Down Syndrome A Genetic Condition - 1627 Words

Down syndrome is named after Dr. J.L. Down, who first discovered and studied the condition. It is part of a large number of disabilities known as intellectual disabilities. Down syndrome is present at birth and individuals are usually diagnosed during pregnancy or shortly after birth. There are three types of Down syndrome. The most common of these involves an extra number 21 chromosome, which gives the individual 47 instead of 46 total chromosomes. A chromosome breaking and then reattaching to another chromosome characterizes translocation, which is the second type of Down syndrome. The third type, nondisjunction occurs when a pair of chromosomes fail to separate properly during nuclear division. Individuals with this disability usually†¦show more content†¦Though not all children with Down syndrome have the same features, some of the more common features are small head , short neck , flattened facial features, protruding tongue, unusually small ears, poor muscle tone, rela tively short fingers and small hands and feet and short height just to name a few. In an article by Cynthia L. Lewis, she tells the story of Jimmy. â€Å"Red faced Jimmy struggled to walk around the gym breathing heavily, he tried to complete the first lap all the while complaining and stopping to rest. But his gym teacher kept urging him to finish without, stopping, Jimmy, who has Down syndrome, finally flopped to the floor yelling, â€Å"No, I will not go! Afraid of a problem, the teacher turned to the school physical therapist, who monitored Jimmy’s heart during the exercise. The result was troubling the teenager’s heart rate was 165 because people with Down syndrome only have a maximum heart rate of 170 to 175, Jimmy was exercising at 95 percent of his maximum heart rate capacity. People with Down syndrome have unique characteristics that make one size fits all exercise regimen more harmful than good, BUT physical activity can be beneficial to individuals who have Down syndrome. While individuals with Down syndrome do generally have some physical limitations they can for the most part participate in most forms of physical activity that individuals without the disability can. The physical activity guidelines for

Chalice Chapter 1 Free Essays

To Molly, Gard, Chiron and Guenevere PART ONE Because she was Chalice she stood at the front door with the Grand Seneschal, the Overlord’s agent and the Prelate, all of whom were carefully ignoring her. But she was Chalice, and it was from her hand the Master would take the welcome cup. From the front door of the House, at the top of the magnificent curling sweep of stair, she could see over the heads of the crowd. We will write a custom essay sample on Chalice Chapter 1 or any similar topic only for you Order Now The rest of the Circle stood stiffly and formally at the foot of the stair with the first Houseman and the head gardener, but nearly the entire citizenry of the demesne seemed to have found an excuse to be somewhere in or near the House or lining the long drive from the gates today. Their new Master was coming home: the Master thought lost or irrecoverable. The Master who, as younger brother of the previous Master, had been sent off to the priests of Fire, to get rid of him. Third and fourth brothers of Masters were often similarly disposed of, but the solitary brother of an unmarried Master without other Heir should not have been dealt with so summarily. So the Master had been told. But the two brothers hated each other, and the younger one was given to the priests of Fire. That had been seven years ago. A little over six years later the Master died, still without other Heir. The Grand Seneschal had sent immediately to the priests of Fire to say that there was urgent need of the younger brother of the Master of Willowlands, for the Master had died without having produced a son. Such a request – a plea – had never been made before. Once someone has gone to the Elemental priests, they do not return. But a demesne must have its Master. And a change of family, of bloodline, in any demesne, upsets all, often for generations, till the new family has settled into its charge. The nearest other living relative of the old Master of Willowlands was a fourth cousin who had already married someone unsuitable and had three children by her. The priests of Fire said they would see what they could do, but they promised nothing. The younger brother of the old Master had just crossed into the third level, and by the third level Elemental priests can no longer live among ordinary humans. But six weeks ago the Grand Seneschal had received another message from the priests of Fire: that the Master of Willowlands was coming home. It would not be an easy Mastership, and the priests were not sure it was even possible, but the Master himself felt the responsibility to his demesne, and he was determined to try. Mirasol – straining her eyes toward the gate, partly as a way to ignore the three men who were ignoring her – remembered the younger brother: his strength of purpose, his feeling of obligation to the demesne, his feeling for the demesne. It was what the brothers had quarrelled about. The elder brother had loved the power of the Mastership, not its duties, and he was not the least willing to bear lectures on his behaviour from his younger brother. She wasn’t surprised the younger brother was coming home, even from the third level of the priesthood of Fire. She had dreamed of the message to the Grand Seneschal the night before it arrived: she had felt the fire and smelt the burning. She knew the Master would come. She knew too that the smell of burning was a warning, but she did not know of what. Might the demesne itself burn, or its new Master? She could see only a little way down the drive as it curved toward the gates half a league distant. But she could see when people better placed than she for first sight of the arrival stiffened and stared. The three men standing with her drew themselves to attention. She could hear carriage wheels now. It will be all right, she told herself. It must be all right. She settled her shoulders with a tiny, invisible shake, and fractionally raised her chin. Six horses drew the coach: four of them coal-black, clinker-black, two of them ashy grey. The coach itself was also black, but black was always fashionable among the great and grand and would draw no comment. But the curtains at these windows were drawn closed, and they too were black. A light flickered behind them, red and wavering, like firelight. Again she smelt burning, but she did not know if she imagined it. The welcoming of a new Master was a time of rejoicing. The ceremony of investiture was the official occasion, and after the rites were done there was an enormous banquet with musicians and dancing for everyone who belonged to the demesne – and for anyone else from any other demesne who wished to join in the festivities at the price of some enthusiastic contribution to toasts and cheers and acclamations. But the informal arrival of a Master should still be a happy moment. And she knew she was not the only person present who felt that the brothers had been born in the wrong order: it was the younger who would have made the better Master from the beginning. But no one clapped or called. No one smiled. It was as if everyone was holding their breath. The coach stopped in front of the House, where the gravel had been raked in a perfect circle, a symbol of good luck. Any coach wheels and any horses’ hooves would have broken the circle, splintered the careful spiral; that it should be so broken was a part of the welcome, like opening and pouring out the contents of a bottle of wine. There was no reason for her to feel uneasy, watching the horses dance as they halted, kicking pebbles every way, to feel that something fragile and vital was being destroyed. The body of the coach rocked on its wheels, and little spurts of gravel pattered out from under them. Then the door opened. Perhaps she imagined the cloud of darkness like smoke that billowed out; no one else reacted, and she bit down on her own gulp of astonishment. And of sudden fear. She remembered the younger brother. She had not known him – it was not for such a one as she had been to know the Master’s family – but she had known a good deal of him. She had known more of him than of the Master, before the Master sent him away, because he was the one who rode or walked round the demesne, seeing that the fields and woods grew and throve, and the temples and places of power were serene and well tended. He was not tall and handsome and flashing-eyed like his older brother, but there was kindness and grace in him, and intelligence in his unremarkable brown eyes. She knew little of the Elemental priests, nothing of their initiations, and only folk-tales of what the priesthoods did and were capable of. She knew that Fire frightened her worst, more than Earth or Air. And the Fire priests themselves had said that Willowlands’ new Master could no longer live among ordinary humans. As the coach door swung back, one of the House servants jumped forward as if suddenly recalling himself, and lowered the steps. Two figures climbed carefully down. They both wore black capes with hoods that hid their faces, but they carried themselves and moved and looked around as anyone might. As any ordinary human might. There was a collective letting-out of breath. Talisman, the tallest of the minor Circle, seemed suddenly shorter; Sunbrightener, who was the fattest, seemed fatter. That was until the third figure climbed down from the coach. He too wore a black cape with a hood, but the cape bulged and seethed weirdly around him, and he let himself carefully down the steps as if he did not know or could not remember how to use his feet for such an activity. The two figures who had climbed down first reached their hands to help him, holding him at the elbows and under the arms, but she felt, looking on, that their hands did not grasp quite where elbows and armpits should be. He half limped, half rolled up the steps toward the House’s front door with his helpers still on his either side. She seemed to hear a distant roar, like a fire caught in a sudden updraft. She wanted to glance at the faces of the other people, the people who had come here this morning to catch a first glimpse of their new Master, wanted to see if they looked frightened or appalled. But she couldn’t drag her own gaze away from the great roiling black loom of the third figure coming toward her. She felt the three men standing beside her struggling not to step back and away as she stepped forward. She had been clutching the welcome cup against her body so tightly that her stomach ached where the extravagantly ornamented brim had bitten into her. The roughness of the intricate overlay on the cup’s bowl gave her suddenly cold stiff fingers better purchase as she moved her hands to their proper places on its stem. She was Chalice, and hers the first greeting. The top step was a wide smooth half-moon of white stone before the door. There was plenty of space for her and him and his two aides, as well as the three men behind her, and the doorkeepers back farther yet, flanking the doorposts. She raised her cup, grateful that the weight of it prevented her hands from shaking, and looked down. Three faces turned up toward her, two of them brown and ordinary and worried-looking. The third face was black, as black as the coal-coloured horses that drew the black coach, and its – his – eyes were red, flickering like fire around the black pupils. She recognised nothing in that face from her memories of the younger brother of the dead Master. She looked at him steadily, willing herself to see something – anything – that she could welcome as Master, and in the final seconds it took him to climb the last step, she saw what she needed to see: comprehension. He knew her for Chalice and knew she was there to welcome him, because he came as Master. When he stood with her on the top step he gave a little shudder, or ripple, and his two aides dropped their hands and stepped back. As they let go of him she saw that they wore gloves. Her mouth was dry, as dry as if she had been eating ash, and she was slow to say the two important words: â€Å"Welcome, Master.† She was slow, but he was slower. He should reach immediately to take the cup from her, hold it briefly over his head for everyone to see that he accepted it, taste its contents and hand it back to her. It was possible that he would thank her, but it was not necessary. But he only stood, looking at her. The hood shadowed his shadow-dark face; she thought she was glad of it. He twitched, a tiny spasm, once, twice. Perhaps he was trying to raise his hands. The third time he succeeded, the sleeves of the cape juddering back as if blown by a wind, and she saw that he too wore gloves, long heavy ones, laced snugly to the elbows. She could not give any Chalice cup to gloved hands. She looked back into his face – into the shadows where his face was. She did not know what to do. She thought she must have imagined the comprehension she had seen there a moment earlier; she could read no expression on that black face now. Clumsily he raised his left hand and drew the fingers through the laces of the glove on his right. The cords fell away in uneven shards, as if charred. Slowly he peeled the glove away from his arm – and the heat of his flesh raged out at her. The air between them was almost too hot to breathe. Even more clumsily he raised his naked right hand, the fingertips glowing like embers, to touch the cup. She held her ground while the fingers of that fiery hand curled round the bowl of the cup inches from her face. The enamelled metal of the goblet grew uncomfortably warm against her skin and steam rose from the liquid within it. The weight of the cup did not change and she supported it as he stood with his hand around it. He looked at it and back at her. â€Å"What†¦do you give†¦me to drink?† His voice was as eerie as his appearance, but perfectly intelligible. Her answer to this question had been in no record she had consulted about the rite of welcome; but then no one had ever welcomed a third-level Elemental priest as Master either. She had held her own against the preferences of the Prelate and the Grand Seneschal only because she was, in the end, Chalice, and they could not order her to give him the earthed wine customary for a welcome cup. But she had not expected to have to announce publicly her departure from tradition: only the Master himself would taste the contents of his welcome cup. She felt as if she were being wayward, unreasonable and oblivious all over again when she had to reply, â€Å"Water – plain water from the Ladywell – and a spoonful of honey, Master.† She was sure – she was almost sure – she did not imagine it that he smiled. And it was only after her answer that she felt him begin to draw the cup toward himself. Still he did not – or could not – bear its weight, and so she carried it for him. Together they made only a faint gesture of holding it above his head, for the audience to see; and then she tipped it gently against his mouth, and saw him drink; and also saw a tiny rivulet run down by the side of his mouth and hiss off his chin, briefly leaving a fire-red tracing thread behind it. He let her draw the cup back toward her again with his hand still around it. She looked again into his face and saw, though she could not have explained how she saw, that he was tired, tired almost to death; and so she knew that it was only weariness that made him clumsier still, that when he lifted his hand away from the cup, he was not able to do it cleanly, and his hand dropped a little, and glanced – only barely, fleetingly glanced – off the back of her hand, where it seared the thin flesh to the bone. At the time it almost didn’t matter. She found that she had been half expecting something like it to happen, and did not flinch when it did. She lowered the goblet only a little bit hastily, and tucked the weight of it against her body again so that she could drop her wounded hand to her side and let the long sleeve of her robe cover the burn. This made it throb worse than if she could have held it up, but that couldn’t be helped. No one farther away than the three men behind her awaiting their turn – and possibly the Master’s two aides – would have seen anything, and she wished to keep it that way. But the three men waiting just behind her would have seen. The Grand Seneschal might have kept his mouth shut for his own good – it was he who had negotiated with the priests of Fire in the first place, and he who had received the news that the priests did not believe what he was asking could be done. She didn’t know the Prelate well enough to guess after his motives, beyond a growing suspicion he had few of his own and preferred to borrow them from some stronger character. But the Overlord’s agent would have every reason to tell the tale – and doubtless had. While it would upset the balance of the entire country if one of the demesnes were realloted, the process of the reallotment would hugely increase this Overlord’s power, and bind the new Master to the Overlord with a political gratitude it would take generations of Masters and Overlords to bring into equilibrium again. And their current Overlord was a little too fond of political power – she among others believed – without such temptations as a Master who might burn his subjects by the touch of his hand. By the end of the first day of the new Master’s return, the people she met were looking first at her right hand. Gossip travels as fast as fire. By then she had dressed and bandaged it, so there was nothing to see but the bandage; but that was enough. And there was no way to shrug off what had happened as an accident. Of course it had been an accident: no Master could remain Master who deliberately harmed any of his people. What had happened to her should be viewed as no worse or more significant than if one of his coach horses had shied and trodden on one of the onlookers: an unfortunate mishap. That’s all. But of course it was not, for it was not an accident that should have been able to happen. If the new Master were not a priest of Fire. If the new Master were still human. â€Å"It is nothing,† she said to the people she caught looking at her hand. â€Å"It is nothing.† Sometimes she tried to smile. She’d smiled at Sama, when she’d asked for lint and salve; Sama was a Housewoman with a round, happy face and three children, and she and her children were excellent customers for Mirasol’s honey. â€Å"I was clumsy. It is no more than if I brushed my hand against a dish just out of the oven.† â€Å"It don’t look like nothing,† said Sama, whose round face was not happy today. â€Å"And oven burns hurt.† â€Å"Of course they hurt,† Mirasol said briskly, trying to be competent with one hand and failing. â€Å"But we bear them because we are clumsy – and because we still like our food cooked.† Sama’s face closed a little more, but she did reach out to help Mirasol with her bandage. â€Å"It is not as though we had had a chance to practise our roles,† Mirasol said, trying to make a joke, but she realised as soon as the words were out of her mouth they were a mistake. Usually a new Master was well known to the demesne; usually the Chalice’s welcome cup to the Master entering his House as Master for the first time was a formality only. Usually a new Master was human. â€Å"But – † Sama began. â€Å"He is our Master,† said Mirasol firmly. There was an uncomfortable pause while Sama finished tying up the bandage. When she was done she raised her eyes to Mirasol’s and said, â€Å"As Chalice wills.† Mirasol almost blurted out, It’s not what I will! It is what has happened! A few months ago she would have spoken so, spoken before she thought, a few months ago when her Chalicehood was still so new that every reminder of it was like a burn. But she was Chalice now, and all things had changed, herself most of all. Before the Chalice had chosen her, Sama would have argued with her; would have held her own opinion against Mirasol’s. She would not argue with her Chalice; it was her duty to accept the Chalice’s ruling. Mirasol hoped she was right. She told herself it would have been worse if it had been an ordinary accident like a coach horse blundering into the audience, because that would so clearly have been a bad omen. The new Master was a priest of Fire, and adjustments had to be made. That’s all. That’s all. She could not help the bandage on her hand, but once she realised there was no point in trying to hide it, she used that hand freely, as if it did not hurt her. She had to hope that the fixed expression on her face that this usage provoked – because it did hurt a great deal – only looked like the Chalice’s professional mask. But if their new Master believed he could be Master, then she wanted him to have his chance. In the first place this was only her duty: the Master was the Master, but no Master could maintain his land without his Chalice. But in the second place she wanted this Master to grasp and hold because these first six months of her abrupt and lonely Chalicehood had been almost beyond her strength. She did not think she would be able to bear – to contain – the tumult if Willowlands were given a new, outblood Master; and she did not think this or any demesne could survive an outblood Master and a second disastrously new, inexperienced and untrained Chalice together. It was bad enough as it was. Willowlands was restless, hurt and unhappy: half mad with it, she sometimes thought, delirious as a child with a bad fever. Whether this was a result of being Masterless for seven months or from the seven years preceding the previous Master’s death it was impossible for her to say. But she knew it was also because she, the new Chalice, was herself rough and raw from having had no teaching. She thought of her Chalicehood in wild metaphors: like a blind woman asked to paint a portrait; like a scullery-maid dragged out of her kitchen, given a plough with no horse and told to raise six hectares of barley by sundown. And yet if she lost her fragile balance as a result of an outblood Master and the Chalice passed to someone else, there was no vanity in her bleak awareness that this would be a catastrophe. She had learnt enough to begin piecing together ways to calm a little of the appalling strain and distress the deaths of the last Master and Chalice had caused. But she had learnt by precarious methods: feverishly reading the old books, following her nose through the footnotes and annotations, leaning hardest on the advice of the oftenest-cited manuscripts, when she could find them, when the House library or the old Chalice’s rooms contained copies of them, guessing miserably from scraps and fragments when she could not find what she needed. The changeover from Master to Master and Chalice to Chalice should never happen – had never happened – as it had just happened here; most of the information and guidance she needed simply didn’t exist. And she had only barely begun. She still had far more questions than answers, far more unknowing than knowing, about everything to do with Chalice work. And yet she was all there was. The people rarely came to her with their individual problems and disturbances, but while this meant she was not yet well accepted as Chalice, which was in itself unsettling to the land and its people, she had as much and more than she could do merely responding to the most savage ruptures in the fabric of the demesne. And she felt as if she were using embroidery silks to mend plaster and lath. No, she thought, that’s not it. It’s more like putting out fires: like harvesttime after a dry summer. And they were in a drought that might destroy all. Sometimes the demesne’s disquiet manifested as literal tremors of the ground, when the trees shook as if in a high wind, plates flew off shelves, and fences didn’t merely fall down but burst apart. Usually she could hear these in her mind if they were too far away for her feet to feel them. Sometimes the Grand Seneschal sent her a message. (She tried to tell herself this was an indication of some measure of approval, but she feared it was only that as Seneschal he knew what she, who was Second of the entire Circle, second to the Master himself, ought to be capable of. The Grand Seneschal was only Third: but she never remembered this when he was glaring at her, or when another of his brusquely worded messages arrived.) The rest of the Circle were little use. The violence of the deaths seven months ago had damaged and disrupted all their abilities as it had damaged and disrupted everything to do with the demesne; only the Grand Seneschal had pulled himself together again to take the full weight of his place in the demesne framework. Once, only a few days before the homecoming of the new Master, a farmer, Faine, had come thundering up to her cottage on the back of one of his work-horses, still wearing its ordinary harness and looking as wretched and confused as its master. She’d heard the commotion and come outdoors – even her bees had scattered out of the way of these tumultuous visitors. She knew Faine; he was almost a neighbour. Possibly he had come to her because she was Chalice; much likelier he had come to her because of all the Circle she was nearest. â€Å"Can you come now?† he said breathlessly. She thought his eyes weren’t focusing on her face: perhaps seeing the thing that he had left behind him. â€Å"There’s a great cut opening in one of my fields,† he said. â€Å"I’ve left my brothers getting the beasts away – it’s big enough for one to fall in. And it’s growing.† He was speaking as if past her, as if looking at someone standing behind her. He was old enough, she thought, to remember the Chalice before the last one – she who had been Chalice to the father of the new Master and his brother. That Chalice had been much loved; Mirasol’s father had consulted her once about a stand of trees that did not thrive as they should. â€Å"There was something wrong about the air around them,† he’d said. â€Å"You could smell it as soon as you stood among ’em. I tried Oakstaff first, but he hadn’t the time for the likes of me – but Chalice herself came.† Mirasol knew of her own experience that these trees were now among the finest in what had been her father’s woodright. That Chalice would have known what to do. But that Chalice had never had to grapple with her demesne in the conditions Mirasol faced. â€Å"A moment,† she said, and flew back indoors. A tremor so ferocious it had ripped the mundane ground apart? She had no idea what she should do, but she had to try to do something. She snatched up the cup of balance, three of the Chalice stones that worked well with it, a handful of herbs, and thrust two pots of honey in the pockets of her cloak. She hesitated over her book of basic incantations; but basic incantations did not include crevasses opening in fields, and watching her fumble uselessly through a book would be good for neither Faine and his brothers nor herself. Her best hope was that the earthlines might tell her something she could use. The journey to Faine’s farm was so uncomfortable, holding on to the hip strap till her fingers were sore to keep herself from being jolted off by the big horse’s bone-breaking trot, that she managed to avoid thinking about what she could do when they arrived. She didn’t know what she could do. She might as well think about her sore fingers and bruised seatbones. It was worse than she imagined and, she thought, glancing at Faine’s face, worse than it had been when he had left to fetch help. A great ragged cleft had torn its way through the flat grassy pastureland; the red-brown gash looked eerily like a wound in flesh. Part of the awfulness of it was that the rest of the scene seemed so normal: the sun shone, the birds sang in the trees. The end near them was perhaps only two hands’-breadth across, but Mirasol could see it widened swiftly farther down the field. As she slid stiffly off the horse and her feet touched the ground, the ground shivered, like a horse’s skin shedding flies; the tuft of grass at the end of the trench rocked wildly and then parted with a sound like tearing cloth, and the trench was suddenly a hand’s-breadth longer. The birdsong faltered, and then took up again. Mirasol barely noticed; she was listening to the earthlines. Two passed through Faine’s field, and they were weeping like ch ildren. She looked around, and broke a small twig off an oak tree, thanking the tree for its help. She always preferred to find something she could use at the location itself, and she liked oak for Chalice work. She brushed her fingers over its leaves and murmured a few words of dedication. The now-familiar ritual was a little soothing – but what next? Two men and a woman had seen them coming, and met them at the edge of the injured field, but the keening of the earthlines in Mirasol’s ears was so loud it was almost impossible to hear human speech. â€Å"†¦the rest of them out,† one man was saying. â€Å"†¦Daisy’s calf ran in the wrong direction, and Daisy followed,† said the other man. â€Å"They’re†¦Ã¢â‚¬  And then, as if the moaning of the earthlines was a curtain and they had parted it for her, Mirasol could hear the frightened bellowing of the trapped cow. â€Å"Get a rope,† Mirasol heard her own voice saying. â€Å"Two ropes. You may have to drag them out. Your horse has a yokemate, I assume? Fetch him. How has this – rift – opened? Does it stretch from one end, or out from the middle?† â€Å"The far end,† quavered the woman. â€Å"It began there. Where Daisy is.† â€Å"Good,† said Mirasol’s voice again. â€Å"That makes it easier.† It does? thought Mirasol. The earthlines whimpered. â€Å"Where is your spring?† Every farm in Willowlands had a spring; she hoped this one would be a strong one, and near at hand. â€Å"Bring me a flask of the water – freshly drawn – as quick as you can.† The woman turned and ran. Mirasol walked to the edge of the field, took a deep breath, and climbed the fence. She was immediately deafened by the lament of the earthlines. It was not only the two in the field who spoke; the earthlines in the entire quadrant echoed their distress. She walked slowly along the length of the cleft; would she notice in time, she thought, if it decided to widen suddenly? She fished the cup of balance out of her pocket and rubbed her fingers over it; it was very difficult keeping her own balance between the strange space where the earthlines moved and spoke and the fact that if the crack opened under her feet in the mundane world, she’d fall into it. She tried to listen through the earthlines’ misery for any sign or guide: What was the cut doing here? Why was it here in this field rather than in some other field? Why was it here at all? Broken, wept the earthlines. Broken, broken. Some of the groaning, she thought, was the ground itself, splitting, tearing itself from itself. She was staring into the far end, where it was deepest – probably the height of two tall men, she guessed, easily enough to imprison a cow and her calf – when the woman came with a flask of icy spring water, and shortly after her one of Faine’s brothers with a pair of horses. Mirasol mixed her cup: water, the spring water this field would know, herbs for distress of mind and body and one for deep dangerous wounds that they will not fester; some of this year’s spring honey, because spring was the season of joy for the future, and some honey tasting strongly of handflowers. Handflowers were lavender-pink, and inside they were striped red in such a way that they resembled the fingers and thumbs of two hands held cupped together. It was considered lucky to drink rainwater from the cups of handflowers – and anyone who regularly did then saw all things so clearly that they could not be deceived. I will not deceive you, said Mirasol silently to the earthlines. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m here and I’m listening; and there is still joy in this world. She stirred the mixture with the oak twig. Last she dropped in the three small stones, which were for light in darkness, for compassion and for love. â€Å"Someone will have to climb down there with them, you know, to put the ropes around them,† she said. The man nodded. â€Å"I know. I’ll go.† His face was pinched with worry and fear; he met her eyes, briefly, as if forgetting himself, and immediately looked away. â€Å"Drink this first,† Mirasol said, and offered him her cup. â€Å"Just a sip – you only need a sip.† The Chalice stones clinked faintly against the side of the cup as he drank. She turned away without waiting to see if her mixture had had any effect; she didn’t have a second choice if it didn’t. She knelt, and then lay down flat, just above where the unhappy cow bawled and thrashed. It was not a graceful procedure – what might the Chalice who had cured her father’s trees have done about a trapped cow? Cows and sheep did get caught in natural cuts and hollows sometimes – but there was nothing natural about this one. She spilled several drops from her cup on the bits of cow that happened to be under them when they fell. At least once the sweet water landed on her nose – which was where she was aiming – and Mirasol saw the vast pink tongue reach up to lick it off. The calf, being smaller, and trying to hide under its mother, was harder, but she splashed it a few times. And then she stood up, as if what she wanted and hoped would happen was going to happen. The cow stopped bellowing. â€Å"Go down now,† she said. â€Å"Get ready. I’ll start at the far end: that’ll give you a few minutes.† She didn’t add, I have no idea how long the effect will last. I have no idea why it worked. If it worked. Maybe the cow just likes the taste of honey. I have no idea if anything else will work. She turned away, and began again the long walk – it felt twice as long this second time – to the far end of the grotesque crack in the ground. The high dreadful keening of the earthlines had diminished to a woebegone rumble; a rumble that seemed to be turning toward her – looking for her – looking for help, as Faine had done. She knew the usual conjurations to quiet an earth tremor – often a mere murmur of silence and peace, quiet and calm was enough, like singing a lullaby to a fretful child – but these seemed hardly appropriate for an earthquake that had torn a hole in the landscape. But she found herself humming an old lullaby her mother had sung to her: Sleep, my little love, sleep, my little one. Sleep is sweet and love is sweeter, but honey is sweetest of all. There were several ritual ways a Chalice could hold her cup; she chose the one – only practical on the slender, stemmed Chalice vessels – that allowed her to weave the fingers of her two hands together around it while her crossed thumbs held the other side: connection, joining, linkage. She tried several phrases from the incantation book she had left behind, but none of them suited her; none of them felt right, none of them settled to the work before her. She felt the earthlines listening – listening but waiting. Waiting to hear the thing that would reassure them, that would knit them together, that would call them home. She reached the end of the crack and paused. It had, she noticed with some small relief, stopped growing. But when she turned and looked back along the length of it, it seemed leagues long; the two big work-horses as small as mice in the distance; the heavy ropes hanging off their harness and disappearing into the crack were barely visible threads. â€Å"Please,† she said clearly, aloud, as if she spoke to a person. â€Å"Please be as you were. I will try to help you.† She hesitated, and pulled out the handflower honey and added a little more to the mixture in her cup. The water was faintly gold against the silver cup; the small stones in the bottom shone like gems. She did not want gold and silver and gems; she wanted ordinary things, commonplace things. Trees and birdsong and sunlight, and unfractured earth. â€Å"Let the earth knit together again, like – like darning a sock. Here are the threads to mend you with.† And she threw a few drops from her cup into the trench. She saw them twinkle in the air as if they were tiny filaments; the pit was quite shallow here, and she could see tiny spots of darkness where they landed. Her fingers were sticky with honey. Absentmindedly she put one in her mouth; the taste of the herbs was clear and sharp, but the honey’s complex sweetness seemed to carry mysteries. There was a sudden sharp new tremor under her feet. Her heart leaped into her throat and she froze. The jolt loosened the dirt on the sides of the trench, and it pattered down. Quite a lot of it pattered down, till the trench was barely a trench at all, little more than a slight hollow. â€Å"Here are the threads to mend you with,† she said again, having no better spell or command to offer, and she tossed more drops from her cup into the wound in the earth. The trench began to fill up. How to cite Chalice Chapter 1, Essay examples

Public And Private Halth Care in Canada †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Public And Private Halth Care in Canada. Answer: Introduction The Purpose of this paper is to discuss the different types of Health Care provided in Canada which are mainly divided into public and private Healthcare. This paper briefly analyses both the kinds of Health Care provided within the country by discussing their benefits and detriment. Public Health Care facilities are used more in Canada as compared to private Healthcare facilities. It has been argued by Healthcaretomorrow.ca (2014) that Public Health Care is more effective as compared to private Healthcare. On the other hand it has been argued by Scott-Carson (2014) that private Healthcare has more benefits as compared to public health care. This paper analyses the different arguments made both in favour and against of the healthcare systems in the country. The thesis statement of this paper is that private health care is better than public health care. Argument construction and argument analysis: Public Health Care vs private Healthcare As stated by Healthcaretomorrow.ca (2014) there are various benefits of using public health care in Canada. When it comes to public Healthcare the administrative cost is very low. There is very little spending of money towards distinguishing between the undeserving and the deserving and chasing those who have not paid. Efficient and need based accessibility is provided through the public health care system. In this form of system democratic and collective decision making is possible and practiced. In addition wages and jobs in public sector are better as compared to the private sector and it has an overwhelming female force. Large scale innovation is also only made possible in public Healthcare system such as laser, cataract surgery and antibiotics. Arguments in favour of private Healthcare private Healthcare people do not have to face the problem of waitlist for doctors and they can choose the time when they want to be treated. Thus a person can more imminently schedule an appointment with a private doctor according to his needs. In addition people are provided a wide range of choice in relation to the various specialist and Hospital available in the private sector as compared to the public sector. People always want to consult a person who has a good reputation in a certain area of medicine. In private health care system people often get done on room and thus the elements of privacy are also ensured. However it has been argued by Mazzucato (2016) that at some point private sector Healthcare discriminate against those who have a public insurance. Own argument On one hand public Healthcare system is cost effective and on the other hand it is a time consuming process. When it comes to health get in the private Healthcare system although the system is not as much cost effective as public Healthcare it provides timely treatment to the patients and they do not have to be subjected to wait list (Mossialos et al., 2014). When a person is looking for Healthcare he wants the best possible treatment available and thus it can be rightly concluded that the best treatment is provided by specialist in the private Healthcare system. Conclusion From the above discussion it can be concluded that there are various advantages and disadvantages with both the public and the private Healthcare systems are subjected to within Canada. However private health care is better than public health care. References Healthcaretomorrow.ca, (2014). Understanding-the-Health-Care-System. [online] Available at: https://https: //healthcaretomorrow.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Understanding-the-Health-Care-System.pdf [Accessed 12 Feb. 2018]. Mazzucato, M. (2015).The entrepreneurial state: Debunking public vs. private sector myths(Vol. 1). Anthem Press. Mossialos, E., Wenzl, M., Osborn, R., Sarnak, D. (2016).2015 international profiles of health care systems. Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health. Scott-Carson, A. (2014) The Role of the Private Sector in Canadian Healthcare: Accountability, Strategic Alliances, andGovernance, Queens School Business

Michael Faraday Essays - Fellows Of The Royal Society,

Michael Faraday It is not my intention to lay before you a life of Faraday in the ordinary accepting of the term. The duty I have to perform is to give you some notion of what he has done in the world; dwelling incidentally on the spirit in which his work was executed, and introducing such personal traits as may be necessary to the completion of your picture of the philosopher, though by no means adequate to give you a complete idea of the man. Michael Faraday was born at Newington Butts, on September 22, 1791, and he died at Hampton Court, on August 25, 1867. When thirteen years old, that is to say in 1804, Faraday was apprenticed to a bookseller and bookbinder where he spent eight years of his life, after which he worked as a journeyman elsewhere. Faraday's first contact with the Royal Institution was that he was introduced by one of the members to Sir Humphry Davy's last lectures, that he took notes of those lectures; wrote them fairly out, and sent them to Davy, entreating him at the same time to enable him to quit trade, and to pursue science, which he loved. Davy was helpful to Faraday, and this should never be forgotten. He at once wrote to Faraday, and afterwards, when an opportunity occurred, made him his assistant. In Rome he made rapid progress in chemistry, and after a time was entrusted with easy analyses by Davy. In those days the Royal Institution published 'The Quarterly Journal of Science,' the precursor of 'Proceedings.' Faraday's first contribution to science appeared in that journal in 1816. It was an analysis of some caustic lime from Tuscany, which had been sent to Davy by the Duchess of Montrose. Between this period and 1818 various notes and short papers were published by Faraday. In 1818 he experimented upon 'Sounding Flames.' From time to time between 1818 and 1820 Faraday published scientific notes and notices of minor weight. At this time he was acquiring, not producing; working hard for his master and storing and strengthening his own mind. He assisted Mr. Brande in his lectures, and so quietly, skillfully, and modestly was his work done, that Mr. Brande's vocation at the time was pronounced 'lecturing on velvet.' In 1820 Faraday published a chemical paper 'on two new compounds of chlorine and carbon, and on a new compound of iodine, carbon, and hydrogen.' This paper was read before the Royal Society on December 21, 1820, and it was the first of his that was honored with a place in the 'Philosophical Transactions.' On June 12, 1821, he married, and obtained leave to bring his young wife into his rooms at the Royal Institution. There for forty-six years they lived together, occupying the suite of apartments which had been previously in the successive occupancy of Young, Davy, and Brande. At the time of her marriage Mrs. Faraday was twenty-one years of age, he being nearly thirty. Oersted, in 1820, discovered the action of a voltaic current on a magnetic needle; and immediately afterwards the splendid intellect of Ampere succeeded in showing that every magnetic phenomenon then known might be reduced to the mutual action of electric currents. This attracted Faraday's attention to the subject. He read much about it; and in the months of July, August, and September he wrote a 'history of the progress of electromagnetism,' which he published in Thomson's 'Annals of Philosophy.' Soon afterwards he took up the subject of 'Magnetic Rotations,' and on the morning of Christmas-day, 1821, he called his wife to witness, for the first time, the revolution of a magnetic needle round an electric current. Incidental to the 'historic sketch,' he repeated almost all the experiments there referred to; and these, added to his own subsequent work, made him practical master of all that was then known regarding the voltaic current. In 1821, he also touched upon a subject which subs equently received his closer attention--the vaporization of mercury at common temperatures; and immediately afterwards conducted experiments on the alloys of steel. He was accustomed in after years to present to his friends razors formed from one of the alloys then discovered. During Faraday's hours of liberty from other

Social Darwinism1 essays

Social Darwinism1 essays In the late 19th Century a term called Social Darwinism was established to describe the idea that humans, like plants and animals, compete in a struggle for existence. Social Darwinists base their beliefs on theories of evolution developed by British scientist and naturalist Charles Darwin. Darwin also created "The Survival of the Fittest," meaning that the strong will survive and the weak will perish. Some social darwinists deny that they approve of the theory that the strongest will survive, but many of their arguments justify imbalances of power because they consider some people more fit to survive than others. Social Darwinism is a variety of social policies and theories from reducing the power of government to exploring the biological causes of human behavior. Many social darwinists opposed government aid to the poor, laws against child labor, and free public education. Many darwinists did not want government to restrict competition in any way. They believed in the policy called laissez-faire, which means that the government should leave business alone. Darwin believed that human society is constantly changing. He also believed that competition between humans is normal and natural, which produces a better society and a better human being. There were many problems with the laissez-faire theory. Without some government control, businesses would have the freedom to exploit natural resources, use cutthroat competition, cheat customers and abuse labor. Social Darwinism accounts for the difference between the rich and the poor. It is said to be a "Welfare for the Rich," meaning that it helps the rich get richer and the poor stay poor. I think that Social Darwinism is wrong because not everyone has the ability to be the "fittest." There are people prone to diseases such as cancer, Parkinson disease, multiple sorceress, etc., and no matter how hard someone tries, there are people that just canno...

Calamitatum Of The Individual

Calamitatum Of The Individual Essay In the realm of critical thinking, Abelard undoubtedly ranked highly in his day. He was an expert dialectician, philosopher and theologian, and as a result led a movement towards individual thinking. He traveled a lonely path of individuality, and when his ideas were suppressed, he found different ways to express his individuality. The beginning of his life was marked by extreme personal freedom. As his journey through life continued, he found himself compounded with innumerable restrictions. The role of monk could not change Abelard, and his individuality brought him even greater misfortune. He may forewarn others against the risks of such extreme individualism, but his life clearly shows that Abelard thought his individuality was a natural part of him, a part that was as inseparable as his faith. From the beginning of Abelards Story of my Calamities he portrays himself as an individual. The as oldest child in his family his life was intended for a military career, but as he tells us, he abandoned Mars for Minerva, denouncing the popular and glorious profession of arms for that of learning. In writing this he shows his clever and distinct way of thinking by referring to dialectic, the art of examining options or ideas logically, as a weapon of war. I chose the weapons of dialectic to all the other teachings of philosophy, and armed with these I chose the conflicts of disputation instead of the trophies of war. (p. 58, ll. 7-9). This is remarkable for the son of a soldier to make such a choice even renouncing his inheritance and pursue only intellectual advancement. Leaving home, he traveled off to school in Paris. He was welcomed for a short while, but soon found disfavor with his teacher Champeaux, the grand master of dialectic at the time, by refuting his arguments and proving himself several times to be the superior in debate. This shows Abelards superior intellect at a very early age. This is no doubt a major reason for his individuality. One of his intellectual rank finds it hard to conform to others standards, and naturally becomes a spectacle when showing his skills. This early conflict caused Abelard to leave and start his own school. Unfortunately, he could not maintain it and had to return home. Years later he was teaching in Paris again, he tells us how pupils flocked to him from every country in Europe, a statement which is more than corroborated by the authority of his contemporaries. He was, In fact, the idol of Paris, eloquent, vivacious, handsome, full of confidence in his own power to please. As he tells us, the whole world at his feet. In the Story of My Calamities, he confesses that at that period of his life he was filled with vanity and pride. I began to think myself the only philosopher in the world, with nothing to fear from anyone, and so I yielded to the lusts of the flesh. (p.65, ll.13-15). The first part of this statement is a window into what made Abelard an individual. He felt that he did not have to follow the same rules that other people did because he was superior to them. The result was a man that did things differently, for better or for worse. The second part of that statement lead Abelard down his next path of individuality, the first to cause him physical pain. To these faults he attributes his downfall, which was as swift and tragic as was everything, seemingly, in his dazzling career. He tells us in graphic language the tale of how he fell in love with Heloise, niece of Canon Fulbert. READ: Daedalus Myth And Portrait Of The Artist EssayIn the midst of his exploits he met Heloise, and in the first time writing about her in The Story of My Calamities he describes her individuality. in the extent of her learning she stood supreme. A gift for letters is so rare in women that it added greatly to her charm and had won her renown throughout the realm. (p.66 ll.15-17). This shows that Abelard valued individuality highly in others as well as in himself. He arranged an agreement with Heloises uncle to educate her, and gained access to Heloise. Their relationship encompassed the maximum in personal freedom and experimentation. They had a premarital sexual affair of unparalleled proportion. The whole affair was entirely against the rules of society at the time, and was the culmination of the progressive pattern of freedoms, turned into the abuse of opportunity. Soon after Abelards individuality and superiority caught up to him. Heloise became pregnant, and Abelard could not successfully sidestep the ethics of society again. To appease her uncle, Abelard offered him satisfaction in a form he could never have hoped for: I would marry the girl I had wronged. (p.70, ll.6-7). In this offer, Abelard showed that he was out of touch, because to marry in secret was really just an insult, and he considered it a complement of the highest magnitude. As a result of this final insult, the uncle could not contain his rage any longer, and had Abelard castrated. This very profoundly caused him pain for the rest of his life. Then Abelard embarked down his last path, but still as an individual. He made the decision to become a monk. About this decision he writes, I admit that it was shame and confusion in my remorse and misery that rather than any devout wish for conversion which brought me to seek shelter a monastery cloister. (p.76, ll.15-17). Abelard is distinguishing himself from others by demonstration that while he made a choice that others had also made, he made the choice for special reasons, reasons that are different from anyone elses. Of course, as soon as he was positioned in this monastery, he started making waves with the head of the monastery, and doing things not expected of a monk: I applied myself mainly to the study of the Scriptures as being more suitable to my present calling, but I did not wholly abandon the instruction of the profane arts in which I was better practiced. (P. 77, l.31) This aroused the envy and hatred of the other heads of school against me. (P.78, l.5) It would seem that Abelards extreme individuality led him into trouble no matter where he turned, or what endeavour he undertook. When he did apply himself to religion, he got himself into more trouble than even he expected. In his most unpopular argument he says that even though there is only one God, God did not beget Himself, even though there is the Son, the Father, and the Holy Ghost. This sets off a multitude of enemies against Abelard, and is the beginning of a very bad reputation for him. He refuses to recant anything he has said, and is forced to his own book burned. This attack on his pride was the one to cause him the most pain. Abelard is harassed at every step by enemies, and eventually he moved to the wilderness. Abelard lived there in an oratory of weeds and thatch (p.88, l. 22), while other his peers surely would have thought of him as uncivil. This shows that Abelard really just doesnt even care what anyone thinks. Soon, many eager student appeared at the wilderness spot, and a school was eventually created. Being an irrepressible individual, Abelard titles the school controversial name of Paraclete as a way of reemphasizing his beliefs about God, causing enemies to attack him. He is again forced to leave for fear of injury or death. READ: Art Of Poets EssayHis refusal to conform to the certain norms of society was consistent even when his life was endangered. It comes to the point where he states, But now Satan has put so many obstacles in my path that I can find nowhere to rest, or even to live; a fugitive and wanderer, I carry every where the curse of Cain (p.102, ll.15-17). With standing all adversity Abelard proves himself definitely a true individual Through good times and bad, that is maybe his only constant. Even though in closing Abelard says, This is my experience all the time; a poor monk raised to be an abbot, the more wretched as I have become more wealthy, in order that my example may curb the ambition of those who have deliberately chosen a similar course. (p.104, ll. 18-21), it is painfully clear that the lone path of individuality was the only route for him.

An Analysis of The Famous Sushi Pants Story by Tucker Max; Essay

An Analysis of The Famous Sushi Pants Story by Tucker Max; - Essay Example The stories are entertaining, highlighting his views about women, excessive consumption of alcohol and drinking games, which lead to him insulting people, and embarrassing sexual encounters. Whether the stories are true or overly exaggerated perhaps is irrelevant, as one of his stories, which is in his popular publication and on the website is the â€Å"famous sushi pants story† (Max, 2006), and which recognizes and emphasizes on a familiar sequence of events individuals follow during a night out drinking alcohol, and commonly defined as binge drinking (Measham & Brain, 2005). Binge drinking is when an individual takes six or more standard drinks in one given period (WHO, 1994). Binge drinking is a common drinking behaviour in Ireland (SLAN, 2007). The impact of alcohol relies on the amount taken, although alcohol is a depressant it can have a stimulating effect. Some common effects following consumption include a sense of dis-inhibition, social freedom, and excitement, the proverbial ‘Dutch courage’, and a warm feeling of enjoyment. However, at higher doses alcohol can affect the cerebellum, which results in poor balance and slurred speech (Drinkaware, 2014). The ‘Sushi Pants Story’ is one of a young mans shamelessness. Morality is rarely discussed. However, moments during the story the author has inscribed remarks, â€Å"remembering past encounters with the law, and realising there is no one around to bail me out of the county lock up, I summon up every bit of adrenalin in my body to sober up, I apologise again† (p.6). There appears to be disapprobation or at least of an egressing consciousness that there is something "wrong" with this behaviour. Additionally, there is a way in which this story records the pain and sorrow of a young man whose life while in certain aspects is in good order, in other ways has careened out of control.

Working with children from birth to age 5 years Assignment

Working with children from birth to age 5 years - Assignment Example They need a safe environment along with proper care to lead a healthy life. This paper aims to provide the basic understanding about the environment which should be arranged for their active learning and safety. This paper is a guideline for the setting for young children from birth to age 5 years. Safety and Health Requirements Safety is one of the main concerns when dealing with children up to 5 years of age. The babies and young children should be prevented from cot death. They must be properly put down for sleep i.e. preferably ‘feet to foo’ position. The temperature of the environment should be normal for the safety of children and the prevention of illness and other issues. Babies should not be left alone at any instance especially for longer periods. Smoky environment is particularly harmful for babies and hence, adults should never smoke in front of them. Children tend to climb furniture, stairs and other surfaces higher than the floor and for a safe environment it is necessary that the baby is kept away from all surfaces which may lead to a fall. A person who can watch the baby all the time can ensure that the baby does not fall. Avoid any objects which the children may put into their mouths. Keep such objects away from the reach of children as they are dangerous for them. Choking and swallowing incidents may be avoided by careful consideration given to tiny objects which a child may spot. The electric cords and outlets should be out of reach of the children. They may get electric shocks either by touching, biting or playing with those electric cords and outlets or by poking metal material in them. The preventions against electrocution are hence, necessary. Placing heavy furniture in front of the outlets, keeping cords way higher than their reach and cover the electric outlets tightly are some of measures to prevent electrocution accidents. All these preventions are necessary to ensure that the children get a safe and sound environment (He berle & Scutella p 44-48). The children from a very tender age have certain physical and health requirements which need to be fulfilled. Parents are advised to send lunch with children so that they are able to study with a healthy mind. The children of a young age need to have their breakfast daily so they can be healthy. Children need an environment in which they can get toys to play with and hence to promote a better learning environment it is necessary some sort of toys are given to them (Tassoni 2007 p.516). Setting needed for an educational environment All over the world it is seen that education has become a primary necessity for every individual. Today the class or race does not matter much but rather the education one achieves has a greater importance. Special students have also been given preference when it comes to studies. Classroom Management Plans are designed to help students to achieve a better grade and better environment to study (Khalsa 2007). Young children have s pecific requirements of these classroom management plans which revolve around the visual environment and the physical arrangement in the class. Visual learning is a way through which the children can be encouraged to study as they are attracted towards the colors and drawings. Similarly walls are also decorated in such a way that the students are attracted to the charts on the walls. Different posters about the classrooms are put on the walls which are there to attract students. These visuals are quite important for the children who are studying these days as this would promote better understanding in the class (Tassoni 2007 p 27-30) Physical arrangement of the chairs on which the children sit are also considered important because it would allow more room to the children. Children at a

Interview with a human resource manager Essay Example for Free

Interview with a human resource manager Essay Many organizations build human resource management section separately so that an expert service is provided to the people and the human resource function performed efficiently. These organizations consider people as their most priceless assets and so they need managers in this section who are efficient, responsible and devoted to the rules and regulations of the respective organization. For this they need a capable person who can cover up the responsibilities excellently and help in further development of the organization. Different organizations have varied expectations from the candidate and the ecruitment is done according to the requirements of the company. It depends upon the size of the company, the physical nature of the products, the size of the staff members, its functions, aims and complexities that decide what exactly is expected from a human resource department. A human resource manager has to keep a balance between the employer and the employees. He has to act as an advocate for both, the organization and the people who work for it. Only one or two decades ago the human resource manager was associated with personnel and administrative division of the company and mostly confined to some aper work. They had to deal with hiring of the employees for different sections of the company, paying them and dealing mostly with their benefits. But today most of the organizations are customer centered and are becoming more adaptable to changes needed for successful marketing strategy. So the responsibilities of today’s human resource manager is to take care of customer satisfaction and make specific changes considering success in marketing along with taking care of the benefits of the employees, payroll and do some paper work as well. The HR manager has to be very attentive and cautious with ny and every change that is taking place in the marketing policy. With the globalization of small and big businesses, it seems that the development of an organization depends quite a lot on the human resource manager and so he is answerable to almost every aspect of marketing and customer satisfaction section. This includes a lot of work pressure, which burdens the professionals a lot. Almost every human resource manager is suffering form this problem and feels the pressure from various directions. They have to discuss the matters and the targets need to be achieved in imited time and above all be updated with the latest in marketing strategy. Those who are interested in regular competition and want to progress fast can try and make human resource manager a career but I feel that with so much of work pressure a man will have to sacrifice a lot in life just to satisfy his ego and earn success and new heights in monetary section. With flexible working hours the manager has to sacrifice various aspects of recreation and relaxation with family and friends. With stress and conflicts in the organization, the human resource manager needs to take care of it before it does any harm to the organization. He needs to be like a team leader and convince the employees with the views of the management and vice versa. Open communication and discussion helps a lot and the manager balances if there is any aggressive attitude in the employees. The only thing that I work out from the interview with a human resource manager is that the job satisfies people who are very ambitious and enthusiastic. It is not that the job or its responsibilities are not reachable. Some managers find it very challenging and like to work in a competitive environment so that the charm of life and work remains there for them.

Comparing the Perversion of Values in The Great Gatsby and Death of a S

Perversion of Values in The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman      Ã‚   Throughout History there are many examples of perversions, from sexual, social to the very morals themselves. One of the greatest examples is the continuous corruption of the American Dream. As the Dream evolves, it tends to conform to the illicit dealings of the time and immortals of society. No longer is an individual interested in working hard to achieve goals, it is desirous of the quick fix. Society wants its wishes and wants them now. This social attitude is thoroughly explored in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and by Arthur Miller in his Death of a Salesman. As the instantaneous achievement becomes more valued it gives rise to the lie, the thief and the corrupted character.    Within the two novels there are many examples of a lie, which is "a false statement deliberately presented as being true; a falsehood or something meant to deceive or give a wrong impression." (Webster) The lie in the Great Gatsby has significant meaning, as it portrays Gatsby's quest for the American Dream, and is dedication to achieving it. He will do anything, include lie about his past to achieve his dream, which revolves around Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby loses himself and his interests in hopes of becoming something that Daisy desires, "I lived like a young rajah in all the capitals of Europe - Paris, Venice, Rome - collecting jewels, chiefly rubies, hunting big game, painting a little, things for myself only. (Fitzgerald 66) Gatsby exploits his lie in a grotesque manner, without any style, which betrays his humble origins. Gatsby's lie also shows his low self-confidence and inability to accept who he is as a person.    The truth w... ...nt of the lie, greed and theft, and the corrupted characters within both novels, although the American Dream is portrayed differently in the books. Both Willy and Gatsby pay the ultimate sacrifice in the end, they both die. This shows the importance of keeping true values and morals within our lives. If there is a lesson to be learned in the books, it is that turning away from good moral principles will result in unhappiness and death. One must always do what is proper and right, honor is important above all things because even if one does not achieve one's dream, then it is known that you did the right thing.    Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925. Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin Books, 1976. Webster's College Dictionary. New York: Random House, 1998.   

Consumer Psychology

PART B DEFINITION Consumer psychology is a specialty area that studies how our thoughts, beliefs, feelings and perceptions influence how people buy and relate to goods and services. One formal definition of the field describes it as â€Å"the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society. STAGES IN CONSUMER DECISION MAKING PROCESS CONSUMER INDIVIDUAL FACTORSConsumer individual factor is divided by five. Age, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle and personality. This five factors is affected to consumer behavior to buy same product or services. †¢Age Age and life-cycle have potential impact on the consumer buying behavior. It is obvious that the consumers change the purchase of goods and services with the passage of time. Family life-cycle consists of different stages such young si ngles, married couples, unmarried couples etc which help marketers to develop appropriate products for each stage. 00PLUS product affects to this categories because when adult, people are active doing some sport and they need 1ooPLUS because 1 0 0 P L U S ’scientifically-testedi sotonic formulation of carbohydrates, electrolytes and water enables faster and more effective hydration, thus enhancing a person’s capability to perform at his or her peak. In fact, in a recent study, 100PLUS was clinically proven to rehydrate and re-energise faster, and provides 43% more endurance, than water alone. Read also Memory – ForgettingThe advertising also can attract consumer to buy this product because they use number 1 badminton player Dato Lee Chong Wei in the advertisement. This can attract people because many people use Dato Lee Chong Wei as their idol. †¢Occupation The occupation of a person has significant impact on his buying behavior. For example a manger in sport center selling 100PLUS product in the business to make more profit. This is because they know that when people sports, they need to cover back their energy and 100PLUS product is suitable in this situation. Economic Situation Consumer economic situation has great influence on his buying behavior. If the income and savings of a customer is high then he will purchase more expensive products. On the other hand, a person with low income and savings will purchase inexpensive products. However, 100PLUS product is suitable to all economic situation status because the price is not expensive. Beside that, they use Dato Lee Chong Wei in advertising make this product is more popular that the other product. †¢LifestyleLifestyle of customers is another import factor affecting the consumer buying behavior. Lifestyle refers to the way a person lives in a society and is expressed by the things in his/her surroundings. It is determined by customer interests, opinions, activities etc and shapes his whole pattern of acting and interacting in the world. When people active in sporting, they need a carbohydrate water to make they still have energy to continue sports. People hwo active in played badminton also attractive to the advertisement because they want to became like Dato Lee Chong Wei. Personality Personality changes from person to person, time to time and place to place. Therefore it can greatly influence the buying behavior of customers. Actually, Personality is not what one wears; rather it is the totality of behavior of a man in different circumstances. It has different characteristics su ch as: dominance, aggressiveness, self-confidence etc which can be useful to determine the consumer behavior for particular product or service. This also can attract people who like to do something challenging because they need energy to become vigorous.MOTIVATION AND GOAL People who drink 100Plus will motivate they self because it will bring back they energy to achieve they goal. BRAND PERSONALITY Brand personality is the way a brand speaks and behaves. It means assigning human personality traits/characteristics to a brand so as to achieve differentiation. These characteristics signify brand behaviour through both individuals representing the brand as well as through advertising, packaging, etc. When brand image or brand identity is expressed in terms of human traits, it is called brand personality.Advantage-already popular in Malaysia, has many flavor, restore energy quickly easily to find. Disadvantage-100plus is only isotonic water. CONSUMER IMAGERY Consumers have a number of en during perceptions, or images, which are particulari relavant to the study of consumer behavior. These include the image they hold of themselves, and their perceived images of products and product categories, of retail stores, and of producers. People will find 100Plus because they know that 100Plus is a isotonic drink and its to restore energy. 100Plus also more cheaper then another isotonic drink.MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS THEORY 100 PLUS 100 PLUS Abraham Maslow is well renowned for proposing the Hierarchy of Needs Theory in 1943. This theory is a classical depiction of human motivation. This theory is based on the assumption that there is a hierarchy of five needs within each individual. The urgency of these needs varies. These five needs are as follows- Physiological needs- These are the basic needs of air, water, food, clothing and shelter. In other words, physiological needs are the needs for basic amenities of life.Safety needs- Safety needs include physical, environm ental and emotional safety and protection. For instance- Job security, financial security, protection from animals, family security, health security, etc. Social needs- Social needs include the need for love, affection, care, belongingness, and friendship. Esteem needs- Esteem needs are of two types: internal esteem needs (self- respect, confidence, competence, achievement and freedom) and external esteem needs (recognition, power, status, attention and admiration).Self-actualization need- This include the urge to become what you are capable of becoming / what you have the potential to become. It includes the need for growth and self-contentment. It also includes desire for gaining more knowledge, social- service, creativity and being aesthetic. The self- actualization needs are never fully satiable. As an individual grows psychologically, opportunities keep cropping up to continue growing. From this theory that 100plus at the esteem needs level because people need it to restore ene rgy to make they achieve what they target and make people proud to them.

Both poets Essay

Both poets are writing about an experience of the same thing, a birth. Hughes’ however, is a bad birth and Clarke’s is a good birth. Although they are relating the same subject, the two poems are very different, not only in the style of writing but in the story and atmosphere. The themes in both are the partnership of life and death. They both start by setting the atmosphere with the weather. Hughes depicts a bad atmosphere by describing the worst of winter days: â€Å"Ice wind Out of a downpour dishclout sunrise†. In contrast Clarke expresses the loveliest day of the year: â€Å"The stillest, hottest day of the summer† Also Hughes describes the inhospitable environment of the: â€Å"Mudded slope† So right from the start it can be seen that Hughes is going to be relating a bad birth, and Clarke’s is going to be good. Another similarity is a technique they use here which is alliteration, a technique that Hughes is very fond of. Here Hughes uses the hard, harsh sounding Ds to get across the atmosphere and Clarke uses soft calm sounding Ss. Both poems are also set in the poet’s native area. Hughes is very straight forward right from the start in what it is about: â€Å"A lamb could not get born. † Clarke also gets the picture across straight away: â€Å"A lamb was born in a field† So as you can see the structure and use of techniques is very similar but the meaning is opposite. In the labour, Clarke, emphasizes the ease and calmness of the birth. One of the ways she does this is by making little of the physical aspect, simply describing: â€Å"Her sides heaving, a focus Of restlessness in the complete calm Her calling at the odds with the silence. † Her pain briefly disturbs the silence of this still day. It is also a fast, easy delivery: â€Å"Hot slippery the scalding Baby came and the cow stood up. † Clarke, as you can see, concentrates on the ease and speed of the birth but also brings a big picture of the surroundings not just the labour and birth. Hughes, on the other hand, focuses very much just on the birth and does not bring in the wider picture of his surroundings. He also gets across the difficulty of the prolonged birth for himself and the ewe, being much more involved in the birth than Clarke. He uses short strong words to give impact and intensity: he is ‘wrestling’ while the sheep ‘groans’; he hauled’ while she ‘cried out. ‘ The effort is reflected in the repetition of the word ‘pushed’ but once it is past the head and shoulders it comes, like Clarke’s, fast and easily: â€Å"The long sudden, yolk yellow Parcel of life† Clarke describes the birth as a nice comfortable experience, through imagery; she gets across the gentleness and beautifulness of the birth: â€Å"The light flowed out, leaving stars and clarity† â€Å"The cow stood up, her cool flanks like white flowers in the dark. † In contrast Hughes gives a detailed, and rather gruesome description of the deformed head of the lamb: â€Å"A blood ball swollen Tight in its black felt, its mouth gap Squashed crooked, tongue stuck out, black purple. † This is great imagery describing the limp, bloated head with the purple deoxygenated blood and short black wool on its head. Although both of these poems are written in 1st person they are different, Hughes is very much physically involved in the experience and plays a big part in it. He is always referring to what it was he had to do: â€Å"I caught with a rope†; â€Å"I felt inside†; â€Å"I saw it was useless†; â€Å"I pushed† It is forced onto the reader every single little point, and this is clearly intentional. On the other hand Clarke’s perspective is very different, she is much more just an observer and simply invites the reader to join her, although she does make references to her own personal experiences as a mother: â€Å"I could feel the soft sucking Of the new born, the tugging pleasure Of bruised recording† Clarke also brings in a much wider picture than Hughes rather than picking at every one little detail. So though both are in 1st person they are put across very different. Both poets use literary techniques to boost their imagery, but like everything else they use them in very different ways, same techniques, variation in use. Obviously Clarke uses these techniques in such a way that they are soft and tender sounding for example when she uses alliteration it is soft ‘S’s and ‘M’s that are used: â€Å"Measured the volume of the sky; the hills brimmed with incoming darkness†; â€Å"soft sucking. † In contrast to this, Hughes’ use of these techniques is much More graphical and harsh, in this example the use of the ‘B’ almost seems to give the sound of the head bobbing up and down, like Hughes says he likes to use words that you can touch, feel, hear as well as see: â€Å"Blackish lump bobbed at her backend† So here you can hear, see and almost feel the nodding head and again here you can hear and feel the lamb slipping out: â€Å"Smoking slither of oils, soups, syrups† Although he does use these harsh sounding images there is one place where he uses soft sounding alliteration it is when he is telling about how the birth should have been just to contrast against the awfulness of this birth and make just that bit worse: â€Å"Tip-toe, his toes Tucked up under his nose†. When is comes to the structure of the poem, even it reflects the mood of poem. Hughes splits up some of his sentences over lines, this makes it a bit jerky to maybe reflect the uneasiness of the birth and it is also used to give emphasis to the last word of the line, also ‘February 17th’ is in one big chunk of text and is not split into stanzas, this is make it tense and slightly uneasy for the reader. On the other hand Clarke has two short stanzas the maybe reflect the ease and straightforwardness of the delivery, she also uses the technique of splitting sentences over two lines but her poem in general has a much more formal structure. So in some ways the poems are identical because they have the same subject and themes, life and death, also they use all the same techniques so without reading it and just being told this you would begin to think they were the same. But Hughes is a lot more straightforward and down to earth in the way he tells the story, also he concentrates on just the birth and goes into a lot of detail.

The Value of Female Friendships

The Value of Female Friendships I met my girlfriend Dana in college, and in the years since then our friendship has grown exponentially. Nine years ago, Dana told me that she had breast cancer. Shes a survivor. In that timeframe, my marathon walking buddy Allison found out she had appendicidal cancer. She too is a survivor. With two very close girlfriends in the same situation- one that was certainly new to all of us- I found myself asking: How as a girlfriend do I handle this? What do I do to support them? Where do I look for answers? This is not an article about cancer. It is an article about the incredible life-force underlining the word girlfriend. Girlfriend Support I remember the moment I heard about Allisons cancer. I didnt want to talk with my husband, even though he is a great man and a caring friend of Allisons as well. I wanted to talk with my female friends. I wanted their advice, their hugs, their sincere listening while I asked ‘why? Seeking advice, sharing concern, providing support and love, I wanted to be around the women who understood how I felt and who, I hoped, would help me be a better friend to my friends going through one of lifes scariest situations. So, why are girlfriends so important? I dug in and studied my own need for female community and what pulled me toward my friendships as a primary support system in a time a great stress. I was especially curious to find out why couldnt I fill this need with my husband or through the wisdom of books, advisors or other communities? Was it just me? Turns out it wasnt. Relationship Research A little research led me to a captivating book that spelled out the answers to me. The Tending Instinct, by Shelley E. Taylor, unlocks some of the mysteries of women, men, and the biology of our relationships. The big ah-ha! I discovered in its pages is that this need for community with other women is biological; it is part of our DNA. Taylors book consolidated a variety of studies covering cultural factors, decades of research, anecdotal references- even the biological ties to the girlfriend concept in the animal kingdom. An unending stream of fascinating facts helped define why we as women are more social, more community focused, collaborative, less competitive and, above all, why we need our girlfriends. Consider these findings: Longevity - Married men live longer than single men, yet women who marry have the same life expectancy as those who dont. However, women with strong female social ties (girlfriends) live longer than those without them.Stress - For decades, stress tests focused solely on male participants, believing that all humans would respond in the same manner. When these same stress tests were finally conducted on females it was discovered that women dont have the same, classic fight or flight response to stress that men do. According to the research presented in The Tending Instinct, women under stress have the need to tend and befriend. We want to tend to our young and be with our friends. Time with our friends actually reduces our stress levels.More Stress - A study conducted by the UCLA School of Medicine found that when were with our girlfriends, our bodies emit the feel good hormone oxytocin, helping us reduce everyday stress. By prioritizing our female friendships and spending time with th ese friends, we take advantage of a very simple, natural way to reduce our stress. Even More Stress - Prairie voles, a monogamous rodent, have a similar response to stress. When a male vole is put in a stressful situation, he runs to his female partner. Female voles, when stressed, immediately run to the females they were raised with.Self-Esteem - A recent study by Dove indicated that 70% of women feel prettier because of their relationships with female friends. Its no surprise that our self-esteem is highly influenced by our girlfriends; this is important to understand for girls as well as women.The Health Factor - Women without strong social ties risk health issues equivalent to being overweight or a smoker- its that serious. Friendships Waning With all Ive discovered that is good about female friendships, I was disappointed to come across a national survey from 2006 that found a sharp decline in friendships. Research co-author Lynn Smith-Lovin, a sociologist at Duke University said, From a social point of view, it means youve got more people isolated. When were isolated, we dont have each other to help us through tough situations like hurricanes or fires, financial struggles or relationship changes, sadness or cancer. Without communities of women, we often miss opportunities to be involved in our cities, to learn from each other, to empathize with other women and to share the benefits of laughter and a heart-felt hug. As women, we sometimes need to be reminded what being a girlfriend means. Too often it takes an illness or loss to hit us with reality, realization, and appreciation of friendship. That reminder can also be as simple as a caring card, a hug or an e-mailed photo. Once in a while we simply need to take the time to think about our friends, stop and live in the moment, and if at all possible, celebrate that moment. Hear some bad news? Call a girlfriend. Have something great to celebrate? Share that celebration with a friend. Want to feel prettier, be less stressed, be healthier and happier? Spend some time with your BFFs. Like the scary, life-changing diagnoses of my dear girlfriends, recognize your own need for friendships and fill that need with time and memories together. Life is better together- with your girlfriends. NOTE: Research for this article primarily attributed to The Tending Instinct by Shelley E. Taylor. Additional information was received form Kappa Delta, NWFD facts, and the Dove Beauty study.

International Marketing Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

International Marketing - Coursework Example d Fitch is among the organizations that have sought to venture into the international market, most notably in Europe, where different brands are made available in numerous outlets. For instance, the A&F brand is made available by the company through the experiential marketing policy, in which much emphasis is put on the sales outlets that are tasked with showcasing the brand values. This approach is seen as ideal in enabling the brand have a competitive edge over those provided by its competitors, since the brand offers the consumer a significant experience, as well as creating a brand community (Powers and Loyka, 2010). The company uses in-store experience as the marketing vehicle. Enhancing the product competitiveness and the general organizational profitability involves carrying out a situational analysis, where the company creates a clear knowledge of the respective markets, and eventually evaluates its importance for the company as well as for the other markets where the business operates. International business environment is more dynamic, competitive and complex, hence the need for the management to be knowledgeable of both the immediate situations and the potential impacts of the effected changes in the business area. The European market explored by the Abercrombie and Fitch Company could exhibit various similarities and dissimilarities, hence the need for the company to understand the implications and linkages of the marketing strategy changes in its brand operations. Modern companies have realized the need to target particular customers, since they cannot appeal to all buyers. The buyers are widely scattered and have varying needs and buying behaviors, making it inevitable for the companies to adopt different practices that include segmentation, differentiation, and positioning, in order to satisfy the specific customer needs and ensure their competitiveness and profitability in the market. The segmentation of A&F brand must take into consideration

Internet and Direct Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Internet and Direct Marketing - Essay Example t marketing has evolved as an important tool for organizations which seeks to eliminate the presence of â€Å"middle man† from the promotion process of an organization. Direct marketing acts as a tool by which marketing messages of organizations can be directly provided to potential consumers. It comprises newspaper advertising, door-to-door selling, and also selling over the telephone by organizations. It involves selling goods and services directly to customers rather than through retailers. Zenith Electronics LLC is a major producer of electronic consumer products, including television receivers, radios, and stereo equipment. Each of these product lines is the responsibility of a product manager. The product line of modular stereo systems of Zenith is called the Allegro line. Each system consists of an AM-FM tuner/amplifier plus phonograph plus tape deck and separate speakers. The company offers 13 different models that sell in the $ 150-$ 400 range. A modular stereo system differs on the one hand from stereo consoles, in which all of the components are built into one cabinet, and on the other hand from audio component systems, where consumers select unrelated but compatible components to make up the systems they want (Chaffey et al, 2012, p. 51). The company also produces a line of stereo console units, but the console market is in a state of decline as consumers switch to smaller sound systems. Zenith does not produce audio components but has considered it from time to time. The main goal of the company is to increase its market share and profitability in the modular-stereo-system market. Direct marketing strategies of an organization should begin with a reliable database of consumers (Tapp et al, 2014, p. 71). The strategies with regard to direct marketing must be able to build consumer value through the adoption of an approach that is considered as more personalized and also more customized for service and product offerings. The distribution processes of the

Cross Culture Managment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Cross Culture Managment - Essay Example However, this company is subsidiary of the Japanese parent company present in Malaysia and this subsidiary company does not follow any of these four principles. Japanese work culture is supposed to be growth oriented, and hence, when ABC MNC entered in Malaysia, large number of people wished to join this organisation as an employee. The above stated four principles of Japanese organisations are the major reason for higher job demand in Japanese organisation. During 2003, due to the closedown of its R&D department Malaysia, employees perceived that their jobs had become less secured. This was the first instance that affects ABC MNC’s job satisfaction level. However, followed by this incident, there were also other factors that increased the number of unsatisfied employees in ABC MNC. ABC MNC was highly dependent on local Malaysian people for recruiting its labour forces. However, most of the top level management were the Japanese expatriate managers and there were significant g aps between the thorough process of Japanese top level managements and local Malaysian employees. Basically, the Japanese and Malaysian culture differs from each other due to their basic orientations that influence their basic traits. The Malaysian local employees used to perceive their Japanese top level management as people with a serious working attitude. Moreover, ABC MNC had a tendency to change its CEO in every three years, and every time, the new CEO restructured the entire organisation including strategies that also increases the dissatisfaction level among Malaysian employees. On the other hand, the top management always emphasised that their employees should gain skills like leadership, better communication etc. However, the company never provided any... This paper approves that the management also has to take care of the fact that management practices do not remain the same across all nations. It is important to analyse the nature and characteristics of human resources at the place where the company is set up before employing the local employees. As apparent from the above case, candidates were moving out of the company on account of low salaries and other benefits. This is the reason why the management had introduced benefits like transport allowances, car parking allowances and sell phone allowances for retaining the employees. It was also seen that the top management positions in the company were dominated by the Japanese personnel. This paper has presented crucial areas of job satisfaction and commitments focusing on a case study of a Japan-based company called ABC MNC present in Malaysia. The company suffered from lower job satisfaction level and lower commitment level that led to increase the employee turnover ratio of the organisation. In the present world of competition, managing a growth oriented organisation culture is a necessary but difficult task. As ABC MNC is a multinational organisation, it has to deal with number of issues. Therefore, it must make an effort to understand the culture and psychology of its local Malaysian employees who are crucial factor for the success of ABC MNC of Malaysia. However, in spite of being a Japan-based company, ABC MNC has not able to develop motivational work culture for creating higher job satisfaction and better commitment level.

Oil price Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Oil price - Essay Example Since this rising prices is inevitable, the major countries will need to find alternative sources of energy to protect themselves from the impending doom of disaster. Oil is the ingredient that drives the planet; it is as essential as air and a key source for almost every product from construction material to transportation to clothing. But the hard fact is that the supply of oil is finite and eventually it will be depleted and demand will outstrip production capacity. Increasing demand along with diminishing supply has already begun to drive price upwards. As prices are rising, new supplies are emerging in an effort to reduce consumption. "The rate at which consumption levels are rising, it is predicted that the world's oil supply will be exhausted within the next 40 years". (Guinness Atkinson Funds, "Future of Energy"). As can be seen by the above graph, demand and supply both have been rising over the years, but the growth in supply has not been able to keep pace with the demand growth and hence an increase in prices. On the supply side, there are three factors that are responsible for the current situation. "Firstly, non-OPEC production capacity has been growing over the years. In recent years, the former Soviet Union supply has been growing annually at a rate of about 0.5 million barrels per day. However, this growth had mainly come from repairing tired infrastructure rather than new exploration and this sort of growth rate is and will be hard to sustain. In addition to that, West Africa, Canada and Brazil have seen another 0.5 million barrels per day annual growth in production capacity. But like the former Soviet Union, the future looks bleak regarding the maintenance of this growth. The output from the U.S. and North Sea is also shrinking. Secondly, the growth potential in OPEC production cap acity is becoming smaller. Currently, most of OPEC, with the exception of Saudi Arabia, is operating at near capacity. Thirdly, since 1998, OPEC has been quite effective in keeping supply and demand matched, in addition to keeping the world oil supply a little tight. It is this combination of strong demand, slow non-OPEC production growth and effective OPEC supply management that has been the major driver of recent increases in world oil prices. On the demand side, the surge in global economic activity has led to an explosion in demand for oil and hence the world is facing an oil demand growth shock"(Guinness Atkinson Funds, "Future of Energy"). The major demand is coming from the developed world particularly the US, China and other economies in Asia. "China is in a phase of rapid energy-intensive industrialization and will continue to be one of the key consumers of oil in the coming years"(Oil Market Report, International Energy Agency). Behavior of Oil prices: The Asian Financial Crisis hit the world in mid-1997 and had a devastating effect on the major economies of the world. Even in the face of this crisis,

Impacts of Nuclear Energy on Global Business

Impacts of Nuclear Energy on Global Business 1. Background and Overview Tony Blair’s Labour government has finally decided to move ahead â€Å"with a vengeance† (Webster, 2006) with its’ plans for development of nuclear power, ending years of speculation on the issue. Work on the last nuclear power station started eighteen years ago in the UK on Sizewell B and since then there has been a complete embargo on any fresh initiative in the area. Things are now likely to change, much to the concern of environmentalists and anti nuclear campaigners. The use of nuclear power, for any reason, peaceful or otherwise, has always been looked upon with deep suspicion because of its inherent association with weapons of mass destruction and its ability to cause large scale destruction on a horrific and unimaginable scale. â€Å"Many analysts have attempted to explain the visceral hostility toward nuclear power, and the most common explanation is that people link nuclear power with nuclear weapons.† (Lorenzini, 2005) The reasons for this attitude are also justifiable as most scientific work in atomic radiation, atomic change and nuclear fission, be it in the USA, Nazi Germany or communist Russia, at least till 1956, was focussed primarily on the furthering of the atomic bomb. It was only after 1956 that the focus of nuclear technology shifted to the design of safe and reliable nuclear plants. The growth in use of nuclear energy for power entered a state of not just stagnation but moderate decline, world wide, in the late seventies and remained so until the turn of the century and the UK was presumably, but echoing global concern in the formulation of its energy policy. Very few reactors were ordered globally and the new reactors coming on line just about matched requirements. Global capacity increased by only a third in more than a decade. Even then, nuclear energy, from the 442 nuclear power reactors used in 31 countries, adds up to one sixth of the world’s electricity supply today. The growth of nuclear fuel as an energy source has been sluggish due to quite a few reasons, some of which now need rethinking in today’s grim geopolitical and environmental scenario. For more than three decades, energy policies in the United States and much of the Western world have been held in the ideological grip of a flawed concept: the notion that we can achieve sustainable energy by relying solely on conservation and renewable resources, such as wind, the sun, the tides, and organic materials like wood and crop waste. Born in the wake of the 1973 oil embargo and arising out of renewed commitments to environmental quality, this idea has an almost religious appeal. An unintended result is that the world has become ever more reliant on fossil fuels and therefore less able to respond to global warming. (Lorenzini, 2005) It has been the case of the pro nuclear power lobby, for many years now, that nuclear energy is a clean, economic and efficient way to generate power; ideal for continuous generation of medium and large scale electricity. In nuclear power stations, apart from the nuclear reactors, the rest of the equipment works similarly to those in coal or gas fuelled power plants. However, the cheaper and more widely available fuel used by these nuclear plants, compared to those fired by coal, oil and gas, makes the case for its’ wider use attractive. This is especially relevant today with oil hovering in the range of 70 to 73 USD per barrel, and gas from the North Sea wells beginning to run out. With the increase in greenhouse and emission problems and the uncertainty of fossil fuel supplies in a shifting and unstable political environment, the nuclear power option has definitely got itself a strong tailwind. The concerns of the anti nuclear campaigners focus on a number of worrying issues. Their first contention concerns the forecasted reduction of carbon dioxide emission from nuclear power plants; this to them is no more than blatant propaganda. In the US, where much of the worlds uranium is enriched, including Australias, the enrichment facility at Paducah, Kentucky, requires the electrical output of two 1000-megawatt coal-fired plants, which emit large quantities of carbon dioxide, the gas responsible for 50per cent of global warming. Also, this enrichment facility and another at Portsmouth, Ohio, release from leaky pipes 93per cent of the chlorofluorocarbon gas emitted yearly in the US. The production and release of CFC gas is now banned internationally by the Montreal Protocol because it is the main culprit responsible for stratospheric ozone depletion. But CFC is also a global warmer, 10,000 to 20,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide. (Caldicott, 2005) In addition, the environmentalists say that nuclear fuel cycle also consumes large quantities of fossil fuel, in the mining of uranium, in the construction of the reactor and its’ robotic decommissioning as also in the transportation and storage of radioactive waste. The use of nuclear fuel can lead to significant health threats from the unregulated emission of radioactive isotopes; which include Krypton, Xenon, Argon and Tritium and could cause long term physical harm to residents in surrounding and nearby areas. These releases are unregulated because the nuclear industry considers these particular radioactive elements to be biologically inconsequential. The transportation and storage of radioactive waste could also become a global security problem, if the use of nuclear energy is adopted on a wide basis. A completely new and potentially catastrophic dimension would be added to global security with the deliberate creation of new and potentially vulnerable targets for terrorist strikes. While the advanced nations would be able to shore up reasonable levels of security the same may not be true of the developing countries where weaker management systems could lead to grave risks; witness the variation in the effectiveness of different management sy stems in disaster control in the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island episodes. Nuclear proliferation remains a major issue. The USA is planning to go ahead with the selling of weapons grade nuclear fuel to India, (a non signatory to the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty and a country with a history of surreptitious manufacture of nuclear weapons) for use in power generation. If it is India today, can Pakistan be far behind? The prospect of an atomic bomb capable Pakistan getting access to Yellow Cake, an intermediary for the production of enriched uranium, is a frightful thought; enough to send shivers down the spine of the developed world. The energy crisis enveloping the globe has a number of dimensions, all equally worrying. The availability of fossil fuels is reducing sharply because of resource depletion, price spikes and geopolitical reasons. Greenhouse emissions of carbon dioxide are leading to global warming with far reaching ecological effects that could one day threaten the existence of the world. The development of renewable energy sources, wind and solar, once touted as the best solutions, have been largely unsuccessful and remained in the realm of experimentation; useful only in small isolated pockets. In this situation, while nuclear energy does appear to have most of the answers, the concerns of the environmentalists and the anti nuclear campaigners also remain very valid. 2. Impact on Contemporary Business Organisations The UK has always been in the forefront of development of nuclear technology. The work carried out by British scientists in the 1940s was renewed after the war and it is pertinent to recall that the world’s first nuclear power reactor started in the UK in 1956. Twenty three nuclear reactors power the country’s nuclear plants, leading to the generation of a total of 75 billion kWh of electricity, a fifth of the country’s requirement. However, all but three of these plants are scheduled to close by 2020, with consequent effects on the economy and operations of contemporary business organisations. The major dilemma for business and economy is to find alternative sources for energy, nuclear or otherwise to fill this expected gap in energy production and to provide for increased needs. 2020 is not so far away. The other major factor staring British economy in the face is the prospect of importing 90 % of its gas requirement by 2025. The country and its economy is looking at a huge energy deficit, an issue that will need resolution in the very near future. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has, in a widely publicised call in April this year, asked the Government to clarify its’ stand on longer term carbon emission policy to enable low carbon emission sources like nuclear fuel to play an important role. The CBI has also stated very categorically that nuclear power is the only proven low-carbon technology able to deliver consistent supplies of electricity on a large scale. The advantages of stable operating costs, the availability of nuclear fuel from politically stable countries and the ability to store uranium are practical reasons to work towards the development and commissioning of more nuclear plants. In addition, the operating costs of nuclear power are stable because the cost of fuel varies between only 5 and 10% of total operating costs. The cost of building nuclear power plants, as of now, is far more than that of conventional oil, gas and coal fired plants. Operating costs are however not just lower but also expected to be stable and independent of recurring political upheavals. Two factors are however set to change these circumstances. The cost of fossil fuel, especially oil is on a sharp upward path, threatening to throw all cost projections out of gear. The expected depletion in gas resource and consequent compulsion to buy increasing quantities from outside is also going to come with its own consequences, increased costs definitely one of them. While manufacturers of nuclear power plants are working on reduction of capital cost, a â€Å"significant increase in the price of natural gas could make new nuclear plants economically competitive even without further reductions in their capital costs.† (Taylor, 2004) The CBI in its statement of April also stated that companies would seriously consider investing in new, capital intensive nuclear plants, subject to the introduction of a correct non-discriminatory policy on carbon emission; beyond the present policy which is unclear after 2012. Intense concern about the current situation also made it say that â€Å"an energy policy based on crossing fingers and the use of the prayer mat is not acceptable†.(Nuclear Power in the United Kingdom, 2006) Contemporary businesses, not just in the UK but across the globe are wrestling with an energy crisis, the widespread usage of fast depleting fossil fuels, rocketing oil prices currently resting in the low 70s (USD per barrel), and the continuous spectre of carbon dioxide emissions and global warming. The real advantage of nuclear energy is its potency. One pound of uranium contains the energy equivalent of roughly one million pounds of coal. Such potency means that nuclear powers energy potential is vast, clearly sustainable as a long-term resource. It also means nuclear’s environmental impact is inherently low. With so much energy coming from such a small volume of material, producing nuclear fuel requires much less exploration, mining, transportation, and collection, with all their attendant environmental problems, than do fossil fuels. For example, a 1,000-megawatt nuclear plant requires one refueling per year, whereas a similarly sized coal plant requires 80 rail cars of coal per day. (Lorenzini, 2005) The gridlock appears to be slowly tightening with nuclear power possibly the only solution to the intensifying problem. 3. Likely Future Scenario The future scenario in use of fuel for energy and its development is probably going to move in reasonably predictable directions. All across the globe, awareness on global warming and its possibly devastating repercussions has heightened considerably. Every natural calamity, be it the Tsunami in Indonesia, earthquakes in Pakistan, the arrival of the Katrina in the United States or the melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas finds an immediate media connection to carbon dioxide emissions, the greenhouse effect and global warming. This phenomenon, coupled with the instability of supply and the rising cost of fossil fuels is going to lead to an expansion of nuclear power both in the USA and the UK. Governmental restrictions on use of nuclear power are slowly being dismantled as governments across the globe see the advantages of going nuclear for power generation. Along with increase in nuclear power generation, governments across continents will try to develop renewable energy sources for power generation. Renewable energy has not really made much headway despite concerted efforts in the last thirty years. Nearly 90 % of the global energy production is obtained from fossil sources and most of the rest comes from nuclear power. Wind and hydro energy can be harnessed only in suitable locations that have access to huge amounts of rainfall, fast flowing rivers or conditions suitable for setting up wind farms. Countries with access to fossil fuels, oil, gas and coal will of course continue to depend heavily upon these sources for power. However, the threat of emissions and consequent ozone layer depletion will nudge all countries towards the development of alternative sources. The rising costs of oil, essential for vehicular and air transportation will lead to its curtailment for use as as fuel for all but essential reasons. Renewable sources will of course fill a part of the yawning power gap which appears to be looming on the horizon but nuclear power is also very much a part of the final answer. It is the one energy source that today combines the benefits of displacing the use of fossil fuels, minimising pressure on land, avoiding resource depletion and restricting harmful emissions. The UK and the USA, both countries with over regulated nuclear power generation environments will necessarily open up their laws to ease the setting up of newer power facilities, based on nuclear fuels. The building of nuclear energy capacity necessarily comes with the enormous added responsibility of ensuring public health and safety, involving first, the storage and containment of harmful waste material and second, the prevention of dangerous nuclear material going into the hands of rogue states and terrorist organisations. Contemporary business organisations will need to survive in similar circumstances for the next few years until additional nuclear and renewable energy facilities are set up. This is essentially going to be a slow, expensive and careful process and the period of infrastructure build up will be open to all the risks that exist today, namely uncertain supplies and skyrocketing prices. It is only with the spread and extensive use of nuclear power on a global basis, the establishment and strict enforcement of protocols for responsible and peaceful use of nuclear energy and the rooting out of rogue states and terrorist organisations that businesses will be able to witness and take advantage of stability in supplies and cost of energy, free of the worry of a global environmental threat from emissions of harmful gases. 4. Summary and Way Forward In the UK the 2006 review of the energy policy has put development of nuclear energy firmly on agenda and public opinion is also now veering towards its use. It has been determined that all the new plants will have to be built by the private sector with internalised waste and decommissioning costs. All barriers that threaten to slow down investment will be looked at very carefully, without compromising public safety; new and speedier licensing procedures will also be considered. The use of nuclear fuel for energy is gaining ground globally after years of stagnation but some of the old concerns still remain. Environmentalists and anti nuclear campaigners have a number of worries, most of which concern safety, the prevention of hazards from nuclear plants and the misuse of nuclear fuel by rogue states, international criminals and terrorist organisations. While their strident objections to the theory of nuclear energy being much cleaner and â€Å"greener† than energy derived from fossil fuels could be taken to be substantially incorrect, it would be presumptuous to brand all their worries about safety and the possibility of nuclear proliferation as facile and alarmist. Many of these concerns are still valid and do need attention. The two major areas that demand consideration are the disposal of nuclear waste and the reprocessing of spent fuel. The sustainability of nuclear power, the ability to make it work for long time frames and to think of it as a real long term solution to the global power issue depends upon obtaining an acceptable and workable solution to the problem of managing nuclear waste. Nuclear wastes are classified differently from other toxic residues and need to be kept safely for thousands of years, whereas the timeframe for non radioactive toxics of between 50 to 70 years is far less. Work is needed in this area on two fronts, the carrying out of continuous scientific research, needing significant governmental and institutional funding to find a solution to the storage problem, and a fresh look at regulatory laws to assess whether they can be revisited without compromising safety. Reprocessing relates to the process in which plutonium and uranium are chemically separated from spent fuel for reuse, as is done in France. Reprocessing allows for more complete usage and tapping of the energy potential of nuclear fuel and makes waste management easier, reducing both bulk and long term hazards which could arise from the waste. However, the separated plutonium could create a potential nuclear threat, if it finds its way to the wrong hands, and again will need very careful security. After years of stagnation, the several demands of the twenty first century have combined to make the world seriously think of the need for nuclear power. The increase in demand for power and electricity in the developing world, the sharply eroding global resources of fossil fuels, the continuing global geopolitical instability, the skyrocketing prices of oil and gas, and the need to severely restrict carbon emissions are forcing nations to turn towards nuclear fuel for release from their energy worries. The need of the moment is to think and to cooperate in this global mission. As Paul Lorenzini states: The most critical step is to build a consensus among energy planners and policymakers that sustainability as a policy goal should include nuclear power. Bringing nuclear power back into the mix for energy planning means shedding ideological biases. It means openness of thinking to resolve the tension between the human desire for modernization and the global need for sustainability (2005) References Caldicott, H, 2005, Nuclear Power is the problem, not a solution, Common Dreams News Center, www.commondreams.org/views05/0415-23.htm Clapp, R. W., 2006 Nuclear Power and Public Health. Environmental Health Perspectives, 113(11), 720+.Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=od=5012166072 [27 Aug 2006] Lorenzini, P., 2005, Spring. A Second Look at Nuclear Power: By Overlooking Nuclear Power in the Quest for Clean Energy, We Are Condemning Ourselves to a Future of Increased Fossil Fuel Use. Issues in Science and Technology, 21, 31+. Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=od=5009414160 [27 Aug 2006] Nuclear Power in the United Kingdom, 2006, World Nuclear Association, www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf84.htm [27 Aug 2006] Taylor, J. J. (2004, Spring). The Nuclear Power Bargain: The Potential Benefits Are Enormous If We Can Continue to Make Progress on Safety, Environmental, Fuel Supply, and Proliferation Concerns. Issues in Science and Technology, 20, 41+. Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=od=5006170378 [27 Aug 2006] Webster, P, 2006, Britain goes nuclear to beat energy crisis, Times Online, www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2184192,00.html [27 Aug 2006]