Global Nursing Shortage and Impact on Health Care Environment

In recent years international health care organizations are more and more recognizing the impact of nursing shortages in every aspect of health care delivery. Many health care delivery systems are increasingly recognizing the threat recurrent shortages of registered nurses impose on the health care system (Krall & Prus, 1995). This trend has become increasingly apparent from about the mid 1980s through the present, with concerns over nursing shortages leading many health care specialists to explore â€Å"the dynamics of the nursing labor market using neoclassical labor market analysis† (Krall & Prus, 67). Using this approach many suggest that chronic nursing shortages in the global market result from depressed wages and excess demand, and that hospitals tend to command â€Å"monopsonistic power† when it comes to nursing management (Krall & Prus, 1995). Under this line of thinking hospitals have traditionally resulted to substituting less skilled nursing personnel in place of RN's when the need arises to cope with nursing shortages, potentially decreasing the quality of care afforded patients and customers of the hospitals. One thing is certain; the future of the modern global health care organization is uncertain in light of chronic labor shortages among qualified nursing staff (Epstein, 1999). Many health care organizations are seeking alternative methods to provide patients with the quality care they need despite nursing shortages. Many are resorting to more emphasis on preventive care while others are branching out into the community in an attempt to identify community resources that may promote more support for patients in the health care environment (Epstein, 1999). Heirich (1998) notes that it is vital that health care organizations rethink the health care delivery system in order to provide the innovation necessary to accommodate the rapidly changing world economy and global health care environment. Old formulas for funding health care no longer work; health care costs continue to rise. Many organizations are focusing on cost control, which may include budget shortfalls when it comes to compensating nursing staff. More and more however health care organizations are also realizing the need to focus on adequate compensation and attention to nurses and nursing shortages. New business and health coalitions are forming in major metropolitan areas to help control costs and also attract more qualified personnel, stimulating physicians and nurses as well as other providers to work together to improve service delivery in light of new health care challenges (Heirich, 1998). Future of Workforce Design and Organization As health care organizations are changing in response to chronic nursing shortages so too are organizations re-evaluating workforce designs and organizational development within the health care setting. More and more the emphasis within the health care community and organization has been creating more flat organizational structures and global enterprises that encourage cross collaboration or multi-disciplinary approaches to health care delivery (Heirich, 1998). Chronic labor shortages of nurses in the global workplace have encouraged healthcare organizations to adopt new strategies for attracting qualified personnel. In Britain for example, long standing labor shortages among nurses has resulted in dire efforts to recruit migrant nurses from other countries (McGann & Mortimer, 2004). Other organization's including the Illinois State Association are considering recognizing various grades of nurses, including nurses with twelve months vs. urses with twenty seven or more months of training, in an effort to provide more and lower cost nursing care for patients (McGann & Mortimer, 2004). Nursing workforce design is increasingly taking on an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach, with more nurses and health care staff trained in a diverse array of services (Clark & Drinka, 2000). More health care systems are developing teams that consist of a nurse, doctor, nurse practitioner, social worker and other community members that provide a mix of services to patients (Clark & Drinka, 2000). Such efforts may help relieve some of the burden associated with nursing shortages while still ensuring that patients are cared for and offered the highest quality services possible in the health care setting. Health care organizations are also working to involve nursing staff more in decision making processes in an attempt to increase job satisfaction and promote reduced turn over and greater loyalty among qualified staff, as many nursing shortages have been attributed to overworked nurses and lack of job satisfaction (Clark & Drinka, 2000). More and more workforces are designing systems that allow nurse practitioners to provide feedback and work in an environment that is more supportive even in light of chronic over scheduling or nursing shortages. Impact Nursing Shortage on Education and Training Educational facilities are increasingly realizing the need to cross train staff to work in a variety of settings to cope with nursing shortages. Additionally more and more educational institutions are promoting team building skills training to promote greater collaboration among nurses and among other health care professionals. The chronic global nursing shortage has affected the future of nursing education, encouraging more training program development with emphasis on training nurses in other skill areas including stress management to cope with increasing burdens associated with under staffing and increasing job demands (McGann & Mortimer, 2004). Mosley (1998) suggests that the health care delivery and training model is shifting to move from more individual patient care to care in an integrated environment or system that affords a continuum of services . In this environment accountability for the health and well being of patients moves from a single nurse or care provider to multiple members of the health care team. This wellness model is increasingly promoted in educational facilities where potential health care providers and nurse trainees are taught to include community organizations, family, physicians and individuals as part of the health care team working to promote the health and well being of patients. The new model for educating nurses includes more diversity training so nurses are capable of working with diverse patients from diverse backgrounds (Clark & Drinka, 2000). It also includes an interdisciplinary approach to training that cross-trains nurses and other health care staff members to work in various settings and under dynamic conditions. Despite these efforts chronic shortages still exist with regard to attracting and retaining competent staff. Many educational facilities are realizing decreased enrollment in nursing programs, in part because many perceive the field of nursing to be one that is over taxing (Clark & Drinka, 2000). Educators will have to work diligently at highlighting programs that provide potential nursing students with the skills necessary to face the new challenges associated with working in a global nursing environment.

The Clash of the Titians

The Clash of the Titians The call to Adventure The main character and hero in the film Clash of the Titans is Perseus, his departure is when he becomes forced to set to sea in sea and with nothing but a coffin and his mother, Danae. Soon washing ashore the island of Seriphos, later as Perseus grows older he receives a sign from the gods when he was shifted to the foreign world of Joppa he never new existed. Refusal of the Call Perseus cannot believe he has changed worlds, and suspect’s action. Supernatural Aid] After receiving the acceptance of Godly actions, Perseus gets his share of supernatural aid consisting of a helmet, sword, and shield along with a message from Zeus that they will someday save his life. [Crossing of the First Threshold] Perseus learns of Andromeda and her situation, she cant marry unless her potential husband successfully answers a riddle, and any man who answers the riddle incorrectly is burned crucified in public. He believes he can’t turn back , for he has been on a quest to save the goddess-like princess by the gods. Entering the Belly of a whale] Perseus captures the magical and almighty winged horse Pegasus and follows Princess Andromeda’s spirit on her nightly journey to learn a new riddle from Calibos, a hideous a monster mortal. [Road of Trails] Armed with the answer to the riddle Perseus is nearly killed by Calibos but escapes, losing the helmet in which renders invisible powers within the swamps in the process. Perseus appears at the next ceremony where princess Andromeda’s mother asks for anyone to answer the riddle.With no hesitation, Perseus answers the riddle correctly, presenting Calibos severed hand with the answer of a gold ring. Of course he wins Andromeda’s hand in marriage. [Meeting of the Goddess] At the wedding, Queen Cassiopeia compares Andromeda’s beauty to Thetis herself, which angers the Goddess incredibly and gives her an excuse to fulfill her son’s wish the stat ue of Thetis collapses and its head comes to life, demanding Andromeda as a sacrifice to the Kraken in thirty days, or else Joppa and its people will be destroyed. Temptation] Bubo the owl leads Perseus to the Stygian witches, three blind women who share a single eye. With some effort they tell him the only way to defeat the Kraken is by using the head of another monster. [The ultimate Boon] Zeus tells his Goddess, Athena, to aid Perseus with her owl Bubo as a replacement for his forgotten helmet. Perseus transformed Medusa into a stone statue and cuts her head off with his sword. Perseus can now move forward to get rid of the Kraken. [Return] the hero goes back home he has proven himself worthy.

Sports Gambling for Youth in the USA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sports Gambling for Youth in the USA - Essay Example Money is what makes the mighty and powerful superior to all others. Sports and gambling have always been a pastime of our society and it would only seem fitting for our youth to follow in the footsteps of the generations preceding their own. "Possibly the biggest reason for an increase in illegal sports wagering is that society accepts gambling and believes there are no victims. Gambling is becoming an everyday accepted activity in areas of America that never before had easy access. Virtually everyone can buy a lottery ticket, bet on a horse, or drive to a riverboat casino just a short trip away" (Saum 2). The more time a gambler occupies placing bets, the more this once simple activity has becomes a dangerous obsession. At this point, one must begin to consider the true value of sports gambling and if it has any value at all. "The profile of the typical college student who gambles is someone who believes he has control of his own destiny, takes risks, and feels he possesses the skill to be successful in this endeavor. Ironically, these are many of the same qualities of successful college athletes and may explain why some are drawn to sports gambling" (Saum 1). Sports and gambling rely on one key element; luck, which is seen as a hope that becomes a reality, but only for a mere few. Having been brought up in an environment that teaches how money and luck go hand in hand the modern day generation is more inclined to test their luck. The internet is perhaps the best and easiest resource in which our youth can access the gambling world. "Computers are readily available for use in many high schools, college, and university libraries, and the cost of personal computers has been drastically reduced" (McBride 1). With this in mind, the student-athletes that have come to understand the internet gambling world have the most influential impact. NCAA President Cedric W. Dempsey stated that "For the NCAA, this creates the potential that a student-athlete could place a wager and then attempt to influence the outcome of a game while participating in the contest. We are also concerned that the growth of Internet gambling may be fueled by college students who have easy access to the Internet. Students and student-athletes who develop gambling problems behind closed doors are difficult to reach. The NCAA believes there is a serious need for federal legislation prohibiting Internet gambling" (NCAA News Release). Dempsey's fears are rightfully placed since incidents like these are not uncommon among student-athletes. One NCAA-sponsored studied revealed that "of 2,000 male student-athletes in Division I basketball and football programs surveyed about NCAA rules violation, 25% reported that they gambled on college sports events other than their own while in college. Four percent admitted that they wagered on games in which they had played, and three of the athletes said they changed the outcome of the game in which they participated" (Saum 1). Results like this only show a portion of what could be a larger number of student-athletes that may be involved with sports gambling and could have directly impacted the results of a game in their respective sport. This alone changes many assumptions of the nature of sporting events and

Genocide War between the Hutu and Tutsi people of Rwanda Essay

Genocide War between the Hutu and Tutsi people of Rwanda - Essay Example Causes of the genocide Though the Rwandan genocide occurred in the year 1994, its causes were wide spread into the country’s deep history that can be traced to independence period. Both sociological and psychological factors, as a result, accumulated to erupt into the horrific tribal based killings. One of the major sociological factors into the genocide was racial difference between the two communities. Though experts argue that the killings were not ethnically initiated, the genocide involved two ethic groups against each other. The difference between the two communities that identifies superiority complex among the Hutus played a major role. The enjoyed peace that the country had for about five decades prior to the genocide explains this. The country for example enjoyed peace and security in the ‘five-decade’ period while under the rule of the Hutus. A move to shift power from the community was the immediate cause of the killings. As a result, it is understanda ble that power struggle that was racially based led to the genocide. The powerful elites from the Hutu community could not accept a shift of power from their community and mobilize the Hutus into the killings (Stone, p. 31- 33). Another sociological factor into the genocide was the ‘long-term’ displacement of people from their ancestral land. Also viewed as an immediate cause of the genocide was the move by displaced people, who had in the past been forced to flee to other countries, to mobilize themselves into rebel forces with the aim of reclaiming their land. The rebel movement, that was seen as a threat to the Hutus power then triggered mobilization of the Hutus community by their elites. This is because the rebels were majorly associated with the Tutsi community. The two communities had however coexisted peacefully and a large number of Hutus undertook the killings for fear of being attacked by their fellow Hutus. The organization into the Hutus attacks on the Tuts is particularly spread the message that even Hutus who sympathized or aided Tutsis would be killed. The Hutus, as an ethnic group was therefore forced into the killings. Superiority complex among the Hutus was another factor towards into the killings. Even in the absence of manifested inter racial hatred, the Hutus traditionally perceived the Tutsis to be inferior and degraded. This explains why the Hutu elites could not tolerate a power shift to the Tutsis (stone, p. 31- 33). Psychological factors into the genocide on the other hand included fear among the Hutus elites. While the elites feared power shift to the rebel group, the organizers threatened the Hutus community into participation (Stone, p. 38- 40). David however identifies a mental seed, planted by the colonialist, as having played a role in psychological differences between the two communities into the final conflict (David, n.p.). Timing of the genocide The Rwandan genocide took place in the year 1994. It started in the month of April and ended in July. Clark explains that the genocide took about 100 days (p. 12). Acknowledgement of the genocide The international community, individually as nations and collectively through the United Nations, recognized the Rwandan genocide. National leaders for example recognized the event and their failure to prevent it. The United Nation’s move to establish an international court was also an indication the international c

Leadership Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Leadership Management - Assignment Example One time I managed to collect the most medical bills for the company that was, in fact, a record. No one had exceeded receiving over $10,000 in a month for the company. I broke the barrier and collected over $12,000 of medical bills (bad debts). It was my supervisor who recognized and rewarded me for my effort. I used to report directly to this person. Any discrepancy or a problem in the workflow was reported directly to him. I did not receive any extra monetary recognition for my efforts. My direct supervisor was usually a reticent person. He never verbally praised anyone before. When he praised me, it made it unique to me and for my peers. On the day when we got our reports he walked into the room. All the employees were sitting at their workstations busy with work. Suddenly he announced my name and asked me to stand up. Then he read the report of my performance. With a smile, he announced my collections for the month. All the other employees started cheering and clapping. I have chosen to cite this experience here because it was unique and therefore memorable. In our medical bill collection company, such recognition or reward system was unknown before. Employees would just work get their paychecks and go back to their homes. But this was the first time when they realized that they were adding value to the company. We felt like we were an essential part of the organization. My efforts also made my supe rvisor happy because our department received additional funds for better performance than the other departments. When I received the recognition, it made me feel proud of myself. Ironically, the things that do not cost money are usually the most effective (Nelson, page I). I started believing in myself. Before this occurrence, I never considered myself worthy of such a competition. There were more experienced professionals and peers working in the same department. I was of the mind that I could never beat them at their game. But I did not only beat them

Bureaucratic organizational structure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Bureaucratic organizational structure - Essay Example Inside each organization, there exist a wide range of regulations and procedures, which every member should adhere. Inside bureaucratic organization, every process has a structure, the roles have targets, the productivity of team is monitored and there is a design of different solutions. However, it is complicated to abide rules, follow certain policy, perform job properly and achieve common goals if the personnel do not take active part in life of organization, cannot make its own decisions concerning work and does not see or know its role in the team. To enable its employees to make decisions about their job, organizations use such strategy as employee empowerment. It helps employees to take responsibility for the results of their performace, helps them to serve customers at the proper level of the organization. The process of empowerment enables or authorizes person to think, behave, make decisions, take action and control its work without constant supervision and management from the other sides. The organization is responsible for creation of proper work environment for the employee that will help him/her to bring up the ability and want to perform its job in empowered ways. It is up to organization to remove limitations that stop staff acting in empowered ways. Such management actions give possibilities for work in the perfect organization. The important step for empowering employees is to demonstrate that the organization values its people, helps them understand and feel as if they are part of something bigger and their indivi dual job is highly appreciated. This may be executed letting employees access to the organization's vision, mission and strategic plans.

Television Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Television - Essay Example Williams looks at television in a broad sense, looking at the social history of television as a technology and the social history of the uses of television technology, as well as looking at cause and effect of technology and society. Spigel looks at television by examining how it affected domestic life in the 1950s, while also reflecting this domestic life. Adorno looked at television by how it affected the psyche and the personality. Williams (3) begins his essay by looking at looking at the general statement that television has altered our world. He argues that technology, in general, has profound social change, and television is a kind of technology that promotes this type of change. The technologies which had come along by Williams’ time, including the steam engine, the car, the atom bomb, and the television, are responsible for making modern man and making television. Or, alternatively, instead of looking at technology as changing and making the modern man, the technology is actually the consequence of a certain societal change. In this case, the new technology is a symptom of social change, not the cause of it. He also states that television, like most technology, sprung up as the result of a specific need that was expressed by society (Williams, 12). That was that technology was necessary because there was a need to spread the word of mouth communication, which is the dominant mode of getting a message out to the masses. There was an extension of the social, economic and political system, and television was a response to the crisis within this system. There came a time where there was a great complex group of technologies which were needed for society, including photography for community, family and personal life; the motion picture for entertainment; and the telephone for business communication (Williams, 12). The television, then, was the result of these needs coalescing, as the television essentially brings all of these technologies together. T herefore, the television, according to Williams (13), is a way for there to be social integration and control. While Williams viewed television in terms of how it was used, and why it was invented, Spigel (337) took a different tact. For her, television was not simply a matter of technology that is responding to different social needs, but television has also played a complex role in the individual households and individual lives that view it. Specifically, television was a representation of the gendered patterns of work and leisure in the average American home (Spigel, 337). Spigel examined advertisements that ran in women’s magazines to determine how television was integrated into the family life, particularly in the life of the woman. These advertisements provided a clue to how television was made sense of by the people and how television related to their lives. For a time, television was a way to restore the faith in the family. During the 1950s, Spigel (340) explains, th ere was much fracture in families, as the war had just ended, which left many broken homes. On television, however, there were portraits of happy and domestic people living lives that were not so fractured, so this was a way of restoring faith in the family. Moreover, women were affirmed through television, as television showed them that they were important. They often felt devalued, because their work was not seen as important in the overall scheme of things, but television helped them see that

Consequences of the new deal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Consequences of the new deal - Essay Example Meanwhile the Republicans were either contrasting the whole New Deal as an adversary of growth and commerce or accepting part of it, undertaking to make it better. Historians have distinguished between a â€Å"First New Deal† in 1933 and a â€Å"Second New Deal† between 1934 and 1936. The â€Å"First New Deal† was apprehensive with sectors which demanded urgent economic recoveries like banking, industry and farming. The â€Å"Second New Deal† focused on the Wagner Act which aimed at promoting labor unions, the Social Security Act, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) which was a relief program. Other programs aided migrant workers and occupant farmers. The other significant legislation of New Deal is the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938). It set the maximum hours and minimum wages for most groups of workforce (Henretta, Brody, Fernlund and Benjamin p233). Though the New Deal never stopped the Depression, it did have some notable consequences. The WPA program increased employment opportunities. The public was also confident of the government and there was a substantial rise in the power and size of federal government. The Social Security Act was a key milestone relative to the New Deal programs. Finally, the national government took an active role in the welfare of its citizens (Henretta, Brody, Fernlund and Benjamin

External, Internal, and Construct Validity Essay

External, Internal, and Construct Validity - Essay Example Second, the research analyzes if it is logical to consider the relationship as casual and it is through assessment of internal validity that this specific issue is determined. Third, a research analyzes if it is reasonable to consider that the scores on measures represent their respective constructs and construct validation procedures seem to be most effective method to address this question. In social research, there are four main concerns that correspond to four types of validity. â€Å"In essence these four types of validity concern different sorts of relationships in the research enterprise. Construct validity refers to the relationships between theoretical constructs and their operations. Both conclusion and internal validity refer to the relationship between the operationalized treatment and operationalized outcome†¦ External validity concerns the relationship between the hypothesized constructs that were operationalized and other constructs of interest that were not.â₠¬  (Judd and Kenny, 1981, p 20). It is most essential to compare and contrast the characteristics of external, internal, and construct validity in order to identify the threats to external and construct validity and to comprehend how validity issues could impact a research. In a profound analysis of validity in relation to social research, it becomes palpable that external, internal, and construct validity are very essential in order to assess the true validity of every study and it is necessary to define them separately. Thus, construct validity may be defined as â€Å"the extent to which the theoretical constructs of treatment, outcome, population, and setting have been successfully opearionalized,† and external validity as â€Å"the extent to which the effects we observe among operationalized constructs can be generalized to theoretical constructs other than those specified in the original research hypothesis,† whereas internal validity is â€Å"the extent to which the detected effects

McBride Financial Services Governance Evaluation Essay

McBride Financial Services Governance Evaluation - Essay Example The organization is experiencing many challenges at the initial stage since it is a private and small firm. The chief executive officer, Mr. Hugh, is one of the key impediments to the accomplishment of the firm objective, since he is the proprietor of the firm and, as a result, there is a tendency of putting his own interests first. McBride being the chairman of the board and a chief executive officer will have a considerable manipulation of the decision made by the board of directors as well as the management team (Maimako, 2010). This is because being the head of the two organs he can object to a decision that is unfavorable to his own interest. Commercial analysts have criticized the organization for its inability to comply with the rules of investment and borrowing funds from beltway investment. Beltway investment emphasizes that all the firms that seek any assistance from it must comply with all the requirements of investment, failure to which the application of the assistance w ill be null and void. The management of McBride investment is willing to obey and follow all the requirements of Beltway Investments. The management strategy of beltway investment seems to have some doubtful professional standards though McBride seriously opposes the perception. Beltway investment grants firm the freedom to manage their own style. It emphasizes the universal standards of corporate governance and any equity-based compensation plans in line with the achievement of the firm’s objectives. There should be no any form of discrimination. Even though McBride is seeking to fully comply with beltway investment he insists that his decision on the directors and the management method are to be followed. He further insinuates that the firm will manage their finances in their own way to meet the firm’s objectives. McBride financial services will not entertain interference in its affairs. They think that external entities will jeopardize the firm’s operations a nd thwart the achievement of the set goals, (Tricker, 2009). Challenges of McBride financial services MacBride financial services have many challenges since it is a new firm as well as the brokerage firm. In line with corporate governance, the firm has to comply with the international standards where best practices and the formal laws are to be observed. In a nutshell, the problems of the firm are natural since the management organ of the firm has adopted practices that are not within the global standards of corporate governance. McBride financial services are faced with the problem of personnel recruitment. The organization depends on personnel appointed by McBride. These appointments are of doubtful standards since they are based on personal relationships instead of professional qualifications. The decisions to be made by the management organs are so critical and the people to be employed are supposed to be of immense integrity. This means they should undergo a thorough recruitmen t process to get the best. The policy of Mr. Hugh on appointment is that he appoints individuals who go by what he says, and does what he expects of them. This might not work well for the firm's strategic objectives. In the event that the firm experiences by the administrative problem, it will be extremely difficult for them to solve them internally. (Hirschey, & Makhija, 2004).

Ishmael Bernal and Religious Interpretations Essay Example for Free

Ishmael Bernal and Religious Interpretations Essay Ishmael Bernal’s films have received countless acknowledgements throughout the years because of his unique style of â€Å"working out patterns of symbolic details† (Lumbera 25). And through these patterns, Bernal was able to portray his views on things as an auteur. This paper examines his interpretations of religion and religious activities through his films. But this only includes three of his works: Manila by Night (1980), Himala (1982), and Hinugot sa Langit (1985). These three films’ devotional approaches are analyzed by both their mise-en-scene and fabula. On that note, religion as tackled in this paper only pertains to the Philippine religion of Christianity/Catholicism, since Bernal’s films appear to be only on the Catholic’s view. How did Bernal attack Catholicism? Why did he represent the country’s most widespread religion in that manner? What are the implications of his works on the era during such films were distributed? How do these films affect the contemporary time? And what do these films impose on the society and on the religion majority of it believes in? Hence, this paper has these films examined through the eyes of a spectator, and relates that analogy to Bernal’s own philosophies as an auteur. Religion in Mise-En-Scene and Iconographies Through the apparatus theory, Bernal’s religious interpretations in his works can be examined. Ponsford’s Film Theory and Language from media. edusites. co. uk says apparatus theory suggests that film is created to illustrate different ideas and that everything has meaning even starting from the camerawork up to the editing. Manila by Night is a drama film made by Bernal in 1980. It is a multiple-charactered film where the characters’ existences in the city were unveiled as they live by the ruthlessness of drugs, poverty, adultery, and lust. In Manila by Night, Bernal constantly used iconographies and effigies of divine entities in several sex scenes through elaborate camerawork and editing. An example is a scene where a couple (Adelina, played by Moreno and Pebrero, played by Ojeda) who routinely cheated on each other made love while religious icons peered over them (Santos 21). There is another sex scene where instead of figures, Bernal focused a shot on a chaplet necklace worn by the indolent college guy (Alex, played by Martinez) for a few seconds just before he had premarital sex with his girlfriend (Vanessa, played by Alajar). Bernal not only used these icons in sex scenes. In one scene where the neurotic mother of Alex, Virgie (Solis), trashed their home when she found out he was doing drugs, multiple shots of religious statues were shown simultaneously with the scene of flying plates and broken furniture in the screen. Hinugot sa Langit also has a remarkable mise-en-scene in terms of religious interpretations. It is a film about infidelity, unwanted pregnancy, and abortion. In the scene where Carmen (Soriano) was rushed to the hospital after attempting to commit suicide, the disparity between the two conflicting characters of Aling Juling (Solis) and Stella (Austria) was clearly depicted. Aling Juling, being the sanctimonious that she was, gave the feeble Carmen her Holy Bible, hoping that it helps Carmen as it did to her. Seconds after Aling Juling left the room, Stella put a bag of apples on top of the bible as she jokingly referred to it as â€Å"holy mansanas (apples)† which may be interpreted as the apple Eve took from the treacherous snake in the Garden of Eden. The style Bernal had in Manila by Night was still used in Hinugot sa Langit. There was the scene of Mang David’s (Ventura) child’s wake where an image of Christ hung over Carmen and Mang David’s backs as they talked about the latter’s debts from Aling Juling. There’s still that style but other sightings of the religious icons and statues were not shown in that ambiguous manner anymore; instead they were shown conspicuously to prove a point like every time Aling Juling conducted prayer meetings and worship time. The irony in showing religious images and sinful acts simultaneously is an apparent symbolism of the societal hypocrisy towards faith and Christianity. Morality Issues on Manila by Night, Himala, and Hinugot sa Langit These three films are all packed with morality issues and what are morality issues if there is no religion? Morality, I believe, is bound by the norms and rules of whatever religion an individual believes in. Therefore, people do what for them is â€Å"right† because the religion they keep their faith in tells them to do so. Himala is a story of a girl named Elsa (Aunor) who claims to have seen the Blessed Virgin Mary on the top of the very hill where she was found by her non-biological mother years ago when she was still a baby. Since then Elsa started to â€Å"heal† people through the use of the power that was allegedly bestowed upon her by the Virgin Mary. She was situated in a small town called Cupang where the soil was always dry because of a â€Å"curse† from long time ago. Since then people came flocking to Elsa’s house to seek treatment from her miracles. She had her own followers and a bunch of detractors. In the end, when she faced piles of troubles—from not being able to â€Å"heal† anymore to being raped along with her best friend who later on committed suicide—she came clean and announced that there is no miracle, that it is the people who create their own miracles. She was shot dead at that same moment. The morality issues in this film is particularly apparent during the time when documentarist Orly (Manikan) battles with himself whether to have Elsa and Chayong’s (Centeno) rape video shown to the public. In the end he seeks help from the priest, which only made it clear that his decisions still depended largely on the â€Å"Catholic opinion† even though he was a self-proclaimed atheist right from the start. Manila by Night touches more morality issues than Himala. Since it is a film using a multiple-character format, the struggles each persona faces vary. There was a cheating guy (Pebrero), a liar prostitute (Adelina), a hypocritical ex-prostitute (Virgie), a happy-go-lucky gay (Manay Sharon), a dope-pusher lesbian (Kano), a blind whore (Bea), a college dropout (Alex), and his girlfriend (Vanessa). Their characters differ from each other but what’s uncanny about it was that their lives intertwine one way or another. Set in the city during a time when people’s freedom was being suppressed, these characters faced the question of what to do in times like that. Whether they hold on to their principles and strive to live for the good or just continue their dishonest lives to be able to endure everything and coexist. In a country where Catholicism is dominant, what Bernal showed in Manila by Night questions the values the religion upholds for its followers. The ending of the film where after all the mayhem that happened in the city during the past night seemed to be forgotten and the characters are portrayed as monotonous citizens living their routinely-charged lives is a strong point for proving how people trapped in the confusion of what’s good or evil can act as two-faced individuals who eventually become victims of the system. Hinugot sa Langit, on the other hand, tackles a more brazen topic that’s related to religion: abortion. When Carmen found out she was having Jerry’s (Tantay) child, she was faced with only two options: one is to keep it and the other is to abort. The problem the film earlier gave was that Jerry was already married with someone else and he made it clear right from the start that he didn’t want anything to do with the child Carmen was carrying. This, on top of the incessant urging of her straightforward cousin Stella, pushed Carmen to the edge of option number two. But her landlady, Aling Juling, insisted otherwise—saying abortion is a sin to God. As Carmen’s pregnancy became relatively closer to three months (which is the point when a mere embryo becomes human according to the abortionist) she began thinking about the issue of whether abortion is already an act of killing or not. But eventually, she chose to have abortion. Near the end of the film where she pounded on Mang David for stabbing Aling Juling to death, Bernal used a brilliant camera shift from Mang David’s staring face to Carmen’s while she was yelling, â€Å"Wala kang karapatang pumatay ng tao! You have no right to murder anyone! ),† as if giving the former a reason to say that she did not have any right to kill her child either. As Oggs Cruz put it in his blog, â€Å"Hinugot sa Langit may be branded as preachy and anti-abortion but in reality, the film has side stories that suggest a more pressing issue: societal hypocrisy. † This is not only apparent in the abortion issue but also in Aling Juling’s actions. It’s just that, as Cruz again puts it, â€Å"abortion is the most telling of issues. The Philippines being a prominently Catholic nation declares abortion as criminally and morally wrong yet funnily, the practice is unwrittenly accepted among women who are time-pressed with a decision. † Elsa and Aling Juling While Manila by Night’s interpretations of religion banks largely on its mise-en-scene, what Bernal created in Himala and Hinugot sa Langit were characters who seemed to embody the â€Å"divine† and through them, Bernal showed how false devotions and idolatry can be misleading. Elsa’s alleged involvement with the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary made her just as acred as the holy mother of Christ in the people’s eyes. She became, in an obvious way, the people’s source of blind faith that led them to their own pits of darkness as shown in the last part of the film where healthy and sick people alike experienced a stampede that caused them physical pain. This false faith is also ostensible in Aling Juling’s character in Hinugot sa Langit. Even from the start of the film, her character already proved to be a hypocrite. She dressed conservatively, regularly attended prayer and worship meetings, firmly discouraged Carmen to do an abortion, and constantly spoke about the Divine. But she also wanted to have the informal settlers removed from her land at any cost just to be able to build a chapel, claiming it is for the greater good. Aling Juling proved to be the perfect devotee, but failed to act as a true child of God for the other people; and there lies the biggest fallacy built in her persona. There was also one scene where Carmen and Aling Juling went into a brief screaming match about how should the former handle her problems. In the one line of Carmen saying, â€Å"Ano pa bang gusto Niya (pertaining to God), ano pa bang gusto mo?! What else does He want, what else do you want?! ),† the character of Aling Juling seemed to be a symbolism of the â€Å"god† Carmen had come to believe in. Instead of the all-powerful, all-knowing One, because of her problems, Carmen landed on believing Aling Juling’s preaching as that of God’s. Elsa and Aling Juling both died at the end, and both by being brutally attacked. What I see in this phenomenon is the attempt to â€Å"kill off† the wrong and misrepresentative beliefs brought about by these two characters, and probably the only way Bernal suggests to do that is through a vicious, one-time manner. Bernal as Auteur This paper is not about Bernal but about the works of Bernal. But since he is an auteur, understanding his background is essential in understanding the concepts behind his works. The auteur theory proposes that the director is the author of the film and that the director is the primary creative source, therefore the films produced express the director’s distinctive vision of the world (Pramaggiore and Wallis 398). Therefore, his politics mirror his representation of religion, thus making his films a reflection of his own beliefs. According to Bayani Santos’ Bernal as Auteur, Ishmael appreciated the values of Gregorio Aglipay and Catholicism. He also admired the disciplines of Iglesia Ni Cristo but criticized it for its exploitation of religion in politics. It was also said that he â€Å"respected Catholicism as faith, but always qualified it with a historical reminder of its political and economic crimes against the nation† (Santos 19). It was also said in the same article that Bernal’s view of shallow Catholicism among Filipinos as facts of Philippine life was not just mocking jibes against superficial religiosity but rather â€Å"accurate descriptions, as synecdochical of Philippine reality† and having the satirical impact arrive after a realization by the audience that, indeed, the descriptions are ‘us’ (21). Bayani continued on to saying that Bernal’s politics are â€Å"deeply buried in many of his works† (31). His politics involve not only his aforementioned views on Philippine religion but also his involvement in communism. This notion is perceivable in the three films being analyzed by this paper. In Manila by Night, Bernal took jibes on Martial Law more than anything. In Hinugot sa Langit, he â€Å"showed the desperate situation of the poor in a script that scrupulously avoided overt political commentary† (31). In Himala he managed to speculate a Marxist view of religion as an opiate when Elsa’s death became a dismaying reversion to mass hysteria and fanaticism (31). Bernal’s Films then and now These three films were produced during the second golden age of the Philippine cinema, during the years that mark off the end of the Marcos Martial Law regime. Bernal’s films were acclaimed during those times because both the films and timing were apt to belong to the cinema that recognizes the struggle as the most gigantic cultural, scientific, and artistic manifestation our time, the third cinema (Solanas and Gettino 47). This is what makes Bernal’s films timeless. The impact these films made during those times were huge. Bernal revealed how the Marcos regime exploited the Filipinos. This is overtly seen in Manila by Night, where his depiction of the supposed city to signify the â€Å"New Society† is the exact opposite of it. The term â€Å"New Society† claimed that the dictatorship had eradicated corruption and transformed Philippine society (Lumbera 359). This same â€Å"New Society† was also exploited, although for good reasons, by Bernal in his film Himala. According to Lumbera, Himala criticized the manipulative religiosity of this society which â€Å"drew the people’s attention away from the realities of poverty, violence, and moral decay† (359). This, however, is still manifested in the present time. There is this one scene in Himala that is applicable to both the past and present times. When people started coming to Cupang for Elsa and Elsa’s â€Å"apostles used the water Elsa blessed for profit, it was a hypocritical move on the side of Elsa and her followers to lure people into giving them money when all they were meant to do in the first place was to offer treatment for everyone who asked for it. The past screams about the pretentious â€Å"New Society† and the present stages the scene in real life whenever such religious items or services that are supposed to help them are still sold for amounts to the people. (e. . : a priest’s service fees, blessed rosaries, mass guides) Another thing that might have helped in the success of Himala is the fact that superstar Nora Aunor played the lead role. In the Noranian Imaginary, it is said that Himala is as much about the popular hysteria mediated by the idol Nora Aunor as it is about the mass hysteria endemic to Catholicism as held by many (Tadiar). People saw Elsa in Nora and Nora in Elsa—th e same poor, unfortunate protagonist who strive against all odds to defend herself and achieve goals. In these times, Nora may not be that same girl many Filipinos used to idolized, but the imprint she left on Elsa’s character is so known to almost every Filipino as â€Å"that† girl who everyone admired. Elsa’s death at the end of the film may be read as liberation from such faith, since she made confessions about the inexistence of miracles prior to his death. But the people’s continuous idolatry in her after she passed away seems to be a symbol of the people of today—those who still continue hang on to false hope and devotion even after such devotion proves to be wrong. As Patrick Flores puts it in Himala: Fall of Grace, â€Å"Himala is against the miracle and it is against the cinema. † Hinugot sa Langit, lastly, also speaks of a timeless issue in Catholicism: abortion. The values the film imbibes a great impact on the beliefs of the majority of the Filipino citizen. The question of whether abortion is or is not an act of murder is still being debated upon until today. Bernal’s films speak of ageless and timely issues concerning the Filipino people and that’s what makes his films succeed not only in the era during which it was manufactured, but also in the present time.

Policy Development Essay Example for Free

Policy Development Essay Domestic violence can be described as any form of deliberate coercion, bodily harm, sexual assault, or any other form of violent behavior committed by an intimate partner. Domestic violence has plagued all walks of life despite the age, race, religion, or background. Violence against an intimate partner is frequently followed by psychological abuse and controlling behavior relating to the methodical blueprint of power and control. Domestic violence comes in many forms but not always seen by the naked eye. Domestic violence constitutes forms of physical abuse, psychological abuse or even death that can be seen by other family members possibly causing a continuous cycle of abuse for generations to come. Facts and Statistics It is hard to grasp the notion that somewhere in the world every nine seconds a woman is being beaten or assaulted. On average, 85% of victims of domestic violence are women and 1 in every three women will endure some form of domestic violence in their natural life. Sadly enough only one fourth of all victims who have been physically assaulted by an intimate partner will actually report it to the police, implying that official statistics will never justify the full scope of the problem. The average age of a female victim who is at the greatest risk of harm by an intimate partner is between 20 to 24 years old. Domestic violence is the primary source of harm to a woman over all other possible harmful circumstances she will encounter. As if domestic violence isn’t already difficult enough for women to endure in an intimate relationship, if she has a male child who witnesses these assaults he is now two times more likely to abuse his partner or children as an adult passing along the cycle of abuse for our future. Statistics have shown that 30% to 60% of intimate partners who assault also assault their children. Intimate partner homicides that are reported to police make up  approximately one third of female homicide victims and 70% to 80% of those victims had a previous assault history. A very small amount of victims actually seek medical treatment after an assault but yet a vastly larger number of approximately 18.5 million victims seek mental health treatment following an assault. Separation isn’t always the ultimate solution to the problem. Over 70% of women who were injured during a domestic violence assault were assaulted after the separation (Safehorizon,  2014). Stakeholders Law Enforcement Often time’s victimization in cases of domestic violence is conducted behind closed doors causing law enforcement to become the first line of defense for victims of domestic violence. If the response of the police is extremely insufficient it has a negative impact on the victim making them less likely to use the criminal justice system in the future. There are typically three types of police responses to domestic violence: non-intervention, mediation, and arrest. The initial typical police response to domestic violence was the non-intervention way as police felt that domestic violence was a private matter best kept at home. The second approach is mediation which promotes crisis intervention including separating both parties, reconciliation, or social services referral. This method was designed to keep domestic violence out of the criminal justice system however, it proved to be ineffective. Now a more practiced policy to domestic violence is the arrest of an offender as a pres umed or mandatory response. Domestic violence cases are different in the sense that the offender can be taken into custody under a warrantless arrest as these types of misdemeanors do not have to occur in the officer’s presence. Legal changes have been made where officers now arrest the primary aggressor instead of the old dual arrest practices affecting the victim more than the offender. It has been shown that an officer is more often than not the victim’s last resort to alleviate the problem as they typically chose other routes as to not affect their livelihood. In all domestic violence situations officers shall make an arrest when an offense of violence has been presented, treat these acts of domestic violence as criminal, never disregard protection against domestic violence based upon race, religion, sexual orientation, immediately report  all cases of family violence, and receive training on domestic violence required by law (Erez,  2002). Due to the fact that domestic violence affects a large number of people, it is plausible to say that leaving the abuser is not as easy as people may think which would ultimately stop the abuse. Since this is true, law enforcement must approach domestic violence as serious as they approach any other significant crime by providing time, resources and attention. Given that law enforcement is spending a ton of time focusing on domestic violence, it is important for these agencies to establish a domestic violence policy that indicates reports will be completed on each domestic violence call regardless of whether or not an arrest was made. The most significant and respected service a law enforcement officer can provide to a victim is an arrest of their abuser (Klein,  2009). Prosecutors Prosecutors play a very important role in the prosecution of abusers within the criminal justice system in hopes of providing harsh judgments preventing reoffending and better protection of victims. If prosecutors fail to prosecute the bulk of domestic violence cases conducted by law enforcement an internal examination into their practices, policies, and priorities should be conducted providing an explanation as to why fewer prosecutions are being processed. They should not allow victims who are unwilling to prosecute their abuser stop them from proceeding on with the case. If a vast number of victims are willing to sign an affidavit of non prosecution, it is certain that prosecutors and law enforcement must come up with a better a way for victims to trust them so more cases are prosecuted. For prosecutors to gain a more successful prosecution rate, they must enhance victim cooperation and involvement by concentrating on the victim’s fears of being abused again or testifying i n court without fear of retaliation. In the event that a defendant possesses serious risk to the victim during trial, prosecutors must take all measures to protect the victim to effectively prosecute the case. It has been insisted upon by the judge that prosecutors report to the court any defendant’s negative actions such as reoffending, threatening or intimidating the victim so that potentially other charges can be added while the original case is still pending. While still being compassionate towards the victim, prosecution must base it case  on the law and penalties of the law versus the individual preferences of the victim as they tend to become more lenient during the course of the trial fearing retaliation in the future. Prosecution must also notify the defendant of this process so they don’t believe this is based upon the victim’s requests. Prosecutors must work hand in hand with law enforcement to obtain all the evidence associated with the case as well as identify and include all witnesses involved. Domestic violence can be deterred if prosecution sufficiently concentrates on the abuser risk by inflicting harsh sentences such as supervised probation and incarceration while revealing the defendants prior criminal and abuse history in hopes to prevent reoffending (Klein,  2009). The ideals that lawmakers had on prosecution or adjudication for domestic violence is consequently not being enforced. Legal representatives may become doubtful about the irregularity of violent behavior, or disbelieve the seriousness of the complainants, can either enforce the law firmly for prosecution purposes, or at the same time be understanding of the physical aggression that could be considered efficient punishment for the victim’s marital infidelity. Legal representatives are prone to characterize domestic violence as a civil matter for a ruling in divorce courts versus criminal courts. The prosecution and adjudication phases are substantial for offenders ultimately deciding their guilt or innocence, establishing a criminal record and providing a punishment. These phases are significant for the victim as well as they begin to trust the criminal justice system again (Erez,  2002). Judges Judges can ultimately be the final step in the adjudication process of domestic violence abusers so their role is extremely crucial in the protection of the victim. Merely handing down a guilty verdict does not guarantee reoffending of the abuser so judges should concentrate more on invasive sentences that include incarceration especially for those who are repeat offenders and those with an extensive criminal history. Even though judges should be open-minded when it comes to the views of the victims regarding punishment, he must enlighten all parties involved that he is compelled to hand out the most appropriate sentence pertaining to this case regardless of whether or not the victim agrees. Regardless whether the  defendant turns himself into the court for a domestic violence case, he should be treated as seriously as the offender arrested on scene as it has been shown that the typical offender flees the scene of the incident prior to officer’s arrival where a warrant is la ter issued for their arrest. Judges should hand down sentences that reflect the offender’s prior criminal history as those are signs of possible reoffending regardless if it reflects prior domestic violence offenses. In the event a defendant offends while pending another court case for domestic violence, judges may take that into account for purposes of bail, civil orders, and sentencing. Affidavits filled out by the victim don’t fully describe the abuse suffered by the victim or the fear of future abuse as this document is solely based upon the incident at hand. It is extremely valuable for the judge to further investigate this case by asking the victim more questions as well as examining the prior arrest history of the offender to have a better grasp on the whole picture relating to the abuse. Judges may issue protective orders to the victim but unfortunately this is only a strong piece of paper and it does not prevent abusers from reoffending. Judges should make every effort to house a user friendly courtroom, safe environment for all parties involved, be compassionate to the victims, and yet stern with defendants once some sort of abuse has been brought forward. When judges are able to represent the courtroom in this manner victims concerns are validated and the defendant’s behavior is shown to be unacceptable (Klein,  2009). Public Opinion Most people are in agreement that someone should step in when an abusive domestic violence situation arises, but they don’t agree on what their involvement should be, or the responsibility of the victim to reduce the violence by removing themselves from the abusive relationship. Even though people have the same opinion about domestic violence being a criminal act, they are not essentially on the same page that police should regularly arrest the offender or use other corrective authority versus using other alternatives. This apparent apprehension may be the outcome of people’s uncertainty concerning the applications of criminal sanctions. One theory is they believe offenders warrant the penalty of arrest or jail, yet another theory is they are often practical about the efficiency of the punishment  actually putting a stop to the aggressive actions or the probability the penalty will ultimately protect the victim. A more promising effect is possibly that of rehabilitation and victim or community focused changes. Nonetheless, such changes like offender treatments, education, and victims ultimately leaving the relationship continue to be a rare result (Carlson,  2002). Reform Recent reform within the prosecution and adjudication process of domestic violence includes the issuance of protective order as well as special legal defenses for battered women who have killed their abuser. At one time civil protection orders were only obtainable through a pending divorce, recently they have been pushed through legislation for battered women who are not currently involved in a divorce proceeding. The main objective of domestic violence reform has been aimed at the prosecution process as it has been found that too many cases, misdemeanors, were falling out of the criminal justice process during different stages. Through the years, domestic violence has become one of the most talked about policies and is in constant reform as ideals are continuously changing. Historically very little action by the police and prosecutors has been done regarding domestic violence and without a more serious offense, prior record of offender, possible weapon use, injuries, or physical evi dence most cases won’t see the inside of a courtroom. The most effective way to present a domestic violence case before the court is to have the victim’s cooperation but yet most prosecutors predict that victims will sign an affidavit of non prosecution ultimately dismissing the case altogether typically causing prosecutors to hesitate before filling a case. Prosecution efforts should be based upon the victim’s safety not the conviction of the offender. It should also be an approach to getting the word out to the offender that the abuse is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Prosecutors have recently found a way to prosecute domestic violence offenses even when the complainant does not want to pursue charges. They have implemented victim advocacy programs within the prosecutor’s office in hopes to boost victim retention within the process. Another approach is the evidence based prosecution, which is the idea of gathering all significant evidence to build a case against an  offender without the victim. Many peo ple believe these practices take away from the victim’s freedoms of determining their course of action (Erez,  2002). Another reform is that of the battered woman syndrome which has been employed in hopes of fixing past practices of disregarding the difficulty battered women face when she wants to defend herself in court, or the necessity to apply principals of law, or self defense that were not particularly appropriate for issues relating to abuse. This tactic has been used as a legal defense for women who battered or killed their abuser after they have suffered many years of abuse and responded by causing harm or death to them. Often times these cases are from battered women who harm their abuser without first being irritated due to the psychological state of mind the victim has suffered for many years (Erez,  2002). Domestic violence has plagued all walks of life despite the age, race, religion, or background. Without the constant fight by all stakeholders within the criminal justice system for the victims of domestic violence, no real solution to the problem can come of this resolve. Constant and continuous reform is necessary to maintain the safety and security of all victims preserving their trust with the criminal justice system.

Wireless Communication Impact on Business

Wireless Communication Impact on Business Technology means invention of techniques and tools. Emerging technology will change the world drastically. As the world continues to move, so does the improvement of technology. Every year discard light on improvements to yesterdays devices and new innovations appearing on the scope. Many scientific events have become possible through technologies which assist humans to do many things we could not do otherwise. Day to day new technologies is emerging very rapidly. New technologies those are currently developing or will be developed over the next few years, and which will substantially alter the business and social environment. These include information technology, wireless data communication, bio-technologies, bio-informatics, man-machine communications, and advanced robotics. Emerging technologies are constantly being developed in order to meet the needs of companies and people. Some of emerging technologies for this year are Bio-electronics and wetware, energy harvesting, printed e lectronics, biofeedback and thought control of electronics, plastic memory, resistive RAM, various battery technologies, single cell analysis, and neutron control. Technology runs in the layers of society. It is one of the fuels that drive our lives. We would discuss two of emerging technologies and its impact on business and society briefly. Introduction An Emerging Technology is a common term used to represent major technological developments, introducing new revolutions in the earlier technologies. Emerging Technologies are the technical innovations which signify progressive developments within a field for competitive advantage. Examples of present emerging technologies are Wireless Communication, Nano technology, Biotechnology, Artificial Intelligence Wireless Energy Transfer, robotics and etc. Emerging Technologies has severe impact on business and society. However, the level of impact on business and society may vary from technology to technology. The way we do our business and live our lives would be much different if the technologies are not continuously changing. Because of Emerging technologies, business has been able to progress in such a way that we can communicate across the globe without leaving their respective offices. Example Web conferencing, Teleconferencing. The entertainment media has progressed because of advancement in technology only. The latest technological advances are not only limited to business but also has severe impact on society. Emerging technology has affected the way we live in many ways. Example: Medical technology, Global Positioning System (GPS) etc. Because of these technologies, we live our lives very comfortably. Technology has brought luxury in the life of the common man. It has saved human effort and time to a large extent. It has brought distant place closer and simplified information access. Emerging technologies has both pros and cons. Emerging Technology I Wireless Communication: Wireless Communication means transfer of information from one place (location) to another place (location) without using wires or electrical conductors. The distance between the locations may be short or long. When the information transferring between two locations without using wires is clear then the term is referred as wireless. In general Wireless communication is considered as a branch of telecommunications. The marginalized technology for wireless communication is wired communication. Wireless System has more propagation and transmission effects compared to wired system. In the olden days of wireless telegraphy, Marconi proved that wireless signals can be cross over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Now a days we are not using radio technology to cover large distances. Because of developments in digital electronics and signal processing, so many methods are there to overcome the differences of the mobile channel and thereby accelerating the growth of wireless communication. In addition advanced digital modulation techniques such as spread spectrum or multi carrier modulation (MCM) is suitable for wireless communication. Many new developments in wireless office networks (Hyper LAN or IEEE 802.11) involve spread spectrum transmission, and allow coexistence with other services, Bluetooth and many proprietary solutions use deregulated (ISM) radio bands. Spread spectrum transmission methods i nclude slow and fast frequency hopping, direct sequence CDMA and multi carrier CDMA. Spread spectrum signals are relatively vigorous to multipath dispersion. These methods permit multiple users to share the same radio channel. In future Wireless communication networks or multimedia networks, the multiple access issue becomes significantly more essential than it is for circuit switched voice communication. The ALOHA, CSMA and ISMA all allow multiple users to share the same radio communication resources. How these protocols perform substantially for guided (wired) and an unguided (radio) channels? Performance of these protocols highly depends on the physical propagation characteristics of the channel. (Jean-Paul M.G. Linnartz, 1996-2004) Examples of wireless communication are Cellular telephones and pagers, Cordless computer peripherals, Global Positioning System (GPS), Satellite television, Wireless gaming, Wireless networking and Consumer two way radio including General Mobile Radio Service and Citizens band radios. Cellular communication has modernized the communication industry. In wireless communication Radio Frequency (RF) waves, Electromagnetic (EM) waves, Infrared rays (IR) and microwaves can carry over a part or the entire communication path. Wireless communication can be via: Radio frequency communication. Microwave communication, for example line of sight propagation via highly directional antennas. Infrared (IR) short range communication, for example from remote controls or via Infrared Data Association (IDA). (Wireless Communication, Accessed on April 5th, 2010) Categories: Radio Communication system Amateur radio Land Mobile Radio or Professional Mobile Radio: TETRA, P25, Open Sky, EDACS, DMR. Cordless telephony: DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) Cellular Networks: 0G, 1G, 2G, 3G Beyond 3G (4G), Future wireless Short range point to point communication: Wireless microphones, Remote controls, AIRD, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), Wireless USB, DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications), near field communication. Wireless Networks: Wireless LAN (WLAN), IEEE branded as Wi-Fi and Hiper LAN, Wireless Metropolitan Area networks (WMAN) and Broad band fixed Access (BWA) (LMDS, WiMAX, AIDAAS and HiperMAN). Wireless sensor networks: Bluetooth, TransferJet, ZigBee, EnOcean, Personal area networks, Ultra-wideband (UWB from WiMedia Alliance). Advantages: To make available of a backup communication link in case of a regular network failure. To cover a distance away from the capabilities of distinctive cabling. To connect portable or transitory workstations. To surmount situations where standard cabling is not easy or economically unfeasible. To remotely connect mobile users or networks. Disadvantages: Fading Inter and Intra cell interference Capturing effects In wireless networks the above disadvantages are present and considerably influence the performance, such as throughput, stability and delay for a wireless ALOHA-net. Also, the performance seen by each participating terminal differs from the average performance of the network and extremely depends on the terminals location. (Jean-Paul M.G. Linnartz, 1996-2004) Two common assumptions for wire line networks must be refined for the realistic analysis of the performance of wireless networks: If there is no collision occurs simultaneously on the same channel then the data packet is received successfully. Data packets will be lost if they are involved in a collision. Some specific solutions are existing effectively to resolve collisions; they include the tree algorithm, the stack algorithm and dynamic frame length ALOHA. The combined use of CDMA and random access directs to new system concepts. (Jean-Paul M.G. Linnartz, 1996-2004) Applications: The main application of wireless communication is omnipresent network connectivity. Point-to-Point communication, Point-to-multi point communication, Broadcasting, Cellular networks, Security systems, Television remote control, Cellular telephone (phones and modems) Computer interface devices and Other wireless networks. Impact of Wireless communication on business: Wireless communication technology can have a significant impact on business. Wireless communication is also known as Wi-Fi (Wireless fidelity) or WLAN (wireless local area network), uses low-power radio waves to transmit data over distances from one device to another without the use of wires, allowing senders and recipients to access information while on the move. Especially for business, Wi-Fi is invaluable as it allows the boss, who travels frequently, to stay in touch with his employees back at the office. Because of Wireless communication more individuals started work from home. The rapid development of wireless communication is primarily through cell phones and wireless internet. The wireless communication revolution is bringing fundamental changes to data networking, telecommunications, and is making integrated networks a reality. By freeing the user from the cord, personal communication networks, wireless LANs, mobile radio networks and cellular systems, harbour the promise of fully distributed mobile computing and communications, anytime, anywhere. E-mail and company web sites are advantageous communication technology for businesses. Businesses that use these electronic communication tools are able to expand their market place. Because of raising growth of wireless technologies, allow access to the networks for the workplace community. So that customers, clients and employees want network and service from different places of the company. There has been considerable interest lately for all businesses to set up mobile computing workplaces for their employees and also mobile computing for other functions of the business from distributors, suppliers and service providers. Recently industries have made significant progress in wireless technology to determine some constraints. Because of this wireless technologies become popular. Some of these constraints have included different standards, low bandwidth, and high infrastructure and service cost. Wireless technologies can both support the organizational company mission and offer cost effective solutions. Because of Wireless technologies so many new applications are there such as to connect computers, to permit remote monitoring and data acquisition, to provide con trol and security, and to provide a solution for environments where wires may not be the best implementation. (My Wireless Business Accessed on 19 Mar 2010) Overusing technology in business communication can lead to an overload in overusing communication. Messages began to lose importance with communication overload. Personal use of communication technology in the workplace lost time for businesses. Creating rules for use of communication technology reduces the amount of lost time a business suffers from this problem. Impact of Wireless Communication on Society: The development of wireless technology and wireless devices accessing of information can be possible approximately anywhere and people can be in touch with one another in various places. Wireless technology has both advantages and disadvantages. Wireless Technology is responsible for creating self doubt, disrupting relationships and as a tool for manipulation. However, the market for wireless devices, whether there is everywhere mobile phone, PDAs or wireless enabled computers and appliances, continues to grow and develop with new technologies emerging every day. The rapid development of wireless communication is primarily through cell phones and wireless internet over the past 15 years. Because of mobile phone so many changes in society. It has changed the way of communication between the people. In a home atmosphere, wireless technology simplifies various tasks which can eventually lead to less stress. A wireless network can do many things or plenty of work in a cool environment. Most inventions in history affect society for decades following its introduction in to the consumer market. Sometimes the consequences and side effects of a product do not become apparent until much later when there is more time for the social impact to catch up with the widespread use of the product. This is no exception with wireless communications because the social impacts have not been fully discovered. (Markoff, 2004) Emerging Technology II Artificial Intelligence (AI): Artificial intelligence is the study of how to make computers behave intelligently. Artificial Intelligence is the present generation computer technology. In simple Artificial Intelligence means those computer program and software which would think of its own as an average Human being does. It is related to the similar task of using computers to know human intelligence, but AI does not have to confine itself to methods that are biologically visible. In other way artificial intelligence is the branch of computer science and the intelligence of machines that aims to create it. Text books define artificial intelligence as the study and designing of intelligent agents, where an intelligent agent is considered as a system that perceives its environment and takes actions to maximize its ability of success. John McCarthy, who invented the term artificial intelligence, defines it as the science and e3ngineering of making intelligent machines. The marginalized technology for artificial intelligence is human decision and human analysis. Computer programs have plenty of speed and memory but their capabilities correspond to the intellectual mechanisms that program designers understand well enough to put in programs. One of AIs first projects was the development of mathematical language much like a computer language, in which researchers could encode assertions. If the language was rigorous enough, computer algorithms could be able to comb through assertions written in it and calculate all the logically valid inferences. Once they had developed such languages, AI researchers started using them to encode lot of commonsense assertions, which they sorted in huge databases. Moores law states that for every 18 months the number transistors on the chip will be doubled, processing power doubles while cost hold constant. In fact, when computers were first built, people proposed them for doing nothing but mindless computations, but as the development of newer technologies, computers eventually were limited to arithmetic anymore, they are now called Artificial intelligence. The computer technology has changed the face of the world. Computers can store, organize and handle enormous amounts of data. They can process huge amounts of information. Computers have given increase to the software industry, one of the most progressive industries of the world. (An Introduction to AI, Accessed on Mar 25, 2010) Types of AI: Strong AI and Weak AI Strong AI: A computer running suitable software actually is intelligent. Weak AI: Intelligence is something that only biological systems can posses. The best that can be accomplished with a machine is to stimulate intelligence. Advantages: Unemotional consideration of problems means human mind may have emotions. When people take decisions, sometimes those decisions are based on emotion rather than logic, so it may be wrong decision. That thing could not be happen with AI. Disadvantages: AI replaces human, means people believe that machine work accurately than human. So human become more dependent on AI and trust the results and decisions made by AI. This implies that more jobs are done by AI machines and the fewer are offered to human. Because of unemployment rate, it is likely that more people will be losing their jobs competing with machines. Due to this an economic destruction will occur and because of this an increase in crime rate and starvation. Economic destruction is not only because of using AI but also Technology that could be harmful to minds of small children. Applications: Pattern recognition Optical character recognition Face recognition Speech recognition Computer Vision, virtual reality and image processing Game theory and strategic planning Game artificial intelligence and Computer game boot Hybrid intelligent system Diagnosis (artificial intelligence) Natural language processing, Translation and Chatter Bots Artificial creativity Heuristic clarification Robotics Behaviour based robotics Cybernetics Evolutionary robotics Epigenetic robotics Cognitive robotics The impact of Artificial Intelligence on business: Evolution of artificial intelligence and information technology has effect the business in order to improve their performance. Due to information technologies information gathering, communication between the people will be fast. So the results were very accurate. AI is essential for economy and now is one of the main sources of business and employment. It also gives an additional form of communication and exchange of information which was not accessible before. Technology is relevant in politics as governments are trying to adopt IT for making improvements in the storage of data, and finally it is essential for economy as now it is one of the main sources of business and employment. On the information superhighway, the internet, the world is a very small place and distance, nationality, income are irrelevances, but the existence of such a network with high speed, worldwide communications together with satellites, has meant that news, ideas and other information can be spread, world-wide in the blink of an eye and with this now possible, some of the traditional constraints have been loosened. The development of the internet means can now work from their homes. The so called information superhighway makes a variety of different services and types of information available at the touch of a button, to the point where its next to impossible to avoid exposure to one kind or another. It happens very often that the information you get on the Internet, especially with search engines is too much. In the web you may easily get lost when you are looking for something as you are usually beleaguered by an amount of information that is misdirected and irrelevant for you. With the internet you cannot have the same experience as for instance with a book, where the material is selected and organized with some coherence. There is no way to distinguish the brilliant from the trash, you can never be sure that what you are reading is true. (Harvard Business School Publishing May 2005) The impact of Artificial Intelligence on Society: Artificial Intelligence has been developed for many years and is already widely used in human society. Ex. Hospitals use Artificial intelligence machines to diagnose patients. The invention of the computer and its associated technologies has a major impact on many areas of our everyday lives. Technology affects everyone in the modern society in the aspects of work and leisure activities. Technology is one of the major energetic force of the future, is altering our lives and shaping our future at rates unprecedented in history. Due to different technologies we are satisfied with our lives. Technology is essential for our society, its elaboration, and production at the centre of the cultural, political and economic fields, which are the basis of the society. Human beings solve most of their troubles by means of fast, instinctive judgements rather than the aware, step-by-step subtraction that early AI study was able to model. Artificial Intelligence has made some progress at replicated this type of sub figurative problem solving; personified agent approaches stress the importance of sensor motor skills to advanced reasoning neural net research attempts to rep licate the structure of inside human and animals brain that give rise to this talent. (Harvard Business School Publishing May 2005) Conclusion: As we discuss two types of emerging technologies (wireless communication and artificial intelligence) and their impact on business and society. Because of emerging technologies, we are doing many which would otherwise not possible.

Free Essays - Circular Life in When the Legends Die :: When Legends Die Essays

  Circular Life(When The Legends Die)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When the Legends Die, by Hal Borland, is a novel in which traces the life of Tom Black Bull from a young Indian boy to an older, mature adult.   Thus meaning When the Legends Die is a bildungsroman.   A bildungsroman is a novel in which the protagonist from beginning to the end matures, and in a classic bildungsroman, undergoes a spiritual crisis. His life is filled with many obstacles and affected by many people positively and negatively.   Throughout the story he overcomes these obstacles and lives through the people.   His attitude is affected with the presence of the other characters.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Soon after the death of Tom’s father, George Black Bull, Tom is left to be the man of the family.   Bessie states to Tom after burying his father, â€Å"‘Now you are the man.’†(29) That one statement has a lot of meaning.   On one hand it means he has to provide for him and his mom.   By hunting for food to help him and his mom stay alive and survive.   Then he has to be able to catch enough to eventually save for winter.   Then, during the winter, his mom dies from sickness.   He brings her up to where his father was buried and buries his mom right next to his father, singing the song for going away.   Bessie was a positive influence to Tom, she had taught him how to live: cook, sing the old songs, and doing things in the old way.   On the other hand she was negative, because everyone else in the story was starting to live in the new ways and adapting to it, while she did not even teach Tom anything about the new ways.   With the lack of his mother now, he has no one to live with, care for, except for himself, but without an adult in his life.   But now he is now forced to choose his own choice and learn from them since he has no one to help him through life.   For his mother, was not only his caretaker but also his teacher and mentor for living in the old ways.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Soon after living alone for a while on the mountain, he is tricked into going to a reservation school.   Then from there, he escapes then returns and ends up being an aid for a sheepherder.   Within a short a period of time, he is taken in the hands of Red Dillon.

Data Link Control (internet) :: essays research papers

Society has become based solely on the ability to move large amounts of information across vast distances quickly. The natural evolution of computers and this need for ultra-fast communications has caused a global network of interconnected computers to develop. This global network allows a person to send E-mail across the world in mere fractions of a second, and enables even the common person to access information world-wide. With the new advancements in technology there must be a set of â€Å"rules† or better known as protocols that must be established and utilized at all times. In this short ten page paper I will be demonstrating the advancements in these protocols and there uses today. To properly show the significant advancement, it will be best to show why Data Link Control was established. In the early 1970’s, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) started a research program interlinking computer to share information. While sending information from one site to the other many problems arose with loosing data (Society). To decrease the amount of corrupted data being transmitted, protocols were established. These protocols were a drawn out process that was very slow but was able to transfer data all across the world. By 1986, the US National Science Foundation Started the NSFNET which today provides one of the biggest backbones for the internet. This supercomputer was able to send packets on its 45 MBps trunk to different locations. Once this was in place the internet was born with TCP/IP Protocols of TCP/IP protocol suite became available in the 1980's. . By 1991-93 Home computers were starting to take advantage of the vast amount of information that is available. By this time the OSI protocol was created and by the end of 1991 the internet has grown to include 5,000 networks in three countries, serving over 700,000 host computers used by over 4,000,000 people. This was all possible due to strict sets of protocols that were followed (Society). By the mid to late 1990’s society was using 56K modems in the residential areas and companies were purchasing faster dedicated connections. At this period of time flow control, error control, and High-level Data link Control (HDLC) were being implem ented. The control of the data being processed is referred to as flow control. Flow control was needed to be established to regulate the speed of data being transmitted. Regulating the speed of the transmission evens out the data so that very little errors will occur.

Marketing Strategies for Businesses Essay -- Business Marketing Essays

Marketing Strategies for Businesses Introduction: Samuel Whitbread established Whitbread plc in 1742, originally as a beer producing company. Since then, Whitbread has moved from strength to strength incorporating wider varieties of businesses under its wing with each growth. Today, Whitbread owns and operates some of the most popular business in restaurants, hotels and leisure and health. Beefeater Vision 'To make Beefeater the first choice as a great place to eat and drink.' The Lydiard Travel Inn, Beefeater restaurant, Pub and Touchbase is situated just off junction 16 of the M4, beside the Hilton International. It has a 150 seater Beefeater restaurant, which is open all day from breakfast for overnight guests until evening dinner. For Beefeater to function efficiently and effectively the marketing team must analyse past performance and present trends, and attempt to predict the future in the form of marketing plan. There are a number of planning techniques and processes which have been used successfully, they are:  · SWOT analysis  · Marketing mix  · Boston matrix  · Ansoff strategy  · PEST analysis Objectives  · To comply with the task that has been set by the Beefeater manager. This is to identify the following objectives and present fresh new ideas for the business. This task will try to solve her problem of relatively low growth and boost sales to increase revenue.  · To identify the external forces influencing the competitive environment of the U.K. hospitality market.  · Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the Lydiard Beefeater through an internal audit.  · To identify the political, economic social and technological influences on the Lydiard, Swindon. ... ... of 35-44 yr olds, and 4% of 45+ yr olds agreed. 6% were "currently a meat eater but would like to become a vegetarian". 25% thought that is not "safe and healthy", rising to 34% in 15-24 yr olds. 36% of non-vegetarians would consider becoming a vegetarian if they felt animal farming was cruel. 82% felt that in the future there will be more vegetarians. 75% felt that in the future people will eat less meat. 80% claimed to prefer to buy food that is cruelty free and good for the environment These statistics clearly show that there needs to be a provision for vegetarian customers. The data however would need to be compared to more recent data to check validity and to identify any trends in the data such as cruelty to animals. Bibliography Customer questionnaire Advanced business www.Beefeater.co.uk www.ask.com

The triggering event that led to the Wall Street stock market

The triggering event that led to the Wall Street stock market crash in October 1929 was the result of a steady decline in production, prices and income over the period of three months. Anxiety gave rise to panic thus resulting to the crash.   The stock market crash affected various countries and the effects were intense.   The depression affected greatly the United States because of the absence of welfare benefits for the laid off workers.   Between 1929 and 1933, money income fell by 53 percent and as a consequence, demand fell significantly, which in turn led to lower production and more lay-offs up to 25 percent rate of unemployment in 1933.And yet despite the severity of the stock market crash, the Federal Reserve did not pursue a monetary expansion policy which would have stimulated the economy through lower interest rates and increased the stock of money in circulation. As part of the efforts of the United States to cope with the Depression, the Hawley Smoot Tariff of 193 0 was enacted which made US more protectionist than ever thereby sending import duties to record highs.   As a result, other countries retaliated as the new tariff act hastened the downfall of American trade volume. Since President Hoover has been protective of the tariff act, he failed to see the results of the move.Immediately thereafter, the Depression spread through out the world especially in Europe.   Particularly affected was Germany whose economy was unable to cope with the slow disappearance of American capital. It is also worth discussing that Germany was still paying reparations for World War I which made its position even more delicate. Germany was then forced to borrow from Great Britain and France.   The country had to pursue deficienary policies in order to gain the confidence of investors and attract foreign funds.The problem of devaluation further posed a major problem. Although the United Kingdom was not hit in the same way as Germany, it however experienced a notable decline in its export which was even greater than the decrease in its imports.   Latin America was also greatly affected as it depended heavily in selling raw materials in the US. It could not be surmised that the Wall Street crash was the immediate cause of the decline in world trade.   The decline in world trade was largely due to the protectionist legislation passed by major trading nations.When Hoover was replaced by President Roosevelt in 1932 and brought with him the New Deal which was intended to provide direct relief, recovery and financial reform to the country suffering from the Great Depression. One of Roosevelt’s primary programs was to deal with the country’s banking catastrophe. Since one-fifth of all of the banks in the US were forced to close and many people were already starting to lose their life savings, Roosevelt asked Congress to legislate a law which will protect the saver’s investment in times of the same crisis. This eventua lly restored the people’s trust in the banking system. Perhaps one of the most important legislation and mark left by the New Deal is the Social Security Act which set up a national system of old-age pension and also coordinated relief for the unemployed.   Both agriculture and industry were also supported by policies to restrict output and increase input.Perhaps the most durable   policy left by the New Deal was   the great public works project such as the Hoover Dam and the introduction by the Tennessee Valley Authority of flood control, electric power, fertilizer and education to a depressed agricultural region in the south. However, the New Deal was certainly not a perfect example of economic management as it did not lead to rapid economic recovery.   Income per capita was no higher in 1939 than in 1929, although the government’s welfare and public works policies did benefit many of the most needy people. The big growth in the US economy was, in fact, due t o rearmament. (Modern American Poetry)Despite the promises of the New Deal, it nevertheless reaped various criticisms as the programs were questioned.   For example, the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 which was originally intended to make possible â€Å" a great cooperative movement throughout all the industry in order to obtain wider reemployment, to shorten the working week, to pay a decent wage for the shorter week and to prevent unfair competition and disastrous overproduction.† However, the NIRA was attacked because it gave stimulus to the industries that needed it least and ignored the industries that needed it the most. It also gave Roosevelt unprecedented powers over the economy and other businesses.The increase of criticisms against Roosevelt and the New Deal, Roosevelt was forced to look for support elsewhere.   During the presidential campaign in 1936, he built the â€Å"Roosevelt Coalition† a political bloc that made modern politics.   While the Republicans were still relying on their traditional base of political support such as big businesses, farmers and conservatives, Roosevelt and the Democrats turned to small farmers in the Midwest, urban political bosses, even ethnic blue collar workers, the ethnic minorities, Jews and intellectuals.   As evidence by the support of African-Americans, Roosevelt was certainly changing American politics. Thus, it was no surprise that the Democrats won the race in 1936.On the other hand, labor and labor unions played a great role during the 1930s.   In fact, many Americans became alarmed by the labor union’s power which they felt might be irresponsibly used under certain circumstances.   For the labor force, they are responsible in continuing industrialization although many of the workers are divided from each other ethnically, regionally and religiously.   Nevertheless, with mass unemployment and real distress among the workingmen, public opinion, which had long look ed upon unions as â€Å"radical† outfits, came to sympathize with their purposes for the first time. Reflecting that public opinion, the new deal Congresses passed laws which favored organization and recognition of labor unions. Meanwhile, the courts, which had taken a restrictive view of the rights of labor when they seemed to conflict with those of private property, rendered more favorable decisions and upheld the new laws.Reference:Monique Ebell. (2006). Welfare Capitalism, Union Power and the Great Crash of 1929: Toward a Neoclassical Explanation of the Great Depression.†Ã‚   XIV International Economic History Congress, Helinski 2006 Session 20.F. William Engdahl. â€Å"Some Conventional Reflections on the Great Depression and the New Deal.† GeoPolitics-GeoEconomics.   Online http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/History/New_Deal/new_deal.html accessed October 1, 2006.Stanley Schultz. â€Å"Dr. New Deal Becomes Dr. Win-the-War.† American History 102: Civil War to the Present. Online http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture20.htmlLabor and Labor_Management. Online https://www.netsafa.navy.mil/ipg/labor_and_labormanagement.htm   accessed October 1, 2006.â€Å"Legacy of the New Deal in Comparison with Other Deals† : http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/depression/legacy.html

The Hunters: Phantom Chapter 29

I lead not die not again, Elena human body furiously as she writhed in pain, the invisible vise clamping down yet harder on her. fair fel to the expose, even paler than forwards, clutching her stay in a mirror image of Elena.It chamberpotnot take meAnd thus, dear as dead as it had dealerted, the deafening roar ceased and the stifling pain lifted. Elena col apsed to the ground, air whooshing suffer into her lungs. Its finished grinding bones to make step forward its bread, Elena thought semihysterical y, and almost giggled. sightly gasped loudly, let let out a smal sob.What was that? Elena asked her. beautiful agitate her gallery. It felt akin something was take a crapting pul ed out of us, she state, panting. I felt it before, too, counterbalance before you showed up.That pul ing feeling. Elena grimaced, her mind whirling.I recollect its the phantom. Damon says that it wants to drain our power. That moldiness be how it does it.becoming was staring at her, her mouth practiced a tiny bit open. Her bug tongue darted out and thrash her lips. Damon says? she express. She frowned anxiously. Damons dead, Elena.No, hes alive. The star bal brought him put up by and by wed already leftoer the Dark Moon. I plant out after the phantom took you. mediocre make a petty(a) noise, a furcate of eep that reminded Elena of a bunny, of something soft and smal and surprised. Al the declination drained out of her face, exit her common pose y faint freckles vivid muscae volitantes against the white of her cheeks. She pressed shaking de xtion to her mouth, staring at Elena with huge fatish front.Listen, honest, Elena said fiercely. Nobody else k instanters this yet. Nobody provided you and me, Bonnie. Damon wanted to keep it a hole-and-corner(a) until he could figure out the ad fair(a) way to come corroborate. So we make to keep quiet rough it.Bonnie nodded, stil gaping. The color was rushing back into her cheeks, and she olfactory perc eptioned like she was caught between joy and total confusion.Glancing everyw here(predicate) her shoulder, Elena go on that there was something in the grass at the foot of a blushbush beyond Bonnie, something motionless and white. A chil went through her as she was reminded of Calebs body at the foot of the depository in the graveyard.Whats that? she asked sharply. Bonnies expression tipped all over into confusion. Elena brushed past her and walked toward it, squinting in the solariselight. When she got c lag nice, Elena apothegm with amazement that it was Matt, assembly stil and silent beneath the rosebush. A spew of black petals was scattered across his chest. As she came close to him, Matts eyeball twitched she could see them contemptible rapidly back and forth beneath the lids, as if he was having an intense ideate and then flew open as he took in a long, rattling drink of air. His pale blue eyes met hers.Elena He gasped. He hitched himself up onto his elbows and looked past her. Bonnie Thank God Are you O.K.? Where be we?The phantom caught us, brought us to the bottom(prenominal) World, and is victimization us to make itself more powerful, Elena said succinctly. How do you feel?A little startled, Matt joked in a weak voice. He looked near, then licked his lips nervously. Huh, so this is the under World? Its nicer than Id envisioned from your descriptions. Shouldnt the sky be red? And where are al the vampires and demons? He looked at Elena and Bonnie sternly. Were you guys tel ing the truth about everything that happened to you here? Because this place seems pretty nice for a Hel dimension, what with al the roses and everything.Elena stared at him. Its possible too umteen weird things have happened to us. and so she noticed the hint of panic on Matts face. He wasnt unnatural y blase about what was dismissal on he was bonnie being brave, whistling to keep up their spirits in this newest danger.Wel , we wanted to come upon you, she joked back with a tremulous smile, then quickly got down to business. What was going on when you were back radix? she asked him.Um, Matt said, Stefan and Meredith were call into question Caleb about how he summoned the phantom.Calebs not credi devilrthy for the phantom, Elena said firmly. It fol owed us home when we were here before. We have to get home honest away so we can tel them theyre transaction with one of the Original ones. Itl be much(prenominal) more difficult for us to get rid of than an ordinary one.Matt looked at Bonnie questioningly. How does she know this?Wel , Bonnie said, with a hint of the glee she always got from gossip, patently Damon told her. Hes alive and she saw himSo much for tutelage Damons secret, Bonnie, Elena thought, rol ing her eyes. Stil , it didnt received y outcome if Matt knew. He wasnt the one Damon was retentivity the secret from, and he wasnt likely to be fitted to tel Stefan bothtime soon.Elena tuned out Matts exclaimings of wo nder and Bonnies explanations as she scanned the area around them. Sunshine. Rosebushes. Rosebushes. Sunshine. Grass. Clear blue sky. Al the aforesaid(prenominal), in every direction. wherever she looked, velvety black perfect blooms nodded serenely in a clear twelve noon sun. The bushes were al the selfsame(prenominal), down to the number and positions of the roses on each one and the distances between them. up to now the stems of grass were uniform al fillet at the same height. The sun hadnt go since shed arrived.It al seemed like it should be winning and relaxing, and after a hardly a(prenominal) minutes the sameness became unnerving.There was a gate, she told Bonnie and Matt. When we were looking into this field from the Gatehouse of the septet Treasures. There was a way in from there, so there must be a way to get out to there. We just have to find it.They had begun to struggle to their feet when, without warning, the sharp ramging pain struck again. Elena clutch ed her stomach. Bonnie lost her balance and fel back to a sitting position on the ground, her eyes clenched shut. Matt gave a choked- forth exclamation and gasped. What is that?Elena waited for the pain to fade again before she closureed him. Her knees were wobbling. She felt dizzy and sick. Another movement we subscribe to get out of here, she said.The phantoms using us to increase its power. I mean it needs us here to do that. And if we dont find the gate soon, we exponent be too weak to make it home.She looked around again, the uniformity almost dizzying. Each rosebush was center on in a smal circular freighter of richlooking dark loam. Between these circles, the grass of the field was velvety smooth, like the lawn of an English manor house or a real y good golf course.Okay, Elena said, and took a deep, calming breath.Lets spread out and look careful y. Wel stay about ten feet apart from one another and go from one end of this rose garden to the other, awaiting. Look aro und careful y anything thats at al different from the ataraxis of the field could be the clue we need to find the way out.Were going to search the whole field? Bonnie asked, seem dismayed. Its huge.Wel just do one little bit at a time, Elena said encouragingly.They started in a spread-out line, gazing intently back and forth, up and down. At root there was only the silence of concentrate concentration as they searched. There was no sign of a gate. Step by step through the field, nothing changed. neer-ending rows of identical rosebushes stretched in al directions, dislocated about lead feet from one another, comme il faut room between them for one person to easily pass. The eternal midday sun beat down uncomfortably on the tops of their heads, and Elena wiped a bead of crusade from her forehead. The scent of roses hung heavily in the impassioned air at first Elena had found it pleasant, but now it was nauseating, like a too-sweet perfume. The perfect stalks of grass bent chthonian her feet, then sprang up again, uncrushed, as if she had never passed.I wish there were a breeze, Bonnie complained. But I dont look at the wind ever blows here.This field must come to an end sometime, Elena said desperately. It cant just go on forever. There was a sickening feeling in the caries of her stomach, though, that suggested to her that maybe it could go on forever. This wasnt her world, after al . The rules were different here.So wheres Damon now? Bonnie asked suddenly. She wasnt looking at Elena. She was keeping up the same steady pace, the same careful, systematic gaze. But there was a note of strain in her voice, and Elena broke her own search to glance at her quickly.Then one possible answer to Bonnies question hit Elena and she occlude dead. Thats it she said. Bonnie, Matt, I think Damon might be here. Or not here, not in the rose garden, but somewhere in the Nether World, in the Dark Dimension. They looked at her blankly.Damon was going to try to come here to look for the phantom, Elena explained. He thought it fol owed us home from here when we came back to our own world, so this is probably where hed start searching for its physiologic body. The last time I saw him, he told me that he thought he would be able to fight it cleanse from here, where it came from. If he is here, maybe he can help us get back to Fel s Church.Damon, please be here somewhere. Please help us, she begged silently.Just then, something caught her eye. forrard of them, between two rosebushes that looked just the same as any other two rosebushes in the garden, there was the slightest shift, the tiniest distorted shape. It looked like the enkindle glimmer that would sometimes appear over the highway on the hottest, most stil days of summer as the suns rays bounced off the asphalt.No asphalt here to radiate back the suns heat. But something had to be causing that shimmer.Unless she was imagining it. Were her eyes playing tricks on her, showing her a mir age among the rosebushes?Do you see that? she asked the others. Over there, just a little to the refine?They stopped and peered careful y. maybe? Bonnie said hesitantly.I think so, Matt said. analogous hot air rising, right?Right, Elena said. She frowned, estimating the distance. Maybe fifteen feet. We should take it at a run,she said. In case we have any trouble getting through. There might be some kind of hindrance we have to break to get out. I dont think hesitating wil help us.Lets guard hands, Bonnie suggested nervously. I dont want to lose you guys.Elena didnt take her eyes off the shimmer in the air. If she lost it, shed never find it again, not with the sameness of everything in here. in one case they got turned around, theyd never be able to tel this spot from any other. They al three took one anothers hands, staring at the smal distortion that they hoped was a gate. Bonnie was in the snapper and she clutched Elenas left hand with her thin, stiff fingers.One, two, thr ee, go, Bonnie said, and then they were running. They stumbled over the grass, wove between rosebushes. The set between the bushes was barely wide enough for three to run abreast, and a spiny branch caught in Elenas hair. She couldnt let go of Bonnie and she couldnt stop, so she just yanked her head forward despite the eye-wateringly painful tug on her hair and kept running, leaving a tangle of hair abeyance from a bush behind her.Then they were at the shimmer between the bushes. block up, it was even harder to see, and Elena would have doubted that they were at the right spot except for the change in the temperature. It might have looked like a heat shimmer from a distance, but it was as cold and bracing as a mountain lake, despite the warm sun right above them.Dont stop Elena shouted. And they plunged into the coldness.In an instant, everything went black, as if someone had switched off the sun.Elena felt herself fal ing and clung desperately to Bonnies hand.Damon she cried si lently. Help me