Work based learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Work based learning - Essay Example Organizations are demanding public relations research as the key instrument towards development of the organization’s strategy. Research in public relations research has the ability to build a foundation for not only public relations department, but also better the organization in general. What characterizes the current dynamic business environment is high cost of advertising and lower efficiency of adverts. Corporations are relying heavily on public relations to in order to pass these hard times. This entails that public relations issues are greatly influencing the performance of different organizations (Botany and Taylor, 2004:4). This essay will present new internet technologies that can potentially improve an organization’s relations such as podcasts and blogs. This essay will also present some of the findings obtained from this research and conclude with suggestions on how San Jiao Xiang Restaurant public relations department can improve their efforts in order to a chieve more. San Xiang increased importance of public relations This restaurant depends heavily on advertising through the internet and on other related mechanisms of publicity. In this millennium, public relations are becoming one of the essentials of communication tools than can imperatively lead to success by performing different functions of conventional marketing. Truthfully, it is not healthy for this restaurant to continue depending heavily on advertising due to a number of factors. ... The main purpose of marketing is to influence behavior of customers towards an organization or its products (Smith, 2005:55). On the other side, the main function of public relations is to form, change, and maintain attitudes of the public towards an organization and its products. Therefore, public relations serve the function of communication aimed at earning public understanding and acceptance through carrying out designed programs. An organization establishes rapport with different publics that include the government, investors, customers, suppliers, employers, and the media among others. The requirements and needs of these publics can turn to be somehow unique but very diverse (Regester, and Larkin, 2008:124). This means that, for San restaurant for keep a good rapport for all these publics, the responsible public relations department must have set procedure with clarified details showing appropriate measures for responding to their needs and requirements. Analysis of this proces s In exonerated with marketing, one of the most important tasks that marketing has to perform is public relations. Good relations with the media can have a huge affluence towards the image of an organization as well as other publics. As a result, if an organization resolves to use technology in public relations with media, the focus should focus should aim at getting the task performed quickly and as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, research findings show that, this is one of the rare instances where San restaurant can perform better and at lower cost simultaneously (English, 2005:7). China’s internet technology is high therefore, with the use of internet technology; the costs involved in reaching journalists are much lower than classical forms of communication. This restaurant

Universal Coverage Essay Example for Free

Universal Coverage Essay Health insurance is a term that explains a form of coverage that meets ones medical expenses. This form of insurance pays for medical expenses and sometimes may encompass insurance on disability and long-term nursing needs. There are two ways that one may get access to services of health cover firms, one of them is that, insurance may be offered by the government subsidized program i. e. the Social Insurance Program or the second alternative is by private medical insurance firms. The package may be obtained collectively e. g. by a company to insure its employees etc or may be obtained individually by customers. However in either case, the covered persons pay premiums to get protection from high or unpredicted medical care expenses. The government may offer such benefits of paying healthcare costs via a Social welfare program. Universal Coverage is described as the affordable medical care insurance that extends its coverage to all eligible residents of the country. It’s sometimes called Universal Healthcare. The coverage of such programs are greatly varied in terms of funding mechanism and organizational structure especially the extent to which they are funded by the public. Normally, the general public always has to pay their medical care expenses through health insurance schemes that are a compulsory requirement. Some pay through taxation and at times both tax and medical insurance programs may be used to meet the healthcare bill. According to the Institute of Medicine, The United States of America has been confirmed to be the only developed regime that doesn’t offer the Universal Coverage. Otherwise, many other developed nations and the developing countries offer the Universal healthcare coverage system of health insurance and it’s the trend all over the world. Introduction Health insurance is coverage that takes care of medical bills. Governments have come up with policies that regulate this health insurance programs. The Medical care insurance policy is a contract that binds a health insurance company and the person in question. The contact may be renewable annually or upon the agreed period of time. The contract usually described the type and the amount of medical expenses to be covered in the agreed duration and is usually paid in advance as evidence of coverage in the booklet. The Universal Coverage as mentioned earlier describes a situation where everybody is covered for the basic medical care services as per the government policy as long as one is an eligible resident of the region in question. Universal medical care coverage has been mistakenly likened to ingle-prayer; a type of medical cares where the government pays all the healthcare expenses. Most governments in the world currently provide Medical care universally with Singapore having the most efficient and successful medical coverage in the world. Probably t due to this reason that it has the country records low infant mortality rates and long life expectancies. The U. S is the only country that does not offer Universal coverage. The U. S government has established policies that recommend reforms in the healthcare by the year 2010, based on the per capita expenses. The situation in the country is that per capita expenses on medical care services is almost twice as much as other developed countries, but still has high infant mortality rates and short life expectancies. Health Insurance in the U. S In 2005, a bill was presented to the House of Representatives of the U. S proposing the introduction of a Universal health care coverage that would combine both public and private coverage. The discussions in the U. S on universal coverage are usually confused with the concept of single prayer scheme which is sometimes called socialized medicine. This perception usually becomes a major hurdle for the enactment of the universal coverage (Lerberghe 2005) Many of the medical service providers in the U. S will concur to charge the insurance Companies if the clients are willing to assent his signature to an agreement that the amount not paid by the insurance company would be their responsibility. Medical care in the U. S is provided by different legal entities and it has been noted that the U. S is highest spender on health care services. (Porter Teisberg 2006) A greater percentage of the U. S population have some form of medical insurance cover individually or through employers while others are granted by the government. There are certain publicly financed medical care schemes that are meant to provide assistance to the elderly, disabled, children and the poor. Federal law authorizes the general public to access emergency medical services despite their ability to meet the expenses. The health care coverage in the U. S depends so much on the private sector and the non-profit insurers and is the main source of medical coverage for the Americans. Public programs provide coverage services to older people and low-income earners including families that meet certain requirements to be entitled to this cover (Lerberghe 2005). Some of the public programs are Social insurance, Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP. In 2006, it’s estimated that over 47 million people did not have any medical care cover for some part of the year (Anderson 2007). In 2004, the United States medical cover providers employed almost 471,000 workers directly. Since 2001, the health insurance costs in the States are rising at a very alarming rate that there is need to re evaluate the effectiveness of their system of healthcare payment. In the year 2007, most of the low-income earners and unemployed did not have medical cover. Those without medical insurance that year, summed up to about 15. 8% of the total population. The efficiency and the quality of the U. S medical care system raises questions on whether its worth the million of shillings that the government spends each year. A research by the world Health Organization in 2000, found out that the U. S was the highest spender on healthcare services yet it lagged far much behind in effectiveness of its performance (Haley Deevey 2001). Since universal coverage has proved to be more effective, there have been many proposals presented to the U. S administration to encourage transformation process of the current system to enable it to extend its coverage universally, rather than via a complete restructuring of the entire system. Considering that, most Americans covered by private insurance companies receive their benefits through employer sponsored schemes, it has been suggested that the employer ‘pay or play’ be used to expand coverage. However analysts have suggested that the proposed pay or play plans will be restricted in their capacity to include the working poor. Other observations made included the fact that this proposed plan basically excludes small companies, do not differentiate individuals who may be able to access other forms of healthcare insurance, from those who do not, and may cause the overall employer compensation expenses to rise. Universal Coverage As defined earlier, universal health coverage is the situation where by the government covers everyone’s basic medical care services as long as the people meet eligibility requirements of the region. Only America does not provide the universal coverage to its citizens of all the industrialized countries (Mayes 2005). This has seen America’s health care coverage system collapse! Almost a third of the Americans are not insured at some time of the year, this according to the research by Commonwealth Fund with the number of those supposedly covered dangerously under insured (Baker 2000). There arises situations when the insurance companies fail to meet the expenses of the medical services provided to their clients, in such cases, the affected persons may face a serious and tough decision making moment that they have to choose between healthcare services and other life necessities. As many as about half of the bankruptcies reported in the U. S are contributed to by medical debts and more than three-quarters of them are due to the medical debt the insurance had at the beginning of the sickness (Mayes 2005). The population that is covered collectively by employer is steadily loosing the benefits as more and more charges are being pushed towards the employees, while the young and unemployed minority are suffering for being under insured and usually pays disproportionate split of their income to the insurance coverage (Emanuel Fuchs 2005) Several issues have been raised to solve the problem of healthcare expenses and analysis made for the best possible alternative. In many occasions of discussions, universal coverage has been confused with â€Å"single payer† healthcare system. The Single-Payer healthcare system is the U. S’s term that describes the payment of all players in medical care service from single fund. The players here, being doctors, hospital and other related trades like pharmacies. The Canadian medical care system, the British, and the Australia’s Medicare are all single payer systems. The U. S’s Medicare and Medicaid are also described as single payer systems. The single payer system has only one financial source for paying all the medical service providers. Some people have argued that the single fancier of the single payer system is the government, but in Countries such as the U. S the matter is left for analysts and the patient never bears the individual accountability for all the expenses (Mayes 2005). The single payer system has been proposed to help transform the current and collapsing system of health insurance in the U. S. It is different from the Universal health care system where the government has total control of the healthcare systems including administration, employing doctors and other staff, despite the fact that logically all these are single payer systems! Meanwhile, when the term is used to imply these differences, the stakeholders in medical care industry remain independent and may confer with the government for funding. The single payer has been proposed to change the current system of the Americans, however critics oppose the fact that it would offer better quality of healthcare at a cheaper expense by saying that this would affect the quality of medical care and discourage innovations and therefore give free market approach and tax incentive as the better options (Emanuel Fuchs 2005) Some organization support universal coverage, these organizations that advocate for the implementation of the universal coverage do so due to its efficiency and advantages. The main supporters are; doctors, nurses and organizations such as Healthcare for everyone, Physicians for a National health Program and National health Insurance. The supporters argue that medical care is a basic human right and everyone is entitled to it, provision of medical care to the whole nation would profit the country economically, and that the profit motivation could negatively affect the quality of the healthcare services provided. Cutting costs is the main issue that raises concerns in the healthcare service provision. It would be much better to cut down costs rather than maintaining since the current economic crisis does not call for increased expenses. Currently, the U. S government has sacrificed its healthcare service industry to financial plan cuts. Communities especially those living in the poor neighborhood are needlessly vulnerable to diseases that otherwise could have been corrected or prevented. Cost cutting demands have lead to humiliating of occupations of medical care service providers like nurses and home-care workers. Processes such as screening, early diagnosis, and prevention measures that are efficient cost cutting methods have been short changed. Though cost cutting is very important, it should not sacrifice the quality of healthcare services to be provided. For the health care crisis in the American system and cost cutting pressures that are mounting on the budgetary allocations, have caused the quality of health care to be compromised in the name of cutting costs. Human rights activist argue that the sanctity of life should be respected and life protected no matter the cost.

Macbeth Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To what extent is Macbeth responsible for his actions?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Whose Fault Is It?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the play Macbeth, Macbeth’s actions are cold blooded and are done out of ambition and greed. For example, he killed King Duncan because he wanted to be the king of Scotland. He also hired murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance because they stood in his way of becoming king. Only Macbeth was responsible for his deeds, however, the witches, and Lady Macbeth also played key roles in influencing Macbeth’s actions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During Macbeth’s first encounter with the three witches, he learns that he has been appointed Thane of Cawdor, and that he will be the king; but, he also knows that if he is to become the king, a few people will have to die. After thinking about it, he decides that if he is going to become the king he will let it happen naturally. His decision changes, however, once he talks to Lady Macbeth. When Lady Macbeth hears Macbeth’s story, she wants him to kill Duncan so that they can become king and queen. At first, he does not want to kill Duncan, but then Lady Macbeth questions his manhood â€Å"When you durst do it, then you were a man; / And, to be more than you were, you would / be so much more the man† (I, vii, 49-51). She tells Macbeth that she would kill her own child to have a chance like this â€Å" I have given suck, and know / how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me:...

Concept of time Essay

Time seemed to be an important aspect that influences the well-being of the elderly in the study. Time consciousness cannot be ignored when one considers the subjective experience of well-being among the institutionalized aged. The finding showed that many of them had a keen awareness of time or awareness of the present. According to their administrators, a few of them felt the urgency to make the best use of the remaining time in their life: to get closer to God and to prepare for a ‘good death. ’ The studies done by Butler & Lewis (1972); Butler et 292 al. (1998); Sue & Sue (1999); and Knight (1996) found that there is an obvious concern with time when it is clear that the remaining days are running short among the aged. The development of a sense of immediacy, of the here-and-now, of present-ness -all these aid in the evolution of a sense of enjoyment and tranquility which ultimately are decisive elements of well-being. The findings of the study exemplified this awareness of time/time consciousness among the institutionalized aged and that it has endowed them with a sense of urgency and purpose in the ‘evening’ of their lives. It could also be presumed that these two aspects of well-being, the concept time and attitude toward death are closely related. Attitude towards Death The elderly in Gladys Spellman viewed the existential problem of death and dying in different spirit. While some of them had a positive attitude toward death and looked at death as a natural transition from this life to a better life and have reconciled with this inevitable reality. Trust in God’s compassion and mercy and the expectation of heavenly reward, growing closer to God in prayer seemed to help those elderly who said they were at ease with the thought of death. Faith and spirituality change death from an ending to a new beginning of a new existence for Christians (Moberg, 2001). Accepting old age and death meaningfully makes life happier. Fear or acceptance of death is closely related to general satisfaction or well-being. When life is lived to the full, death becomes a fulfillment, a completion (Moberg, 2001). The following words of the elderly were shared with one of the administrators. â€Å"I’ve done my job. My mission is over. I have no worries about the future†¦He will take care†¦and I’m ready for final surrender/exit. † There were others who tried to put on a brave front to show that they were not afraid to die. A third category avoided talking about death, reasoning that it was not yet time for them to think about death as they felt there was plenty time left for such things. Those who avoided thinking about death and those who did not fear death but only feared ‘pain of death’ must be coping with the unrecognized fear of death. As Atchley (1997) puts it, although death is generally accepted with little fear among older people, it is only reasonable to assume that there are some who really fear death. Their trust in God’s mercy and hope in eternal reward probably help them cope with this fear.

Learning Psychology Essay

Education and learning are one of the most important ingredients to becoming all that you can be. How open you are to learning will help determine your path in life. Education and learning are one of the most important ingredients to becoming all that you can be. How open you are to learning will help determine your path in life. Education does not just happen at school. It is not just about Math and other subjects. Your education and learning are happening all the time. They happen any time your mind is open to learning. Education is not just about learning facts, but more so about learning how to think. It is learning to make good choices. It is learning to act with purpose. Becoming educated is a lifelong process. It can be hard and frustrating at times, but it can also be incredibly exciting and enriching. Most importantly, learning and education can help you: Change the world Become a better person Reach your potential Eliminate your fears Make the most of mistakes Support your family Here are some inspiring quotations that capture the power of education and what it can do for you and the world: Motivation in Learning by Haibat Khan haibiniazi@gmail. com. â€Å"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. † – Nelson Mandela â€Å"When you know better you do better. † – Maya Angelou â€Å"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. † – Carl Sagan â€Å"Even the wisest mind has something yet to learn. † – George Santayana â€Å"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. † – Henry Ford â€Å"The important thing is not to stop questioning. † – Albert Einstein â€Å"Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere. † – Chinese Proverb â€Å"None of us is as smart as all of us. † – Ken Blanchard â€Å"A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body. † Benjamin Franklin â€Å"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled. † – Plutarch â€Å"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all. † Aristotle â€Å"You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions. † – Naguib Mahfouz â€Å"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. † – W. B. Yeats â€Å"If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. † – Albert Einstein. â€Å"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. † – Marie Curie â€Å"A mistake is a crash-course in learning. † – Billy Anderson â€Å"We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn. † – Mary Catherine Bateson â€Å"He who opens a school door, closes a prison. † – Victor Hugo â€Å"Knowledge will bring you the opportunity to make a difference. † – Claire Fagan â€Å"Education is teaching our children to desire the right things. † – Plato â€Å"I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the  same. Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired. † – Martha Graham†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Education is the power to think clearly, the power to act well in the world’s work, and the power to appreciate life. † – Brigham Young â€Å"I received the fundamentals of my education in school, but that was not enough. My real education, the superstructure, the details, the true architecture, I got out of the public library. For an impoverished child whose family could not afford to buy  books, the library was the open door to wonder and achievement, and I can never be sufficiently grateful that I had the wit to charge through that door and make the most of it. †- Isaac Asimov â€Å"Painful as it may be, a significant emotional event can be the catalyst for choosing a direction that serves us – and those around us – more effectively. Look for the learning. † – Louisa May Alcott â€Å"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand. † – Albert Einstein Haibat Khan haibiniazi@gmail. com.

20 Essay Topics About Othello

20 Essay Topics About Othello Othello is, perhaps, one of the most complex and controversial plays written by the famous poet, writer, actor, and playwright William Shakespeare. Writing an analytical essay on his play can be as difficult as reading the play itself. This is why we have prepared this three-in-one guide for you. By using it you will actually learn the easiest and fastest way to compose your analytical essay on Othello. In this second guide, we have gathered 20 Othello essay topics that are going to help you start writing immediately. We have also included a sample essay which will help you understand how to write an essay, and will be a good starting point for your own topic. Without further ado, here they are: Should Othello be considered a Tragic Hero or a Guilty Murderer? Why is it that Iago’s Accusations Are Not Initially Ð ¡onfirmed by Othello? What Were Othello’s Real Motives? What Was the Real Reason that Led Othello to Kill His Wife? Othello’s Relationship with Desdemona: An Analytical Essay on Love Versus Lust The Motives of Shakespeare in the Play: Racism or Feminism? How Did Iago Defeat Othello Despite Othello’s Deep Love to His Wife? Why Did Shakespeare Add His Own Character Roderigo? What Is the Role of Verbal Communication in the Play Othello by William Shakespeare? What Does Desdemona Represent in the Play, Written by William Shakespeare? A Thorough Analysis on the Female Characters and Their Common Traits in Othello by William Shakespeare In What Way Does Othello’s and Iago’s Jealousy Correlate with Each Other? How is Iago/Emilia’s Marriage Similar to Othello/Desdemona’s Marriage? A Comparison on Emilia’s and Desdemona’s View on Love, Sex, Men, and Marriage Why Othello Was Played by a White Man with a Blackface? Why Othello is Considered as One of Shakespeare’s Most Relevant and Controversial Plays? Othello’s Tragic Flaw which Caused Him to be Defeated by Iago The Four Important Monologues in Othello: What is Their Role and Meaning? A Critical Analysis on Othello’s Character in Act I and in Acts from II to V The Real Motives of Iago in Othello But before you start writing, we also recommend you to have a thorough look at our final guide, how to write a killer analytical essay on Othello, which is a perfect manual that’ll help you compose a stellar and sublime analytical essay which would definitely be admired by your teacher, professor or instructor. Here it is: A Sample Essay on The Four Important Soliloquies in Othello: What are they and What Do They Mean? William Shakespeare, the greatest playwright, writer, actor and poet of all time, has always used soliloquies in his plays. There is only slight difference between soliloquies and monologues, and mostly these terms are interchangeable. In fact, if making the content analysis of Shakespeare’s plays, it is evident that he is fond of using soliloquies. Arguably, this preference came out of the desire and necessity to emphasize the inner thoughts that have   been lurking in his character’s minds, thus, giving the audience an insight into some crucial information. In simple words, you’ll find several soliloquies in Othello, because they helped Shakespeare develop and drive the plot and the character accordingly. For example, when Iago pronounces words such as â€Å"I am not what I am†, it displays the honesty of the character, it helps to underline the complexity of his figure in this play, and to provoke broader understanding of the dramatic dilemma. In Act I, Scene iii and Act II, Scene I, it can easily be seen what Iago’s self-interest is and how the misinterpretation of circumstances has led him to the decision about the necessity of revenge, and finally to almost clinical obsession. These soliloquies reveal Iago’s intentions, and overwhelming desire to take revenge by manipulating Othello and taking advantage of Othello’s open nature. In Act I, Scene iii, 393, the soliloquy â€Å"I know his trumpet† delivered by Iago where â€Å"his† relates to Othello, clarifies that Iago knows the weak points of Othello, and he intends to use his jealousy against Othello himself. He does this by misleading Othello about his Desdemona having an affair with Cassio, a noble lieutenant under Othello’s command and a friend of Desdemona. As the story plays along, the audience realizes that Lago is relishing his satisfaction for revenge, which can be seen in his soliloquy in Act II, Scene iii. In this soliloquy, the audience then gets to know Iago’s developing plan and how easily it has been for him to use Cassio and Roderigo for his wicked avail. In Act III, Scene iii; we can see how Othello has been crippled by Iago’s deceit when he uses the soliloquy, â€Å"for I am black,† which shows his insecurities and doubts. Listening to this dramatic speech,   we can see that Othello struggles over his faith in his wife, Desdemona. In Act V, Scene ii, it can be clearly perceived how Iago’s deception has led Othello to believing that his wife has been having an affair with Cassio behind his back. The idea of being deceived was so striking that Othello decided to kill the love of his life. .Verbally, in the â€Å"betray more men† soliloquy, Othello explains his decision not with the allusions to his love or pain, but with the intention to prevent Desdemona from deceiving other man. Till now there are hot discussions around the honesty of those claims. However, in the last soliloquies, â€Å"so sweet was neer so fatal† and â€Å"oculus proof†, it is confirmed that Othello has been defeated by the over-riding effects and misleading manipulation of Lago. Shakespeare, known for his soliloquies, uses them to ensure that the audience knows what’s going on with the plot and to keep them informed about the character’s intention, which is what has made his plays so interesting to read. Without the use of these soliloquies, it would have been almost impossible to let the audience know what’s happening inside of the tragic heros’ soul, without disrupting the characters or play. †¦ By now, you must have pretty good idea on how you should get started, choosing one of ten facts for analytical paper on Othello, and how an analytical essay on Othello should be composed. But of course, you don’t want to write some mediocre paper, you want to write something that can catch the attention of your professor or teacher, and leave him astonished. If that’s the case, then let’s head on to our third guide on how to write a killer essay on Othello right away. References: Bhattacharyya, J. (2006). William Shakespeare’s Othello. Atlantic Publishers Dist. Shakespeare, W. (2003). The new Cambridge Shakespeare. Othello. N. Sanders (Ed.). Cambridge University Press. Hadfield, A. (Ed.). (2005). William Shakespeares Othello: A Routledge Study Guide and Sourcebook. Routledge. Howard, J. E., OConnor, M. F. (2013). Shakespeare reproduced: the text in history and ideology. Routledge. Potter, Lois (2002). Othello:Shakespeare in performance. Manchester University Press. p. 12. Clemen, W. (2004). Shakespeares soliloquies (Vol. 6). Psychology Press. Bullough, G. (1973). Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeares: Major tragedies. Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth. Volume VII (Vol. 7). Columbia University Press.

Biography of Judith Resnik, NASA Astronaut

Biography of Judith Resnik, NASA Astronaut Dr. Judith Resnik was a NASA astronaut and engineer. She was part of the first group of female astronauts recruited by the space agency, and the second American woman to fly in space. She participated in two missions, logging a total of 144 hours and 57 minutes on orbit. Dr. Resnik was part of the ill-fated Challenger mission, which exploded 73 seconds after launch on January 28, 1986. Fast Facts: Judith A. Resnik Born: April 5, 1949 in Akron, OhioDied: January 28, 1986 in Cape Canaveral, FloridaParents: Sarah and Marvin ResnikSpouse: Michael Oldak (m. 1970-1975)Education: Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, doctorate in Electrical Engineering from the University of MarylandInteresting Fact: Judith A. Resnik planned at one time to become a concert pianist. She was accepted at Juilliard School of Music but turned it down to study mathematics. Early Life Born on April 5, 1949, in Akron, Ohio, Judith A. Resnik grew up under the influence of two talented parents. Her father, Marvin Resnik was an optometrist who had served in the Army in World War II, and her mother, Sarah, was a paralegal. Resniks parents raised her as an observant Jew and she studied Hebrew as a child. She was also very much interested in music, planning at one time to become a concert pianist. Many of her biographies describe Judith Resnik as a very strong-minded child, bright, disciplined and talented at whatever she set out to learn and do. Official NASA portrait of astronaut Dr. Judith A. Resnik. NASA   Education Judith (Judy) Resnik went to Firestone High School, graduating as valedictorian of her class. She actually had a place waiting for her at Juilliard School of Music in New York but elected instead to study mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University. While there, she began studying electrical engineering. She did her masters degree work at the University of Maryland. Eventually, she went on to get a Ph.D. in the subject in 1977. While pursuing her graduate studies, Resnik worked at RCA on missile and radar projects for the military. Her research into integrated circuitry caught NASAs attention and played a role in her acceptance as an astronaut. She also did research into biomedical engineering at the National Institutes of Health, with a particular interest in vision systems. During her graduate studies, Resnik also qualified as a professional aircraft pilot, ultimately piloting NASA T-38 Talon aircraft. During the years before her eventual acceptance at NASA, she worked in California, getting ready for the application and tryout process. NASA Career NASAs first class of female astronauts: Shannon W. Lucid, Margaret Rhea Seddon, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Judith A. Resnik, Anna L. Fisher, and Sally K. Ride.   NASA In 1978, Judy Resnik became a NASA astronaut at the age of 29. She was one of six women accepted into the program and went through its rigorous years of training. She often cited the actress Nichelle Nichols (from Star Trek) as an influence on her decision to join NASA. In her training, Resnik focused on all the systems astronauts were required to know, and paid particular attention to robotic arm operations, as well as the deployment of orbiting experiments and solar array systems. Her work on the ground focused on tethered satellite systems, spacecraft manual control systems, and software applications for the remote manipulator systems.   Astronaut Judith Resnik during egress training at NASA. NASA   Resniks first flight took place aboard the space shuttle Discovery. It was also the maiden voyage for the spacecraft. With that mission, she became the second American to fly, following the first woman, Sally Ride. Many viewers of the IMAX film The Dream is Alive first saw her as the astronaut with long, flowing hair, fast asleep on orbit during one of the scenes.  Ã‚   Astronaut Judith Resnik (left) and crewmates aboard space shuttle Discovery in 1984.   NASA Resniks second (and last flight) was aboard the space shuttle Challenger, which was to carry the first teacher to space, Christa McAuliffe. It broke up 73 seconds into launch on January 26, 1986. Had that mission been successful, she would have been one of the mission specialists, working on a variety of experiments. In her short 37-year lifespan, she logged 144 hours and 57 minutes on orbit, worked toward two degrees in science, and pursued both her work and her hobbies (cooking and car racing) with equal intensity.   Personal Life Judith Resnik was briefly married to engineer Michael Oldak. They had no children, and both were engineering students when they met. They divorced in 1975.   Memorial plaque at the Astrononaut Memorial wall in Florida. This Dignity Memorial bears the names of all who have died in space-related mishaps. Seth Buckley, CC BY-SA 3.0 Awards and Legacy Judith A. Resnik was honored many times after her death. Schools are named for her, and theres a lunar crater on the far side of the Moon called Resnik. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers established an award in her name, given to people who make outstanding contributions to space engineering. At the Challenger Centers, a network of museums and centers named for the Challenger 7, she holds a place of interest and honor, particularly for female students. Each year, NASA honors lost astronauts at the Memorial Wall and space mirror at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center in Florida, including the Challenger Seven who died in the 1986 tragedy.   Sources Dunbar, Brian. â€Å"Memorial for Judith Resnik.† NASA, www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/memorial.html.NASA, NASA, er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/resnik.htm.NASA, NASA, history.nasa.gov/women.html.â€Å"Remembering Judy Resnik.† Space Center Houston, 21 Jan. 2019, spacecenter.org/remembering-judy-resnik/.Suleyman, www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/judith-resnik.

Phrasal Verbs About Speaking for ESL Learners

Phrasal Verbs About Speaking for ESL Learners This phrasal verb feature focuses on phrasal verbs we use when talking about speaking and conversation. Obviously, using tell or say or speak, etc. is absolutely correct when relating conversations. However, if you want to stress HOW the person said something, phrasal verbs come in handy (idiombe useful). Phrasal Verbs About Speaking Negative Speaking go on: to continue to talk about a subject after the interest of the listener has been exhausted.harp on :Â  inf. to repeatedly talk about a certain subjectramble on: to talk for a long time about something which is not very interesting to the other people in the conversationrabbit on (British):Â  as aboverun on (American):Â  as above Speaking Quickly rattle off: to say a list or impressive number of facts very quicklyreel off inf.:Â  as abovewhip off inf. (American):Â  as above Interrupting butt in: to rudely enter another conversationchip in: to add a specific point to a conversation Speaking suddenly blurt out: to say something suddenly, usually without thinkingcome out with: to say something suddenly Contributing come up with: to add a new idea to a conversationto go along with: to agree with someone else Not Speaking shut up: to stop talking, often used as an imperative (very rude)break off: suddenly stop speakingclam up: to refuse to speak or become silent during a conversationdry up: run out of ideas of interesting comments, finish speaking because you dont know what to say next or have forgotten what you would like to say Speaking Rudely talk at: to talk to someone without listening to what they have to saytalk down to: to verbally treat someone in an inferior mannergo off: to speak angrily about somethingput down: to criticize someone or something Sample Paragraph WithPhrasal Verbs Last week I went to visit my friend Fred. Fred is a great guy but at times he can really go on about things. We were speaking about some of our friends and he came out with this incredible story about Jane. It seems she had butted in while he was harping on his favorite complaint: Service in restaurants. Apparently, he had been running on for quite a while putting down almost every restaurant he had been to by rattling off a list of his visits to different restaurants in town. I guess Jane felt that he was talking at her and was fed up with it. She went off about what a rude person he was which shut him up pretty quickly! I thought about blurting out that maybe she was right, but decided to clam up in order to not upset him.As you can see by using these phrasal verbs the reader gets a much better idea of the dynamics of the conversation. If the above story was reported by saying she told him, he said etc., it would be pretty boring indeed. In this way, the reader gets a real sense of the personalities of the speakers.

International marketing environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International marketing environment - Essay Example Thus, governments play a highly influential role in promoting, restricting and regulating import and export of the goods. In a way, government interventions cause a tremendous impact on the firms marketing the goods internationally (Vorton, 2010). Further, government’s role is crucial in formulating trade policies, negotiating trade agreements with other countries and preparing an environment that helps promote multilateral trade among the countries. For example, the Office of the US Trade Representative, a body under the US government, is fully responsible to develop trade related policies with the other countries. The office works as the presidents spokesperson, chief trade advisor, and finally as a negotiator with trade organizations of the other countries. It is pertinent to note here that the US has entered into free trade agreements with a total of 19 countries. The North American Free Trade Agreements (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada is considered one of the largest of all the free trade agreements to promote bilateral trade among the member countries (NAFTA, 2012). Economic factor is quite important and critical as environmental uncontrollable while going for international marketing operations. Markets differ worldwide significantly in their growth prospects, size and the current GDPs. Some of them are developed, while many are in the developing stages and therefore, they differ widely in terms of opportunities. Many of the countries or regions do not have adequate infrastructure to undertake a fast paced economic growth. Natural resources, minerals, water, energy, skilled manpower are the key ingredients that are needed for the growth and industrial activities. Thus, marketers need to consider individual regions and economies carefully before launching any marketing operations (The Economic Environment, 2012). International marketing is influenced by the

As a policy matter, should the government be able to restrict the sale Essay

As a policy matter, should the government be able to restrict the sale of video games with violent content, and if so, what rest - Essay Example The students were reported to have played the video game â€Å"Doom,† and were inspired by it. This led to heated debates between two opposing sides. While advocates argued in favor of a restriction in sales of violent video games, groups of opponents led by the game developers argued against such move. They explained that correlation between the violent video games and the acts of the two students were incidental and could not be used as a justification (IDEA, 2012). While proponents argued about a link between violence and increased watching of violent games, the opponents denied any link between violent behaviors and watching of violent videos. Therefore despite the efforts the government has undertaken to restrict violent video games, the government is not able to regulate them as required due to legal implications and high demand of such games in the market. In 2011, the Supreme Court struck down a ban on selling violent games to minors. The Supreme Court found the Califo rnian law that sought to restrict the sale of violent games to minors to be in contradiction with the free speech rights and was overturned. The judgment was overwhelming in a 7 to 2 decision and declared that the Californian statute against the sale of violent games was in serious violation of the rights protection under the First Amendment (Richey, 2011). The Californian State as the judges agreed had the right to protect children against harm by such violent games. However, the judges noted that such powers cannot be free floating to restrict all ideas to which children have possibilities of being exposed to (Richey, 2011). This was the first ruling on violent materials restriction, which was a huge setback to the California state in its bid to protect children against harm caused by such violent games. It implies that the government is not able to restrict or control such video games as required. The government has weak laws and statutes aimed at limiting such sale of violent ga mes to minors. In 1968 the Supreme Court upheld a New York statute that sought to restrict and ban any sale of nude and obscene materials to underage children. The court found that the government indeed had the right and the power to regulate and restrict sale of such sexual materials to children without violating the protection of free speech as stated under the First Amendment (Mcmahan 2013). However, the Supreme Court on the Californian case rejected any application of the same principles by arguing speech of violence is not obscene; thus the 1968 ruling could not be applied in the ban of violent materials. This revealed a serious anomaly under the First Amendment. As one of the 2 dissenting judges, Stephen Breyer noted, there was no sense of preventing a child from accessing a nude picture of a woman, while in the same violent games children are allowed to view such women and even go further to strangle them to death virtually (Mcmahan 2013) . The law in this case is contradicto ry and needs a more elaborate evaluation of the First Amendment to include violent materials under the same category with obscene materials to facilitate the government to use the, law in protecting children against such violent materials. Psychiatrists and research suggest that offering blanket blame to violent games would e missing the point behind violence in children, which would hugely impact on efforts by the government to restrict such games. Kathy Royer a clinical nurse specialist at 4Kid Help Center for Child Adolescent Psychiatry, Ohio

Apple computer company Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Apple computer company - Case Study Example It is actually the customers of a particular organization that maintains the status of the business' capability to exist within the commercial industries in the society today. Likely though, with the changing trends of economy in the global scene, The impending need to increase business resources today has actually been the main cause of failure among businesses in particularly generating the right amount of focus needed in creating customer satisfaction programs that would likely increase the capability of the companies in generating the needs of the customers in a much more reasonable perspective. Obviously, because of the many changes in the society today, it could not be denied that the systems of business operations handled by the current entrepreneurs in the different human communities around the world also follow a changing trend that is now more focused on generating profits for the organizations. Because of the financial demands of the current situation in the global economy, business administrations are already having a hard time allocating sources to support the needed balance in giving both the company as well as the company itself, the value that it needs to receive from the business operations that they perform daily in business. Ethical measures on the matter though particularly points out the need to be balanced in all aspects of business operations. ... Certainly, with all these considerations, it could be observed that Apple Company is able to provide its company the right kind of products that they need and they demand for. - Price Understandably, seeing to it that the customers receive what they want and what they need from the business means that the business needs to be strongly capable of handing matters of customer satisfaction seriously and conscientiously (Gitman, 2000, 13). Most often than not, sacrificing certain financial gains may be one of the key procedures needed to be considered in handling issues such as this one. However, although risky at some point, modern entrepreneurs see that generating the business capabilities in handling customer needs at a higher level of service and attention from the administration of a business organization generates more customers who are satisfied and are recurrently returning resulting to more gains for the business at that. certainly, it could be summed up to the claim that as the organizations focus on giving the customers what they want, they are then much more able to generate the profit that they need for continuous operation in the global market. To sum up everything, it has been noted by the authors Cunningham and Gunn, customers are likely the best source of business success in the society today. Understandably, the authors point out that the blood of each business organization today are their clients (2004, 17). It is through this understanding that entrepreneurs should actually be able to find a way by which to regulate their systems to make it possible for their clients to actually receive the services and products that they are due. It is only through this that

Nursing care given to a patient with paranoid schizophrenia Essay

Nursing care given to a patient with paranoid schizophrenia - Essay Example This is a nursing case study prepared on the basis of the observations made by the author while on a practice placement. The paper discusses the observations made about the nursing care given to a patient with paranoid schizophrenia.The study is also intended to show the role of a nurse in care; including assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation and also in the care given to the patient’s family. In this particular case, the method used was Orems Self-care model (2001) which emphasizes on improving the patient’s state of health and making them feel responsible for their own health. It is not possible to undermine the role of a nurse in this system which is mainly to promote physical, mental and social health through developing a good, trust-based relation with the patient. In addition, this case study will show how client-centered nursing models are used in which the patient’s interests and rights are respected and protected to the maximum possible ext ent. As Rogers C (1990) opines, the nursing team in this particular case develops strong relationship with the patient with real exhibition of sympathy, originality, and willingness to listen while dealing with the patient. As per the NMC (2008) directive that nurses should develop a deep and reliable relationship with the patient, the author engaged in conversation with the patient; and the expected result was a relationship based on respect and belief (Baker 2003). In this particular case, the patient’s individual freedom to decide her own life was preserved as far as possible (Ewles & Simnett, 2003). As per the definition by Lowden, (2002) autonomy means allowing the patient to make decisions in personal matters. The Patient The patient in this case study is named Mary. The name is imaginary to comply with NMC professional code of conduct (2002). She was 54, and was admitted to the hospital with Paranoid Schizophrenia. Before her entry into the Ward, there was a holistic a nd thorough assessment by the duty doctor. The basic concepts of care The method of care is totally holistic in nature. In this case, Orems (2001) Self Care Model of Nursing is used as the basic criteria and it follows the four stage nursing process of assessment, planning implementation and evaluation. As Barker (2003) observes, this holistic approach will explore the physical, psychological and social spheres of nursing assessment. Assessment The nursing process starts with assessment (Roper et al 2000) which includes all the present and historical information about the patient This must include as much information about all spheres of life as possible including the mental health, family background, education, religion, beliefs and occupation. Family history of mental disorders and other genetic factors are also taken into consideration. In addition, adequate attention is paid to the patient’s lifestyle and living situations. There are a number of ways suggested by Townsend (2006) for the assessment of patients which include consultation with other health professionals, collecting data from family members, watching and interview. In addition, according to the Oxford Nurses Dictionary (2002), a holistic assessment will consider a patient’s psychological, physiological and social life. In the opinion of Jenkins & Field (1996), collecting all these information from a patient will help a nurse in developing a healing relation with the patient. In fact, Mary had a long history of schizophrenia. For her, the disease had its beginning about thirty years ago but the disease was not diagnosed accurately in the beginning. The disease at first started in the form of tension along with sleeping problems and difficulty concentrating. But no one including her parents took the change seriously as there was a tragic incident. It was during those days that her husband died in a car accident. When she shrank more and more into her own private world, all includin g her parents and friends thought it as a result of the shock caused by her husband’

The HIV and AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa Research Paper

The HIV and AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa - Research Paper Example In this respect, we must put a lot of focus on all segments of population, starting with the hardest hit groups. I expand on these findings in the following narrative. The country is one of the worst hit countries in the world by HIV/AIDS epidemic, with approximately 1.5 million people infected with HIV, and over 2.4 million children are orphans after their parents died of the pandemic. With a population of about 38 million people, the percentage of the total population infected by HIV/AIDS is about 5%. In 2009 alone, the country lost 80,000 people from complications arising from HIV infection (Avert, 2010). About 240 people die daily from the disease and according to OSIPHP (2007), over 50% of the total population in the country lack access to HIV preventive and management services. Only 33% of children in need of HIV preventive service have access to the necessary health care (Avert, 2010). In Kenya, the HIV/AIDS pandemic affects virtually all segments of the population directly or indirectly. The prevalence rate differs among specific demographic groups in accordance with age, location, and gender (USAID, 2010). Women account for about 65% of all adults living with HIV/AIDS in the country compared to sub-Saharan prevalence rate of 57% among women. In addition, the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in women is almost twice that of men in Kenya. Most of HIV infections in the country occur in young people aged between 15-30 years through heterosexual sex. However, the infection rate differs remarkably between males and females at different ages (USAID, 2010). According to Avert (2010), the highest proportion of Kenyan population becomes sexually active between the ages of fifteen and nineteen years and young women are more vulnerable compared to their male counterparts. Between 15-19 years, the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in young women is 2.7%, four times greater than of young men of the same age group. Similar trend is observed in women between 20-24 years, whereby 6. 4% are infected, compared to about 1.5% of their male counterparts of the same age. However, the highest number of infections occurs in young women between a 15-24 years and men below 30 years (Avert, 2010). Kenyan people who engage in heterosexual sex are the most vulnerable group, and in regular relationship, they contribute to about 45% of new infections while casual heterosexuals accounts to about 21% of new infections (Avert, 2010). Other vulnerable groups include men who have sex with men and in prison population who account to about 15% of new infections. In addition, transmission through commercial sex, people who inject themselves with drugs and infections in health institutions account to 14%, 4% and 3% new HIV infections in Kenya respectively (USAID, 2010). Due to the high HIV prevalence rate among married couples and people in regular heterosexual relationships, many parents die leaving behind many children. In this respect, orphans and children living with HIV/AIDS acco unt to a significant proportion of people affected with HIV/AIDS in Kenya. About 200,000 children are infected with HIV/AIDS while the number of children orphaned by AIDS is about 2.4 million in Kenya (USAID, 2010). The major risk factors that contribute to high rate of HIV/AIDS i

Production and Operations Management Term Paper

Production and Operations Management - Term Paper Example Taking four days to reach Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), it further takes 10 days to reach Marathons Robinson, Ill refinery which is processed into gasoline, diesel, fuel, and other petroleum products such as fuel oil, kerosene, asphalt, jet fuel, tolvene, xylene, and benzene within 8 days in Phase III. The refined products are later shipped to Marathon owned terminals in further 8 days after which are stored for six days before being transported to jobbers, dealers or other convenience stores which are further transported to brand stations of Marathon. It should be noted that refined products are stored at the terminals for three to six days before being transported to various centres (www.marathonpetroleum.com). According to video, it takes almost 35 days to offer oil products to Americans and this could be reduced further if the storage time is limited to few days or may even directly transport the products to jobbers, dealers, convenience stores and brand stations of Maratho n. Hence, Phase V could be improved to reduce the time for supply of oil fuels in the United States. 2) In order to understand the relationship between the retail price of gasoline and the world demand for crude oil, it is necessary apply the law of demand to the problem. According to the law demand, when price raises, the demand for the good falls and when the price falls, the demand rises (Mankiw and Taylor, 2006, p.65). This law is in complete contrast to oil product because it is the top prioritized good which runs the national and international economy. It is important to mention here that the United States imports 42 million gallons of gasoline every day in addition to the gasoline produced by U.S. refineries apart from importing crude oil in order to meet the high demand of gasoline. The world demand for crude oil is 87.7 million barrels per day while U.S alone requires 19.7 mmbd out of which 46 percent is used for the production of gasoline (www.marathonpetroleum.com). World demand for crude oil is increasing day by day and consumption of gasoline is increasing 0.5 to 0.10 percent each day. United States share of purchasing crude oil depends of the world demand because if world demand decreases the US can import more crude oil which will have positive effect on the market making the government possible to supply gasoline and meet the ever increasing demand. Otherwise, the price of gasoline will increase due to shortage of supply in US market and increasing world demand for crude oil. Thus there is a definite relationship between gasoline prices and world demand for crude as the decrease in latter will result in the decrease of prices in United States 3) Marathon delivers the products to jobbers, dealers and other convenient stores through various modes of transports. However, Marathon also operates its own convenience stores branded as ‘Speedway’. It is the wholly owned subsidiary of Marathon. Oil is a commodity which powers the internatio nal economy. Most of the organizations are dependent of refined oil products which make it more important for the companies dealing in oil products to formulate a strategy in advance citing future crisis of reduced global production of crude oil (www.marathonpetroleum.com). Marathon, which already operates chain of convenience stores, must design a strategy to attract customers without changing the prices even if the global production decreases. Fuel

The HIV and AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa Research Paper

The HIV and AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa - Research Paper Example In this respect, we must put a lot of focus on all segments of population, starting with the hardest hit groups. I expand on these findings in the following narrative. The country is one of the worst hit countries in the world by HIV/AIDS epidemic, with approximately 1.5 million people infected with HIV, and over 2.4 million children are orphans after their parents died of the pandemic. With a population of about 38 million people, the percentage of the total population infected by HIV/AIDS is about 5%. In 2009 alone, the country lost 80,000 people from complications arising from HIV infection (Avert, 2010). About 240 people die daily from the disease and according to OSIPHP (2007), over 50% of the total population in the country lack access to HIV preventive and management services. Only 33% of children in need of HIV preventive service have access to the necessary health care (Avert, 2010). In Kenya, the HIV/AIDS pandemic affects virtually all segments of the population directly or indirectly. The prevalence rate differs among specific demographic groups in accordance with age, location, and gender (USAID, 2010). Women account for about 65% of all adults living with HIV/AIDS in the country compared to sub-Saharan prevalence rate of 57% among women. In addition, the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in women is almost twice that of men in Kenya. Most of HIV infections in the country occur in young people aged between 15-30 years through heterosexual sex. However, the infection rate differs remarkably between males and females at different ages (USAID, 2010). According to Avert (2010), the highest proportion of Kenyan population becomes sexually active between the ages of fifteen and nineteen years and young women are more vulnerable compared to their male counterparts. Between 15-19 years, the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in young women is 2.7%, four times greater than of young men of the same age group. Similar trend is observed in women between 20-24 years, whereby 6. 4% are infected, compared to about 1.5% of their male counterparts of the same age. However, the highest number of infections occurs in young women between a 15-24 years and men below 30 years (Avert, 2010). Kenyan people who engage in heterosexual sex are the most vulnerable group, and in regular relationship, they contribute to about 45% of new infections while casual heterosexuals accounts to about 21% of new infections (Avert, 2010). Other vulnerable groups include men who have sex with men and in prison population who account to about 15% of new infections. In addition, transmission through commercial sex, people who inject themselves with drugs and infections in health institutions account to 14%, 4% and 3% new HIV infections in Kenya respectively (USAID, 2010). Due to the high HIV prevalence rate among married couples and people in regular heterosexual relationships, many parents die leaving behind many children. In this respect, orphans and children living with HIV/AIDS acco unt to a significant proportion of people affected with HIV/AIDS in Kenya. About 200,000 children are infected with HIV/AIDS while the number of children orphaned by AIDS is about 2.4 million in Kenya (USAID, 2010). The major risk factors that contribute to high rate of HIV/AIDS i

Geography in the Arab region Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Geography in the Arab region - Essay Example Though contested boundaries and territorial disputes are factors that are not solely typical to Middle East, these factors still assume an immense importance for the region in a strategic context because of the existence of immense petroleum and natural gas resources in this part of the world (Held 1). As per Michael T. Klare, almost 65 percent of the entire world’s unexploited petroleum wealth is located in this region (54). The magnitude of these oil reserves is expected to be approximately 673 billion barrels (Klare 55). So, it is both about money and political clout. Over time, the world is expected to get increasingly dependent on the Middle East oil reserves (Klare 57). As these oil reserves are expected to augment in value over time, many of the powers placed in this region may be tempted to develop hegemony over large tracts of this region through the use of military might (Klare 57). Some of the developed nations may resort to alternate methods to exercise influence o ver this oil wealth by forging alliances with the regional powers, which is readily feasible, considering the existence of multiple non-democratic and authoritarian regimes in the region (Klare 57). The long standing regional rivalries in the region are one more salient factor that has the potential to time and again jeopardize the regional stability. This refers to both Arab-Arab rivalries and the Arab-Israel rivalry. There exists little hope regarding the potential of the outside forces to help the regional enemies negotiate a way out, as most of the important external powers do have economic and strategic interests in the region. The United States tends to have vital economic interests in the region besides having related strategic interests like the survival of Israel and the withholding of regional energy reserves from the other competitive powers (Kemp & Harkavy 7).

Evolution of Human Sexuality Essay Example for Free

Evolution of Human Sexuality Essay What is the difference between sex and sexuality? Over the years human sexuality has been a debate that has never been won. Each and every day there are person who expresses their sexuality differently and others considered them to be taboo. Perfect by nature that’s what we ought to be but because of self indulgence with choice we have developed sexuality. According to Gainor sex is refer to as the person’s biological status and it is typically categorized as male, female or intersex. Then what is sexuality? Has sexuality given us our gender identity and sexual orientation? Thus I will expound on the history of sexuality and how it has evolved. As early as the populations of the Hebrews sex was vital to their lively hood. The Hebrews considered the act of sex the bond to a monogamy relationship; one man, one wife according to Rabbi Tulushkin; but if a woman was childless or developed an abnormality such as a boil would lead to the grounds of divorce which rarely happened. They also thought that sex was the ‘divine injunction’ of procreation thus homosexuality was strongly disapproved of. They believed that marital bonds would be strengthened the heterosexual relationships and create a strong bond for the family. Although they had clear preference for monogamy relationship, polygamy was permissible. On the other hand many cultures such as the ancient Greeks normalized or promoted homosexuality among the adult males who were soldiers and older males with male youths; usually teenagers, entering into pedagogic friendships or love affairs that also had an erotic dimension. If sexual, the relationship lasted until the youth was ready for adulthood and marriage therefore, it was not suppose to threaten the institution of the family. Women had no status or rights than slaves in their society only giving them a job as concubines or house wives; they were treated like chattels. Beastality and Sadism were practiced of the world of ancient Rome. These sexual acts were only found among men of hierarchy. Although bestiality and sadism were accepted in their era, homosexuality was considered to be a threat to the family. After the crucifixion of Christ, Christians thought that masturbation and prostitution were sinful. Sexual pleasure even within the marriage was considered to be a sinful act from the days of Eve and Adam. According to Saint Augustine sexual lust ,shame and sexual intercourse during marriage were passed down from Adam and Eve were considered to be inherently evil therefore the only way they could have salvation was through celibacy. Hence, Christians recognize sex for procreation and not for self satisfaction. The Bible is considered to be the oldest book made by man and inspired by god but within the Indian culture the Kama Sutra was held has the bible of sexual pleasure. It gave a descriptions of ways in which a man or a female can seduced their partner and get them sexually aroused. They considered sex a spiritual gift that god gave them to expressed themselves. The Chinese also saw the act to be spiritual and was anything but sinful. The man is suppose to absorb more of his wife natural essence ‘yin’ and to bring his wife to orgasm which is used as a channel for the flow of energy and enhance his own masculine essence ‘yang’. As the world got revolutionized the conception of sex and sexuality changed drastically. During this time women got the opportunity to be liberated to vote and attend academic studies. Most religious practices became oblivious. Many Christians have adopted the view that there is no sin whatsoever in the uninhibited enjoyment of marital relationships One factor in the change of values pertaining to sexual activities was the improvement of the technologies. Technology became the mastermind of our social and emotional behaviors in our everyday life . Instances, masturbation has been seen as the norm in our society especially with pornography being so rampant. This affects the enjoyment of sex as the actual act being replaced by virtual reality. In most developing countries, fear of epidemic has drastically changed many aspects of twentieth century human sexuality. Fear of contracting AIDS and other sexual transmitted diseases has driven a revolution in educating person about sex which now centers far more the use of protection and abstinence. Bestiality remains illegal in most countries and condoned in none. Thus anyone carrying out this kind of practice will be subjected to punishment. This good gift of sex has been perverted and corrupted in our secular world, which is why it is such a struggle for most persons. The idea of including the perfection of one’s self in the realm of moral behavior is appealing. Indeed, I believe this to be the core purpose of human existence. Although, there are medieval practices still been carried out today most customs that were seen then are considered to be taboo and non-religious. Human behavior has changed in many ways than one but the understanding of human identity is still being questioned.

The Clear Message of The Bluest Eye :: Bluest Eye Essays

The Clear Message of The Bluest Eye The Bluest Eye fits into our study of the American novel because it tells the story of a group of Americans, men and women and children who are descendants of slaves, and live in a society where, even though many people deny it, the color of your skin determines who you are and what privileges you are entitled to. I think that Morrison does a wonderful job of telling a story that is real, that makes the reader feel something, and that makes the reader relate, regardless of your skin color. I cannot say that I can relate to what it must have felt like for Pecola to be called a "a nasty little black bitch" and accused of killing a cat when she did nothing. But, I can say that I know what it is like to feel ugly and scared. Pecola is an extreme example of a person who is treated horribly by everyone she encounters, whether it is because she is black or ugly or both. Her mother ignores her, her father rapes her, her friends betray her, little boys and girls and adults call her names, and even a cat and a dog are killed in her presence. All of these things are experienced by people all of the time, however, it might not be as extreme or it might just be one or two of the things. Something that seems as trivial as name calling is something that happens to all Americans. Morrison takes American experiences and characteristics, such as violence, growing up, love, family, hatred, race, beauty and ugliness, and illustrates them in a way that is so clear, yet so painful. These American experiences are not covered up or toned down to seem less serious; they are real and they are heart-breaking. Every one of Morrison's characters can be related to in one way or another because they are Americans and they are human. I think that Morrison sums up how The Bluest Eye impacted me in the following quote: "So it was with confidence, strengthened by pity and pride, that we decided to change the course of events and alter a human life" (191).

Essays --

System approach is a process of considering how different parts of the whole structure influence and integrate with each other and viewing problems in a system as affecting the system overall (Dreachslin, Gilbert, & Malone, 2013). According to Curtis, Dreachslin, and Sinioris (2007), the systems approach requires several steps, and these steps are to determine diversity and cultural competence goals in the context of strategy, measure current performance against needs, design training to address the gap, implement the training, assess training effectiveness, and strive for continuous improvement. Providing patient centered care has been the focus of recent organizational restructuring and quality improvement efforts in healthcare (Lutz & Bower, 2000). In healthcare literature, providing a patient centered care is to provide care and to meet patients’ needs. To provide a patient centered care, it is essential to understand the patient as a unique individual. It also important to be able to explore the patient’s experience of illness and finding common ground regarding treatment through shared decision making (Lutz & Bower, 2000). Given the first patient scenario, as a healthcare provider, it is essential for nurses to tailor our approaches to care for this patient. For this specific ethnicity, being overweight is seen as positive, and their traditional cuisine is rich of carbohydrates and sweets (Caballero & Tenzer, 2007). To provide best care for Mr. Garcia, it is best to provide a Spanish speaking nurse if possible, or an interpreter. It is important to educate Mr. Garcia regarding diet changes, for example, exchanging their simple flour tortilla to corn tortilla or pouring off excess grease after cooking. Increasing physical... ...n, gender, sexual orientation, and ability (Dayer-Berenson,2012). According to Goldsmith (2000), cultural competence does not require that patients be treated by using the same methods used in their country of origin. However, cultural competency does create a compelling case for understanding the different ways patients act in a clinical setting and for communicating with patients to ensure the best possible clinical outcome. Both patient-centered care and cultural competence aim to improve health care quality. As health-care workers we are held to the highest moral and ethical codes. Patients trust their lives in our hands. To live up to this trust we have to be respectful and compassionate, knowledgeable and understanding. Respect, dignity, knowledge, and patience are required to gain mutual trust in every relationship especially patient and doctor relationships.

Heidi Roizen

1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of Roizen’s network at the end of the case? Heidi Roizen has invested time and effort in developing and sustaining relationships/networks in the computer industry, especially in the Silicon Valley area, throughout her professional career. As she moves into her venture capitalist role, her networking efforts have the following strengths – †¢Includes executives including CEO’s, thereby giving her the experience of interacting with these business leaders.Since she has established relationships with many and her credibility is proven, which is an important criterion for business leaders; this is a critical skill in her new role. †¢Since she is not only well known in the internet industry but is also well respected, her joining Softbank provides positive feedback about the new group making it an attractive opportunity for many. Her current role is different from her prior jobs in that it requires making go/no-go fundi ng decisions about start-up companies rather than establish a network of contact to help develop the business she was involved in.This fundamental difference in her role will put strains on her vast network as well as herself. Namely- †¢Reject projects from her acquaintances. Even though she has been making concerted efforts to reach out to those affected by these adverse decisions, there is a good possibility that some people will let these decision impact their personal/professional relationships with her. Since, she is very values her relationships a lot I imagine such issues will negatively affect her at a personal level.This has the potential of having a negative impact on her credibility in the industry †¢Trying to manage her network will put constraints on her professional and/or personal life. As she mentions that she spends two hours per day sending out rejection notes, I believe for her to be able to sustain this she will need to put in extra hours at work or com promise the quality of work. †¢Create internal conflict for herself by deviating from her philosophy of helping others when it is a mutually beneficial situation for both, since in her current role she is feeling pressured to help people by referring them to the companies she is tied with. 2) What specific steps did Roizen take to develop her network? To maintain it? Heidi Roizen is a very well know business leader in the computer industry sector, especially in Silicon Valley. During the course of her career she has built a vast network of connections. The basic reason for her vast network can be attributed to her innate extrovert and high energy personality coupled with a desire to interact and help people with high caliber and engaging personalities. In addition, she was also required to cultivate relationships to support the software company, T/Maker, which she co-founded in the early phase of her career.The primary objective was to market the company’s product. Her s trategies towards developing relationships included – †¢Follow the ‘what can I offer’ approach. In her interactions with people she planned carefully on how to help their projects/needs. During her time at Tandem, she had opportunity to work with the company’s CEO’s and through her approach she built relationships with the CEO. Her relationship benefited her professionally as he recommended her for the Stanford MBA program. †¢Identify organizations and people that will help her initiatives and engage them through meaningful contributions in their activities.To promote her company, T/Maker, Heidi networked with the press, the software entrepreneur’s forums and the software publishers association. Through her contributions she has established sustainable relationships, as is evident by the glowing reviews paid to her by business leaders such as Brian Gentile of eALITY Inc. †¢Trust her judgments on the caliber of person she associ ates with rather than their position in the organization. The paper gives instances where she built relationships with ‘smart’, ‘interesting’ and ‘good quality’ people who later become senior executives in their companies. Relationships are built on a combination of professional-social interactions. She is known to have regular parties at her house. She used these events not only to build her relationships but also provide networking opportunities to her guests. Heidi gives a lot of importance to her relationships and is consequently very conscientious in sustaining them. To maintain her network, she believes in †¢Quality of the interaction rather than quantity. She leverages her relationships after much thought, for e. g. higher up in the organization her contact is, fewer times she would contact that individual for favor. †¢Focus on been consistent in the relationship. She emphasizes being consistent in her actions while dealing wit h friends. †¢Ensuring there is reciprocity in the relationship i. e. , there is a balance between the times she is asking for help versus helping that particular individual out. ? 3) How does your own network compare with Roizen’s? To what extent are the differences due to the political structure in the networks assist?To what extent are the differences due to the personal preferences and style? As I compare my social/professional network to Heidi Roizen’s, one of the biggest differences is the number of people we know-my LinkedIn contact list is at 100+ while I guess Heidi’s would be 500+ category. After going through this article I have realized the significance networking can have on one’s profession and moving forward will like to The commonalities between our relationships include †¢Quality of interactions rather than quantity.I have some very good friends whom I only meet once/twice per year yet the relationship has been sustained. †¢ Relationships have to be on an even footing. I make concerted efforts to ensure reciprocity is maintained from my end. There have been occasions in the past where I have discontinued relationships when I felt the other individual was always asking for help. Some differences that occur in our relationships are †¢Heidi is very social and has parties almost every weekend in her house. This is not the case at my place. There is a very strong emphasis in her life on networking, which is not the case for me. She seems to invest time in relationships with the intent of leveraging them for future benefit either for herself or other acquaintances. This becomes clear at the end of the case during her time Softbank she referred people to organizations that will help her business interest. In my case, relationships can sometimes be used to exchange ideas or just have fun without the intent of obtaining any benefit. †¢I am generally not looking to bring people together for mutual benef it. †¢She makes an effort of meeting new people through attending trade shows, participating in conference etc.In my role, I have opportunity to attend technical conferences but my primary intent there is to acquire knowledge rather than meet new people. In my opinion one of the biggest reasons for the differences is our personality type. She is an out-going, high energy person with a passion for meeting new people. This means that interacting and meeting new people provides her with fuel to get recharged in life. I am an introvert who enjoys meeting people but feel drained after these experiences and need alone/close family time to recharge.In addition, differences between Heidi and me can also be attributed to our professions. Since she has primarily worked as entrepreneurs/business developer, my role is to develop manufacturing processes. I believe there is a fundamental difference between these roles, her job needs interacting with a large number of people whereas in my cas e knowledge about the processes is more important. ? 4) What suggestions would you give Roizen for adjusting and maintaining her network as she became more involved as an internet venture capitalist?I will give her the following suggestions †¢She should not try to sustain every relationship that she has established over the years. She should create of priority list of people and maintain relationships with those who meet her basic requirement of being ‘smart’ and ‘good quality’ as well are value added in her new role. She has to juggle three critical roles – family, work and network management. If she focuses too much on trying to maintain her network, there is a high probability that one or both of the others will suffer. She should focus on creating some relationships with people who are not in the same industry sector as her. This will be –in sync with her outgoing personality and fulfill her ‘need’ to interact with people while not creating expectations/pressures in her profession. In the paper, it is obvious that many of the proposals, including meeting requests, being submitted are from with her network. Since most of these are being rejected and even though she is being very professional in rejecting these, it should be expected that some of these rejections are not well received.The negative reactions emanating from these may create stress for her and hamper her professional and personal life. †¢She should also delegate the rejection letters to her subordinates as she seems to be spending too much time on them and this is taking away from her work time that may be detrimental for her career. †¢Since, her current role is different from her past roles of being an entrepreneur/business developer there is limited need for keeping a very large network.

Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 13

â€Å"I'm really not a serial killer. It just seemed like too good a chance to pass up.† â€Å"Man,† I said. â€Å"If I had a dime for every time I heard that†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Liam, the guy who'd bought me at the auction, laughed and opened the car door for me. He drove a shiny black Lotus Elise that he'd had imported from the UK. I found that impressive. It appeared to have just been freshly washed. I found that impressive too – and a little sad since it looked like it was going to rain at any moment. â€Å"It's supposed to be really good, though,† he added, starting up the engine. â€Å"So, I hope you'll like it and not think it's too demented for the holidays.† I hadn't been keen on following up with my charity date, but I'd known it would have to happen sooner or later. When Liam had called earlier to say he'd gotten tickets to a dramatic production of three Edgar Allan Poe stories tonight, I figured it was as good a time as any to get it over with. Besides, I liked Poe. It was kind of a creepy date to have around the happiest time of the year, true, but that would be the theater's fault, not Liam's. It was an early show, so we planned to attend first and catch dinner later. On the drive there, he turned out to be a lot like I'd expected. Intelligent. Nice. Moderately funny. He worked for an investment company downtown and had enough sense not to bore me with the details. We traded light banter, sharing anecdotes and experiences. I still would have rather been with Seth, but Liam was a fine guy for one night, and I figured he should have a fun time after donating so much money. The play was about as twisted as I'd hoped. They started with â€Å"The Masque of the Red Death,† followed by â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado.† â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† closed the night off because honestly, what sort of Poe festivities would be complete without that crowd pleaser? â€Å"I've never heard of ‘The Masque of the Red Death,'† Liam said afterwards. We'd decided to leave the car and walk the six blocks to the restaurant he had reservations at. â€Å"I read the others in high school. I guess it's some kind of allegory about how you can't escape death, huh? You can lock yourself away, but it doesn't work.† â€Å"More than an allegory, actually,† I mused. â€Å"Historically, that wasn't an uncommon way for people to deal with plague and disease. Lock themselves up. Or else leave town and run away. Sometimes they'd throw the sick people out of town and lock the doors, so to speak.† â€Å"That's horrible,† said Liam. We stepped inside the restaurant, a small Italian one that was almost always booked. I had to admit, he was doing a good job with this date thing. â€Å"People didn't know any better,† I said. â€Å"They didn't know what caused diseases, and aside from good hygiene and luck, there were few treatments for ancient and medieval epidemics.† â€Å"That auctioneer didn't say anything about you being a history buff,† he teased. â€Å"Yeah? Would you not have bid?† â€Å"Are you kidding? A beautiful woman who uses the words ‘ancient and medieval epidemics' on the first date? I would have bid more.† I grinned and let the maitre d' lead us to our table. I was glad Liam appreciated my historical knowledge, but I'd have to be careful not to get too nerdy. I knew more than the average girl should and could get into levels of detail that modern people had no way of knowing about. I shifted to something else. â€Å"Well, I think the auctioneer was kind of distracted by the other contestants.† â€Å"Oh, you mean the feminazi who went before you?† I frowned. â€Å"No, I mean the giant blonde in silver that he bid on.† â€Å"Oh, yeah,† Liam agreed. â€Å"She was crazy. Attractive, but crazy.† â€Å"You actually thought she was pretty?† â€Å"Sure. Not as pretty as you, of course,† he hastily added, mistaking my meaning. â€Å"But the auctioneer apparently thought otherwise. He couldn't keep his hands off of her.† â€Å"Oh, come on. He barely touched her.† â€Å"Well, not during the auction, of course. I mean afterward.† â€Å"What?† I was interrupted when the waiter came by. I had to wait for Liam to order wine before he could finish the story. â€Å"After the auction. I was there helping wrap things up. Deanna's a friend of my ex-wife's. When we all finished, Nick and that blonde were all over each other and left together.† â€Å"That†¦that isn't possible.† Tawny had said they'd left separately. There was no way she and Nick could have been hot and heavy the night of the auction. The following night had been when she showed up for the dance lesson. Even if she was lying about things falling apart with Nick – and really, why would she? – she'd obviously had no recent energy fix. Massive shape-shifting, on the scale of nonhuman shapes, could burn through energy that quickly, but a new succubus wouldn't have that skill yet. None of this made sense. Liam, obviously, didn't catch my confusion. â€Å"Why's it so hard to believe?† he asked. I shook my head. â€Å"It's†¦never mind. I hope they had a great time. Now†¦what kind of wine did you order? I missed it.† Not wanting to ruin dinner, I put the Tawny conundrum into a holding bin in my mind and did my best to give Liam his seventeen-hundred-dollars worth. When dinner ended, we walked back toward his car, enjoying a leisurely pace. The weather, though damp, had warmed to about fifty. Seattle's fickle winters did that sometimes, only to freeze up a day or so later. When Liam slipped his hand into mine, I let him, but it presented me with a dilemma. He was no one I really planned on seeing again. As a courtesy to Seth and an attempt at a normal life, I avoided casual affairs in this body. All of those reasons meant I shouldn't let the night escalate into anything more than a friendly handshake good-bye. But suddenly, I was feeling the loss of my energy. It had felt so good to have Simon's – yet it had been stripped from me before I could even do anything with it. It'd be so nice to have that feeling back, to go home with Liam and get what I needed. When we reached his car, he kept holding my hand and turned me so that I faced him. â€Å"What now?† he asked. â€Å"I don't know.† I was still torn on what to do. â€Å"I'm open to suggestion.† Liam smiled, a cute smile that showed in his blue eyes too. â€Å"Well, how about this?† He leaned down and kissed me, much as Dante had nearly done. Oh, Liam. Liam was a good man. A good, good man. Seth caliber. The moment our lips touched, I felt the sweetness of his life energy trickling into me. My desire woke up, and I pressed myself to him. I might not like to use this body, but these were unusual circumstances. I made my decision. I'd sleep with him and part ways. He was a nice guy, not a psycho stalker. He might be disappointed, but he wouldn't give me grief for wanting to be friends in the morning. He kissed me harder, pushing me against the side of the car. All that energy from just one kiss. The sex was going to be great. Yes, yes. More. Get more. Feed me. I jerked away from Liam. He looked down at me, legitimately concerned. â€Å"What's the matter?† It had been a whisper in my head. Faint but real. It had been paired with a longing, a deep longing for Liam's energy that rivaled my own need – but it hadn't been mine. It had belonged to someone – or something – else. Suddenly, it all came back to me. The conversations with Dante and Erik. Some creature preying on me and stealing my energy. True, it was what I did to men†¦but, well, I couldn't help how I felt. And just then, I felt nauseous at the thought of some parasitic creature coming to me tonight because I was full of energy. It made my skin crawl. Bad enough this thing was using me. It was also using me to use Liam. I looked back at him; he was so cute and so nice. I shook my head. I couldn't do this. I needed the energy, but I was going to put if off as long as possible. I wouldn't give this thing what it wanted. â€Å"Liam†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I said slowly. â€Å"I should tell you something. I, um, just recently got out of a long relationship, and I went to the auction because I thought I could, you know†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He sighed, not appearing angry so much as regretful. â€Å"You aren't ready.† I shook my head. â€Å"I'm really sorry. I wanted to help at the auction, and I thought I could move on.† He squeezed the hand he was still holding and released it. â€Å"Well†¦I'm sad, but I understand. And I like you†¦if we went out, I'd like to work on something serious. That can't happen until you're ready, and I'd never want to force you.† Oh, God. Nice, nice guy. â€Å"I'm so, so sorry,† I said. I meant it. I so wanted his energy. â€Å"Nothing to be sorry about,† he told me, smiling. â€Å"Come on, I'll take you home.† He returned me to Queen Anne, and I kissed him on the cheek before leaving the car. He told me to call him when I was ready to date again, and I told him I would. Once he was gone, I didn't go inside. Instead, I called Dante. â€Å"It's your favorite succubus,† I said when he answered. I heard him yawn. â€Å"Debatable. What do you want? It's late.† â€Å"I need to talk to you. Something weird happened.† â€Å"I'm in bed, succubus. Unless you plan on joining me, I'd rather not receive visitors right now.† â€Å"Please, Dante. It's important.† He sighed. â€Å"Fine, come on over.† â€Å"I don't know where you live.† â€Å"Of course you do. You've been here a gazillion times.† â€Å"You live in your store?† â€Å"Why would I want to pay rent for two different places?† I drove down to the shop. The sign read CLOSED, but there was a faint light inside. Dante opened the door when I knocked. He wore jeans and a plain T-shirt, nothing unusual, but the disheveled hair suggested he had indeed been in bed. â€Å"Sorry,† I told him. â€Å"Maybe I should have waited.† â€Å"Too late for regrets. Come on in.† He led me through the storefront, back to the small door I usually saw closed. On the other side was a large room that appeared to be a combination living space, office, supply closet, and†¦workshop. â€Å"Erik was right,† I said, walking over to a high set of shelves. They were filled with jars and bottles of herbs and unidentifiable liquids. â€Å"You are a magician.† I considered. â€Å"Or at least you're pretending to be.† â€Å"No faith in me. Probably smart.† He pointed to a bean bag chair and a plaid ottoman. â€Å"Take your pick if you don't want the bed.† I chose the ottoman. â€Å"Well, it's not that I don't trust you†¦but everything else you do is a scam. Of course, Erik has to hate you for something legitimate, and he wouldn't have sent me to you in the first place if you didn't have some kind of skill.† â€Å"Interesting logic. Maybe he hates me for my charming personality.† He rubbed his eyes and yawned again. With the motion of his arm, I noticed faint punctures in the middle of his arm that I'd never seen with long sleeves. â€Å"Maybe he hates you for your vices.† Dante looked at where I was staring. He shrugged, unconcerned. â€Å"Nah, Lancaster has better things to worry about than a casual hit now and then.† â€Å"From my experience, there's no such thing as a casual hit.† â€Å"What, are you here to do an intervention now, succubus?† â€Å"No,† I admitted. I had neither time nor interest to reform Dante. â€Å"But I heard a voice tonight.† â€Å"I heard a voice too. It called and woke me up.† â€Å"Dante!† Angrily, I explained the situation. A hint of his sarcastic smile remained, but otherwise, he actually seemed concerned. â€Å"Huh. Interesting. It actually raised its ugly head.† â€Å"What do you think that means?† â€Å"Not a clue until we know what it is. The only thing I can guess is that it was desperate for some reason. Until now, it's done a pretty good job at hiding itself – aside from your energy loss, obviously.† He brightened a little. â€Å"I don't suppose it's here now, urging you to jump me?† â€Å"Sorry.† â€Å"Ah, well. I'm probably not as good a catch as Seventeen-hundred-dollar Man. Your predator has standards.† I shuddered, hating the idea that I actually had a predator. I looked up at Dante and must have looked truly pathetic because a startled look crossed his features. â€Å"Dante, you have to help me. I know we don't have the answers yet†¦but, well, I'm scared of this thing. I can't bring myself to take a victim because I'm afraid of this monster coming back. I don't even want to go to sleep.† His gray eyes assessed me, and to my astonishment, he almost looked gentle. It completely transformed him. â€Å"Ah, succubus. You can sleep tonight. No energy, no visit. I doubt the kiss was enough of a lure.† â€Å"But eventually†¦eventually I'll have to get another fix†¦and until I'm able to talk to Jerome about all this†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Well, I could maybe make you a charm or something. Protection to ward this thing away.† â€Å"You can do that?† I tried to keep the skepticism out of my voice but failed. His face turned wry once more. â€Å"If you don't want the help†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"No! I do. I'm sorry. That was wrong of me. I asked for your help, then backed off.† â€Å"Well, as you said, I haven't inspired much faith in you.† â€Å"I'll take whatever help I can get,† I said honestly. He stood up and stretched, then walked over to his shelves, studying their contents. â€Å"You sure about that? You might not like what I have to do to make this. How badly do you want it?† I thought about that voice, that creature's need inside my head. â€Å"Pretty badly. Provided you don't, like, give me a necklace made out of goat entrails, I think we're good.† His eyes were still on his shelves and jars. Several moments passed while he considered. â€Å"I'm going to need some time on this, I'm afraid. It'd be a lot easier if I knew what it was we're dealing with. Without that, I've got to try to make some sort of catch-all charm that may or may not work. The broad spectrum ones are always hard, too.† â€Å"So nothing tonight.† He strolled back over to me. â€Å"You're fine tonight, remember? Of course, you're welcome to stay here, and I'll stay awake and make sure nothing happens to you.† I couldn't help a smile. â€Å"Just like Kayla.† â€Å"Who?† â€Å"My boyfriend's niece†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I'd nearly forgotten about our weird conversation. â€Å"She said some funny things. But I don't know if it was just kid imaginings or if she maybe has some kind of psychic ability.† â€Å"Fine line with kids,† he said. â€Å"If she has any powers, I'm sure science and discipline will work them out of her. What'd she say?† â€Å"She said that I was ‘magic.' And that there were monsters in the air who got into people's dreams.† When he didn't respond, I exclaimed, â€Å"Do you think she could help with this?† He shook his head. â€Å"No. If she is psychic or gifted or whatever, she's too young and inexperienced to know what she's perceiving to be of any real use.† â€Å"But she could be sensing what's following me.† â€Å"Sure. If she's a really astute psychic, she'd be sensitive to anomalies in the magical and spiritual worlds.† Interesting. Tiny little Kayla, possibly with the potential for great spiritual powers some day. â€Å"What's your advice?† â€Å"Huh?† he asked. â€Å"For someone like her. To develop her abilities and make sure science and discipline don't beat it out of her.† â€Å"My advice?† He gave a harsh laugh. â€Å"Let them beat it out of her. You'll be doing her a favor.† I sat quietly for a long time, studying my feet. When I finally looked back up at him, I asked, â€Å"Why are you so unhappy?† â€Å"Who says I'm unhappy? I make money by doing nothing.† I gestured around. â€Å"Everything says you're unhappy. Your attitude. Your arm. The pile of beer bottles over there. The fact that even though you claim I annoy you, you keep helping me and always seem glad to have me around.† â€Å"Misery loves company. You aren't exactly all that chipper yourself.† â€Å"I'm very happy with my life,† I argued. â€Å"Well, then, go back to it, and let me sleep.† In a not too subtle signal, he walked over to the door and opened it. â€Å"I'll work on your charm and get back to you.† I started to snap back at the abrupt dismissal, but he looked so weary, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Besides, I knew I'd been right. Dante Moriarty was a very unhappy man who used sarcasm and substances to hide it. I wondered what it was that plagued him so much – what it was that had darkened his soul. â€Å"Are you ever going to tell me why Erik hates you so much?† I asked quietly. Dante pointed at the door. â€Å"Good night, succubus. Sweet dreams.†