Benefits And Risk Factors Regarding Bring Your Own Devices

This paper looks through benefits and risk factors regarding bring your own devices (BYOD). BYOD is a new practice that is becoming common to many organizations. This paper shows us that BYOD is an inevitable part of modern business practice and also this paper shows BYOD adoption continue to rise due to the effectiveness achieved in supporting the business operation. This paper also discusses the risks in BYOD that can be harmful to organization. The paper also gives us the information of how the risks of BYOD can be solved taking some parameters into account. INTRODUCTION BYOD is a strategy that gives privilege to employees and business partners to use a personally selected device to achieve company’s task and access their data. The†¦show more content†¦The University of Wollongong Library and Google Scholar search engines were utilized to search about the topic based on key words: BYOD, ‘bring your own device,’ mobile device, personal device, risk factor using BYOD. Many articles related to the topic of risk management and benefits of BYOD were beneficiary for getting knowledge. FINDINGS 1. Loss of data using BYOD techniques 2. Lack of control over data and devices using BYOD techniques 3. Vulnerabilities due to installation of malicious using BYOD techniques Loss of data using BYOD techniques One of the most daunting risks with BYOD is loss of data due to personal devices being lost or stolen in or outside the work place and this occurs due to ease and convenience offered by the size of the smart devices which make them easily drop or misplace. With the increase in purchase of smart phones and tablets daily, these devices are being targeted by thieves due to their high cost price and size. Once the theft is done there is a high possibility to loose data that is important even though there are technologies to backup them. Additionally there are cases of losing data when employees upgrade, change or sell their phones and in this case there is a possibility of confidential and sensitive data being passed to unauthorized

Afghanistan After The Soviet Afghan War - 2245 Words

â€Å"Long before the Roussi army marched into Afghanistan, long before villages were burned and schools destroyed, long before mines were planted like seeds of death and children buried in rock-piled graves,† Afghanistan was in its Golden Age (Hosseini 136). A time before it was an â€Å"ungovernable collection of tribes† and mini-states, a time where warlords and fundamentalists were not overpowering the government, Afghanistan stood as a country of ethnic harmony and the city of Kabul was known as â€Å"the Paris of Central Asia† (Bumiller). Women were going to school and tourists were able to adventure Afghanistan’s snow-capped mountains without worry. Sadly, in December 1979, Afghanistan awoke with sounds of gunfire and an invasion had begun by the Soviet Union. The families who had the money to flee the danger zone, quickly packed their belongings and left their homes behind, hoping to return someday. After the Soviet-Afghan war was at an end, the year 1996 brought about an Islamic student militia called the Taliban. During this time period of war and destruction, children were lost in a whole new world and stolen of their purity. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, he tells a powerful and cruel story through the eyes of Amir’s life (the main character) starting from when children’s lives consisted of flying kites and exploring the city’s streets freely, to an era where children were in run down orphanages or begging for money on the streets to help support theirShow MoreRelatedSoviet-Afghan War Essay1089 Words   |  5 PagesWhen the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on December 1979, the goal was to help Afghan communist forces set up a communist government. The Soviet Union felt Afghanistan had key resources and a foothold in the Middle East to spread communist ideas. 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They started to gain power after the Soviets had invaded Afghanistan in 1978 and left around the 1980’s. After the Soviet Union lef t Afghanistan the Taliban gained power resulting in a civil war. This rise of the Taliban was not a positive event in Afghanistan, it has caused problems that are still in occurrence today. Because of the Taliban the Afghan people are having to flee their country in order to be safe, or stay home and fight forRead MoreAfghanistan’S Strategic Geographic Location Made It The1215 Words   |  5 Pagesseveral great powers. Afghanistan is located in Central and South Asia has be involved with invasion and war for centuries because Afghanistan was an essential location in ancient times because the Silk Road passed through it. Empires like Mauyra Empire of India, Alexander the Great of Greece, Umar, an Arab Caliphate, Genghis Khan of Mongolia, Mughal Empire of Indian and many more past empires invaded Afghanistan. However, they were never able to control the all part of Afghanistan at the same time.Read MoreAfghanistan Is Like A Goat On Which The Lion And The Bear Have Both Fixed T heir Eyes?1466 Words   |  6 PagesAfghanistan , a buffer state between two super powers in the first half of 20th century, was pulled into war during the latter half, first against the USSR and then against the local rival groups or militias. The 21st century yet again brought this country into another conflict. This time it was the West led by the Americans and their puppet Pakistan, the former allies in driving out Russia from Afghanistan. The traditional buffer state of Afghanistan, due to its location at the cross roads of AsiaRead MoreWhat Is The Afghani Experience With The Soviet Union? How Different From Ca?1628 Words   |  7 PagesNiazi Poli-Sci 318 Prof. Huffman November 12, 2016 Afghanistan til September 11, 2001 the Northern Alliance had lost almost all footing in Afghanistan. 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Central Asian countries were first invaded in 1715 and again in 1865, there was littleRead MoreThe Islamic Republic Of Afghanistan1704 Words   |  7 PagesRepublic of Afghanistan has faced numerous invasions, a series of civil wars and enormous bloodshed. In 1978 the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) seized power in a coup against President Mohamed Daoud in what is known as the Saur Revolution. This revolution is said to be the catalyst for upheaval and armed resistance that would follow for the next 20 years. Opposition of the communist regime resulted in the rise of guerilla mujahideen forces that quickly escalated into a civil war. The SovietRead MoreOperation Cyclone : The United States Central Intelligence Agency ( Cia ) Program1452 Words   |  6 Pageswarriors in Afghanistan .The program inclined vigorously towards supporting activist Islamic gatherings that were supported by the administration of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in neighboring Pakistan. Operation Cyclone was one of the longest and most costly secret CIA operations ever attempted. Subsidizing proceeded after 1989 as the mujahideen fought the strengths of Mohammad Najibullah s PDPA amid the common war in Afghanistan. Nur Muhammad Taraki communist supporters, seized control in Afghanistan on 1978Read MoreIslamic State For The Global Terrorism Index1746 Words   |  7 PagesAccording to the Global Terrorism Index, almost 18,000 deaths accord in 2013 which is a 60% increase from 2012. The 4 major groups responsible for these deaths are: Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria, Boko Haram in Nigeria, the Taliban in Afghanistan and al-Qaida in various parts of the world. Steve Killelea, the executive director of the Institute for Economics and Peace stated in 2014, â€Å"significant and worrying increase in worldwide terrorism†. He also stated that, â€Å"what beheading a westerner

Facility Structure and Process Factors †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Facility Structure and Process Factors. Answer: Introduction: Patient safety is the main motto of all healthcare centers. However the same remains the most prominent issue in health policy and public debate. Different types of factors become responsible for adverse patient outcomes when they are not followed properly (Nezamodini et al. 2016). Different types of falls, wrong site surgery, drug transfusion reaction, post operative sepsis, development of pressure ulcer, and wound infection are some of the factors. Moreover catheter related infections, preventable deaths due to inappropriate caring, skin tears, hand hygiene compliance are also some others. However among the factors, the most important concern which had been noted in most of the healthcare centers of the nation is medication errors (Dolansky et al. 2013). Medication errors have various types of negative outcomes which not only affect the reputation of the hospitals and the career of the nurse but can lead to preventable patient deaths and poor quality lives of patients. In the prese nt working center, medication error has been identified as the main cause of concern for the organization. It is thereby used as an indicator which can be used to analyze the intensity of the patient safety adherence rules followed by healthcare professionals (Vaismoradi et al. 2015). This would be followed by a proper improvement plan for the development of the culture of maintenance of medication administration safety. An evaluation plan should also be proposed to monitor the change and improvement made by the healthcare professionals in their practices and efforts made by the organization for the development of patient safety after changes. All these would ensure development of the culture of safety in the healthcare center ensuring the best care for patients. Medication administration is the complex as well as a multistep process which involves a large number of activities. It encompasses prescribing, transcribing as well as dispensing and administering drugs and at the same time monitoring the patient response to ensure safety of the patients (Alenius and Graf, 2016). In any step, an error may take place which may affect the entire course of medication administration severely compromising the patient health. In busy shifts nowadays, different nurses are found in hurry as they have to handle multiple patients at the same time. Often their multitasking can lead to severe issues when they either miss out medication or administer wrong medication or follows improper procedures for medication. There has been also reported incidents like many of medication error occur at the prescribing state and also some are intercepted by pharmacists and other staffs beside nurses as well (Jun and Lee 2014). Administration errors are accounting for about 26 to 2% among different types of medication errors and these errors are seen to be conducted mostly by the nurses as they are the ones who are responsible for providing medication to patients. Therefore mostly the nurses should be most careful among the different healthcare professionals. Often large numbers of factors are responsible for the occurrence of the medication errors. One of the most important factors which are identified is inappropriate or incomplete patient information. Often nurses do not complete the patient information chart or the medical history of the patients is not taken completely (Lane et al. 2014). As a result, important information gets missed out which have significant effect on the health of the patient. A patients name, age, birthday, allergies, weight, current labs results, vital signs and others are very important as they might alter the medication procedure of the patients. When such information goes undocumented, it may harm the patients. Recent researchers are of the opinion that proper barcode scanning of the patients armbands help in patients identity and at the same time can confirm the reduction of the medication error related to patent information. However, several issues regarding barcode scanning has been noted as it increase m edication administration times. Moreover the system is also not completely fail proof (Hwang and Park 2014). Another factor that is also observed by researchers to cause medication errors are inaccurate drug information. Often accurate and current drug information is not advisable to caregivers or they do not develop their skills and knowledge to follow current information about drugs. This information can come from protocols, text references, order sets, medication administrations records and patient profiles (Karavasiliadou et al. 2014). Moreover computerized drug information systems are also important to follow properly. Researchers are of the opinion that nurses need to show patience and proper concentration while handling drugs so that they can avoid wring administration of drugs thereby preventing adverse events (Van Boggaert et al. 2014). Another issue that leads to medication errors is inadequate communication. Miscommunication among the physicians, nurses and pharmacists often act as barriers in effective drug information availability and therefore this should be verified. Improper communication mainly rises from power struggle, excessive burden from over work, lack of situation awareness and other all lead to improper information sharing for which ultimately the patients lives are compromised (Scott and Henneman 2017). Many researchers are of the opinion that in such cases SBAR method helps in minting patient safety by proper jotting down of information and passing of such information to different healthcare professionals which ensures safe practices. Another issue that also results in medication errors is drug packaging, labeling as well as nomenclature. Often it has been noted that different healthcare centers have incidences where nurses have delivered improper medicine to the patient mainly due to the medicines sounding alike or looking alike (Leufer and Claery-Holdforth 2013). Medications are not sometimes maintained in clearly labeled unit dosage packages for institutional use which result in confusion among the nurses. Moreover, in busy schedules nurse remain in hurry and in such situation, medication errors become common (Ignatavicius and Workman 2015). Proper methods need to be adopted to strategically handle such cases and reduce the medication errors. There are also many environmental factors which also remains responsible for different medication errors. These include inadequate lighting as well as different cluttered work environments. Moreover increased patient acuity as well as distractions during drug preparation and during drug administration is also a reason for medication error (Makary and Daniel 2016). Caregiver stress and fatigue also contribute to this. Heavier workloads, nursing shortage, burning outs and others also increases workloads which have physical and mental impacts on nurses. These result in medication errors. Another issue which is also noted to be contributing in medication errors are insufficient staff education and their competency. Continuing education of the nursing staffs is extremely important for the nursing staffs for reduction of the errors (Raymond et al. 2017). Medications which are new to the facility should be taken as the priority areas as well as teaching domains. Proper learning with the help of the medication related policies as well as the procedures and protocols should remain updated to very nursing professionals. Moreover nursing grand rounds are also ensured for proper adherence to medication guidelines (Lewis et al. 2013). The way about how medication error acts as indicator of health: The first way is to conduct medical reviews. It can be conducted manually as well as electronically using text mining and text words. This would mainly involve searching for notable events in electronic medical records, resources for performing reviews, monitoring the variability in the terms used to label adverse events, spelling mistakes and others. Moreover a Meta-analysis of the comparison rate of detection of non pharmacist as well as pharmacists reveal a high level of adverse event detection by pharmacists (Alenius and Graf 2016). The second way is the voluntary reporting of the adverse events which can be used to measure the rates of medical errors and also adverse events. This has been stated by researchers to be one of the most useful and beneficial method as adverse event reporting allows professionals as well as the monitoring committee to learn from errors and saves financial cost of reporting. The third way is by direct observation at the bedside of the patients. This helps in detection of errors made by omission. It helps to note errors in stages like prescription, delivery, dispensing, administration, and monitoring. This helps in noting errors which have been not reported by voluntary reporting The fourth way is the traditional method where narratives of patients are noted to measure whether ant medication error had taken place during their care in the hospital. Besides, the hospitals may also conduct closed ended survey or open ended interviews to patient, family members and also the nurses for quantitative measuring of the issue and taking steps accordingly (Jun and Lee 2014). It has been seen that in my recent working area, complaints are noted by the family members who have stated that the conditions of their patients have deteriorated over the stays. They have mainly resulted from wrong medications given. Moreover, the nursing leaders have also noticed that nurses are providing medication through wrong routes which are harming the conditions of patients. Following this, they wanted to research further on the error indicator more and therefore with the advice of the nursing leaders, the organization decided to implement an improvement planning procedure (Garrouste et al. 2015). They used medication error as an indicator for measuring the patient safety outcomes and wanted to implement proper guidelines and initiatives so that adverse outcomes of the patients due to medication error can be prevented. For this, they adopted the PDSA cycle which was made popular by DrW. Edwards Deming who is regarded by many as the father of the modern quality control. It i s mainly called the PLAN-DO-STUDY- ACT-CYCLE which is the four step model. The first step is called the PLAN step. In this step, the main issues need to be identified and accordingly plans are to be made. A research team was established with the main duty of observing the practices of the healthcare professionals and noting the discrepancies observed in the processes of the medication administrations. Secondly, they were also asked to note the patients narrative about their experiences of their stay in the hospitals and would be interviewed about what they perceive of the skills and methods of medication administration by the professionals. Thirdly, they were also appointed to check the documents which are administered by the nurses regarding patient information, medication charts and others to see how they are maintained and whether the nurses are following proper guidelines to do so. Fourthly, separate nursing interviews were conducted to understand their view, experiences, incidents and other that they want to discuss about regarding medication errors so that they could help the organization with better strategies. After thorough analysis, certain issues were noted. These included improper communication between the nurses to be one of the major factors. Both power struggle and absence of communication skills resulted in the contribution of medication issues. For this communication skills workshops needed to be arranged. For overcoming power struggles, individuals were planned to be summoned for a meeting to disclose their issue with others and resolve their distances resulting in proper relationship development. Secondly, another issue that came to light was inappropriate practices by the nurses which were not according to the modern guidelines. The old nurses were not accustomed with the new medications and did not know how to administer them. They were using random procedure as they have no idea about the correct routes of administration. For them, continuous professional development courses should be introduced so that the senio r nurses get the scope of developing ideas about the new medication incorporated in care practices which would ensure reduction in medication errors. Thirdly, another issue was observed by the researchers. They found that nurses were completely burned out. They were stressed and fatigued due to overtime as nurses to patient ratio was not justifiable to maintain patient safety (Noland and Carmack 2015). For all these, they were becoming distracted and cannot concentrate on their work. For this, the employers and the managers should conduct a meeting and introduce incentive schemes which would provide them enthusiasm to work hard. Moreover, more recruitment should be done so that nurse to patient ratio is just to maintain patient safety. Fourthly, all the cases which are reported would be discussed in a weeks meeting so that every nurse can understand the harmful effects that may occur and they would be also suggested with proper guidelines which would be taught to them by nurse leade rs so that they do not continue such practices. The next stage is called the Do stage. In this stage, small scale study needs to be conducted in order to understand the probable outcomes of the strategies. The communication workshops will be held thrice a week where mentors would help them learn communication skills which are important to avoid miscommunication. Proper developments of relationships are also important for overcoming the power struggle and for this meetings would be help bi weekly where nurses would be requested to clear out their concerns and provide valuable feedback to each other so that transparency is maintained between every individual (Roth et al. 2017). Moreover, the open-mindedness between the nurses, more effectively they will be able to interact and communicate for which medication errors will lessen. The next strategy that needs to be implemented is the introduction of training sessions for the continuous professional development for the senior nurses. They would be held thrice a week for 2 to 3 hours. T hese classes will be helping the nurses to accommodate themselves with the present set of medicines which had arrived in the market. This will also help the nurses gather knowledge about the recent discoveries made in the field of medicines and also help them to know the proper administration routes and dosages. The third strategy that would be implemented is the development of proper plans by the administrative system and financial departments. They would provide proper incentive systems which would be helping in developing enthusiasm in the nurses and would also motivate them to work beyond the organizational goals. Motivation by the leaders and also financial incentives will be helping in making them adhere to the rules of medication and make them dedicate themselves more. Moreover, the organizations human resource department should maintain proper nurse patient ratio and also allocate proper initiatives so that work overload does not occur. Physical and mental impacts on nurses have negative effects on patient safety and therefore human resource management should allocate more nurses so that work gets equally distributed and no nurses get burnt out. Moreover, lastly an open discussion forum can be arranged on weekends where the leaders would discuss their observations throughout the weeks and thereby discuss the incidents with the nurses helping them to identify their mistakes. They would also suggest the alternative action they could have taken in the scenario so that they can also learn the various ways they could have taken which would have prevented the adverse effects on the patients (Starmer et al. 2014). This discussion class would help them to learn from the mistakes already made. The next stage is called the Study phase. In this phase, the strategies which are implemented are reviewed. After reviewing the strategies, the results should be analyzed and initiatives should be taken about what is learnt by the participants. For proper evaluation of the result of the strategies, the hospital organization would be developing a monitoring committee which would be comprised of experienced personalities of healthcare who would be assessing the results. Firstly, the mentors of the communication workshop classes would be called for meeting weekly along with the reports of the nursing professionals. The reports would be containing the developments made by them in their communication skill which would help the experts to understand the response of the nurses and the enhancement of skills they made. Secondly, the training procedures of the continuous professional development would be monitored and the reports of the development would also be taken from the trainers. These would help the experts to understand whether the strategies are resulting in positive effects or are failing to meet the goals (Wright and Khatri 2015). The functioning of the human resource department in allocation of the nurses should also be judged over the quality of the skills of the nurses who are recruited. Moreover, they would also verify that the nurse patient ratio is maintained or not, so that overload of work or stress or fatigue is not experienced by them. Moreover, the qualities of the discussion forums will also be noted so that experts can be sure that evidence based solutions are provided by the nursing leaders and also taking part in development of their knowledge and skills. The most important part of the evaluation of the strategies is to conduct interviews of the nursing professionals with open ended questionnaires about the strategies taken for them. These would help to know their perceptions that whether they are really helping them or required further develop ment of modification of the plans (Noland et al. 2017). The next part of the cycle is the stage called ACT. This stage mainly helps to act over the evaluation results and implement any changes if required in the strategies. The experts of the monitoring committee will develop a file with the results if the evaluation. Following this data in the file, important strategies will then be altered if required. If no changes are required these strategies would be continued until the incidence of medical errors is reduced (Wright and Khatri 2015). Conclusion: From the entire discussion, it is quite clear that medical errors are one of the most important indicators for patient safety and hence the quality of care provided. With the rising incidence of patient mortality and poor quality life due to medication administration, researchers have become quite concerned. They have discovered many factors like inappropriate communication, improper trainings of nurses, lack of proper environmental surrounding, fatigue and stress, and many others result in wring medication administration. Hence, my organization (where I work) has used the PDSA cycle to implement strategies, test their results and alter the strategies when requited. With the help of the steps, the improvement plan can be successfully established which will bring out positive results. Conducting of continuous professional development classes for the senior nurses will give them scope to learn about correct procedures that need to be followed during medication administration. Also cond ucting of communication workshops will help in breaking the barriers faced by different professionals while communication. This will ensure reduction of medical errors that occur due to absence of proper communication or due to absence of communication skills. Moreover, the HRM departments should be ensuring proper nurse patient ratio to reduce fatigue and stress in nurses and decrease workload which will reduce medical errors. Discussion forums are also helpful to maintain patient safety. References: Alenius, M. and Graf, P., 2016. Use of Electronic Medication Administration Records to Reduce Perceived Stress and Risk of Medication Errors in Nursing Homes.CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing,34(7), pp.297-302. Dolansky, M.A., Druschel, K., Helba, M. and Courtney, K., 2013. Nursing student medication errors: a case study using root cause analysis.Journal of professional nursing,29(2), pp.102-108. Garrouste-Orgeas, M., Perrin, M., Soufir, L., Vesin, A., Blot, F., Maxime, V., Beuret, P., Troch, G., Klouche, K., Argaud, L. and Azoulay, E., 2015. The Iatroref study: medical errors are associated with symptoms of depression in ICU staff but not burnout or safety culture.Intensive care medicine,41(2), pp.273-284. Hwang, J.I. and Park, H.A., 2014. Nurses perception of ethical climate, medical error experience and intent-to-leave.Nursing ethics,21(1), pp.28-42. Ignatavicius, D.D. and Workman, M.L., 2015.Medical-Surgical Nursing-E-Book: Patient-Centered Collaborative Care. Elsevier Health Sciences. Jun, J. and Lee, N.J., 2014. Perioperative Nurse's Experience of Nursing Errors and Emotional Distress, Coping Strategies, and Changes in Practice.Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration,20(5), pp.481-491. Karavasiliadou, S. and Athanasakis, E., 2014. An inside look into the factors contributing to medication errors in the clinical nursing practice.Health Science Journal,8(1). Lane, S.J., Troyer, J.L., Dienemann, J.A., Laditka, S.B. and Blanchette, C.M., 2014. Effects of skilled nursing facility structure and process factors on medication errors during nursing home admission. Health care management review,39(4), pp.340-351. Leufer, T. and Cleary-Holdforth, J., 2013. Let's do no harm: Medication errors in nursing: Part 1.Nurse education in practice,13(3), pp.213-216. Lewis, E.J., Baernholdt, M. and Hamric, A.B., 2013. Nurses' experience of medical errors: An integrative literature review.Journal of nursing care quality,28(2), pp.153-161. Makary, M.A. and Daniel, M., 2016. Medical error-the third leading cause of death in the US.BMJ: British Medical Journal (Online),353. Nezamodini, Z.S., Khodamoradi, F., Malekzadeh, M. and Vaziri, H., 2016. Nursing Errors in Intensive Care Unit by Human Error Identification in Systems Tool: A Case Study.Jundishapur Journal of Health Sciences,8(3). Noland, C.M. and Carmack, H.J., 2015. You never forget your first mistake: Nursing socialization, memorable messages, and communication about medical errors.Health communication,30(12), pp.1234-1244. Raymond, J., Godfrey, C.M., Medves, J.M. and Ross-White, A., 2017. Nursing student patient safety errors in the practice domain: a scoping review protocol of the quantitative and qualitative evidence.JBI Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports,15(2), pp.190-195. Roth, C., Brewer, M. and Wieck, K.L., 2017, July. Using a Delphi Method to Identify Human Factors Contributing to Nursing Errors. InNursing forum(Vol. 52, No. 3, pp. 173-179). Scott, S.S. and Henneman, E., 2017. underreporting of Medical Errors.Medsurg Nursing,26(3), pp.211-213. Starmer, A.J., Spector, N.D., Srivastava, R., West, D.C., Rosenbluth, G., Allen, A.D., Noble, E.L., Tse, L.L., Dalal, A.K., Keohane, C.A. and Lipsitz, S.R., 2014. Changes in medical errors after implementation of a handoff program.New England Journal of Medicine,371(19), pp.1803-1812. Vaismoradi, M., Jordan, S. and Kangasniemi, M., 2015. Patient participation in patient safety and nursing inputa systematic review.Journal of clinical nursing,24(5-6), pp.627-639. Van Bogaert, P., Timmermans, O., Weeks, S.M., van Heusden, D., Wouters, K. and Franck, E., 2014. Nursing unit teams matter: Impact of unit-level nurse practice environment, nurse work characteristics, and burnout on nurse reported job outcomes, and quality of care, and patient adverse eventsA cross-sectional survey.International journal of nursing studies,51(8), pp.1123-1134. Wright, W. and Khatri, N., 2015. Bullying among nursing staff: Relationship with psychological/behavioral responses of nurses and medical errors. Health care management review,40(2), pp.139-147.

Let It Enfold You by Senses Fail free essay sample

Senses Fail is and will always be my favorite band. This band is a mostly hardcore, rock partiall screamo band. Let It Enfold You is an amazing album full of killer songs! Every song has a real meaning behind it unlike most of the mainstream music that is on todays radio. One of the really cool things about this band is they always record in a barn as their studio. Yes, that sounds absolutley stupid but it makes them seem more like regular people because they have a lot of money but they choose to not spend it on stupid things. They have been on Warped Tour several times and have a kind of rivalry to the band Brokencyde. Senses Fail is coming out with their first album since Still Searching and its called The Fire. The album comes out this month and i would HIGHLY recommend buying it. One single track that can be listened to on their website sensesfail. We will write a custom essay sample on Let It Enfold You by Senses Fail or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page com is called Saint Anthony. SENSES FAIL IS AMAZING.

The Dummy Subject

The Dummy Subject The Dummy Subject The Dummy Subject By Erin Writers, especially beginning writers, are often cautioned against using passive voice in their writing because its use slows down the pace. Another construction that can make your writing plod is the dummy subject. When we use the words it and there to begin a sentence without a referent (a noun the pronoun is referring to), were using a dummy subject. In this pair of sentences: I went to see Fantastic Four 2 over the weekend. It was fun, but mostly forgettable. It refers to the movie Fantastic Four 2. The pronoun has a referent. In this sentence, however: It is apparent that oil reserves will be exhausted by 2050. It has no referent, and is therefore a dummy subject. The same thing happens frequently with there: There are several ways in which you could begin. There are five stages of grief. Dummy subjects are just one of many problems that weaken your writing by making it vague, fuzzy, and indefinite. The sentences above can be reconstructed with stronger, more definite subjects: Some experts warn that our oil reserves will be exhausted by 2050. You could begin in one of the following ways: (followed by a list). Elisabeth Kubler-Ross identified five stages of grief in her book On Death and Dying. In general, unless you dont know who is performing an action, or you want to emphasize the action of the sentence for some reason, you should avoid dummy subjects. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Inquire vs EnquireA While vs Awhile50 Synonyms for â€Å"Villain†

Cosmos Episode 1 Viewing Worksheet

Cosmos Episode 1 Viewing Worksheet Once in awhile, it is necessary to have a movie day in class. Perhaps you have a substitute teacher and want to make sure your students are still learning and reinforcing concepts youve been studying. Other times call for a reward of a movie day or as a supplement to a unit that may be particularly difficult to grasp. Whatever the reason, a great show to watch on these movie days is Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey with host Neil deGrasse Tyson. He makes science accessible and exciting for all ages and levels of learning. The first episode of Cosmos, called Standing Up in the Milky Way,  was an overview of science from the beginning of time. It touches on everything from the Big Bang Theory to the Geologic Time Scale to Evolution and Astronomy. Below are questions that can be copy and pasted into a worksheet and modified as necessary for students to fill in as they watch Episode 1 of Cosmos. These questions are designed to check understanding of some of the most important parts while hopefully not taking away from the experience of watching the show.    Cosmos Episode 1 Worksheet  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Name:___________________    Directions: Answer the questions as you watch episode 1 of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey    1.  What is the name of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s â€Å"spaceship†?          2.  What is responsible for creating wind and keeping everything in the solar system in its clutches?          3.  What lies between Mars and Jupiter?          4.  How big is the centuries-old hurricane on Jupiter?          5.  What had to be invented before we could discover Saturn and Neptune?          6.  What is the name of the spacecraft that has traveled the farthest away from Earth?          7.  What is the Oort Cloud?          8.  How far from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy do we live?          9.  What is the â€Å"address† of Earth in the cosmos?          10.  Why do we not know yet if we live in a â€Å"multiverse†?          11.  Who wrote the banned book that Giordano Bruno read that gave him the idea that the Universe was infinite?          12.  How long was Bruno jailed and tortured?          13.  What happened to Bruno after he refused to change his mind about his beliefs of an infinite Universe?          14.  Who was able to prove Bruno right 10 years after his death?          15.  How many years does one month symbolize on the â€Å"cosmic calendar†?          16.  What date on the â€Å"cosmic calendar† did the Milky Way Galaxy appear?          17.  What date on the â€Å"cosmic calendar† was our Sun born?          18.  What day and time did human ancestors first evolve on the â€Å"cosmic calendar†?          19.  What do the last 14 seconds on the â€Å"cosmic calendar† represent?          20.  How many seconds ago on the â€Å"cosmic calendar† did the two halves of the world find each other?          21.  How old was Neil deGrasse Tyson when he met Carl Sagan in Ithaca, New York?          22. What is Carl Sagan most famous for?

Discuss the evolution of the concept of metabolism and symbiosis in Essay

Discuss the evolution of the concept of metabolism and symbiosis in post-war Japanese architecture. What are the key aspects of - Essay Example In this case, this evolution was attributed to the philosophies of urban adaptability and renewability of ideas gathered from various Japanese, which were entrenched within the culture in theory and physical practices. Moreover, this was a representation of accomplishment of the contemporary and chronological Japanese architecture. This paper will focus on conducting an analysis of the Metabolist Architectural Movement that was initiated in 1960s after the World War II, in which Japan participated. Apparently, it is important to exploring its influence on the popular works of art in anime genre in order to understand the evolution of the concept of metabolism and symbolism after the World War II. Evolution of metabolism has been significantly influenced by acceptability into Science Fiction, and renders it to be considered an element of the Utopia, which is regarded to be post-apocalyptic aspect of Japanese society’s future. Therefore, integration of metabolism in Science Fict ion is also considered an illustration of progress. Fundamentally, the theory of metabolism is based on two principles, which include symbiosis of various time periods, which is also referred to as diachronicity. In this case, â€Å"metabolism† is a term that is derived from science of biology in order to refer to the process and alteration, which is undergone by creatures during their lives. Initially, the first principles of metabolism were established by the movement for regeneration and metabolizing process attributed urban planning and architecture. Therefore, the terms metabolism is identified by the movement as a way of expressing believes for work of architecture, thereby arguing that it should be dynamic after its completion. In addition, members of this movement suggested that people should seek understanding of the works of architecture in terms of processes involved in its evolution from the past to present and to future. Evolution of the concept of metabolism and symbolism in Japan is evident through its role in facilitating political and cultural development after the Second World War. In fact, Metabolism Movement focused on redefining numerous relationships with designs, which were considered crucial. These relationships were attributed to features such as permanence, transience, expressing thoughts, and undertaking spontaneous planning. In this case, these were some of the ideas that were features in the schemes developed by Metabolists, through evolution of structures and impermanence of forms, which had attributes of substantial themes. Evolution of the concept of metabolism and symbolism has also been attributed increased prominence and respect for Japanese architecture. Actually, this Japanese architecture serves as a way influencing mentor to younger members of Metabolist Movement. Besides, this evolution facilitated conception of this movement into a large-scale plan of reconstructing Tokyo. On the other hand, there were suggestion s made through Metabolism schemes to reconfigure the modern structure of the cities. Apparently, these this reconfiguration was aimed at fitting the lifecycle of citizens. Therefore, these structures were aimed at taking designs to promote growth and transformation in a way that was similar to the evolution and metamorphosis of an organism. In this case, the Metabolism Movement became Utopia in a way that led to inspiring of a notion, which regarded the city

Proposal about an article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Proposal about an - Article Example However, organization culture of the two firms proves to be incompatible and will likely yield the greatest conflict of interest. It has been an issue of pubic debate in respect of Burger king takeover of Tim Hortons in Canada for various reasons. The article explores the cost cutting strategies of Burger King which is possible in the United States. It is therefore portrayed as having a possibility of carrying this culture into Canada after merger with immediate layoffs which will result into unemployment and reflect on retrogressive economic consequences. The culture of Burger King is clearly conflicting the Canadian overwhelming spirit of team work and favorable social welfare of the employees as practiced by Tim Hortons. Burger king is known for gambling with diverse brands which is likely to conflict with Canadian based Tim Horton with a strong brand identity. It is therefore critical to note that the author of this article addresses reality of merging or firms in respect of cultural

Fast Food Nation Essay Example for Free

Fast Food Nation Essay In Eric Schlossers book, Fast Food Nation, the author presents an in depth analysis of the fast food industry, from its origin of Southern California to its ubiquitous manifestation of todays culture. Schlosser argues that the fast food industry has used its political influence as a way of circumventing issues of health and working conditions, while greatly increasing profits and expansion. The intent of Schlossers book is to impact the reader to stop and consider the consequences of eating at a McDonalds or similar chain. He expands upon his ideas in a series of broad and diverse ways such as criticizing schools that received payment for Coke machines and advertisements (53). He goes on to argue in chapter 4, Success, that the expansion of the fast food industry accelerated franchising, which can be beneficial for both the company that wishes to expand and for the business oriented person who doesnt want to risk it alone. McDonalds has become a real estate giant by leasing property to franchisees which, Schlosser argues, keeps franchisees fully under the control of the corporation because the lease can be terminated. He points out what was once a step to becoming a millionaire is now at a 38. 1% failure rate (98). Schlossers view is successfully defended by his careful Pinedo 2 and precise analysis of the fast food industry, effective writing dialect, and his ability intertwine statistics with moral and sympathetic appeal. Schlossers book is written for the general population, to which he is conveying a message. One effective writing device that Schlosser uses in this chapter is appealing to the readers emotions effectively by creating a background for the individuals. The reader becomes sympathetic to the fast food workers as one learns of their daily lives. Schlossers book is written for the general population which he is trying to convey his message to. He introduces the chapter with Matthew Kabong. The reader continues to learn about Kabongs daily work routine as a Little Caesars delivery guy. He earns the minimum wage? and on a good night he makes about fifty bucks (91). He is a poverty-stricken optimist that wants to own a Radio Shack in the future as Schlosser points out. I can not help but to feel sympathetic to this young mans current situation. Schlosser intentionally builds the character of Kabong by using bits of humor such as Kabong referring to his car as his office (92). This appeals to a broad audience who have held such jobs in the past and wish for better things for this individual. Schlosser builds a connection with the reader, instead of introducing the chapter with statistics and franchising information, he builds up the chapter and then introduces his points, which is a very important tool. Shortly after in the chapter, Schlosser introduces Dave Feamster, an ex-NHL player who became a Little Caesars franchisee. We learn that a bone fracture at the base of his spine halted his career in the NHL. He vanished from the NHL without so much as Pinedo 3 a good-bye handshake (93). Feamster contacts an old friend and relative of Mike Hitch, company founder of Little Caesars. He buys a Little Caesars franchise with what little money he had left. We learn that his devotion to Little Caesars led him to a good income and a total of five Little Caesars restaurants. Again, Schlosser builds up the individuals character. In this case, Dave Feamster was shown as a NHL star, who was unfairly dropped and soon had nothing. He rose from nothing and made a new career. I sympathize with Feamster as he undergoes hardship and it builds a certain connection. Schlossers uses this connection to his advantage and is able to persuade me to listen more attentively to Schlossers message. He is able to capture the readers attention and then focus their attention subconsciously to his other points on franchising. Another effective writing tool is Schlossers in-depth information surrounding franchising and his powerful argument supported with statistics and reports. Towards the middle of the chapter after Schlosser captures our attention, we learn three-quarters of the American companies that started selling franchises in 1983 had gone out of business by 1993. He backs up this claim with William Bates, a professor of economics at Wayne State University, the franchise route to self-employment is associated with higher business failure rates and lower profits than independent business ownership (98). I am persuaded to believe through his intellectual correspondents that franchising may not be the way to go and not a sure-fire way towards money. He later points out a study conducted by the Heritage Foundation that found almost six hundred new fast food chains were launched in 1996 due to government-backed loans. He shows that according to the study the chain that benefited most from the loans was Subway, which had 109 of Pinedo 4 755 stores opened by government loans (102). In this case the reader is persuaded to believe a study that conducted by what appears to be an unbiased organization. Schlossers uses the emotions of the reader; in this case he wanted to create anger in the readers mind toward the fast food industry, particularly Subway. We are led to believe we are paying for the opening of these fast food chains with our tax money. This creates an anger and resentment towards the fast food industry. Another example shown, According to a 1995 investigation by Canadas Financial Post, Subways whole system seems ? almost as geared to selling franchises as it is to selling sandwiches. It reports that the lowest investment to open a major fast food chain is Subway at $100,000, but they also take the most royalty at 8% (100). This is a legitimate investigation shared by Schlosser to persuade the reader into seeing his view. Schlosser, in this part of the chapter, is conveying the message that the fast food giants are out only to expand and make money, and really care less about the franchisee. The general population cannot help but to take what these studies say for truth. Schlosser knows this and uses it effectively throughout the book. Another effective tool is the language incorporated in this chapter. He uses certain words to his advantage in persuading the reader to his view. For instance, when talking about Pete Lowe, Schlosser describes him as a latter-day entrepreneur, the greatest superstar salesperson of all time, who built a multinational outfit from scratch (106). Schlosser uses a persuasive dialect to influence his readers and appear as an accredited source. He says earlier in the chapter when describing the city in which Kabong and Pinedo 5 Femster work, Pueblo is the southernmost city along the Front Range? a town with steel mills that was never hip like Boulder, bustling like Denver, or aristocratic like Colorado Springs (91). Again, Schlosser aims at a certain view. He suggests to the reader that the town of Pueblo is sluggish and poverty-stricken. We follow Schlossers views as a credible source as one would not know what Pueblo was like without a prior visit. He describes the town and the people in it to complete the background of the chapter. Schlosser, later in the chapter, reinforces his views when describing poor fast food workers, these fourteen fast food workers from Pueblo can almost reach out and touch the famous people (105). Schlosser is indirectly reinforcing his earlier statement. In conclusion, Eric Schlossers book, Fast Food Nation writes an accomplished and thought-provoking book on the broad spectrum of effects the fast food industry has on todays culture. Schlossers repetition, dialect, and persuasiveness, along with his ability to appeal to the readers emotions, provide a strong and successful argument. When backed up by research studies and investigations performed on the restaurants, Schlossers argument only becomes more strengthened.

World Language Policy Essay example -- Globalization Localization Lang

Globalization, Localization, and Language Choice In Britain they used to call a barometer a ?glass.? One would visit the ?glass? in the morning in order to get a sense of what the weather would be for the day. It was of course a rather chancy business, not least because on the average day in Britain you have a little of everything anyway. The poet Louis MacNeice caught the sentiment in a wellknown poem about impending doom: The glass is falling hour by hour, the glass will fall for ever, But if you break the bloody glass you won?t hold up the weather. Perhaps the least observed phenomenon in the global system is language. Because it is so basic to human communication, we are apt to regard it simply as an unchangeable part of the communication process itself ? a kind of natural phenomenon as ordinary and ineluctable as weather. In fact, language is a social institution of enormous importance, and one over which we have a great deal of control (Edwards 1994, Tonkin 2003a). Human utterances are elective: we can either make them or not make them, and we are potentially capable of making these utterances in any language. Since language is fundamental to human social interaction, we begin by choosing our utterances in accordance with the code that we are born into: language is a form of human behavior, and we learn to talk through the need and the desire to participate in the community of which we are a part. Thus the language that we use also has symbolic value: it is a marker of our identity and it reinforces our sense of belonging. But it is an accident of geography or economics that we learn one language or another, that we are born into one speech community rather than another. Within that community, we lear... ...Werner, ed. 1998. Multilingual America: Transnationalism, Ethnicity, and the Languages of American Literature. New York: New York University Press. Tonkin, Humphrey. 2003a. Language and Society. New York: American Forum for Global Education. Tonkin, Humphrey. 2003b. The search for a global linguistic strategy. In Jacques Maurais & Michael A. Morris. Languages in a Globalising World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 319-333. Tonkin, Humphrey. 2004. Language equality in international relations. In Lee Chong-Yeong & Liu Haitao, ed. Towards a New International Language Order. Rotterdam: Universal Esperanto Association. 96-105. Tonkin, Humphrey & Timothy Reagan, ed. 2003. Language in the 21st Century. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Wright, Sue. 2004. Language Policy and Language Planning: From Nationalism to Globalisation. Basingstoke & New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Marketing as a Career

A career in marketing is spontaneous and an enjoyable one. Most people who work in the field of marketing will tell you it provides them with the challenge they have always wanted. Marketing is sporadic and always changing; there are always new and unique techniques to learn, cases to study, and strategies to research. Most companies have been successful with the help of great marketing people. Due to the fact that marketing involves coming up with an idea and realizing it, this is evident in every business. It will take determination and persistence, but it can be done. You will find that a start in marketing will normally put you in an entry position as a market research assistant, print buyer, general management trainee, or you can enter a program as a graduate trainee. A career in marketing will give you broad horizons to explore. This is the reason why marketing major is considered a jack-of-all-trades because of the reason that a marketing person is not limited by his academic performance but complemented by his innate creativity and innovative aspirations. Advertising, for most of its part, is the core of how marketing people do their jobs in a spontaneous yet creative manner. Unlike management which uses Management by Objectives (MBO) which is quite mandatory, marketing is very subjective in nature, which will give you the chance to speak your mind and materialize your ideas. A marketing person should be able to do the fundamental requisites of marketing which is to have an idea on how to build a SWOT analysis for a company. A SWOT analysis involves creating and scrutinizing ideas for the company’s progress. Each aspect of it is crucial for the growth of the company. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses opportunities, threats analysis. Here are some pointers for you to find out if you are a marketing person at heart: Are you able to recognize problems and devise an appropriate plan of action to resolve that problem? Can you organize and interpret complex data? Are you good at generating new ideas? Can you then take and organize those ideas and communicate them verbally? If you possess the qualities above then you could be a good candidate for entering and being successful in the career of marketing. Marketing offers various career opportunities, so it's easy to choose one that reflects your interest, values, and personal style. As a marketing major you can gain experience in your chosen career by participating in an internship or volunteering in service learning and community projects (Laura Lake, marketing.about.com/cs/marketingjobs). Â  Samples of potential experiences include: Conducting Market Research for a Fortune 500 Company. Promoting products through development of Point-of-Purchase displays. Spending time reviewing potential cost, price, and market research for service programs. Learning how to research customer base potential using available data. Designing an advertising or promotional campaign to promote new services. Developing a marketing plan for a global business. Reference: (Laura Lake, marketing.about.com/cs/marketing)

College Transfer

Womack Rd  Dunwoody, Atlanta, GA 30338 October 9, 2012 Dear Emory University Administration: When applying to Georgia Perimeter College (GPC), my initial choice in majoring was dental hygiene. During my first summer session, one of my courses that I had to take was psychology. I realized that it was not only first true academic, but also a personal life passion. I spent my weekends reading psychology related books, experiments, and articles.I counted minutes for my favorite class to start and once it started, I used to get sucked into lectures so deep not realizing how time went by. I became aware and confidant about changing my major to psychology. Upon my second semester of my freshmen year, I learned from the administration that my school does not offer the major I am now planning to pursue. In fact, my school does not even offer bachelor’s degree. I have visited Emory University this summer and even met with some psychology professors.I was impressed of Emory’s hi ghest ranking status among the other universities in southeast region. By attending Emory, I am looking forward in hoping to expand and extend my knowledge in psychology, participate in more psychology related work, and volunteer to work and cooperate with psychology professors. My intentions for transferring are simply for the academic and educational purposes. I have met many good people and made good friends at my currents school. My professors are well educated.I originally choose GPC because it felt like home. It was neither populated, nor far from my house. However, I am willing to push myself for new environment, adventures, and challenges. My academic achievement that shows in my transcripts proves of my ability to meet the standards and readily face the challenges of Emory University. The University and its program in psychology completely match my interests. I am hoping and looking forward in attending a program and pursue my bachelor’s degree in the field of psycho logy.

Run Baby Run Book Review

Run Baby Run Book Review I have never been to the New York, but after I had read the autobiography of Nicky Cruz, it brought me back to the 1950s when Nicky Cruz was the leader of one of the most feared gangs in New York ‚ The Mau Maus. From the moment he was born, he was unloved and unwanted. He moved to New York because his parents did not want him to stay. There he became a violent and intolerable teenager until he was encountered by a preacher, and turned into a follower of Christ.Nicky‚s life began so tough, being rejected by his parents: ‚“No not mine‚… Son of Satan. Child of Devil‚… Get away from me‚… Away! Away!‚” Nicky was then sent to New York to live with his older brother Frank. He despised Frank and school, and set out to the streets of New York. New York at this time was filled with gangs who patrolled their streets and teenagers would join gangs so they would feel safe, protected or just because they wanted to get away from home.English: Carl Cin tron flanked by Transit Patrolman...

The Evolution of the First Mammals

The Evolution of the First Mammals Ask the average person on the street, and he or she might guess that the first mammals didnt appear on the scene until after the dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago, and, moreover, that the last dinosaurs evolved into the first mammals. The truth, though, is very different. In fact, the first mammals evolved from a population of vertebrates called  therapsids (mammal-like reptiles) at the end of the Triassic period and coexisted with dinosaurs throughout the Mesozoic Era. But part of this folktale has a grain of truth. It was only after the dinosaurs went kaput that mammals were able to evolve beyond their tiny, quivering, mouselike forms into the widely specialized species that populate the world today. These popular misconceptions about the mammals of the Mesozoic Era are easy to explain. Scientifically speaking, dinosaurs tended to be very, very big and early mammals tended to be very, very small. With a couple of exceptions, the first mammals were tiny, inoffensive creatures, rarely more than a few inches long and a few ounces in weight, about on a par with modern shrews. Thanks to their low profiles, these hard-to-see critters could feed on insects and small reptiles (which bigger ​raptors and tyrannosaurs tended to ignore), and they could also scurry up trees or dig into burrows to avoid getting stomped on by larger ornithopods and sauropods. The Evolution of the First Mammals Before discussing how the first mammals evolved, its helpful to define what distinguishes mammals from other animals, especially reptiles. Female mammals possess milk-producing mammary glands with which they suckle their young. All mammals have hair or fur during at least some stage of their life cycles, and all are endowed with warm-blooded (endothermic) metabolisms. Regarding the fossil record, paleontologists can distinguish ancestral mammals from ancestral reptiles by the shape of their skull and neck bones, as well as the presence, in mammals, of two small bones in the inner ear (in reptiles, these bones constitute part of the jaw). As mentioned above, the first mammals evolved toward the end of the Triassic period from a population of therapsids, the mammal-like reptiles that arose in the early Permian period and produced such uncannily mammal-like beasts as Thrinaxodon and Cynognathus. By the time they went extinct in the mid-Jurassic period, some therapsids had evolved proto-mammalian traits (fur, cold noses, warm-blooded metabolisms, and possibly even live birth) that were further elaborated upon by their descendants of the later Mesozoic Era. As you can imagine, paleontologists have a hard time distinguishing between the last, highly evolved therapsids and the first, newly evolved mammals. Late Triassic vertebrates like Eozostrodon, Megazostrodon  and Sinoconodon appear to have been intermediate missing links between therapsids and mammals, and even in the early Jurassic period, Oligokyphus  possessed reptilian ear and jaw bones at the same time as it showed every other sign (rat-like teeth, the habit of suckling its young) of being a mammal. If this seems confusing, bear in mind that the modern-day platypus is classified as a mammal, even though it lays reptilian, soft-shelled eggs rather than giving birth to live young! The Lifestyles of the First Mammals The most distinctive thing about the mammals of the Mesozoic Era is how small they were. Although some of their therapsid ancestors attained respectable sizes. For example, the late Permian Biarmosuchus was about the size of a large dog. Very few early mammals were larger than mice, for a simple reason: dinosaurs had already become the dominant terrestrial animals on earth. The only ecological niches open to the first mammals entailed a) feeding on plants, insects and small lizards, b) hunting at night (when predatory dinosaurs were less active), and c) living high up in trees or underground, in burrows. Eomaia,  from the early Cretaceous period, and Cimolestes,  from the late Cretaceous period, were fairly typical in this regard. This isnt to say that all early mammals pursued identical lifestyles. For example, the North American Fruitafossor  possessed a pointed snout and mole-like claws, which it used to dig for insects. And, the late Jurassic Castorocauda  was built for a semi-marine lifestyle, with its long, beaver-like tail and hydrodynamic arms and legs. Perhaps the most spectacular deviation from the basic Mesozoic mammalian body plan was Repenomamus, a three-foot-long, 25-pound carnivore that is the only mammal known to have fed on dinosaurs (a fossilized specimen of Repenomamus has been found with the remains of a Psittacosaurus in its stomach). Recently, paleontologists discovered conclusive fossil evidence for the first important split in the mammal family tree, the one between placental and marsupial mammals. Technically, the first, marsupial-like mammals of the late Triassic period are known as metatherians. From these evolved the eutherians, which later branched off into placental mammals. The type specimen of Juramaia, the Jurassic mother, dates to about 160 million years ago, and demonstrates that the metatherian/eutherian split occurred at least 35 million years before scientists had previously estimated. The Age of Giant Mammals Ironically, the same characteristics that helped mammals maintain a low profile during the Mesozoic Era also allowed them to survive the K/T Extinction Event that doomed the dinosaurs. As we now know, that giant meteor impact 65 million years ago produced a kind of nuclear winter, destroying most of the vegetation that sustained the herbivorous dinosaurs, which themselves sustained the carnivorous dinosaurs that preyed on them. Because of their tiny size, early mammals could survive on much less food, and their fur coats (and warm-blooded metabolisms) helped keep them warm in an age of plunging global temperatures. With the dinosaurs out of the way, the Cenozoic Era was an object lesson in convergent evolution: mammals were free to radiate into open ecological niches, in many cases taking on the general shape of their dinosaur predecessors. Giraffes, as you may have noticed, are eerily similar in body plan to ancient sauropods like Brachiosaurus, and other mammalian megafauna pursued similar evolutionary paths. Most important, from our perspective, early primates like Purgatorius were free to multiply, populating the branch of the evolutionary tree that led eventually to modern humans.

Texas vs. Hopwood Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Texas vs. Hopwood - Essay Example The essay "Hopwood vs. Texas" talks about the judicial activism and judicial activism by the example of the case Hopwood v. Texas which remains one of the most intensively litigated cases featuring the long battle over affirmative action in higher education and a good example of judicial activism. Judicial activism entails that the Court majority employed personal or political principles that surpass the intended boundary delineated by the legislation. The rise of judicial activism has sometimes been labeled as an â€Å"end of democracy and the judicial usurpation of politics. One of the drivers for the increased public concern has arisen from the tendency of the courts to utilize their power to decide cases as a mode of invalidating laws passed by legislatures, and even the people themselves via ballot initiatives, wherein judges in some circumstances enforce their own policy on a reluctant society. The Supreme Court plus other federal judicial bodies not only have surpassed their constitutional limits but have disputed the principle of federalism that ought to safeguard the balance of power between the national government and the governments of the states. In some instances, the judges appear to surpass their power with regard to deciding cases that are before the court. Judges are expected to exercise judgment with regard to interpreting the law as per the Constitution. Judges should utilize their power to rectify injustices, especially in instances in which other branches of the government fail to act to do so.... Hence, courts have a critical role to play in shaping social policy on issues such as civil rights, safeguard of individual rights, public morality, and political injustice (Cox, 2012). The core questions on judicial activism centers on whether courts should be awarded the power to annul legislation in the name of the constitution. Judicial activism could lead to some form of despotism (Vijayan, 2006). The courts claim that the power grounded in inferences obtained from the constitution’s credit as the supreme law, as well as from the nature of the judicial office. Discussion over judicial activism predictably comes back to issues regarding judicial supremacy: first, every section of the constitution’s letter and spirit is in principle deemed â€Å"enforceable† by the judiciary; second, every other public official, is bound by his oath to the constitution itself, to take the Supreme Court’s declarations on the Constitution as binding on himself. Based on t hese teachings on judicial power the Supreme Court possesses an effective authority to alter the meaning of the constitution among its ordinary powers (Stephens & Scheb, 2008). As such, judicial supremacy has attained some measures of legitimacy by virtue of popular acquiescence to its terms. It is not the absence of constitutional authority that makes judicial activism a serious problem since courts are not designed to render wide public policy. Activist courts have undermined virtually every aspect of the public policy in the arena of: permitting racial inclinations and quotas; establishing a â€Å"right† to public welfare assistance; obstructing criminal prosecution; upsetting state referenda; and, discerning a right to

Semi Conductors Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Semi Conductors - Essay Example If a firm manufactures a undoubtedly distinguished good, where the customers associates the good with the brand name, it will become very difficult for the new firm to come into the market and take the customers away from the old firm because here the problem is not to produce at a low cost but to produce a significantly attractive product so as to distract the loyal customers from a familiar brand.   Lower Cost for an Established FirmA monopoly is probable to have maintained expert production and marketing abilities. It is more likely to be conscious of the most proficient methods and the most trustworthy and cheapest providers. It is likely to encompass access to cheaper funding. It is therefore working at lower cost curve. New firms would consequently find it difficult to compete and would be likely to lose any price war. Ownership of, or Control over, Key Factors of ProductionIf a firm is the only owner of a particular raw material or good then it can deny supply of that partic ular good to its competent firm.Ownership of, or Control over, Whole Sale or Retail OutletsIn the same way if the firms owns and controls the outlets through which the good may be sold. It can stop it rivals from gaining access to customers.This creates a barrier to entry as it protects the existing firms by patents on necessary processes, by copy rights and also by different type’s licensing( for example a license which only allows one firm to operate in a particular region) and tariffs and also by other trade restrictions. Like many Fishing companies have got license to fish in a particular region and are also given a particular quota. Mergers and takeovers The monopolist firms takeovers new firms by putting bid on them. This increases discouragement for new firms. Aggressive tactics A monopolist who is business for quite a long time can sustain losses for a long time but a new entrant cannot and hence it would start a price cutting war, start big advertising campaigns and introduce new brands and drive the new entrants out. Intimidation In order to drive the new entrants out the existing firm May way out to different forms of harassment and which may be legal or illegal. Semiconductor Rivalry in USA: A Current Example Here we can cite the example of USA where first and second generation chip organizations like Fairchild, General Electric and RCA paved a path for the third generation companies as the

Assessment Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Assessment Analysis - Essay Example Hence, educating the ESOL students with intellectual programs such as IT can emerge as a challenging process. It is worth mentioning in this regard that effective learning of IT requires the learners to possess skills in terms of numeracy and language application where the ESOL students are commonly observed to lack behind (Lawton & Turnbull, 2007; Kambouri & et. al., 2006). It is in this context that the effectiveness of a particular learning process, such as IT, depends on its assessment process by a considerable extent where the limitations possessed by individual ESOL students are addressed and mitigated within the classroom environment (Rust, 2002). Reviewing Two Assessment Methods The assessment method of observation in the classroom provides an opportunity to teachers to effectively and rationally recognize the various developmental needs of individual students from a comparative perspective. Observation also allows teachers to conduct continuous interaction with the students and gain better knowledge regarding their perceptions, individual competencies, individual limitations and other factors which strongly influence their behaviour as well as learning performances with regard to learning IT skills. Additionally, observation also assists in the proper identification of the distinctive learning needs among the students by allowing the comparison of one student with their peers in the classroom setting. It can be stated that as IT skills consist of diverse practical skills, thus observation can be regarded as a key assessment method. This method can significantly facilitate to enhance the level of motivation of a learner as development needs and lacunas can be better assessed by this method (Crown, 2004). Another assessment method that has proved to be quite effective when teaching IT to ESOL students is the application of practical tests. As mentioned by Kambouri & et. al. (2006), literacy skills are highly required among students when learning IT. Howe ver, owing to the behavioural limitations of the ESOL students and lack of knowledge in English language, the literacy rate is quite likely to differ from one group to the other as well as in the individual level as well. It is in this context that the practical test process aims at evaluating the literacy skills possessed by the students based on quantitative raking system where the learners are required to solve few IT problems through multiple-choice questioning by applying their obtained knowledge and skills learnt through the education process. Strengths and Weaknesses of Observation and Practical Test Assessment Methods Observation Method Strengths: Through continuous observation, teachers can maintain a record of students to identify the IT related skills as well as limitations possessed by individual students which are often non-verbally communicated by the students’ attitudes This process allows the observers, i.e. the teachers to prepare the IT related tasks accordi ng to the requirements and capabilities of the learners Comparison of the development of one student in comparison to the other with regard to

Medium Of Defamation In The Cyberspace Media Essay

Medium Of Defamation In The Cyberspace Media Essay Defamation is potentially one of the largest areas of law which will be affected by the internet revolution as it deals, quite simply, with communication between people  [1]  . The internet provides a new means to facilitate this communication and so is an ideal forum for free speech, a practice which can often lead to vituperative and contumelious language  [2]  . A communication is defamatory if it tends so to harm the reputation of another as to lower him in the estimation of the community or to deter third persons from associating or dealing with him.  [3]   With the aim to injure the reputation of the victim and in particular to cause him (or her) to be regarded with feelings of hatred, contempt, ridicule, fear, dislike or disesteem is part of the objective of the defamation  [4]  . The defamer or the defendant can be taken into custody for his/her action if the plaintiff thinks that the information given in the cyberspace is false, inappropriate and resulting lowering down the plaintiff reputation. Depending on different countries and regions, the punishment for defamation in the cyberspace is varies due to its law. Some country for example Brunei can take 5 years prisons for the punishment. It is not only the author or originator of a defamatory statement that may be liable for the publication of that statement; rather, defamation law ensures that anyone who plays a significant role in the act of republication or redistribution of defamatory message will be held responsible for that message  [5]  . This objective of this paper is to determine jurisdiction on the regional cases of defamation in Brunei and Malaysia. Other than that, this paper also explains medium of defamation in the cyberspace, the effects of the defamation to the victim, the punishment to the defamer and the court action with the case. BRUNEI AND MALAYSIA DEFAMATION LAW Both Brunei and Malaysia defamation law are based on the English Common Law  [6]  . MALAYSIA DEFAMATION LAW Malaysia Defamation Act are the Malaysian Defamation Act 1957 for civil cases and the Penal Code of Malaysia Section 499 Section 503 for criminal cases  [7]  . This law does not define defamation. It recognized two forms of defamation only that is libel and slander. There are distinct differences of these two forms of defamation. The difference lies in the means or medium by which the defamatory material is communicated. It used to be a fundamental distinction that between a written or printed word which is concludes as libel and spoken words which are considered as slander. Both libel and slander are civil and criminal offences. Thus, a person who is guilty of libel or slander may be sued in court, and also face jail sentence. In civil cases, the person so defamed will normally sue the maker of the defamatory words for compensation. The amount of the compensation depends on the damage caused to the reputation of the person suing. In criminal cases, the punishment for defamation is a jail sentence for a maximum of two years, or a fine, or a combination of a jail sentence and a fine [Section 500-502 Penal Code]. But, nowadays the general view of libel is whether the publication is in a permanent form, in other forms it is a slander. Defamation in a permanent forms and is usually visible to the eye, such as items in writing, email, pictures, statutes or effigies. Section 3 of the Defamation Act 1957 stated that broadcasting of words by means of radio communication shall be treated as communication in a permanent form. BRUNEI DEFAMATION LAW The Defamation Act of Brunei Darussalam, which was revised in 2000, punishes libel or slander by means of broadcasting, telecommunication or publication by newspaper.  [8]  Like Malaysia, the laws also governing both libel and slander are identical. Bloggers should also be aware that under the Brunei Defamation Act, a blog post for the purpose of the law of libel and slander, may be considered the equivalent to broadcasting of words by means of telecommunication and as such will be treated as publication. Even though the defamatory content on the Internet can be deleted, there is a possibility that the post can be recovered through a cache, and thus can be admitted into evidence  [9]  . Though there has not been any major case of litigation concerning blogs and bloggers in Brunei, the neighboring countries of Malaysia and Singapore have had cases which have resulted in imprisonment for comments made by bloggers  [10]  . Under Section 500 of Bruneis Penal Code, whoever defames another can be imprisoned for a term of up to 5 years and a fine  [11]  . MEDIUM OF DEFAMATION IN THE CYBERSPACE Based on Lilian Edwards study, she define that there are at least four distinct sites where defamation may occur in the cyberspace that can usefully be separated out, as to some extent they raise distinct problems  [12]  . One to one email messages Compared to the traditional written mail (via postal), transmission of email is virtually instantaneous and usually, once sent, is irrevocable. As a result, email correspondence is often in substance more like spoken conversation than written interaction  [13]  . Interaction and communication between two are becoming no limitless which can turn out to be legally actionable. Mailing List The format of an electronic mailing list is that various parties subscribe by email to the list, which is administered by some central host. The subject of discussion of the list may be anything from Internet law to real ale to homosexual fantasies. Usually the list is set up so that, by default, any email message sent by any one subscriber to the list is bounced or exploded out to every other subscriber. Carelessness can lead to the user think they reply only to the maker but actually the user sends their reply to the every member in the list. The embarrassment factor can be considerable, particularly where the members of the list form a small professional community within which the professional reputation of the person defamed can be severely damaged  [14]  . Newsgroup Newsgroups are discussion forum which are made up of comments from their subscribers, sorted by subject matter. All it takes is to subscribe and post comments to the newsgroup  [15]  . Collectively, the newsgroups available to Internet users are sometimes known as the Usenet  [16]  . There are something like 14,000 Usenet newsgroups subscribed to en masse by millions of subscribers, located in every country where there is Internet access. As a result, any comment posted to a Usenet newsgroup is virtually guaranteed to be published, and read, within days if not hours, in many hundreds of national jurisdictions. As can be imagined, the volume of material published in these forums is enormous one estimate is that around 4 million articles are available at any particular time  [17]  . Therefore, the probability of defamation cases in the newsgroup is higher. The World Wide Web Like newsgroups, Web sites can be accessed and read in multiple jurisdictions, and they therefore share many of the problems of transnational publication discussed above. But perhaps the major unique problem with the Web is how far it allows any individual to mimic traditional publishing at very low cost. Home pages can be set up which do a good job of looking like electronic journals or glossy magazines and which can be extremely attractive, with good design and graphic content  [18]  . However many of the parties setting up Web sites often fans of popular music or TV programmes, students, pressure groups, or amateur associations are not already hard copy or traditional publishers, have no knowledge of the law of defamation or libel, and may well find themselves publishing defamatory statements without fully appreciating their potential liability  [19]  . LIABILITY OF INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS The key role of ISPs is to provide access to the Internet for their subscribers. This access includes allowing subscribers both to read and write to Usenet newsgroups and to surf the Web. ISPs also sometimes host local discussion forum and almost invariably agree to act as physical hosts to Web pages set up by their subscribers (generally to a maximum storage of a few megabytes)  [20]  . In all these cases, the ISP runs the risk of being regarded as the publisher of libelous remarks, originated by another person, but published by them in one of these forums. As per mention before, any repetition or re-publication of a defamatory statement is in itself actionable. Action is possible against all intervening persons who are responsible for repeating, publishing or otherwise circulating the defamation  [21]  . Therefore, any republish or repeating, the victim can choose whether to sue original defamer or the re-publisher or both and in many cases, ISP were usually being sued due to the money issue rather than suing the original author. HOW IS DEFAMATION PUNISHED Defamation is usually a civil offence, although it can be a criminal matter under special circumstances.  [22]   CIVIL DEFAMATION Most complaints of defamation are dealt with under civil law. That means that cases go to a civil court and are punished by awarding money (called damages) against the person found to have committed the offence, usually called the defendant. If someone takes you to court for defamation, they will be the plaintiff, you will be the defendant.  [23]   In civil defamation, the principle is the same as for someone who has been physically injured as a result of someone elses actions, either through carelessness or a planned attack. The injured person may take the other person (or people) to court. If successful, the injured person will be awarded a sum of money as compensation. This money will be paid by the person who did the damage.  [24]   DAMAGES There are several kinds of damages a court can award, either separately or together.  [25]   General or Compensatory damages which a court may award for a persons loss of reputation, shame or hurt feelings. The payment to the plaintiff may be at small amount of money. Special damages compensate for any loss of business or earnings the plaintiff may have suffered as a result of the defamation. These could also include any money the plaintiff has spent as a result of the defamation, for example in sending letters to clients denying the allegations. Aggravated damages this can be awarded if the court thinks that the defamation was deliberate, possibly out of ill-will or any other improper motive (usually referred to as malice, which we discussed earlier). Punitive or Exemplary damages which may sometimes be awarded if the defamation is so extreme that the court feels the need to punish you or warn other journalists against similar conduct. Damages are usually large in the case of media organisations because the courts think that they can pay more for their mistakes than individuals can. CRIMINAL DEFAMATION Defamation can also be a criminal offence, which means that those found guilty could be fined or sent to prison or both. This is much less common than civil defamation.  [26]   A charge of criminal defamation can be brought if the words, pictures or gestures use provoke resulting riots, mob violence or other breaches of the public peace. For this reason, the prosecution does not have to prove publication to a third party. It is enough that the person the defendent are referring to hears the words (or sees the gestures) and reacts violently. However, unlike civil defamation, the prosecution will have to prove that the words complained of were malicious. In civil defamation the words may be malicious, but in criminal defamation they must be.  [27]   SOCIAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES Social media technologies are part of the cyberspace. It include blogs, picture sharing, email, instant messaging, vlogs and other medium that allow to be democratically interactive in ways unlike radio, television, or highly edited letters pages of newspapers and magazine. Below is some case law and summaries that happen in Brunei and Malaysia which relate with defamation in cyberspace. Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and video, send messages and keep in touch with friends, family and colleague  [28]  . One recent and well-known case in Brunei with regards to Facebook Upload is Adi Adip  [29]  case where the defendant had uploaded his ex-girlfriends (Miss X) obscene picture and video clip on the Facebook. The reason for his action is to insult Miss Xs modesty as well as to get her attention after she had broken off her relationship with the defendant. The plaintiff report this issue to the police once she discovered the Facebook account is under her name, managed by the defendant and containing the obscene pictures and video clips involving herself. The court ordered for the iPhone used by the defendant to be forfeited and all photos and videos related to the case was seized and disposed of, including copies, immediately. This is one case example from Brunei of the defamation in cyberspace. Other than that, the defendant was send to jail for 10 months. In Malaysia, over the past years, Malaysians have been increasingly engaged in virtual communities and online interactions. Some have led to positive outcomes, but some of these virtual arenas have been exploited, tarnishing the true potential of the Internet  [30]  . In case of Jeff Ooi and Rocky Bru  [31]  case, this is the first time in Malaysia that a prominent media organization filed a suit against bloggers. Jeff Oois Screenshot become a topic of debate when he retracted all his libelous allegations in weblog against the New Straits Times. Raja Petra Kamaruddin is a Malaysian editor known for running Malaysia Today website. He published a series of commentary article on Malaysia politics in the website. There are a lot of cases relate to him which include both Civil and Criminal offences. Some of his cases are: Nordin Kardi UUM v RPK (2008) Lt-Col Aziz Buyong Lt-Col Norhayati Hassan v RPK (2008) Datuk Muhammad Shafee Abdullah v RPK (2008) Public Prosecutor v RPK (2008) Due to large number of cases he was being suit, he was arrested by the authorities. He was detained under the Internal Security Act on 12th September 2008 under section 73, 60 days detention by Police Officer and again on 24th September 2008, under section 8(1) which he was detained for 2 years by the Minister. CONCLUSION As mention earlier in this paper, the objective of this paper is to determine jurisdiction on the regional cases of defamation in Brunei and Malaysia. This paper also explains medium of defamation in the cyberspace, the effects of the defamation to the victim, the punishment to the defamer and the court action with the case. Weve found that there are 4 distinct medium of defamation in the cyberspace one to one email messages, mailing list, newsgroup and the World Wide Web  [32]  . As we know, defamation can result to injure the reputation of the victim and in particular to cause him (or her) to be regarded with feelings of hatred, contempt, ridicule, fear, dislike or disesteem.

Electronics :: essays research papers

Electronics The invention of the microprocessor in 1971 was a huge milestone that eventually changed everyone's everyday lives. This invention enabled the world to own a personal computer in their home as well as their office. People were able to work more efficiently and progressively with these new electronic devices.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Electronics today provides the world with an infinite amount of information at a much faster speed than that information would ever have been available before. The American public is dependent on the usage of many electronics in their lives such as the television, audio receivers, and amplifiers to stay updated on world-wide issues. Electronics also provide a superior tool for progression in the business world today. Business people rely on electronics to communicate with each other faster and to store and quickly organize vast amounts of essential data.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Electronics are improving at a blindingly fast rate. The newest technology from five years ago is literally obsolete today. Electronics are also being used for new purposes continuously. The Internet, or World Wide Web, is a relatively new concept of being â€Å"on-line†. This new project has opened a limitless number of doors for our society. Now anyone can use the Internet to communicate with anybody else in the world a lot faster and cheaper. Cellular phones have also appeared recently in the electronic world. These devices allow a person to be reached from practically anywhere. With cellular phones a person can, from then on, be in communication with the world no matter where they go.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For the next generation, electronics will certainly offer new yet simpler technology available to the general public. Home addresses and phone numbers will be replaced with Internet addresses. Business people will be able to have access to tools such as video conferencing and such in their homes. The workplace will ultimately become obsolete. Transportation vehicles will be dominated by electric cars as natural gas supplies decline around the globe. New procedures for creating power will be found and utilized. The current and upcoming advances in technology will create a steady rise of the progression of the everyday living experience.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I plan to enroll in a very prestigious university after high school and major in electrical engineering. I plan to contribute my time during my studies toward new possible designs of electronics and technology. I realize that innovative minds are the backbone of the direction technology will take and,

Deception Point Page 9

Now she had gotten as close as anyone could get. Gabrielle recalled the night she had spent with Sexton in his plush office, and she cringed, trying to block out the embarrassing images in her mind. What was I thinking? She knew she should have resisted, but somehow she'd found herself unable. Sedgewick Sexton had been an idol of hers for so long†¦ and to think he wanted her. The limousine hit a bump, jarring her thoughts back to the present. â€Å"You okay?† Sexton was watching her now. Gabrielle flashed a hurried smile. â€Å"Fine.† â€Å"You aren't still thinking about that drudge, are you?† She shrugged. â€Å"I'm still a little worried, yeah.† â€Å"Forget it. The drudge was the best thing that ever happened to my campaign.† A drudge, Gabrielle had learned the hard way, was the political equivalent of leaking information that your rival used a penis enlarger or subscribed to Stud Muffin magazine. Drudging wasn't a glamorous tactic, but when it paid off, it paid off big. Of course, when it backfired†¦ And backfire, it had. For the White House. About a month ago, the President's campaign staff, unsettled by the slipping polls, had decided to get aggressive and leak a story they suspected to be true – that Senator Sexton had engaged in an affair with his personal assistant, Gabrielle Ashe. Unfortunately for the White House, there was no hard evidence. Senator Sexton, a firm believer in the best defense is a strong offense, seized the moment for attack. He called a national press conference to proclaim his innocence and outrage. I cannot believe, he said, gazing into the cameras with pain in his eyes, that the President would dishonor my wife's memory with these malicious lies. Senator Sexton's performance on TV was so convincing that Gabrielle herself practically believed they had not slept together. Seeing how effortlessly he lied, Gabrielle realized that Senator Sexton was indeed a dangerous man. Lately, although Gabrielle was certain she was backing the strongest horse in this presidential race, she had begun to question whether she was backing the best horse. Working closely with Sexton had been an eye-opening experience – akin to a behind-the-scenes tour of Universal Studios, where one's childlike awe over the movies is sullied by the realization that Hollywood isn't magic after all. Although Gabrielle's faith in Sexton's message remained intact, she was beginning to question the messenger. 10 â€Å"What I am about to tell you, Rachel,† the President said, â€Å"is classified ‘UMBRA.' Well beyond your current security clearance.† Rachel felt the walls of Air Force One closing in around her. The President had flown her to Wallops Island, invited her onboard his plane, poured her coffee, told her flat out that he intended to use her to political advantage against her own father, and now he was announcing he intended to give her classified information illegally. However affable Zach Herney appeared on the surface, Rachel Sexton had just learned something important about him. This man took control in a hurry. â€Å"Two weeks ago,† the President said, locking eyes with her, â€Å"NASA made a discovery.† The words hung a moment in the air before Rachel could process them. A NASA discovery? Recent intelligence updates had suggested nothing out of the ordinary going on with the space agency. Of course, these days a â€Å"NASA discovery† usually meant realizing they'd grossly under budgeted some new project. â€Å"Before we talk further,† the President said, â€Å"I'd like to know if you share your father's cynicism over space exploration.† Rachel resented the comment. â€Å"I certainly hope you didn't call me here to ask me to control my father's rants against NASA.† He laughed. â€Å"Hell, no. I've been around the Senate long enough to know that nobody controls Sedgewick Sexton.† â€Å"My father is an opportunist, sir. Most successful politicians are. And unfortunately NASA has made itself an opportunity.† The recent string of NASA errors had been so unbearable that one either had to laugh or cry – satellites that disintegrated in orbit, space probes that never called home, the International Space Station budget rising tenfold and member countries bailing out like rats from a sinking ship. Billions were being lost, and Senator Sexton was riding it like a wave – a wave that seemed destined to carry him to the shores of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. â€Å"I will admit,† the President continued, â€Å"NASA has been a walking disaster area lately. Every time I turn around, they give me yet another reason to slash their funding.† Rachel saw her opening for a foothold and took it. â€Å"And yet, sir, didn't I just read that you bailed them out last week with another three million in emergency funding to keep them solvent?† The President chuckled. â€Å"Your father was pleased with that one, wasn't he?† â€Å"Nothing like sending ammunition to your executioner.† â€Å"Did you hear him on Nightline? ‘Zach Herney is a space addict, and the taxpayers are funding his habit.'† â€Å"But you keep proving him right, sir.† Herney nodded. â€Å"I make it no secret that I'm an enormous fan of NASA. I always have been. I was a child of the space race – Sputnik, John Glenn, Apollo 11 – and I have never hesitated to express my feelings of admiration and national pride for our space program. In my mind, the men and women of NASA are history's modern pioneers. They attempt the impossible, accept failure, and then go back to the drawing board while the rest of us stand back and criticize.† Rachel remained silent, sensing that just below the President's calm exterior was an indignant rage over her father's endless anti-NASA rhetoric. Rachel found herself wondering what the hell NASA had found. The President was certainly taking his time coming to the point. â€Å"Today,† Herney said, his voice intensifying, â€Å"I intend to change your entire opinion of NASA.† Rachel eyed him with uncertainty. â€Å"You have my vote already, sir. You may want to concentrate on the rest of the country.† â€Å"I intend to.† He took a sip of coffee and smiled. â€Å"And I'm going to ask you to help me.† Pausing, he leaned toward her. â€Å"In a most unusual way.† Rachel could now feel Zach Herney scrutinizing her every move, like a hunter trying to gauge if his prey intended to run or fight. Unfortunately, Rachel saw nowhere to run. â€Å"I assume,† the President said, pouring them both more coffee, â€Å"that you're aware of a NASA project called EOS?† Rachel nodded. â€Å"Earth Observation System. I believe my father has mentioned EOS once or twice.† The weak attempt at sarcasm drew a frown from the President. The truth was that Rachel's father mentioned the Earth Observation System every chance he got. It was one of NASA's most controversial big-ticket ventures – a constellation of five satellites designed to look down from space and analyze the planet's environment: ozone depletion, polar ice melt, global warming, rainforest defoliation. The intent was to provide environmentalists with never before seen macroscopic data so that they could plan better for earth's future. Unfortunately, the EOS project had been wrought with failure. Like so many NASA projects of late, it had been plagued with costly overruns right from the start. And Zach Herney was the one taking the heat. He had used the support of the environmental lobby to push the $1.4 billion EOS project through Congress. But rather than delivering the promised contributions to global earth science, EOS had spiraled quickly into a costly nightmare of failed launches, computer malfunctions, and somber NASA press conferences. The only smiling face lately was that of Senator Sexton, who was smugly reminding voters just how much of their money the President had spent on EOS and just how lukewarm the returns had been.