Apple's Loyal Customer Base Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Apple's Loyal Customer Base - Assignment Example The researcher states that Apple’s product lines mainly include the iPod and iTunes, desktop and laptop computers, the revolutionary iPad and iPhone, and the OS X operating system. The company’s main competitors are Microsoft, Sony, Dell, Acer, Samsung, Toshiba, Nokia, and HTC. As of 2011, the organization has 364 retail stores across 13 countries. As scholars point out, a well-developed business model, competitive products, an innovative marketing strategy, and a potential operational model constitute the key elements affecting Apple’s overall corporate strategy. The company organizes workshop programmes and promotes other personal customer relationship practices like e-mails and surveys as part of building a long-term relationship with its customers. This paper will discuss various strategies used by Apple to enhance its customer communication practices and drive customer relationship management effectively. Target marketing to build customer relations As of 20 11 data, Apple operates in 13 countries including United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, and Sweden. Majority of these countries are economically developed, and the remaining are rapidly emerging economies. In terms of geographic targeting, Apple focuses on market segments like cities where the density of people is very high. In addition, the organization gives specific attention to geographic market segments that have a well-developed infrastructure. By following such a geographic targeting approach, the firm tries to enhance the easy flow of raw materials and labor. In terms of demographic segmentation, Apple mainly focuses on young people and business executives, because most of the Apple products offer extensive and innovative features that may not be appealing to a middle-aged or senior person. In addition, Apple particularly targets high-income groups while dividing its market segments on the bas is of demography. To illustrate, Nokia and Samsung are major competitors of Apple in the smartphones market. Relative to Nokia or Samsung products, Apple’s smartphones are very costly as the company does not consider the needs of low-income people much. The company also practices psychological or behavioral segmentation approaches effectively. Referring to a report by Jaques, many of the people consider Apple as a luxury brand and hence they are willing to buy Apple products regardless of the prices in order to increase their social status. With the intent to take advantages of this favorable condition, Apple’s management designs and sets prices for products particularly for high-class social groups. In addition, the company identifies the potential market for a planned product in advance by exploring the psychological needs and requirements of customers effectively. For instance, Apple’s management identified the music sector as the broad market for its iPod be fore even the company began the product research or development process. Customer communications Apple gives great significance to customer communications as the company extremely values customer suggestions and feedbacks. A company uses various traditional and modern communication channels to be in line with changing customer tastes and preferences. Apple uses many ways to collect their customer information.

Types of data sources Essay Example for Free

Types of data sources Essay 1. Evaluate relevant sources of data and information and discuss the criteria for selection of data and information. There are several different types of data sources for example there are primary sources of data which would be original documents, original research studies (peer reviewed), case studies. Secondary data is data collected from someone other than the user for example a biography of an individual would be secondary data compared to the person’s auto biography. There is also tertiary data which is a combination of both primary and secondary sources of data. Relevant sources of information tend to be sources that are reliable and credible. There are two basic types of information which are quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative information is expressed in figures which will answer questions such as, how likely? How long? How many? Etc. Qualitative information expresses information that cannot be measured in a numerical formation and answers questions such as How? Why? What? For example the quantitative data of a product would tell the user the diameters of the product, how much the product weighs etc. This information would be useful for say the packaging department but to the advertising department this information would only have so much use they would need qualitative data about said product in order for them to sell it Joint and by product costing – There are different methods to allocate costs within a production process for example a process may produce three different products x y and z, the costs for this process would be allocated to each individual product based on the amount of each product that is produced in one run of this process and the costs may be allocated in different ways such as weight produced or the net realisable value (selling price) of each product and apportioned this way. The mos t appropriate method of cost allocation will inform management which product or products are generating a profit or a loss and this information would be used to make decisions as to continue certain processes of products. Variance analysis of costs i.e the difference between actual expenditure and budgeted expenditure, would generate quantitative data such as the differences between the two figures however it would not example HOW this happened so without the qualitative data on HOW this happened giving management more useful information to work with to improve the adverse variances . The criteria for the selection of data and information would be as to whether it is relevant, reliable, The rational model proposes that people follow a rational, four step sequence when making decisions. The four steps are: * Indentifying the problem * Generating solutions * Selecting a solution * Implementing and evaluating the solution The normative model suggests that decision making is characterised by; * Limited information processing there is a limit to how much information a person can manage. * Judgemental heuristics shortcuts are used to simplify decision making. * Satisfying choosing solutions that meet minimum requirements and are good enough 3 – Evaluate methods of communicating decisions made and discuss the processes for implementing and evaluating a communication method Oral Communication: Oral communication could be said to be the most used form of communication. Whether it is to present some important data to your colleagues or lead a boardroom meeting, these skills are vital. We are constantly using words verbally to inform our subordinates of a decision, provide information, and so on. This is done either by phone or face-to-face. The person on the receiving end would also need to exercise much caution to ensure that he/she clearly understands what is being said. This shows therefore, that you would need to cultivate both your listening and speaking skills, as you would have to carry out both roles in the workplace, with different people. Written Communication:Â  Writing is used when you have to provide detailed information such as figures and facts, even while giving a presentation. It is also generally used to send documents and other important material to stakeholders, which could then be stored for later use as it can be referred to easily as it is recorded. Other important documents such as contracts, memos, and minutes of meetings are also in written form for this purpose. It can be seen in recent years however, that verbal communication has been replaced to a great extent by a faster form of written communication, and that is email. You could also use videoconferencing and multiple way phone calls with several individuals simultaneously. Apart from a few glitches that could occur, these methods of communication have helped organizations come a long way. Body Language: Although the most common methods of communication are carried out orally or in writing, when it comes to management techniques, the power of non-verbal communication must never be underestimated. Your smile, your gestures and several other body movements send out a message to the people around you. You need to be mindful of this while dealing with your employees and customers. Always remember to maintain eye contact. This would show that you are serious and confident about what is being said.

Essay --

I am an Armenian, through my veins flows the clear blood of my ancients. We live on a small piece of land called Armenia. My country comes from the ancient times, it is too old and at the same time too young with its independence. I am the inheritor of the Seven, Yerevan, the Aragats, Garni, Ejmiatsin and finally the inheritor of my dear Vanadzor. Vanadzor is a mountain town of unparalleled beauty, realm of forest-covered mountains, of dizzy gorges and bubbling rivers. Vanadzor was greatly damaged during the1988 earthquake. At that time a lot of people came to help us. Though I am eighteen I remember stories about that earthquake told by my parents and grandparents and I also remember the citizens that came to help us. Among them were Garbachov, Eltsin and many other people from all over the world. They were really global citizens. It is unforgettable the deeds done by them. Here we can say that they are respected not only for their personality but as well as their deeds. As we know a citizen is a person who has legal rights in a country. We are all citizens in our countries, but there are citizens whom we can call global. As for me in the range of global citizens the first ones are the people who have the Nobel Prize for peace. I want to mention about a woman called Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu). I feel a great respect to this woman and also great respect for her deeds as it is unforgettable and will remain in the memories of generations forever. I should say that she had a too difficult life as her father died and left them in poorness. At the age of 18 she left her parental home and went to an Irish community of nuns. After a few months of training Mother Teresa went to India and took her initial vows as a ... ...ove the life of homeless children charges with the energy and hope for achieving my destination. I am still a teenager and have a lot of things to learn. I know that first of all I must be a good citizen for my country as I know that my nation tried to decline the right of its independence from the first moment of our history and our generation is to keep and improve everything we have. I think that a man must live his life so that he could add at least a bit amount of colour and sense to his life and what is more to the lives of others’ in order to keep truth, joy and meaning in every minute of his life. Now I look back and realize that all the volunteering programs where I took part were just a little sheet of paper from the book I must fulfill, but I do hope that one day I would have done something for society and will be glad and a little proud of my past!

The Constant

â€Å"The Constant† is an episode from the fourth of six seasons of the critically acclaimed drama series, Lost, which aired on the American Broadcasting Company between September 2004 and May 2010. The initial opening of Lost begins with a plane crash on a deserted island. Throughout the extent of the series, the survivors of the crash are challenged by fear of the unknown island, desperation for food and water, and most importantly, each other.The deserted island in which the series takes place is not Just any island – that is, it is not able to be found by anyone living outside of it – and once the characters are iving there, they essentially have no way out. They are trapped, and can be found by no one. There is a mysterious group of civilians who are called â€Å"The Others† living on the island when Oceanic flight 81 5 crashes.This group of â€Å"Others† is part of the scientific research organization called the â€Å"Dharma Initiative† which has placed several stations at differing locations on the island, a sequence of numbers that seems to appear in lives of characters from the past, present, and future and personal connections among characters of which they are unaware. The main character of focus in the episode â€Å"The Constant† is Desmond Hume, a man who was captured on the island long before Oceanic flight 81 5 crashed.He is residing in the hatch, an underground room that supposedly releases an electromagnetic charge to prevent a large buildup of electromagnetic energy. Desmond is forced by the means of survival to punch numbers into a computer for several years, told that if he refuses to punch the numbers the world as he knows it will come to an end. At one point, Desmond misses the timer on the computer and does not punch in the numbers on time. As a result, a massive electromagnetic field is released, attracting all metal object to the hatch, and consequentially causing Oceanic flight 815 to cr ash on the island.Desmond manages to stop and therefore safely disperse the electromagnetism by punching the code into the computer after it hits zero, but is too late to prevent the plane from crashing. By season four, Desmond has already begun to interact with the survivors on the island. In the previous season, Charlie, another survivor from the Oceanic 81 5 crash, had come into contact with Desmond's old girlfriend Penny, and informs Desmond hat a boat which a woman by the name of Naomi had brought to the island, did not in fact belong to Penny as Naomi had claimed.Charlie then drowns, leaving Desmond with several unanswered questions. Realizing that Naomi's story is false, Desmond gets on a helicopter with Sayid and Frank to fly to the freight. As the helicopter flies through a storm, Desmond begins to have flashbacks of a familiar reality to his past in 1996 before his life on the island. Shifting back and forth between the past and the present forces Desmond to lose all memor y of the island and Sayid, who is accompanying him on the helicopter.Sayid's concern leads him to contact Daniel Faraday, a man on the island from the freighter, in order to receive some kind of answer to what Desmond is experiencing. Daniel explains that what Desmond is experiencing is actually a form of time travel, and explains to Desmond that when he reverts back to 1996 again, he needs to find Daniel at Oxford University and seek out his help. Here, Daniel performs a test on his pet rat, Eloise, and realizes that Desmond is experiencing a shift of consciousness through time travel.Eloise dies within less than two hours due to the stress to her brain. Daniel informs Desmond that in order to stop the time travel, he must find a ‘constant', something that exists in both 1996 and 2004, the present year. A man strapped to a bed on the freighter by the name of Minkowski is experiencing the same consciousness travel as Desmond but for a longer period of time, and due to the high stress once again caused by the time travel, and the fact that he is unable to find a constant, Minkowski also dies.Frightened, Desmond chooses Penny to be his constant and realizes that in order to fulfill it, he must acquire Penny's phone number and call her from the freighter on December 24, 2004, that day. When Desmond travels back in time once again to 1996, he finds Penny angry and unwilling to speak to him, but explains himself and pleads, saying he needs her phone number and promises not to call for eight years. With the help of Sayid, Desmond uses a phone located on the freighter to call Penny and finds out she has been searching for him for the past three years and she knows about the island.Back on the island, Daniel is searching through his old Journal in which he wrote notes during his time at Oxford, and found an old not he had written, â€Å"If nything goes wrong, Desmond Hume is my constant. † This episode of Lost is an excellent work and is full of several a rtistic and technical hallmarks, some of which are displayed best in the physical and emotional pain Desmond experiences through his time travel between 1996 and 2004. It is obvious throughout the episode until the end that Desmond is having many difficulties controlling his actions due to the fact that he is unable to control when his body switches between the two years.In 1996, he wants to obey his sergeant major's commands when he is in the army, but his consciousness is reacting in ways he is nable to control and he is therefore unable to fulfill any of his responsibilities. Desmond's lack of concentration causes the sergeant major to become so angry that he forces all of the army men to complete extra physical labor. Desmond then leaves to find Daniel Faraday and is again unable to control his conscious actions. He is desperate to find an answer to what is happening to him, and begs Daniel for his help.Desmond witnesses Minkowski die on the freighter due to the same problems he himself is having, and recognizes that if he does not find a constant, he will soon die. When Desmond needs to find Penny to be his constant, he again experiences great frustration because she is initially unwilling to speak to him. However, when she finally gives in and offers Desmond her phone number, Desmond returns to 2004 and immediately calls her to find that she has been searching for him for three years. The episode then presents to the viewer a glimpse of Desmond again in 1996, where he is smiling with gratitude.Harmony is present once Desmond is able to connect with Penny and he is finally able to complete his mission and bring an end to the once unstoppable and unwanted time travelling experiences. The Constant† is not harmonious until this point in the episode, when Desmond realizes that his long-lost love is searching for him and knows about the island. This also represents an element ot ‘Lite and Death' because when Desmond witnesses Minkowski's realizes i t is absolutely necessary to find a constant in order to survive. Both the acting and cinematography in this episode as well as in the entire series is incredible.It is a turning point in the series because it introduced time travel as no longer a question in the world of Lost, but an actual that is definitely possible. This lone answered several questions for the viewer. The episode explained why Desmond lost his memory and why time travel occurs; and new, important characters are introduced as well. Faraday is notably in this episode one of the most important characters because he is able to explain the time travel Desmond is experiencing – and how to stop it – and seems to understand the island better than anyone else.

Business ethics Essay

It is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in business environment. It applies to all aspect of business and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire organization. Ethics is mainly concerned with what is good versus bad, what is right versus wrong. Deontology is an ethical theory that holds that actions are right or wrong independent of their consequences. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that holds that actions are right if they produce the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. Corporate social responsibility is the obligation towards the society assumed by business. The business maximizes its positive effects on society and minimizes and its negative effects. An illustration of of an ethical and social responsibility issue related to the textile manufacturing business. In today’s global business where large multinational corporations like the textile industry face charges of violating human rights in third world countries. Using child labor questions the human rights, ethics and social responsibility of the textile manufacturing industry. An analysis of how the textile manufacturing illustration applies to decision making and operations in an ethical and social responsible business. The economic responsibilities of business would produce products that society wants at a price that perpetuates the textile business. The textile manufacturing business decides on legal responsibilities where the obey local state federal and global laws. The textile manufacturing business makes decision based on their ethical responsibilities of meeting other societal expectation written or not written by law. Ethical obligations are a set of â€Å"ought to† standards that define a moral course of action and draw a line between right and wrong. Although ethical obligations in business share similarities with legal rules and regulations in determining how a business conduct itself while striving to make profit and achieve strategic company goals. Ethical obligations are really more about discretionary decisions value guided behavior. For example respecting the religious sentiments and dignity of people while advertising for a product. Legal obligations every business has a responsibility to operate within the laws of the land. Since these laws are meant for the good of the society, a law abiding enterprise is a socially responsible enterprise as well Scope and objectives The scope of ethics indicates its subject matter. Ethics as normative science deals with moral ideal or the good in order to enquire the nature of our conduct. It enquires into the nature of the springs of action, motives, intentions, and voluntary actions and so on. It determines rightness or wrongness of human action. As a science of morality ethics discusses the contents of moral consciousness and the various problems of moral consciousness. Ethics is concerned with the highest good or absolute good. It investigates the nature of its fundamental notions that is right, duty and good. It includes whatever has reference to free human acts, weather as principle or cause of action or as effect or circumstance of action (merit, punishment etc. ) Ethics discuss the nature of human freedom . ethics investigates what constitutes good or bad, just or unjust. It also enquires into what is virtue, law, conscience and duty? What obligations are common to all? What is good in all good acts? These questions lie within the scope of ethics. Objectives: Some of the most common ethical obligations in business relate to recruiting and hiring staff, maintaining safe and healthy work environment use business resources wisely and avoiding situations that have the potential to create a conflict of interest, such as accepting gifts from suppliers or making a hiring decisions not because the applicant has the best qualifications but because the applicant is a relative of the business owner. It also includes considering how and where suppliers get their products and weather to sell the products that are detrimental to the health of customers such as cigarettes and fatty foods.

suk essays

suk essays Music Music has inspired me through many different vibrations. To be specific, the list includes lyrically, musically, politically-socially. Songs have lyrics. Lyrics are words and words carry energy. It is important that we understand where that energy is going. Lyrics are powerful in meanings. Human beings relate to each other through words. As a musician, I let go of my brain and let the messages carry on. Music helps me to tune into a larger source of notes. It makes me to spread my ideas and thoughts. That is where creativity comes into play. Listening and creating at the same time is an example of lyrical inspiration. Music especially jazz and Hip-Hop have been my focus. My passion has been defining words and discovering word challenges, collaborated with drums and jazz samples over a track. When I listen to my favorite artists lyrics, we connect from different perspectives of communication. Suddenly, we become one nation. Are existence becomes one with are needs and through lyrics we deliver are messages. Lyrics represent character and the artists generalizations. Hip-Hop is made of words and statements. Unfortunately, we do not broadcast the real music. Major corporations own everything and commercial stations have to play what they are told to play. Creativity from the commercial artists disappears after a while and competition becomes the cause for making music. I as an underground artist keep myself independent and inspired by producing and playing underground music and artists. Music has been always a musical inspiration. It is not a physical inspiration, but it appears in the air as we tune into music. Musical inspiration can be in different forms. It can be in a live performance where we get up close and personal with the artist, share the energy of that certain moment and gather around as indivi ...

Chemistry Definition of Ligand

Chemistry Definition of Ligand A ligand is  an atom, ion, or molecule that donates or shares one or more of its electrons through a covalent bond with a central atom or ion. It is a complexing group in coordination chemistry that stabilizes the central atom and determines its reactivity. Ligand Examples Monodentate ligands have one atom that can bind to a central atom or ion. Water (H2O) and ammonia (NH3) are examples of neutral monodentate ligands. A polydentate ligand has more than one donor site. Bidentate ligands have two donor sites. Tridentate ligands have three binding sites. ​1,4,7-triazaheptane (diethylenetriamine) is an example of a tridentate ligand.  Tetradentate ligands have four binding atoms. A complex with a polydentate ligand is called a chelate. An ambidentate ligand is a  monodentate ligand that can bind in two possible places. For example,  The thiocyanate ion, SCN-, can bind to the central metal at either the sulfur or the nitrogen.

TIMEs Person of the Year Winners (1927-2017)

TIME's Person of the Year Winners (1927-2017) Since 1927, TIME Magazine has chosen a man, woman, or idea that for better or worse, has most influenced events in the preceding year. Although TIMEs list is not an academic or objective study of the past, the list gives a contemporary viewpoint of what was important during each year. In 2018, TIME issued four separate covers, memorializing journalists who lost their lives in 2018. They are Jamal Khashoggi, Washington Post columnist;  staff members of the Capital Gazette newspaper; Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo; and Maria Ressa, journalist and founder of Rappler. TIMEs Person of the Year Winners 1927 Charles Augustus Lindbergh 1928 Walter P. Chrysler 1929 Owen D. Young 1930 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi 1931 Pierre Laval 1932 Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1933 Hugh Samuel Johnson 1934 Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1935 Haile Selassie 1936 Mrs. Wallis Warfield Simpson 1937 Generalissimo Mme Chiang Kai-Shek 1938 Adolf Hitler 1939 Joseph Stalin 1940 Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill 1941 Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1942 Joseph Stalin 1943 George Catlett Marshall 1944 Dwight David Eisenhower 1945 Harry Truman 1946 James F. Byrnes 1947 George Catlett Marshall 1948 Harry Truman 1949 Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill 1950 American Fighting-Man 1951 Mohammed Mossadegh 1952 Elizabeth II 1953 Konrad Adenauer 1954 John Foster Dulles 1955 Harlow Herbert Curtice 1956 Hungarian Freedom Fighter 1957 Nikita Krushchev 1958 Charles De Gaulle 1959 Dwight David Eisenhower 1960 U.S. Scientists 1961 John Fitzgerald Kennedy 1962 Pope John XXIII 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson 1965 General William Childs Westmoreland 1966 Twenty-Five and Under 1967 Lyndon B. Johnson 1968 Astronauts Anders, Borman and Lovell 1969 The Middle Americans 1970 Willy Brandt 1971 Richard Milhous Nixon 1972 Nixon and Kissinger 1973 John J. Sirica 1974 King Faisal 1975 American Women 1976 Jimmy Carter 1977 Anwar Sadat 1978 Teng Hsiao-Ping 1979 Ayatullah Khomeini 1980 Ronald Reagan 1981 Lech Walesa 1982 The Computer 1983 Ronald Reagan Yuri Andropov 1984 Peter Ueberroth 1985 Deng Xiaoping 1986 Corazon Aquino 1987 Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev 1988 Endangered Earth 1989 Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev 1990 The Two George Bushes 1991 Ted Turner 1992 Bill Clinton 1993 The Peacemakers 1994 Pope John Paul II 1995 Newt Gingrich 1996 Dr. David Ho 1997 Andy Grove 1998 Bill Clinton and Kenneth Starr 1999 Jeff Bezos 2000 George W. Bush 2001 Rudolph Giuliani 2002 The Whistleblowers 2003 The American Soldier 2004 George W. Bush 2005 Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, Bono 2006 You 2007 Vladimir Putin 2008 Barack Obama 2009 Ben Bernanke 2010 Mark Zuckerberg 2011 The Protester 2012 Barack Obama 2013 Pope Francis 2014 Ebola Fighters 2015 Angela Merkel 2016 Donald Trump 2017 The Silence Breakers 2018 The Guardians and the War on Truth Person of the Year Fast Facts Charles Lindbergh  (1927) was the first and youngest person to receive the distinction at 25 years old.Mrs. Wallis Warfield Simpson, the woman whom English  King Edward VIII abdicated  in order to marry, was the first woman to receive the honor (1936).Although a number of people have received the honor twice,  U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt  is the only person to have been named three times: 1932, 1934, and 1941.Adolf Hitler, the murderous leader of Nazi Germany, received the honor in 1938- before he started   World War II. Hitlers  TIME  cover, however, shows him with dead bodies hanging above him.Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who was a U.S. ally during World War II, but who was ultimately responsible for the deaths of approximately 20 to 60 million of his own people, was awarded the honor twice.A whole generation was named in 1966: Twenty-five and Under.In 1982, the computer became the first object ever to receive the distinction.There are several years whe re large groups of people were nominated: the American Fighting-Man (1950), the Hungarian Freedom Fighter (1956), U.S. Scientists (1960), Twenty-Five and Under (1966), the Middle Americans (1968), and American Women (1975). The winner in 2006 was even more unusual. The winner was you. This choice was meant to draw attention to the impact of the world wide web, which had made each of our contributions both relevant and important.

Healing by Heart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Healing by Heart - Essay Example Like many Asian communities, herbal medicine is still very important, and many of the Hmong people prefer traditional medicines to the conventional options. This can cause conflict between those working in the American healthcare industry and the patients who wish to retain their traditions, not least because traditional medicine could cause problems that would lead to healthcare providers breaking the Hippocratic Oath. Healing by Heart: Clinical and Ethical Case Stories of Hmong Families and Western Providers gives details of the issues facing both healthcare providers and the Hmong patients in society and how these may be explained and discussed from a clinical and ethical perspective. Young Woman with Kidney Failure and Transplant The story of Mai Neng Moua is an excellent example of how the Hmong people struggle to come to terms with aspects of the American healthcare system. Moua suffered from end-stage kidney disease and thus was forced to deal with the consequences of this deb ilitating illness at a very young age. Moua was forced to wait for a kidney transplant for a long time as her family refused to get tested to see if they were a match; her mother suggesting that it was better to have one person sick than two. Moua also struggled with explaining her choice to use dialysis (an example of conventional medicine) rather than the traditional Hmong remedies for her condition to her family and friends, as this was seen as breaking with traditional culture. It is clear from Moua’s writing that she suffered greatly from the consequences of her end-stage renal failure and her choice of conventional medicine was a sensible one; it is quite likely she would have died without it. Her choice to undergo a transplant was not supported by her family, although the decision was supported by her church. One of the most interesting things about this case is that Moua’s final kidney donor was a Caucasian friend, rather than any member of her community. This could be considered an example of direct diffusion as her choice reflects an adoption of the American culture she was interacting with. Moua also notes that her choice to accept the donation of a kidney from a Caucasian friend surprised the Hmong community, and helped break down some of the stereotypes of white people, because it showed generosity. It could also be seen as an example of ethnocide, particularly from the perspective of the Hmong people, as it is an example of how American culture has perhaps predominated over the traditional, particularly amongst the younger generations. Reflections The case of Mai Neng Moua is interesting from a medical anthropology perspective because it shows how traditional medicine and conventional medicine can often be at odds. It also illustrates how members of the community can ostracize those who choose the American health system over their own culture, as shown by the fact that Moua describes herself as a ‘loss to the family, to societ y in general’. Her mother seems to be the character in this story that is most confused and hurt by Moua’s decision to undergo dialysis and the eventual transplant, and is also against many other Western ideas that Moua has, such as moving in with her college roommate. Again, this shows how those among the Hmong communities in the United States may feel that their culture is being lost or destroyed (ethnocide) or becoming amalgamated into the American cult

Project Management Best Practices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Project Management Best Practices - Essay Example Though PM inherits many methods and features of general management, but that does not indicate that it is similar to dealing with general management. Practical PM skills helps in completion of projects in a timely and efficient manner and encompass proven strategies for clarifying project objectives, avoiding serious omission errors and eliminating costly mistakes. PM encompass two dimensions, project planning and project execution. Each of these dimensions consists of five activities. "Project planning consists of subdivision of work into smaller chunks, quantification, allocating appropriate sequencing of work, proper funding and scheduling" (Howes 2001, p. 15). "Whereas project execution entails costing, measuring project scope, variance tracking and change control, evaluating performance and measuring the extent to which the outcomes are productive" (ibid). Project planning involves breaking down any project into smaller chunks or groups, and then analyse it in the light of its complexity how long each task will take and how each of these activities relate to one another. These relationships serve as the backbone of the proje ct from which we can calculate the timing of each element, and anticipate the activities which seem vital to the success of the project (Reiss 1995, p. 46). Project management comprises of techniques and methods that are based on practical implications and are effectively planned and controlled by project coordinators or managers. The framework within which each of the business activities take place illustrate practical work environment based on the practices that are proven essential in the application of methodologies of modern PM. This is to ensure that credibility establishes and retains between a project manager and a client in such a manner that manager escorts the team to interact with client, so as to understand client's objectives, responsibilities and the need for consistent planning. The technical features of PM helps the managers to learn through trial and error that PM is an integrated series of processes and activities. When applied in a repetitive manner for more than single projects, helps managers to successfully escort a project to its completion. The need for integration among various project processes is evident wherever interfaces must be established for various subtasks to interact with each other. Various subtasks integrate in a situation when a project is required to be assigned to a specific delivery date without any regard for the overall project scope. In the meanwhile project manager identifies any risks or flaws resulting from the chosen approach and communicate that specification to the stakeholders. The project manager along with the stakeholders utilise that information to negotiate and reach to a conclusion on whether the schedule should be extended or it would be better to reduce the product scope to meet the original schedule (Dinsmore & Brewin, 2006, p. 70)2. Timed-Box Scheduling: This approach is used when results are required to produce in a short time span. It emphasises on the notion that projects can be scheduled faster if customers and developers are forced to produce results quickly. This is done by reanalysing deliverables and cut out

Law of Tort Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Law of Tort - Research Paper Example Torts can be classified into three categories depending on the nature of the defendant’s conduct: intentional torts, strict liability torts and torts of negligence (Edwards, et al., 2009). An intentional tort is a tort that describes a civil wrong resultant from a deliberate act on the part of the defendant. Intentional torts usually involve actions which may also constitute a crime, for example an assault. However, a tort should be distinguished from a crime. Strict liability torts refer to situations where an individual is liable for injury of another no matter the precautions that were taken. This type of torts is found to a lesser degree, more often than not in the context of product liability. Negligence as a tort decides legal responsibility for slapdash action or inaction which causes injury. Thus, the tort of negligence covers a wide span of human activity and it may not necessarily be concerned with the activity itself but also the manner in which the activity is carr ied out. A negligent conduct is that which falls bellow an acceptable standard and it will mount up to a tort if it causes damage to a party. Negligence will be proved where the defendant owed the claimant a duty of care, the defendant breached that duty of care, the breach resulted to harm or damage to the plaintiff and lastly, the type of damage suffered by the plaintiff is closely related to the defendant’s conduct/actions (Stuhmcke, 2001). The objectives of the law of tort are to compensate victims of injury and loss and protect the interests of individuals that are their reputation, property etc. The other objective of the law of tort is to ensure that individuals check their actions and realize that they affect other people. It also provides the means whereby a person who regards himself or herself as above suspicion in a dispute can be judged by being declared in public to be on the right by a court (Postema, 2002). The person who commits a tort is known as a tortfeaso r and the one to who suffers the damage is known as the tortfeasee. The Duty of Care Element For a tort of negligence to occur, the defendant must have been bound to perform some duty, that is, a defendant is only liable in negligence to a person to whom the defendant owes a duty of care and if this element is absent, the action of negligence will fail (Heaven v Pender, 1883). In this case, an owner of a dry dock supplied ropes that were used to support a phase that has been slung over the ship’s side. The stage failed because it had been previously burned and it injured an employee of a different contractor who was working over the ship’s side. The court held that the defendant, who as the ship owner was liable of tort of negligence because he failed to carry out his duty of care by checking the condition of the ropes before using them (Reid & Zimmermann, 2000). Thereza being an employer of the twenty employees, she has a duty to take due care and diligence when deali ng with them. She has a duty to fairly remunerate them as agreed in the employment contract and provide a good working environment for her workers which ensures employee health is maintained. She is also bound to supply the employees with the necessary tools and equipments to enable them carry out their work and maintain their safety. Another duty of Thereza as the ‘

Managing Health, Safety and Risk in Organizations Essay

Managing Health, Safety and Risk in Organizations - Essay Example The safety case must give full details of the arrangements for managing health and safety and show that the company has safety management systems in place, has identified risks and reduced them to as low as reasonably practicable, has introduced management controls, provided a temporary safe refuge on the installation and has made provisions for safe evacuation and rescue. The Offshore Installation and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995 - these set out requirements for the safe management of offshore installations such as the appointment of offshore installation managers (OIMs) and the use of permit-to-work systems The Offshore Installations (Prevention of Fire and Explosion, and Emergency Response) Regulations 1995 (PFEER) - these provide for the protection of offshore workers from fire and explosion, and for securing effective emergency response The Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction, etc) Regulations 1996 - these are aimed at ensuring the integrity of installations, the safety of offshore and onshore wells, and the safety of the workplace environment offshore. 3. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations updated in1999 The Noise at Work Regulations 1989 The Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) The Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmosphere Regulations (DSEAR) First-aid, safety representatives and safety committees, personal protective equipment (PPE), display screen equipment, manual handling and safety zones. 3. In the UK, the legislation sets out the objectives that must be achieved, but allows flexibility in the choice of methods or equipment that may be used by companies to meet their statutory obligations. Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) Offshore Safety Division employs a team of inspectors who are responsible for enforcing both the offshore specific regulations and the general safety legislation common to all industries. One of examples of hazards in oil industry are gases and easily vaporizable liquids which require utmost care and precautions (P. Waterhouse and revised by Ray Chalklen). All the time that these are contained within the equipment that is designed to hold them, whether it be pipeline, storage tank, reaction vessel, portable container, cylinder, etc., they do not present a fire risk. It is only when they are released to atmosphere

A Critique on the Kyoto Protocols Research Paper

A Critique on the Kyoto Protocols - Research Paper Example In the discourse, global warming was specifically defined as â€Å"climate change that causes an increase in the average temperature of the lower atmosphere.   Global warming can have many different causes, but it is most commonly associated with human interference, specifically the release of excessive amounts of greenhouse gases† (ibid.). With the alarming levels of greenhouse gases continuing to increase at an unprecedented pace, scientists all over the world drastically made efforts to inform the international organizations in charge of environmental protection. An international treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) deemed it of primary importance to address global warming issues through its governance and with the assistance of another international agreement, the Kyoto Protocol. According to the official website of UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol â€Å"sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These amount to an average of five percent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012† (UNFCCC, 2010, par. 1). In this regard, the essay aims to proffer one’s personal opinion as to  what world leaders and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) should agree on. Likewise, the essay seeks to address the following concerns, to wit: (1) is there a solution that they should commit to? If so, what is it? If not, then what should they do? (2) Why haven't the Kyoto Protocols worked? What has not worked and why? What has worked and why? (3) What should be the role of the US? And (4) what should be the role of China?   Diverse articles and publications on UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol reveal that their primary thrust is â€Å"to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will  prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.  

Managing Health, Safety and Risk in Organizations Essay

Managing Health, Safety and Risk in Organizations - Essay Example The safety case must give full details of the arrangements for managing health and safety and show that the company has safety management systems in place, has identified risks and reduced them to as low as reasonably practicable, has introduced management controls, provided a temporary safe refuge on the installation and has made provisions for safe evacuation and rescue. The Offshore Installation and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995 - these set out requirements for the safe management of offshore installations such as the appointment of offshore installation managers (OIMs) and the use of permit-to-work systems The Offshore Installations (Prevention of Fire and Explosion, and Emergency Response) Regulations 1995 (PFEER) - these provide for the protection of offshore workers from fire and explosion, and for securing effective emergency response The Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction, etc) Regulations 1996 - these are aimed at ensuring the integrity of installations, the safety of offshore and onshore wells, and the safety of the workplace environment offshore. 3. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations updated in1999 The Noise at Work Regulations 1989 The Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) The Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmosphere Regulations (DSEAR) First-aid, safety representatives and safety committees, personal protective equipment (PPE), display screen equipment, manual handling and safety zones. 3. In the UK, the legislation sets out the objectives that must be achieved, but allows flexibility in the choice of methods or equipment that may be used by companies to meet their statutory obligations. Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) Offshore Safety Division employs a team of inspectors who are responsible for enforcing both the offshore specific regulations and the general safety legislation common to all industries. One of examples of hazards in oil industry are gases and easily vaporizable liquids which require utmost care and precautions (P. Waterhouse and revised by Ray Chalklen). All the time that these are contained within the equipment that is designed to hold them, whether it be pipeline, storage tank, reaction vessel, portable container, cylinder, etc., they do not present a fire risk. It is only when they are released to atmosphere

Empowerment & Strategic Workforce Management Assignment

Empowerment & Strategic Workforce Management - Assignment Example An organization should make sure that the benefits that they accord to their employees are in line with their core values. For example an organization with environmental suitability as its core value should make sure that they give their employees benefits that are environmental suitability oriented. Employee reward plays a huge role in motivation of well performing employees. It makes them want to give more towards the achievement of the organization’s goals. Benefits are also very important in making the employees feel like they are appreciated by the organization and that they are part of it. As a result the organization will be in a position of improving the contribution of its employees to the achievement of the organization’s goals. Through employee development systems, an organization will have the capability of improving the performance ability of their employees. The skills and experience gained during the process would reflect in the overall productivity of an organization’s workforce. Cases when reward systems have failed to provide incentives include those that involved overspending financial resources on rewarding employee (Walker, 2002). Financial compensation is not the only form of reward that can be used in motivating employees. To avoid thi s, an organization might consider blending all the other forms of compensation and makes sure that all are in line with the organization’s goals and abilities. In a business organization, managers should make sure that they are able to strike a balance between their organization’s commitment to systems of control and to empowering employees. On way through which this can be possible is through making sure that various forms of empowerment have to be earned through employees’ performance (Oh, 2009). They can also keep the balance by making sure that they put in

Treatment options for blood clots Essay Example for Free

Treatment options for blood clots Essay The option in treating blood clots is a case to case basis whether the clot has developed in an artery or a vein and creates stroke or heart attack. During emergencies, thrombolytic treatments-clot busters- may possibly used to suspend the blood clot. These treatments are applied to some selected patients in accordance to an extensive protocol. In order to be efficient, they are provided no less than one hour of the heart attack or in three hours of the stroke. Thrombolytics are normally applied when there are huge clots which cause severe and life-threatening signs. These can create abrupt and unexpected bleeding. There are many invasive methods that can also be used. One of these is the catheter-directed thrombolysis. It is a method which the catheter proc\vides thrombolytic enzymes straight to the blood clot. Throughout this process, greater enzymes’ concentrations could be utilized and may possibly have lesser side effects compared when the enzymes are supplied subcutaneously no less than two days. Thrombolytic method is followed by a treatment that has anticoagulants to stop more blood clots from formation. Anticoagulants could be advised to patients that have great risk of a blood clot. Researchers are really trying very hard to different catheter-based procedures to cure stroke rapidly. One of the experimental procedures which included is the use of a tiny â€Å"corkscrew† device which rapidly reverses the injury created by a stroke. The said device is directed to where the blood clot is; where it removes the obstruction. Another procedure depends on a special laser catheter which utilizes light energy to suspend rapidly the blood clot. These latest therapies can be accessible to a patient that cannot bear clot-busting drugs (see â€Å"Treatment options for blood. † Blood Clot, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). Furthermore, when a blood clot develops in a leg vein, there is a risk that a pulmonary embolism will form. A pulmonary embolism may possibly be a life-threatening in which blood clots break away from its location and passes through the bloodstream and stay in one of the blood vessels of the lungs. To avoid and stop a pulmonary embolism, the present blood clots in the legs may cured with a mixture of heat, thrombolytics, painkilling treatments, elevation of the injured area to lessen swelling and anticoagulants. This procedure relies on the clot’s size and the seriousness of any current symptoms. When a patient does not react to anticoagulants, the physicians will decide for a process which uses a catheter having a special device named as vena cava filter. The vena cava filter is inserted in the large vein which transports blood from the legs up to the heart and lungs (vena cava). Additionally, the vena cava filter is a kind of a device which catches blood clots within the vein before the blood clots are permitted to reach the lungs. However, there are several danger related with vena cava filters which comprise failure of the filter in terms of time and blood clots created by means of it. Many researchers really work on in improving the vena cava filters which can be withdrawn right after the medication of pulmonary embolism. There are researches that substantiated and confirmed that treatment in a longer period of time along with a low-does anticoagulant drugs aids in stopping the presence of blood clots amongst those patients who have background of vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism (see â€Å"Treatment options for blood. † Blood Clot, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). C. 2 Diagnosis methods There are several ways on how to diagnose blood clots. It starts with a medical background and physical test. When there is suspension of clot, several of examinations are utilized to substantiate the diagnosis and these include Doppler ultrasound, CAT scan and MRI: *Doppler ultrasound pertains to an imaging technology which utilizes sound or motion waves to give visual images of the structure and of several blood vessels and organs in our body (see â€Å"Diagnosis methods for blood clots†. Blood clots, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006).   CAT scan refers to computer axial tomography. It is an examination which utilizes a number of x-rays which got from different sides in order to give a computerized three-dimensional image of a body shape (see â€Å"Diagnosis methods for blood clots†. Blood clots, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). MRI means magnetic resonance imaging which is a noninvasive examination that utilizes magnetic fields to give high-resolution cross- sectional or three-dimensional visual images of the aimed surface (see â€Å"Diagnosis methods for blood clots†.Blood clots, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). References 1. â€Å"Thrombus†. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. October 11, 2006. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Blood_clot 2. â€Å"Blood Clotting†. June 4, 2005. http://users. rcn. com/jkimball. ma. ultranet/BiologyPages/C/Clotting. html 3. â€Å"Blood Clots†. HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006. http://heart. healthcentersonline. com/bloodclot/bloodclots. cfm 4. â€Å"The Biology of Blood Clots†. Mayo Clinic’s Online Research Magazine. 2006.http://discoverysedge. mayo. edu/vascular_biology/ 5. â€Å"How do blood clots form? March 11, 2004. http://www. innohepusa. com/corporateweb/innohepus/home. nsf/Content/Howdoclotsform. 6. â€Å"Treatment options for blood. † Blood Clot, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006. http://heart. healthcentersonline. com/bloodclot/bloodclots7. cfm 7. â€Å"Diagnosis methods for blood clots†. Blood clots, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006. http://heart. healthcentersonline. com/bloodclot/bloodclots6. cfm.

The Importance Of Oil Price In Market Economy

The Importance Of Oil Price In Market Economy Oil price has become a fundamental factor of todays market economy as it influences financial markets as well as consumers, corporations and governments. Oil fluctuation has not only a tremendous impact over the stock markets but also a major influence on the global economy: oil is needed for industrial purpose such as power generation, chemical products, transportation etc. In particular oil demand and supply drive volatility and any upward or downward price movements is tracked by any financial market player as it directly influences future outlook and real growth of exporting and importing countries. Higher crude oil price implies higher price of energy leading to a slower economic growth, inflationary pressure, asymmetrical results on consumers and producers side and global imbalances. Oil scarcity and increasing demand of emerging market countries have changed oil market as well as political uncertainty leads to an increase in oil volatility. Since 2000, crude oil has experienced an incredible price rally, moving from $25 in 2000 to over $144 in July 2008 and getting back later December 2008 to $35. These huge price changes are mainly undesired because they increase uncertainty and undermine investment in oil as well as alternative energy sources. Even if we are getting more and more familiar with this price uncertainty or at least with oil price volatility, it is necessary to understand the key driver of this commodity in order to be able to conduct accurate studies and to forecast and prevent new worldwide market chock: there are mainly two different explanation to oil price behavior. The first one is related to the idea that markets are experiencing a structural transformation in oil price fundamentals; the second one is related to substantial speculation in oil market. The supporters of this second view argue that the massive oil crude price cannot be explained by simple change in market fundamentals but can be rather explained through a market distortion caused by speculators. This dissertation will investigate oil and the oil market players trying to understand the different price determinants and the interaction of key players: it starts with an historical overview of oil price and it successively analyzed oil as a commodity, oil as a financial asset, the role of expectations in the formation of oil price, the industry outlook for the next years, oil derivatives on the financial markets. Oil Fundamentals History Oil industry was born in the 1859 in Pennsylvania, United States when Edwin Drake opened the first oil well. The industry grew slowly during the second half of 1800 when the business pioneer George Bissell together with the banker, James Townsend, established the first oil company: Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company. The industry became more and more attractive and in 1870 John D. Rockefeller established the Standard Oil Company. Boosted by the introduction of the internal combustion engine and by an increasing energy demand caused by the outbreak of World War I, the oil industry became one of the foundations of modern industrial society, ready to overcome coal as the most used and requested energy source. As the graph points out the price of oil remained steady from the beginning of the century until the first energy crisis, risen by less than two percent per year. Spot crude oil price moved from $2.83 per barrel of 1973 to $10.41 of 1974. This increase in price was caused by the oil embargo proclaimed by the OPEC, Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting countries in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states backing Egypt and Syria. The OPEC countries limited their production as well as the shipment of oil cargos to United States and other countries. The embargo led to quadrupled and extremely volatile oil price and it showed how high was the dependency of western economies from the oil reserves controlled by the OPEC members. Following the first oil crisis, in 1979 took place another sharp rise of oil prices following the Iranian revolution: the overthrow of the regime of Sha h Reza Pahlavi triggered a strong speculative movements of oil price. The price increased from the $14 needed to buy a barrel in 1978 to roughly $30 in 1979 causing a widespread panic and affecting geopolitical forces. Moreover in 1980, Iraqi invaded Iran leading to oil cut production of Iraq and a total stop of Iranian production. All these events strongly influenced oil price and demonstrated how pure supply and demand get overcome from sociopolitical facts. The so-called oil glut of 80s changed again the oil market environment as the price of the black gold fell from $35 to $15 in 1986 due to a falling demand, slowed economic activities in industrial countries and an increase in production. The crude oil price fluctuated between $15 and $25 until 1999. At the beginning of the new century the oil price increased exponentially and reaching $30 in 2003, it moved to $60 dollar in 2005 and peaked at $148 in 2008. This incredible ride of oil can be explained by different factor such as decreasing US Dollar value against other currencies, declining petroleum reserves, speculation, increasing demand from emerging market and OPECs lower than expected increase in production. But after reaching the peak on July, 11th 2008 the price declined consistently falling below $100 on September 2008. Because of the financial crisis world oil demand fell rapidly and in just a couple of months it touched the lowest point at $34. Until April 2009 oil price flu ctuated between $35 and $40 and recovered to roughly $70 in early 2010. Oil as a product People are more familiar with refined oil products such as gasoline, diesel, kerosene and heating oil rather than with crude oil. The basic oil refining process is distillation: crude oil is heated and oil products bubble off at different temperatures, the lightest at the lowest temperatures and the heaviest at the highest temperatures  [1]  . Afterward these products are treated further to make finished oil products such as gasoline kerosene etc. Gasoline is commonly used for cars while kerosene is widely developed for airplanes and households illumination heating. Diesel is widespread as combustible for tracks and agricultural machines while heating oil is mainly used for space heating. Oil this different refined products come from crude oil and even if crude oil is considered as a commodity, there are several qualities of crude depending mainly on two different chemical properties: density and sulphur content. Crude oil is therefore divided into heavy or light according to the density level and sweet or sour according to the sulphur content. Nonetheless, in financial market, the three most quoted products are: West Texas Intermediate Crude, WTI very high-quality, sweet, light crude widely traded in Nord-America Brent Crude a basket of 15 similar middle-high quality, light, sweet crude oils extracted in the North Sea Dubai Crude light sour crude oil extracted in Dubai Even though West Texas Intermediate Crude has the highest quality, Brent is used to price two thirds of the worlds internationally traded crude oil supplies according to the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE). Oil characteristics: Exhaustibility One of the leading feature of oil is that oil is a non-renewable resource as once it is consumed, it is no longer available. In particular once extracted, oil is consumed quicker that it is naturally produced: oil is therefore not replaceable within short time. Another very important feature is that supply of such as product is limited relative to demand. This two characteristics are essential to understand that oil can only be analyzed through dynamics models and that unlike standards goods, oil provides oil holder a positive premium known as scarcity rent. When demand for crude oil exceeds supply, oil price earns an economic rent due to its scarcity: in other words, it worth keeping oil underground waiting for increase in demand not covered by an increase in supply. The framework which is widely widespread regarding non-renewable resources is the Hotelling model: first introduces in 1931, the model questioned which is the amount of resources that should be extracted during a certain time frame in order to maximize the profit of the resource holder? Assuming no extraction costs, a risk free rate on investment equal to r and a certain price per barrel, according to Hotelling model, the optimum extraction quantity is the one that leads the price of oil to grow over time at a interest rate r. In other words, the resource holder has two opportunities: he can extract oil today or he can leave it underground waiting for a rose in price. Assuming that he decides to extract a certain amount today, he can invest the proceeds at a risk free rate r; otherwise, if oil price is expected to grow at a higher rate than r, the resource holder is not incentivized to extract oil. Thus, if all the resource holders behave the same way, it is highly probably that oil price will increase. Therefore, according to Hotelling models, the optimum extraction is the one in which oil price grows at the rate of interest. This model suggests and implies that oil price will increase over time: due to oils exhaustibility oil price must increase as fast as it is consumed. Even though Hotellings model is commonly used to predict the shape of oils trend, one of the most important Hotellings assumption is that the reserves of oil are fixed: as can be understood later on in the dissertation, oil reserves calculation is far from being detailed and exhaustive. Oil is extracted as well as found continuously: new reserves become continuously new available resources. Thus, an argument against the Hotelling approach is that it is not possible to evaluate scarcity rent and therefore it is not possible to use models such the Hotelling one which are based on this data. Demand and supply. As for any product, the main drivers influencing oil price are demand and supply. In the long term oil price is determined by the match of demand and supply; however, due to the peculiarities of oil, it is really difficult to predict future price: unknown future events, wars, natural events, OPEC decisions on cutting production and demand elasticity shape different demand-supply equilibriums. While price and income are demands main drivers, on the supply side it is necessary to take into consideration several factor such as reserves, oil depletion, technologies and oil cartel decisions. Oil Supply In January 2010, global oil supply accounts for 85,8 million barrels per day, out of which 51,6 has been produced by non-OPEC countries. There are different factors that are needed to take into consideration analyzing crude oil demand. Evaluating the supply is more complicated than evaluating the demand as there are different player involved, OPEC and non-OPEC countries and there is the central issue related to oil reserves level. First of all, exporting countries do not incur in any storages cost for crude oil as they can simply decide to leave oil underground while importing countries, in order to establish a minimum reserve level, need to built storage facilities. In regard to production countries, the most important and influential player is the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. While non-OPEC countries act competitively, OPEC is a cartel whose aim is to maximize revenues and profits. OPEC The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a permanent, intergovernmental organization founded in Baghdad in 1960 and at that time it encompassed 5 countries: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The founding members were later joined by nine other members: Qatar (1961- 2009); Indonesia (1962 2009); Socialist Peoples Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1962); United Arab Emirates (1967); Algeria (1969); Nigeria (1971); Ecuador (1973); Angola (2007) and Gabon (1975-1994). Since 1965 OPEC headquarters is Vienna. It is interesting to highlight that the declared mission of the organization is to coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of member countries and ensure the stabilization of oil markets in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consumers, a steady income to producers and a fair return on capital to those investing in the petroleum industry  [2]  . In order to understand the relevance of the OPEC countries over oil market, it is important to quantifies to what extend are worldwide oil reserves in OPEC territories: at the end of 2008, world proven crude oil reserves stood at 1,295,085 million barrels, of which 1,027,085 million barrels, or 79.3 per cent, was in OPEC member countries. In 2008 OPEC countries produced around 33 million barrels per day of crude oil, or 45.9 per cent of the world total output  [3]  . Besides owing the largest oil reserves, OPEC countries have the lowest production costs: roughly $4.00 per barrel for Saudi Arabia or $ 4.50 for Iran, as compared, for example, with $9.85 for the North Sea and $12.50 for Brazil.  [4]   Non-OPEC countries Non-OPEC countries are generally considered as price taker and even though in the last decade oil price has grown consistently and observers would expects a proportional increase in non-OPEC supply, the response of oil producers countries outside OPEC has been weak. There are several factors that are needed to taken into account in order to understand this behavior: first of all it is becoming more and more costly to develop oil reserves in this countries and the level of technologies needed to increase or at least maintain stable the production output is really high and expensive. Moreover, price volatility has increased uncertainty, changing the risk profile of non-OPEC countries: they are becoming more sensitive to oil price cycle. Investment are therefore asymmetrical: during tremendous increase in oil price, investment are modest, while during a decrease in crude oil price investment rate in exploration or new technologies decrease consistently leading sometimes to underinvestme nt periods. In order to analyze non-OPEC countries oil supply, it is possible to use a model introduce by Marion King Hubbert in 1956. According to Hubbert model, known also as the Hubbert peak theory, oil production tends to follow a bell-shaped curve which can be divided in three different phases: the first one, the pre-peak phase shows a exponential growth in oil production; around the peak, the production reaches the maximum production level and the production becomes stagnant; in the following phase, the last one, oil production starts a terminal decline due to resource depletion. The peak is reached when half of the oil reserves has been discovered and used: in order to draw the bell-shaped curve, it is necessary to calculate historical cumulative production, discovery rate of new oil deposit and the size of the URR, ultimately recoverable reserves. The main idea of the model is in fact that oil is a finite resources and therefore, when discovery rate is less than the oil consumption rate, oil production starts inexorably to decline with all the related consequences on oil price. The bell curve is drawn considering both the cumulative production and the remaining volume of oil that will be produced as a percentage of the total oil already produced in past. As a consequence it can be used in order to calculate and forecasts oil production and consequently price forecasts. According to Hubbert, North America reached the peak point in 1960, while in United Kingdom and Norway the maximum has been touched in 1999. The limits of this approach are related to the difficulties to calculate ultimately recoverable reserves: improvements in technologies and discoveries of new deposits or higher exploitation of existing deposits are pushing the oil peak to the right. Instead of being static, ultimately recoverable reserve is a dynamic measure: underestimation or overestimation of oil reserves as well as higher rate of technological improvements lead to mistakes in calculation of the year in which world will reach the peak oil. Oil reserves A proper forecast of existing oil reserve is a fundamental aspect of oil supply as it is central to Hubbert peak theory. First of all, it is necessary to define the different type of reserves available: Proved reserves are crude oil reserves that once calculated, provide at least with a rate of 90% of certainty at least the oil crude amount estimated. This depends on how accurate are the geological researches Unproven reserves are crude oil reserves similar to proved reserves but for several reasons such as political or contractual are certain for a rate lower of 90%. Therefore unproven reserves are divided into probable reserves which are reserves that are certain for at least 50 % of the amount estimated and possible reserves which are unproven reserves that are certain only for a 10% of the previous amount estimated Given the different definition of oil reserves, it is very important to highlight that there is not a convergence estimation of oil reserves: several studies calculated different reserves level according to different study methods and according to the extent of proved and unproved oil definition. Another distortion of oil reserve calculation is due to the fact that exporting countries are willing to overestimate their reserves because higher are the reserves, higher is the quantity that they can sell or export. Moreover, higher are the reserves declared, higher are the loan that these countries can raise. There is another issue related to the difference between conventional oil and unconventional oil. Unconventional oil refers to the oil extracted using other techniques than the common oil well method such as biofuels, oil shale, oil sands etc. In addition to these, there are reserves of oil that are yet to be discovered but given the current level of technologies are too difficult to be reached and explored. It is therefore clear that oil reserve calculation is really complicated: according to OPEC annual statistical bulletin 2008, world proven crude oil reserve are estimated to be 1,3 trillion barrels out of which 79, 3% are maintained under OPEC countries ground  [5]  . According to the Oil Gas Journal  [6]  , in January 2009, proved world oil reserves were estimated at 1,342 billion barrels-10 billion barrels (about 1 percent) higher than the estimation for 2008; 56 percent of the worlds proved oil reserves are in the Middle East while just under 80 percent of the worlds proved reserves are concentrated in eight countries out of which only Canada and Russia are not OPEC members. According to BP Statistical Review Of World Energy of June 2009 proven reserves accounts for 1258 billion barrels, AGGIUNGI Oil Demand In 2009 the worldwide oil demand fell by 1.4 percent in comparison to 2008 due to the financial crises that invested mainly OECD countries: this was the biggest drop since early 1980s. During the previous period, 2003-2007 growth rate in oil demand averaged 2,0% per year, 0,8% faster than during the preceding 5 years and 1,2 % faster than it average since 1980  [7]  . Around 90% of demand growth during this period came from non-OECD economies. Indeed, OECD demand has been falling year on year since the end of 2005. Daily crude oil demand in early 2010 has reached 86.5 million barrels as the last quarter of 2009 has been the first quarter of demand recovery after 5 consecutive quarters of decline. GO ON Oil market volatility and elasticity Price elasticity to crude oil demand The relationship between oil demand and price can be analyzed looking at elasticity of demand: elasticity measures the relationship between the change in quantity of oil demand for a given change in oil price. As the chart XX shows, both short term and long term price elasticity of demand are really is low ranging from 0 to -0.6. Furthermore it is clear that short term elasticity of oil demand is even smaller with a range from 0 to -0,1. This means that change in oil price have a very little impact on long term crude oil demand an even lighter effects on short term oil demand. The difference between short and long term demand responsiveness to change in oil price is due to bigger rate of substitution and energy conservation in the long term. What is really important to notice is that oil demand may respond asymmetrical to changes in oil price  [8]  ; in other words there is a substantional difference of demand elasticity for either an increase in price or a decrease in price. For an increase in oil crude price it is expect a reducing demand, but it is not necessarily true that a decreasing oil price would lead to an increase in demand of the same measure: for example an increase in oil price can be exploited in order to invest heavily on innovation and new equipments that would increase oil production leading to a positive impact on price. Last but not least, there is another important aspect concerning demand elasticity that has to be taken into account: the responsiveness of oil demand to a new peak price is different to the responsiveness of oil demand to a price recovering  [9]  . It is possible to describe two different elasticity scenarios at different price levels: elasticity of demand during increase in oil price that lead to new price records, elasticity of demand during increase in oil price following a low point in price history As expected, some studies argues that higher responsiveness of change in oil price can be seen when oil price is reaching new records, while there is a lower elasticity for other changes in price level. Thus, to summarize, elasticity of demand is not always linear, it may respond asymmetrically to changes in oil price and it can be different depending to historical price level. Income elasticity of price crude demand Income elasticity of crude oil demand measures the change in quantity of oil demanded for a given change in income. As the graph xx points out, income elasticity is more responsive in comparison to price elasticity: the long run elasticity ranges from 0,4 to 1,4. Moreover there is an important difference between income elasticity of emerging market and OECD. Emerging markets shows higher income volatility demonstrating how important is oil in their production processes. Spare capacity A very important component and determinant of oil market is oil spare capacity, the amount of excess production that oil producers can bring online quickly. The volume of spare capacity is fundamental as it can be a driver of oil price: spare capacity is in fact utilized to balance excess of oil demand and it can be used to counterbalance temporary oil shock. In other words, spare capacity is a tool that offers flexibility to the market: the higher the spare capacity, the higher is the ability to absorb oil price shock or respond to unexpected increase in demand. Thus in the short term, spare capacity can be exploited to offset increase in demand until oil supply is adjusted to meet demand. As the graph points out , there is an inverse correlation between oil price and spare capacity: high spare capacity level is associated to weak oil price, while when spare capacity is low oil price is expected to be high or increasingly. Spare capacity evolution over years have dropped from 10 million barrel per day of the late 90s to less than 2 million barrel per day or 2% of global oil demand in 2004. In particular, the increase in demand not covered by an increased in supply of non-OPEC countries has been met by OPEC using also spare capacity and therefore diminishing them. As expected, during the credit crunch that took place in late 2008, oil price fell dramatically while the spare capacity increased reaching 6% of global oil demand. According to the International Energy Agency, OPEC spare capacity excluding Iraq, Venezuela and Nigeria, accounts for 5,54 million b/d.. in addition to this, other 5,8 million b/d are estimated to be producible by OPEC countries within 3 months. To sum up, it is clear the role of spare capacity in oil market economy: a relevant inventory allows to maintain the flexibility required in order to play an active role once an oil shock is predicted or strong is conducting price to new records. The key issue is whether it is possible in the current scenario to maintain or even increase spare capacity and which is the player that should take this responsibility. Should oil companies create bigger inventories, even if it is uneconomical from a profits maximization point of view to hold higher reserves than needed, or should national oil companies keep bigger reserves? Oil demand projections According to the World Economic Outlook of the International Monetary Fund issues in April 2009, global oil demand is expected to grow by 0,6% or 540000 barrel per day per year on average between 2008 and 2014. World oil demand will therefore increase from 85,8 mb/d to 89mb/d while in a more conservative scenario it is expected that demand will remain stable around 85 mb/d depending on how fast and how strongly global recovery will take place. Given the recent historical pattern of oil demand it is highly probable that non OECD countries will drive oil demand growth within the next future; oil consumption in OECD countries will tighten. Asia, Middle East and Latin America will increase their oil demand by 2,6%, from 38,3 mb/d to 44,6 mb/d over 2008 to 2014 on average per year while at the same time, OECD consumptions will declined by 1,1 from 47,5 mb/d to 44,4 mb/d. As the graph points out, by 2013 non-OECD oil demand will be equal to OECD oil demand. The growth in oil demand of non-OECD reflects higher GDP growth expected as well as higher income elasticity to crude oil. In fact in several emerging market, oil price is administered: in Iran for example gasoline costs just à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬0,8 per liter while OECD countries are usually more responsive to oil price changes Macroeconomic Variables Exchange Rates The relationship between exchange rates and oil prices is complex and it is necessary to note that generally when there is a depreciation of the dollar, oil price expressed in dollar increases. Being dollar the most widespread currency for oil price, a lower exchange rate of the dollar to another currency leads to a minor foreign currency cost of oil causing a rise in oil demand. This increase in demand put upward pressure on the price of oil. Having said that, it is not possible to estimate a precise relationship between oil price and the value of dollar exchange rate: all it is possible to say is that oil price moves roughly proportionally to change in dollar value ceteris paribus. Thus a 10% increase in nominal exchange value of the dollar causes a 10% decrease in oil price expressed in dollar, ceteris paribus. As the graph XX shows, the dramatically decrease in exchange value of the dollar since 2002 and the strong increase of WTI crude oil price in different currencies, would su ggest the inverse relationship between oil price and dollar exchange rate is true even if it is not possible to evaluate to what extent. Looking at the relationship between oil price and exchange rate, another important factor that should be taken into account is the decision of leading oil exporters: if dollar depreciates against other currencies, oil exporters international purchasing power declines. In order to protect their interest, leading oil exporters tend to tight oil supply, leading to an increase in oil price. Another issue that should be taken into consideration looking at the exchange rate is that United States is a major oil producer and oil consumer; an increase in oil price has therefore a double effect: it leads to a deprecations of dollar against the currencies of exporting countries and an appreciation against the currencies oil importing countries. Even if this two divergent movements of exchange rate should be cancelled out each other, in the last years oil imports of oil in the Unites States has soared causing a major concerns in the American capability to respond to and increasing trade deficit influencing negatively the value of the dollar. Interest rates The relationship between oil price and interest rate is not univocal as it is impossible to identify a singular and unique effect of changes in interest rate on oil price. Generally the correlation between these two data is inverse as a decrease of interest rates would lead to increase in price. On the contrary, a decrease of interest rates in order to recover from a financial downturn would lead to a decrease in oil price which would suggest a positive correlation. An explanation of the reason why there is a negative correlation is that an expansionary policy causes a cost reduction of storing cost for commodities goods, driving up the oil price. On the other hand, a change of U.S. interest rate will have an impact on the pegged currencies to U.S. dollar or to the currency currencies which are traded against the American one: too expansionary policy in the U.S. may not be proper to foreign central banks influencing foreign economic growth and consequentially oil prices. Oil price speculation or massive change in oil fundamentals? One of the main issue related to oil price is whether increasing volatility and rise in prices during the last decade has reflected a massive change in oils fundamentals or if market speculators played an active role in massive price fluctuations. In particular it is necessary to understand if the oil price reached the high ever level in 2008 due to growing flow of money in oil derivatives or due to enormous change in underlying fundamentals, supply and demand. An increase from $28 per barrel in early 2002 to over $100 per barrel at the end of 2007, heading to the record $140 in 2008 and then falling below à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬40 by the end of 2008 is the result of the burst of an energy bubble or it the natural evolution of oil price during a worldwide financial crises? In other words, it needs to be investigated if the strong increase followed by the collapse in oil price is a cause or a result of the main worldwide financial crises. As analyzed in the first part of the dissertation, oils demand and supply during the period 2002 and 2008 changed significantly: emerging countries such as China and India drove oil demand while at the same time, oil suppliers reacted slowly and they tighten spare capacity. Those that support oil demand a

Violence in Wuthering Heights :: Wuthering Heights Essays

Violence in Wuthering Heights Wuthering Heights was written by Emile Brontà ©, one of the Brontà © sisters. The author finished this novel in 1847. After that, Emily died soon in 1848 at age thirty. In the nineteenth century Wuthering Heights becomes as classical novel. The readers who were read this novel were shocked by the Violence. In this paper, I will discuss the theme of the violence on Wuthering Heights. The novel takes place in England around 1760. the narrator, a gentleman named Lockwood. Lockwood rents a fine house and park called Thrush cross Grange in Yorkshire, and gradually learns more and more about the histories of two local families. This is what he learns from a housekeeper, Ellen Dean, who had been with one of the two families for all of her life. The story takes place in two main settings; Wuthering Heights and Thrush cross Grange, both situated on the harsh and desolate moors of Yorkshire. Emily Bronte actually grew up and lived in this place, and so her depiction of it is very accurate, and she uses her knowledge to emphasise the moods and attitudes of the characters. The people of these two houses differ from each other. The people from the Wuthering heights such as Heath cliff are generally angry, ill tempered, vengeful, and often immoral. These attitudes are clearly reflected through the large, cold and dark house, situated on top of a ruthless hill on the moors. Thrush cross Grange is a more cultivated, calm house, situated in a valley of the moors. Its inhabitants, including Edgar Linton, are generally more refined, with more morals and calmer attitudes than those of Wuthering Heights. Catherine Earnshaw, who is from Wuthering heights, is a character that creates the conflict throughout the whole book and between the t wo characters, Edgar and Heath cliff. To clarify more that Catherine is torn between her love for Heathcliff and her desire to be a gentlewoman, and her decision to marry the gentle Edgar Linton drags almost all of the novel's characters into conflict with Heathcliff To begin with, one of the main characters in Wuthering Heights is the devilish Heath cliff. An orphan despised since his birth. Heath cliff grows up to become a sadistic, cruel, vengeful and immoral man .He is often referred to as â€Å"like the devil† or as â€Å"evil†, and this is certainly the way he acts.

Last Sacrifice Chapter Three

WELL, NOT GONE EXACTLY. Muted. Kind of like how it had felt immediately after she'd restored Dimitri back to a dhampir. The magic had been so strong then that it had â€Å"burned out' our link. There was no blast of magic now. It was almost as though the blankness was intentional on her part. Like always, I still had a sense of Lissa: she was alive; she was well. So what was keeping me from feeling more of her? She wasn't asleep, because I could feel a sense of alert consciousness on the other side of this wall. Spirit was there, hiding her from me †¦ and she was making it happen. What the hell? It was an accepted fact that our bond worked only one way. I could sense her; she couldn't sense me. Likewise, I could control when I went into her mind. Often, I tried to keep myself out (jail captivity time excluded), in an attempt to protect her privacy. Lissa had no such control, and her vulnerability infuriated her sometimes. Every once in a while, she could use her power to shield herself from me, but it was rare, difficult, and required considerable effort on her part. Today, she was pulling it off, and as the condition persisted, I could feel her strain. Keeping me out wasn't easy, but she was managing it. Of course, I didn't care about the how of it. I wanted to know the why. It was probably my worst day of imprisonment. Fear for myself was one thing. But for her? That was agonizing. If it was my life or hers, I would have walked into execution without hesitation. I had to know what was going on. Had she learned something? Had the Council decided to skip right over a trial and execute me? Was Lissa trying to protect me from that news? The more spirit she wielded, the more she endangered her life. This mental wall required a lot of magic. But why? Why was she taking this risk? It was astonishing in that moment to realize just how much I relied on the bond to keep track of her. True: I didn't always welcome someone else's thoughts in my head. Despite the control I'd learned, her mind still sometimes poured into mine in moments I'd rather not experience. None of that was a concern now–only her safety was. Being blocked off was like having a limb removed. All day I tried to get inside her head. Every time, I was kept out. It was maddening. No visitors came to me either, and the book and magazines had long since lost their appeal. The caged animal feeling was getting to me again, and I spent a fair amount of time yelling at my guards–with no results. Tatiana's funeral was tomorrow, and the clock to my trial was ticking loudly. Bedtime came, and the wall in the bond dropped at last–because Lissa went to sleep. The link between us was firm, but her mind was closed off in unconsciousness. I'd find no answers there. Left with nothing else, I went to bed as well, wondering if I'd be cut off again in the morning. I wasn't. She and I were linked again, and I was able to see the world through her eyes once more. Lissa was up and around early, preparing for the funeral. I neither saw nor felt any sign of why I'd been blocked the day before. She was letting me back into her mind, just like normal. I almost wondered if I'd imagined being cut off from her. No †¦ there it was. Barely. Within her mind, I sensed thoughts she was still hiding from me. They were slippery. Each time I tried to grasp them, they fell out of my hands. I was amazed she could still use enough magic to pull it off, and it was also a clear indication that she'd blocked me out intentionally yesterday. What was going on? Why on earth would she need to hide something from me? What could I do about anything, locked in this hellhole? Again, my unease grew. What awful thing didn't I know about? I watched Lissa get ready, seeing no ostensible sign of anything unusual. The dress she'd ended up selecting had cap sleeves and went to the knee. Black, of course. It was hardly a clubbing dress, but she knew it would raise some eyebrows. Under different circumstances, this would have delighted me. She chose to wear her hair down and unbound, its pale blond color showing brightly against the dress's black when she surveyed herself in a mirror. Christian met Lissa outside. He cleaned up well, I had to admit, uncharacteristically wearing a dress shirt and tie. He'd drawn the line at a jacket, and his expression was an odd mix of nervousness, secrecy, and typical snark. When he saw Lissa, though, his face momentarily transformed, turning radiant and awestruck as he gazed at her. He gave her a small smile and took her into his arms for a brief embrace. His touch brought her contentment and comfort, easing her anxiety. They'd gotten back together recently after a breakup, and that time a part had been agonizing for both of them. â€Å"It's going to be okay,' he murmured, his look of worry returning. â€Å"This'll work. We can do this.' She said nothing but tightened her hold on him before stepping back. Neither of them spoke as they walked to the beginning of the funeral procession. I decided this was suspicious. She caught hold of his hand and felt strengthened by it. The funeral procedures for Moroi monarchs had been the same for centuries, no matter if the Court was in Romania or its new home in Pennsylvania. That was the Moroi way. They mixed the traditional with the modern, magic with technology. The queen's coffin would be carried by pallbearers out of the palace and taken with great ceremony all through the Court's grounds, until it reached the Court's imposing cathedral. There, a select group would enter for mass. After the service, Tatiana would be buried in the church's graveyard, taking her place beside other monarchs and important royals. The coffin's route was easy to spot. Poles strung with red and black silk banners marked each side. Rose petals had been strewn on the ground the coffin would pass over. Along the sides, people crammed together, hoping to catch a glimpse of their former queen. Many Moroi had come from far off places, some to see the funeral and some to see the monarch elections that would soon follow over the next couple of weeks. The royal family escort–most of whom wore saleswoman-approved black velvet– were already heading into the palace building. Lissa stopped outside to part ways with Christian since he certainly had never been in the running to represent his family for such an honored event. She gave him another fierce hug and a light kiss. As they stepped away, there was a knowing glint in his blue eyes–that secret that was hidden from me. Lissa pushed through the gathering crowds, trying to get to the entrance and find the procession's starting point. The building didn't look like the palaces or castles of ancient Europe. Its grand stone farade and tall windows matched the Court's other structures, but a few features–its height, wide marble steps–subtly distinguished it from other buildings. A tug at Lissa's arm stopped her progress, nearly causing her to run into an ancient Moroi man. â€Å"Vasilisa?' It was Daniella Ivashkov, Adrian's mother. Daniella wasn't so bad as royals went, and she was actually okay with Adrian and me dating–or at least, she had been before I became an accused murderer. Most of Daniella's acceptance had come from the fact that she believed Adrian and I would split up anyways once I received my guardian assignment. Daniella had also convinced one of her cousins, Damon Tarus, to be my lawyer–an offer I'd rejected when I chose Abe to represent me instead. I still wasn't entirely sure if I'd made the best decision there, but it probably tarnished Daniella's view of me, which I regretted. Lissa offered up a nervous smile. She was anxious to join the procession and get all of this over with. â€Å"Hi,' she said. Daniella was dressed in full black velvet and even had small diamond barrettes shining in her dark hair. Worry and agitation lined her pretty face. â€Å"Have you seen Adrian? I haven't been able to find him anywhere. We checked his room.' â€Å"Oh.' Lissa averted her eyes. â€Å"What?' Daniella nearly shook her. â€Å"What do you know?' Lissa sighed. â€Å"I'm not sure where he is, but I saw him last night when he was coming back from some party.' Lissa hesitated, like she was too embarrassed to tell the rest. â€Å"He was †¦ really drunk. More than I've ever seen him. He was going off with some girls, and I don't know. I'm sorry, Lady Ivashkov. He's probably †¦ well, passed out somewhere.' Daniella wrung her hands, and I shared her dismay. â€Å"I hope nobody notices. Maybe we can say †¦ he was overcome with grief. There's so much going on. Surely no one will notice. You'll tell them, right? You'll say how upset he was?' I liked Daniella, but this royal obsession with image was really starting to bug me. I knew she loved her son, but her main concern here seemed to be less about Tatiana's final rest than it was about what others would think about a breach of protocol. â€Å"Of course,' said Lissa. â€Å"I wouldn't want anyone to †¦ well, I'd hate for that to get out.' â€Å"Thank you. Now go.' Daniella gestured to the doors, still looking anxious. â€Å"You need to take your place.' To Lissa's surprise, Daniella gave her a gentle pat on the arm. â€Å"And don't be nervous. You'll do fine. Just keep your head up.' Guardians stationed at the door recognized Lissa as someone with access and allowed her in. There, in the foyer, was Tatiana's coffin. Lissa froze, suddenly overwhelmed, and nearly forgot what she was doing there. The coffin alone was a work of art. It was made of gleaming black wood, polished to brilliance. Paintings of elaborate garden scenes in shining metallic colors of every hue adorned each side. Gold glittered everywhere, including the poles that the pallbearers would hold. Those poles were draped with strings of mauve roses. It seemed like the thorns and leaves would make it difficult for the pallbearers to get a good grip, but that was their problem to deal with. Inside, uncovered and lying on a bed of more mauve roses, was Tatiana herself. It was strange. I saw dead bodies all the time. Hell, I created them. But seeing a body that had been preserved, lying peacefully and ornamentally †¦ well, it was creepy. It was strange for Lissa, too, particularly since she didn't have to deal with death as often as I did. Tatiana wore a gleaming silk gown that was a rich shade of purple–the traditional color for royal burial. The dress's long sleeves were decorated with an elaborate design of small pearls. I'd often seen Tatiana in red–a color associated with the Ivashkov family–and I was glad for the purple burial tradition. A red dress would have been too strong a reminder of the bloody pictures of her that I'd seen at my hearing, pictures I kept trying to block out. Strings of gemstones and more pearls hung around her neck, and a gold crown set with diamonds and amethysts rested upon her graying hair. Someone had done a good job with Tatiana's makeup, but even they couldn't hide the whiteness of her skin. Moroi were naturally pale. In death, they were like chalk–like Strigoi. The image struck Lissa so vividly that she swayed on her feet a little and had to look away. The roses' scent filled the air, but there was a hint of decay mixed in with that sweetness. The funeral coordinator spotted Lissa and ordered her into position–after first bemoaning Lissa's fashion choice. The sharp words snapped Lissa back to reality, and she fell in line with five other royals on the right side of the coffin. She tried not to look too closely at the queen's body and directed her gaze elsewhere. The pallbearers soon showed up and lifted their burden, using the rose-draped poles to rest the coffin on their shoulders and slowly carry it out to the waiting crowd. The pallbearers were all dhampirs. They wore formal suits, which confused me at first, but then I realized they were all Court guardians–except one. Ambrose. He looked as gorgeous as always and stared straight ahead as he did his job, face blank and expressionless. I wondered if Ambrose mourned Tatiana. I was so fixated on my own problems that I kept forgetting a life had been lost here, a life that many had loved. Ambrose had defended Tatiana when I'd been angry about the age law. Watching him through Lissa's eyes, I wished I was there to speak to him in person. He had to know something more about the letter he'd slipped me in the courtroom. Surely he wasn't just the delivery boy. The procession moved forward, ending my musings about Ambrose. Before and ahead of the coffin were other ceremonial people. Royals in elaborate clothing, making a glittering display. Uniformed guardians carrying banners. Musicians with flutes walked at the very back, playing a mournful tune. For her part, Lissa was very good at public appearances and managed the slow, stately pace with elegance and grace, her gaze level and confident. I couldn't see outside her body, of course, but it was easy to imagine what the spectators saw. She was beautiful and regal, worthy to inherit the Dragomir legacy, and hopefully more and more would realize that. It would save us a lot of trouble if someone would change the voting law through standard procedures, so we didn't have to rely on a quest for a lost sibling. Walking the funeral route took a long time. Even when the sun started sinking down toward the horizon, the day's heat still hung in the air. Lissa began to sweat but knew her discomfort was nothing compared to the pallbearers'. If the watching crowd felt the heat, they didn't show it. They craned their necks to get their one glimpse of the spectacle passing before them. Lissa didn't process the onlookers so much, but in their faces, I saw that the coffin wasn't their only focus. They were also watching Lissa. Word of what she'd done for Dimitri had blazed around the Moroi world, and while many were skeptical of her ability to heal, there were just as many who believed. I saw expressions of wonder and awe in the crowd, and for a second, I wondered who they'd really come to see: Lissa or Tatiana? Finally, the cathedral came into view, which was good news for Lissa. The sun didn't kill Moroi like it did Strigoi, but the heat and sunlight were still uncomfortable for any vampire. The procession was nearly finished, and she, being one of those allowed into the church service, would soon get to enjoy air conditioning. As I studied the surroundings, I couldn't help but think what a circle of irony my life was. Off to the sides of the church's extensive grounds were two giant statues showing ancient Moroi monarchs of legend, a king and queen who had helped the Moroi prosper. Even though they were a fair distance from the church, the statues loomed ominously, like they were scrutinizing everything. Near the queen's statue was a garden that I knew well. I'd been forced to landscape it as punishment for running off to Las Vegas. My true purpose on that trip–which no one knew–had been to free Victor Dashkov from prison. Victor had been a longtime enemy of ours, but he and his brother Robert, a spirit user, had held the knowledge we needed to save Dimitri. If any guardians had found out that I'd freed Victor–then later lost him–my punishment would have been a lot worse than filing and landscaping. At least I'd done a good job with the garden, I thought bitterly. If I was execu ted, I'd leave a lasting mark at Court. Lissa's eyes lingered on one of the statues for a long time before she turned back to the church. She was sweating heavily now, and I realized some of it wasn't just the heat. She was anxious too. But why? Why was she so nervous? This was just ceremony. All she had to do was go through the motions here. Yet †¦ there it was again. Something else was bothering her. She was still keeping a cluster of thoughts from me, but a few leaked out as she worried. Too close, too close. We're moving too fast. Fast? Not by my estimation. I could have never handled this slow, stately pace. I felt especially bad for the pallbearers. If I were one, I would've said to hell with propriety and started jogging toward my final destination. Of course, that might jostle the body. If the funeral coordinator had been upset over Lissa's dress, there was no telling how she'd react if Tatiana fell out of the coffin. Our view of the cathedral was getting clearer, its domes shining amber and orange in the setting sun. Lissa was still several yards away, but the priest standing out front was clearly visible. His robes were almost blinding. They were made of heavy, glittering gold brocade, long and full. A rounded hat with a cross, also gold, sat on his head. I thought it was in poor taste for him to outshine the queen's clothing, but maybe that was just what priests did on formal occasions. Maybe it got God's attention. He lifted his arms in welcome, showing off more of that rich fabric. The rest of the crowd and I couldn't help but stare at the dazzling display. So, you can imagine our surprise when the statues blew up.