I have chosen to go with topic regarding the detailed analysis of the Term Paper

I have chosen to go with topic regarding the detailed analysis of the food issues in a foreign country and my country of choice - Term Paper Example Acute food security and hunger are component of everyday life for millions of Nepalis. For families inhabiting Nepal’s secluded mountain areas especially, getting access to adequate food is an everyday struggle. Climate change is making the condition worse. Agricultural advancement in these regions has been abandoned for years, and food production falls short of meeting the need of the populace. Low production is intensified by climate insecurity. For instance, consecutive winter droughts consolidated with a poor monsoon in 2009 left approximately 3.4 million people in need of food aid (Adhikari 14-32). According to Adhikari, (44-55) people inhabiting many parts of the nation are dependent on pricey food imported from India. According to recent research food prices indicated that the poorest pastoral families were spending 78 percent of the earnings on food, making them exceedingly susceptible to food price instability. When the cost of food scales upwards, households are forc ed to sell assets, to make cuts in the household budget, and take up debts, further exerting them into a nasty cycle of intensifying poverty. Before putting into account the impacts of the present conflict on food security in Nepal it is essential to say something about the food security condition and collective phenomena before the conflict and to offer an account of configurations and dynamics of the food economy of Nepal. The revolution, which hypothetically directly confronts the structural inequalities of Nepali economy and community, which brings about prevalent poverty and food insecurity of the masses of the countrified populace and generally confronts the government itself, also presents itself as providing the potential of new and advanced entitlements and availability of the central resources for the masses. In selecting the armed resistance as its chief vehicle for that challenge, the uprising has met with antagonism from the state, and from other quarters, which has amo unted in a conflict of growing intensity, especially over the latter two to three years. Average per capita GDP is low compared to most other growing nations, and Nepal is ranked amid the poorest nations in the world. This means thereby that average per capita earnings are minimal and purchasing power in the household and in global markets also nominal. It has also become an ingredient of the traditional knowledge in Nepal that there are growing challenges linked with food insecurity, that for whatsoever rationale, many areas of the nation and many people, both in those areas and in others, suffers from food insecurity. Finally, one would anticipate that the effects of food insecurity would become apparent, in a comparative growth in the percentage of domestic overheads committed to food. Conversely, one would also anticipate that diminishing levels of consumption would explain themselves over the comparatively short time into patterns of nutrition and malnutrition. Once more, in th e lack of modern dependable nutrition survey information, it is surmised what has been taking place to the patterns of nutrition, though there are hints that malnutrition is extensive and that the nutritional standing of both kids and adults is collectively poor; but whether the condition is overall advancing or deteriorating is not lucid. Some current village research has shown a decline in nutritional condition, at least in those cases where there has been

The ways in whih characters adapt to the changing circumstances of Essay

The ways in whih characters adapt to the changing circumstances of their lives - Essay Example In John Steinbecks novel, East ÃŽ ¿f Eden, the characters are unusual, realistic, and interesting, all which contribute to the appeal ÃŽ ¿f the novel. These characters appeal to the reader, and the reader is able to sympathize with most characters, from the most upstanding citizen to the ruthless seductress. Faye, although the owner ÃŽ ¿f a whorehouse, is depicted a respectable, honourable woman, by the description Steinbeck gives her. Although she owns a whorehouse, she has made it the cleanest, and in many ways, the best whorehouse ÃŽ ¿f all the others around her. Steinbeck regards her as being a good citizen, and a moral person. All ÃŽ ¿f the girls who work in her whore house respect Faye, and look up to her. As the interaction between Kathy and Faye persist, many ÃŽ ¿f the girls who work at Fayes become fearful ÃŽ ¿f her safety. Kathy slowly poisons Faye, and when Faye dies, the tone at the whorehouse drastically changes, as the girls become more suspicious ÃŽ ¿f Kate. Faye, being the good person that she was, loved Kate, and left her business to her. When Kate took over, the girls suddenly live in fear ÃŽ ¿f Kate. Kate is probably the most interesting, and gripping character in East ÃŽ ¿f Eden, due to her sedectiveness, and her evil personality. In Steinbecks first description ÃŽ ¿f Kathy he depicts her as a victim ÃŽ ¿f genetics. It was just a mere coincidence that such an evil human arose from her two good parents. The reader can sympathize that she is a victim ÃŽ ¿f nature, a common trait ÃŽ ¿f realism. Her actions are merely a result ÃŽ ¿f here natural instincts to be bad. Her character is the most complex in the novel. Her most interesting aspect is her reaction to alcohol, another interesting trait that draws the reader in. Her actions shock the reader, her boldness and independence was a reflection ÃŽ ¿f the womens movement that is still a major appeal to the women ÃŽ ¿f today. The introduction ÃŽ ¿f Kathy in chapter 8 was a turning point in the novel, since her

Singapore tourism vulnerable to climate change

Singapore tourism vulnerable to climate change Conclusion The overall aim of this research is to understand the ways in which tourism in Singapore is vulnerable to climate change. Predicting climate change is complex but even more complex is predicting how people will respond to that change (Perry, 2005, 94). Therefore, tourists, who are major players in this tourism business, are exceptionally crucial. This study employs tourists perceptions and opinions as well as statistical data from government sources in understanding how tourism in Singapore may be affected under predicted climate change scenarios in the coming decades. Three research objectives were developed for addressing this aim as mentioned in the introduction. In this concluding chapter, summary of the results for each of these objectives would be highlighted. Objective one: To document the nature climate as a resource for tourism in Singapore Atmospheric weather conditions may impact tourist demand, participation, experiences and satisfaction (de Freitas, 2003; Yu et al, 2009). Singapores â€Å"hot and sunny† weather condition and all-year-round sunshine acts as a huge impetus attracting tourists. The significance of climate among other factors was revealed in the survey and confirmed the findings by Hamilton, et al (2005) that weather and climate can act as both push and pull factors. Despite acknowledging that climate is an important resource for tourism in Singapore, this study made an interesting finding that weather did not prove to be the ultimate choice affecting tourists decision to Sentosa. Attractions in the destination was consistently ranked first when respondents were asked the importance of factors relevant to their visit to a country for tourism as well as the most important factor affecting their decision in visiting Sentosa. With attractions being the most important factor affecting tourists choice to Sentosa, there is high possibility that Sentosa may be chosen in spite of the likely bad weather. Tourists indicate that they would likely substitute beach tourism for other activities such as indoor sightseeing attractions within Sentosa which are not weather dependent. Hence visitation to Sentosa is unlikely to be affected because of the diverse types of attractions Sentosa provides. This indirectly points to a bigger picture that for destinations attracting mostly day visitors, climate change may have smaller implications, since potential visitors are more likely to change plans or adapt to the on-site weather conditions (Aylen et al., 2005). Objective two: To estimate future effects and risks on the tourism sector under direct predicted climate change scenarios The tourism sector in Singapore generates more than S$12 billion in tourism receipts yearly and employs about 60% of the workforce in Singapore (MOM, 2009; MTI, 2009). Given the increasing importance of the tourism industry to the economy, it is critical to understand the implications of climate change for the industry. Climate change has the potential modify tourist demand and travel patterns (Scott et al., 2004). Although climate change may bring about new opportunities for some countries, Singapore would most likely be faced with more challenges. Firstly, with global warming, Singapore may become too hot and humid for comfort. Secondly, with the climate of other regions and countries changing for the better, the need for a winter escape to warm climate countries diminishes. In addition, the study investigated the reactions of tourists behaviour to the possible direct impact of climate change that might most probably impact Singapore in the coming years. Increasing rainfall days would most likely result in a decrease in days of stay with tourists indicating that they would still choose to come to Singapore but avoiding that heavy rainfall periods. On the other hand, in the case of an increase in temperature or rainfall events which are highly unpredictable, it seems that tourists would more likely accept and plan their activities to suit these random weather conditions. These fairly negative results demonstrate the need for the sector to look into ways that can improve the attractiveness and competitiveness of Singapore as a tourist destination. Studies have shown that tourists are capable of adapting and changing their travel behaviours when facing uncertainties and unexpected factors. Stewart Vogt (1999) suggest that tourism plans often were changed, especially regarding on-site activities. Therefore, what is most important is the initial motivation of attracting tourists to Singapore. Singapore must prove herself as a worthy destination with many alternative activities that is available for visitors facing extreme hot weather or sudden rainfall due to the changing climate. With Singapores tourism industry being highly diversified without favouring any particular type of tourism, there is a balance of both indoor and outdoor attractions to provide visitors satisfactory tourism experiences even under uncertain weather conditions. In addition, statistics show that shopping, is one of the main motives of tourists coming to Singapore as well as a high revenue earning sector, with Orchard Road being the most visited site in Singapore. Thus, if shopping which is non-weather dependent, is one of the main attractions motivating tourists to Singapore, it seem possible that climate change may have little impact in changing tourists minds about visiting Singapore. Objective three: To discuss mitigation policies employed or suggested by the UNWTO access the consequences of employing these strategies in Singapore Two mitigation strategies are reviewed: encouraging short-haul destinations and market climate policy instruments which includes taxation. Singapore is a small island state with only the Southeast Asian region being within its short-haul destination. Thus, promoting short-haul destination as a mitigation strategy may lead to detrimental economic consequences for Singapore as a result of vast lost of a significant potential share of tourists. Between the two strategies reviewed, the latter seems to be a more desirable. This is reflected in 75% of respondents expressing willingness to increase their spending on green facilities which includes fuel efficient aeroplane. They believe that it is their social and environmental responsibility to spend a little more for the sake of the environment. Although mitigation strategies for the tourism industry may not be welcomed by both tourism operators and tourists as they are likely to result in an increase in cost of travel or inconvenience, thus reducing competitiveness, they are deemed essential. Unlike natural disasters or terrorist attacks, climate change is not just a short-term effect that could then be quickly forgotten. As King concludes aptly â€Å"In my view, climate change is the most severe problem we are facing today, more serious even than the threat of terrorism† (2004: 176). Therefore, the need for mitigation strategies in Singapore to reduce the trend of future climate change impacts is a pressing necessity.

The Color Purple - Character Analysis of Celie :: Alice Walker

In the color purple, we can see how Celie develops an identity for herself throughout the novel. At first we can appreciate how Celie does not longer believe in herself and looses all trust she had on herself. When Nettie gets older, about 12 years old, their father Fonso tries to get to Nettie, but Celie protects her and lets Fonso rape her instead of him raping Nettie. This at the beginning shows that Celie has enough strength to take decisions that will affect other people, however, this strength starts to disappear as the story continues. Celie is at most 14 when Mr.____ marries her. She does no talk about "making love" but instead refers to sex as "he gets on top of me and does his business". That shows how little Celie believes on herself as she thinks that Mr.____ could do sex without her. Then the story changes direction and the discrimination against Celie starts to be present. When Mr.____ beats her she does not try to fight back, but instead she remains passive to what is happening. On the other hand, Celie continues to work as the perfecto maid of the children and keeps the house perfectly clean and tidy. This shows that indirectly she does not like being beaten (obviously) but she does not say anything because of the fear she feels for men, she instead reacts to it in a way which shows the big heart Celie has. When Shug comes to Mr.____Â ´s house Celie starts to feel something that she had never felt. She start to feel emotions for Shug. As the relationship between Celie and Shug develops, Shug shows Celie that life, freedom and having an identity should be the best present for a black woman which is condemned and trapped for ever after on the cruel and racist society of those times. To begin with, Celie obtains freedom as she escapes from Mr.____ with Shug, then, she realises that life can be much better when you do not depend on any one else, and so Celie does no longer depend on any one but on herself.

Difficulty Of Teaching Narrative Writing In English Class

It is an undeniable fact that narrative authorship is one of the most hard constructs to learn in an English authorship category. One of the aims of the KBSM English course of study ( 2000 ) states that pupils should be able to ‘listen, position, read and respond to different texts, and express thoughts, sentiments, ideas and feelings imaginatively and creatively in spoken and written signifier ‘ . Therefore, narrative authorship has become a staple inquiry in the Continuous Writing subdivision of Paper 1 for the English SPM scrutiny. Despite the 9 old ages of composing experience the pupils had, bulk of the pupils in Malaysia are still doing serious composing mistakes in their narrative essay. These mistakes are largely lingual mistakes but mistakes made in composing mechanics are every bit as damaging. Since the KBSM course of study ‘s origin, instructors all around the state and even pedagogues in universities have been seeking to order a methodological analysis on learning authorship. However, merely a little minority would turn to Computer Assisted Language Learning ( CALL ) as a possible solution and how many would really recognize that young persons of this coevals are really much technologically savvy? By working this tendency, we might be able to incorporate engineering into the schoolroom on a whole new degree, beyond the initial theories of CALL. Video games, a signifier of amusement enjoyed by young persons and grownups likewise hold a well of possible in helping linguistic communication acquisition. In this research, I will be looking at how playing a specific genre of picture games will act upon the narrative authorship accomplishments of a Malayan ESL scholar. Background of Problem Video games are a large portion of the lives of pupils all around the universe. Based on the annual hardware gross revenues statistics released by VGChartz.com, 28.4 million gambling consoles were sold as of July 2010 and 12 % of the consoles were sold in the Asiatic part ( excepting Japan ) . Additionally, The Entertainment Software Association ( 2010 ) estimated about 25 % of worldwide gamers are below 18 old ages of age. By synergizing both statistics, it has become an undeniable fact that pupils below 18 old ages of age would hold played some signifier of video game. This opened a well of possible where linguistic communication acquisition elements could be integrated into video games. Harmonizing to Salisch, Oppl and Kristen ( 2006 ) , educational games can better a kid ‘s cognition in about all topics including reading, speech production, listening and composing accomplishments in the kid ‘s native linguistic communication. Therefore, it could be said that picture g ames play a important function in enriching a scholar ‘s composing ability as video game narratives are normally narrative driven to plunge the participant into its narrative. Presently, instructors in Malaysia are still discerning about the use of Computer Assisted Language Learning tools in the schoolroom. The failure of English for the Teaching of Mathematics and Science is one of the testaments to this fact. Countless CALL courseware were developed but non to the full utilized by the instructor. Teachers in Malaysia still prefer to utilize traditional learning methods of chalk and talk over technology-aided instruction methods. The true potency of CALL has yet to be to the full tapped by English instructors in Malaysia. The ineffectualness of current English instruction methodological analysiss could possibly be that the pupils, being technologically savvy, happen the traditional lessons drilling, uninteresting and non exciting. Teachers who refuse to encompass the technological civilization of the pupils such as the Internet and video games may hold missed out on the assorted benefits these tools could potentially offer. In this survey, I will be utilizing the action-adventure picture game developed by the award winning developer, Naughty Dog Inc. , entitled ‘UNCHARTED 2: Among Thievesa„? ‘ entirely for the PlayStationA ® 3 bet oning console. This game has been dubbed as one of the best action escapade titles of all time developed for the PlayStationA ®3 console. Harmonizing to Arne Meyer ( 2010 ) , a Community Strategist of Naughty Dog Inc, ‘UNCHARTED 2: Among Thievesa„? ‘ has sold over 3.8 million transcripts worldwide and has won legion Game of The Year award. This game featured dramatic in-game events that will do the participant an active participant in the cinematic experience and its gambling engine, designed specifically for the PlayStation3 console, successfully captured human emotions for in-game portraiture. This characteristic of the game made it alone and set it apart from all the other picture games of the same genre. This research seeks to turn to some of the pressing issues in the gray country of video games and linguistic communication acquisition through extended interaction with a commercially available picture game. Can playing a picture game truly help pupils in geting certain linguistic communication accomplishment? More specifically, this research is designed to analyze larning from games by measuring what adolescents in Form 4 learn by playing an bing, off the shelf, commercially available electronic picture game: ‘UNCHARTED 2: Among Thievesa„? ‘ . The game ‘Uncharted 2: Among Thievesa„? ‘ was developed to entertain, but can besides be used to learn narrative composing due to its immersive game drama experience and narrative construction. Problem Statement The current coevals of ESL scholars in Malaysia is turning up in an progressively technologically advanced universe. In a coevals where traditional acquisition methods are going disused, instructors of ESL would necessitate to switch their paradigms to accept modern learning methods which revolved around engineering itself. Over the past few old ages, research in Computer Assisted Language Learning ( CALL ) has been impactful and it has become an constituted fact that linguistic communication acquisition through CALL methods are really much successful in the current coevals of ESL scholars. However, advocates of CALL have yet to develop a method which specifically targets the narrative authorship ability of an ESL scholar. Research workers and instructors would hold that the narrative accomplishment is the trickiest accomplishment to learn in an ESL schoolroom as narrative authorship required a high degree of originative thought. But, many research workers failed to see an of import tool in their research: picture games. Although legion research have been done on the effects of video games on a kid ‘s psychological development and acquisition, small or none have focused on its effects on an ESL scholar ‘s narrative authorship ability, particularly in a local context. Because of this, picture games are non to the full exploited for their wealth in linguistic communication instruction. The general perceptual experience of video games in the older coevals is that picture games do non lend anything to the educational development of a kid. Video games are seen as distracting, un-educational, and unhealthy. It was frequently blamed for doing pupils to execute severely in their surveies. These misconceptions are farther aggravated by the legion researches which seemed to link picture games and violent behaviour in kids. These factors caused video games to be stigmatized and overlooked as a possible linguistic communication larning tool. However, recent surveies concluded that there are no existent correlativity between playing picture games and negative behaviour development among kids ; some kids even performed better than their non-game playing equals ( Durkin & A ; Barber, 2002 ) . It would be interesting to analyze at the extent of lingual betterment influenced by the picture game and the factors doing it as current surveies have yet to happen a solid correlativity between video game playing and narrative authorship accomplishment development. Most ESL scholars ‘ acquisition of an L2 from video games is inadvertent. This means, the games were non designed with linguistic communication acquisition as its end, instead, the game was written with the exclusive aim of plunging the participant into the narrative and doing them bury that they are really playing the game ( Dansky 2007 ) . This created a pseudo-immersion environment where the scholar ‘s L2 ( in this instance, English ) is used was the chief medium of communicating as the full game is presented in English. Professional game authors are normally incognizant of the fact that the narrative construction they applied in their game book are being subconsciously absorbed by participants to develop narrative composing constructions of their ain. Since most Malayan parents and pedagogues do non play nor understand picture games, they are non cognizant that picture games are embedded with a rich narrative construction which could be transferred to its participants . Most parents and pedagogues frequently complained that childs presents are passing excessively much clip playing video games. They felt that picture games are non relevant to a child ‘s academic advancement and that clip is better exhausted making something more productive. These sentiments stemmed from the fact that grownups are merely loath to accept the outgrowth of new engineerings and unwilling to interrupt out of the traditional ‘safe-zones ‘ based on theories and methods which worked good over the old ages. Parents and pedagogues likewise needed to be informed on the potency of video games heightening linguistic communication acquisition and to be taught how to utilize this tool efficaciously. Once they learn to see through their kid ‘s eyes, they will eventually interrupt the stigma which plagued pictures games for old ages. There is besides a go oning confusion between edutainment package and commercial picture games. Edutainment package were designed in the 1980s and falls under type 2 of Communicative CALL. Many ESL instructors were either non positive or incognizant that edutainment package designed under the Communicative CALL stage is able to better an ESL scholar ‘s linguistic communication acquisition. Furthermore, these package are frequently expansive and were extremely dependent on progressively bettering computing machine hardware, therefore, edutainment package had been shunned by the learning community in general. Now, with the outgrowth of commercial gambling, instructors of ESL will be able to work commercial picture games to enrich their schoolroom. Hardware jobs which plagued edutainment were made disused with bet oning consoles and teachers no longer hold to obtain a licence to utilize the package in the schoolroom due to the Fair Use clause under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ( DCMA ) . ESL instructors would hold to understand that edutainment package and commercial package are separate entities and that commercial picture games are merely every bit educational as its edutainment opposite number. Besides, commercial picture games have a greater potency of heightening linguistic communication acquisition compared to edutainment package as the bulk of edutainment package focused on all topic but English and it is still designed with drill and pattern methodological analysiss in head ; an out-of-date attack in the ELT universe. Purpose of Research The intent of this research is to place the elements in the narrative construction used in action-adventure picture games in relation to general ESL narration. Apart from that, this survey besides aims to analyze the influence of action-adventure picture games in scholars of ESL ‘s narrative authorship ability. Aims of Research There are two aims in this research. It aims to: – place the elements in the narrative construction used in action escapade picture games in relation to general ESL narration. analyze the influence of action escapade picture games in scholars of ESL ‘s narrative authorship ability. Research Questions The followers are the research inquiries that I will look into: – what are the elements in the narrative construction used in action escapade picture games in relation to general ESL narration? how would action gamble picture games influence an ESL scholar ‘s narrative authorship ability? Scope of Research This research will be done on 5 selected Form 4 male pupils of Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar ( English College ) JB and would be look intoing the influence of action-adventure picture games on their narrative authorship ability by concentrating on the narrative constructions used in their written narrative. Significance of Research The impact the research may convey is that in the hereafter, professionals from both the academic and video game industry may be able to clearly separate between edutainment games and commercial picture games. An avenue of future coaction to bring forth a game which is both gratifying and written utilizing pedagogical theories of linguistic communication acquisition could be done to sublimely integrate linguistic communication larning teaching method with commercial picture games. Blending both the gambling industry and the academic industry would open up an ocean of larning chances for both professionals to farther innovate in their Fieldss. Game interior decorators would be able to plan a game which still held true to the game design doctrine of doing games fun, prosecuting, synergistic and cinematic and at the same clip, doing the game a well of linguistic communication instruction resources for linguistic communication practicians. Language instructors may besides profit from fut ure coactions with game authors as they will be able to leave their narrative authorship cognition to be taught in schools. Apart from that, hopefully from the fruitful nature of this research, instructors of ESL would recognize that playing picture games are non merely a waste of clip. Teachers could tackle the potency of video games to integrate a picture game into the schoolroom by holding the pupils composing brooding diaries to chronicle their gambling experience and that written and unwritten assignments could be given based on the played game. Learners of ESL would no longer happen English as a drilling topic to larn as video games would excite their involvement and their acquisition of L2 may be hastened with the background cognition activated. Teachers of ESL could besides experiment with the different genres of commercial picture games available in the market to happen new dynamic resources to develop teaching stuffs and lessons. These eternal possibilities would basically take the stigmatisation of video games among instructors of ESL in Malaysia to further work the full potency of video games as an synergistic linguistic communication larning tool. Last but non least, this research would open up new possibilities and agencies of supplying meaningful and piquant content through an electronic medium, hence, broadening the range and execution of Computer Assisted Language Learning in Malaysia. CALL ‘s development in Malaysia boomed with the authorities ‘s English for the Teaching of Mathematics and Science ( ETMS ) . But, it is once more put on a dead clasp as the authorities reversed the policy in 2009. This research, if done right, would be able to kick get down CALL ‘s development in Malaysia and perchance launch Malaysia into video game design. Once the learning community recognized the potency of commercial picture games, game developers in Malaysia would derive the motive to bring forth high quality games which are suited to the Malaysian context, retaining the really aspects which made commercially successful picture games fun and prosecuting, at the same clip imbued with educational ends as stated in the National Education Philosophy. Restrictions of Research. As this is a little graduated table research, it is bound to hold its restrictions. This research uses an experimental research design with a purposive sampling method ; choosing merely 5 respondents, the consequences derived from this survey might non stand for the general population. This is due to the hardware restriction of the survey which merely allows for 2 PlayStationA ®3 console to be used throughout the 6 hebdomad survey ( budget constrains ) , restricting the figure of participants in order to run into the 6 hebdomad period. Besides, this research will merely be taking in Form 4 male pupils of Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar ( English College ) JB, therefore, the effects of the picture game would hold on female pupils could non be done due to the gender choice. Last, I ‘m concentrating merely on the construction of the narrative essay produced by the respondents. So, this research would non be able to find the effects of video game in other countries of linguistic communic ation larning such as vocabulary acquisition, grammar sweetening, unwritten accomplishments etc. Definition of Footings Action-adventure games Action-adventure gamesA combine elements of their two constituent genres, action and escapade. Typically having long-run obstructions that must be overcome utilizing a tool or point as purchase, every bit good as many smaller obstructions about invariably in the manner, that require elements of action games to get the better of. Action-adventure games tend to concentrate on geographic expedition and normally affect point assemblage, simple mystifier resolution, and combat. Narrative A narrative is basically a narrative that is created in a constructive format that describes a sequence ofA fictionalA orA non-fictionalA events. Video Game Narrative Video game narration is the constituent of storytelling within the picture game ‘s book. It serves as a method by which the narrative stuffs are communicated to the audience. Narrative In video game design, the narrative is what really happens in the class of the game which can be differentiated from its game mechanics and be translated into a narrative. Backstory The backstory inside informations the history prior to the events of the game and it provides the reply to the inquiry â€Å" What happened antecedently? † and â€Å" What caused this state of affairs to go on? † Submergence Submergence is defined in video game design as the province of head where a individual is wholly absorbed in what they are making. This is the ultimate end in every game narrative as entire submergence allows the participants to be absorbed into the narrative and allows maximal amusement experience.

The Twilight Saga 2: New Moon Chapter 7 REPETITION

I WASN'T SURE WHAT THE HELL I WAS DOING HERE Was I trying to push myself back into the zombie stupor? Had I turned masochisticdeveloped a taste for torture? I should have gone straight down to La Push I felt much, much healthier around Jacob This was not a healthy thing to do. But I continued to drive slowly down the overgrown lane, twisting through the trees that arched over me like a green, living tunnel My hands were shaking, so I tightened my grip on the steering wheel. I knew that part of the reason I did this was the nightmare, now that I was really awake, the nothingness of the dream gnawed on my nerves, a dog worrying a bone. There was something to search for. Unattainable and impossible, uncaring and distracted but he was out there, somewhere. I had to believe that. The other part was the strange sense of repetition I'd felt at school today, the coincidence of the date. The feeling that I was starting overperhaps the way my first day would have gone if I'd really been the most unusual person in the cafeteria that afternoon. The words ran through my head, tonelessly, like I was reading them rather than hearing them spoken: It will be as if I'd never existed. I was lying to myself by splitting my reason for coming here into just two parts. I didn't want to admit the strongest motivation. Because it was mentally unsound. The truth was that I wanted to hear his voice again, like I had in the strange delusion Friday night. For that brief moment, when his voice came from some other part of me than my conscious memory, when his voice was perfect and honey smooth rather than the pale echo my memories usually produced, I was able to remember without pain. It hadn't lasted; the pain had caught up with me, as I was sure it would for this fool's errand. But those precious moments when I could hear him again were an irresistible lure. I had to find some way to repeat the experience or maybe the better word was episode. I was hoping that dj vu was the key. So I was going to his home, a place I hadn't been since my ill-fated birthday party, so many months ago. The thick, almost jungle-like growth crawled slowly past my windows. The drive wound on and on. I started to go faster, getting edgy. How long had I been driving? Shouldn't I have reached the house yet? The lane was so overgrown that it did not look familiar. What if I couldn't find it? I shivered. What if there was no tangible proof at all? Then there was the break in the trees that I was looking for, only it was not so pronounced as before. The flora here did not wait long to reclaim any land that was left unguarded. The tall ferns had infiltrated the meadow around the house, crowding against the trunks of the cedars, even the wide porch. It was like the lawn had been floodedwaist-highwith green, feathery waves. And the house was there, but it was not the same. Though nothing had changed on the outside, the emptiness screamed from the blank windows. It was creepy. For the first time since I'd seen the beautiful house, it looked like a fitting haunt for vampires. I hit the brakes, looking away. I was afraid to go farther. But nothing happened. No voice in my head. So I left the engine running and jumped out into the fern sea. Maybe, like Friday night, if I walked forward I approached the barren, vacant face slowly, my truck rumbling out a comforting roar behind me. I stopped when I got to the porch stairs, because there was nothing here. No lingering sense of their presence of his presence. The house was solidly here, but it meant little. Its concrete reality would not counteract the nothingness of the nightmares. I didn't go any closer. I didn't want to look in the windows. I wasn't sure which would be harder to see. If the rooms were bare, echoing empty from floor to ceiling, that would certainly hurt. Like my grandmother's funeral, when my mother had insisted that I stay outside during the viewing. She had said that I didn't need to see Gran that way, to remember her that way, rather than alive. But wouldn't it be worse if there were no change? If the couches sat just as I'd last seen them, the paintings on the wallsworse still, the piano on its low platform? It would be second only to the house disappearing all together, to see that there was no physical possession that tied them in anyway. That everything remained, untouched and forgotten, behind them. Just like me. I turned my back on the gaping emptiness and hurried to my truck. I nearly ran. I was anxious to be gone, to get back to the human world. I felt hideously empty, and I wanted to see Jacob. Maybe I was developing a new kind of sickness, another addiction, like the numbness before. I didn't care. I pushed my truck as fast as it would go as I barreled toward my fix. Jacob was waiting for me. My chest seemed to relax as soon as I saw him, making it easier to breathe. â€Å"Hey, Bella,† he called. I smiled in relief. â€Å"Hey, Jacob,† I waved at Billy, who was looking out the window. â€Å"Let's get to work,† Jacob said in a low but eager voice. I was somehow able to laugh. â€Å"You seriously aren't sick of me yet?† I wondered. He must be starting to ask himself how desperate I was for company. Jacob led the way around the house to his garage. â€Å"Nope. Not yet.† â€Å"Please let me know when I start getting on your nerves. I don't want to be a pain.† â€Å"Okay.† He laughed, a throaty sound. â€Å"I wouldn't hold your breath for that, though.† When I walked into the garage, I was shocked to see the red bike standing up, looking like a motorcycle rather than a pile of jagged metal. â€Å"Jake, you're amazing,† I breathed. He laughed again. â€Å"I get obsessive when I have a project.† He shrugged. â€Å"If I had any brains I'd drag it out a little bit.† â€Å"Why?† He looked down, pausing for so long that I wondered if he hadn't heard my question. Finally, he asked me, â€Å"Bella, if I told you that I couldn't fix these bikes, what would you say?† I didn't answer right away, either, and he glanced up to check my expression. â€Å"I would say that's too bad, but I'll bet we could figure out something else to do. If we got really desperate, we could even do homework.† Jacob smiled, and his shoulders relaxed. He sat down next to the bike and picked up a wrench. â€Å"So you think you'll still come over when I'm done, then?† â€Å"Is that what you meant?† I shook my head. â€Å"I guess I am taking advantage of your very underpriced mechanical skills. But as long as you let me come over, I'll be here.† â€Å"Hoping to see Quil again?† he teased. â€Å"You caught me.† He chuckled. â€Å"You really like spending time with me?† he asked, marveling. â€Å"Very, very much. And I'll prove it. I have to work tomorrow, but Wednesday we'll do something nonmechanical.† â€Å"Like what?† â€Å"I have no idea. We can go to my place so you won't be tempted to be obsessive. You could bring your schoolworkyou have to be getting behind, because I know I am.† â€Å"Homework might be a good idea.† He made a face, and I wondered how much he was leaving undone to be with me. â€Å"Yes,† I agreed. â€Å"We'll have to start being responsible occasionally, or Billy and Charlie aren't going to be so easygoing about this.† I made a gesture indicating the two of us as a single entity. He liked thathe beamed. â€Å"Homework once a week?† he proposed. â€Å"Maybe we'd better go with twice,† I suggested, thinking of the pile I'd just been assigned today. He sighed a heavy sigh. Then he reached over his toolbox to a paper grocery sack. He pulled out two cans of soda, cracking one open and handing it to me. He opened the second, and held it up ceremoniously. â€Å"Here's to responsibility,† he toasted. â€Å"Twice a week.† â€Å"And recklessness every day in between,† I emphasized. He grinned and touched his can to mine. I got home later than I'd planned and found Charlie had ordered a pizza rather than wait for me. He wouldn't let me apologize. â€Å"I don't mind,† he assured me. â€Å"You deserve a break from all the cooking, anyway.† I knew he was just relieved that I was still acting like a normal person, and he was not about to rock the boat. I checked my e-mail before I started on my homework, and there was a long one from Renee. She gushed over every detail I'd provided her with, so I sent back another exhaustive description of my day. Everything but the motorcycles. Even happy-go-lucky Renee was likely to be alarmed by that. School Tuesday had its ups and downs. Angela and Mike seemed ready to welcome me back with open armsto kindly overlook my few months of aberrant behavior. Jess was more resistant. I wondered if she needed a formal written apology for the Port Angeles incident. Mike was animated and chatty at work. It was like he'd stored up the semester's worth of talk, and it was all spilling out now. I found that I was able to smile and laugh with him, though it wasn't as effortless as it was with Jacob. It seemed harmless enough, until quitting time. Mike put the closed sign in the window while I folded my vest and shoved it under the counter. â€Å"This was fun tonight,† Mike said happily. â€Å"Yeah,† I agreed, though I'd much rather have spent the afternoon in the garage. â€Å"It's too bad that you had to leave the movie early last week.† I was a little confused by his train of thought. I shrugged. â€Å"I'm just a wimp, I guess.† â€Å"What I mean is, you should go to a better movie, something you'd enjoy,† he explained. â€Å"Oh,† I muttered, still confused. â€Å"Like maybe this Friday. With me. We could go see something that isn't scary at all.† I bit my lip. I didn't want to screw things up with Mike, not when he was one of the only people ready to forgive me for being crazy. But this, again, felt far too familiar. Like the last year had never happened. I wished I had Jess as an excuse this time. â€Å"Like a date?† I asked. Honesty was probably the best policy at this point. Get it over with. He processed the tone of my voice â€Å"If you want. But it doesn't have to be like that.† â€Å"I don't date,† I said slowly, realizing how true that was. That whole world seemed impossibly distant. â€Å"Just as friends?† he suggested. His clear blue eyes were not as eager now. I hoped he really meant that we could be friends anyway. â€Å"That would be fun. But I actually have plans already this Friday, so maybe next week?† â€Å"What are you doing?† he asked, less casually than I think he wanted to sound. â€Å"Homework. I have a study session planned with a friend.† â€Å"Oh. Okay. Maybe next week.† He walked me to my car, less exuberant than before. It reminded me so clearly of my first months in Forks. I'd come full circle, and now everything felt like an echoan empty echo, devoid of the interest it used to have. The next night, Charlie didn't seem the smallest bit surprised to find Jacob and me sprawled across the living room floor with our books scattered around us, so I guessed that he and Billy were talking behind our backs. â€Å"Hey, kids,† he said, his eyes straying to the kitchen. The smell of the lasagna I'd spent the afternoon makingwhile Jacob watched and occasionally sampledwafted down the hall; I was being good, trying to atone for all the pizza. Jacob stayed for dinner, and took a plate home for Billy. He grudgingly added another year to my negotiable age for being a good cook. Friday was the garage, and Saturday, after my shift at Newton's, was homework again. Charlie felt secure enough in my sanity to spend the day fishing with Harry. When he got back, we were all donefeeling very sensible and mature about it, tooand watching Monster Garage on the Discovery Channel. â€Å"I probably ought to go.† Jacob sighed. â€Å"It's later than I thought.† â€Å"Okay, fine,† I grumbled. â€Å"I'll take you home.† He laughed at my unwilling expressionit seemed to please him. â€Å"Tomorrow, back to work,† I said as soon as we were safe in the truck. â€Å"What time do you want me to come up?† There was an unexplained excitement in his answering smile. â€Å"I'll call you first, okay?† â€Å"Sure.† I frowned to myself, wondering what was up. His smile widened. I cleaned the house the next morningwaiting for Jacob to call and trying to shake off the Litest nightmare. The scenery had changed. Last night I'd wandered in a wide sea of ferns interspersed with huge hemlock trees. There was nothing else there, and I was lost, wandering aimless and alone, searching for nothing. I wanted to kick myself for the stupid field trip last week. I shoved the dream out of my conscious mind, hoping it would stay locked up somewhere and not escape again. Charlie was outside washing the cruiser, so when the phone rang, I dropped the toilet brush and ran downstairs to answer it. â€Å"Hello?† I asked breathlessly. â€Å"Bella,† Jacob said, a strange, formal tone to his voice. â€Å"Hey, Jake.† â€Å"I believe that we have a date† he said, his tone thick with implications. It took me a second before I got it. â€Å"They're done? I can't believe it!† What perfect timing. I needed something to distract me from nightmares and nothingness. â€Å"Yeah, they run and everything.† â€Å"Jacob, you are absolutely, without a doubt, the most talented and wonderful person I know. You get ten years for this one.† â€Å"Cool! I'm middle-aged now.† I laughed. â€Å"I'm on my way up!† I threw the cleaning supplies under the bathroom counter and grabbed my jacket. â€Å"Headed to see Jake,† Charlie said when I ran past him. It wasn't really a question. â€Å"Yep,† I replied as I jumped in my truck. â€Å"I'll be at the station later,† Charlie called after me. â€Å"Okay,† I yelled back, turning the key. Charlie said something else, but I couldn't hear him clearly over the roar of the engine. It sounded sort of like, â€Å"Where's the fire?† I parked my truck off to the side of the Blacks' house, close to the trees, to make it easier for us to sneak the bikes out. When I got out, a splash of color caught my eyetwo shiny motorcycles, one red, one black, were hidden under a spruce, invisible from the house. Jacob was prepared. There was a piece of blue ribbon tied in a small bow around each of the handlebars. I was laughing at that when Jacob ran out of the house. â€Å"Ready?† he asked in a low voice, his eyes sparkling. I glanced over his shoulder, and there was no sign of Billy. â€Å"Yeah,† I said, but I didn't feel quite as excited as before; I was trying to imagine myself actually on the motorcycle. Jacob loaded the bikes into the bed of the truck with ease, laying them carefully on their sides so they didn't show. â€Å"Let's go,† he said, his voice higher than usual with excitement. â€Å"I know the perfect spotno one will catch us there.† We drove south out of town. The dirt road wove in and out of the forestsometimes there was nothing but trees, and then there would suddenly be a breathtaking glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, reaching to the horizon, dark gray under the clouds. We were above the shore, on top of the cliffs that bordered the beach here and the view seemed to stretch on forever. I was driving slowly, so that I could safely stare out across the ocean now and then, as the road wound closer to the sea cliffs. Jacob was talking about finishing the bikes, but his descriptions were getting technical, so I wasn't paying close attention. That was when I noticed four figures standing on a rocky ledge, much too close to the precipice. I couldn't tell from the distance how old they were, but I assumed they were men. Despite the chill in the air today, they seemed to be wearing only shorts. As I watched, the tallest person stepped closer to the brink. I slowed automatically, my foot hesitating over the brake pedal. And then he threw himself off the edge. â€Å"No!† I shouted, stomping down on the brake. â€Å"What's wrong?† Jacob shouted back, alarmed. â€Å"That guyhe just jumped off the cliff! Why didn't they stop him? We've got to call an ambulance!† I threw open my door and started to get out, which made no sense at all. The fastest way to a phone was to drive back to Billy's. But I couldn't believe what I'd just seen. Maybe, subconsciously, I hoped I would see something different without the glass of the windshield in the way. Jacob laughed, and I spun to stare at him wildly. How could he be so calloused, so cold-blooded? â€Å"They're just cliff diving, Bella. Recreation. La Push doesn't have a mall, you know.† He was teasing, but there was a strange note of irritation in his voice. â€Å"Cliff diving?† I repeated, dazed. I stared in disbelief as a second figure stepped to the edge, paused, and then very gracefully leaped into space. He fell for what seemed like an eternity to me, finally cutting smoothly into the dark gray waves below. â€Å"Wow. It's so high.† I slid back into my seat, still staring wide-eyed at the two remaining divers. â€Å"It must be a hundred feet.† â€Å"Well, yeah, most of us jump from lower down, that rock that juts out from the cliff about halfway.† He pointed out his window. The place he indicated did seem much more reasonable. â€Å"Those guys are insane. Probably showing off how tough they are. I mean, really, it's freezing today. That water can't feel good.† He made a disgruntled face, as if the stunt personally offended him. It surprised me a little. I would have thought Jacob was nearly impossible to upset. â€Å"You jump off the cliff?† I hadn't missed the â€Å"us.† â€Å"Sure, sure.† He shrugged and grinned. â€Å"It's fun. A little scary, kind of a rush.† I looked back at the cliffs, where the third figure was pacing the edge. I'd never witnessed anything so reckless in all my life. My eyes widened, and I smiled. â€Å"Jake, you have to take me cliff diving.† He frowned back at me, his face disapproving. â€Å"Bella, you just wanted to call an ambulance for Sam,† he reminded me. I was surprised that he could tell who it was from this distance. â€Å"I want to try,† I insisted, start ing to get out of the car again. Jacob grabbed my wrist. â€Å"Not today, all right? Can we at least wait for a warmer day?† â€Å"Okay, fine,† I agreed. With the door open, the glacial breeze was raising goose bumps on my arm. â€Å"But I want to go soon.† â€Å"Soon.† He rolled his eyes. â€Å"Sometimes you're a little strange, Bella. Do you know that?† I sighed. â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"And we're not jumping off the top.† I watched, fascinated, as the third boy made a running start and flung himself farther into the empty air than the other two. He twisted and cartwheeled through space as he fell, like he was skydiving. He looked absolutely freeunthinking and utterly irresponsible. â€Å"Fine,† I agreed. â€Å"Not the first time, anyway.† Now Jacob sighed. â€Å"Are we going to try out the bikes or not?† he demanded. â€Å"Okay, okay,† I said, tearing my eyes away from the last person waiting on the cliff. I put my seat belt back on and closed the door. The engine was still running, roaring as it idled. We started down the road again. â€Å"So who were those guysthe crazy ones?† I wondered. He made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat. â€Å"The La Push gang.† â€Å"You have a gang?† I asked. I realized that I sounded impressed. He laughed once at my reaction. â€Å"Not like that. I swear, they're like hall monitors gone bad. They don't start fights, they keep the peace.† He snorted. â€Å"There was this guy from up somewhere by the Makah rez, big guy too, scary-looking. Well, word got around that he was selling meth to kids, and Sam Uley and his disciples ran him off our land. They're all about our land, and tribe pride it's getting ridiculous. The worst part is that the council takes them seriously. Embry said that the council actually meets with Sam.† He shook his head, face full of resentment. â€Å"Embry also heard from Leah Clearwater that they call themselves ‘protectors' or something like that.† Jacob's hands were clenched into fists, as if he'd like to hit something. I'd never seen this side of him. I was surprised to hear Sam Uley's name. I didn't want it to bring back the images from my nightmare, so I made a quick observation to distract myself. â€Å"You don't like them very much.† â€Å"Does it show?† he asked sarcastically. â€Å"Well It doesn't sound like they're doing anything bad.† I tried to soothe him, to make him cheerful again. â€Å"Just sort of annoyingly goody-two-shoes for a gang.† â€Å"Yeah. Annoying is a good word. They're always showing offlike the cliff thing. They act like like, I don't know. Like tough guys. I was hanging out at the store with Embry and Quil once, last semester, and Sam came by with his followers, Jared and Paul. Quil said something, you know how he's got a big mouth, and it pissed Paul off. His eyes got all dark, and he sort of smiledno, he showed his teeth but he didn't smileand it was like he was so mad he was shaking or something. But Sam put his hand against Paul's chest and shook his head. Paul looked at him for a minute and calmed down. Honestly, it was like Sam was holding him backlike Paul was going to tear us up if Sam didn't stop him.† He groaned. â€Å"Like a bad western. You know, Sam's a pretty big guy, he's twenty. But Paul's just sixteen, too, shorter than me and not as beefy as Quil. I think any one of us could take him.† â€Å"Tough guys,† I agreed. I could see it in my head as he described it, and it reminded me of something a trio of tall, dark men standing very still and close together in my father's living room. The picture was sideways, because my head was lying against the couch while Dr. Gerandy and Charlie leaned over me Had that been Sam's gang? I spoke quickly again to divert myself from the bleak memories. â€Å"Isn't Sam a little too old for this kind of thing?† â€Å"Yeah. He was supposed to go to college, but he stayed. And no one gave him any crap about it, either. The whole council pitched a fit when my sister turned down a partial scholarship and got married. But, oh no, Sam Uley can do no wrong.† His face was set in unfamiliar lines of outrageoutrage and something else I didn't recognize at first. â€Å"It all sounds really annoying and strange. But I don't get why you're taking it so personally.† I peeked over at his face, hoping I hadn't offended him. He was suddenly calm, staring out the side window. â€Å"You just missed the turn,† he said in an even voice. I executed a very wide U-turn, nearly hitting a tree as my circle ran the truck halfway off the road. â€Å"Thanks for the heads-up,† I muttered as I started up the side road. â€Å"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention.† It was quiet for a brief minute. â€Å"You can stop anywhere along here,† he said softly. I pulled over and cut the engine. My ears rang in the silence that followed. We both got out, and Jacob headed around to the back to get the bikes. I tried to read his expression. Something more was bothering him. I'd hit a nerve. He smiled halfheartedly as he pushed the red bike to my side. â€Å"Happy late birthday. Are you ready for this?† â€Å"I think so.† The bike suddenly looked intimidating, frightening, as I realized I would soon be astride it. â€Å"We'll take it slow,† he promised. I gingerly leaned the motorcycle against the truck's fender while he went to get his. â€Å"Jake†I hesitated as he came back around the truck. â€Å"Yeah?† â€Å"What's really bothering you? About the Sam thing, I mean? Is there something else?† I watched his face. He grimaced, but he didn't seem angry. He looked at the dirt and kicked his shoe against the front tire of his bike again and again, like he was keeping time. He sighed. â€Å"It's just the way they treat me. It creeps me out.† The words started to rush out now. â€Å"You know, the council is supposed to be made up of equals, but if there was a leader, it would be my dad. I've never been able to figure out why people treat him the way they do. Why his opinion counts the most. It's got something to do with his father and his father's father. My great-grandpa, Ephraim Black, was sort of the last chief we had, and they still listen to Billy, maybe because of that. â€Å"But I'm just like everyone else. Nobody treats me special until now.† That caught me off guard. â€Å"Sam treats you special?† â€Å"Yeah,† he agreed, looking up at me with troubled eyes. â€Å"He looks at me like he's waiting for something like I'm going to join his stupid gang someday. He pays more attention to me than any of the other guys. I hate it.† â€Å"You don't have to join anything.† My voice was angry. This was really upsetting Jacob, and that infuriated me. Who did these â€Å"protectors† think they were? â€Å"Yeah.† His foot kept up its rhythm against the tire. â€Å"What?† I could tell there was more. He frowned, his eyebrows pulling up in a way that looked sad and worried rather than angry. â€Å"It's Embry. He's been avoiding me lately.† The thoughts didn't seem connected, but I wondered if I was to blame for the problems with his friend. â€Å"You've been hanging out with me a lot,† I reminded him, feeling selfish. I'd been monopolizing him. â€Å"No, that's not it. It's not just meit's Quil, too, and everyone. Embry missed a week of school, but he was never home when we tried to see him. And when he came back, he looked he looked freaked out. Terrified. Quil and I both tried to get him to tell us what was wrong, but he wouldn't talk to either one of us.† I stared at Jacob, biting my lip anxiouslyhe was really frightened. But he didn't look at me. He watched his own foot kicking the rubber as if it belonged to someone else. The tempo increased. â€Å"Then this week, out of nowhere, Embry's hanging out with Sam and the rest of them. He was out on the cliffs today.† His voice was low and tense. He finally looked at me. â€Å"Bella, they bugged him even more than they bother me. He didn't want anything to do with them. And now Embry's following Sam around like he's joined a cult. â€Å"And that's the way it was with Paul. Just exactly the same. He wasn't friends with Sam at all. Then he stopped coming to school for a few weeks, and, when he came back, suddenly Sam owned him. I don't know what it means. I can't figure it out, and I feel like I have to, because Embry's my friend and Sam's looking at me funny . . and† He trailed off. â€Å"Have you talked to Billy about this?† I asked. His horror was spreading to me. I had chills running on the back of my neck. Now there was anger on his face. â€Å"Yes,† he snorted. â€Å"That was helpful.† â€Å"What did he say?† Jacob's expression was sarcastic, and when he spoke, his voice mocked the deep tones of his father's voice. â€Å"It's nothing you need to worry about now, Jacob. In a few years, if you don't well, I'll explain later.† And then his voice was his own. â€Å"What am I supposed to get from that? Is he trying to say it's some stupid puberty, coming-of-age thing? This is something else. Something wrong.† He was biting his lower lip and clenching his hands. He looked like he was about to cry. I threw my arms around him instinctively, wrapping them around his waist and pressing my face against his chest. He was so big, I felt like I was a child hugging a grown-up. â€Å"Oh, Jake, it'll be okay!† I promised. â€Å"If it gets worse you can come live with me and Charlie. Don't be scared, we'll think of something!† He was frozen for a second, and then his long arms wrapped hesitantly around me. â€Å"Thanks, Bella.† His voice was huskier than usual. We stood like that for a moment, and it didn't upset me; in fact, I felt comforted by the contact. This didn't feel anything like the last time someone had embraced me this way. This was friendship. And Jacob was very warm. It was strange for me, being this closeemotionally rather than physically, though the physical was strange for me, tooto another human being. It wasn't my usual style. I didn't normally relate to people so easily, on such a basic level. Not human beings. â€Å"If this is how you're going to react, I'll freak out more often.† Jacob's voice was light, normal again, and his laughter rumbled against my ear. His fingers touched my hair, soft and tentative. Well, it was friendship for me. I pulled away quickly, laughing with him, but determined to put things back in perspective at once. â€Å"It's hard to believe I'm two years older than you,† I said, emphasizing the word older. â€Å"You make me feel like a dwarf.† Standing this close to him, I really had to crane my neck to see his face. â€Å"You're forgetting I'm in my forties, of course.† â€Å"Oh, that's right.† He patted my head. â€Å"You're like a little doll,† he teased. â€Å"A porcelain doll.† I rolled my eyes, taking another step away. â€Å"Let's not start with the albino cracks.† â€Å"Seriously, Bella, are you sure you're not?† He stretched his russet arm out next to mine. The difference wasn't flattering. â€Å"I've never seen anyone paler than you well, except for† He broke off, and I looked away, trying to not understand what he had been about to say. â€Å"So are we going to ride or what?† â€Å"Let's do it,† I agreed, more enthusiastic than I would have been half a minute ago. His unfinished sentence reminded me of why I was here.

Free Essays on Adoption Stats

In the 1990s, there are approximately 120,000 adoptions of children each year. This number has remained fairly constant in the 1990s, and is still relatively proportionate to population size in the U.S 104,000 children were adopted in 1986, 53,000 of whom were related adoptions and 51,000 of whom were unrelated. In addition, approximately 10,000 children were adopted from abroad, bringing the total number of unrelated adoptions to 61,000. States with the highest number of adoptions are states with greater populations. In 1992, California lead with 14,722 adoptions. New York was second with 9,570, Texas third with 8,235, Florida fourth with 6,839, and Illinois fifth with 6,599 adoptions. It is estimated that about 1 million children in the United States live with adoptive parents, and that between 2% to 4% of American families include an adopted child. The majority of Americans are personally affected by adoption. In 1997, the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute conducted a benchmark survey of 1,554 adults to examine public attitudes toward the institution of adoption and members of the adoption triad. The survey found that 6 in 10 Americans have had personal experience with adoption, meaning that they themselves, a family member, or a close friend was adopted, had adopted a child, or had placed a child for adoption. In 1992, there were 127,441 children adopted in the United States. Between two and four percent of all adoptees searched in the year 1990. A survey conducted in the late 1980's estimated that 500,000 adult adoptees were seeking or have found their birth families In a study of American adolescents, the Search Institute found that 72 percent of adopted adolescents wanted to know why they were adopted, 65 percent wanted to meet their birth parents, and 94 percent wanted to know which birth parent they looked like. The psychological literature has established that the desire of 60 to 90 percent of a... Free Essays on Adoption Stats Free Essays on Adoption Stats In the 1990s, there are approximately 120,000 adoptions of children each year. This number has remained fairly constant in the 1990s, and is still relatively proportionate to population size in the U.S 104,000 children were adopted in 1986, 53,000 of whom were related adoptions and 51,000 of whom were unrelated. In addition, approximately 10,000 children were adopted from abroad, bringing the total number of unrelated adoptions to 61,000. States with the highest number of adoptions are states with greater populations. In 1992, California lead with 14,722 adoptions. New York was second with 9,570, Texas third with 8,235, Florida fourth with 6,839, and Illinois fifth with 6,599 adoptions. It is estimated that about 1 million children in the United States live with adoptive parents, and that between 2% to 4% of American families include an adopted child. The majority of Americans are personally affected by adoption. In 1997, the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute conducted a benchmark survey of 1,554 adults to examine public attitudes toward the institution of adoption and members of the adoption triad. The survey found that 6 in 10 Americans have had personal experience with adoption, meaning that they themselves, a family member, or a close friend was adopted, had adopted a child, or had placed a child for adoption. In 1992, there were 127,441 children adopted in the United States. Between two and four percent of all adoptees searched in the year 1990. A survey conducted in the late 1980's estimated that 500,000 adult adoptees were seeking or have found their birth families In a study of American adolescents, the Search Institute found that 72 percent of adopted adolescents wanted to know why they were adopted, 65 percent wanted to meet their birth parents, and 94 percent wanted to know which birth parent they looked like. The psychological literature has established that the desire of 60 to 90 percent of a...

Free Essays on Lives Water Religion

Live’s Water Religion Live’s songs portray a quest for salvation through active religion. Live consistently uses the metaphor of water to indicate acceptance of spirituality. The narrator of the band’s songs communicates an evolving religious belief. Live uses the image of water to illustrate religion itself, holy love, and ultimate salvation. As a symbol of religion, water is the means to save modern society from God’s wrath. Through water baptism the individual can be born again in absolute faith in God. The songs â€Å"All Over You†, â€Å"Run To The Water†, â€Å"Pain Lies On the Riverside†, and â€Å"Overcome† exemplify the connection between religion and water. Live’s music shows distaste in the lack of religion and compassion in modern society. In â€Å"Pain Lies on the Riverside† the line â€Å"you are a victim of this age† illustrates the evil seen in the present civilization. â€Å"Overcome† shows the emptiness of society in the lines â€Å"even now the world is bleedin’ but feelin’ just fine all numb in our castle.† Everyone living in his own castle away from the problems in the world illustrates the lack of compassion in modern times. The numbed society feels no sympathy to fix the bleeding world. The line â€Å"I wish somethin’ would break cuz we’re runnin out of time† establishes the need to do something. Through the metaphor of water, Live presents religion as the answer to the bleeding world. The connection between love in religion and water is a dominant presence within â€Å"All Over You.† This song connects water to God’s love. The song’s opening line makes the simile of â€Å"our love is like water.† This line in itself offers only the association of love to water. The love is clarified in the final line of the second refrain with a word change in the simile. The line â€Å"our love is like angels† relates water to religion with the exchange of angels for water. God’s love is as es... Free Essays on Live's Water Religion Free Essays on Live's Water Religion Live’s Water Religion Live’s songs portray a quest for salvation through active religion. Live consistently uses the metaphor of water to indicate acceptance of spirituality. The narrator of the band’s songs communicates an evolving religious belief. Live uses the image of water to illustrate religion itself, holy love, and ultimate salvation. As a symbol of religion, water is the means to save modern society from God’s wrath. Through water baptism the individual can be born again in absolute faith in God. The songs â€Å"All Over You†, â€Å"Run To The Water†, â€Å"Pain Lies On the Riverside†, and â€Å"Overcome† exemplify the connection between religion and water. Live’s music shows distaste in the lack of religion and compassion in modern society. In â€Å"Pain Lies on the Riverside† the line â€Å"you are a victim of this age† illustrates the evil seen in the present civilization. â€Å"Overcome† shows the emptiness of society in the lines â€Å"even now the world is bleedin’ but feelin’ just fine all numb in our castle.† Everyone living in his own castle away from the problems in the world illustrates the lack of compassion in modern times. The numbed society feels no sympathy to fix the bleeding world. The line â€Å"I wish somethin’ would break cuz we’re runnin out of time† establishes the need to do something. Through the metaphor of water, Live presents religion as the answer to the bleeding world. The connection between love in religion and water is a dominant presence within â€Å"All Over You.† This song connects water to God’s love. The song’s opening line makes the simile of â€Å"our love is like water.† This line in itself offers only the association of love to water. The love is clarified in the final line of the second refrain with a word change in the simile. The line â€Å"our love is like angels† relates water to religion with the exchange of angels for water. God’s love is as es...

12 Experts Predict What The Most Successful Marketers Will Do In 2018

12 Experts Predict What The Most Successful Marketers Will Do In 2018 What will the most successful marketers do in 2018? It’s a simple question. And I wanted the answers from some of my super smart friends in the marketing industry to help my  team at be as successful as possible in 2018. My thought here was to use these predictions as potential future project ideas: Which of these predictions offer the biggest 10x growth opportunities? Are there things we’re already doing that we may need to improve or double down on? How may we optimize our strategy + processes to capitalize on new opportunities? Learning from others’ success is often a great way to become successful yourself. So†¦ †¦in the same breath†¦ I knew you  would likely learn a lot from these 2018 marketing predictions, too. I also thought you’d enjoy learning from my *informal* marketing mentors. What Are The Most Successful Marketers Doing? Download the 2018 State of Marketing Strategy Report to learn the strongest predictors of success with goals, strategy, process, and more. When you do, you’ll learn the benchmarks that set successful marketing teams apart from the rest. So get it now! Alright, though†¦ let’s hear what our experts predict for marketing success in 2018, shall we? ;) Adapt Quickly†¦ Agile #FTW Julia McCoy, CEO Of Express Writers, Instructor At contentstrategycourses.com Adapt.  This is the keyword to successful marketing in 2018. As we end 2017, we've seen incredibly major  changes happen to leading social platforms. Facebook Stories merging with Instagram Stories. Snapchat planning on a redesign after confirmation less people are using their platform. Twitter doubling their allowed character and word count per tweet. LinkedIn featuring trends that look very similar to Twitter trends. The demand for video, especially Facebook live streaming, will continue to grow. Along with adapting to (and knowing the trends), it's also vitally important to know what your users want. For example, in today's noisy social platform world where Facebook autoplays videos, some users seek the basics of beautiful imagery and a well-written story- and mute all videos. Don't overlook what your people want. It could be the basics. So, adapt with them in mind, at all times. With these keys in mind, you're in for a successful, exciting ride with your marketing in 2018. Julia McCoy is the founder of Express Writers, serial content marketer, and best-selling author. Don't overlook what your people want.Optimize Old Content To Increase Your Results With Less Effort Andy Crestodina, Co-Founder And Strategic Director Of Orbit Media Studios Update old content. The most successful marketers will go back and find big value in that deep well of past articles. Older articles often have authority and links. They'd benefit from a rewrite and better relevance. Older articles often convert a good percentage of visitors into subscribers. They'd benefit from a new stream of traffic. Older articles are often easy to rewrite. They're faster to update than writing a new piece. The pros have already figured this out. In fact most marketers have. According to some recent research, 55% of bloggers update old content. They do it for better rankings and more traffic in less time. Maybe you don't need 1000 articles. Maybe you need 100 great articles. Andy Crestodina is a co-founder and the Strategic Director of Orbit Media, an award-winning 38-person web design company in Chicago. Did you know 55% of bloggers update old content?Embrace New + Repurpose Old + Measure Everything Gini Dietrich, CEO of Arment Dietrich And Founder And Author Of Spin Sucks In 2018, the most successful marketers will do three things (I know you asked for only one, but I'm cheating!): Begin to adopt artificial intelligence, chatbots, and/or virtual reality. Optimize their work by repurposing content. Consistently measure their work and tweak and improve as they go. Though many successful marketers have already adopted some of the new technologies, 2018 brings an opportunity to enhance the work they're already doing–and do more. For number two, it's always astounding to me how many marketers (most) don't repurpose any content. They create something once and let it live in a silo. The most successful marketers do not do that. For everything you publish, there should be at least five ancillary pieces you can create. Optimize the heck out of your creations. And then measure your work. Because I am a communications pro, I focus on PR metrics, but the things I push my team, our clients, and our community on are metrics every successful marketer uses. Study them, learn them, implement them. You will be considered a successful marketer by 2019 if you do. Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communications firm. She is the lead blogger at the PR and marketing blog, Spin Sucks, is co-author of Marketing In the Round, and is co-host of Inside PR, a weekly podcast about communications and social media. Your winning content formula: Embrace New + Repurpose Old + Measure Everything.Spend 80% Of Your Time Scaling, 20% Testing Sujan Patel, Co-Founder Of WebProfits Your approach to marketing shouldn't change in 2018. It should always be 70-80% focusing on scaling and optimizing proven channels and 20-30% on testing new channels. New technologies have made AR mainstream on mobile devices, and new media such as voice search on Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Siri are going to make 2018 an interesting year. With the saturation and increasing competition for internet business, there’s one area where companies can’t afford not  to spend on in 2018: Branding. Your brand/voice and the customers’ perspective of you will play a larger part of the purchase decision. Sujan Patel is a data-driven marketer and entrepreneur. He is a high energy individual fueled by his passion to help people and solve problems. Sujan is the co-founder of WebProfits US, a growth marketing agency software companies, Narrow.io   Mailshake, tools to help marketers build their Twitter following and scale content marketing efforts. Spend 80% of your time scaling, 20% testing.Very Purposefully Stand Out From The Competition Ian Cleary,  CoFounder of OutreachPlus and Founder of RazorSocial Focus more on strategic content and invest more time in content promotion. Content marketing is very competitive, so to stand out, you need to build more strategic assets. These are not 500-word blog posts. They could be surveys that take you weeks to build, a useful software utility for your audience, a whole series of video content, a guide that contains better information than anything available on the internet, etc. When you produce these assets, you then need to invest time in outreach. That's building relationships in the short term to help with strategic content promotion in the long term. Ian Cleary is a CoFounder of OutreachPlus and the Founder of RazorSocial. He works with clients all around the world on with marketing consultancy and training programs focused primarily on content marketing and relationship building (e.g. influencer programs). Focus more on strategic content and invest more time in content promotion.Personalize Experiences With Marketing Automation Barry Feldman, Founder/Owner Of Feldman Creative I see great marketers separating themselves from the pack by gathering and using customer intelligence. It's become widely understood customers want more personalized experiences. The marketers able to nurture the brand/buyer relationship with personalized interactions and experiences that cater to an individual's needs will win more customers and be better equipped to keep them and create brand advocates. Of course, the process of building intelligent profiles of your customers can be handled in a variety of ways. I consult with ShortStack  and their platform provides a great example. Their interactive content- contests, quizzes, and such- encourages prospects to not only engage, but to reveal their wants and needs. And now, there's a marketing automation element to the platform enabling the marketer to follow-up with more personalized communications. It's just one example, but it's a good one. Ask yourself, how can you learn more about your prospects and use the intelligence in your marketing? Barry Feldman, founder of Feldman Creative, is a prolific writer with 25 years of experience bringing his clients' online presence to the next level through copywriting and content marketing creation and consulting. He writes and educates clients on online marketing on The Point  and on many other sites across the web. How can you learn more about your prospects and use the intelligence in your marketing?Listen + Analyze + Plan + Personalize Joei Chan, Content Marketing Manager At Mention In 2018, the most successful marketers will be listening to, working with, and leveraging customers from acquisition to retention. The best marketers will be those who succeed in extracting and analyzing granular customer data and behavior to create personalized and targeted campaigns. This doesn't just mean surveying customers, but actually having a process to incorporating the feedback and making the customer's voice the starting point of your strategy. The feedback can be collected through NPS, CSAT, social media monitoring, behavioral analytics, chatbots, or with AI, etc. In the past customer feedback was usually an afterthought or 'just for reference.' In 2018, every marketing decision you take should be based on customer feedback or data. "We've listened to our customers, this is what's frustrating them, this is what they want, and this is what we're gonna do." Joei Chan  is the Content Marketing Manager at Mention  where she leads marketing campaigns and partnerships for demand generation. Four things successful marketers will do in 2018: Listen + Analyze + Plan + PersonalizeUse Behavioral Data To Tailor Content To The Customer Lifecycle Kim Courvoisier, Director Of Content Marketing And Social Media At Campaign Monitor 2017 has been a heck of a year on all fronts, and marketers need to fasten their seatbelts because 2018 is coming in hot! If 2017 was the year that as marketers we fought for and gained access to data (which many of us did!), then 2018 will be the year that we will use that data in unique ways to power massively relevant campaigns to our prospects and customers. It’s no longer enough to talk the talk about the right message to the right person at the right time. 2018’s most successful marketers must OWN the customer lifecycle and own it like they never have before. The marketing funnel is no longer a linear path to conversion and it won’t be enough to simply cherry pick a few pivotal touchpoints and expect to get results. To be a truly successful marketer in 2018 and beyond, marketers must use behavioral data and personalization to deliver on consumers expectations for messaging and offers that apply uniquely to them. One size fits no one in 2018 and marketers wi ll finally get a command on their data and begin to use it in incredible ways. See more email marketing and automation predictions for 2018 in Campaign Monitor’s 2018 Email Marketing Predictions. The future of email is lit! Kim Courvoisier is a seasoned digital marketing leader specializing in B2B and B2C content marketing, social media, email marketing, customer lifecycle marketing, and SEO. She builds and leads the inbound content strategy to drive lead generation and boost organic traffic, among much more, at Campaign Monitor. 2018’s most successful marketers must OWN the customer lifecycle and own it like they never have...Less â€Å"Marketing†, More Listening Adam Hutchinson, Head Of Marketing At Socedo It's time to strip out the jargon (or worse, sales speak) from our marketing messages, and we need to put human conversations front and center. With buyers bombarded by ads, emails, and cold calls, response rates continue to decline, but marketers are seeing drastic improvements by engaging in existing, meaningful conversations and talking to their audience as people, not just customers. For example, taking a look at some of the most successful B2B social media campaigns from 2017, we can see some common trends: highlighting actual people, leveraging relationships, and using simple, relatable language and imagery. Social is a great place to start, but this needs to be true across tactics, whether it's telling compelling stories in email campaigns or writing content that speaks to personal interests and concerns. It all starts with listening to the right conversations in the first place, and the most successful marketers will turn to social listening tools, intent data providers, and content analytics platforms to understand what the people in their audience care about most. Adam Hutchinson is the Head of Marketing at Socedo. Socedo helps B2B marketers discover, engage, and convert leads using real-time behavioral social data. It's time to strip out the jargon (or worse, sales speak) from our marketing messages.Sometimes, You Have To Pay To Play Chris Von Wilpert, Chief Content Sumo At Sumo Group If I channel the fortune-telling energy from Noah and answer related to content, I would say: â€Å"The most successful marketers in 2018 will use paid to promote their organic. There are so many great content creators out there today, the biggest shift will come from marketers who can master the skill of promoting their content profitably with paid traffic. The rest will die on the content pile of death.† Chris Von Wilpert is the Chief Content Sumo at Sumo Group  where he’s growing the Sumo.com blog from 100k/mo to 500k/mo unique website visitors. The most successful marketers in 2018 will use paid to promote their organic.Stand Out With Competition-Free Content Garrett Moon, CEO And Co-Founder Of , Author Of The 10x Marketing Formula The most successful marketers will create competition-free content that stands out. Content marketing isn’t living up to the hype. Instead of delivering upon its promises of extreme growth, we’ve plunged into the â€Å"trough of disillusionment.† Instead of creating â€Å"copycat† content- which is essentially copying and pasting examples from others- you need to embrace the 10x Marketing Formula. So what’s that? You need to ditch playing follow the leader and start thinking like scrappy startups. It’s results or die. And startups know this better than anyone. Instead of doing what’s safe and comfortable, startups embrace risk and innovation. They reward it. The 10x Marketing Formula is about finding the paths no one else has taken to differentiate yourself and ultimately grow your results 10 times over. The 10x Marketing Formula is about finding the paths no one else has taken to differentiate...4 Key Takeaways From Your 2018 Marketing Predictions First, let’s recap some of the broader 2018 marketing trends from these predictions†¦ ...in 2018, successful marketers will: Be agile, embrace new, and test:  There will (obviously) be new marketing trends that emerge in 2018. Instead of pushing all of your resources into these fads, test them, then embrace what works. Paying to promote your content may be part of this- as marketing enters the trough of disillusionment, your strategy needs to pivot. Scale what you know already works:  Just because new stuff will inevitably come doesn’t mean you should embrace it right away. What you’re already doing is likely already working†¦ so how can you scale it  to get even bigger results? This ties into optimizing old content  and repurposing it. Listen to their  audience, and measure their efforts:  To seriously understand what works while embracing the new (and continue doing what you know already works), you need to listen to your prospects and measure the return on existing marketing projects. This is huge. Successful marketers are 242% more likely to report conducting audience research  at least once per quarter. Personalize content across the customer life cycle:  It’s impossible to plan the funnel experience at a macro level. That said, every click, view, and action indicates a personal level of interest. Based upon that data, you can customize the experiences for specific people who are getting to know your business to strategically lead them closer to that point of purchase.The four things successful marketers will do in 2018 are ...^^^ If you remember the beginning of this article, I asked for this advice so I could use it at †¦ So†¦ What Is Planning For 2018? Well, I wouldn’t plan it if I didn’t predict it to be successful†¦ right? ;) So very soon, you’ll see the demand generation team here at (listed as prioritized): Personalize the content you receive based on your activity:  We’re already working on enhancing your experience with this blog and well beyond. Some of that includes testing new things, covering even more topics like change management, integrated marketing communications, pitching ideas to your team and boss, and a whole lot more. So look forward to it! Continue scaling what we know you love:  We’ll continue analyzing blog post success  and repeating home runs we know you’ll love. Part of that includes our historical optimization process where we update older content to seriously help you solve your biggest marketing challenges. In addition, I see more guides  in our future, more course  releases, and more webinars. Test new:  We have a couple more ideas for freemium tools that will complement the headline analyzer  and social message optimizer. *Insert shriek of excitement here.* An advanced marketing academy is on our radar. And†¦ of course†¦ we’ll publish that book we started  writing in 2017 that I predicted would happen  about a year ago (lol). And, of course, we’ll listen to you every step of the way. ;)

What Makes a Leader Harvard Business Review Article

What Makes a Leader Harvard Business Review - Article Example For each of these classes of authority, job descriptions hat define the duties of that specific entity and his area of expertise come handy. While all these entities are considered controllers of some department or business area within the company, they are separated from one another by the number of characteristics that guide their line of duty. Hence fore, there is a difference between leadership and other categories of authority. A leader is an entity that does not command any line of business to a number of subjects but rather an entity with various characteristic attributes that guide the entity’s choices, approach to problems, and inclusion or exclusion of other entities in the decision making process. A leader is therefore an individual in charge of a certain line of operations or a number of people with a common goal. However, to be a leader, an individual must have self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill as his/her core attributes. Self- awareness is the wholesome of the person in terms of how they understand themselves and how they make decisions that have an impact in their lines of duty. For a self-aware individual in the line of leadership, personal decisions are a reflection of personal abilities. Hence fore, self-awareness helps the leaders to take or turndown duties that are in or out of the scope of their abilities. Self-regulation is a second attribute of leadership that cultivates behavior and habit of a leader. When faced with a crisis, self-regulation helps a leader to limit his reaction in terms of outburst or emotional instability. Empathy is the third attribute of leadership and helps a leader to understand the emotional status as related to how people react in the line of duty. The discussed three leadership attributes make up the most important component of leadership, emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage and control emotions and channeling one’s line of tho ught to productivity. It is through emotional intelligence that various companies thrive or fail with regards to their management’s embrace of emotional intelligence. Data Analysis and Opinion: Following a study to test the competency of some 188 companies in terms of IQ, professional skills, emotional intelligence, and other management attributes, it was observed that leaders who applied emotional intelligence were 20% more productive than their own expectations forecasted. Those leaders who do not exercise emotional intelligence were found to be 20% less productive than their counterparts who use emotional intelligence. However, while emotional intelligence can be appraised as a very important management tool, it is important too to understand that leaders are required to have personal skills that relate to IQ. Being smart is one thing, and being a leader is another. Therefore, while the characteristics of being a leader work hand in hand to create or manifest emotional int elligence. Research has found that emotional intelligence is more a genetic capability than it is a learnt attribute of leadership. Research analyzes programs designed to manifest emotional intelligence but has found out that there are attributes that can be learnt and others that cannot. For example, empathy is a major installment in emotional intelligence. However, it is one of the most difficulty attributes that can be learned especially from a manager’s or an executive’s position. For example, an executive may be interested in

Management Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 6

Management Accounting - Essay Example Secondly, the fear of under-budgeting, which will have the impacts of causing financial crisis for the department in the coming year, also affects the way she is going to deliver the budgeted amount. Anticipated future rise in costs is yet another factor that she has to consider in her decision making regarding the budget she is going to submit, since the costs may rise out of the anticipated new expenditures. Finally, the financial situation of the city affects her decision making, since the revenues collected by the city were down, meaning the possibility of the city cutting down the budgets presented, thus reducing the amounts given to Paxton, as the manager of the waste disposal firm. The analysis of the ethical dilemma under this case presents various ethical issues. First, Paxton is working towards satisfying herself interests, which is highly unethical (Rhodes, 1986 p11). She has the personal interest of being promoted from the department, which she does not appear like. Therefore, she wants to impress her employer by ensuring that she funds the operations of the department to the very best, at the expense of the financial situation that the city is facing. Paxton understand very well that the city’s tax collection for that year were down. Therefore, she anticipates that the city may not have sufficient funds to cater for all the financial needs raised by the departments. This notwithstanding, she wants to ensure that she is not affected by the bad financial situation, through inflating her budget, so that even if it is cut, she will have no shortages. This is selfish on her part, since she does not care about the other departments and their financial n eeds, which is unethical (Harding, 2010 p55). Having understood the financial situation facing the city, she is supposed to be concerned about the other departments,

Applying Counting Method Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Applying Counting Method - Speech or Presentation Example At first we had 5 choices, then 4, and then 3.The total number of options was 5*4*3=60. We had to pick three pupils out of the five. To do this, we had to start with all the 5 options, then4, and, lastly, 3 when we ran out of the top three positions. The factorial for this is: 5! =5.4.3.2.1, but we only need 5*4*3 .So how do we get rid of 2*1? If we do 5!/2!, we get this: 5!/2!=5.4.3.2.1/2.1=5.4.3we used 2, because this is what remained after picking the top three positions. This can further be expressed as: 5! / (5-3)! This means that we use the first three numbers of 5! On the other hand, combination is very simple, since the order does not matter. Dog, cat, and a goat. Let’s figure out how many different ways these animals can be rearranged. We have 3 choices for the first animal, 2 for the second animal, and 1 for the last one. Therefore, we have 3*2*1 ways to rearrange the animals. Since there are 30 runners for the qualifier, the first run can be ran by all of them, the 2nd by 29, the 3rd by 28, the 4th by 27, and so on until the remaining individual is one in the track. Hence, the answer is 30

Murabahah in Islamic Commercial Law Application within Islamic Banking Essay

Murabahah in Islamic Commercial Law Application within Islamic Banking and Finance Industry - Essay Example Now there are more than two hundred Islamic financial establishments all over the world. Actually, Murabahah is a term associated with Islamic Fiqh, which indicates to a particular type of sale, and it has nothing to do with financing. Islamic scholars still argue that, the structuring of  Murabahah  financing is rather different from the overdraft facility prepared along conventional lines as the former one offers numerous benefits to the bank and its customers. In fact, murabahah as a means of finance was permitted by the Sharia scholars with certain conditions. Unless these conditions are fully observed, murabahah is not allowable. According to Sharia, if the conditions are ignored, the transaction becomes void or worthless. â€Å"Murabaha is a sale contract for selling a specified item at a mutually agreed mark-up (profit) added to the purchase price† (Trade Based Financing Murabaha Cost-Plus Sale) n.d.). Issues in  Murabahah 1. Securities against  the Murabahah Pa yments received from sale are called receivables, and for this purpose, the clients are asked to provide a security. 2. Guaranteeing Murabahah The seller can request the client to provide a  third  party guarantee. The guarantee doesn’t have the option to charge fee from the client. The reason is that, a person who is charged with a fee for advancing loan may fall under the definition of riba. . 3.  Penalty of Non-Payment: In case a client fails to make payment of the fee on the due date, the fee should not be increased. â€Å"In Murabahah financing, once the price is fixed, it cannot be increased† (Important Issues Involved in Murabahah n.d.). 4.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Rollover in  the Murabahah† (Roll Over in Murabahah 2011): Once a commodity is sold through Murabahah, its possession transfers from the bank to the client, and therefore the seller may not have any right on the property. The seller can claim only the price agreed. 5.  Rebate on Former Payments: Occa sionally some debtors often like to pay before time to obtain discounts. However within Islam, a large section of Muslim scholars as well as the major schools of thought regard this as un ­Islamic. On the other hand, if the Islamic bank or the financial institution gives somebody a discount on its own, it is not offensive, particularly if the clients are needy. The Significant Issue in Murabahah Financing. The subject of debate among the modern Shariah scholars is that the bank or financier can go for a real sale while the client requests Murabahah financing from the bank, because the obligatory commodity, at this stage is not possessed by the bank, and the person cannot sell goods not possessed by him nor can he facilitate a forward sale. It is also decided that the commodity which is sold is given as a security to the seller. Some scholars have the opinion that this can be done only after the buyer has undertaken its delivery and not prior to that. Critically Discuss and Analyze the Discourse from the Different Legislations and Jurisdictions by Presenting the Islamic Finance Cases that Have Come Before the Courts. Islamic banking denotes a system of banking activity or banking that is reliable with the principles and rules of Islamic law (Sharia), and its practical application in the course of the growth of Islamic economics. â€Å"Sharia forbids† the payment of fees for lending cash (Riba, usury) on specific conditions, in addition to investing in businesses that offer goods or services measured contrary to its principles (Haraam, forbidden). At the same time, as these principles were employed as the support base for a flourishing financial system in earlier times, it is merely in the late 20th century that numerous Islamic banks were created to apply these principles to semi-private