin' up like that?† Tuck was dumbfounded. She wasn't a natural blonde. Her skin was dark and she had the high cheekbones and angular features of a Filipino. Long false eyelashes, bright red lipstick, but lines in the face that were a little too harsh, a jawline that was a little too square. The dress was tight around the chest and there was nothing there but muscle. She wore a huge black medallion at her throat that looked as if it was made of animal fur. She needed a shave. â€Å"I'm sorry,† Tuck said. â€Å"I thought you were something – er, someone else.† Then the medallion turned its head and looked at him. Tuck let out an involuntary scream and jumped back. The medallion was wearing tiny rhinestone sunglasses. It squeaked at Tucker. It was the biggest bat he had ever seen, hanging there upside down with its wings folded. â€Å"That's a bat!† â€Å"Fruit bat, baby. Don't be scared. This Roberto. He no like the light. He like you, though.† Roberto squeaked again. He had the face of a fox or perhaps a small dog – a shaven Pomeranian with wings. â€Å"I'm Kimi. What you name, baby?† Kimi extended his hand limply to shake or perhaps for a kiss. Tuck took two fingers, keeping his eye on the bat. â€Å"Tucker Case. Nice to meet you, Kimi.† He was horrified. Thirty seconds ago he'd been having lustful thoughts about a guy! A guy wearing a fruit bat! â€Å"You look like you need a date. Kimi love you good long time, twenny bucks. Whatever you need, Kimi can do.† â€Å"No, thanks. I don't need a date. What I need is a boat.† â€Å"Kimi can get boat. You like it in boat? Kimi take you round the world in a boat?† He giggled and patted Roberto's little upside-down head. â€Å"That funny, huh?† Tucker forced a smile. â€Å"No, I need a boat and someone who can pilot it out to an island.† â€Å"You need a boat, Kimi can get boat. Kimi can pilot too.† â€Å"Thanks anyway, but I really†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Roberto shrieked. Tuck jumped back. Kimi said, â€Å"Roberto say he want to go on boat with you. How far is island?† Tucker couldn't believe he was having this conversation. He hadn't really decided he would go by boat. â€Å"It's called Alualu. It's about two hundred and fifty miles north of here.† â€Å"No problem,† Kimi said without hesitation. â€Å"My father was great navigator. He teach me everything. I take you to island and maybe we have party too. You have money?† Tuck nodded. â€Å"You wait over there in shade. We be right back.† Kimi turned and wiggled away. Tucker tried not to watch him walk. He was feeling sick to his stomach. He walked to a grove of palm trees that grew along the harbor and sat down to wait. Kimi piloted the eighteen-foot fiberglass skiff out of a shantytown built over the water, across the harbor, to a dock in front of the marina restaurant. Roberto had unfolded his wings and was crawl ing spiderlike over Kimi's head and back, looking for a comfortable spot to get out of the light. Tucker walked to the dock and looked at the boat, then out past the harbor, where waves were crashing on the reef, then back at the little boat. He wasn't sure what he had expected, but he was sure this wasn't it. Something bigger, maybe a cabin cruiser, with twin diesels and a big wheelhouse with some radar stuff spinning on the top – a modest but well-stocked wet bar, perhaps. â€Å"I got you boat!† Kimi said. â€Å"You give me money now, I go get gas and look at map.† Tucker didn't budge. The engine was a forty-horse Yamaha out-board. A rubber tube ran from the motor to a gas tank that took up nearly all the space between the two seats. Tuck guessed it would hold at least a hundred gallons of fuel, maybe more. â€Å"Are you sure this thing has the range to make it out there?† â€Å"No problem. Give me money for gas. Five hundred dollar.† â€Å"You're insane!† â€Å"Gas very expensive here.† â€Å"You're insane and your bat's glasses are crooked.† â€Å"I have to pay man for boat. The rest is for pilot. You buy water, flashlight, and two mango, two papaya for Roberto, and two box Pop Tarts for Kimi. Strawberry.† Tucker felt he was being hustled. â€Å"For five hundred dollars you can get your own mangoes and Pop Tarts.† â€Å"Okay, bye-bye.† Kimi said. â€Å"Say bye-bye to cheap sweaty American, Roberto.† Kimi moved Roberto onto his shoulders and pulled the cord to start the engine. Tuck imagined himself stuck on Yap for another two weeks. â€Å"No, wait!† He unclipped the flap of his pack and dug inside. Kimi killed the outboard, turned, and grinned. There was lipstick on his teeth. â€Å"Money, please.† Tuck handed down a stack of bills. He didn't like it, but he didn't have a choice. Actually, not having a choice made it a little easier. â€Å"Are we going to leave right away?† â€Å"We go through reef before dark so we no smash up and drown. After that it better to go in dark. Go by stars.† Smash up? â€Å"Shouldn't we call for weather?† Kimi laughed. â€Å"You smell storm? See storm in sky?† Tuck looked around. Except for a few mushroom-shaped clouds beyond the reef, it was clear. He smelled only tropical flowers on the breeze and something skunky rising up from his armpits. â€Å"No.† â€Å"Meet me here in half hour.† Kimi started the motor and putted off across the harbor toward a big tank with the Mobil logo stenciled on the side. Tuck walked to the store and bought the supplies, then found the telecom center a few doors down and sent a handwritten fax to the doctor on Alualu to let him know that his new pilot was on the way. He was waiting at the dock when Kimi returned in the skiff, his wig tied down with a red chiffon scarf. Roberto wore a smaller scarf with holes cut for his ears. Strangely, the scarf, in conjunction with the sunglasses, made Roberto look a little like Diana Ross. They say there is a finite number of faces in the world†¦ Tucker threw the heavy pack into the front of the boat, then climbed in and sat down in front of the enormous gas tank. Kimi threw the transmis-sion lever on the motor, twisted the hand grip, and piloted the skiff out into the harbor toward the reef. Kimi steered the boat out of the deep green of the harbor to the turquoise water of the channel. Tuck could see the reef, tan and red coral, just a few feet below the surface at the edge of the channel. He spotted small fish darting around great heads of brain coral. They were more like streaks of color than animals, and as one disappeared another appeared in the line of sight. A few long, slender trumpet fish, looking as if they had been forged from silver, swam adjacent to the boat, then turned and cruised into the reef. They passed the edge of the reef and into the open sea with only a slight bump into the first few swells. Kimi cranked up the motor and the skiff lifted and rode across the tops of the waves, bucking and dropping a gentle six inches, thumping out a drumbeat as counterpoint to the whining out-board. Tucker relaxed and leaned back as Kimi skirted the reef, traveling toward the setting sun until he cleared the island and could make the turn north to Alualu. For the first time since the crash, Tucker felt good, felt as if he was on his way to something better. He'd made a decision and acted on it and in eighteen hours he would be ready to start his new job. He'd be a pilot again, making good money, flying a great aircraft. And with some healing, he'd be a man again too. A quarter mile from Yap, Kimi made a gradual turn that put the sun at their left shoulders. Tuck watched the sun bubble into the ocean. Columns of vertical cumulus clouds turned to cones of pink cotton candy, then as the sun became a red wafer on the horizon, they turned candy-apple red, with purple rays reaching out of them like searchlights. The water was neon over wet asphalt, blood-spattered gunmetal – colors from the cover of a detective novel where heroes drink hard and beauty is always treacherous. Tucker searched the sky for cumulus clouds that looked like they might have aspirations to become thunderheads. How in the hell were you supposed to see weather from sea level? Just then a swell lifted the front of the boat and slammed it down. Tuck felt his tailbone bark on the edge of the seat and was just bracing himself when another swell bucked him to the floor of the boat and a sudden gust of wind soaked him with spray. 16 And Now, the Weather Report The High Priestess sat on the lanai watching the sunset, taking sips from a glass of chilled vodka between bites of a banana. The intercom beeped inside the house and she cocked an ear to the open window. â€Å"Beth, can you come down to my office? This is important.† The Sorcerer was in a panic. He's always in a panic, she thought. She put her vodka down on the bamboo table and tossed the banana out into the sand. She padded across the teak deck, through the french doors to the intercom, and laid an elegant finger on the talk button. â€Å"I'm on my way,† she said. She started toward the back door of the house – a two-room bungalow fashioned from bamboo, teak, and thatch – and caught sight of herself in the full-length mirror. â€Å"Shit.† She was naked, of course, and she'd have to cut across the compound to get to the Sorcerer's office. Life had become a lot more complicated since they had hired the guards. She stormed into the bedroom and grabbed an oversized 49ers jersey with the sleeves cut off out of her closet, then stepped into some sandals and headed out the back door. She wasn't really dressed, but it might keep the Sorcerer off her back and the ninjas off her front. The compound consisted of half a dozen buildings spread over a three-acre clearing covered with white coral gravel and concrete and surrounded by a twelve-foot chain-link fence topped with razor wire. At the front of the compound was a pier and a small beach that led to the only channel through the reef. At the back a new Learjet sat on a concrete pad, just inside the fence. Outside of the fence, the concrete runway bisected the island. Past the runway lay the jungles, the taro patches, the villages, and the beaches of the Shark People. The office was a low concrete building with steel doors and a roof covered in solar electric panels that shone red in the setting sunlight. She nodded to the guard by the door, who didn't move until she passed, then tried to get a glimpse in the side of her jersey. She slammed the door behind her. â€Å"What's up? You almost done with the satellite dish? My shows are coming on.† He turned from a computer screen, a piece of fax paper crumpled in his hand. â€Å"We've hired an idiot.† â€Å"Do you want to be specific or should I assume that one of the ninjas has distinguished himself above the others?† â€Å"The pilot, Beth. He missed the Micro Trader on Yap.† â€Å"Shit!† â€Å"It's worse.† He held out the fax to her. â€Å"It's from him. He's chartered a small boat. He says he'll be here tomorrow.† She looked over the fax, confused. â€Å"That's sooner than he was going to get here. What's the problem?† â€Å"This.† The Sorcerer pushed back in his chair and pointed to the computer screen. The image looked like a blender full of green and black paint. â€Å"It looks like a blender full of green paint,† she said. â€Å"What is it?† â€Å"That, my dear, is Marie.† â€Å"Sebastian, you've been out here too long. I know you like abstract art and all†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"It's a satellite picture of typhoon Marie. And she's a big one.† He pointed to a dot to one side of the screen. â€Å"That's Alualu.† â€Å"So it's going to miss us.† â€Å"We'll catch the edge of it. We'll have to put the jet in the hangar, tie everything down, but it shouldn't be too bad. The problem is that the eye will pass right over where our pilot is going to be. I can't believe he went to sea without checking the weather.† She shrugged. â€Å"So we have to get a new pilot. Tucker Case, meet Marie.† She smiled and her eyes shone like desolate stars. Too bad, she thought. The pilot would have been fun. 17 Foul-Weather Friend Tuck was amazed by what the human body could achieve when pressed to its limits: lift tractors, trek a hundred miles through the tundra after being partially eviscerated by a Kodiak bear, live for months on grubs and water sucked from soak holes, and in this particular case, vomit for two hours straight after having ingested nothing but alcohol and airline peanuts for two days. The stuff coming out of him was pure bile, burning acrid and sour, and with the bull rider pitching of the boat, half of it always ended up down the front of him. And between heaves there was no respite, just constant motion and soaking spray. His stomach muscles twisted into knots. It started with the swells rising, first a few feet, then to ten. Kimi piloted the boat up the face of each as if climbing a hill; they were dashed by the whitecap, then a sled ride down into a trough where they were faced with the next black wall of water. Roberto climbed down into Kimi's dress and clung there like a furry tumor. The navigator cried out each time the spray washed over him as Roberto's wing claws dug into his ribs. â€Å"Tie down you pack. Tie you belt to the boat,† Kimi shouted. Tuck found a coil of nylon rope and a folding knife in his pack and tied himself and the pack to the front seat. He noticed that the space under the seat was filled with dense Styrofoam. The boat was, theoretically, unsink-able. Good, someone would find their beaten, shark-eaten bodies. He threw a length of rope to Kimi, who secured it around his own waist. The wind came up as if someone had spooled up a jet engine, going from ten to sixty knots in an instant, dumping gallons of water into the boat with each wave, drowning out the sound of the outboard. Kimi screamed an order to Tuck, but it was lost in the wind. Tuck caught one word: â€Å"Bail!† Riding down the face of a wave, he took the time to look around the boat for a container, but found only the gallon of drinking water. He took the folding knife from his pocket and slashed the top off of the jug. He dumped the fresh water, then, with his feet braced against the inside of the bow and his spine against the seat, he began bailing between his legs, taking a full gallon with each scoop, throwing it with the wind. He bailed as if in a â€Å"run for your life† sprint and he was winded and aching after only a minute, but he couldn't seem to get ahead of the storm. The boat was riding lower in the water. He ventured a glance back to Kimi and saw the navigator had found a coffee can and was braced between the seat and the gas tank, bailing with one hand while steering with the other. His scarf and fallen around his neck and was trailing the blonde wig behind him in the wind. The motor was cranked full-out, and Kimi was trying to keep the boat steered into the waves. If one caught them from the side, they would roll and continue to roll until the storm consumed them. Tuck slowed his pace and tried to fall into some kind of sustainable rhythm. It began to rain, the drops coming in almost horizontal, and as they topped the next wave Tuck realized that half of the sky had disap-peared. They were only at the edge of the storm. The navigator was screaming at him. The sea, the sky, the boat faded to black. One second he was squinting saltwater out of his eyes and staring at an obsidian wall ahead of the bow, then everything went black. Total sensory overload, total sensory deprivation. He looked around for the stars, the moon, a highlight or shadow somewhere, but there was nothing but wind and wet and cold and ache. He shivered and nearly curled into the fetal position in the bow to wait for death. The navigator's screaming gave him a bearing. â€Å"We need light!† Tuck braced himself, then dug into the saturated pack until he came out with two waterproof flashlights. Bless you, Jake Skye. He hit the sealed switches. Light. Enough to see that Kimi was steering them parallel to an ominous wall of water. They would be swamped. The navigator slammed the outboard to one side and gunned it. The little boat whipped around just in time to meet the oncoming wave, ride up and over it. Tucker clung to the boat like a newborn monkey to its mother. Tuck lashed the lights to the anchor pulley at the bow, one pointed forward, one into the boat, then he resumed bailing. A monster wave rose up thirty feet and slammed down over them. When Tuck blinked the salt out of his eyes, he saw that the boat was all but a foot full of water. Another wave like that would swamp the motor. Without the motor to steer, they were lost. Bailing wasn't enough. We're going to die, he thought. Then the noise of the storm was gone. â€Å"No, you're not,† came the voice, â€Å"you fuckin' mook.† The roar of the wind and the screams of the navigator were gone. There was only the voice. â€Å"There's a tarpaulin in your pack. Lash it over the boat so you don't take on any more water. Then move to the stern and bail.† Now there was a picture in Tuck's mind of what he was to do. There were eyelets on the outside of the gunwales to accommodate the line around the edges of the tarp. He needed only to hook the line around the boat and tie it off back by Kimi, leaving just enough of the boat open for the navigator to steer and him to bail water. â€Å"You got it, ace?† Tuck could see it and he knew he could do it. â€Å"Thanks,† he said. Forget questioning where the voice was coming from. He nodded. The storm roared back over him. Five minutes later the boat was covered and began to rise in the water as Tuck sat next to the navigator and bailed. â€Å"You steer!† Kimi screamed. Tucker took the tiller as the navigator let go and tried to rub his hand out of a cramped claw. Tuck took the boat up the face of a monster wave and the skiff went airborne. With no resistance on the propeller, the motor shrieked and Tuck dumped the throttle to keep it from blowing up. The bow tilted skyward and Kimi grabbed the gunwale just in time to avoid being dumped off the stern. They landed hard and the motor nearly went under. The motor sputtered. Tuck worked the throttle to bring it back to life. They were already going up the face of another wave, steeper than the last. If the wind caught them at the top, they would flip. Tuck suddenly remembered a surfing move from his youth. The cut back. There was no way they could continue into the wind and into the waves. Halfway up the face of the wave, he twisted the throttle and threw the motor sideways. It coughed as if expelling a hairball, then roared, sending them across the face of the wave. â€Å"What you doing?† Kimi shouted. Tuck didn't answer. He was looking for the pocket, the place where the face of the wave would stay the same. If only the motor could maintain speed. The wave was creeping up on them, looming above their backs, but then they were high enough for the wind to catch them. Just enough boost. Just enough speed. The boat flattened out on the face of the wave. They were surfing, a thirty-foot wall of water waiting to crush them from behind should Tuck lose the pocket. Strangely, Tuck felt elated. It was a small victory, maybe even a temporary one, but they were running with the storm and he was in control of something for the first time since the plane crash. He watched the angle of the boat on the face of the wave, gauged its speed, its steepness, and made the adjustments that would keep them alive. The black water seemed to eat up the flashlight beams, but he could see the wave becoming steeper and rising higher as it climbed the ocean shelf toward the hungry reef. 18 Land Ho The island was little more than a coral cupcake with a guano frosting. Not a hundred yards wide at its widest point and only five feet above sea level at its highest, it served as a resting place for seabirds, a nesting place for turtles, and purchase for forty-eight coconut palms. The foliage and coconuts had all been torn from the palms, and the storm-driven waves breaking on the surrounding reef frothed over the island, beating against the trunks and washing away the precious topsoil. Heavy as they were, some of the palms were being undermined by the sea and would soon wash away. Of the three travelers, only Roberto knew the island was there. As a young bat, he had stopped there to rest after leaving Guam, his birthplace, on his way to someplace where the mangoes were sweet and the natives did not consider fruit bat a delicacy. But right now he was too busy hiding inside Kimi's dress, screeching and clawing and generally trying to keep warm, to mention to the navigator that the reason they were suddenly riding the face of an increasingly steep fifty-foot wave was because they were about to crash over a reef. By the time Tucker Case realized what was happening, they were inside an immense tube of water, surfing inside of the curl of the wave. The flashlights refracted off the green water, illuminating the tube, making it appear as if they were inside a giant seething Coke bottle. Tuck tried to keep the boat pointed toward the narrow circle of blackness where the bottle cap would go, where they would have to go to escape. He'd seen films of surfers shooting the curl on the North Shore of Hawaii. It could be done. He clung to that vision, even as the wave passed over the reef and collapsed upon them. The boat rolled once, twice, three times, then tossed end over end and spun just under the surface as the wave frothed over the island. Kimi and Tuck were wound against the boat by their lifelines, beaten against the trunks of the palms, tossed and battered against the boat. For Tucker there was no up, no down, no way to know when he might take a breath of life-giving air or suck seawater and die. He held his breath until he felt as if he would explode, then was slammed between the boat and a tree and he let go. Roberto's wing claws cut deep furrows into Kimi's ribs as he scrambled for air. The navigator had taken a glancing blow across the forehead as the boat rolled over him and was knocked unconscious. Tuck felt himself pulled away from the boat, spun for a moment, then the pressure of the lifeline around his waist. He could see the lights attached to the boat, still shining, the only visual input in the sensory chaos. The boat had caught on something and he was trailing out behind it. Something bumped against his ribs and he reached for it instinctively, catching a handful of Kimi's dress. Roberto was clinging to Kimi's head, growling into the wind. They had passed through the island and come out on the other side. The boat had caught on the last palm tree before they were swept out to sea again. Tuck caught his lifeline with one hand, then wrapped his other arm around Kimi's chest. Slowly, working against the streaming current, more like a river now that the waves had been broken by the reef and the island, he pulled them back to the boat. The boat was afloat, but barely, held up by the Styrofoam underseats and the air trapped in the gas tank. Only an inch or two of gunwale showed above the water. Tuck crawled in, took one deep breath, then dragged the lifeless navigator in after him. Roberto scrambled on Kimi's head to escape the sea and was almost taken by the wind. Tucker caught the giant bat by the throat and lifted him from Kimi's head to his own back, wincing as Roberto's claws penetrated his shirt. Then he hung the navigator over the side and began pumping the water out of his lungs. After a few seconds, he flipped him again and administered mouth-tomouth until Kimi coughed and vomited up a stream of seawater. Tuck held his head. â€Å"You okay?† Kimi nodded as he sucked in painful lungfuls of air. Once he had his breath, he said, â€Å"Roberto?† Tuck pointed to the little dog face that was looking over his shoulder. Kimi managed a smile. â€Å"Roberto! Come.† He took the bat from Tuck's back and held him to his chest. They were safe, relatively; sheltered by the island from the monster swells, they had only the wind and the rain to deal with. The tarpaulin was gone. The boat was full of water, but it was afloat. Miraculously, the flashlights were still attached. Tucker could see the tree that had caught them. He fell back into the bow, hooking his armpits over the gunwales, then slipped into a state of exhausted unconsciousness that could almost be called sleep. 19 Water, Water At first light the coconut palm that had saved them finally gave up and tipped over, releasing the boat to the sea. The outgoing tide carried the skiff and its sleeping passengers through a break in the reef to the open ocean. Tuck, sitting chest deep in seawater in the bow, was dreaming of being lost in the desert when a flying fish smacked him in the side of the head. Startled, he reached up instinctively, as one might slap at a biting mosquito, and caught the fish in his right hand. He opened his eyes. In his mind he was still in the desert, dying of thirst, and the fact that he was now holding on to something that looked like a trout with wings seemed a cruel surrealist joke. He looked around, saw the boat, Kimi slumped in the back, ocean and sky, and nothing else – there was no land in sight. He threw the fish at Kimi. It bounced off the navigator's forehead and into the sea. Kimi screamed and sat up abruptly. Roberto – sunglasses akimbo – poked his head out the neck of Kimi's dress and screeched at Tucker. â€Å"What you do that for?† Kimi said. â€Å"Nice piece of navigation,† Tuck said. Then he mocked Kimi's broken English. â€Å"You smell storm? You see storm in sky?† â€Å"Oh, you big-time pilot. Why you not check weather? What kind of dumb fuck American try to go two hundred miles in outboard, huh?† â€Å"You told me it was no problem.† â€Å"You paying Kimi big money. Not a problem.† â€Å"Well, it's a fucking problem now, isn't it?† Kimi stroked Roberto's head to calm him. â€Å"Stop yelling. You scare Roberto.† â€Å"I don't care about Roberto. We're half-sunk in the middle of the Pacific and we don't have a motor. I'd say we have a problem.† Kimi stopped ministering to Roberto and looked up. â€Å"No motor?† He turned and looked back at the empty motor board. There were marks where the clamps had raked across it as the motor pulled off in the tumble. He turned back to Tuck and grinned sheepishly. â€Å"Whoops.† â€Å"We're dead,† Tuck said. Kimi looked back again where the motor should have been, just to make sure that it was still gone. â€Å"I ask that man, ‘Is motor on good?' He say, ‘Oh yes, is clamp on very tight.' I pay him good money and he lie. Oh, Kimi is very mad.† Roberto barked in agreement. â€Å"Stop it!† Tucker shouted. Roberto ducked into Kimi's dress again. â€Å"We've got to get some of this water out of here. We have no motor. We can't go anywhere. We're adrift, lost†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Alive,† Kimi interrupted. â€Å"I get you out of typhoon alive and you just yell and say bad things. I quit. You get new navigator. Roberto say you mean, nasty, Chevy-driving, milk-drinking, American dog fucker.† â€Å"I don't drink milk,† Tuck said. Ha! Won that round. â€Å"That what he say.† â€Å"Roberto does not talk!† â€Å"Not to you, dog fucker. You no†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Kimi paused in mid-rant and retrieved the coffee can, which had been tied to the boat with a string, and started furiously scooping water out of the boat. â€Å"You right. Now we bail.† â€Å"What?† Tuck looked up to see Kimi was looking, wide-eyed, out to sea. Tuck followed his gaze to a spot twenty yards in front of the boat where a triangular fin was describing slow arcs in the swells. â€Å"Hurry,† Kimi shouted. â€Å"He coming in.† Tucker reached for his pack, causing the bow to dip under the water by a foot. Before he could adjust his weight to counterbalance the boat, the shark came over the gunwale, snapping its jaws like a man-eating puppet. Tuck stood up to escape the jaws and the bow lurched deeper underwater. The shark slid into the boat as Tuck went backward over the side. Fear bolted through his body as if the water had been electrified. He wanted to move in all directions at once. He kicked hard and came up a few feet from the boat to see the shark slide back into the water. â€Å"Get in boat!† Kimi screamed. He was standing with his feet wide, trying to keep the boat from capsizing. Tuck kicked so hard that he raised out of the water to the waist, then he fell toward the boat, catching the gunwale with one hand. Kimi shifted his weight to counterbalance and Tuck pulled himself in just as something hit his foot. He jerked his foot so hard he nearly went out of the boat on the opposite side, then he twisted in time to see the shark sliding down into the water with his shoe in its mouth. â€Å"Behind you!† Kimi screamed. Another shark rose up at Tuck's back. He swung around and punched it on the snout as hard as he could, taking the skin off of his knuckles on the shark's sandpaper skin. The shark slid away. The motion in the bow caused the stern to dip underwater and the next attack came at Kimi. He tossed Roberto into the air as the shark came into the boat. Roberto spread his wings and soared into the sky. Kimi reached down and came up with the rubber fuel line. Tucker looked for anything they could use as a weapon, then remembered the folding knife he had put in his pocket the night before. It was still there. Kimi was slapping the shark with the rubber hose and backing his way up onto the huge gas tank that made up the midsection of the boat. Tuck opened the knife, then lunged forward at the navigator. â€Å"Kimi!† Kimi reached back and Tuck fit the handle of the knife into his hand. The shark had worked half of its nine-foot body into the boat. Its tail thrashed at the water to power the shark up onto the gas tank. Kimi scrambled backward. Roberto swooped and screeched in the air above. Kimi's right foot found purchase on the screw cap of the gas tank and he sat up. Tuck thought he was going to strike the shark with the knife, but instead he cut the gas line and squirted a stream of gas into the shark's gaping mouth. The shark thrashed and slid off the side of the boat. Kimi brandished the knife in the air. â€Å"Yeah, fuckface, you run away. That not taste so sweet as Kimi, huh?† He fell back onto the gas tank and took a deep breath. â€Å"We show that shark who the boss.† Tuck said, â€Å"Kimi, there's more.† He pointed to set of fins approaching from the stern.