File Management in Unix Essay

When it comes to UNIX systems all user data is organized and stored in files. These files are subsequently organized into a management structure comprising of directories and sub-directories. Much like forest and organizational units when it comes to active directory, UNIX also has the directories and sub-directories organized into a tree-like structure that it calls a file system. UNIX also has three basic types of files. When it comes to security files can be secured through UNIX file permissions as well as access control lists (ACLs). One of the most important things to keep in mind when giving permissions is to establish file and directory ownership. Traditional UNIX file permissions can assign ownership to three classes of users that are: user, group, and others. The user class is usually the file or directory owner, and that is the individual that created the file. The owner of a file can decide who has the right to read the file, or have the ability to write the file; which means they can make changes. This is effective if you had an organization that has five thousand employees and you only wanted four thousand nine-hundred ninety people to have permission to view and/or make changes. Another ability that the owner has is to decide if the file is a command or to execute the file. Groups are where you can put a number of users together to establish permissions. It is an effective way to manage policies for users. The others class is all other users who are not the file owner and are not members of the group. An important thing to note is that the owner of a file can usually assign or modify file permissions. Additionally the root account can change a file’s ownership to override system policy. In UNIX there are four different types of file permissions. The first permission is read and it designates which users can open and read the contents of a file only, but cannot make any changes. The second is the write permission, and that designates which users can modify the contents of a file or even delete the file. The next file permission that can be given is the execute permission. This permission designates which users can execute the file if it is a program or shell script. Another thing it does is that those individuals with this permission can also run the program with one of the exec system calls. The denied permission designates which users cannot read, write, or execute file. The types of file permissions apply to regular files, and to special file such as devices, sockets, and named pipes (FIFOs). A great way for any business organization to protect their files effective and to ensure that only people that have the need to access the appropriate is information is to apply the few protective measure that was discussed. You can protect the files in a directory by setting restrictive file permission on that directory.

Adoption and the Care of Orphan Children Essay

A common conception is that Islamic law forbids adoptions. However, this belief misses the complexity of Islamic law, the scope of adoption laws and practices across the world, and the overwhelming emphasis on taking care of orphans and foundlings found within Islamic sources. Contemporary adoption practices are immensely complex issues, overlapping with children’s rights, international and national laws, human psychology, economic, social, and religious concerns, and the ethics of lineage, identity, property and inheritance rights. In this position paper, the Muslim Women’s Shura Council considers whether adoption can be possible within an Islamic framework. After examining Islamic texts and history alongside social science research and the international consensus on children’s rights, the Council finds that adoption can be acceptable under Islamic law and its principle objectives, as long as important ethical guidelines are followed. This statement consults the Quran, the example of the Prophet Muhammad (sunna), the objectives and principles of Islamic law (maqasid al-sharia), Islamic Jurisprudence (fiqh), and social science data. The Shura Council finds that, instead of banning adoption, Islamic sources have brought various ethical restrictions to the process, condemning dissimulation and foregrounding compassion, transparency, and justice. These restrictions closely resemble what is known today as the practice of open adoption. Therefore, when all efforts to place orphaned children with their extended family have been exhausted, open, legal, ethical adoptions can be a preferable Islamically-grounded alternative to institutional care and other unstable arrangements. According to Islamic and universal standards of children’s rights, all children have the right to grow up in a nurturing, loving environment where their physiological, psychological, and intellectual needs are met. All children have the right to know their lineage and to celebrate their unique national, cultural, linguistic, and spiritual identity. All children have the right to a safe, supportive environment where their rights to dignity, education, and the development of their talents are well respected. The best interests of the child should be the primary consideration in all decisions relating to children, including adoption. Orphan: Different states and international institutions have different criteria for determining whether a child is an orphan. UNICEF classifies any child that has lost one parent as an orphan and estimates that approximately 143 million children are currently orphans.1 For the purposes of this document, an orphan is a minor who is bereft of parental care due to death, disappearance, or abandonment by either the mother or the father, as well as situations where the parent voluntarily or involuntarily terminates the parental relationship. This definition combines several concepts in classical Arabic, including yatim (fatherless child) and laqit (foundling). Adoption: Adoption can be defined as the legal creation of a parent-child relationship, with all the responsibilities and privileges thereof, between a child and adults who are not his or her biological parents. Adoptions incorporate a child into a family as offspring and sibling, regardless of genetic ties. There are two main categories of adoption practices, generally termed as closed adoptions and open adoptions. However, in reality most adoption practices fall somewhere on a continuum between fully open and fully closed. In â€Å"closed† or â€Å"confidential† adoptions, the birth family and the adoptive family have no identifying information about each other. Children may not be informed that they have been adopted, and they may have no way of tracing biological kin. If the child comes from a different cultural background than his or her adoptive parents, their heritage might be marginalized or ignored. Closed adoptions, therefore, have the potential to dissolve all ties between an adoptee and her biological family. â€Å"Open† adoptions, which are becoming increasingly common across the world, allow for a full disclosure of identities on both sides. Open adoptions facilitate direct interaction between the adoptive family, the adopted child, and any birth relatives. The child’s birth culture may more easily be respected and promoted by the adoptive family and incorporated into the family’s daily life. However, the categories of closed and open are better understood as idealized types, as most families experience a hybrid form of adoption that comprises elements of both open and closed adoption practices. The empirical data on the risks and benefits of each type of adoption has shown mixed results, with some adopted children embracing the opportunity to contact their birth families and others experiencing confusion and insecurity.2 Generally, however, open adoptions are associated with better psychological and behavioral outcomes for the child. With the exception of Indonesia, Malaysia, Somalia, Tunisia, and Turkey, the laws of most Muslimmajority states do not currently permit legal adoption. Instead, laws permit a system of guardianship (kafala), which resembles foster-parenting, but is more stable. Kafala is defined as â€Å"the commitment to voluntarily take care of the maintenance, of the education and of the protection of a minor, in the same way a *parent would do for a child+.†5 According to Jamila Bargach, kafala is seen as â€Å"primarily a gift of care and not a substitute for lineal descent.† In other words, kafala involves the obligations of guardianship and maintenance without the creation of legal ties, which would produce specific personal status legal entitlements. This type of guardianship does not sever the biological family bonds of the child or alter the descent lines for the adopting family. Unlike foster-parenting, kafala is intended to be a permanent arrangement for a minor. Like fosterparenting and adoption, kafala is mediated by the state, in contrast to informal or â€Å"customary† adoptions which take place within families or through secret agreements. Convergences between Kafala and Adoption Whereas this statement focuses on adoption and not kafala, in some cases kafala may lead to adoption. Countries with strict application of â€Å"non-international kafala,† like Iran, Mauritania, and Egypt, reject any legal recognition between kafala and adoption. Citizens of these countries who reside in other countries, where adoption is the law of the land, cannot gain guardianship of a child with the intention of adopting that child in their state of residency. Other states, like Morocco, Algeria, Jordan and Pakistan, allow for placements of kafala children abroad, particularly with nationals living in foreign countries, with certain stipulations. Tunisia and Indonesia allow for a full convergence of kafala and adoption, limiting adoptions to national applicants, whether living in the country or abroad. Islamic Law: The term â€Å"Islamic law† refers to two related, yet distinct concepts, which are often conflated: Sharia and Fiqh. Sharia literally means â€Å"the way† and is a transcendental ideal that embodies the justice and compassion inherent in the totality of God’s will. Fiqh, which literally means â€Å"understanding,† is Islamic jurisprudence and juristic law, which has developed from the eighth century onwards as a human effort to interpret the Sharia. Fiqh has been developed by Muslim legal scholars through analysis of the Quran and the example (sunna) of the Prophet Muhammad, with the aim of securing justice according to the context of each society, time (zaman), and place (makan).7 Adoption in pre-Islamic Arabia During the pre-Islamic period in Arabia, adoption (al-tabanni) into a tribe often took place for socioeconomic and patriarchal reasons. Al-tabanni is derived from the Arabic word ibn, meaning â€Å"son.† In keeping with the patriarchal norms of the era, adoptees were usually, if not always, male.11 People adopted mainly to secure an heir and/or additional warriors for the tribe. Adoption could take place at any time in a person’s life, from childhood to adulthood, even if the adoptee’s biological parents were alive.12 The adoptee automatically earned full rights and the responsibilities of a biological child and was given the adoptive father’s name. Since male children were considered a source of wealth and prestige, this benefited the adoptive father.13 Often adoption was undertaken in self-interest with the intention of usurping an orphan’s property, as the adoptive parents would end up managing an orphaned child’s property. In addition, adoption was closely linked to enslavement; captors held the power to strip captives of their birth identities and appropriate them into their families.14 For these reasons, pre-Islamic adoption entailed a complete â€Å"erasure of natal identity.

Organisational Behaviour Essay

I. Introduction An organisation is commonly defined as a group of people who work together in a consciously coordinated social unit for a shared purpose. Management refers to the activity of controlling and organizing people to accomplish its goals. In today’s increasingly global and competitive environment the effective management of people is even more important to the successful performance of the work organisations. Therefore, the managers need to understand the main influences on how people behave in an organisation setting. Mullins (2008, p.4) defined organisation behaviour (OB) as ‘the study and understanding of individual and group behaviour, and patterns of structure in order to help improve organisational performance and effectiveness’. It comprises a synthesis of a variety of different theories and approaches. Therefore, this essay opens by briefly explore a number of interrelated disciplined to the study of organisational behaviour, before examining the relevance of four main approach to the subject in today’s workplace. Finally, it discusses the purpose of organisations. II. Interrelated discipline to the study of organisational behaviour The study of behaviour can be viewed in terms of three main disciplines – psychology, sociology and anthropology. The contribution of all three disciplines has played an important role to studying organisational behaviour. Psychology is the science and art of explaining mental processes and behaviour. The main focus of attention is on the individuals and explores such concepts as perception, motivation, perception and attitudes. It is arguable that McKenna considers psychology as the key discipline in studying organisational behaviour. There are five key areas in Psychology that can impact on organisations; these are: psychological psychology, cognitive psychology, development psychology, social psychology and personality psychology. Psychological aspects are useful to the practical applications such as job analysis, interviewing models or selection, but it provide too narrow view for understanding of organisational behaviour which ‘is not concern with the complex detail of individual differences but with the behaviour and management people of people’ (Mullins, 2008, p. 7). Watson (2008) defined sociology is more concern with the study of social behaviour, relationships among social groups and societies. It focuses on group dynamics, conflict, work teams, power, communication and intergroup behaviour. It is possible that Watson considered sociology to be the key discipline in studying organisations though he also places emphasis on economics. The structuration reflects the dual effect that individuals make society and society makes individuals. Watson (2008, p. 30) presents six strands of thought applied to his framework for analysis. He further presents six substantive areas applied to the six strands of though in a matrix which are work, society and change; work organisations; the changing organisation and the management of work, occupations and society; work experiences, opportunities of meanings; and conflict challenge and resistance in work. This discipline is valuable to the organisation. It helps managers recognise the relationships between large-scale social forces and the actions of individual. However, Mullins (2008, p. 7) argues that the study of organisational behaviour cannot be studied entirely in single discipline. Although each discipline has an important contribution, it just underpins the study of subject. Indeed, Mullins synthesises interrelated disciplines which are psychology with sociology, anthropology that explore culture and behavioural factors; economics that attempts to provide a rational explanatory framework for individual and organisational activity; and political science that is study of power and control between individual and groups; in his framework for analysis of organisational behaviour. III. Four main approaches In Mullins’ framework, the study of organisational behaviour is concerned with not only the behaviour in isolation, but with interaction among the structure and operation of organisations, the process of management and behaviour of people that are affected by external environment. He applies a number of approaches to organisation: 1. Classical  2. Human Relations 3. Systems 4. Contingency 1. Classical Approach The classical writers considered organisation in terms of purpose and formal structure with attention to hierarchy of management and technical requirements of organisation. Frederick Taylor with the Scientific Management had a major contribution to the Classical Approach. Taylor’s theory was based on the psychological discipline that is concerned with the study of individuals’ behavior. He believed that individuals behave rationally toward financial incentive. Worker would be motivated by highest possible wages by doing highest grade of work. Furthermore, his main objective is to find more efficient methods and procedures for the task design and control of work. Combined with training workers, it was always possible to find the one best way to perform each task. It was criticized that since workers passively do repeated task and paid by result, the less human approach can cause a decline in worker morale as well as in skill requirements, reducing flexibility.Nevertheless,massive productioncompanies stilladopt partially Taylor’s theory in order to maintain or increase productivity. For example, Mc Donald uses the payment method of Taylor’s theory to motivate and encourage the workers. The human who work in fast food restaurant are trained to do a limited number of tasks in precisely. 2. Human Relations Approach Human Relations is a managerial approach based on the consideration of and the attention to the social factors at work and the behavior of employees. Attention is paid to the informal organization and the satisfaction of individual’s needs through groups at work. Elton Mayo (1880-1949) conducted Hawthorne tests on organizations to access productivity. He moved away from scientific beliefs on money and discipline towards importance of group belonging (social study). The tests examined effect of group piecework pay system on productivity. The result is that workers did not necessarily seek to maximize production in order to receive enhanced bonuses but social pressure caused them to produce at group norm level. On the other hand, the research was originally intended to examine effects of lighting on productivity. As a consequence, productivity increased regardless of lighting level was due to workers’ receiving attention. The Hawthorne effect adopted in Human relation approach suggested that good supervision and environment increase satisfaction and other variables affect this, such as structure, leadership, and culture. Unlike the classical thought with consideration of improving productivity, human relation approach ‘strove for a greater understanding of people’s psychological and social needs at work as well as improving the process of management. However, Mullins (2008, p. 29) criticized human relations as a ‘unitary frame of reference’ and oversimplified theories. Even today the Hawthorne experiment is still useful for describing the changes in behavior of individuals and groups, and opened the door to more experiments by other sub-division of approach known as neo human relation. 3. Systems Approach The system approach to the study of organizations combines the contrasting position of the classical approach, which emphasized the technical requirements of organization and its needs – ‘organization without people’, and human relations approach, which emphasized the human fulfillments and social aspects – ‘people without organization’. This approach inspires managers to regard organization as an open system interacting with environment and to view total work but not the sum of separate parts. In Figure 2.5 (Boddy, 2008, p.60), the system consists of a number of interrelated subsystems, such as people, power, technology or business processes system; which add complexity and interact with each other and external environment. It is stated that any part of an organization’s activity affects all other parts because there are areas overlap between various subsystems. Therefore, it is the task of management to integrate these interrelated subsystems and direct efforts of members towards the achievement of organizational goals. The system approach, which is components of interrelated subsystems, provides analysis of organizational performance and effectiveness while the socio-technical approach takesorganization as viewed by the individual members and their interpretation of the work situation. In time of increasing globalization, technological change has influenced on the behavior of people and other parts, thus the whole system. It is valuable for manager to manage the total work and coordinate the technical change and the needs of individuals. 4. Contingency Approach According to Mullins (2008, p. 31), the contingency approach rejects the idea of ‘one best form or structure’ or ‘optimum state’ for organizations. The organizations needs to be flexible to cope with change and managers need to change structure and processes required. This approach influenced many management practices such as market research, PR or strategic planning, which stress response to external conditions. Furthermore, it emphasized that the practice depends on people interpreting events and managers be able to have subjective judgments as much as rational analysis. The contingency approach is relevant to management and organizational behavior. It provides a setting in which to view large number of variables factors that influence on the organizational performance. Hence, it enables process of management to change the structure of organization at the expense of the need for stability and efficiency. IV. The purpose of organizations As defined earlier in this essay, organization is a group of people who work together in a structured way for a shared purpose. It is a task for management to clarify strategy, which tell people how to work, where to go, and what to achieve. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the nature of strategy for the formal organization in order to study organizational behavior. Johnson et al. (cited in Mullins, 2008, p. 350) define the strategy is ‘the direction and scope of an organization over the long term, which achieves advantage in a changing environment through its configuration of resources and competences with aim of fulfilling stake holder expectation’. People dimension of strategy is concerned with people as a resource; people and behavior and organizing people, therefore, influencing behavior of people to achieve success and motivation of individuals are central part of organization’s strategy. Mullins (2008, p. 352) stated that ‘the goals of an organization are the reason for its existence’. It is the desired state for organization to pursue in the future. Therefore, an organization gains its effectiveness and performance through achieving its goal. To be effective, the goals need to be clearly stated and understandable, thus making impossible for people in organization to perceive. It is clearly evident that goal setting promote immediately behavior of people at work and it can be considered as successful tools of increasing work motivation and effectiveness. An organizational goal are likely to achieve when informal goal, which are defined by individual and based on both perception and personal motivation, are compatible with organizational goals. Therefore, it is crucial role for management to integrate the needs of individuals with the overall objective of the organization. Organizational goals are generally translated into objectives that set out more specifically the goals of organization. Drucker (cited in Mullins, 2008) indicated eight key areas for setting objectives, which ‘are needed in every area where performance and results directly and vitally affect the survival and prosperity of the business’. SWOT analysis, which focuses on Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats facing the organization, draw out strategic implication.First, Strengths are internal aspects of organization that give it competitive advantage over others in the industry such as size, structure, technology, reputation or staffing. Second, Weaknesses are those negative aspects that place organization at a disadvantage regarding to other. Examples of weaknesses could be operating within narrow market, limited resource, and lack of information. Third, Opportunities are favorable chances arise from external environment which provides potential for the organization to offer new, or to develop existing goods or services. Finally, Threats are external elements in the environment that cause trouble for the organization. For example, change in law, increasing tax or competition from other organizations. SWOT analysis may be used in evaluating any decision-making situation when a desired end results (objectives) has been defined. V. Conclusion In conclusion, this essay has been identified the main approaches to the study of organization. In the first section, it provides a discussion on the interrelated disciplines of Organizational behavior, which is Psychology and Sociology. McKenna stated his idea that psychology has the biggest contribution to the study of subject; whereas Watson placed emphasis on sociology. However, the subject is rooted in multidisciplinary and cannot be undertaken in any single discipline. In Mullins’ framework, he examines a broader view, and then presents four main approaches to the study of organizational behavior. In the final section, this essay has defined the strategy that directs to the goal and objective of organization, and commented on the usefulness and relevance of SWOT analysis in evaluating the strategy.

Business Law Memo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business Law Memo - Essay Example Unfortunately, the gas attendant incorrectly filled the car with gas worth $27.39 instead of $8.00. However, the plaintiff did not have any cash on him to settle the extra bill, he offered to leave behind his driving license as collateral until in the evening when he would return to settle the whole bill (Robert v. City Fair Lawsuit ). However, the manager of the gas station, Mr. Tommy, refused the collateral and demanded the plaintiff to suck $19.39 worth of gas from his tank. The plaintiff Mr. Robert tried to refuse claiming it is risky. However, he changed his mind when the manager threatened him with a police arrest. As he was siphoning, the plaintiff inhaled and swallowed some gas. The plaintiff Mr. Robert developed some health complications such as constant eye watering, burning of throat and dizziness. The plaintiff visited ER twice for severe abdominal pain and uncontrollable vomiting. The plaintiff has been forced to miss several days of work, avoided leisure activities such as trail running at Tier Park and playing basketball league. His medical bills are rising while his medical condition will remain as such for long if not for life. Furthermore, his family is unable to put up with the rising hospital bill. Statement of the Issue The plaintiff employs our services in the lawsuit against Tommy and City Fair. The plaintiff believes that Tommy and City Fair should be held responsible for his medical conditions. According to the plaintiff, had the gas attendant followed the instruction careful, he would not have been forced to siphon any gas. His health condition would be normal. Analysis of the Case The plaintiff’s only mistake was forgetting credit card at home. Furthermore, the plaintiff seemed in a hurry and scared of the police. From the look of things, the defendant took advantage of the plaintiff fear of the police and manipulated him. Tommy and City Fair violated business ethics and risked the health of the plaintiff. Their first mistake w as to employee incompetent gas attendants who could not follow instructions. As a result, the attendant filled the car with more gas than required. It is correct to argue that the gas attendant caused the misfortune. Secondly, Tommy the manager refused to accept the driving license as collateral until the evening when the plaintiff would have settled the bill. By the fact the plaintiff was willing to leave behind his driving license, is a clear indication that he was willing to take responsibility and settle the matter. However, the defendant refused the security and instead forced the plaintiff to suck the contaminated gas. This gas has risked the health of the plaintiff. Another mistake made by the defendant is allowing contact with risky goods. This has been proved by the doctor who concluded that the gas is responsible for the plaintiff health condition. Apart from the plaintiff, the gas might also affect the health condition of employees working for the station or customers who are forced to suck when they fail to pay. In this case the defendant has a product liability. He is responsible for selling defective goods to customers. Another mistake made by the defendant is forcing the complainant to siphon the gas using inappropriate tools. In the vent that the plaintiff had appropriate siphoning equipments, then his health would have been okay. It is fundamental to acknowledge that consumer laws in Pennsylvania advocate fro protection and

Roles of a Project Manager Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Roles of a Project Manager - Research Paper Example he processes involved in serving the demands of the client as well as the executive management, while at the same time remaining within the confines of the schedule and the budget. The roles of the project manager include leading the team, bridging the relations between the client and management and pushing for the needs of the client, among others. The checks made to guarantee the success of the project include reviewing the expectations of the client extensively and exploring vital project issues. Within the settings of a clinical research organization, a project refers to a distinctive clinical trial. The project is required to have a specific start and completion date (Roy 57). The team working on the project operates within a setting similar to a matrix reporting ground, towards guaranteeing that the tasks to be completed during the progress of the project are realized and that they are performed in a manner that meets or exceeds the expectations of the customer (Roy 57). The team uses project management systems, during the execution of the managerial role, towards ensuring that the different members work in harmony, so as to realize the goals of the project (Boericke 1). As applied in the CRO settings, project management reefers to the application of skills, knowledge, techniques and tools to the execution of the project, so as to meet or supersede the outcomes anticipated (Roy 58). This paper will explore the roles of a project manager, within a CRO setting, towards demo nstrating that they are the most important link between the client and the team; they are the managers of changes within the project and they also act as the advocate of the client (Shostak 9). In the settings of a Contract Research Organization, the boundaries of project management can be expressed as contained within the following definitions: delighting the customer, offering support to the team in charge of the team and delighting the executive management of the CRO organization

Entry form into United World College Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Entry form into United World College - Essay Example In my quest to discover how societies evolved and mankind developed, I would like to visit Peru’s Canal, one of the seats of modern civilization. I am adventurous by nature and history being my strongest interest, I would love to skydive someday or go on a wild trek through the forests of the Amazon. As a child I often used to reflect on the war horror stories and it always made me sad. I could feel the agony of the children who tested HIV positive, I could sense the insecurity that the mentally challenged face day after day. It was disturbing to see small street children having to work for their daily bread when they should be going to school. I used to wonder if there was anyway that the world could share a common goal – to erase poverty and sufferings, if there was anyway that I could contribute my time and talent towards achieving this goal. I wanted to do something different that would make me stand out from the rest, but I did not exactly know how to go about it, what avenues to explore to fulfill my dreams. I had read a lot and knew the power that words and love has. I had heard of Vasudeva Kutumbakam, an Indian phrase which literally means the world is one family. This phrase made a deep impression on my mind so much so that I started praying to God to really make the world one big family, to awaken the consciousness of those constantly at war. I started praying for world peace. My longing for world peace has ignited a burning desire into me to participate in an anti-war march someday, my own little way to make a difference. In my pursuit for a college for higher studies, I came across United World College and was immediately attracted for two reasons – one – students from more than 80 different nations study at the college at any given time. Secondly, community service plays a central role in all the colleges. I instantly made up my mind that this was the place for me. I was particularly drawn to Mahindra United World College of India as

How retailers can achieve good PR coverage Essay

How retailers can achieve good PR coverage - Essay Example To communicate and relay any important information about the company to the consumers, retailers rely on a host of techniques which are collectively referred to as public relations. Good public relations improve the retailer’s bottom line. On the other hand, poor public relations are known to retard the growth of the company or worse still, lead to heavy losses (Wood 2012). These techniques range from traditional ones such as discounts, to modern ones such as environmental sensibility. The perfect mix in this broad range is not well known, but some basic tenets underline these chaos. The United Kingdom is known as the principal retail location with such brands that are recognized world wide. For example, Tesco, Asda, Morrison’s, Marks and Spencer, Next, Dixons, just to mention but a few. These retailers alongside many others account for 8% of the islands G.D.P. To be specific, the city of London is a huge retail capital with a large spending ahead of other big cities li ke Tokyo, New York and Paris. These U.Ks largest retail brands have to apply the full range of tools and techniques, so as to secure good public standing. This range of public relations measures shall form the core of this paper. Finer analysis specific cases shall be conducted. The qualitative and quantitative benefits that derive from each shall also be evaluated. Finally, valuable lessons for new retailers shall be inferred. Most of the public news used as case studies for this paper shall be gleaned from The Guardian. This is because it is an authoritative and widely read broadsheet. Readers both within the U.K and without, rely on it for their news. Also important shall be The Telegraph. The mode of presenting the information shall be in a form akin to the case study. A retailer recently covered in the news shall be identified. The nature of coverage received shall be evaluated i.e negative or positive. The impact that the publicity had shall be discussed. At the end, a lesson for new retailers shall be contained. The first study is that of a retailer called Neal Yard. Neal Yard is a natural and organic beauty products retailer. On the 26th of May 2009 they agreed to take part in a segment in The Guardian, called â€Å"You Ask, They Answer†. The underlying objective was for the wider public and customers in particular to question the retailer and in turn get back answers to their question. As it happens with all companies, vociferous critics questioned the company’s ethical and green claims. The company was, however, unable to face up to the criticism. Instead, it pulled out of the debate without due notification to the public. No additional questions were taken. Despite constant prodding from The Guardian to respond to the questions or at least make a commitment to do so later, Neal Yard was non-committal. As a result, the questions surrounding their removal of a homeopathic malaria medication remain. This interest attracted much big newspa pers and even blogs. The reason simply is that the company employed poor P.R techniques (Adam 2009). This leads to one of the cardinal rules of publicity for businesses. That is, they should always respond to customers concerns. It matters less whether they make a lot of sense or not. It is easy for companies to bury their heads in the sand and

The pharmacist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The pharmacist - Essay Example Through my father, I realized that I want to go down that same path, and be a beacon of goodness to others through a caring career in serving the community. I have always thought that as a pharmacist, I have the unique opportunity in dealing with people of all kinds, with many different afflictions or needs. I think that a pharmacist plays a key role not only in bringing the customer the proper medication, but also in providing good service, and in small ways trying to give cheer and good will to them. It would be such a joy to see a customer return and seeing the improvements in their health. Second, my academic and other career experiences have further prompted me to seek a career in pharmacy. I have always had a love for science, especially in chemistry. As I have mentioned earlier, I am a Registered Nurse and through my work, I have seen how certain medications work with certain afflictions and with different people, and that I find fascinating. It is very interesting to know that each human body is unique, and react differently to a variety of medication. Some times I see practically miracles being performed through the proper medicine, other times are more challenging.

The Stagnation of Content in the Making of Movies Essay

The Stagnation of Content in the Making of Movies - Essay Example While some of these films are successful, others are box office failures. Motives for releasing a remake runs the gamut of saving money, exploiting a popular plot or theme, or capitalizing on the current cultural trends. However, they saturate the movie market and drown the public in a stagnant pool of rehashed content. We, as a society, need to break outside our own self-inflicted monotony, and let our imagination run rampant once again, or else our society may forever be caught in the endless miasma of mediocre entertainment, and with it, our future forced into dull drudgery. The propensity of the Hollywood studios to remake a foreign film is exemplified with the cashing in on the pop culture's current cult buzz. A prime example of this phenomenon is the Japanese movie The Ring (1998), which is one of the most horrifying and the highest grossing films ever to be released in Japan. Its success spawned a series of remakes such as in Korea as The Ring Virus (1999) and in the United States as The Ring (2002). The studios did not have to take the risk of inventing new characters, setting, or plot. They simply moved forward on a tried and true formula that had previously been successful. ... The studio's attempt to save money by reproducing more of the same actually resulted in heavy losses. While the original Ring grossed $129 million, the sequel The Ring Two pulled in a paltry final figure of $75 million in the United States ("Japanese Horror Remake"). This is evidence that the viewing public can get tired of their fond memories, as movie producers fail to deliver on their promises of enhancing and tastefully paying homage to the previous films by taking short cuts and recycling old ideas. Watching a well-made film repeatedly may be far more enjoyable than seeing it repackaged with unfamiliar actors and different production values. A good example of this is the Hitchcock film Psycho (1960). This film is so tense and well crafted that the remake has had great difficulty in living up to its expectations. When a remake is released, the public and the critics will naturally compare it to the original version. The critics at Moviefone called Invasion (2007), Nicole Kidman's remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), "ridiculous, overwrought ... and worst of all, boring" ("Worst Movie Remakes of all Time"). Other films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, House of Wax, and the planned Evil Dead suffer from the audience's high standards when comparing then to the original. The financial effort to save money on a remake almost assures the public that they will see nothing new, and probably the best they can hope for is some enhanced technology in the special effects. The remake of the highly acclaimed Alfie (1966) was remade starring Jude Law, and was panned by critics as, "a hollow, cynical shell of the charming

BUS IP 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

BUS IP 4 - Essay Example Today distance learning is gaining popularity in various groups of peoples who are keen to learn and upgrade them for better career opportunities. There are numbers of benefits offered by distance learning educations. Some of the key benefits are convenience, flexibility and freedom, effectiveness, Interactivity, increase access to learning and efficiency. Distance learning offers student increased access to learning. They have an opportunity for knowledge and skill enhancement simultaneously working or doing their job. Student can learn from wider number of institutions from their choices and have access to learning at any time and any place. It basically provides an alternative to traditional classroom learning. It has been found that some times it is more effective than traditional classroom learning. It can meet the needs of student who can not attend on-campus classes or lives far from school. It also provides an opportunity to the student to learn with their own pace which is generally not provided by traditional classroom training. Student can also submit their assignment by using email which removes the travel time to school for submitting assignments. Distance learning uses wide variety of materials such as audio, video, books and many more other types of learning resources that can meet every student learning preferences. One of the main benefits of distance learning is increased interactions among students. Many of the courses offered by distance learning institutes have options of attending class room on specific weekdays or period of time. This offers another benefit of distance learning as interactions among student’s increases. In such cases distance learning creates interactions that stimulate understanding and exchange of ideas between students from correspondences and also it provides ability to do interactive teamwork between groups. The financial and

Using the Barack Obamas Health Care Reform Speech to Democratic Essay

Using the Barack Obamas Health Care Reform Speech to Democratic Caucus, decide which comparative ideological models(Political Spectrum,Political Compass,Nolan Model,Ideological Space)the speech represents - Essay Example e considers the intrusiveness in the free market of Medicare, Veteran’s Administration benefits and the massive regulatory apparatus of Health and Human Services (HHS) to envelop the entire health care delivery system in the United States under a Federal framework. â€Å"The director of the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that the health care reform legislation would cost, over the next ten years, $115 billion more than previously thought, bringing the total cost to more than $1 trillion. (Tapper)† The government is conducting a wholesale takeover of what was essentially a market provided service. Whatever one may think of the merits of the issue, the Nolan Chart allows the reader to determine with fair precision where the speech lands in the political pedigree on the chart itself. â€Å"Now, there are some who wanted a single-payer government-run system.   That’s not this bill.   The Republicans wanted what I called the â€Å"foxes guard the henhouse approach† in which we further deregulate the insurance companies and let them run wild, the notion being somehow that that was going to lower costs for the American people.   I don’t know a serious health care economist who buys that idea, but that was their concept.† Obama is admitting that an authoritarian model is being employed through the use of increased regulation of the health care providers in the nation. If that were not the case, why would the legislation be necessary in the first place if it were not designed to increase the power of the government to regulate and control the industry? â€Å"The second thing this does is it creates a pool, a marketplace, where individuals and small businesses, who right now are having a terrible time out there getting health insurance, are going to be able to purchase health insurance as part of a big group -- just like federal employees, just like members of Congress.   They are now going to be part of a pool that can negotiate for better rates, better

Albatross Anchor Essay Example for Free

Albatross Anchor Essay Introduction Albatross Anchor is a small, family owned business located in Smalltown, USA that started in 1976. There staff grew from 4 employees to 130 in no time. All of their operations were ran in the same building with the Admin in the front and manufacturing in the back. The plant is antiquated, worn, dirty technology deprived and no longer meets all the USA standard requirements. Question One Carefully review the assignment scenario/case study. From the limited information in the scenario/case study, along with your answers to the unit three written assignment, identify at least three direct and specific long-term and three direct and specific short term operations changes that Albatross Anchor must make to gain a clear and sustainable competitive advantage (provide detailed information to validate and support each recommended change) Long-Term Operational Changes (01) Improved technology to increase efficiency and effectiveness throughout the plant. Without a doubt, old technology makes it harder for the manufacturing process and takes longer to get the products to the end user. A five year plan to update technology would be more cost effective and can address the technology issues on a predetermined plan over the five year term. (02) Purchase new equipment to eliminate sharing manufacturing equipment between the two different types of anchors. The new equipment should be state of the art to assist with the technology upgrades and to get the most for the money. The separate equipment will eliminate the 36 hours of down time necessary to change over the equipment between production runs. (03) Separate manufacturing areas for the snag hook anchor and the bell anchors to increase production. This will tie the technology portion as well as the new equipment portion altogether to create two separate manufacturing areas. Short-Term Operational Changes (01) Update US safety and environmental standards. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the compliance and enforcement division releases the average annual fines collected by the EPA throughout the year. It is imperative that Albatross Anchor update the environmental standards of the plant to bring them up to code. The 2011 annual fees for the EPA as of December 8, 2011 was 3 billion in to clean up hazardous waste and 168 million in fines used to deter pollution (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2011). An investment now will save money in the future. (02) The most effective short term change would be to have a separate location for the administrative offices. The site could be on site but in a secluded area to make the interruptions minimal and to increase productivity. (03) Set specific shipping and receiving schedules for international shipping and incoming raw materials. Albatross Anchor shipping and receiving departments should not have materials coming in and going out at the same time. To eliminate mistakes and increase efficiency, set predetermined days to ship internationally and to receive incoming raw materials or stagger delivery of the goods. Question Two From the list of ten operational issues in the Unit 6 assignment instructions select four operational issues. For each of the four operational issues explain in detail that operational issue will help Albatross Anchor improve; 1) job retention, 2) employee morale, and 3) employee dedication. Operational Issue One: Cross Training Employees that are cross trained are more valuable to the company because they can perform tasks when employees are out ill or if there is a shortage of employees in a particular area (Russell Taylor III, 2011). Cross trained employees are likely to be more involved in their job and are likely to perform better because they have an understanding of many areas of the company. The cross trained employees know they are invaluable because they can do many tasks and they are generally more dedicated because they are willing to learn different aspects of the manufacturing process at Albatross Anchor. Operational Issue Two: Gain sharing and profit sharing Profit sharing is a win situation for the employee and the company. This perk benefits the employees because most profit sharing programs incorporate retirement plans as their vehicle. Employers benefit because profit sharing attracts dedicated employees (Hugh, 1990). Profit sharing and Gain sharing both contribute to employee dedication and increasing morale. The performance of the employees can also be directly related to the employees personal financial objective. Operational Issue Three: Job Design Right person; right role is a common term amongst many companies today. This directly correlates to job design. Not every employee can perform every function within a company. Some employees are better suited to certain roles than others. Frederick Herzberg identified attributes that make a potential job design a good fit (Russell Taylor III, 2011). Employees that are well suited to their jobs are more likely to be happy and stay at their job. They will be happier because they will not be ill suited to handle the task at hand. Operational Issue Four: Ergonomics Play a vital role in production. Recognizing ergonomic risks factors in the work place is an essential first step in correcting hazards and improving worker protection. In an effort to maintain a steady production rate and remain competitive, the company will need to redesign the machinery and implement new practices, Poor machine design, tool, and workplace design or use of improper tools create physical stress on workers bodies, which can lead to injury. Conclusion Albatross Anchors, although a family business still has the potential to turn things around to become a more profitable company. Implementing netter processes and practices along with identifying the Long Term Operational changes needed and the Short Term Operational changes that are needed will result in more efficient and more productive management. US safety and environmental guidelines have to be followed and maintained so the company is never in danger of being shut down. Create a more productive work area for the administrative offices and constructing separate manufacturing areas for production. The company is in need of many required changes so they can be more productive and have better time management. With the new reviews this observation has managed to create, the result will have the required proficient changes that are needed to become a more productive company. References Hugh, L. (1990). Why profit sharing is important Russell, R. S., Taylor III, B. W. (2011). Operations Management: Creating Value along the Supply Chain 7th edition. Retrieved November 18, 2011, from Wiley.com: http://bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action=indexitemId=0470525908bcsId=5869 US Environmental Protection Agency. (2011, December 8). Data, Planning and Results. Retrieved December 18, 2011, from US Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/data/results/annual/index.html

The Intensity Of Agglutination

The Intensity Of Agglutination Antibodies are proteins produced during bodies defence against foreign antigens and they are driven from plasma cells. In the event of an immune response B lymphocytes initiate the production of IgM antibody. In comparison to other immunoglobulins IgM is the largest and earliest antibody available in response to an antigen (Bailey Johnson, 2006). The large structure of this antibody is because it consists of an additional domain in its constant area (Overfield et al, 2007). This antibody has a polymeric structure it consists of heavy and light chains. The binding between two heavy chains or between heavy and light chains is facilitated via the disulphide bond. IgM antibody has a pentameric structure consisting of five subunits. These subunits are joined together via a disulphide bond which occurs between the Fc region and the intersubunit, interasubunit- J chain. Two fab antigen binding sites are available on each IgM monomer and since IgM has a pentameric structure ten Fab antigen binding sites are available that can potentially interact with ten antigens (Overfield et al, 2007)(Khurana, 2006). The initial aim of this practical was to discover if red blood cell antigens can interact with IgM anti-D (Rh) antibody and weather as a consequence of this interaction agglutination occurs. The second aim was to discover weather dithiothreitol (DTT) reducing agents is capable of altering the structure of IgM antibody at different concentration hence affecting the level of agglutination and finally to discover if indirect anti-IgM antibody is capable of facilitating agglutination. The large and pentameric structure of IgM antibody can potentiate the possibility of its interaction with red blood cell antigens resulting in formation of agglutination. Material Method For instructions on how to conduct the experiment with the relevant materials used please refer to the practical schedule. The concentrations of DTT added to the nine tubes where as following (0.001, 0.002, 0.003, 0.004, 0.005, 0.006, 0.007, 0.008, 0.009 0.01). Results Table 1: The above table illustrates the number of tubes labelled from 1-10 and the concentrations of DTT in (Mol/L). As illustrated in the above table the control tube which is tube 1 lacked DTT while tubes which were numbered as (2, 3, 4, 5, 6 7) consisted of different concentrations of DTT as shown here (0.001, 0.002, 0.003, 0.004, 0.005, 0.006 0.007). According to the first observation results tubes numbered 1-7 expressed signs of agglutination as indicated by a positive sign (+). Instead tubes numbered (8, 9 10) which had the following DTT concentrations (0.007, 0.008 0.009) expressed no indications of agglutination hence they were marked as negative (-). Due to time limitations results for the second antibody labelling could not be obtained. Discussion The intensity of agglutination in these tubes depended on the concentration of DTT. The control tube which is tube 1 is DTT deficient which is accompanied with agglutination. Tubes labelled 2-7 express different concentrations of DTT starting from the lowest hence escalating slowly. In these tubes agglutination is still observed since the effect of DTT is still not strong enough to break the bonds expressed in IgM antibody while as the concentration of DTT escalates further in tubes 8-10 agglutination is not evidenced. DTT is a reducing agent capable of mediating intersubunit and interasubunit-J chain cleavage hence facilitating IgM subunit (Â µ2ÃŽÂ »2) synthesis (Kownatzki Drescher, 1973). As the concentration of DTT escalates its capability to break these bonds with greater intensity increases as seen in tubes 8-10 leading to greater IgM subunit formation (Â µ2ÃŽÂ »2) and lessens the possibility of antigen antibody interaction hence lack of agglutination. In addition DTT a ffects the structure of IgM heavy and light chains by preventing them from unfolding and causes this chain too separate accordingly leading to agglutination deficiency. A continuous raise in DTT concentration as evidenced in tubes 8-10 causes a decline the probability of disulphide bonds from resuming their function in IgM antibody (Valetti Sitia, 1994). According to the study conducted by (Marrodan et al, 2001 Morris et al, 1974) DTT reducing agent restrains agglutination from occurring by facilitating the disulphide bond located in the IgM antibody to break. In addition the 19 S IgM antibody is cleaved by DTT into a 7S subunit. The 7S antibody subunits are rendered incapable of maintaining IgM antibodys function and therefore wont be able to interact with red blood cell antigens leading to lack of agglutination (Knight, 1978). Due to time limitation for the experiment results for the second antibody labelling could not be obtained. According to (Overfield et al, 2007) the lacking agglutination as a consequence of DTT effect can be reversed by adding anti-IgM antibody hence signs of agglutination will appear but the extent of agglutination will depend on whether the IgM antibody subunits have maintained their ability to bind to red blood cells antigen or due to high level of DTT concentration they have been completely deformed. According to the study conducted by (Emmerich et al, 2006) IgM antibody can be used in the diagnosis of Lassa virus infection which is highly predominant in Western African patients. This diagnosis is achieved via using reverse enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) technique to identify anti-Lassa IgM antibody. The result of this study implemented that via using reverse ELISA in 20 patients with sign of fever high level of anti-Lassa IgM antibody was diagnosed indicating the presence of the Lassa virus. In a study conducted by (Varsano et al, 1995) the presence of IgM antibody against respiratory syncytial virus antigen (RSV) was examined in 145 patients via using the ELISA technique. According to the result of this study ELISA-IgM antibody detection is a highly efficient method in the diagnosis of RSV at early stage of the disease. In another study by (Tsuda et al, 2001) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was used to detect for the presence of IgM antibody against TT virus (TTV) in the diagnosis of human circovirus. The result of this experiment suggests that healthy volunteers were defective of anti-TTV IgM antibody whereas infected individuals showed signs of its presence suggesting that this method is beneficial for diagnosis purposes of human circovirus. Immunoglobulin cleavage can be triggered via the action of different enzymes or chemicals. Papain is an enzyme that cleaves IgG antibody into three segments of FC, heavy and light chains. Furthermore IgM antibody can be cleaved by pepsin enzyme either into an antibody that weights less accompanied with FC fragments (Rudmann, 2005)(Svehag et al, 1969). Protease enzyme is driven from Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria capable of cleaving IgA antibody (Pouedras et al, 1992). According to (Akesson et al, 2006) streptococcus pyogenes bacteria is responsible in mediating diseases such as gotonsillitis, septicaemia and it intervenes its action by causing IgG antibody cleavage via using an enzyme called Ides. The action of this virus is to insure that the antibody is unavailable to destroy the bacteria. Furthermore trypsin is another enzyme capable of cleaving IgM antibody at temperature above 50 C leading to different FC fragment synthesis (Andrew et al, 1970). Conclusion Normally red blood cell antigens are capable of interacting with IgM antibody resulting in agglutination while in the presence of DTT reducing agent this binding is inhibited leading to lack of agglutination. The extent of this inhibition will depend on the concentration of DTT and the extend of IgM J chain, interchain intrachain cleavage via DTT. The greater the concentration of DTT the stronger its effect is on this chain which lessens the likelihood of this chain regaining their binding capacity hence their ability to regain antigen binding activity. The concept of antigen antibody binding can be used for the diagnosis purpose of many diseases.

The Deposition From the Cross : Art Analysis

The Deposition From the Cross : Art Analysis The Deposition from the Cross The Deposition from the Cross is a Jacopo Pontormos oil on wood painting which placed at the Capponi Chapel altar in the Santa Felicitac church in Florence. The Deposition is one of the classical prospects that portray the life of Jesus in the medieval art. And as a result of the convolutions of the composition, it is one in which Renaissance artists had a constant curiosity to draw such as Raphael and Caravaggio and more others. So one of my big interests of this painting is the story lay behind the deposition from the cross itself and why it became an important subject for Pontormo and the others. Moreover the disposition figures, with it are piercingly replicated appearances, vivid and ruthless colors are merged in a bleak and firmed space which opens a big issue for me of the description of this painting. In this report I will also focus on the differences of the faces of the grieving throngs and the figure of Madonna. Also, I will talk about the myth that attached with this pain ting that Pontormo had a drawn a self-portrait in the painting as Joseph of Arimathea. The Deposition from the Cross is the surviving masterpiece painting done by Jacopo Pontorm and done around 1525-1528, It is an oil in wood and the size of the painting is 313 X 192 cm and the location of this painting is in Capponi Chapel in Santa Felicita di Firenze church in Florence [1]. This painting shows a landscape at night with about 11 figures. The figures make a replicated sharp form that make most of them look the same. The most capturing figure is a man that is hold up by 2 other figure. The man that holds up is half nude with only a small piece of olive color cloth covering his privies. The mans hair is little long and orange and with also an orange bear. One of the two figures that holding the nude man is man whos holding the legs. The man has a strange pinky colored back skin that it looks like a sun burn but not for sure. Another figure which is hard to distinguish if is it is a man or a woman whos holding the upper part of the nude man. Although the two figures are carrying the mass of a mature man, they hardly appear to touch the land under them. The other figures look almost the same and the spaces between them are really small. All the figures rest 9 figures are appear to be women and all of them are almost wearing the same style of cloth except the bearded figure at the far right in the background of the picture. These figures seem to be a little different from the rest 10 figures since it looks out of the picture and look as if it added later to the painting. The landscape of the painting is very limited with only one shade cloud and a dark ground with a wrinkled olive colored sheet. The figurs looks like if they mournering some one. The Deposition from the Cross, is considered by many art historian to be Pontormos existing masterpiece. The Deposition generates a scene of whirlling group who moving with a sensitively emotional feeling while the Jesuss body is carryed down from the cross and presented to his mother Mary. Even though that normally The Deposition from the Cross is desciping Juses been lowered down from the cross but the unpresent of the actual cross in the painting, make many historian to matter the subject of this picture and concider it as doubtful type of paint. Also the two boys that holding juses have infered in the past as two Angles whose helping the Christ in his crossing to Heaven. So the presnt of the two angle and the lack of the cross create an presumption for some historian to consider the scene to be more accurately be called a Lamentation which decribe those who are supporting the Christ who appear as distressed as the mourners. However the lack of any visible tomb interrupts that pre sumption, just as the lack of cross creates a dilemma for the Deposition analysis. It has also been distinguished by art historian that the locations of Virgin and her child the Christ appear to replicate Michelangelos famous work the Pietà  , although in phontormo piece in the Deposition shows the mother and son have been split.Therefore this painting cosider to be really contovershial since it carries an essentials of a Lamentation and Entombment and also the Pietà  [1]. On the other side Legend has it that Pontormo had set himself in self-portrait as Joseph of Arimathea at the upper right of the image The figure does not appear in a elementary drawing of the altarpiece realized for relocate, suggesting that Pontormo may have decided to squeeze it during the finishing of the painting. Unlike of the other, much freer and more summary beginning sketches he made for the altarpieces, this drawing is highly finished, with a subtle rendreing of the highlights of the face demonstrating that Pontormo was thinking about its tonallity for the painting. His focus here on internal emotion suggested through facial expression contrasts with the much more lively vision of himself that he made during his rest at Galluzo [3]. The figures, with their sharply modeled forms and brilliant colors are united in an enormously complex, swirling ovular composition, housed by a shallow, somewhat flattened space. The Deposition from the Cross, or Descent, is the scene, as depicted in art, from the Gospel account of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking Christ down from the cross after his crucifixion (John 19:38-42). In Byzantine art the topic became popular in the 9th century, and in the West from the 10th century. The Descent from the Cross is the 13th Station of the Cross. Other figures not mentioned in the Gospels who are often included in depictions of this subject include St. John the Evangelist, who is sometimes depicted supporting a fainting Mary (as in the work below by Van der Weyden), and Mary Magdalene. The Gospels mention an undefined number of women as watching the crucifixion, including the Three Marys, (Mary Salome being mentioned in Mark (Mark 15:40), and also that the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene saw the burial (Mark 15:47). These and further women and unnamed male helpers are often shown. The scene was usually included in medieval cycles of the Life or the Passion of C hrist, between the Crucifixion and the Entombment of Christ. Even in early depictions the details and posing of the composition, and especially the position of Christs body, are varied. The Pieta or Lamentation, showing the body of Christ held by Mary, may intervene between these two, and is common as an individual image, especially in sculpture. The Bearing of the body, showing Christs body being carried to his tomb, and the Anointing of Christs body, showing the body laid flat on the top of the tomb or a similarly-shaped anointing-stone are other scenes that may be shown. This last is especially important in Orthodox art, where it is shown on the Epitaphios. With the Renaissance the subject became popular for altarpieces, partly because of the challenges of the composition, and the suitability of its vertical shape. The Mannerist version of Rosso Fiorentino is usually regarded as his most important work, and Pontormos altarpiece is perhaps his most ambitious work. The subject was painted several times by both Rubens and Rembrandt, who repeated one of his paintings (now Munich) in a large print, his only one to be mainly engraved, as well as making two other etchings of the subject. Pontormo’s in his composition used the mannerist style to show the characteristics of the figure.

Pakistan and Afghanistan Essay -- Politics, War, Turmoil

From the 1980’s onwards, Pakistan and Afghanistan have been at the forefront of numerous socio-political events germane to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. The multifarious factors involved form a perplexing web of competing narratives that resist straightforward explanation. This essay will delve into the milieu, seeking alternative theories to construct a cogent thesis for the growth of fundamentalism. In doing so, it will examine the Islamisation policies of Pakistan’s Zia-ul-Haq administration and its congruence with United States interests at the time. Particular focus will be given to the Afghanistan – Pakistan dyad and how the recent return of international forces perpetuates the conditions that allow Islamic fundamentalism to prosper. As a state whose principal raison d'à ªtre is for the protection of Muslims, Pakistan had historically struggled with defining what its Islamic mandate entailed. Arriving in power via a coup d’à ©tat, Zia-ul-Haq employed religion to attain popular legitimacy, orchestrating Islamic reform as a deceitful pretence for securing power (Kennedy 1990: 73). Correspondingly, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan solidified the role of Islamic politics, with Zia-ul-Haq exhibiting a distinct preference for radical groups as a counterweight to communist ideology (Fuller 1991: 11). The most visible sign of creeping religiosity appeared in 1982 with the declaration that â€Å"national dress† and Islamic studies were mandatory for government employees (Cohen 1988: 314). Underlying this conversion, the government funded the expansion of an increasingly radical madrasa based education system - with the intention to transform the electoral landscape and boost support for Islamic parties ( Nasr 2000: 147). Through th... ...ndamentalists who demur at the state’s very existence, we can opine that Pakistan may already have crossed the Rubicon. This essay has elucidated that Pakistan and Afghanistan are a point of convergence for a litany of failed, arguably asinine policies by both the chief protagonists and outside interests. As such, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism represents the logical endpoint for an array of policies that mobilised extremist religious dogma to achieve geostrategic objectives. Crucially, the abject failure of all involved to disband and reintegrate those forces into a legitimate Afghan state has proved calamitous in its consequences. With recent international intervention bolstering the ideological sources of fundamentalism and with the nexus of instability spreading deep into Pakistan, the continued prominence of Islamic fundamentalism appears inevitable.

The Role of the Narrator in Byrons Don Juan Essay examples -- Don Jua

The Role of the Narrator in Byron's Don Juan The narrator of Don Juan takes the traditional role of omniscient narrator. He states the facts but also adds in his personal thoughts on the characters. From the beginning he lets the reader know that he is in search of a hero. He cannot find a hero in his contemporary time, therefore he will return to the hero who has stayed a hero through time. The hero is "my friend Don Juan" (5.8). There is no doubt that the narrator feels a close relationship with the hero and the hero will be treated as casually as friend. He relates that the usual course for a poem is to start in the middle, "that is the usual method, but not mine" (7.1). He will start at the beginning and give opinionated views of Juan's parents. Immediately the narrator establishes control, and therefore sets the tone of the poem. He lets the reader know that Juan's parental skills are lacking (according to him) and if he was Juan's parent he would do things differently. Of young Juan's mischievousness, if "they been but both in their senses, they'd have the young master To school, or had him soundly whipp'd at home, To teach him manners for the time to come" (25.5-8) Certainly this establishes his authority. As the reader, we want to believe him. Obviously (to the reader) Juan's parents are negligent in their duties and the reader sees herself agreeing that she too would do the same. He guides us to be prejudiced to Juan's parents and this trust develops between narrator and reader that carries throughout the poem. Of course the na rrator like any instigator will deny their input. A particularly amusing part of the poem is where the narrator in self-parody tells us "For my part I say nothing--nothing--but This I will... ...rity over the hero. The narrator alone has the power to keep Don Juan alive. In addition, the narrator is really the personality of the poem. We are told Don Juan's actions, but is the narrator that flavors it. It is interesting that Lord Byron decided to include the narrator so prominently; but definitely to the poem's advantage. Works Cited Bostetter, Edward E., Twentieth Century Interpretations of Don Juan. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969. Boyd, Elizabeth French, Byron's Don Juan: A Critical Study. NY: Humanities Press, 1958. Byron (George Gordon, Lord Byron), Don Juan, ed. Leslie A. Marchand. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1958. McGann, Jerome J., Don Juan in Context. Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 1976. Steffan, Truman Guy, & Willis W. Pratt, eds., Byron's Don Juan: A Variorum Edition. 2nd ed.. 4 vols.. Austin: U of Texas Press, 1971.

Negligence Paper

Negligence Paper Ann Fairvalley University of Phoenix HCS/ 478 Negligence Paper Imagine waking up in the recovery room from being sedated for a procedure in which one of your limbs has been amputated. While in recovery you are in and out of consciousness. Finally after being in recovery for 2 hours you are taken to a step down unit to recover and receive teaching and therapy. After getting settled into bed you gets the guts to throw back you sheets and take a look where there was once a left leg.To your horror your left leg is there and your right leg is not! â€Å"The Joint Commission considers wrong site surgery to be a sentinel events which is defined as â€Å"an unexpected occurrence involving death or serious physical or psychological injury, or the risk thereof. Serious injury specifically includes loss of limb or function† (Dillon. 2008. ). † This was an all too familiar of a situation for one Mr. Joseph Benson a 62-year-old diabetic with circulation problems tha t required a leg amputation.In this paper I plan to explore the legal implications in regards to the differences between negligence, gross negligence and malpractice. I will also explore some rational as to why union problems and/or nursing shortages could have been the cause of this disaster. Lastly I will describe the importance of documentation in regards to potential negligence as if I was the nurse involved with Mr. Benson’s care. I will briefly describe my ethical principles, which would guide this practice and how I would document the case to satisfy ethical and legal requirements. Negligence as defined by Black’s Law Dictionary (1979) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO, 2002) is the â€Å"failure to use such care as a reasonably prudent and careful person would use under similar circumstances. † It is the predominant theory of liability in medical malpractice litigation (King, 1986) (Weld. Garmon. Bibb. 2009. ). † During my experience as a surgical nurse working in Obstetrics we used checklists and timeouts to make sure that we followed hospital protocols during our procedures.The checklists were in place to make sure procedures and paperwork was completed in an orderly and prudent manner. We could not continue onto the next step in the checklists until it was crosschecked by another licensed nurse or physician. This was put in place to ensure the patient’s well being and safety was addressed at each step in the checklist. Each one of the JACHO accredited hospitals has a similar checklist in place to ensure the patient’s wellbeing and safety. By having timeouts and checklists this could possibly prevent negligence. Gross negligence means, â€Å"reckless indifference to or a deliberate disregard of the whole body of stockholders† or actions which are â€Å"without the bounds of Reason (Sharfman. 2006. ). † One example of gross negligence would be giving a pa tient a higher dose of a narcotic instead of wasting the unused portion in order to keep the patient quiet and sleeping during a hectic shift. This nurse would have made a conscious decision to heavily sedate her patient against doctor’s orders, which would constitute gross negligence on the part of this nurse in this situation. In the case of Mr.Benson I think the physician could have been found guilty of gross negligence. If the doctor in this case would have followed timeouts and checklists the wrong procedure could have been avoided. â€Å"Barron’s Law Dictionary (1991) defines malpractice as a professional’s improper or immoral conduct in the performance of duties, either intentionally, through carelessness, or through ignorance (Weld. Garmon. Bibb. 2009. ). † The physician in this case could also be found guilty of malpractice. His neglect of professional duty comes in question as to the welfare of Mr.Benson. Did the physician show a lapse of judgme nt in his conduct during the time prior to the actual surgery by not following the procedures and protocols? It was not documented in the article as to the physician’s demeanor or conduct during the actual procedure. I do not have a written account of the scrub nurses or other Operating Room staff testimony as to what actually happened in this Operating Room. It would be speculation on my part to assume the worst of the physician without having all the details before me. I choose to agree with the patient. Mr. Benson was orrified at the outcome of his procedure. I would not matter to me whether the Neighborhood Hospital had nursing shortages or problems with the unions all I would be concerned with is how could this happen and what is the hospital going to do about this mishap. I would contact an attorney who specializes in Malpractice litigation and see what my options were as far as litigation against the hospital and also the physician. I would research about sentinel even ts and JACHO regulations which could further my case against the hospital and physicians who were involved.It is very important to document each and every step and to narrate in written form what happens while the patients are under your care. In the day-to-day world of nursing we have a saying â€Å"If it wasn’t documented it never happened. † I have never forgotten these words. It made a resounding impression on my professional nursing practice. Good, bad or ugly I document what actually happens during my shift and my care of my patients. At times, this includes having to document physicians demeanors, actions or lack of.I have had to document that I made several attempts to reach a physician by phone and left messages on his answering service and voicemails in which he did not return phone calls in a timely manner. It can be very frustrating as a professional nurse when this situation occurs as you are put in a place in which you are against a rock and a hard place. Nonetheless, you have to document to protect yourself and your patients. In conclusion I have defined negligence, gross negligence and malpractice. I have given personal stories of how these terms applied to what I have seen in my professional nursing career.I agreed with Mr. Benson and his position and did not agree with the rationale of the Neighborhood Hospital for the injustice, which happened to Mr. Benson. Lastly I described the importance of documentation in the role of a nursing professional. I would hope that the next time I need a surgery or a minor procedure that I can trust my hospital and the staff to perform as they should, this would include following hospital procedure and protocols as well as follow there professional standards correctly.References Dillon, K. (2008). Time out: an analysis. AORN Journal, 88(3), 437. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Sharfman, B. S. (2006). Being Informed Does Matter: Fine Tuning Gross Negligence Twenty Plus Years After Van Gorkom. Business Lawyer, 62(1), 135-160. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Weld, K. , & Garmon Bibb, S. (2009). Concept analysis: malpractice and modern-day nursing practice. Nursing Forum, 44(1), 2-10. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Postcolonialism

Postcolonial is that which questions, overturns, and / or critically refracts colonial authority-its epistemology and forms of violence, its claims to superiority. Postcolonial therefore refers to those theories, texts, political strategies, and modes of activism that engage in such questioning, that aim to challenge structural inequalities and bring about social Justice. It is helpful to view postcolonial in a comparative frame alongside feminism.Both these approaches arrived at points of critical self-awareness in definitive periods of civil rights protests. This conjunction ay be partly explained by the fact that both approaches champion resistance to entrenched singular forms of authority (patriarchy, empire) from below or from positions of so called weakness. Both too seek the politicians of areas conventionally considered as non political: the domestic space, education, sport, the street, who may walk where, who may sit where, and how.Some of the central critical concepts of po stcolonial developed out of nationalist struggles for independence in the early half of the twentieth century. The political and cultural reforms proposed y anti-colonial movements in such countries as India, Egypt, Algeria, Ghana, Kenya and in the Caribbean, formed the fountainhead of what we now call postcolonial. At first, these movements advocated a politics of assimilation of ‘natives' or the colonized into colonial society for them to obtain self representation.They began with limited demands for piecemeal constitutional reforms but it became rapidly clear that the colonial authorities were not ready to dismantle the social, economic and political hierarchies on which their control rested. After the end of World War II, anti colonial nationalist movements took a more confrontational, no-compromise attitude. The demand was for complete independence. This demand extended not only to the liberation of political structures but also to the obliteration of the colonization of the psyche.The sass marked a period of growing militancy in movements across the colonized world. Alongside came the retrieval and animation of indigenous culture as an important vehicle of national self expression and thus of resistance to the colonial exclusion of the native as uncouth, uncivilized inarticulate and irrational. The nationalist leaders and intellectuals like Gandhi and Nehru in India, fanons in Algeria and Came Markham in Ghana, helped define the major ideologies of postcolonial liberation.They shaped some of the definitive concepts of postcolonial studies, as later interpreted in the works of Edward Said. They understood the anti-colonial struggle as a Mechanical, or binary, conflict of us against them, of self versus ‘other'. The binary between the so-called rational, superior colonial self and the barbarism and irrationality indicated by everything that was not-self or ‘other' was to be repudiated wholesale. It was not Just to be turned upside down, b ut also destroyed. The chains of oppression were to be obliterated and not simply filed down.If natives or others were always seen as secondary figures, imperfect replicas of the colonizer, wearers of borrowed cultural rags; if native society was invariably represented as disorderly or ethically degenerate; it was important that they remake themselves from scratch. It was essential that they reconstitute their identity on their own terms, that they Initialized, Africanize, or Caribbean themselves. They effectively needed to give birth to a new identity, to peak in a language that was chosen, not imposed. The liberation struggle involved a tripartite process.It led from attempted cultural assimilation with the colonizers, the first stage, through attempts at political reform, sometimes of an intensively radical kind, as in demands for self -help and self-representation, the second stage. But if the colonial state proved intransigent, as it so often did, from this phase of forceful se lf-assertion developed a possible third stage; outright militant resistance. As Robbing wrote , conditions could arise where ‘national life' had to become ‘perforce a national assault'.

A Dirty Job Chapter 9

9 THE DRAGON, THE BEAR, AND THE FISH In the hallway of the third floor of Charlie's building, a meeting was going on between the great powers of Asia: Mrs. Ling and Mrs. Korjev. Mrs. Ling, by holding Sophie, had the strategic advantage, while Mrs. Korjev, who was fully twice the size of Mrs. Ling, possessed the threat of massive retaliatory force. What they had in common, besides being widows and immigrants, was a deep love for little Sophie, a precarious grasp on the English language, and a passionate lack of confidence in Charlie Asher's ability to raise his daughter alone. â€Å"He is angry when he leave today. Like bear,† said Mrs. Korjev, who was possessed of an atavistic compulsion toward ursine simile. â€Å"He say no poke,† said Mrs. Ling, who limited herself to English verbs in the present tense only, as a devotion to her Chan Buddhist beliefs, or so she claimed. â€Å"Who give poke to baby?† â€Å"Pork is good for child. Make her grow strong,† said Mrs. Korjev, who then quickly added, â€Å"like bear.† â€Å"He say it turn her into shih tzu. Shih tzu is dog. What kind father think little girl turn into dog?† Mrs. Ling was especially protective of little girls, as she had grown up in a province of China where each morning a man with a cart came around to collect the bodies of baby girls who had been born during the night and hurled into the street. She was lucky that her own mother had spirited her away to the fields and refused to come home until the new daughter was accepted as part of the family. â€Å"Not shih tzu,† corrected Mrs. Korjev. â€Å"Shiksa.† â€Å"Okay, shiksa. Dog is dog,† said Mrs. Ling. â€Å"Is irresponsible.† Not once was the letter r heard in Mrs. Ling's pronunciation of irresponsible. â€Å"Is Yiddish word for not a Jew girl. Rachel is Jew, you know.† Mrs. Korjev, unlike most of the Russian immigrants left in the neighborhood, was not a Jew. Her people had come from the steppes of Russia, and she was, in fact, descended from Cossacks – not generally considered a Hebrew-friendly race. She atoned for the sins of her ancestors by being ferociously protective (not unlike a mother bear) of Rachel, and now Sophie. â€Å"The flowers need water today,† said Mrs. Korjev. At the end of the hallway was a large bay window that looked out on the building across the street and a window box full of red geraniums. On afternoons, the two great Asian powers would stand in the hallway, admire the flowers, talk of the cost of things, and complain about the increasing discomfort of their shoes. Neither dared start her own window box of geraniums, lest it appear that she had stolen the idea from across the street, and in the process set off an escalating window-box competition that could ultimately end in bloodshed. They agreed, tacitly, to admire – but not covet – the red flowers. Mrs. Korjev liked the very redness of them. She had always been angry that the Communists had co-opted that color, for otherwise it would have evoked an unbridled happiness in her. Then again, the Russian soul, conditioned by a thousand years of angst, really wasn't equipped for unbridled happiness, so it was probably for the best. Mrs. Ling was also taken with the red of the geraniums, for in her cosmology that color represented good fortune, prosperity, and long life. The very gates of the temples were painted that same color red, and so the red flowers represented one of the many paths to wu – eternity, enlightenment – essentially, the universe in a flower. She also thought that they would taste pretty good in soup. Sophie had only recently discovered color, and the red splashes against the gray shiplap was enough to put a toothless smile on her little face. So the three were staring into the joy of red flowers when the black bird hit the window, throwing a great spiderweb crack around it. But rather than fall away, the bird seemed to leak into the very crack, and spread, like black ink, across the window and in, onto the walls of the hallway. And the great powers of Asia fled to the stairway. Charlie was rubbing his left wrist where the plastic bag had been tied around it. â€Å"What, did your mother name you after a mouthwash ad?† Mr. Fresh, looking somewhat vulnerable for a man of his size, said, â€Å"Toothpaste, actually.† â€Å"Really?† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"Sorry, I didn't know,† Charlie said. â€Å"You could have changed it, right?† â€Å"Mr. Asher, you can resist who you are for only so long. Finally you decide to just go with fate. For me that has involved being black, being seven feet tall – yet not in the NBA – being named Minty Fresh, and being recruited as a Death Merchant.† He raised an eyebrow as if accusing Charlie. â€Å"I have learned to accept and embrace all of those things.† â€Å"I thought you were going to say gay,† Charlie said. â€Å"What? A man doesn't have to be gay to dress in mint green.† Charlie considered Mr. Fresh's mint-green suit – made from seersucker and entirely too light for the season – and felt a strange affinity for the refreshingly-named Death Merchant. Although he didn't know it, Charlie was recognizing the signs of another Beta Male. (Of course there are gay Betas: the Beta Male boyfriend is highly prized in the gay community because you can teach him how to dress yet you can remain relatively certain that he will never develop a fashion sense or be more fabulous than you.) Charlie said, â€Å"I suppose you're right, Mr. Fresh. I'm sorry if I made assumptions. My apologies.† â€Å"That's okay,† said Mr. Fresh. â€Å"But you really should go.† â€Å"No, I still don't understand, how do I know who the souls go to? I mean, after this happened, there were all kinds of soul vessels in my store I hadn't even known about. How do I know I didn't sell them to someone who already had one? What if someone has a set?† â€Å"That can't happen. At least as far as we know. Look, you'll just know. Take my word for it. When people are ready to receive the soul, they get it. Have you ever studied any of the Eastern religions?† â€Å"I live in Chinatown,† said Charlie, and although that was technically kinda-sorta true, he knew how to say exactly three things in Mandarin: Good day; light starch, please; and I am an ignorant white devil, all taught to him by Mrs. Ling. He believed the last to translate to â€Å"top of the morning to you.† â€Å"Let me rephrase that, then,† said Mr. Fresh. â€Å"Have you ever studied any of the Eastern religions?† â€Å"Oh, Eastern religions,† Charlie said, pretending he had just misinterpreted the question before. â€Å"Just Discovery Channel stuff – you know, Buddha, Shiva, Gandalf – the biggies.† â€Å"You understand the concept of karma? How unresolved lessons are re-presented to you in another life.† â€Å"Yes, of course. Duh.† Charlie rolled his eyes. â€Å"Well, think of yourself as a soul reassignment agent. We are agents of karma.† â€Å"Secret agents,† Charlie said wistfully. â€Å"Well, I hope it goes without saying,† said Mr. Fresh, â€Å"that you can't tell anyone what you are, so yes, I suppose we are secret agents of karma. We hold a soul until a person is ready to receive it.† Charlie shook his head as if trying to clear water from his ears. â€Å"So if someone walks into my store and buys a soul vessel, until then they've been going through life without a soul? That's awful.† â€Å"Really?† said Minty Fresh. â€Å"Do you know if you have a soul?† â€Å"Of course I do.† â€Å"Why do you say that?† â€Å"Because I'm me.† Charlie tapped his chest. â€Å"Here I am.† â€Å"That's just a personality,† said Minty, â€Å"and barely one. You could be an empty vessel, and you'd never know the difference. You may not have reached a point in life where you are ready to receive your soul.† â€Å"Huh?† â€Å"Your soul may be more evolved than you are right now. If a kid fails tenth grade, do you make him repeat grades K through nine?† â€Å"No, I guess not.† â€Å"No, you just make him start over at the beginning of tenth grade. Well, it's the same with souls. They only ascend. A person gets a soul when they can carry it to the next level, when they are ready to learn the next lesson.† â€Å"So if I sell one of those glowing objects to someone, they've been going through life without a soul?† â€Å"That's my theory,† said Minty Fresh. â€Å"I've read a lot on this subject over the years. Texts from every culture and religion, and this explains it better than anything else I can come up with.† â€Å"Then it's not all in the book you sent.† â€Å"That's just the practical instructions. There's no explanations. It's Dick-and-Jane simple. It says to get a calendar and put it next to your bed and the names will come to you. It doesn't tell you how you will find them, or what the object is, just that you have to find them. Get a day planner. That's what I use.† â€Å"But what about the number? When I would find a name written next to the bed, there was always a number next to it.† Mr. Fresh nodded and grinned a little sheepishly. â€Å"That's how many days you'll have to retrieve the soul vessel.† â€Å"You mean it's how long before the person dies? I don't want to know that.† â€Å"No, not how long before the person dies, how long you have to retrieve the vessel, how many days are left. I've been looking at this for a long time, and the number is never above forty-nine. I thought that might be significant, so I started looking for it in literature about death and dying. Forty-nine days just happens to be the number of days of bardo, the term used in the Tibetan Book of the Dead for the transition between life and death. Somehow, we Death Merchants are the medium for moving these souls, but we have to get there within the forty-nine days, that's my theory, anyway. Don't be surprised sometimes if the person has been dead for weeks before you get his name. You still have the number of days left in bardo to get the soul vessel.† â€Å"And if I don't make it in time?† Charlie asked. Minty Fresh shook his head dolefully. â€Å"Shades, ravens, dark shit rising from the Underworld – who knows? Thing is, you have to find it in time. And you will.† â€Å"How, if there's no address or instructions, like ‘it's under the mat.'† â€Å"Sometimes – most of the time, in fact – they come to you. Circumstances line up.† Charlie thought about the stunning redhead bringing him the silver cigarette case. â€Å"You said sometimes?† Fresh shrugged. â€Å"Sometimes you have to really search, find the person, go to their house – once I even hired a detective to help me find someone, but that started to bring the voices. You can tell if you're getting close by checking to see if people notice you.† â€Å"But I have to make a living. I have a kid – â€Å" â€Å"You'll do that, too, Charlie. The money comes as part of the job. You'll see.† Charlie did see. He had seen already: the Mainheart estate clothing – he'd make tens of thousands on it if he got it. â€Å"Now you have to go,† said Minty Fresh. He held out his hand to shake and a grin cut his face like a crescent moon in the night sky. Charlie took the tall man's hand, his own hand disappearing into the Death Merchant's grip. â€Å"I'm still sure I have questions. Can I call you?† â€Å"No,† said the mint one. â€Å"Okay, then, I'm going now,† Charlie said, not really moving. â€Å"Completely at the mercy of forces of the Underworld and stuff.† â€Å"You take care,† said Minty Fresh. â€Å"No idea what the hell I'm doing,† Charlie went on, taking tentative baby steps toward the door. â€Å"The weight of all of humanity on my shoulders.† â€Å"Yeah, make sure you stretch in the morning,† said the big man. â€Å"By the way,† Charlie said, out of rhythm with his whining, â€Å"are you gay?† â€Å"What I am,† said Minty Fresh, â€Å"is alone. Completely and entirely.† â€Å"Okay,† Charlie said. â€Å"I'm sorry.† â€Å"It's okay. I'm sorry I smacked you in the head.† Charlie nodded, grabbed his sword-cane from behind the counter, and walked out of Fresh Music into an overcast San Francisco day. Well, he wasn't exactly Death, but he wasn't Santa's helper, either. It didn't really matter that no one would believe him even if he told them. Death Merchant seemed a little dire, but he liked the idea of being a secret agent. An agent of KARMA – Karma Assessment Reassignment Murder and Ass – okay, he could work on the acronym later, but a secret agent nevertheless. Actually, although he didn't know it, Charlie was well suited to be a secret agent. Because they function below the radar, Beta Males make excellent spies. Not the â€Å"James Bond, Aston Martin with missiles, boning the beautiful Russian rocket scientist on an ermineskin bedspread† sort of spy – more the â€Å"bad comb-over, deep-cover bureaucrat fishing coffee-sodden documents out of a Dumpster† spy. His overt nonthreateningness allows him access to places and people that are closed to the Alpha Male, wearing his testosterone on his sleeve. The Beta male can, in fact, be dangerous, not so much in the â€Å"Jet Li entire body is a deadly weapon† way but more in the â€Å"drunk on the riding mower making a Luke Skywalker assault on the toolshed† sort of way. So, as Charlie headed for the streetcar stop on Market Street, he mentally tried on his new persona as a secret agent, and was feeling pretty good about it, when, as he passed a storm drain, he heard a female voice whisper harshly, â€Å"We'll get the little one. You'll see, fresh Meat. We'll have her soon.† As soon as Charlie walked into his store from the alley, Lily bolted into the back room to meet him. â€Å"That cop was here again. That guy died. Did you kill him?† To the machine-gun update she added, â€Å"Uh, sir?† Then she saluted, curtsied, then did a praying-hands Japanese bow thing. Charlie was thrown by all of it, coming as it did when he was in a panic about his daughter and had just driven across town like a madman. He was sure the gestures of respect were just some dark cover-up for a favor or a misdeed, or, as often was the case, the teenager was messing with him. So he sat down on one of the high hardwood stools near the desk and said, â€Å"Cop? Guy? ‘Splain, please. And I didn't kill anyone.† Lily took a deep breath. â€Å"That cop that was by here the other day came back. Turns out that guy you went up to see in Pacific Heights last week† – she looked at something she had written on her arm in red ink – â€Å"Michael Mainheart, killed himself. And he left a note to you. Saying that you were to take his and his wife's clothes and sell them at the market rate. And then he wrote† – and here she again referred to her ink-stained arm – â€Å"‘What about â€Å"I just want to die† did you not understand?'† Lily looked up. â€Å"That's what he said after I gave him CPR the other day,† Charlie said. â€Å"So, did you kill him? Or whatever you call it. You can tell me.† She curtsied again, which disturbed Charlie more than somewhat. He'd long ago defined his relationship with Lily as being built on a strong base of affectionate contempt, and this was throwing everything off. â€Å"No, I did not kill him. What kind of question is that?† â€Å"Did you kill the guy with the cigarette case?† â€Å"No! I never even saw that guy.† â€Å"You realize that I am your trusted minion,† Lily said, this time adding another bow. â€Å"Lily, what the hell is wrong with you?† â€Å"Nothing. There's nothing wrong at all, Mr. Asher – uh, Charles. Do you prefer Charles or Charlie?† â€Å"You're asking now? What else did the cop say?† â€Å"He wanted to talk to you. I guess they found that Mainheart guy dressed in his wife's clothing. He hadn't been home from the hospital for an hour before he sent the nurse away, got all cross-dressed up, then took a handful of painkillers.† Charlie nodded, thinking about how adamant Mainheart had been about having his wife's clothes out of the house. He was using any way he could to feel close to her, and it wasn't working. And when wearing her clothes didn't put him closer, he'd gone after her the only way he knew how, by joining her in death. Charlie understood. If it hadn't been for Sophie, he might have tried to join Rachel. â€Å"Pretty kinky, huh?† Lily said. â€Å"No!† Charlie barked. â€Å"No it's not, Lily. It's not like that at all. Don't even think that. Mr. Mainheart died of grief. It might look like something else, but that's what it was.† â€Å"Sorry,† Lily said. â€Å"You're the expert.† Charlie was staring at the floor, trying to put some sense to it all, wondering if his losing the fur coat that was Mrs. Mainheart's soul vessel meant that the couple would never be together again. Because of him. â€Å"Oh yeah,† Lily added. â€Å"Mrs. Ling called down all freaked out and yelling all Chinesey about a black bird smashing the window – â€Å" Charlie was off the stool and taking the stairs two at a time. â€Å"She's in your apartment,† Lily called after him. There was an orange slick of TV attorneys floating on the top of the fishbowl when Charlie got to his apartment. The Asian powers were standing in his kitchen, Mrs. Korjev was holding Sophie tight to her chest, and the infant was virtually swimming, trying to escape the giant marshmallowy canyon of protection between the massive Cossack fun bags. Charlie snatched his daughter as she was sinking into the cleavage for the third time and held her tight. â€Å"What happened?† he asked. There followed a barrage of Chinese and Russian mixed with the odd English word: bird, window, broken, black, and make shit on myself. â€Å"Stop!† Charlie held up a free hand. â€Å"Mrs. Ling, what happened?† Mrs. Ling had recovered from the bird hitting the window and the mad dash down the steps, but she was now showing an uncharacteristic shyness, afraid that Charlie might notice the damp spot in the pocket of her frock where the recently deceased Barnaby Jones lay orangely awaiting introduction to some wonton, green onions, a pinch of five spices, and her soup pot. â€Å"Fish is fish,† she said to herself when she squirreled that rascal away. There were, after all, five more dead attorneys in the bowl, who would miss one? â€Å"Oh, nothing,† said Mrs. Ling. â€Å"Bird break window and scare us. Not so bad now.† Charlie looked to Mrs. Korjev. â€Å"Where?† â€Å"On our floor. We are talking in hall. Speaking of what is best for Sophie, when boom, bird hits window and black ink run through window. We run here and lock door.† Both the widows had keys to Charlie's apartment. â€Å"I'll have it fixed tomorrow,† Charlie said. â€Å"But that's all. Nothing – no one came in?† â€Å"Is third floor, Charlie. No one comes in.† Charlie looked to the fishbowl. â€Å"What happened there?† Mrs. Ling's eyes went wide. â€Å"I have to go. Mah-jongg night at temple.† â€Å"We come in, lock door,† explained Mrs. Korjev. â€Å"Fish are fine. Put Sophie in car seat like always we are doing, then go look in hallway for coast to be clear. When Mrs. Ling look back, fish are dead.† â€Å"Not me! Is Russian who see dead fish,† said Mrs. Ling. â€Å"It's okay,† Charlie said. â€Å"Did you see any birds, anything dark in the apartment?† The two women shook their heads. â€Å"Only upstairs,† Mrs. Ling said. â€Å"Let's go look,† Charlie said, moving Sophie to his hip and picking up his sword-cane. He led the two women to the little elevator, did a quick assessment of Mrs. Korjev's size versus the cubic footage, and led them up the stairs. When he saw the broken bay window he felt a little weak in the knees. It wasn't so much the window, it was what was on the roof across the street. Refracted a thousand times in the spiderwebbed safety glass was the shadow of a woman that was cast on the building. He handed the baby to Mrs. Korjev, approached the window, and knocked a hole in the glass to see better. As he did, the shadow slid down the side of the building, across the sidewalk, and into the storm drain next to where a dozen tourists had just disembarked from a cable car. None of them appeared to have seen anything. It was just past one and the sun was casting shadows nearly straight down. He looked back at the two windows. â€Å"Did you see that?† â€Å"You mean break window?† Mrs. Ling said, slowly approaching the window and peering through the hole Charlie had made. â€Å"Oh no.† â€Å"What? What?† Mrs. Ling looked back at Mrs. Korjev. â€Å"You are right. Flowers need water.† Charlie looked through the hole in the window and saw that Mrs. Ling was referring to a window box full of dead, black geraniums. â€Å"Safety bars on all the windows. Tomorrow,† Charlie said. Not far away, as the crow flies, under Columbus Avenue, in a wide pipe junction where several storm sewers met, Orcus, the Ancient One, paced, bent over like a hunchback, the heavy spikes that jutted from his shoulders scraping the sides of the pipe, throwing off sparks and the smell of smoldering peat. â€Å"You're going to fuck up your spikes if you keep pacing like that,† said Babd. She was crouched in one of the smaller pipes to the side, next to her sisters, Nemain and Macha. Except for Nemain, who was beginning to show a gunmetal relief of bird feathers over her body, they were devoid of depth; flat absences of light, absolute black even in the gloom filtering down through the storm grates – shadows, silhouettes, really – the darker ancestors of the modern mud-flap girls. Shades: delicate and female and fierce. â€Å"Sit. Have a snack. What good to take the Above if you look like hell in the end?† Orcus growled and spun on the Morrigan, the three. â€Å"Too long out of the air! Too long.† From the basket on his belt he hooked a human skull on one of his claws, popped it in his mouth, and crunched down on it. The Morrigan laughed, sounding like wind through the pipes, pleased that he was enjoying their gift. They'd spent much of the day under San Francisco's graveyards digging out the skulls (Orcus liked them decoffinated) and polishing off the dirt and detritus until they shone like bone china. â€Å"We flew,† said Nemain. She took a moment to admire the blue-black feather shapes on her surface. â€Å"Above,† she added unnecessarily. â€Å"They are everywhere, like cherries waiting to be stolen.† â€Å"Not stolen,† said Orcus. â€Å"You think like a crow. They are ours for the taking.† â€Å"Oh yeah, well, where were you? I got these.† The shade held up William Creek's umbrella in one hand and the fur jacket she'd ripped away from Charlie Asher in the other. They still glowed red, but were rapidly dimming. â€Å"Because of these, I was Above. I flew.† When no one reacted, Nemain added, â€Å"Above.† â€Å"I flew, too,† said Babd timidly. â€Å"A little.† She was a tad self-conscious that she'd manifested no feather patterns or dimension. Orcus hung his great head. The Morrigan moved to his side and began stroking the long spikes that had once been wings. â€Å"We will all be Above, soon,† said Macha. â€Å"This new one doesn't know what he is doing. He will make it so we can all be Above. Look how far we've come – and we are so close now. Two Above in such a short time. This New Meat, this ignorant one, he may be all we need.† Orcus lifted his bull-like head and grinned, revealing a sawmill of teeth. â€Å"They will be like fruit for the picking.† â€Å"See,† said Nemain. â€Å"Like I said. Did you know that Above you can see really far? Miles. And the wonderful smells. I never realized how damp and musty it is down here. Is there any reason that we can't have a window?† â€Å"Shut up!† growled Orcus. â€Å"Jeez, bite my head off, why don't you.† â€Å"Don't tease,† said the bullheaded Death. He rose and led the other Deaths, the Morrigan, down the pipe toward the financial district, to the buried Gold Rush ship where they made their home.