Marketing Synopsis

After the Initial success of the casual shoes, GOES expanded its market towards the apparel and the sports shoe market as well, thereby demonstrating the power of Innovation. Since then, GOES had carved out a niche for itself through distinctive innovation. It has been adopting strategies to ensure that it could successfully renew its technology, products and process, and maintain long term competitiveness. Key Issues and Fact Finding: * According to us, first issue was, Polecat had no prior knowledge in the field of engineering and shoe industry. The research process was exhaustive.After insulting various publications and encyclopedias he recognized that a watertight breathing membrane worn by NASA astronauts can act as a prototype for his shoes. * After patenting the new technology, second issue was that none of any shoe leading companies in Italy showed interests in his product. This led him to manufacture the shoes all by himself. * Third Issue was that after diversifying Its pro duct portfolio and expanding Internationally, GOES could not enter sports shoe market as it had intense competition and it required a very different technology.Polecat felt that every sector requires a different mind-set, but in response to nonuser requests, Golf Shoe range was launched in 2009. * The last and the major key Issue was that shoe market was highly competitive and to maintain Its position, only innovation could not help. The shoes must be stylish and trendy enough to match the style offered by others. Thus GOES had to constantly work on product differentiation while maintaining its quality and costs. Key Learning: * The very first thing this case teaches us is that â€Å"Necessity is the mother of invention†.We must be constantly aware of our surroundings. One should have zeal and enough confidence on oneself to convert the opportunity in potential offering. Polecat realized the necessity of the shoes that breathes and created a new market altogether. * Take smal l steps and have full faith in your potential. Polecat initially 1 OFF small. This gave him an opportunity to test the response of the customers in limited period of time. After getting satisfactory response, he then switched over to men and women wear and expanded the market gradually. * â€Å"Think big†.Initially he started locally and then expanded its target market by entering in apparels and sport shoes. The company then, internationally diversified its product portfolio. Polecat realized his true potential and knew to what extent he could go. Questions: IQ . What do creativity and innovation Signify and entail? What are the key types of innovation? SQ. Analyses Goose's innovative strategy in detail. What are features of this strategy that have made Goes shoes a success? What factors, other than product innovation, does Goes owe its competitive advantage to?Q. 3. Assess the market environment of the industries Goes operate in. Who are Goose's key competitors? What Strate gies and options are available to Goes for sustaining its position in these industries? ANSI : Creativity: The process of generating ideas and new ways of doing things is called as creativity. This term is more frequently used in arts. It more refers to the thought process. Innovation: The process of generating ideas and filtering them checking the feasibility of the idea and implementing the idea to create value is called innovation.In simple terms it is the process of creating value by generating new ideas or changing existing ideas. Creativity is a part of innovation. Types of Innovation: Product Innovation: It involves the process of creating new products or altering existing product with new technology in order to create value to the customer. Process Innovation: It involves the key changes in the way of doing business. Impact of process innovation would be big. It should be communicated with the end user effectively.Service Innovation: Creating new service applications which e nables the customer much convenience. NAS:2 Innovation strategy for GOES: A good idea, constant collaboration with universities in order to see if idea is feasible and improve it and a patent to protect the innovation. Success Factors: * Company invested heavily in R&D. In 2008 GOES spent SIS$ 20. Million on R&D expenses. * GOES emphasized on the value of the patents. It made development of â€Å"Breathing Technology' its mission and held over 50 patents in this field.These 50 include Rubber soles patent, Leather soles patent, Apparel patent, patents related to processes, equipment and machinery and material. These patents helped in gaining competitive edge. Factors that Gave Competitive advantage: They positioned themselves as one of a kind catering to the entire family. Product categories were based on the target customer Target customer: Male, Female, Pricing: Medium to medium-high price range of market Product Categories: Classic products which were elegant and traditional.Casu al products which were wearable and adaptable. Production: High quality standards, continuously improving flexibility and time to market, Cost leadership. Marketing: They concentrated around the product features I. E. Technology rather than only concentrating in the fashion and style thus making a clear differentiation from other products. They advertised using the images of product and breathable sole technology. Distribution System: Very efficient and adaptable distribution system for each country they operate in based on their structure.

Chinese Civil Service Examination

The Imperial Examination System in Ancient China Abstract: Imperial examination in ancient China was developing based on the nine-rank system. From Sui and Tang dynasties to Guangxu year, Qing dynasty, it took more than 1300 years to evolve. The Imperial Examination is officially called Keju Examination in China, which was an important part of education system of feudal society in ancient China. In the mean time, it was a kind of officer-selecting system as well. It played a significant role in cultivating, selecting, and making use of talents.Modern examination system also takes example by the imperial examinations in ancient China. So we should attach importance to researching and studying it due to its enlightenment to the innovation of education system. Have you ever wondered why there is an examination this kind of stuff which makes students â€Å"suffer† a lot and how it comes about? What is its origin? And how did it develop? Actually, China has a long history in examin ation system. So, I will talk about the imperial examination system in China which has a far-reaching impact to other Asian countries. The establishment of the nine-rank system A certain system cannot be created without foundation and time, it must have an origin, and before the establishment of the system, there must have been a predecessor originating gradually† ——Ch’ ien Mu? Imperial examination did not arise suddenly. Before the imperial examination was created, the nine-rank system was considered to be the precursor of it. According to Ci Hai dictionary, the explanation of the word â€Å"nine-rank system†: At the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, Cao Cao was in power, he advocated â€Å"Wei Cai Shi Ju†, which means everyone has an opportunity to be an official as long as he is outstanding enough.In the year 220, Cao Pi adopted Ministry of Personnel, Chen Qun’s suggestion that every prefecture could elect a reputable man to be the â €Å"Zhongzheng† (a kind of official), and the government classified them as nine ranks according to their capability. Cao Pi maintained Cao Cao’s principle that pedigree will not be the prerequisite. According to baike. baidu. com, at the beginning when nine-rank system was established, the criterion for estimating candidates was focused on extraction, morality, and ability. However, with the development of nine-rank system, extraction became the prerequisite, event the sole touchstone.When it came to Western Jin Dynasty, there had been a situation that first-class positions only admitted aristocrats and inferior-class positions only admitted people who didn’t have eminent background. Until the Northern Dynasty, national minority was in charge of the government. So the nine-rank system couldn’t efficiently work as before and became formalistic. Finally, it was abolished because of the lapse of aristocrats by Sui Dynasty. The establishment of Keju System ( The Imperial Examination System) Sui Dynasty: In 589, Sui Wendi (the emperor) set up two subjects of Xiu Cai and Ming Jing.In 606, Sui Yangdi (the next emperor) started to add another subject of Jin Shi. Therefore, it became the mark of the establishment of Keju System. Tang Dynasty: Tang Dynasty carried forward the system from Sui Dynasty practicing Keju System which used the subject of Jin Shi as the dominative way to select dedicates to upper level. Those who hoped to be the officials of the bureaucracy should compete in the Jin Shi exams, which tested their knowledge about the Five Confucian Classics. They are: Title (English)| Title (Chinese)| Brief Description| Classic of Poetry| A collection of 305 poems divided into 160 folk songs, 105 festal songs sung at court ceremonies, and 40 hymns and eulogies sung at sacrifices to gods and ancestral spirits of the royal house. | Book of Documents| | A collection of documents and speeches alleged to have been written by rulers and of ficials of the early Zhou period and before. It is possibly the oldest Chinese narrative, and may date from the 6th century BC. It includes examples of early Chinese prose. | Book of Rites| | Describes ancient rites, social forms and court ceremonies.The version studied today is a re-worked version compiled by scholars in the third century BC rather than the original text, which is said to have been edited by Confucius himself. | Classic of Changes| | Also known as  I Ching  or  Book of Changes. The book contains a  divination  system comparable to Western  geomancy  or the West African system. In  Western  cultures and modern East Asia, it is still widely used for this purpose. | Spring and Autumn Annals| | Also known as  Lin Jing  ( ), a historical record of the state of Lu, Confucius's native state, 722–481 BC, compiled by himself, with mplied condemnation of usurpations, murder, incest, etc. | Graph from Wikipedia.? By the end of Tang Dynasty, the old aristocracy had been supplanted by the scholar-gentry. Song Dynasty: during the Song Dynasty, there were several reformations and the Keju System became more and more mature and consummate. It had reached its summit. The government expanded admission quota and established Provincial Examination, Metropolitan Examination, and Final Imperial Examination. Those exams would be hold triennially. Song Dynasty changed the situation that merchant were discriminated in Sui and Tang Dynasties.Thanks to this policy, many people who were born miserably could have a fair access to higher level of bureaucracy. Ming and Qing Dynasty: The Imperial Examination System reached its final form under Ming Dynasty, and was adopted almost intact by the succeeding Qing dynasty. Metropolitan Examination was holding every three years in Jing Cheng (Beijing), and officials were rotated every three years in order to prevent them from building up a power base. The admission criterion was divided into three levels. The top level included three quotas: Zhuang Yuan, Bang Yan, and Tan Hua.The other levels would enroll several examinees. The subject matter of the examinations was about the Four Books and Five Confucian Classics. The form for an examination paper became the stylized â€Å"eight-legged essay† (Ba Gu Wen), which had eight main headings, used 700 characters or less, and dealt with topics according to a certain set manner. According to www. Newworldencyclopedia. org. ? By 1370, the examinations lasted between 24 and 72 hours, and were conducted in spare, isolated examination rooms; sometimes, however, it was held in cubicles.The small rooms featured two boards which could be placed together to form a bed, or placed on different levels to serve as a desk and chair. In order to obtain objectivity in evaluation, candidates were identified by number rather than name, and examination answers were recopied by a third person before being evaluated to prevent the candidate's han dwriting from being recognized. The examinations were often criticized because the ability to do well on the examination did not necessarily reflect the ability to govern well, and because they gave precedence to style over content and originality of thought.The exam system was abolished in 1905. The rulers realized that in order for the country to survive in the 20th century, they had to abandon the Confucian-classics-based education system, and adopt a Western-type, science-and-technology-based system. How many types of degrees could people get? What were the sorts of those degrees? The sort of degrees can reflect the completeness of Chinese Imperial Examination System. Types of Degree Level 1: District Level First you had to pass the district level exam. There was no degree at this level.The people who passed the district level exam would have the title of Tong Sheng( ). Then you have the qualification to take the prefectural level exam. Level 2a: Prefectural Level People who pas s the prefectural level exam achieved Sheng Yuan( ) degree. The exam was held two times every three years at the capital of the local prefecture. The most outstanding Sheng Yuan could directly be given the Gong Sheng( ) degree. Level 2b With time going on, the government became corrupt and allowed people to buy a Jian Sheng( ) degree.Wealthy people who were too lazy to study or who failed the prefectural level exam bought these degrees to improve their social status. These Jian Sheng had the same qualification to take next level examination. Level 3: Provincial Level People who passed the provincial level exam were awarded the Ju Ren( ) degree. The exam was held at the provincial capital every three years. Very few of the population had this degree. These people where considered upper gentry. Level 4: Metropolitan Level People who passed the metropolitan level exam were awarded the Gong Sheng( )degree.Soon after passing the metropolitan test, the candidate would take the Palace Exam ination and be conferred the Jin Shi( ) degree. The exam was given at Beijing once every three years. What kind of influence does it have? Is it beneficial or detrimental for the social development? The Imperial Examination System was more like a double-edged sword, since it brings the uniformity to the country but reluctance to innovate and change. The advantageous and disadvantageous influence Positive impact * Keju System facilitates traditional Confucian culture popularized and made the society generate a lively, critical, academic environment. From Song dynasty, no matter how humbly the examinees were, they had the equal opportunity to enter a high position in government as other aristocrats had. So this system not only expanded the scope of selecting talents, but also played an important part in maintaining the stability of society. During Ming and Qing dynasty, about half of Jin Shi was born in poor families. * The strict system provided impartial chances to commoners so that government had a good reputation at that time. * As the country who invented examination system, China has been known by other countries in the world.The Keju System is regarded as a cornerstone of other exam patterns. It has a far-reaching impact to East Asia and Western world. From 8th to 10th century, Japan had imitated the Keju System, and so as Korea and Vietnam. In 1855, the civil official examination system was officially established in Britain. â€Å"It is widely acknowledged by Western scholars today that China's imperial examination system exerted direct influence on the modern civil service examination system in the West,† said Li Shiyu, a guest-visitor to the exhibition and researcher with the Institute of History under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.?Negative impact  · Keju system didn’t radically solve the problem that public officials appointed people by favouritism. With strengthen of centralization of authority, Keju System was gradually con trolled by monarch or high-level officials. And the number of enrollees was not enough at all so that people who had relationships with officials could easily slip through and pass the examination. * Keju system cannot help enhance administrative efficiency in its original sense. Because of the complicated bureaucracy set, people who passed the examinations could not adapt the complicacy and put knowledge into practice. It caused people to have a rigescent thought. Most people took the Keju examination just in order to change their family financial condition instead to change the decayed political condition. What they learned could not match the reality well and help a lot so that executive system verged to conservative and closed. With time going on, China gradually lost many chances to innovate. * Many multitudes gave up their jobs, many young males lay their farm land wasted so that they could have plenty of time to prepare for the examinations.To some extent, the crop yield took a hit because of a large number of strong adults wanted to be an official instead of a farmer. Purpose of Imperial Examination System In ancient China, most people lived at the bottom of the society, the only way they could change their destiny was to take Imperial Exams. Since the process of studying for the examination was time-consuming, most male adults had to do farming work during the daytime, but those wealthy land-owning gentries could have plenty of spare time to study. So they became the main candidates for high-ranking government officials.The examination system distributed its prizes according to provincial and prefectural quotas, which meant that imperial officials were recruited from the whole country, in numbers roughly proportional to each province's population. Elite individuals all over China, even in the disadvantaged peripheral regions, had a chance at succeeding in the examinations and achieving the rewards of holding office. In earlier period, it was a fair me thod for commoners to change their social status, however, under some late dynasties the imperial bureaucracy became corrupt, examinations were abolished and official posts were either sold or given as rewards.At these times, the public morale diminished, and some type of reform was often introduced to restore traditional Confucian values in the government. The uniformity of the content of the examinations helped maintain the basic cultural values. Even only few people could pass the exam and finally get title, the preparation for and the hope of eventual success on a subsequent examination sustained the interest of those who took them. Those who failed to pass—most of the andidates at any single examination did not lose wealth or local social standing; as dedicated believers in Confucian orthodoxy, they served, without the benefit of state appointments, as teachers, patrons of the arts, and managers of local projects, such as irrigation works, schools, or charitable foundati ons. With the Imperial examination, the society was in a dense academic atmosphere. After Qing Dynasty collapsed, what is the examination system like? What is its difference or similarity between Western countries and China?The Examination System After 1912 After 1912, soon the Chinese revolutionary league was established. It was led by Sun Zhongshan( considered as the Father of Republic of China). Sun had been studied abroad in Japan and had a very progressive thought. He adopted a lot of excellent western ideas and devoted himself to reform and innovation. Not only in political and economic aspects, but also in education. He zealously sparkplugs western-style education system. A lot of public schools were built. Ordinary people could afford their children to get education.It was a good start in New China. Today, Chinese Communists studying capitalist civil service systems have been making a similar point. Deng Xiaoping has said, in reference to economic reforms, â€Å"It doesn't matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice. † The current Chinese civil service reform (CSR) is an adjunct to the economic reforms begun in 1978. Regional and city governments, as well as a few national ministries, began experimenting with Western civil service techniques (particularly the use of examinations for selection).With the improvement of the education system, the quality of common people is also promoted. With United Nations' help (United Nations Development Program, 1987, 1989), the Chinese have been bringing foreign personnel experts to China and sending Chinese administrators abroad to study Western personnel technology. Although they are studying foreign systems, in the end, they insist that they will adopt a system with distinct â€Å"Chinese characteristics. † If I have more time, I would like explore the western countries’ comments onChinese civil examination and advises; the problems that current Chinese education system has and methods to solve it; the education system in capitalist countries and make a comparison. Work cited: ? Chi’en Mu. Zhong Guo Zheng Zhi Li Dai De Shi. Sheng Huo ·Du Shu ·Xin Zhi San Lian Bookstore Press. 2005. ISBN: 9787108015280 ? http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Four_Books_and_Five_Classics ? http://www. newworldencyclopedia. org/entry/Imperial_Examinations_(Keju) ? Ancient Imperial Exams with Modern Relevance, China. org. cn. Retrieved on August 24, 2007. ? Monique Nagel-Angermann. 2012, Exam time.Calliope, 22, 24-27. ProQuest Research Library. 27 Oct. 2012. ? Miyazaki, Ichisada. China's Examination Hell: The Civil Service Examinations of Imperial China. [1976] reprint 1981. 18 Nov. 2012 ? http://www. kwanfamily. info. Web. 21 Nov, 2012. Site creation date July 6, 2002. ? Nagel-Angermann, Monique. â€Å"Exam Time. † Calliope 2012: 24-7. ProQuest Research Library. 22 Nov. 2012. ? Aufrecht, Steven E. , and Li Siu Bun. â€Å"Reform with Chinese Characteristics: T he Context of Chinese Civil Service Reform. † Public administration review 55. 2 (1995): 175-. ABI/INFORM Complete; ProQuest Research Library. 27 Nov. 2012 .

Article Review Of Risk From Vibration In Indian Mines Essay

The purpose of the article is aimed at raising concern on the implications of vibration on workers. Of particular interest is the risk on miners in Indian and the consequent effect relative to other areas of the world in terms of management and control. The paper scientifically analyzes how vibration occurs in a view to create our consciousness of related health consequences on the susceptible workers in mining firms. The author points to 1977 International Labor recommendation as touching the putting in place of regulations to protect employees from vibration through certain criteria that includes limitation of the duration of exposure per time, and encouragement of regular medical check up to quantify the present cumulative effects of the hazard. It discusses problems pose by vibration and legislative contribution in the exacerbation of the effects and submit in a thesis that there is a need to develop a practical management strategy for evaluation, monitoring and control of equipment-induced vibration in Indian mining industry due to severe ill-health mining poses on miners. In a view to understand approach at management of the resulting problems, the author types vibration into whole-body exposure and body segmental exposure. The categorization is equally aimed to assist in the understanding of the material which has different parameters in the determinant of magnitudes. The understanding of the materials shows that constant exposure to vibration result in both vascular and neural disorders. The author’s method procedurally involves itemization of notable machineries and tools commonly used in mining industries to demonstrate the incidence of repeated exposure. Secondly, is the gathering of information from literature review of medical implications of vibration induced disorder from three non-indigenous authors. Thirdly, the author theoretically formulates determination of threshold vibration frequency that is pathological for various systems of human body. The material researches into similar situation of vibration exposure in many regions of the world. The author progresses to evaluating the population of indigenous subject and quantifies the number of workers at risk in the two categories of exposure. In order to make provision for the author’s inability to measure optimum dose exposure per individual, there is presentation of a general formula to determine this from simple recording of exposure duration and equipment frequency. Finally, the author review and relate India’s legislative regulatory standard in the protection of workers to other developed nations like US, UK, and Canada. The author’s finding quantitatively speculates that projections of teaming population of Indians miners are exposed to forms of vibration. He qualitatively discovers warm climate interplay that probably results in Indian’s complications with peripheral neuropathy and musculoskeletal abnormality and less pronounced circulatory effects. Furthermore, the insufficient data finds it impossible to determined standard causative dose of health risks. All are compounded by the legislature unspecific and unscientific guidelines in the evaluation and control of the occupational vibration in mining industries. More importantly, the author dealt extensively on the health risk associated with mining vibration exposure. Section 2: Article Critique In the author’s thesis of the need to develop a practical management strategy for evaluation, monitoring and control of equipment-induced vibration in Indian mining industry due to severe ill-health it poses on large scale mechanization, the author fails to elaborate on past government effort as in the control and the positive or the negative outcomes. Review of effectiveness of strategic control in line with legislative policies in other developed nations mentioned is necessary in order to evaluate the current position of Indian in a standard comparative study. The author lays much emphasis on the health statistic without a review of historical mortality relevance to the severe ill health claimed by theories. Less data is gotten of hospital cases. The two researched mining industry in Indian cannot by any means, provide a generalized extrapolation of population of miners who are susceptible to health risks. Findings from concerned employees seem not to come up in the analysis. Since employees are directly involved in the study, one supposed that a provision for questionnaire who voice out issues from the direct sufferers. On the basis of information gap and undocumented studies of Indians’ miners on related issues, author’s interpretation of data is faulty. Though one may agree that the outcome of both author’s qualitative and quantitative results are products of limited resources. More so, since there is no indigenous research on the subject matter, more efforts need to be invested in indigenous research before any logical conclusion could stand acceptable. Furthermore, since it is yet unproven with field studies that certain dose of exposure is required for listed medical diseases, the theoretical measurement of vibration dose is only best left paralleled without any connection with the study. The relevancies of theory and formulas of vibration to a certain dose with the risk of developing neural or vascular disease need to be substantiated by real-time survey for consolidated acceptance. While one may be tempted to agree with the author’s conclusion, it would be safer to give the second chance of thorough review of indigenous materials in order to propose a more specific monitoring, controlling policy to safeguard the health of Indian miners. The orientation of the article needs to be more focused on regional policy unification of legislative measures. Reference Bibhuti B. Mandal, Anup K. Srivastava (n. d). Risk From Vibration In Indian Mines. Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, National Institute of Miners’ Health, Nagpur, India. Pg 1-5. (pdf format) Available at www

Portfolio and Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Portfolio and Reflection - Essay Example It was a very good experience doing social work; it was different from the usual corporate sector and it gave me lot of opportunities to learn a lot. I gained knowledge about variety of tasks and explored myself about my strengths and weaknesses. My job title was Business Organizer which incorporated a variety of tasks of different types which are explained in this report. Motivation First of all, I would like to discuss about motivation and how this motivation works for a social work environment. If we go to theoretical background we will have a look about McGregor and Maslow’s work and I will apply it on a social work context. According to McGregor, in his theory X which he gave in his book in 1960, work is distasteful and people do it just for money and security, they can only work when being observed. On the other hand theory Y people are self motivated to learn and accept responsibility for work.(The Human Side of Enterprise, 1960).I found myself as theory Y worker who wa nts more participative kind of environment given to me at Hadfield. I applied for this job because I wanted to improve my employability skills and I wanted to gain experience. I wanted to know how I work even when my job is not clearly defined. My job was more like a record keeping an administrative job where I had to do tasks like photocopying and filing. Still I was able to satisfy my supervisor about my competencies and hard work. There was more participation from workforce and I got my communication skills improved The first couple of days were hectic for me as I did not know about the organization; I searched on internet about the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. But tasks included variety and depending on the need I had to do different tasks. At first I got confused about the administrative and recordkeeping work because my tasks kept on changing in first few days. But then I realized that jobs at higher levels are even more competitive so I decided to develop stami na of working for variety of tasks so that I could be able for higher jobs. I was given full chance of communicating my point of view and my ideas and the colleagues and supervisor treated me very nicely. There were certain things which I did not know about myself before the experience at Hadfield e.g. my tasks were not hard but required lot of determination and I found myself to be fairly responsible about the tasks given to me. I had never thought of using my creativity to problem solving to such an extent before. The supervisor tried to test my capability, and this proved very helpful for me because I discovered and explored my own capabilities. If motivation concept is seen with a different perspective we can take Maslow’s hierarchy. According to Maslow, in his hierarchy of motivation given in his research paper, different people have different level of needs which motivates them to work. Money and security needs are the lower level needs and when they are fulfilled, peop le earn to fulfill their higher order needs. At the stage of self actualization, a person derives his identity from work and he works because he is intrinsically motivated to work (A Theory of human Motivation, 1943). I found myself on the esteem needs of Maslow’s hierarchy. Self-Actualization Esteem Needs Social Needs Safety Needs Physiological Needs I have reached that point in my career where I started deriving my identity from my work. I worked for satisfying myself as social work gives me satisfaction. Context of social work is little bit different from the usual jobs, here money is not the motivator but inner self is. So the higher order needs are in some way related to social work. I applied for this job to gain experience and to improve my

Ethics and Leadership in Criminal Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ethics and Leadership in Criminal Justice - Essay Example A compelling scenario is where two accomplices arrested of a crime are locked in separate cells. They may be offered three choices, the first being to confess to the charges and be jailed for five years. The second choice would be to have one of them confess, and be freed while the other who does not confess would be jailed for ten years. Finally, the third choice would be to have neither of them confess, and both be jailed for a term of one year. If both are not selfish and take interest collectively, both will not confess and will be jailed for one year. Otherwise, having one, confess, will have them serve longer jail terms. This paradox shows two possible outcomes, to deny or to admit guilt which depends on the decisions of the two culprits. The doctrine of contractarianism was initially applied by such philosophers as Thomas Hobbes and John Locke to address the legitimacy revolving around political authority. When people are, considered agreeing in an attempt of entering into social contracts as to establish a form of government; the formed government is not considered oppressive or tyrannical. Bill Lawson raises concerns regarding the applicability of social inequalities to guilt of the crime. The doctrine of Social Contract, minorities, and crime, particularly concentrates at the obligations of minorities in abiding by the stipulated set of laws; citizens are failed by the state in executing the required obligation of protecting its citizens from crimes occurring in the urban setup. A contractarian approach of legal mandate tends to treat it like a debt owed by each citizen to each other with benefits as the expected return (including peace, security, and predictability) that is realized when the greatest number of citizens obey the law as well as the state guards its citizens against law breakers. According to Lawson, important attributes of the described two-way bargain should not be reserved for the inner section of the city whose residents are

International Business FINAL Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

International Business FINAL - Essay Example The trend of distributing the production networks all over the world offers a firm the advantages like competitive edge and cost cutting. Competitive edge is achieved when the firm’s produced products are sold all over the world bringing in a good amount of profit. Cost cutting takes place when the firm’s production system takes into consideration and exploits all the cheap factors of production that are available in different parts of the world at cheaper price. 2. Globalization has created lots of changes throughout the world. The changes introduced both positive and negative impacts on the countries. It is believed that the developed countries reap the maximum benefit out of the process of globalization. The developed nations shift their production units to the places where the cost of production will be cheaper. The cheaper production cost helps the nation to generate more profit from the sale of their produced products. This is helping the economy of certain develo ped nations to prosper and grow. However on the other hand the underdeveloped nations and the developing nations are constantly losing their resources which are being purchased by the wealthy nations for the purpose of manufacturing products and services which in turn are again being sold in the developing or underdeveloped nations. Thus it has become a topic of debate that addresses the issue whether globalization is a blessing or a curse. The positive side of globalization is that it enhances the job opportunities and economy across the world. But the negative side denotes that since the developed nations are shifting their plants to the overseas nations due to the availability of cheap resources, the labor there are getting under paid in comparison to the labors of the developed nations. Therefore despite the creation of job opportunities, globalization also creates disparity in the amount of wages received by the workers of the developed and developing nations. 3. Religion is on e of the important elements of culture. Religion determines whether a person is Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, etc that implies which God does the person believes in and which rituals related to their religion does they follow. Globalization has created the integration of all the religions and this has affected the business operations to a great extent. For example the case of McDonalds can be taken into account in this respect. McDonalds prepare different kind of fast foods that contain both vegetarian and non vegetarian items. The non vegetarian foods contain chicken, egg, fish, beef, lamb, pork etc. However McDonalds have eliminated beef and pork from its wide range of menu while entering the Indian market, since the Indian market included people from both Hindu and Muslim religions and beef and pork are restricted for these two religions respectively. Moreover religion affects the language, dressing style, values and morals of a person. Thus the business operations get highly i nfluenced by these factors as these are the elements that form the basis of a human being. 4. The term culture includes the behavior, beliefs, arts, languages, institutions, etc. of an individual. Culture decides how a person should behave at a social

What evidence is there that the Iliad was composed before the art of Research Paper

What evidence is there that the Iliad was composed before the art of writing was applied to the composition of poetry - Research Paper Example The two sets of evidence are considered together with the intention of finding a definitive answer to this question. In the introduction to the text of the poem in English G.S. Kirk points out that the Greeks started to use writing around 725 B.C. which was relatively late compared to their neighbours, the Mesopotamians who had used their cuneiform script for some thousand years already. (Kirk, 2008, p. ix). Using items like figure scenes and vases, quotations in other poets, and mention of the Iliad and Odyssey in other surviving writings, Kirk notes that historians have dated the composition of The Iliad been around this time, or possibly as late as 680 B.C,. Archaeological evidence and historic individuals mentioned in the text would suggest that the battles between the Greeks and the Trojans which are described in the poem took place another 600 years before the time of Homer, around 1200 B.C. This means that a very long time had passed before the material came to be worked on by Homer. It is theoretically possible that even older oral versions existed on which Homer perhaps based his work. There is no evidence of this, however, and so older sources have to remain a speculation. It is clear that in the time of Homer, Greek civilization was not heavily dependent on writing. There are some inscriptions from this period but they are very brief. The technical limitations of the early Greek script made it unlikely that Homer could have made much use of it as a writing aid for such a long poem, according to Kirk. Moreover, Kirk points out that the audience for the poem were certainly not readers: â€Å" He (= Homer) composed for people who were essentially non-literate, who listened to poetry as their ancestors had†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Kirk, 2008, p. x) This dating evidence proves that there was plenty of poetry existing in written form before Homer came along. The Epic of Gilgamesh, for example, was written in Sumerian script, and dates from around 2000 B.C., well be fore the Trojan wars. The Iliad was composed in Greek many centuries after this, and so in an absolute sense it is not true to say that it was composed before anyone had used writing for poetry. In a local and Greek sense, however, this is a possibility worth investigation, because the Greeks may indeed have composed, performed, heard,and preserved The Iliad in only oral form. Scholars have carefully studied the surviving text of The Iliad to try and work out if there are clues to its origin in the way it is written. The presence of many formulaic phrases which are repeated again and again is explained as a feature of oral literature: the hexameter form requires that a certain rhythm be maintained, and so these ready-made little phrases are called upon to fill spaces in the poetic line in a predictable way. An example of this is the way the named characters in the epic have a little descriptive phrase attached to them such as â€Å"Agamemnon, Atreus’ son† (Book 1, p. 1 ) which is varied as â€Å"The son of Atreus,/ ruler of the great plain, Agamemnon†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Book 1, p. 3) or â€Å"†¦ son of Atreus, tamer of horses (Book 2, p. 18). These epithets add interest to the story because the heroes are mentioned often, and it could become even more repetitive if the simple names were used without these variations. Finnegan explains the so-called â€Å"Homeric epithet† as a structural device: â€Å"The poet had at his disposal this series of traditional patterns built up over

The Importance of Proper Body Mechanics for Nurses Research Paper

The Importance of Proper Body Mechanics for Nurses - Research Paper Example 1).† In fulfilling their role and performing the services expected of them, which often involve patient handling maneuvers such as repositioning, lifting and transferring patients, nurses often sustain a spectrum of occupational injuries (The American Nurses Association (ANA), 2011). These occupational injuries amongst health care professionals are fairly common and are a cause of great concern not only for the individuals suffering from these injuries but also for the health care system as a whole, since these problems have significant economic implications in the form of work loss, compensations and recruitment and retention issues (Menzel, Hughes, Waters, Shores, & Nelson, 2007). This paper throws light on the different occupational injuries that are common amongst health care professionals due to manual patient handling and discusses their implications for the nurses and the health care system. Moreover, the main focus of this paper is on the importance of the use of proper body mechanics as a measure for the prevention of the aforementioned occupational injuries in order to reduce the incidence of these injuries and of the potential adverse outcomes that can occur as a result of these injuries. The scope of the problem: Manual patient handling is an essential component of the services that nurses perform and there is virtually no patient care specialty which does not require these services. This means that nurses are always at a risk of sustaining musculoskeletal work-related injuries, be they employed in any patient care specialty (Menzel, Hughes, Waters, Shores, & Nelson, 2007). Moreover, with the increasing prevalence of obesity in the society, the risk to health care professionals is even more due to the greater amount of weight being handled, because a greater proportion of the patients presenting to them are now overweight or obese (Menzel, Hughes, Waters, Shores, & Nelson, 2007). These work-related injuries have several implications both for t he nurses and other health care professionals but also for the health care system as a whole since they are not only a cause of significant morbidity for individuals suffering from them, but also pose an economic burden since they incur losses in the form of time off from work, burnout and recruitment and retention (Menzel, Hughes, Waters, Shores, & Nelson, 2007). It has been seen that each year, about 40-50% of nurses report having work-related back pain, making them rank the highest amongst all health care professional suffering from work-related injuries (Edlich, Winters, Hudson, Britt, & Long, 2004). Nurses have been found to have a 35-80% lifetime prevalence of back pain occurring as a result of the nature of their job which often requires manual patient handling (Edlich, Winters, Hudson, Britt, & Long, 2004) and approximately 12% of the nurses have been found to quit their jobs and give up their profession due to back injuries (Gropelli & Corle, 2010). Moreover, according to a report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics RN’s rank the 6th amongst professionals at risk of occupational injuries (The American Nurses Association (ANA), 2011). On the other hand, from an economic perspective the magnitude of the burden that this problem of occupational injuries posed on the health care system can be gauged from the fact that nursing personnel have been found t

Mapp v. Ohio court case Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mapp v. Ohio court case - Assignment Example erials did not belong to her but were actually the property of a former boarder at her house she was arrested and charged with the possession of obscene materials and was indicted at the Cuyahoga County Grand Jury (Sundby, 2010). Mapp’s attorney tried in vain to have the evidence that was obtained through a warrantless search of his client’s property. After a trial lasting only a day Ms. Mapp was found guilty and sentenced to 7 years. After appeals that went through the Eighth District Court of Appeals of Ohio, Supreme Court of Ohio and eventually the Supreme Court of the United States, her conviction was overturned. The impact of this case has been felt in the increasing use of the Suppression Hearing especially in cases that touch on the Fourth Amendment (Sundby, 2010). The main thrust of the case rested on whether evidence that was obtained in violation of the citizen’s Fourth Amendment which protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures and specifically sets out the requirements for search warrants that must be based on probable cause (Davies, 2007). The exclusionary rule, which was enforced by the Supreme Court in overturning the conviction of Mapp, basically stated that this evidence that was obtained in this was should never have been used in the first place. This rule, it was emphasized by the Supreme Court, is an essential part of the Fourth Amendment. Secondly, the lower courts had gone against the Fourteenth Amendment by denying Ms. Mapp her rights to Due Process. This case also brought into sharp focus the issue of officer misconduct which had for long been swept under the rug, with police indiscretions being seen as just â€Å"part of the job† and not an aberration of citizen’s rights (Davies, 2007). The evidence that was gained by the police was totally illegal since it was obtained without a proper warrant as specified in the Fourth Amendment. It was therefore illegal and should never have been used to convict Ms. Mapp (Bloom &

Literature Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Literature Review - Essay Example Both literature reviews and annotated bibliography provided an ordered list of sources used to write a research paper or a thesis. Most research works are based on works or findings of other scholars. The findings can either be applied in the qualitative or quantitative surveys that are carried out through such scholarly works. This indicates that using ideas or information from other researchers is unavoidable. Annotated bibliographies and literature review enable a scholar to acknowledge other scholars who provided a basis for their research work. In addition, through the literature reviews and annotated bibliographies, scholars are able to give the basis or the foundation of their research topic (Fink, 2009). This is achieved by giving a description of previous researches in other related topics. Despite the outstanding similarities between the two, literature reviews are not annotated bibliographies. Annotated bibliography contains an ordered list of sources used in the research works and their respective authors. In addition, annotated bibliographies give a short description that highlight the relevance of those sources in the research work. On the other hand, literature reviews is an essay containing background information about the different the sources used in research work. The description that accompanies a source in a literature review informs the reader about the quality and the relevance of the source to the study. Literature reviews also include important factors or points from the source that has been applied in the work. Thus, a literature review summarizes and analyzes an already existing arguments and deductions. Precisely, annotated bibliography present facts about different sources used to write the research work while literature reviews provide a brief summary, evaluation and analysis about different ideas, topics and arguments contained in the source. Different sources have different implications on the resultant research work. The author has the responsibility of informing the readers about the credibility of different sources used in the research. Authors use annotated bibliographies to inform the readers about the accuracy, relevance and the quality of the source used in research work (Fink, 2009). On the other hand, literature reviews are used inform the readers the pros and cons of the sources in relation to the research topic. In a literature review, an author or a researcher has the abilities to criticize the source by highlighting the missing elements. In addition literature reviews gives the direction or trend of future research work based on different sources used in the research. Finally, a literature review places a particular research work in its immediate context. This implies that in a literature review, a researcher provides a succession of ideas in a particular research topic. This makes it possible for the researcher to identify a gap of knowledge or ideas that can be filled by the present research work. In addition, a literature review provides a response to particular problems that can be used to improve the discipline. This enables the author to create a case for further investigation. On the other hand, annotated bibliography provides criticism to different sources based on their quality in relation to the research work. Unlike annotated bibliog

CRJS 205 Introduction to Criminal Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CRJS 205 Introduction to Criminal Law - Essay Example The client in this context is a victim of a sexual assault and she can sue the offender. However, the decisions (jail term and damages) that will be made by the jury in the criminal and civil courts will depend on the state’s statutory rape laws. When a client decides not sue the offender, the sex crime kit is usually kept for a certain period within which the victim can report to the law enforcement. In West Virginia, the sex crime kit or the evidence is stored for 18 months if the victim does not initiate an investigation. However, after 18 months the evidence is destroyed or used for research purposes or used for training; this is done after the removal of identifying information (West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services [WV-FRIS], 2008). It is important to note that evidence is required if the victim desires to sue the offender. If the client has evidence, she can sue the offender for sexual assault of the first degree if sexual intercourse and bodily harm were inflicted or sexual assault of the second degree is only sexual intercourse occurred. If found guilty of first-degree sexual assault, the offender can be â€Å"imprisoned in the penitentiary between 15 and 35 years or imprisoned in the penitentiary between 15 and 35 years and fined between $1,000 and $10,000† (The Lectric Law Library, 2012). If found guilty of second-degree sexual assault, the offender can be jailed in the prison between 10 and 25 years or jailed in the prison between 10 and 25 years accompanied with a fine between $1,000 and $10,000 (The Lectric Law Library, 2012). In addition to criminal prosecution, the victim can file a civil suit with the help of a private attorney in a Civil Court. If the victim wins the civil lawsuit, the court orders the attacker to pay money for the damages caused (the damages include loss of income, suffering, pain, and medical expenses). Punitive damages are also available if the victim does

National Netball Coach Essay Example for Free

National Netball Coach Essay The national England Netball coach Lesley Dixon does not have to organise matches or transport because the league it self sorts them details out. Mrs Hyams on the other hand has to contact other local teams and sort out matches and tournaments, and means of transport for hers players, which can be stressful and time consuming. When Lesley Dixon has picked her team for a match from her squad she then tells the Netball associate, who then inform the players and provide them with information. When Mrs Hyams has picked the team, she then has to go and find them to tell them. She then has to provide them with fixtures that she has done herself. Lesley Dixon has to has alot netball coaching experience having spent 8 years with Hertfordshire County and later as manager for the England FENA U17 team. This much experience has enabled Lesley to teach netball at a national standard. Where as Mrs Hyams has a level one coaching qualification and no other netball coaching experience. Lesley Dixon represents the netball association she has a lot of pressure because if the national team is not winning matches they will not be bale to qualify for matches against other national teams in a well publicized tournament such as the qualify stages of a manger up coming tournament. This will look bad and the England team will lose support if they do not compete in major matches or tournaments. When Mrs Hyams prepares the netball teams for matches, there is not as much pressure because all netballs teams are entered in to tournaments. So there is no need for qualifying matches. There is also less pressure on Mrs Hyams because there is limited interest in the results of the Barclay netball team, so no one hears if they do well or not. School netball league is competitive but not as competitive as national games. Lesley Dixon gets paid every month for coaching the national England netball team, where as Mrs Hyams who coaches the school team out of school hours, does not get paid for doing so. When one of Lesley Dixon players is injured on court or suffers from injuries during training, she has the medical staff available to treat her players. So she doesnt have to have a medical or first aid qualification. Mrs Hyams has to have a first aid qualification, so when a member of the netball teams is injured, she has to treat them or escort them of court. Ways in which Mrs Hyams can improve her netball coaching ability is to go on level 2 netball coaching course at Bedfordshire Time Venue TBA. This will enable to teach netball at a higher standard and have more knowledge of the game. Mrs Hyams could also go on an beginner umpiring course at Eaton CNS School Easton Road Norwich, so when she umpires her netball teams matches and other netball teams; she can be more competent and confident in her decisions when umpiring. Most of netball team see Mrs Hyams more as a friend than a netball coach. This can sometime lead to a lack of concentration from the players, because we do not see her as an authoritive figure. To improve this Mrs Hyams could be disciplined, which would inevitable cause the team to be more focused. Although Mrs Hyams netball team, who she has coached since year seven have gone on to win the district tournament four years running. This shows Mrs Hyams dedication and hard work as well as the teams. There are not a lot of things Lesley Dixon could do to improve her netball coaching ability. One thing she could do is make netball more publicised so more people start to take notice of netball. This is because to be at a national coaching standard you need to be fully focused and qualified. These qualities are what makes a good coach and cant be faulted. Although Lesley Dixons team have recently failed to pass the test matches against Jamaica. Both types of netball coaches from national standard to school standard have to be knowledgeable about the game in order to lead and coach it to members of the team. The two different coaches have the same principle of coaching which is to teach the game, but have very different responsibilities.

The great firewall of china

The great firewall of china

Gender Inequality Women In Politics Politics Essay

Gender Inequality Women In Politics Politics Essay The world in which we live is characterized by deeply unequal sharing of the burden of adversities between women and men. Gender inequality exists in most parts of the world, from Japan to Africa, from Uzbekistan to the United States of America. However, inequality between women and men can take many different forms. It manifests itself in the unequal representations of women and men in various walks of life, differences in their salaries, persistent gender stereotypes, and sexual discrimination. One of the most troublesome issues is the extremely unequal representation of women in government and administrative office. Nevertheless, Lithuania, as well as other former communist countries was distinguished by a very high involvement of women in politics (worldpress.com). The role of women in society has been changed a lot in the last few decades. In the early days, women were seen as wives who were supposed to cook, clean, and take care of the children. They were limited from the responsibility of earning money for the family because this responsibility was left to husbands. Women were not allowed to vote and to work outside the family while men took care of having jobs and paying bills. Soon enough some thought that women should have bigger roles than what most of the people thought women should have. With the beginning of industrialization and technological development, the lifestyles of people in Lithuania started to change. The needs of human beings started to increase. This movement toward modern living started to reflect in the lifestyles of people. In this process, women started to practice some outside home activities (Aidis). Therefore, women involved in education in equal terms with men. Consequently, women gradually started to participate in all life movements. They started to think independently and participate equally in outside world along with males (Blackburn). Slowly but gradually discriminating women on the basis of gender, even though it still persists nowadays, diminished considerably. Therefore, the ongoing changes in social, political and economic activities of the country included not only the raise of womens role in society, but also the break of stereotypes of treating human beings by gender which was so well developed through decades (Aidis). Times when women used to sit at home and look after the children are gone. Today, women have bigger roles to play in the society. They are entrusted with more responsibility than men. They have to work along with men in providing a higher income for the family, but even so, most men in Lithuania still consider women to be inferior, and they do not trust them enough in order to permit a female to deal with political, economic, and social problems. As the ruling class, men completely support the patriarchal view of the Catholic Church. The resurgence in the popularity of the Catholic Church has been accompanied by the glorification of motherhood (Voices from Lithuania). Therefore, men favor motherhood over professional and political involvement because they identify political actions with masculine behavior, power struggles, private property disputes, corruption, and hypocrisy (LaFont). Initially, men objected to women starting their career outside home, but with the growing needs and insufficiency of money, they had no other way out but to accept the reality and change according to the circumstances (Aidis). According to Suzanne LaFont, Lithuanian men should be proud of their women getting involved in any social, economic, and political activity, and they should support their efforts to contribute to society rather than crush their struggle with irony, skepticism and empty words (LaFont). Even though gender issues were not a main priority for the country, Lithuania has shown improvements to gender equality by introducing laws and regulations that would protect womens rights in society (wikigender.org). Equal opportunities and equal treatment is enshrined in the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania (art. 29); in 1998, the Sheimas (Parliament) adopted the law on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men (wikigender.org). This law forbids direct and indirect discrimination against men and women. It also requires the state and other institutions to work on the basis of equality in gender when it comes to employment, education, science and other areas of activities. In addition to a prohibition giving priority to one of the sexes in employment and education advertisements employers are obliged not to ask job seekers about their age, marital status, private life, and family plans(wikigender.org). According to the statistics prepared by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the year 2009 was marked by continued progress for women in parliament. The global average for the proportion of women in parliament reached an all-time high of 18.8%. Moreover, at the beginning of 2010, the number of women ruling in politics increased even more. They held 35 (13.0%) of the 269 top posts in parliaments around the world. This is an improvement on the 1995 total, when 24 women held this post. In addition, women make up 30% or more of the members in 44 parliamentary chambers 26 single or lower and 18 upper houses. This is a six-fold increase over the 1995 total, when just seven chambers achieved this goal(IPU). According to the Lithuanian Statistics Department Data, slowly and with no doubt, in 2008, 50% of Lithuanian women were involved not only in household but also in state-related activities. Women made 37% of all leaders in the Lithuanian ruling elite such as parliamentarians, senior state officials and executives of companies and establishments (Worldpress.com). The number of females running a business also increased but still remained lower than that of men. Thus, in 2007, women made 31% of businessmen in Lithuania which was 5% more if compared with the year 2006. The first women, who reached top posts in parliaments, were elected in Sri Lanka (1960) and India (1966). Countries of Europe which have had a female president or prime minister in the modern era (1945-2003) are: Bulgaria, Finland, France, the German Democratic Republic, Lithuania, Great Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia (koed.hu). As mentioned before, Lithuania is also ranked among that category, with its current and first female president of the country- Dalia Grybauskaite. Next to the president, Lithuanian inhabitants are honored to have twelve women in top parliamentarian positions that also contributed, in a way or another, in bringing some changes to the country and to its population. One of them is Nijole Ambrazaityte. She was a member of the Seimas from November 25, 1996 till October 18, 2000. She also was elected to the Supreme Coucil (1990-1992). Nijole was a member of various parliamentary groups for the relations with the Republic of Georgia, Africa, China, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Russian Federation, Canada, France, Taiwan, Tibet, Germany, and other North European countries. Nevertheless, Nijole did not contribute only in politics but also in other areas of activity. Therefore, even though she was a winner of international contests of vocalists, Nijole was also granted the highest awards for her contribution to the Lithuanian culture and opera art (Nijole Ambrazaityte). Another woman worth mentioning about is Laima Andrikiene currently a member of European Parliament since year 2004. She was also a Vice Prime Minister of Lithuania between 1989 and 1990. During 1996 2003 Laima was a Chairman of the Board, Laitenis UAB and a Minister in the Ministry of European Affairs. (Laima Andrikiene). She was involved in various projects such as Training programme of Lithuanian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Crafts (2002), EU Officialdom Training Programme (2002-2004), Scientific Study Effective Integration of Lithuanian Industry into the EU in a Short Term (2003), EU Sixth Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration Activities (2003-2004) (Laima Andrikiene). She also received lots honorable medals for her merits. Therefore, she got the Independence Medal of the Republic of Lithuania (July, 2000), National Order of Merit of the Grand Officer for the French Republic (October, 1997), Medal of the Baltic Assembl y (2003), etc (Laima Andrikiene). Furthermore, the woman who achieved a lot in her life and in the lives of millions others was Dalia Grybauskaite. Having received remarkable support from Lithuanian citizens, Dalia was elected President of the Republic of Lithuania in the first election round in the year 2009. Until then, she was a Programme Director in the Prime Minister Office of the Republic of Lithuania (1991), Director of the Economic Relations Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1993), Plenipotentiary Minister at the Lithuanian Embassy in the USA (1996), Minister of Finance (2001), and among many other posts she had, one of the most significant was the post of EU Commissioner in charge of financial programming and budget of the European Union (2004) (president.lt). According to Dalia Grybauskaite, gender equality is a topic of vital significance for every nation. In her speech at the General Debate of the 65th Session of The United Nations General Assembly in New York, she said that Gender equality issues are rarely associated with overcoming the economic crisis or stopping the climate change. However, it has been estimated that the elimination of gender discrimination in the labor market could increase the GDP by as much as 30 percent (president.lt). She also mentioned that It is of no surprise that women in Lithuania hold a number of top positions in politics and in business life. It is only natural that Lithuanian women made their own the famous saying: When the going gets tough, the tough get going! Thus, the prerequisite for gender equality represent the participation of both genders in decision making (president.lt). In all the countries of the world, women are in the minority at the decision-making level. Nevertheless, in most of countries more and more women are coming into office and are getting involved in the social life. As a good example would be Sweden. Women have achieved parity in the Cabinet of Ministers (where both men and women each constitute 50 percent), 43 percent of members in parliament and 41 percent of local government officials are women (I Know Politics). Today, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden are the only European countries which have more than 30 percent female members of parliaments. Regarding governments, political scientists and political journalists often talk about a glass ceiling effect: this means that women do not get to the highest level of government or business (koed.hu). Mostly, those women who are considered to be part of the government or parliament, they are involved in less important positions. In order to be succ essful, women have to be trained for political discourses and motivated to defend their own rights or political interests. Achieving that would show that the difference between women and men is just a result of their perspective behavior (koed.hu). Nowadays, women in Lithuania do not have enough influence over the decision making but the situation is getting better. The gender identity in peoples minds is still that men are better in politics than women are. It is important to mention that Lithuania always went beyond its neighbor countries Latvia and Estonia, on this issue. It is considered to be the first country among the other countries of Central and Eastern Europe in advancing gender equality (I Know Politics). More recently, the highest level of womens representation in parliament among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe was achieved in Lithuania (18.1%); soon after, Estonia (18%) and Latvia (17%) reached similar levels (I Know Politics). It cannot though be compared to Sweden (43%), Denmark (37%) or Finland (37%). According to Kozma, women and men have different theories of perceiving gender issues in the world today. Women believe that it is not entirely right to think that only they are guilty for the current position in the political area. In a party, a woman gets to hold a position if this is desired by men (feminis.ro). Maria Grapini, the current candidate for mayor of Timisoara (Romania), noticed that it is also true, however, that women are hesitant to support each other. Moreover, she believes that they must know as well that it takes lots of time to become politicians. Mother, wife, business woman, politician! It seems hard to believe but a woman can actually manage everything and not in one regular way, but with elegance, style, and determination. Changes in society today are happening quickly and there is no doubt that there are still many unsolved problems. Men as well as women have to learn that gender identities belong to history and not to the modern life. Therefore, it is not the only option of women to stay home and take care of her children. Men, as well as women were given same rights and possibilities to grow professionally and individually. Therefore, the main goals are protection of womens rights and removal of discrimination in society by eliminating the existed stereotypes from peoples minds. Work Cited Aidis, R. (1997). MoterÃ…Â ³ verslininkiÃ…Â ³ problemos. -Moterys: tapatumo paieÃ…Â ¡kos. Lietuvos filosofijos ir sociologijos institutes. MoterÃ…Â ³ informacijos centras. Vilnius. Blackburn, R.M., Jarman J. and Siltanen S. (1993). The Analysis of Occupational Gender Segregation Over Time and Place: Considerations of Measurement and Some New Evidence, Work, Employment and Society. LaFont, Suzanne. (1988). Women in Transition: Voices from Lithuania. State University of New York Press. Albany. Women in Lithuania: more educated, earn less but their role is increasing. 5 March, 2008. Retrieved on 4 November, 2010: http://irzikevicius.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/women-in-lithuania-more-educated-but-earn-less-but-their-role-is-increasing/ (worldpress.com) Women in Politics. Retrieved on 4 November, 2010: http://www.ipu.org/news-e/wop/37/5.htm (IPU) Statistics Lithuania. Retrieved 4 November, 2010: http://www.stat.gov.lt/en/ (Statistics Lithuania) Gender Equality in Lithuania. Retrieved on 4 November, 2010: http://www.wikigender.org/index.php/Gender_Equality_in_Lithuania (wikigender.org) Thorsten, Nilges. Gender inequality in politics. Retrieved on 4 November, 2010: http://www.koed.hu/mozaik15/thorsten.pdf (koed.hu) Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. Retrieved on 4 November, 2010: http://www3.lrs.lt/seimu_istorija/w3_lrs.seimo_narys-p_asm_id=5p_int_tv_id=0p_kalb_id=2p_kade_id=3.htm (Nijole Ambrazaityte) Laima Andrikiene. Retrieved on 4 November 2010: http://www2.laimaandrikiene.lt/en/ (Laima Andrikiene) President of the Republic of Lithuania. Retrieved on 5 November 2010. http://www.president.lt/en/ (Dalia Grybauskaite) Category: Lithuanian Women in Politics. Retrieved on 5 November, 2010: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Lithuanian_women_in_politics (Wikipedia) Giedre,Purvaneckiene. Women in Lithuanian Society. 1999. Retrieved on 5 November, 2010: http://www.iknowpolitics.org/files/HDR%20Lithuania%201999%20-%20Ch.%208%20Women%20in%20Lithuanian%20Society.pdf (I Know Politics) Ana Maria, Kozma. The role of women in society. 5 May, 2008. Retrieved on 5 November, 2010: http://www.feminis.ro/feminis/cariera/rolul-femeilor-in-politica-464 (feminis.ro)

The Physics of an AM Radio :: Physics Radio Papers

The Physics of an AM Radio It’s was a beautiful sunny morning and Bill just kissed his wife goodbye and headed out the door on his way to work. As Bill got into his car he realized that he missed the Utah Jazz game the night before because of a late business meeting and fell asleep before the news came on so he couldn’t catch the highlights or even the score. He remembered that he could catch the rundown on AM frequency 930 (Sports News Radio). Many people enjoy listening to AM radio because of how convenient it is to listen and catch up on the sports, weather or just enjoy the entertainment of listen to Rush or Dr. Laura, but are much like Bill and don’t have any idea how the signal that carries these programs is sent or even received. In an attempt to understand this process, Bill confronts a part time employee who is currently studying electronics and has a basic knowledge of how the AM radio found his car or even his home works. Almost all AM radios work under the same basic design. There are two very simple yet very important things that make AM radio possible. What are these things? A transmitter(the station) and a receiver(the radio). THE TRANSMITTER Each radio station that desires to have a frequency(signal) on AM radio must notify the FCC and are assigned a frequency that they can use to send their information out on. The very first part of the transmitter is a quartz crystal. This is used because it is very stable and efficient which is important because there are certain laws and guidelines that the stations must abide by. They cannot go over or below the assigned frequency by more than 5K hertz, making a bandwidth of 10K hertz. After the quartz crystal, is an oscillator where the actual physics of the transmitter comes in. The oscillator is made up of a variety of electronics components including an operational amplifier and a combination of resistors and capacitors. Resistors are defined as-The impedance to the flow of electric current. The resistance is equal to the voltage across the object divided by the current through it. Measured in volts per ampere, or ohms.(Physics, A World View 513) Current is defined as-A flow of electric charge. Measured in amperes. (Physics, A World View 513) A combination of a resistor and capacitor in series or parallel is called a filter.

The Hypocrisy of Teaching American History Essay -- American History

The Hypocrisy of Teaching American History Reading, writing and arithmetic, these three subjects are the basic outline for American schools. In those subjects, where does history fit in? Some believe that teachers avoid history because of how corrupt America has been. James W. Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, says, "Parents may feel undermined when children get tools of information not available to adults and use them in ways that seem to threaten adult-held values." (Loewen 296.) The adults had to learn the same false history children are being taught today. By teaching children the truth about history, are adults risking the authority they hold along with adult-held values? "Learning social studies is to no small extent, learning to be stupid." (LMTTM 298.) What happens when history teachers and textbooks lie? Not only will the children grow up to be uneducated, but they'll continue to teach the same lies to their own children. The excuse most teachers use, according to Loewen, is they "feel they are supposed to defend and endorse America." (LMTTM 289.) If teachers told students about Woodrow Wilson being racist, Columbus forcing Indians into slavery, or how the FBI worked against the civil rights movement then children would be too aware of how the world works. Is this necessarily a bad thing? No, because the truth is always better than a lie, regardless of how ugly it may be. In order to be a truly good American, children must learn this country's true his...

The new look of your magazine

Change in an organized is normally geared towards improving its service delivery. Change in business development requires thorough planning and responsive implementation. Employees of the company need to be consulted, about the changes and they input taken in. Change has to be realistic, attainable and measurable, these factors are important especially when considering business development change.[1] A product can always be enhanced in one way or another. The new look of your magazine This article is in response to your organizational changes that the company has initiated geared towards business development. It is very encouraging that your magazine one of the best in the country has final agreed to have a new look   This will go along way in achieving the company business aims and objective, and of course create new markets as more will be attracted to the new look of the magazine. For long time readers have bean longing for a change in your fortune magazine. In this modern world people are always looking for new ideas, and new products.[2] For the next five it is certain that your company will focus on improving the face of your magazine to reflect the changing moments. As noted society is dynamic and always changing, thus, it is well thought of you to have a five year plan of changing the magazine look as it will reflect the changing society. How you are different Your organization has continued to be outstanding because of its creativity and originality. The magazine produces features and articles with are informative, educative and entertaining. As opposed to other players on the market your articles are always well researched and very relevant to the society. The other unique feature about your organization it is quality; the magazine is produced with high quality that gives the reader a pleasure in reading, clear pictures and quality printing make your magazine to have high clarity and even a person will be able to review a magazine he/she bought two years ago. With the fast changing world of technology I appreciate the effort your company is making to ensure that it is at the cutting edge of technology. This of course proves your company objective of being market leaders in market. Customers’ views Customer satisfaction is very important issue. In the same line many customers fell that your company have done well in this area. The company customer care services are efficient and effective as it responds promptly to customers complaints. Another issue that your company has scored a plus is in being able to feature varying and thrilling articles that customers enjoy to read. The company has continued to be dynamic and has high standards in terms of production sales and marketing, this is according to the customers. The role of the media is reflect what goes around the society, to this end the customers are happy because your articles are able to reflect what happens in the society. Concerning the on going changes, the customers are impressed with the new look of the magazine. They say it more refreshing and well organized. Since the changes are projected to run for a long time, they are prepared for more refreshing looks of the magazine. Their only complaint is that the company should enlarge the magazine at it is too good to be that small. Employees’ views It is good to note that your company has a five year plan of making changes. As Timothy notes change is a continuous process and should be welcomed[3]. Change is a core issue in your organization. Through, change the organization is able to respond to its customer’s requirements. The change that the company has initiated will go along way in general improvement of your company and profitability. As the company’s employees ascertain, the changes that the company has initiated are good and well overdue. The employees are happy to undertake the changes in the organization because their views were incorporated in making the changes. The employees further express satisfaction because the company value’s their contributions. Before any organization implements a successful change it must prepare its employees well, in your company the employees say that, they were well trained before the proposed changes, in order to implement them.[4] According to your employees, the company has a well communication structure that enables free flow of information. This has created efficiency in the company organization. It is important to note that poor communication leads to anxiety and confusion, which affects production negatively. In summary you have a satisfied staff. Organization performance Fortune magazine has continued to perform well in the market. The company sales have improved in the recent years and continue to increase this can be attributed to sound management of the organization coupled by better marketing methods. Though, today the media market is saturated, the company has maintained its market by providing well researched articles and high quality production. In this fast moving business environment it has become increasingly necessary for the organization to embrace change especially in its design of the magazine and marketing strategies, in order to maintain competitive edge. The results are being enjoyed by your company. I remain optimistic that your company will continue making improvement in its magazine. Conclusion Success of a business depends on how it faces new challenges that come due to change technology or new markets demands that arise every day. Business development changes are geared towards capturing or maintaining the market share and should always be accompanied by good planning and a well market research. References Maund, L. (2001): An Introduction to Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice: Macmillan, Palgrave Palmer, I and Akin, G. (2006): Managing organizational change; a multiple perspectives approach, Mcgraw- Hill Irwin Timothy, G. J. (1996): The Human Side of Change. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers. [1] Palmer, I and Akin, G. (2006): Managing organizational change; a multiple perspectives approach, Mcgraw- Hill Irwin [2]Maund, L. (2001): An Introduction to Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice: Macmillan, Palgrave [3] Palmer, I and Akin, G. (2006): Managing organizational change; a multiple perspectives approach, Mcgraw- Hill Irwin [4] Palmer, I and Akin, G. (2006): Managing organizational change; a multiple perspectives approach, Mcgraw- Hill Irwin      

Succubus Heat CHAPTER 13

Hearing Cedric assure me I couldn't die lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. I left the Cellar with much less anxiety, though I still had no intention of doing anything that might test how exactly we'd heal from decapitation. So, while I still operated with caution, I no longer felt suffocated or threatened by every aspect of the world. Rather than go home, I drove down to Dante's shop. His store/apartment was in Rainier Valley, on the southeast side of Seattle. He had no regularly posted hours for his assorted â€Å"psychic† services, but he would usually hang around there at night if he had nothing else to do. It tended to be the time drunk people or couples out on dates (or high teens) would wander in looking for fun and novelty. Daytime business hours didn't generally bring out that many who were seeking help from the divine unless, perhaps, it was someone seeking advice on stock trading. Dante had no customers tonight, however. The shop and its flickering neon sign seemed sad and lonely. I pushed through the unlocked door and found him leaning against the checkout counter, leafing through a copy of Maxim . â€Å"What gives?† I asked. â€Å"Your subscription to Frauds and Scams Weekly run out?† He glanced up at me with a smile, flipping black hair out of his face. â€Å"Just needed something pretty to look at since I didn't know when I'd be seeing you again.† I planted a kiss on his cheek. â€Å"Holy shit. That's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me.† â€Å"Yeah, well, I can make some filthy sexual suggestions to you if you'd prefer.† â€Å"What, and ruin foreplay for next time?† This made his grin grow, and he shut the magazine. â€Å"To what do I owe the pleasure? Shouldn't you be visiting our neighbors to the north? Or is that done? I honestly can't keep track.† â€Å"Well. About that.† God, how I was going to explain what had happened? Had all of this seriously happened in just one day? It felt like a year had gone by since I got woozy in the car. â€Å"Something strange happened today.† â€Å"Strange like you sold out of Jane Austen books at the store or strange like the rules of time and space as we know them are about to be ripped apart?† â€Å"Mmm†¦more like that last one.† â€Å"Shit.† I took a deep breath, figuring I should just get the big stuff out of the way. â€Å"There's no easy way to put this, but†¦I'm not a succubus anymore.† â€Å"I never believed you were a succubus.† I groaned. That had been an old joke between us when we'd first met. Oh, the irony. â€Å"I'm serious,† I said. â€Å"No more succubus. And Jerome's disappeared too, possibly opening up Seattle to a new demonic reign.† Dante stared at me, eyes speculative as he assessed me for the truth. He was speechless for the first time I'd known him. Not waiting for more witty commentary, I plunged forward. I explained about the summoning, what it had done to all of us lesser immortals, how demons everywhere were now sizing up Seattle, and why I needed to find Jerome as soon as possible. When I finally finished, it took Dante several moments to gather his thoughts. â€Å"So†¦you've seriously lost your succubus powers?† â€Å"Abilities,† I corrected. â€Å"And yes, I have. Are you saying that after all that other stuff I just told you about the balance of power in Seattle, my succubus status is what caught your attention the most?† He shrugged. â€Å"You gotta admit it's weird. Besides, that other stuff doesn't affect me. You do.† His eyes narrowed. â€Å"Am I going to have to use a condom now?† â€Å"What? No. Of course not.† â€Å"You sure?† â€Å"You've never batted an eye over me stealing pieces of your soul these last few months, but the nonexistent threat of child support suddenly scares you?† â€Å"Well, yeah, seeing as my bank account's got more in it than my soul.† I glanced around the shabby room. â€Å"Debatable.† â€Å"Cute,† he conceded. â€Å"But I'd be asking a few more questions about all of this if I were you. Like, can you die?† â€Å"I already asked that one,† I said smugly. â€Å"And the answer is no. Our immortal bodies are still essentially the same. We're just cut off from all the perks.† I hoped he didn't ask about decapitation because I honestly wasn't in the mood to debate that. â€Å"Okay, so what do you want from me?† he asked. â€Å"What makes you think I want anything?† He looked at me. â€Å"Okay, maybe I do want something. But come on, who else would know more about this stuff than you?† â€Å"Who knows more about demons? Hmm, let me think. I know. How about the demons you work for , the ones who are all-powerful and have been around since the beginning of time?† â€Å"They're not all-powerful. Otherwise they wouldn't need a human for the summoning-or end up getting summoned in the first place. And that's what I need you for. There can't be that many humans in the area capable of doing this, are there? You have to know who they are.† Dante opened his mouth, no doubt with a snappy reply ready, and then abruptly closed it. â€Å"I don't know,† he said slowly. â€Å"I don't keep track of those things.† I leaned toward him, incredulous. â€Å"Of course you do! Do you not want to tell me? Why?† He sighed, his hesitant expression turning typically annoyed. â€Å"Because those kinds of people get pissed off if you start advertising their names.† â€Å"What, you're afraid they're going to come beat you up?† â€Å"No. Not exactly. But there's sort of†¦a professional courtesy in these circles.† â€Å"I'll be discreet. I won't tell them where I got the information.† â€Å"Most of them already know we're together. They'd figure it out. They keep an eye on those kinds of things.† He turned considering. â€Å"Of course, in that same vein, a lot of them know you as a succubus and might just think you knew through your own connections.† He still seemed hesitant, so I played a mean card. â€Å"Well, I can always go ask Erik if you're too nervous about it.† Erik was another mortal in town who dealt with the occult and paranormal. Unlike Dante, who was a practitioner, Erik simply studied and built up knowledge of the magical undercurrents in the city. He had a psychic's gifts and was attuned to what most human eyes didn't see. Sometimes he could even see what immortals couldn't. He and Dante had an old, old grudge and didn't enjoy being around each other, to put it mildly. My attempt to bait Dante didn't work, though. â€Å"Don't even try it, succubus. Making me jealous of the old man won't make me help you.† I looked up at him pleadingly. â€Å"What will make you help me?† He traced the outline of my lips with his fingertip, gray eyes wicked and thoughtful. â€Å"Not sure it's anything you can do while cut off from your super-secret powers. You're not a sex goddess anymore.† â€Å"Hey, I don't need super-secret powers to be a sex goddess.† Just then, three twentysomethings stumbled in, staring wide-eyed at the shop as they tried to stifle nervous giggles. They undoubtedly had the same kind of potential that high teens did. I gave Dante one last frantic plea. â€Å"Please? Just give me the names. You don't have to do anything else. And I won't say anything. I swear it.† Dante scowled, glanced at me, at the potential customers, and then back at me. He told them he'd be with them in a minute and then hastily jotted four names down on a scrap of paper. Two of them I recognized. â€Å"Thank you,† I said. I beamed, and to my surprise, something in his cynical expression softened a little. â€Å"God, that smile,† he muttered. â€Å"You might just be right.† â€Å"About what?† â€Å"You really don't need any powers to be a sex goddess. Your hair's a little messy, though.† He walked around the counter and gave me a quick half-hug. â€Å"Be safe, succubus. Don't test the limits of that not-dying thing.† â€Å"And buy some condoms?† I teased. He shrugged. â€Å"You're the one who was having prophetic dreams about having kids a little while ago.† Turning away from me, he put on his jovial con-man persona and beckoned the group over with pitches about palms and Tarot. He'd spoken the words in a light, off-hand kind of way, but as I slowly walked back to my car, they slapped me in the face. Prophetic dreams†¦ Nyx's dreams. The things she'd shown me during that time had been so vivid that they seemed almost more real than my own life. The thing is, by almost all accounts, Nyx had a grasp on the future and could show people things that would happen to them. That was how she spread chaos in the world, by showing people these visions and making them think they knew how their futures would unfold. Unfortunately, while the visions came true, they never came true the way their victims thought they would. She'd led a lot of people to their deaths that way. Nonetheless, it seemed fairly clear that the dreams she'd sent to me had been distractions, not destructive images of what would come. In my visions, she'd shown me-over and over-with a daughter, waiting for a man I loved to come home. The dreams had consumed me, almost making me want to sleep and have my energy taken each night. As I'd noted while holding Kayla, there was no way any piece of the vision could ever happen to me. I couldn't have any sort of relationship like that. And I certainly couldn't have a daughter, not of my own blood. Immortals didn't reproduce. When I'd sold my soul for immortality and shape-shifting, I'd given up certain aspects of my humanity. There could be no child for me. Not ever. And yet†¦ I came to a stop on the sidewalk, still about a block away from my car. What if Dante had inadvertently stumbled onto something? What if being in this stasis had altered that piece of me that had lost the ability to conceive? Cedric had said I was still technically immortal, but he'd also said my body would respond and heal like a human's. What all did that entail? Would unprotected sex lead to conception? Is that what Nyx's visions had been pointing to? She'd sworn she'd shown me the truth. Had she? I was breathing fast again, though at least this time, I knew I didn't have to worry about giving myself a heart attack. Okay. I needed to calm down. This pregnancy possibility was as distracting as the hooking-up-with-Seth possibility. I'd never get anything accomplished if I lost myself in fantasies. With a sigh, I glanced down at Dante's piece of paper, now crumpled in my hand. I'd clenched it into a ball without even realizing it as I walked. I'd been too preoccupied to even notice†¦ Babies and Seth. The things I wanted most. I forced myself to keep moving toward my car. But as I unlocked the door, I had to wonder ruefully if maybe I shouldn't be so quick to get Jerome back after all. I started following up on Dante's leads the next morning. Leaving my place was a little harder than I'd expected, though. Despite the fact I got ready plenty of mornings without shape-shifting, my closet seemed terribly small. And while my hair seemed fine when I finished it, I had a feeling it'd be frizzy the next time I checked the mirror. The only bright part was when I found Dante's watch under the bed. I thought I'd lost it yesterday, so at least my accessories collection was still respectable. Nonetheless, I had a feeling I was soon going to discover just how much I'd come to rely on my abilities. Locating addresses from Dante's list of names required a little sleuthing here and there, but for the most part, I didn't have much difficulty finding them. Unfortunately, once found, these magicians weren't exactly helpful. One of the ones I visited knew me. She was familiar with Hell's local servants, and while she gave me a small degree of respect, she was as hesitant to answer questions as Dante had insinuated. Two of the other names were people who didn't know me, and that immediately created a problem. With my succubus powers shut off, I had no immortal signature, and both of these people were the types who could sense that. Me coming in and claiming to be a succubus was met with scorn and disbelief. I managed to glean some information from them but nothing of any use. Equally difficult was that not only could they not sense me, I couldn't sense them. Admittedly, a succubus didn't have the same ability to gauge human power the way a full-fledged demon could, but I could occasionally sense magic around a person or object. Today, I was completely blind. I had to rely on my strength to read people, but these dark magicians were as good at cons as Dante. They were well-versed in the art of concealing the truth. It was almost noon by the time I visited the last name, a guy named Greg. I felt pretty discouraged by this point and even cracked and had a cigarette along the way. Greg had no storefront like Dante and mostly worked his spells out of his house, a small bungalow in Wallingford. When he answered the door, his disheveled state told me I'd woken him up. On the bright side, he recognized me, which meant I wouldn't have to convince him I was a succubus. â€Å"What do you want?† he asked suspiciously. He was built big and could have had an impressive physique if he'd ever gone to the gym. It was obvious he hadn't. â€Å"I wanted to talk to you about demon summoning.† â€Å"I don't know anything about it.† He started to shut the door. I stuck my foot out to block it. â€Å"Wait. Do you know anyone who would?† â€Å"No. And even if I did, what makes you think I'd tell you?† He tried to close the door again, then paused. He narrowed his already too-small eyes at me. â€Å"There's something weird about you. No aura.† I didn't answer right away. â€Å"Maybe you're losing your touch.† This actually brought a small smile. â€Å"Not likely. What happened? Who got summoned?† â€Å"No one. And even if they did, what makes you think I'd tell you?† I mimicked. He laughed, a guttural sound that came from low in his throat. When the laughter faded, he studied me for several long seconds, face cunning and speculative. â€Å"Okay. I'll talk to you.† He pushed the door open. â€Å"Come on in.† I gingerly stepped into his living room. The place was a disaster. Dirty dishes were piled on the coffee table, the remains of food hardened and crusty. Dust coated every piece of furniture, and the wood floor looked like it hadn't been swept since the last century. Uneasily, I wondered if my new humanlike body was susceptible to germs. Several books were piled on the couch, their covers meant to look sinister in shades of black and red with drawings of pentagrams. It put me in mind of Evan's faux Satanic accoutrements, though as hard as it was to believe, Evan had a thousand times more class than this guy. Greg offered me neither a chair nor refreshments, which was fine by me. He stood in front of me, arms crossed. â€Å"Well? What do you want to know?† â€Å"I want to know if you've done any demon summoning lately.† â€Å"Not that any demons have been summoned, of course.† â€Å"This is speculative,† I replied with a simpering smile. I studied as much of his home as I could while I spoke. Beyond him, I could see an equally messy kitchen with a gas stove and magnet-covered refrigerator. â€Å"You think if I'd summoned a demon, I'd be living like this? Fuck, I'd have plasma-screen TVs and concubines.† I recalled the discussion with my friends, noting that any human who'd summoned Jerome would simply keep the demon hidden and not use it for personal gain and errands. Still, if Greg had summoned Jerome on behalf of another demon, there would have been some reward involved. Maybe it wouldn't entail TVs or concubines, but it seemed like there'd be some sign of a windfall here. Maybe he'd gotten a Swiss bank account. â€Å"Okay. You know anyone who recently acquired concubines?† â€Å"Nope. But I can give you some names of people who'd be more likely.† He listed two of the magicians I'd already visited. â€Å"I've talked to them.† â€Å"Sorry. Not my problem.† My eyes returned to the books on the couch. I stepped toward them. â€Å"May I?† â€Å"Knock yourself out.† I picked up one of the books, skimming through it in hopes of finding information about summoning. Nope. It was fluffy â€Å"evil† stuff, exactly like the Army of Darkness' propaganda. The second book proved the same. The third, however, was a legitimate spell book, filled with the kind of dark rites Dante practiced. Hopeful, I flipped through the pages one by one. It had some vile contents, but there was nothing about summoning. Greg's willingness to let me browse the books should have been a tip-off that they contained nothing of use. â€Å"All done?† I jerked around. Greg's voice was close to me-too close. I'd had my back to him while checking out the books, but now he was right behind me. I took a few steps back and bumped the couch. â€Å"Yeah,† I said nervously. â€Å"Thanks for the help. I should leave now.† â€Å"Not yet,† he said, moving closer. â€Å"You just got here.† I tried to wriggle off to the side, but his hands suddenly reached out and grabbed a hold of my arms, pinning me into place. â€Å"What are you doing?† I demanded. There went my heart rate again. â€Å"I don't know what's going on with all this summoning stuff, but I do know there's a succubus here who doesn't feel like a succubus anymore, which probably means you can't fight like one.† I tried to break from his grasp, but his hands were like steel. â€Å"You're crazy. Of course I'm a succubus. You know I am.† â€Å"Yeah? Then shape-shift away from me. Turn into a bird. Turn into a bodybuilder.† I clenched my teeth and tried to shake his hold again. â€Å"Let me go, you son of a bitch. You hurt me, and a whole host of demons are going to show up and rip you limb from limb.† â€Å"Not so sure about that,† he chuckled. â€Å"This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. You think any succubus would fuck someone like me?† He shoved me down onto the couch, one strong arm pinning me in place while the other hand fumbled awkwardly under my shirt and grabbed a hold of my breast. Moving his head close, he tried to press his lips against mine, but I turned my head just in time. â€Å"Let me go!† I screamed. I managed to wriggle a leg free and knee him in the gut. It wasn't enough to free me, but it made him scowl. I'd worried about getting hit by cars, meteors, and structurally unsound overpasses. Never, never had I thought about being raped. It hadn't been a fear of mine for centuries, not since I realized I could shape-shift into someone larger and stronger, someone capable of throwing off any assailant. Maybe it shouldn't have bothered me so much. I'd had sex with plenty of people I didn't like over the years. I'd always grimaced and waited it out. But there was something about this that was different. It wasn't my choice, and compounding it all was the feeling of helplessness I had. I hated not having options. I hated not being able to think my way out of something. There was nothing to be done, though. Not this time. The most I could do was keep struggling and flailing. I did have some self-defense training, after all. I'd learned to use weapons and punch over the years. I'd nailed Niphon pretty good at Christmas. Unfortunately, what I could do now was limited with Greg on me like this. He simply outweighed me. Still, my efforts must have proven annoying because Greg growled and grabbed both my arms in an attempt to flip me over. I yelled profanities at him and got another knee-jab in, close to his groin but not close enough. And that's when it happened. The smell hit me first. An overwhelming and suffocating odor of natural gas. I stopped struggling for half a second. I didn't need to be human to know that meant trouble. Before I could process that further, the kitchen exploded into flames. Fire expanded out into the living room. It didn't quite reach us, but I think Greg must have still gotten burned because he screamed in pain and released his hold on me. His body had shielded the worst from me, and mostly all I felt was a rolling wave of heat and air. I didn't bother to think or question anything. Greg had released me in his confusion, and I bolted. I scrambled from the couch and ran out the front door, away from the fire. Away from Greg. I drove off as fast as I could, my Passat's tires squealing on the pavement. Sweat poured off me, and my hands could barely grip the steering wheel through their shaking. About a mile away, I heard the singing of sirens, but I couldn't spare a thought for what had happened. I couldn't think about whether Greg had made it out or not. I couldn't think about how a gas leak had miraculously saved me. The only thing I could think about now was getting away and getting to safety.