Ashok Rajguru Essay

From the first session based on the case â€Å"Ashok RaJguru†, I learned that to help a person, it is better to guide him to find a solution to his problems by himself. On the other hand, Ashok helped me in analysing my life by better understanding the mix of value of studies as well as personal relationships in life. Here I learnt that it is important to understand the value of your dreams at each stage and to keep evaluating it after some time, so that you don’t have to regret later. For the second case, I could not relate to a lot of things from my past experiences, but I got to know the kind of problems faced by employees in organisations. Here I learned from the experiences of my colleagues, who had faced similar situations at their workplace. I also learned that it is important o let misunderstandings not get created and if they do, then we should sort them out at the earliest. In the third and the fourth session, we analysed our personalities by filling in a questionnaire. With this instrument, I was able to understand the ego states that I follow. It has helped me in understanding various transactions that have taken place afterwards and I have been able to relate to them. From the reading I learned Managerial styles which will help me I my future

Indian Tourism Sector Emmerging Oppurtunities -Emmerging Challenges and Oppurtunities in the Era of Globalisation

INDIAN TOURISM INDUSTRY -EMMERGING CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE ERA OF GLOBALISATION Dr. GUNDETI RAMESH [email  protected] com FACULTY MEMBER, DEPARTMENET OF ECONOMICS,SATAVAHANA UNIVERSITY, KARIMNAGAR,ANDHRAPRADESH. This paper mainly highlighted the Challenges and Opportunities of the Indian Tourism in the context of globalization. This tourism industry undoubtedly emerged as an instrument of rural employment generation as a labor intensive activity in a labor surplus economy, with its forward and backward linkages with a host sectors like tranport,hospitality and education etc.Finally the paper also makes proper policy suggestion needed communication to promote and boosting tourism in India. Key words: Compound Annual Growth rate (C. A. G. R), Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA),Forward backward linkages INTRODUCTION: Tourism is not only a growth engine but also an export growth engine and employment generator. According to the Economic Survey 20 11-12 the sector has capacity to create large-scale employment both direct and indirect, for diverse sections in society, from the most specialized to unskilled workforce.It provides 6-7 per cent of the world’s total jobs directly and millions more indirectly through the multiplier effect, as per the UN’s World Tourism Organization. Since tourism does not fall under a single heading in India’s National Accounts Statistics, its contribution has to be estimated. Its contribution to GDP and employment in 2007-08 was 5. 92 per cent respectively as per Tourist Satellite Account Data. FTAs in India during 2010 were 5. 78 million compared to 5. 17 million during 2009, posting a growth of 11. 8 per cent, much higher than the growth of 6. per cent for the world in 2010. FEEs from tourism in rupee terms during 2010 were Rs. 64,889 crore compared to Rs. 54,960 crore during 2009 with a growth rate of 18. 1 per cent. Despite the slowdown and recessionary trends in the econom ies of Europe and America, FTAs during 2011 were 6. 29 million with a growth of 8. 9 per cent over 2010 and FEEs in 2011 were Rs. 77,591 crore with a growth of 19. 6 per cent. In the case of outbound tourism, the number of Indian nationals’ departures from India during 2010 was 12. 99 million with a growth of 17. per cent for the year. Domestic tourism has also emerged as an important contributor to the sector providing much needed resilience. Domestic tourist visits during 2010 are estimated at 740. 2 million, with a growth of 10. 7 per cent. However, Indian tourism industry is not only a growth engine, but also an export growth engine and employment generator. According to the Economic Survey 2011-12 the sector has capacity to create large-scale employment, both direct and indirect, for diverse sections of society, from the most specialized to unskilled workforce.It provides 6-7 per cent of the world’s total jobs directly and millions more indirectly through the mult iplier effect as per the UN’s World Tourism Organization. Its contribution to the GDP and employment in 2007-08 was 5. 92 per cent, respectively as per the Tourist Satellite Account Data. In India, the tourism sector has witnessed significant growth in recent years. During 2006 to 2011, the CAGRs of foreign tourist arrivals and foreign exchange Objectives of the study: 1)To study the emerging challenges and opportunities in the context of globalization. )To examine the trends of foreign exchange earnings growth of foreign tourists arrivals in Indian tourism. 3)To analyze the share of Indian tourism industry when compare to the rest of the world and the Asian and Pacific region. 4)To suggest the policy implications to develop the Indian Tourism Industry. Methodology: The study mainly based on a range of secondary data from various government sources such as ministry of tourism Government of India and other relevant websites etc. For analyzing secondary data simple statistical tools like percentages and averages have been used to interpret the data.A part from these tables, charts, graphs, pictures have been chosen at relevant places to easily understand the data. Observations India has significant potential for becoming a major global tourist destination. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) based on Tourism Satellite According Research (TSAR) in 160 countries has predicted that India has the potential to become the number one tourist destination in the world with the demand growing at not less than 10 percent for annum.The World Tourism Organization has also pointed out that India as the most favored destination among the countries of South Asia receiving more than 50 percent of the total foreign tourist traffic in the area. However India’s share in International tourist arrivals is 0. 59 percent. (Share of India in International receipts is 1. 54%) while its share in the country’s GDP is 12 percent. It has given employ ment to 10. 2 million people directly.Therefore the tourism is undoubtedly has emerged as an instrument of rural employment generation, as a labor- intensive activity in a labor surplus economy, with its forward and backward linkages with a host sectors like transport, hospitality education, health, banking etc,. The interested spending by tourists has generated substantial income earnings both public and private sectors. Therefore the income flow has a multiplier effect on the macro economy. However World Travel and Tourism Council pointed that India is one of the fastest growing tourism industries in the world and expected to grow by a further 6. annually and should create 13,127,000 employment opportunities by 2020. But post globalization and under GATS many changes and challenges are confronted. The table -1 depicts that the foreign exchange earnings through tourists. In terms of rupees tourism receipts have grown from rs. 7. 7 crore in 1951 to 12,150 crore in 1998, to rupees 15 ,626 crore in 2000 to 27,944 in 2004 and US million $ 16564 in 2011. Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) from Tourism in Indian Rupee terms and US $ terms FEE from tourism in Rupee terms during 2010 were Rs. 64889 crore as compared to Rs. 54960 crore during 2009 and Rs. 1294 crore during 2008. The growth rate in FEE in Rupees terms during 2010 was 18. 1% as compared to the growth rate of 7. 1% in 2009 over 2008. Therefore, the growth rate observed in 2010 over 2009 was substantially high FEE from tourism during 2010 were US $ 14193 million as compared to US$ 11394 million during 2009 and US $ 11832 million during 2008. The growth rate in FEE in US$ terms during 2010 was 24. 6% as compared to a decline of 3. 7% in 2009 over 2008. Therefore, in US$ terms, also growth rate observed in 2010 was positive and substantially high.Thus tourism recorded a positive and significant compound annual growth rate at 13. 82%, however in terms of US Dollar foreign exchange earnings also increased from US $ 2,889 million in 1997 to US $ 14,193 million in 2010. It is observed that there was a higher fluctuation noticed in the quantum of foreign exchange earnings in both in terms of dollars and in Indian rupee. The study also found the highest growth (Foreign Exchange Earning) rates with 43. 8 are recorded in 2003 and lowest growth rate with 7. 6 is recorded in 2001. Fig-2 gives the details of Foreign Tourists arrivals to India. FTAs in India during 2010 were 5. 8 million with a growth rate of 11. 8% as compared to the FTAs of 5. 17 million and growth rate of (-) 2. 2% during 2009. The 11. 8% growth rate in FTAs for 2010 over 2009 for India is much better than UNWTO’s projected growth rate of 5% to 6% for the world during the same period Foreign tourist arrivals to India rose from 0. 12 million in 1960 to 1. 68 million in 1991 and 3. 46 million in 2011 and6. 29 million in 2010. The study evidently speaks the truth that in terms of foreign tourist arrivals has registered a posit ive significant compound annual growth rate with 7 percent between 2000 and 2010.The study also pointed out that highest tourist arrivals growth rate registered with 26. 8 in 2004 and negative growth rate registered with -2. 2 in 2009. The reason for decrease in foreign arrivals may be due to slow down and recessionary trends in the economics of Europe and America . A top 10 source country for Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAS) in India in 2010 was placed in Table-3 It connotes the fact that the majority of the tourist arrivals are from the U. S. A registered with 0. 916 million. The data observed that out of total tourist arrivals 16. 40 percent tourist’s were from U.S. A and followed by U. K with 0. 755 million which contribute 13. 52 percent. The study mainly observed that in terms of foreign tourists arrivals to in India- U. S. A occupied first place (16. 40%) and Malaysia occupied with tenth position. The table-4 reveals the share of India in international tourist arrivals in the world, Asia and the Pacific region during the period of1997-2010. It is observed that foreign tourist arrivals in India have risen from 2. 37 millions in 1997 to 6. 17 million in 2009. In terms of share and rank of India in the world rose to 0. 40 in 1997 to 0. 59 in 2009.As the rank of India when compare to the world has come down from 47th rank in 1998 to 41 rank in 2009.. The study also pointed out that compare to share and rank of India Asia and the Pacific nearly increased with 2. 67 in 1997 to 2. 86 in 2009. However the study reveals the fact that the share of India in international tourist arrivals in the world, Asia and Pacific region 1997-2011 was not increased significantly but merely increased. The table 5 gives the fact that the share of top 10 states / UTs of India in number of foreign tourist visits in 2010. The study observed that 28. percent tourists are visiting Maharastra followed by Tamilnadu which comprising 15. 7 percent and followed by Delhi with 10. 6 p ercent. Finally the study explores the fact that 28. 5 percent foreign tourist visiting Maharastra and 2. 5 percent foreign tourist visiting to Goa state. Hotels and restaurants is an important component of the tourism sector. As on 31 December 2011, there were 2,895 classified hotel having a capacity of 1, 29,606 rooms in the country. Availability of good quality and affordable hotel rooms play an important role in boosting the growth of tourism in the country.The share of the hotel and restaurant sector in overall economy increased from 1. 46 per cent in 2004-05 to 1. 53 per cent in 2008-09 and then decreased to 1. 46 per cent in 2010-11. However, if the contribution of this sector only in the service sector is considered, its share decreased from 2. 75 per cent in 2004-05 to 2. 64 per cent in 2010-11 as other service sectors grew faster than this sector. It CAGR was 8. 44 per cent during 2004-05 to 2009-10 and the growth rate in 2010-11 was 7. 7 per cent. Health tourism, the new entrant in the sector is a niche area where India has good potential.Findings The study mainly pointed out that India has significant potential for becoming a major global tourist destination. The Tourism Industry has grown significantly during the study period and registered a compound annual growth rate of 7 percent in foreign tourist arrivals in to India. The study also found that highest growth rate (foreign exchange earnings) with 43. 8 are recorded in 2003 and lowest growth rate with -7. 6 in 2001. The study also explores the fact that the highest tourist arrivals growth rate registered with 26. in 2004 and negative growth rate registered with -2. 2 in 2009. The study observed that in terms of foreign tourist arrivals to India ,U. S. A. occupied first place (16. 40 percent) and Malaysia occupied tenth position. From the share of India and the Pacific region 1997-2011 was not significantly performed but substantially increased. India achieved 5,717 of international tourism rece ipts in the world and Asia, Pacific regions, and has jumped in leaps and bounds from a ranking of 36 to 16th position in the world and from 10th position to 6th position in the Pacific region.Coming up to the other findings the share of India in international tourist arrivals is only 0. 59 percent and tourism receipts are only 1. 54 percent and ranks 16 only. The major shortcoming of the tourism is inadequate capacity (e. g. 85,481 hotel rooms as against 8, 97,206 in China) and costly travel (e. g. soaring fuel, surcharges, poor blight management etc,. ). Inadequate infrastructure and trained manpower, lapses in security and safety (e. g. Terrorist attacks and harassment of tourists) and poor organization (e. g. fragment market, poor advertising and un trained tourist guides.Moreover there is need of well equipped infrastructure and management to meet the high international standards and need of skilled management to benefiting from the opportunities thrown open by (GATS, WTO) to to urism. There is need to develop the alternative tourism like health tourism village tourism and sports tourism and it is needed to take more initiation by the involving government and private agencies for more investments to develop tourism sector. Conclusions Tourism undoubtedly has emerged as an instrument of employment generation.However to take the emerging challenges and opportunities of globalization, India needs a long term plan for this industry with periodic evaluation and revision. Therefore there is a need future vision to identify the potentials of tourism industry. Finally the success of tourism depends to a large extent on better access to infrastructure, with a consumer centric approach. Appendix Tables Table-1 FEE from Tourism in India (in Rs. Crore) (1997-2011) YearFEE from Tourism inPercentage (%) change over the previous years India (in US$ MILLONS) 199728892. 0 199829482. 0 199930092. 1 2000346015. 20013198-7. 6 20023103-3. 0 2003446343. 8 2004617038. 2 200574932 1. 4 2006863415. 2 20071072924. 3 20081183210. 3 200911136-5. 9 2010 #1419327. 5 2011 #1656416. 7 2012(#Jan – June) 84558. 2 # Advance Estimates, @ Growth rate over Jan-June 2011 Source: i) Reserve Bank of India, for 1997 to 2008 2)MTM1997-2011 figure-1 FEE from Tourism in India (in Rs. Crore) (1997-2012) TABLE 2 Foreing Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India, 1997-2012 YearFTAs in India (in Million)Percentae (%) change over the previous year 19972. 373. 8 19982. 36-0. 7 19992. 485. 2 20002. 656. 7 20012. 4-4. 2 20022. 38-6 20032. 7314. 3 20043. 4626. 8 20053. 9213. 3 20064. 4513. 5 20075. 0814. 3 20085. 284 20095. 17-2. 2 20105. 788. 1 2011 (P)6. 298. 9 2012(jan-Jun)3. 247. 4 (P) Provisional, @ Growth rate ove Jan-June, 2011 Source: (i) Bureau of Immigration, Govt of India, for 1997-2009 (ii) Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India, for 2010 & 2012 TABLE 3 Foreing Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India, 1997-2011 S. NoSource CountryFTAs (in Million) (P)Percentge (%) Share 1USA0. 91616. 4 2U K0. 75513. 52 3Bangladesh0. 3816. 82 4Canada0. 2404. 3 5Germany0. 2244. 01 6Sri Lanka0. 2193. 2 7France0. 2183. 9 8Japan0. 1652. 95 9Australia0. 1642. 94 10Malaysia0. 1602. 87 Total of top 10 countries3. 44261. 64 Others2. 14238. 36 All countries5. 584100. 00 (P) Provisional, @ Growth rate ove Jan-June, 2010 Source: (i) Bureau of Immigration, Govt of India, for 1997-2009 (ii) Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India, for 2010 & 2011 Table-4 Share of India in International Tourist Arrivals in World, and Aisa & the Pacific Region, 1997-2010 YearInternational Tourist Arrivals (in million)FTAs in India (in million)Percentge (%) shre and rank of India in worldPercentage (%) hare and rank of India in Asia and the Pacific WorldAsia and the Pacific%ShareRank%ShareRank 1997593. 089. 02. 370. 40-2. 67- 1998611. 088. 32. 360. 3947th2. 67- 1999633. 097. 62. 480. 3946th2. 54- 2000683. 3109. 32. 650. 3950th2. 4211th 2001683. 4114. 52. 540. 3751st2. 2212th 2002703. 2123. 42. 380. 3454th1. 9312th 200369 1. 0111. 92. 730. 3951st2. 4411th 2004762. 0143. 43. 460. 4544th2. 4111th 2005803. 4154. 63. 920. 4943rd2. 5311th 2006846. 0166. 04. 450. 5344th2. 6811th 2007894. 0182. 05. 080. 5741st2. 7911th 2008917. 0184. 15. 280. 5841st2. 8711th 2009882. 0180. 95. 170. 5941st2. 611th 2010(P)940. 0203. 85. 580. 5940th2. 7411th P: Provisional Source: i) UNWTO Tourism Market Trends 2007 edition, for the years upto 2005 ii) UNWTO Barometer June 2010 for 2006 and January 2011 for 2007 and UNTO TABLE 5 Share of Top 10 States/Uts of India in Number of Foreign Tourist Visits in 2010 RankState/UTForeign Tourist Visits in 2010 (P) NuberPercentae share (%) 1Maharashtra508312628. 5 2Tamil Nadu280468715. 7 3Delhi189365010. 6 4Uttar Pradesh16751239. 4 5Rajasthan12785237. 2 6West Bengal11921876. 7 7Kerala6592653. 7 8Bihar6357223. 6 9Himachal Pradesh4536162. 5 10Goa4410532. 5Total of top 10 countries1611695290. 3 Others17358259. 7 Total 17852777100. 00 P: P Source: State/UT Tourism Departments Note: i) Figures for Chhattisgarh has been estimated ii) For some states data adjusted using the information available with Ministry of Tourism References 1 Reserve Bank of India, for 1997 to 2008 2 MTM1997-2011 3 Bureau of Immigration, Govt of India, for 1997-2009 4 Bound, John and Timothy Waidmann, (2000), Accounting for Recent Declines in Employment Rates among the Working – Aged Disabled, NBER Working Papers 5 Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India, for 2010 & 2011 UNWTO Tourism Market Trends 2007 edition, for the years upto 2005 7 UNWTO Barometer June 2010 for 2006 and January 2011 for 2007 and UNTO 8 Driedger, D, (1987), Disabled People and International Air Travel, Journal of Leisurability, 14, pp. 13–19. 9 Miller, G. A. , & Kirk, E, (2002), The Disability Discrimination Act: Time for the stick? Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 10(1), pp. 82–88. 10 McKercher, B. , T. Packer, M. Yau, and P. Lam, (2003), Travel Agents: Facilitators or Inhibitors of Travel for People with Disab ilities, Tourism Management, 24, pp. 465–74. 11. Economoc survey 2011-12

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT - Essay Example Bureaucrats create and enforce regulations in various sectors in economy and society. In Supreme Court justice is exercised for people who have disputes and protects civil freedom and rights. TheSupreme Court also ensures that the government wings use their powers to a sufficient limit. Although all this political players have some powers invested in them, some of them are very effective and powerful than others. Based on the different roles and actions of the congress, I feel this as most effective andpowerful. Apart from setting the budget, it has powers to make laws and rules for the landand government. The congress also determines the security status of the nations. For instance, it maintains the navy as well as army and declares war in deserving circumstances. It also imposes exercise duties to all the people in a state in uniformity. Another powerful influence of congress is its right to organize the Supreme Court. Congress membershave no term limit hence the decision to amend the term solely depends on them to devise a method to do so.Congress influences bureaucracy by applying its budgetary oversight functions. Any bureaucracy agency cannot spend money before its authority and the existence of any agency depends on congress approval. The presidency is also most potent because of being the leader of the executive branch. This is illustrated in a situation where civil servant may need to have common guidance and the president alone has the power to provide it.The presidency also plays a role in security matters. Training, supervising and deployment of forces is done by the president .In supporting opinion in a country, the president has the greatest influence. This is to say that presidency heads all ceremonies of the government. It’sthe authority of the president to modify the bureaucracy’s organizational structure, and to also submit to congress a

Global Agri-Food Supply Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Global Agri-Food Supply Management - Assignment Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that the world is facing a growth in population. This growth in population calls for more food to be produced while practicing sustainability. This has put the supply agri-food supply chain under immense pressure as they try to keep up with the ever-rising population. The supply chain needs to be more efficient than ever in order to reduce food wastage. This has created room for various players within the industry to come up with innovations to solve these existing problems. Practicing sustainability is among one of the innovations. McDonald's is a company that largely relies on the agri-food chain. Recently the company has come up with various innovations with the aim of promoting sustainability. Due to the changes in world climate, growth in population, as well as the ever-rising cost of energy, the company’s management, has come with some innovations. This is part of the company’s effort to protect the ecosystem, promote the viability of farming to ensure the resources will be available for the future generations. In their attempt to promote sustainable sourcing, the company has come up with the following programs. Beef sustainability, sustainable packaging, recycling, supporting sustainable fisheries, sustainable coffee, sustainable logistics and sustainable poultry farming are some of those programs, One of the major challenges facing the agri-food supply chain is antibiotic resistance in food. This has led to a wide range of foodborne diseases. There have also been weeds that have proved to be pesticide and herbicide resistance. A good example is a pigweed that has become resistance and researchers claim that it will take close to five years to come up with an herbicide that will be able to deal with the pigweed menace. Another challenge is the reduction in insect pollinator population. This has directly affected food production as pollination is necessary for a good harvest.

Group therapy and t-groups Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Group therapy and t-groups - Essay Example Sometimes clients consider themselves liable for the progress their peers make and therefore the ultimate feeling of being helpful is generated. Quite often after observing the changes in the group, the clients adopt the positive behavior they observe in others and at the same time they manage to learn from each other and therefore the trust can increase their self-confidence and interpersonal skills among members. Clients are more prone to test their new skills in a safe environment before going to normal a little bit hostile social world. In many case group experience may be therapeutic by offering the clients a chance to reinforce or revise the way in which they relate to their primary families. Purely practical advantage of group therapy is the fact that it is more cost-effective and results in the therapist's time reduction. The therapist's role encompasses facilitating member participation and interaction, focusing conversation, mediating conflicts among members, offering emotional support when needed, facilitating the establishment of group rules, ensuring that the rules are followed and in the case the conflicts are smoothed. The main disadvantage of group therapy can be the fact that not people are... dvantage of group therapy can be the fact that not people are predisposed to reveal their problems in front of everybody and group therapy can be not as efficient for some personality types. In addition to this, the feedback that group gives is not censored by the therapist up front, and quite often it can be detrimental for the client. Another disadvantage that group can face is the switch from the problem to the other focal points. There are many different groups that are used in the psychotherapy: Some groups such as alcohol dependence groups, single parents group, and assertiveness training group. Some group can accept new member, meanwhile the other can be completely closed to new members, once the group is formed. Group therapy became very a popular practice after the Second World War and includes numerous methods of psychotherapy, including psychodynamic, behavioral, and phenomenological. In Fritz Perls's application of his Gestalt approach to group work, the therapist tends to work with one group member at a time. Other approaches, such as J.L. Moreno's psychodrama (role playing) method, stresses the interaction among group members. Psychodrama calls for the group to act out scenes relevant to the situation of a particular member under the therapist's guidance. Influenced by Moreno's approach, new action-based methods were introduced in the 1960s, including encounter groups, sensitivity training, marathon groups, and transactional analysis, whose foremost spokesperson was Eric Berne. Marathon groups, which can last for extended periods of time, are geared toward wearing down the members' defenses to allow for more intense interaction. In addition to the adaptation of individual psychotherapeutic methods for groups, the popularity of group therapy has also

Case Study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Case Study - Assignment Example In addition, monetary and fiscal policies will have an effect on the interest rates of the whole economy. Higher oil prices affect the global economy in a number of ways. Some of the factors include the transfer; when consumers buy oil, they transfer their wealth to oil producers. In our case, the decrease of oil prices makes the US dollar to be strong and causes repatriation of money to the Federal Reserve. The forces of demand and supply have affected the global prices. The laws of demand and supply state that as the price of a commodity increases, its demand decrease with the exception of a few while the law of supply states that as the supply of commodities decreases, its price increases. In the international oil prices the law of demand and supply applies. The diagram below demonstrates on the law of demand and supply for crude oil up to 2015. The supply of oil since last year has been increasing steadily than the actual demand which led to the decrease of oil prices as shown above. The supply was caused by stockpiling of unused oil. The chat above is used courtesy of International Energy Agency. However, in countries like Russia and Venezuela, its bad news. The oil producing and exporting company would not pass a resolution on this trend. Of a great interest is Saudi Arabia which has been blamed for not curbing its production thus leading to a high supply of crude oil and gas in the world. As a result, the prices went down by half which led to their economy to decline unlike in the US which has stored oil in barrels in their reserves. Another effect is that this causes price discrimination among various states especially the emerging economies. Countries like India and China compared to the US have greater price disparities due to oil prices fluctuation. The US in a way enjoy monopoly because of the strong currency and emerging economies currency continue to depreciate Hanke (2014). This is what causes

European Law assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

European Law assessment - Essay Example Essentially, if the national court has â€Å"any real doubts†¦it should ordinarily refer†.1 Sir Bingham’s interpretation is far too close to the duty imposed on the courts of final appeal. As determined by the ECJ in Srl CILFIT and Lanificio di Garvardo SpA v Ministry under Article 234 (now Article 267), a court of final appeal is required to refer to the ECJ unless the issue of Community law arising at the trial is irrelevant or had already been determined by the ECJ or the resolution is obvious.2 In other words, the court of final appeal is required to make a reference to the ECJ where there is a real doubt pertaining to an issue of Community law. The use of the word â€Å"may† in Article 267 is hardly coincidental. It could only mean that under Article 267, national courts do not have a mandatory obligation to refer questions of Community law to the ECJ.4 The duty to refer preliminary questions on the interpretation and application of Community law is only mandatory when a court of final appeal is hearing the relevant case and remedies at the national level have been exhausted.5 However, when Sir Bingham’s ruling is considered together with the wider objectives of Article 267, his interpretation of Article 267 is entirely compatible with Article 267. The provision of preliminary references under Article 267 of TFEU is often characterized as the main â€Å"procedural† nexus for linking national courts with the ECJ within the Community’s legal framework.6 It makes the procedural link between national courts and the ECJ by providing a method by which member states integrate their legal systems in that national courts can ensure that Community law are enforced throughout the Community.7 There are essentially two primary goals enshrined in Article 267 of TFEU. Firstly, the preliminary reference procedure within the ambit of Article 267 is aimed at preserving national courts’ independence. Secondly, it is aimed at facilitating consistency,

Stem Cell Research Legislation Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Stem Cell Legislation - Research Paper Example Stem Cell Research Legislation Stem cells are specific non-specialized cells mostly found in multi-cellular organisms and have the capabilities of dividing and differentiating into specialized cells when subjected under particular physiological conditions. Stem cells are categorized into two major groups depending on how each is obtained. The first category is the adult stem cells, which involve stem cells obtained from the body of an adult human being and which are capable of dividing and differentiating to regenerate the exact tissues from which they are obtained. Adult stem cells are said to present in the skin, bone marrows, liver, and brain. Adult stem cells are claimed responsible for every repair that occurs on a damaged skin and confirmed to cure cancer (Jayachandran, 2005). The second category of stem cell is the embryonic stem cells, which are obtained from a developing embryo. The embryonic stem cells are perceived to have massive potential for the treatment of degenerativ e diseases like the diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease, spinal cord injuries among other terminal diseases. However, the belief attached to embryonic stem cell therapy on human beings was derived from a successful scientific test, which involved mice. Recently, pluripotent stem cell was innovated and is undergoing research before approval as an alternative source of stem cell. Owing to the fierce controversies that surround human embryonic stem cells research, many concerned countries have formulated laws, which either illegalize or support the research, to shelter the researchers from fear of rejections and assaults by the society. Developed countries like China, the UK, Korea, and Switzerland adopted progressive laws, which encourage the progress of research activities in this field (Schechter, 2010). Meanwhile, some other countries such as the USA tightened their legislations to oppose the research, a stand that has loosened with time. Under this topic, the p aper will mainly focus on USA, a country that has undergone a series of changes in legislations governing human embryonic stem cell research. In the year 1996, the Congress passed a bill called Dickey Amendment, which prohibited the DHHS and the NIH from funding any activity that involves creation or destruction of human embryo for the purpose of research. However, the Bill did not restrict the use of private money in accomplishing the research. In 1998 when a successful isolation of human embryonic stem cell was achieved, DHHS attempted to interpret the bill in favor to federal funding on the research, but the critics of embryonic stem cell research overturned the move. Schechter (2010) avers that upon assuming office in 2001, George Bush announced that federal funding would be provided for research involving already existing stem cell lines. Additionally, President Bush under the rejected the amendment that required the government to relax its orders on the federal funding restric tions. The main historical change in the discipline of stem cell research took place in 2009 when President Obama signed an order overturning the previous orders of George Bush, which limited federal sponsorship on stem cell research (Skene, 2010). In September 2010, another Bill titled the Stem Cell Research Advancement Act of 2010 was presented to the Senate for voting. The Bill required that the federal money allocated for embryonic stem research be extended to cover excess embryos donated from IVF clinics. Furthermore, the bill

Effects of an Ice Age on the Oceans Essay Example for Free

Effects of an Ice Age on the Oceans Essay The Earth, the third planet from the Sun capable of sustaining life, has several components on its surface. More than 70% of the Earth is covered by water and most of them is concentrated on the oceans. These oceans serve not only as huge bodies of water in between the land masses but also a large habitat for most of the marine life on the planet. Furthermore, it is in the oceans that some of the most important phenomena that keep the atmospheric conditions stable occur. Indeed, oceans are the lifeblood of the planet. What effects does an Ice Age have on these bodies of water? Ice ages are usually known as a period of gradual reduction in the temperature of the planetary climate which causes massive expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and mountain glaciers. In glaciological terms, an ice age means that ice sheets are present in the northern and southern hemispheres (which means technically we are still in an ice age, given the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctic (Imbrie and Imbrie, 1986). A study of ice sheets and other sources reveal that the Earth’s climate is characterized by a cycle between warm periods or interglacial conditions and glacial conditions. Many theories have emerged to explain the occurrence of these ice ages. One well-known theory was devised by Milutin Milankovitch in 1938. It predicts that the shifts from glacial to interglacial and vice versa are affected by the changes in the tilt of the Earth’s rotational axis every 41,000 years, differences in the orientation of the planet’s elliptical orbit around the Sun known as the precession of the equinoxes occurring every 23,000 years and changes in the shape of the orbit happening almost every 100,000 years (Joyce and Keigwin, 2007). Another theory that explains the origins of the ice ages is the changes in the planetary atmosphere. The rise and fall of greenhouse gases have been linked to the retreat and advance of the ice sheets. It is possible that the changes in the greenhouse gases may have been caused by other factors contributing to the start of the ice age such as continent motion and volcanism. One hypothesis, known as the â€Å"Snowball Earth† hypothesis, claims that the late Proterozoic era saw a severe ice age that began with a reduction of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and ended with an increase of these levels in the atmosphere. The early anthropocene hypothesis of William Ruddiman claims that during this era where human activities started to cause a significant global impact on the climate and ecosystems more than 8,000 years ago, atmospheric gas levels began to not follow the pattern of the Milankovitch cycles (Macdougall, 2004). Geological events confirm that the position of continents may cause ice ages if they block or decrease the flow of warm water to the poles allowing the formation of ice sheets. These ice sheets will then cause the increase in the Earth’s reflectivity decreasing the absorption of solar radiation which leads to atmospheric cooling. This starts a positive feedback loop allowing more ice sheets to form as the temperature cools. Some of these configurations include a continent sitting on top of a pole, a polar sea that is land-locked and a super continent that covers most of the equatorial area (Aber, 2003). Another big factor in the end of an ice age is sudden global warming that could theoretically be caused by the eruption of large undersea volcanoes. These volcanoes and flood basalts could release huge amounts of methane that contribute to a large and rapid increase in the greenhouse effect (Macdougall, 2004). There are five known periods of glaciation: Huronian (2400 Ma – 2100 Ma), Cryogenian (850 Ma – 635 Ma), Andean-Saharan (450 Ma – 420 Ma), Karoo (360 Ma – 260 Ma) and Cenozoic (30 Ma – Present). Oceans are very important in maintaining the stability of climate. The balancing of excess heating at the equator and cooling at the poles is accomplished transporting heat via atmospheric and oceanic currents from low to high altitudes. The warm surface waters that arrive at the higher latitudes are cooled and the heat is released to the atmosphere and later on radiated away to space. This mechanism bridges the gap between equator and pole temperatures. Warm ocean temperatures also cause an excess of evaporation against precipitation in the atmosphere. The water vapor is then transported to the poles through atmospheric currents and there it cools causing an excess of precipitation against evaporation. These two components together with the salinity-dependent mixing of the cold waters returning from the poles with the warm waters at the equator allows the continuity of the great ocean conveyor belt that allows for climate stability (Joyce and Keigwin, 2007). An ice age will could also begin if the balance is disrupted on this belt. Scientists now speculate that we are heading for another ice age given the current configurations of the continents and other factors. One possible scenario is that as the Earth continues to experience global warming, ice sheets will soon begin to melt. The Arctic sea has 15% less ice compared to levels 40 years ago. Cold fresh water from melted glaciers and ice sheets will flow into the north Atlantic which could weaken the Gulf stream and the great ocean conveyor belt since it would change salinity levels important for mixing and the temperatures of the waters. This would cause a cold climate change for Europe with temperatures reaching up to 10oC for during the summer. This could also usher in the next ice age since at the height of the last one, the strength of the Gulf stream was only two-thirds that of today. Global warming will slow down the Gulf stream by up to 30% and may cut off Europe completely in the future (McGuire, 2002). Given this possibility of an ice age occurring, it is important to look into the possible effects of an ice age. The most obvious effect of an ice age on the oceans is the decrease of actual flowing water given that the ice sheets would be formed from waters of both in-land sources and the oceans. Since glaciers are formed from freshwater, this means that the freezing up of oceanic waters could increase the salinity of the remaining flowing water. Scientists at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory found that ocean circulation changes did not cause but was rather the effect of climate changes at the start and end of the last ice age. Ice sheet volume and global carbon budget had changed even before the ocean currents were affected. The possible scenario drawn is that the ice age had been driven by discrepancies with the amount of heat from the sun arriving at the poles. The changes in the carbon cycle were caused by the decline of plant life because of cooler temperatures and glacial advance. This caused an initial change in the great ocean conveyor belt by amplifying the effect of heat at the higher latitudes. Ocean circulation changes that were caused by the beginnings of the ice age further amplified the climate trends that cause the continental ice sheet expansion and also the retreat of the ice sheets later on (LDEO, 2005). The implication of this research is that this shows a possible effect of an impending ice age on the oceans. It expresses the possibility that once a change in climate is set-off, the great ocean conveyor belt adapts to the new conditions further aggravating the new changes in climate. Thus, a new ice age could bring a change in the current ocean currents prevalent today. Since the oceans are host to an unknown number of species of living organisms, the effects on marine life is also important to consider. Although terrestrial organisms would rather prefer the current warm climate, evidence shows that aquatic organisms did not share the same preference. A team of scientists from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada found that ice age oceans some 20,000 years ago had increased concentrations of nitrate, an important nutrient for plankton that producers for the marine food chain. These concentrations could have supported plankton life in waters that are now nutrient deprived. They measured nitrate levels of two nitrogen isotopes – N-15 and N-14 in sediments found at the coast of Mazatlan, Mexico. This is one of three â€Å"nitrate sinks† in the ocean where bacteria cause denitrification. Although the data gathered from two sites coincided with the hypothesis, it is insufficient to definitively conclude that global nitrate levels were as high as those at the sites. However, it is possible and this could mean that more marine life was present given the abundance of plankton. This could also have contributed more to the ice age since more plants could absorb more carbon dioxide reducing even more the greenhouse effect (Monastersky, 1995). All these effects are but glimpses of what truly happens during an ice age. We can never truly know exactly what all of them are unless we experience it ourselves. But for sure, given the immensity of the world’s oceans and how reliant stable climate is to them, these effects would affect not only the oceans themselves but the entire planet. Bibliography: Imbrie, J. Imbrie, K. P. (1986). Ice ages: Solving the Mystery. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Joyce, T. Keigwin, L. (2007). Are we on the brink of a ‘New Little Ice Age’? Retrieved 11 May 2007 from http://www. whoi. edu/page. do? pid=12455tid=282cid=10046.

Experiment to investigate what affects the size of a crater Essay Example for Free

Experiment to investigate what affects the size of a crater Essay Hypothesis: If the height of which the pendulum ball is dropped increases, then the depth of the crater will increase. There is a theory for this. A higher drop would mean that there is a greater gravitational potential energy. When the ball is dropped, all this energy is converted into kinetic energy and it is used up to create a crater in the ground. Variables: 1. Independent: Height at which the pendulum ball is dropped from A one meter ruler is used to measure the height at which the pendulum ball is dropped from the surface of the sand. Each height is recorded down and tabulated together with the results. 1. Dependent: Depth of the crater A vernier caliper is used to measure the depth of the crater. Push out the bottom until it touches the center of the bottom of the crater. Adjust it until the edges of the caliper touches the surface of the sand. Read the measurement and record it down. Results are tabulated. 1. Controlled: Height of the sand, Volume of the sand, diameter of the pendulum ball Height of sand is measured with the same ruler used in the experiment and marked out with a marker. The volume of same is measured by pouring it into a beaker and then weighed on an electronic weighing balance for further accuracy. The diameter of the pendulum ball was measured before the start of the experiment and noted down. Apparatus: 1. Pendulum Ball x 1 2. 1m Ruler x 1 3. Plastic box x 1 4. Sand 5. 500ml Beaker x 1 6. Vernier Caliper x 1 7. Retort stand 8. Whiteboard Marker 9. Tissue Method: 1. Lay out newspaper on the bench/work area 2. Measure out 250cm3 of sand using the beaker 3. Pour the sand into the plastic container 4. Smoothen the sand with a tissue so that it is leveled 5. Measure the height of the sand and mark it out with the marker on the container 6. Set up the rest of the experiment as drawn on the previous page. 7. Hold the pendulum ball at a height of 10cm with the bottom of it on the 10cm mark 8. Drop the pendulum ball onto the sand 9. Remove the pendulum ball carefully so as not to destroy the crater made in the sand 10. Using a vernier caliper, measure the depth of the crater 11. Record the reading down 12. Repeat steps 4-10 for heights of 20cm, 30cm, 40cm, 50cm, 60cm, 70cm, 80cm, 90cm and 100cm 13. Repeat the whole experiment once Results: Height/cm Depth/cm 1st 2nd Average Evaluation Reliability of method: From the table of results, it can be observed that some results in the first set of data differ greatly from the second set. This shows that the current method is not extremely reliable and changes can be made to improve the experiment. An improvement to the method would be to always measure the volume of the sand used and smooth it down to the marked level on the side of the container. Sand that is not compacted may have a different result from compacted sand. This is because between the particles of non-compacted sand, there will be spaces of air. As the pendulum ball hits the surface of the sand, the kinetic energy will disperse into these spaces. Therefore, a smaller crater would be formed because the pendulum ball has less energy. Validity of method: The method is valid because it measures what is required to be measured in the experiment. The method described above was also followed step-by-step. The volume of the sand and height of the sand is unchanged. The pendulum ball remained unchanged throughout the course of the experiment as well. The vernier caliper measures the depth of the crater in centimeters and it is what the experiment is conducted for. Reliability of results: There are a total of 20 sets of data. The number of data collected makes the results reliable. Also, the average of the data from both sets of experiments were able to form a straight line graph with an outlier for 100. 0cm at 1. 77cm. Therefore, the results of this experiment is somewhat reliable. Analysis The graph is a straight line with increasing gradient. It shows that with an increase in height, the average depth of the crater also increases. The line graph does not pass through the origin (0,0) because the graph paper is too small to accommodate 10 sets of results (average of both sets of data). Conclusion The results of the experiment support the hypothesis. When the height at which the pendulum ball increases, the depth of the crater also increases. This is proven by the fact that the greater the distance between the ball and the ground, the greater the gravitational potential energy that the ball possesses. More gravitational potential energy is converted to more kinetic energy when the ball is dropped. As such, there is more energy to cause a greater damage to the ground, or in this case, sand, therefore resulting in an increase of depth of the crater. Limitations and Improvements Limitations Improvements Pendulum ball does not drop straight down directly from where it is released but deviates from its desired path Drop the pendulum ball using a retort stand instead of by hand Removing the pendulum ball by hand Thread a string through the hole in the pendulum ball and lift it out of the sand using that.

Secure Online Restaurant Reservation System Computer Science Essay

Secure Online Restaurant Reservation System Computer Science Essay Secure Online Restaurant Reservation System with Secure Sockets Layer is an online system that supports Android based and desktop system. This system is to replace the traditional method of reservation (offline system) which is pen-and-paper. At the same time, it is developed to reduce the workload of staff and ease the customers to make a reservation at anytime and anywhere. Todays, most of the people can easily access the web with their smartphone, desktops or laptops, and tablets. Since everyone is able to use their devices to access the internet, online services are very common in their daily life. But, there are differences of screen resolution of these devices and the traditional web design is unable to fit the content in any size of screen. Therefore, the purposed system can resolve the problem by using jQuery Mobile. jQuery Mobile is a touch optimized web framework that widely use in smartphones, tablets and computer. [1] It is compatible with major mobile and desktop platforms. Its feature are automatic scale to any screen size, minimize the script for lay out pages and creating the important features that needed in the purposed system. [2] Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a technology that provides a secure connection between web server and web browser. [3] The purposed system implements SSL in order to protect customers details such as phone number that need to submit to the server. Also, it used to secure the single sign on (SSO) of users to prevent unauthorized access, where SSO is mechanism that provides user authentication and authorization which allows user access all computers and systems without enter multiple passwords. [4] 1.2 Problem Background Nowadays, lots of restaurants are still using the traditional method for table reservation. For example, a customer makes a booking through a phone call or goes to the restaurant on the spot. These are the easiest ways for reservation. But, it seems outdated in this new era of technology as it does not include of any current technology. In facts, many problems occurred when customers who want to make a booking through a phone call. For instances, the customers do not have the contact of the restaurant, restaurantà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s staff was not able to answer the booking phone call during peak hour as well as communication problems between staff and customer due to their difference of languages spoken. Besides, phone technical issues are one of the problems. For example, telephone network congestion, low signal strength and noise. This may lead the customers unable to call or difficult to have a clear conversation. All of the above problems may affect the reputations and income of the restaurant. Despite there are few restaurants provide online reservation services. But, these online restaurant systems are improper to be accessed using android operating system. In other word, android phone user are facing problem such as loading webpage slowly and inefficient of use the main features due to limitation of screen size. 1.3 Project Aim This project is to design and develop a secure online restaurant reservation system with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) that supports Android-based and desktop systems. 1.4 Objectives There are three objectives in the project: To study the existing of online restaurant reservation system. To design and develop an online restaurant reservation system that support both Android-based and desktop systems. To evaluate the system performance, usability and security to the proposed system. 1.5 Scope The scopes of this project are stated below: This work uses Station One CafÃÆ' © which located at Skudai, Johor Bahru for a case study in developing the proposed system. The system only supports Android, Tablet devices and Desktop. The system implements Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for securing single sign on (SSO). 1.6 Importance of Project The main purpose of this project is to develop secure online restaurant reservation system with SSL for both Android-based and desktop systems. The proposed system is a new architecture of restaurant reservation system which have providing online services, addition of features in the current systems and development in smartphone operating system (Android). Its advantages are capable to handle concurrent access for many users, no technical experience to run the system, fast ordering service, and provide secure access for single sign on (SSO) through Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). By using this reservation system, the customers are able to escape from phone line congestion, dine on time and gain the experience to use the online services. 1.7 Report Organization This section shows the structure of this report. The table 1.1 has presented all the chapterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s titles and their description respectively. Chapter Title Description 1 Introduction Introduces the purposed system and explains the existing problem background as well as the outcome. 2 Literature Review Provides analysis of current system and briefly describes the technology used. 3 Methodology Presents the method of project implementation and the system requirementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s elements in term of software, hardware and user. 4 Requirement Analysis and Design Illustrates the system modules, user interface design and system flows. 5 Conclusion Concludes the whole report and give recommendation for future work. Table 1.1 Report Organizations 1.8 Summary This chapter has described the overview of the project as well as its problem background. It also has pointed out the aim, objectives and project scope of the project. Lastly, this chapter has figured out the importance of the project and those benefited from it.

The Industrial Revolution Essay -- History, Machinery, Factory Workers

The Industrial Revolution was an important time period in American history. It greatly affected the economy, industry, and standard of living for people in the United States. It still has everlasting effects to this day. Most of the products we use today are made quickly by the process of mass production. Today, people work on assembly lines using power-driven machines. People of ancient and medieval times had no such products. They had to spend many hours of hand labor to create very simple objects. The energy came from their muscles. Eventually some advancement occurred when people began using animals to help with the work they used to do alone. The Industrial Revolution was the movement in which machinery changed the methods of manufacturing goods and ultimately changed everyday life for workers (Remini). There were many things that helped ignite the Industrial Revolution. The most important change was the invention of machinery to do the work of hand tools, and the factory system. Before the creation of machinery children and adults did most of the work in order to have the products needed for civilized life. The Industrial Revolution was a gradual movement but it was still a radical change from the old way of producing goods. The Industrial Revolution became more powerful each year as new inventions were added into factories. The efficiency of production increased as these machines increased the speed of production. The Industrial Revolution started early in the 1800s in Europe but began late in the middle of the 1800s in America (Daniels & Hyslop pg 271). England was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. The English merchants were ahead in the development of commerce, which increased the demand for more goods. With... ...p us complete our work started with the Industrial Revolution and shows no signs of slowing down (Remini). The Industrial Revolution led to other revolutions, which further advanced our technology. The Transportation Revolution, Communications Revolution, and the Information Revolution can all be traced back to the Industrial Revolution. These revolutions had added to the prosperity of humankind, and each of them had their effects on society. The Industrial Revolution had far more of an impact on us than any other political revolutions of the era, mainly because the effects of the Industrial Revolution last much longer. For example, today we have automobiles, televisions, and computers, which were all made possible because of the effects of the Industrial Revolution. Without the Industrial Revolution, we probably would not have all the luxuries we have today. The Industrial Revolution Essay -- History, Machinery, Factory Workers The Industrial Revolution was an important time period in American history. It greatly affected the economy, industry, and standard of living for people in the United States. It still has everlasting effects to this day. Most of the products we use today are made quickly by the process of mass production. Today, people work on assembly lines using power-driven machines. People of ancient and medieval times had no such products. They had to spend many hours of hand labor to create very simple objects. The energy came from their muscles. Eventually some advancement occurred when people began using animals to help with the work they used to do alone. The Industrial Revolution was the movement in which machinery changed the methods of manufacturing goods and ultimately changed everyday life for workers (Remini). There were many things that helped ignite the Industrial Revolution. The most important change was the invention of machinery to do the work of hand tools, and the factory system. Before the creation of machinery children and adults did most of the work in order to have the products needed for civilized life. The Industrial Revolution was a gradual movement but it was still a radical change from the old way of producing goods. The Industrial Revolution became more powerful each year as new inventions were added into factories. The efficiency of production increased as these machines increased the speed of production. The Industrial Revolution started early in the 1800s in Europe but began late in the middle of the 1800s in America (Daniels & Hyslop pg 271). England was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. The English merchants were ahead in the development of commerce, which increased the demand for more goods. With... ...p us complete our work started with the Industrial Revolution and shows no signs of slowing down (Remini). The Industrial Revolution led to other revolutions, which further advanced our technology. The Transportation Revolution, Communications Revolution, and the Information Revolution can all be traced back to the Industrial Revolution. These revolutions had added to the prosperity of humankind, and each of them had their effects on society. The Industrial Revolution had far more of an impact on us than any other political revolutions of the era, mainly because the effects of the Industrial Revolution last much longer. For example, today we have automobiles, televisions, and computers, which were all made possible because of the effects of the Industrial Revolution. Without the Industrial Revolution, we probably would not have all the luxuries we have today.

Free Huckleberry Finn Essays: From Conformity to Manhood :: Adventures Huckleberry Huck Finn Essays

From Conformity to Manhood  Ã‚      In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck is the narrator. The character of Huck Finn was very different than the society that he was born into. Mr. Twain uses Huck’s open mindedness as a window to let humor and the book’s points and morals shine through. Huck always takes things very literally. This not only adds to the humor of the book, but it also lets some of the books deeper messages come through.  Ã‚   The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, traces the story of a young man, Huck Finn, from conformity to the Southern way of thinking, to his own ideas about religion, wealth and slavery. In the first scenes of the book Huck is struggling to understand the concepts of Miss Watson's heaven and hell. He finds her harp strumming view of heaven boring and he wants to be in an exciting place. When Miss Watson tells Huck that he will get anything he prays for, he takes it very literally and decides to pray for fishing line, which he gets. But praying for fishing hooks didn't seem to work, when he asks her to pray for him to get some fishing hooks she calls him an idiot. These are both gentle pokes at southern religion. Christianity practiced a people so very pious, like Miss Watson, who can still treat their human slaves like property. This is an ongoing theme in the book. Twain points out some of the absurd incongruences between Christianity and the lifestyle of most of the south. Huck has not conformed to societies general way of thinking. When he is with the widow and Miss Watson, he begins to change, but Pap steals him away and he reverts back to a much more practical l ifestyle. Huck places very little value on the large sum of money that he has in the bank, while he finds smaller sums more important. Six thousand dollars was a fortune in the time that the book was written, but Huck, unlike the rest of his society wasn't impressed by it. This is again because of his literal mindedness. What could he use six thousand dollars for? He could use ten cents to buy some food, or five cents to buy some fishing line, but he had no use for huge sums of money. Society put value on wealth and property and book learning.

Research Process and Terminology

Research Process and Terminology Performing a research requires a person with integrity and a strong will to continue until the research is complete and he or she is satisfied that the research was done to his or her best ability. When documenting the findings the researcher must report a complete finding of all data including information that may not be a promising as he or she would like. Researching is about finding out the likely hood of an event or crime. The researcher should begin the research not knowing, or expecting a particular outcome.Research is to better prepare the universe for what may occur giving certain situations. The integrity of the researcher will determine how valid the information from the research will be. Research is an important part of criminal justice. Effective research can determine the crime rate and possible ways of crime prevention. Terminology within the criminal justice system is a key factor in understanding and communication information effectiv ely. The lack of proper terminology when translating research data can be detrimental to a case.The criminal justice system has various research methods utilized in the system. The common research method is quantitative research. Quantitative is the concepts of assigning a numerical value. This method provides numerous ways to retrieve data, and use primarily to study the cause of crime. This method can also be used to determine patterns in situations involving criminal justice. The process of research in the criminal justice system has five general steps: problem formulation, research design, data collection, analysis and presentation, and conclusion.Problem formulation is selecting a problem to research. When selecting a research problem factor in the current state of the problem, the holes in the theory, and the funding to perform the research. The research design is determined the type of experiment to be performed, or a study group. Data collection is how the information will b e collected. Questionnaires, interviews, and reanalysis of existing data are some methods of collecting research data. Analysis and present the findings of the data collected. Create a summary of the finding and be prepared to present the report.The conclusion will be the researchers’ interpretations of what he or she believes the study showed. In order to understand the research methods and situation in criminal justice, one must be able to comprehend the terminology and know how to properly explain the results. An important term used in criminal justice system is capturing of the essence of reality, or concepts. Some examples of concepts in criminal justice system are crime, intelligence, police patrol, and recidivism. Recidivism is a reduction of crime in quantity and quality over a one year period.This term is commonly used when studying juvenile offenders. Juvenile recidivism rates can be retrieved on the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) website. NCJRS is a federally funded resource offering justice and substance abuse information to support research, policy, and program development worldwide (U. S. DOJ 2010). The resource is helpful and educational for anyone interested in criminal justice. Having knowledge of these terms and applying them appropriately is important in the criminal justice field.There can be many negative outcomes by not knowing the proper terminology while conducting criminal justice research. Information can be missed completely or misunderstood. Failure to understand the terminology can have a domino effect on criminal justice research. If a particular term is not defined properly the term could possibly affect the research and ultimately affect the end results. Being familiar with the terminology used in the criminal justice system enhances the knowledge and allows the opportunity to advance in the field.Effective research continues to be a strong foundation in the criminal justice system. Research is integr ated in the system and continues to be a vital tool when it comes to finding credible and factual information. Research methods and knowledge of terminology within those methods are tools that assist in finding that information. Failure to understand the terminology involved in the research processes may have negative affect on the research at hand. The end result of not comprehending the terminology could jeopardize a case in court.In order to prevent such negative effects from happening, it is important to make sure that there is a clear and concise understanding of the terminology involved regarding the research in the criminal justice field. Researchers have the obligation to perform research with the highest regard of integrity. The information which is collected during a research is more than likely to be published for the universe to view and use in order to prevent crime from being committed. If the data is incorrect or not validated by a series of test or taken from actual research done by the researcher, it could cause more harm than good.The researcher must be able to relay the information in the terminology in which it is intended to be done. The proper terminology is just as important as the research. References U. S. Department of Justice. (2005). Quantitative Research on Friction Ridge Patterns. Available: http://www. ncjrs. gov/pdffiles1/nij/sl000698. pdf. Last accessed 11/13/2010. U. S. Department of Justice. (2010). NCJRS. Available: http://www. ncjrs. gov/app/topics/Topic. aspx? topicid=146. Last accessed 11/13/2010.

To What Extent Does the Impact of World War I Explain the Outbreak of the Two Revolutions in 1917 ?

To what extent does the impact of World War I explain the outbreak of the two revolutions in 1917 ? To a certain extent, the First World War was a major contributing factor to the two revolutions that took place in 1917, the February and October Revolution. The war worsened the issues that already existed in Russia and also highlighted the lack of leadership shown by the Tsar and the Provisional Government set up after the February Revolution and also the Tsars military command over the army during the war. However, World War One was not the only reason for the revolutions taking place and acted as a tipping factor from the already undergoing social, political and economical problems plaguing Russia which led to the fall of the Tsar and the Provisional Government. The war was a massive mistake for Russia, it gained success support at first from the Russian public until they started to lose battles. After defeats in 1915 the poor attempt at retreating and the number of those wounded the high command and the Tsar were blamed which led to Nicholas II making one of his biggest mistakes ever whilst in his reign, Tsar Nicholas II took the advice of Grigori Rasputin, a peasant who was friends with the royal family from trying to heal their son of haemophilia, and went and led the Russian war effort. The tsar had a slender knowledge about war which led to him putting himself in a vulnerable position as he would now have to make all correct decisions or would be blamed by the people back home for any wrong decisions. Joe Gaucci, a historian, backs up this claim and states that the Tsars decision â€Å"proved disastrous as the government became increasingly chaotic†. Over 200,000 men were lost in the war and with 15 million peasants pulled from the farms the food shortage became a larger problem. The army started to lose faith in the Tsar, this was a vital for the revolution as they stopped shooting on the rioters and leading to the revolution continuing. The war also led to the downfall of the provisional government. After the Tsar leaving his role, the public called for peace and for Russia to leave the war. The provisional government tried to regain the support of the army and the Russian public by making the army launch the June offensive, with the July offensive in the first two weeks being able to exploit the poor morale of the Austrian Army were then pushed back because of soldiers refusing to obey order thus overriding the early success. After the Germans counter-attacked leaving thousands of soldiers deserted the army suffered a collapse. Not only did this show how poorly the Russian army was organised, equipped and mentally able to win the war but it also showed the Provisional Governments disregard of listening to the publics cries to stop the war. During the first revolution the political issues were a large factor for it to happen. With the Tsar leaving the country to command the army, the Tsarina was left in charge. This was a poor decision at first because the Tsarina was German and many people saw her as either a spy for Germany or having split allegiances so would make poor decisions and not consider what was best for Russia. The government became very unstable with the Tsarina in charge as she continually kept changing the ministers especially if they did not want to make decisions directed by the ‘Man of God’. On top of this the Tsarina took advice from a peasant called Rasputin, who was first Tsars Nicholas II’s sons doctor to try and cure his haemophilia. Rasputin was a advisor to the Tsarina and many speculated having an affair with her, while Tsarina was firing ministers he persuaded her to induct ministers, who were corrupt, into the high court. For the second revolution and the Provisional Government it was Lenin and the Bolsheviks who were the main political issue. Lenin knew the government was weak and published his ‘April theses’ which highlighted two areas ‘All power to the Soviets’ and ‘Peace, Bread, Land’ which also follows the saying ‘Bread and Circuses’ which is the common metaphor to explain the needs to keep the public of a country happy. After this in July the Bolsheviks supposedly were the brains behind the ‘July Days’ which almost lead to a revolution, instead it lead to the Provisional Government arresting main leaders of the Bolsheviks such as Trotsky, however the bolsheivik party was still allowed to run. The biggest provisional government mistake was during the Kornilov affair in which the bolsheivks were released from prison, given guns and told to fight, in the end they were not needed but were seen as the heroes of the day. The provisional Governments poor handling of the Bolsheiviks could also lead to someone believing that politics was the reason for the Revolutions. Both of the political factors for the revolutions breaking out could be attributed to World War I Economic Problems During both revolutions Russia was struggling with economic problems. The three main factors which affected the economy of Russia was the Inflation, Food shortages and the affect of industrialization in the cities. Inflation occurred mainly because of the Governments spending which increased by 400% between August 1914 and March 1917, this would have occurred because of the war but affected the people of Russia as inflation increased as they kept printing more money, taxes then slumped as sale of alcohol was banned which contributed a large sum of taxes as the government possessed a monopoly on the sale of vodka. When the war started in 1914 15 million peasants were called up to aid the war effort, this resulted in the agriculture sector becoming affected and eventually food shortages started in 1916, this affected the cities a considerable amount as transport was mainly used for supplying the army and everything they needed. With industrialization happening at the same time as the war, Petrograd and Moscow’s populations increased and resulted in overcrowding. Factories were hiring more people than they were before the war and many people were affected by the food shortages, the first signs of a revolution started in 1916 when one million workers went on strike. These economic problems can all be attributed to World War I breaking out. Why the war wasn’t a factor Some could argue that the World War was not the cause of the two revolutions. The Tsar had gained alot of support from the war at first and many believe they should work together to win the war but all of this came undone when he removed himself from Russia to join the army in the front line. It could also be argued that even though the war contributed to the Revolution the problems for the revolutions was there before the war and anything could have triggered the revolution. But its just so happened that poor decisions during the war lead to the revolution occurring. The first revolution could be the result of the poor political set up in Russia. With a Duma being granted by the Tsar after the 1905 Revolution. With the Duma being set up after the October manifesto it was useless as it had no power with the Tsar still being the main controller of the Duma. It could not do anything against the Tsar otherwise risking being shut down and even though it supposedly gave more power to the people in matter of fact the Tsar had the majority of control. conclusion In conclusion, even though there were factors such as social, economic and political within the country which varied between short and long term as well as foolish decisions made by Tsar Nicholas II and Kerensky leader of the provisional government. The world war was the cause of most of the problems and also was the cataylyst of tese problems making them worse. Because of this reasoning the World War should be considered as a large cause and factor for both October and February revolution of Russia in 1917.

Calcium Carbonate and Ca2+ Ions

Experiment. EDTA Titration of Ca2+ in an unknown solution Experiment. EDTA Titration of Ca2+ in an unknown water sample Modified 9/2012 Objective: The most common multivalent metal ions in natural waters are Ca2+ and Mg2+. In this experiment, you will find the total concentration of calcium ions that can react with EDTA with the assumptions that EDTA reacts 1:1 with metal (Ca2+) ions. Equipment 250-mL Erlenmeyer flask (3) 50-mL Buret Ring-stand and hardware Desiccator 400-mL Beaker 500-mL Vol. flask 250-mL Vol. flask 1. 0-mL Vol Pipette 100-mL Grad cylinder Hot plate Safety and Waste DisposalChemicals Buffer (pH 10): Add 142 mL of 28 wt % aqueous NH3 to 17. 5 g of NH4Cl and dilute to 250 mL with water. Eriochrome black T indicator: Dissolve 0. 2 g of the solid indicator in 15 mL of triethanolamine plus 5 mL of absolute ethanol. 50 wt % NaOH: Dissolve 100 g of NaOH in 100 g of H2O in a 250-mL plastic bottle. Store tightly capped. When you remove solution with a pipet, try not to distu rb the solid Na2CO3 precipitate. Discussion: Hard water is due to metal ions (minerals) that are dissolved in the ground water. These minerals include Ca2+, Mg2+, Fe3+, SO42-, and HCO3-.Generally hard water arises because rainwater moves through limestone, CaCO3 underground that occurs in our area to the aquifer. This is why we measure hardness in terms of CaCO3. The concentration of the Ca2+ ions is greater than the concentration of any other metal ion in our water. The determination of water hardness is routinely used to measure the quality of water that the general public uses. Originally, water hardness was defined as the measure of the capacity of the water to precipitate soap. Hard water is not a health hazard since the main chemical in hard water is calcium.People regularly take calcium supplements. In fact, hard water can be a source of necessary minerals (calcium and magnesium) that is necessary for good health. Indeed, the National Academy of Science go so far as stating t hat that consuming extremely hard water could be a major contributor of calcium and magnesium to the diet. The problem with hard water is that it cause soap scum, clog pipes and clog boilers. Soap scum is formed when the calcium ion binds with the soap. This causes an insoluble compound that precipitates to form the scum you see.Soap actually softens hard water by removing the Ca2+ ions from the water. When hard water is heated, CaCO3 precipitates out, which then clogs pipes and industrial boilers. This leads to malfunction or damage and is expensive to remove. There are two types of water hardness, temporary and permanent. Temporary hardness is due to the bicarbonate ion, HCO3-, being present in the water. This type of hardness can be removed by boiling the water to expel the CO2, as indicated by the following equation: HCO3- (aq) ? H2O (l) + CO2 (g). Because bicarbonate can be removed it is classified as temporary hardness.Permanent hardness is due to the presence of the ions Ca2+ , Mg+2, Fe3+ and SO4-2. Because boiling cannot eliminate this type of hardness, the water is said to be permanently hard. The table below shows the degree of hardness of the water in terms of its calcium carbonate concentration in ppm and grains. Hardness rating Soft Medium Hard Hard Very Hard Concentration of Calcium Carbonate (mg/L or ppm) 0 < 75 75 to < 150 150 to < 300 300 and greater Concentration of Calcium Carbonate (grains/US gallon) 0 to < 5. 2 5. 2 to < 10. 5 10. 5 to < 21 21 and greaterPermanent hardness is usually determined by titrating it with a standard solution of ethylenediamminetetraacetic acid, EDTA. The EDTA is a complexing, or chelating agent used to capture the metal ions. This causes water to soften, but the metal ions however, are not removed from the water. EDTA simply binds the metal ions so that the ions do not precipitate to form soap scum. EDTA is a versatile chelating agent. A chelating agent is a substance whose molecules can form several bonds to a si ngle metal ion. Chelating agents are multidentate ligands.A ligand is a substance that binds with a metal ion to form a complex ion. Multi-dentate ligands are many clawed, holding onto the metal ion to form a very stable complex. EDTA can form four or six bonds with a metal ion. It is frequently used in soaps and detergents because it forms complexes with calcium and magnesium ions. The ions in hard water are bound to the EDTA and cannot interfere with the cleaning action of the soap or detergent. EDTA is also used in foods. Certain enzymes are responsible for food spoilage. EDTA is used to remove metal ions from these enzymes.It is used to promote color retention in dried bananas, beans, chick peas, canned clams, pecan pie filling, frozen potatoes and canned shrimp. It is used to improve flavor retention in canned carbonated beverages, beer, salad dressings, mayonnaise, margarine, and sauces. It inhibits rancidity in salad dressings, mayonnaise, sauces and salad spreads. In this la b you will be asked to determine the total permanent hardness. EDTA grabs all the metal ions in the water, not just the Ca2+ ions. This gives us a value that is not truly the concentration of Ca2+ ions.This causes an experimental error of about 1%, which is acceptable due to the â€Å"fuzzy† endpoints in this type of titration. Erio-T indicator or Eriochrome Black-T indicator is used in this titration. When it is chelated or acidifies, it produces a Pink-Red solution. When it is not chelated and under basic conditions it is Blue. The three pictures show the end point in this titration. There is a 1-drop difference of 0. 01 M EDTA between the first and second pictures and between the second and third pictures. Two or three seconds were allowed for colors in the second and third pictures to develop after adding the additional drop.In each case the solution was thoroughly mixed. This color change from wine red to violet to blue is due to the compact nature of the complex. Experi ment. EDTA Titration of Ca2+ in an unknown solution PROCEDURE Modified 9/2012 1. Dry Na2H2EDTA. 2H2O (FM 372. 24) at 80 ° C for 1 h and cool in the desiccator. Accurately weigh out ~ 0. 6 g and dissolve it with heating in 400 mL of water in a beaker. Cool to room temperature pour into a 500-mL volumetric flask. , mix and dilute to the mark. 2. You should practice finding the end point several times by adding a little tap water in a clean beaker and titrating with EDTA.Save a solution at the end point to use as a color comparison for other titrations. 3. Pipet a 1-mL sample of unknown into a 250-mL flask and fill to the mark with deionized water. Mix thoroughly. From this 250-mL stock solution draw 4, 50mL aliquot samples and place each aliquot in 250mL Erlenmeyer flasks. To each sample, add 3 mL of pH 10 buffer and 6 drops of Eriochrome black T indicator. To the first 50-ml solution, titrate with EDTA from a 50-mL buret and note when the color changes from wine red to blue. 4. Rep eat the titration with the next three samples to find an accurate value of the total Ca2+ concentration.Perform a blank titration with 50 mL of distilled water and subtract the value of the blank from each result. 5. Upon completion of the experiment, discard all solution in a chemical waste bottle and wash out the glassware. Be sure to dry your buret in the upside down position.Calculations – Analysis: Analyte Ca2+The reaction of Ca2+ ions with H2EDTA2- takes place with a 1:1 stoichiometric ratio: Ca2+ + EDTA2- ? At the end point of the titration, 1-equivalent of Ca2+ reacts with one equivalent of H2EDTA2-. 1 eqv Ca2+ = 1 eqv H2EDTA2-; equivalent Ca2+ = [H2EDTA2-] †¢ Vol EDTA CaH2EDTA. Recall that the analyte (we call this unknown solution) was prepared by taking exactly 1-mL of the unknown solution and diluting in a 250-mL volumetric flask (we will call this the stock solution) 50-mL aliquot (call this the analyte) of this solution was then titrated against EDTA. Note that the analyte concentration is equal to the stock solution concentration. The mass Ca2+ in 1 mL aliquot unknown: Mass of Ca2+ in 50mL Sample = â€Å"H 2EDTA2? $ †¢ â€Å"Vol EDTA $ = mol H 2EDTA2- = mol Ca2+in 50mL Analyte # % # % Mass of Ca2+ in 1mL of unknown = mol Ca2+ ? 250mL aliquot Ca2+ __ g Ca2+ ? 50mL Analyte mol ? ? Dilution Factor Atomic mass Ca Mass of Ca2+ in 1 L solution: Mass Ca2+ in 1 L = mass Ca2+ in 1 mL Aliquot †¢ 1000 mL 1 mL Concentration of unknown by percent (m:v), parts per hundred (m:v) and Molarity (M): Mass Ca in 1mL aliquot Vol aliquot solution used % Ca2+ m:v = †¢ 100 ppm Ca2+ m:v = Mass Ca in 1mL aliquot Vol aliquot solution used †¢ 106 Molarity Ca2+ = mass Ca2+ in 1mL †¢ 1 mol Ca __g Ca ? ? ? molar mass Ca †¢ 1 Volume in L of unknown Aliquot used Mass in grams of calcium carbonate unknown in 1L solution: Mass CaCO 3 in 1-L = mass ppt (g) †¢ 1 mol CaC 2O 4 †¢ H 2O __ g CaC 2O 4 †¢ H 2O ? molar mass Ca C O †¢ H O 2 4 2 †¢ 1 mol CaCO 3 1 mol CaC 2O 4 †¢ H 2O 1 mol CaCO 3 Vol in L of aliquot ? ? ? ? Molar mass CaCO 3 †¢ __ g CaCO 3 †¢ 1L Dilution Factor Statistical Analysis – 1. Report the mean, medium, standard deviations (s), relative standard deviation (RSD), variance (s2) and the 95% confidence interval for your results. 2. 3. 4. Apply the student’s t test at the 95% confidence interval Apply a Q-test to any suspected result. Confidence interval = x + ts n 5. Compare the results of this experiment to the previous experiment, Gravimetric determination of Ca. Apply the Comparison of Means with Student’s t, Case2 (p76) Comparing Replicate Measurements. Do the two methods agree within the 95% confidence interval? â‚ ¬ Test for Outlier Apply a Grubb’s Test and Q-Test for any suspected outliers at 95 % level. See page 83 of text for critical values for 95% confidence.If your results show an anomalous data then use the Q-test to determine if the result should be rejected. Q= (Suspected Value – Nearest Value) (Suspected Value – Furthest Value) G calc = | Questionable value – x| s Table of Data, Results and Statistical Analysis: Calcium Raw Data 1. Unknown number 2 Mass of EDTA used 3 Concentration of EDTA 4 Volume of Unknown Ca2+ Solution 5 Volume EDTA during titration 6 Volume EDTA for blank trials 7 Q-Test (95%) of any outlier Analysis and Results 8 Mass of calcium in 1-mL aliquot (Average) 9 Mass of calcium in 1-L solution (Average) 10 Conc. of calcium, %, ppm (m:v) and Molarity (Average) 11 Mass of calcium carbonate in 1-L (Average) Statistical Analysis 12 Averages and Standard deviations of all results 13 Variance, RSD and CV of all results 14 95% Confidence interval 15 ttable and tcalc for replicate measurementsDiscussionThe goal of this experiment was to determine the â€Å"hardness† of the unknown sample by calculating the concentration of calcium ions in an analyte sol ution. Correcting for dilution factors, the concentration of calcium in the unknown in g/L is to be determined and compared to analysis for calcium by EDTA titration. Statistical analysis is applied to the results. A discussion of this experiment should include the accuracy and precision of this experiment compared to the EDTA titration method. An analysis of a comparison of replicated measurement is performed and discussed. Table of results should include Include in your summary table the following: i) Moles of Ca2+ in the unknown and the average equivalent value. ii) Concentration of [Ca2+ ] in the unknown in molarity, ppm and g/L iv) Mean, standard deviations, RSD and CV for each of the above concentration units. v) Student’s t at the 95% confidence interval vi) Application of a G and Q-test to any suspected result at the 95% level. vii) ttable, tcalc, Conclusion on comparison of replicated measurements.Experiment. EDTA Titration of Ca2+ in an unknown solution Modified 9/2 012 Sample data table. Sample Unknown # ______ Mass Na2EDTA, (g) Molarity Na2EDTA, (M) Vol. unknown, (ml) Buret Volinitial, (ml) Buret Volfinal, (ml) Volume EDTA used, (ml) Vol EDTA for blank, (ml) Corrected Col EDTA, (ml) Trial 1 Mass Ca2+ in 1 ml aliquot (g) Mass Ca2+ in 1-L solution (g) Concentration Ca (%) Concentration Ca (ppm) Molarity Ca2+, unknown (M) Mass calcium carbonate in 1L Q and G Test for Outliner CaCO3 (g/L), unknown Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Average Std dev Variance RSD , CV 95% CL Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Blank Student’s t Analysis: Comparing replicate measurements Analysis A: CaCO3 (g/L) 1 2 3 4 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Avg Avg X1bar – X2bar Sqrt ((n1*n2)/(n1+n2)) (xi-x1)^2 deg freedom Spooled Expt 2 Expt 3 Ex2 (Xi-Xbar)^2 Ex3 (Xi-Xbar)^2 T calc t table Conclusion T calc ? T table, at 95%, two result are (not) considered to be different EDTA Titration of Ca2+ in an unknown solution. # 1 2 CRITERIA (Tentative point distribution – m ay change depending on experiment) Quiz / Homework [NONE} Introduction and ProceduresA. IntroductionObjective of Expt.Background information.Math relationship used in study.B. ProceduresOutline of procedures in Expt.Flow chart pictorial of procedures. Procedural changes.Information (data) to be recorded during experiment. (to be presented in Table form. )Safety and disposal information. This portion of the report should be turned in before the start of lab class (prelab discussion). Data, Observe. , Results and Calc.C. Data and ObservationData in table form. & detailed observations written in the table. All data entry should contain the proper number of significant figures and units. Data should always be recorded in an organize fashion.Balance chemical equations; all chemical reaction which occurred during an experiment should be written in this section. Then it should also be written in the discussion portion of the report. This portion of the report should be turned in before you leave the laboratory.Calculations & ResultsD. CalculationsSample calculation shown with Excel spreadsheet available with formulas shownStatistical analysis of data and result. Avg, Std dev, RSD, CVE. ResultsSummary of Result(s) in table form. In this section accuracy of results is very important as well as detailed calculation showing how the result was obtain. â€Å"Unknown† will also be included in this section. Discussion / Conclusions and Post-Lab QuestionsF. Discussion (Talking points)What is your final result in this experiment. Are the four trials consistent with each other? If not what would account for the inconsistencies? How did the results in this experimental result compare to the result in experiment 2? Is your result for the amount of calcium carbonate in your unknown within the range of 10 – 25 g/L? Elaborate on this. What is the average amount of calcium in tap water, how much more higher is this unknown compared to the average content in tap water (e xpress in %).G. ConclusionSummary of the goal of the experiment and how that goal was achieved in the experiment. H. Post-lab questions or Editorial commentWhat did you learn in this experiment? What skills in lab practice did you develop through this expt? This portion (Calculation and Discussion) is turned in at the beginning of class of the due-date Overall Presentation (of lab notebook)Lab technique during experiment; example are, class preparation, safety glasses precautions and leaving the laboratory clean.Report presentation: examples are the headings of each report that includes name, title, lab partner, date and section #, witness signature. Legibility of report. Is the report easy to read or is important information jotted down by small print in the corners of the lab report. The overall impression is important. Lab TechniqueSafety: wear goggles, handle chemicals with caution, proper handling of lab equipmentLeave lab clean and tidy

Hesitation of Managed Care to Use Data Mining Essay

One of the biggest hesitations would have to be cost to build an implement such a system. The technique depends on an organization having â€Å"clean† data to analyze, which requires data being scrubbed and moved to data warehouses. Many payers lack the money and manpower to build and maintain these warehouses. (Kongstvedt, P., Capagemini). In addition, internal politics and the numerous constituencies within a managed care organization can make it difficult to focus data mining efforts, says Scott Kozicki. What has changed in this industry to adopt data mining? The demand for more organizations to become more efficient, customers are demanding more and better services in shorter amounts of time. Another change would have to be HIPAA, which stands for Healthcare Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, it was a law that has many different facets to it one of which protects your private health information. The standards mandated by HIPAA have made the data â€Å"cleaner† and streamlines the analysis efforts. What complexities arise when data mining is used in health care organizations? One thing that makes data mining in health care organizations complex is just the same as what has helped get it going, HIPAA. Even though it has created standard rules for cleaning data, it requires that you encrypt information being transmitted over the internet, which adds costs to doing so. Some organizations only require it on certain transactions, but some want it done on every transaction. Doing this can increase the cost significantly causing it to raise the costs back up, making it not as feasible to use this practice. Assume you are an employer and that your managed care organization raises your rate based on the results of data mining and predictive modeling software. What are your opinions? What would help make up your mind in regards to adopting these rate changes? My opinion would vary depending on what type of data they were using and where they got the data from, was it from our employees or a group similar to ours. I would be okay with the rate change as long as they could prove they used data from my specific employees and they had significant data supporting their reasons for the increase in rates.

A Dirty Job Chapter 2

After that, it was a memory out of a sleepwalk, scenes filmed from a zombie’s eye socket, as he ambled undead through explanations, accusations, preparations, and ceremony. â€Å"It’s called a cerebral thromboembolism,† the doctor had said. â€Å"A blood clot forms in the legs or pelvis during labor, then moves to the brain, cutting off the blood supply. It’s very rare, but it happens. There was nothing we could do. Even if the crash team had been able to revive her, she’d have had massive brain damage. There was no pain. She probably just felt sleepy and passed.† Charlie whispered to keep from screaming, â€Å"The man in mint green! He did something to her. He injected her with something. He was there and he knew that she was dying. I saw him when I brought her CD back.† They showed him the security tapes – the nurse, the doctor, the hospital’s administrators and lawyers – they all watched the black-and-white images of him leaving Rachel’s room, of the empty hallway, of his returning to her room. No tall black man dressed in mint green. They didn’t even find the CD. Sleep deprivation, they said. Hallucination brought on by exhaustion. Trauma. They gave him drugs to sleep, drugs for anxiety, drugs for depression, and they sent him home with his baby daughter. Charlie’s older sister, Jane, held baby Sophie as they spoke over Rachel and buried her on the second day. He didn’t remember picking out a casket or making arrangements. It was more of the somnambulant dream: his in-laws moving to and fro in black, like tottering specters, spouting the inadequate clichs of condolence: We’re so sorry. She was so young. What a tragedy. If there’s anything we can do†¦ Rachel’s father and mother held him, their heads pressed together in the apex of a tripod. The slate floor in the funeral-home foyer spotted with their tears. Every time Charlie felt the shoulders of the older man heave with a sob, he felt his own heart break again. Saul took Charlie’s face in his hands and said, â€Å"You can’t imagine, because I can’t imagine.† But Charlie could imagine, because he was a Beta Male, and imagination was his curse; and he could imagine because he had lost Rachel and now he had a daughter, that tiny stranger sleeping in his sister’s arms. He could imagine the man in mint green taking her. Charlie looked at the tear-spotted floor and said, â€Å"That’s why most funeral homes are carpeted. Someone could slip.† â€Å"Poor boy,† said Rachel’s mother. â€Å"We’ll sit shivah with you, of course.† Charlie made his way across the room to his sister, Jane, who wore a man’s double-breasted suit in charcoal pinstripe gabardine, that along with her severe eighties pop-star hairstyle and the infant in the pink blanket that she held, made her appear not so much androgynous as confused. Charlie thought the suit actually looked better on her than it did on him, but she should have asked him for permission to wear it nonetheless. â€Å"I can’t do this,† he said. He let himself fall forward until the receded peninsula of dark hair touched her gelled Flock of Seagulls platinum flip. It seemed like the best posture for sharing grief, this forehead lean, and it reminded him of standing drunkenly at a urinal and falling forward until his head hit the wall. Despair. â€Å"You’re doing fine,† Jane said. â€Å"Nobody’s good at this.† â€Å"What the fuck’s a shivah?† â€Å"I think it’s that Hindu god with all the arms.† â€Å"That can’t be right. The Goldsteins are going to sit on it with me.† â€Å"Didn’t Rachel teach you anything about being Jewish?† â€Å"I wasn’t paying attention. I thought we had time.† Jane adjusted baby Sophie into a half-back, one-armed carry and put her free hand on the back of Charlie’s neck. â€Å"You’ll be okay, kid.† Seven,† said Mrs. Goldstein. â€Å"Shivah means ‘seven.’ We used to sit for seven days, grieving for the dead, praying. That’s Orthodox, now most people just sit for three.† They sat shivah in Charlie and Rachel’s apartment that overlooked the cable-car line at the corner of Mason and Vallejo Streets. The building was a four-story brick Edwardian (architecturally, not quite the grand courtesan couture of the Victorians, but enough tarty trim and trash to toss off a sailor down a side street) built after the earthquake and fire of 1906 had leveled the whole area of what was now North Beach, Russian Hill, and Chinatown. Charlie and Jane had inherited the building, along with the thrift shop that occupied the ground floor, when their father died four years before. Charlie got the business, the large, double apartment they’d grown up in, and the upkeep on the old building, while Jane got half the rental income and one of the apartments on the top floor with a Bay Bridge view. At the instruction of Mrs. Goldstein, all the mirrors in the house were draped with black fabric and a large candle was placed on the coffee table in the center of the living room. They were supposed to sit on low benches or cushions, neither of which Charlie had in the house, so, for the first time since Rachel’s death, he went downstairs into the thrift shop looking for something they could use. The back stairs descended from a pantry behind the kitchen into the stockroom, where Charlie kept his office among boxes of merchandise waiting to be sorted, priced, and placed in the store. The shop was dark except for the light that filtered in the front window from the streetlights out on Mason Street. Charlie stood there at the foot of the stairs, his hand on the light switch, just staring. Amid the shelves of knickknacks and books, the piles of old radios, the racks of clothes, all of them dark, just lumpy shapes in the dark, he could see objects glowing a dull red, nearly pulsing, like beating hearts. A sweater in the racks, a porcelain figure of a frog in a curio case, out by the front window an old Coca-Cola tray, a pair of shoes – all glowing red. Charlie flipped the switch, fluorescent tubes fired to life across the ceiling, flickering at first, and the shop lit up. The red glow disappeared. â€Å"Okaaaaaaay,† he said to himself, calmly, like everything was just fine now. He flipped off the lights. Glowing red stuff. On the counter, close to where he stood, there was a brass business-card holder cast in the shape of a whooping crane, glowing dull red. He took a second to study it, just to make sure there wasn’t some red light source from outside refracting around the room and making him uneasy for no reason. He stepped into the dark shop, took a closer look, got an angle on the brass cranes. Nope, the brass was definitely pulsing red. He turned and ran back up the steps as fast as he could. He nearly ran over Jane, who stood in the kitchen, rocking Sophie gently in her arms, talking baby talk under her breath. â€Å"What?† Jane said. â€Å"I know you have some big cushions down in the shop somewhere.† â€Å"I can’t,† Charlie said. â€Å"I’m on drugs.† He backed against the refrigerator, like he was holding it hostage. â€Å"I’ll go get them. Here, hold the baby.† â€Å"I can’t, I’m on drugs. I’m hallucinating.† Jane cradled the baby in the crook of her right arm and put a free arm around her younger brother. â€Å"Charlie, you are on antidepressants and antianxiety drugs, not acid. Look around this apartment, there’s not a person here that’s not on something.† Charlie looked through the kitchen pass-through: women in black, most of them middle-aged or older, shaking their heads, men looking stoic, standing around the perimeter of the living room, each holding a stout tumbler of liquor and staring into space. â€Å"See, they’re all fucked up.† â€Å"What about Mom?† Charlie nodded to their mother, who stood out among the other gray-haired women in black because she was draped in silver Navaho jewelry and was so darkly tanned that she appeared to be melting into her old-fashioned when she took a sip. â€Å"Especially Mom,† Jane said. â€Å"I’ll go look for something to sit shivah on. I don’t know why you can’t just use the couches. Now take your daughter.† â€Å"I can’t. I can’t be trusted with her.† â€Å"Take her, bitch!† Jane barked in Charlie’s ear – sort of a whisper bark. It had long ago been determined who was the Alpha Male between them and it was not Charlie. She handed off the baby and cut to the stairs. â€Å"Jane,† Charlie called after her. â€Å"Look around before you turn on the lights. See if you see anything weird, okay?† â€Å"Right. Weird.† She left him standing there in the kitchen, studying his daughter, thinking that her head might be a little oblong, but despite that, she looked a little like Rachel. â€Å"Your mommy loved Aunt Jane,† he said. â€Å"They used to gang up on me in Risk – and Monopoly – and arguments – and cooking.† He slid down the fridge door, sat splayed-legged on the floor, and buried his face in Sophie’s blanket. In the dark, Jane barked her shin on a wooden box full of old telephones. â€Å"Well, this is just stupid,† she said to herself, and flipped on the lights. Nothing weird. Then, because Charlie was many things, but one of them was not crazy, she turned off the lights again, just to be sure that she hadn’t missed something. â€Å"Right. Weird.† There was nothing weird about the store except that she was standing there in the dark rubbing her shin. But then, right before she turned on the light again, she saw someone peering in the front window, making a cup around his eyes to see through the reflection of the streetlights. A homeless guy or drunken tourist, she thought. She moved through the dark shop, between columns of comic books stacked on the floor, to a spot behind a rack of jackets where she could get a clear view of the window, which was filled with cheap cameras, vases, belt buckles, and all manner of objects that Charlie had judged worthy of interest, but obviously not worthy of a smash-and-grab. The guy looked tall, and not homeless, nicely dressed, but all in a single light color, she thought it might be yellow, but it was hard to tell under the streetlights. Could be light green. â€Å"We’re closed,† Jane said, loud enough to be heard through the glass. The man outside peered around the shop, but couldn’t spot her. He stepped back from the window and she could see that he was, indeed, tall. Very tall. The streetlight caught the line of his cheek as he turned. He was also very thin and very black. â€Å"I was looking for the owner,† the tall man said. â€Å"I have something I need to show him.† â€Å"There’s been a death in the family,† Jane said. â€Å"We’ll be closed for the week. Can you come back in a week?† The tall man nodded, looking up and down the street as he did. He rocked on one foot like he was about to bolt, but kept stopping himself, like a sprinter straining against the starting blocks. Jane didn’t move. There were always people out on the street, and it wasn’t even late yet, but this guy was too anxious for the situation. â€Å"Look, if you need to get something appraised – â€Å" â€Å"No,† he cut her off. â€Å"No. Just tell him she’s, no – tell him to look for a package in the mail. I’m not sure when.† Jane smiled to herself. This guy had something – a brooch, a coin, a book – something that he thought was worth some money, maybe something he’d found in his grandmother’s closet. She’d seen it a dozen times. They acted like they’ve found the lost city of Eldorado – they’d come in with it tucked in their coats, or wrapped in a thousand layers of tissue paper and tape. (The more tape, generally, the more worthless the item would turn out to be – there was an equation there somewhere.) Nine times out of ten it was crap. She’d watched her father try to finesse their ego and gently lower the owners into disappointment, convince them that the sentimental value made it priceless, and that he, a lowly secondhand-store owner, couldn’t presume to put a value on it. Charlie, on the other hand, would just tell them that he didn’t know about brooches, or coins, or whatever they had and let someone else bear the b ad news. â€Å"Okay, I’ll tell him,† Jane said from her cover behind the coats. With that, the tall man was away, taking great praying-mantis strides up the street and out of view. Jane shrugged, went back and turned on the lights, then proceeded to search for cushions among the piles. It was a big store, taking up nearly the whole bottom floor of the building, and not particularly well organized, as each system that Charlie adopted seemed to collapse after a few weeks under its own weight, and the result was not so much a patchwork of organizational systems, but a garden of mismatched piles. Lily, the maroon-haired Goth girl who worked for Charlie three afternoons a week, said that the fact that they ever found anything at all was proof of the chaos theory at work, then she would walk away muttering and go out in the alley to smoke clove cigarettes and stare into the Abyss. (Although Charlie noted that the Abyss looked an awful lot like a Dumpster.) It took Jane ten minutes to navigate the aisles and find three cushions that looked wide enough and thick enough that they might work for sitting shivah, and when she returned to Charlie’s apartment she found her brother curled into the fetal position around baby Sophie, asleep on the kitchen floor. The other mourners had completely forgotten about him. â€Å"Hey, doofus.† She nudged his shoulder with her toe and he rolled onto his back, the baby still in his arms. â€Å"These okay?† â€Å"Did you see anything glowing?† Jane dropped the stack of cushions on the floor. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Glowing red. Did you see things in the shop glowing, like pulsating red?† â€Å"No. Did you?† â€Å"Kind of.† â€Å"Give ’em up.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"The drugs. Hand them over. They’re obviously much better than you led me to believe.† â€Å"But you said they were just antianxiety.† â€Å"Give up the drugs. I’ll watch the kid while you shivah.† â€Å"You can’t watch my daughter if you’re on drugs.† â€Å"Fine. Surrender the crumb snatcher and go sit.† Charlie handed the baby up to Jane. â€Å"You have to keep Mom out of the way, too.† â€Å"Oh no, not without drugs.† â€Å"They’re in the medicine cabinet in the master bath. Bottom shelf.† He was sitting on the floor now, rubbing his forehead as if to stretch the skin out over his pain. She kneed him in the shoulder. â€Å"Hey, kid, I’m sorry, you know that, right? Goes without saying, right?† â€Å"Yeah.† A weak smile. She held the baby up by her face, then looked down in adoration, Mother of Jesus style. â€Å"What do you think? I should get one of these, huh?† â€Å"You can borrow mine whenever you need to.† â€Å"Nah, I should get my own. I already feel bad about borrowing your wife.† â€Å"Jane!† â€Å"Kidding! Jeez. You’re such a wuss sometimes. Go sit shivah. Go. Go. Go.† Charlie gathered the cushions and went to the living room to grieve with his in-laws, nervous because the only prayer he knew was â€Å"Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep,† and he wasn’t sure that was going to cut it for three full days. Jane forgot to mention the tall guy from the shop. A Dirty Job Chapter 2 After that, it was a memory out of a sleepwalk, scenes filmed from a zombie’s eye socket, as he ambled undead through explanations, accusations, preparations, and ceremony. â€Å"It’s called a cerebral thromboembolism,† the doctor had said. â€Å"A blood clot forms in the legs or pelvis during labor, then moves to the brain, cutting off the blood supply. It’s very rare, but it happens. There was nothing we could do. Even if the crash team had been able to revive her, she’d have had massive brain damage. There was no pain. She probably just felt sleepy and passed.† Charlie whispered to keep from screaming, â€Å"The man in mint green! He did something to her. He injected her with something. He was there and he knew that she was dying. I saw him when I brought her CD back.† They showed him the security tapes – the nurse, the doctor, the hospital’s administrators and lawyers – they all watched the black-and-white images of him leaving Rachel’s room, of the empty hallway, of his returning to her room. No tall black man dressed in mint green. They didn’t even find the CD. Sleep deprivation, they said. Hallucination brought on by exhaustion. Trauma. They gave him drugs to sleep, drugs for anxiety, drugs for depression, and they sent him home with his baby daughter. Charlie’s older sister, Jane, held baby Sophie as they spoke over Rachel and buried her on the second day. He didn’t remember picking out a casket or making arrangements. It was more of the somnambulant dream: his in-laws moving to and fro in black, like tottering specters, spouting the inadequate clichs of condolence: We’re so sorry. She was so young. What a tragedy. If there’s anything we can do†¦ Rachel’s father and mother held him, their heads pressed together in the apex of a tripod. The slate floor in the funeral-home foyer spotted with their tears. Every time Charlie felt the shoulders of the older man heave with a sob, he felt his own heart break again. Saul took Charlie’s face in his hands and said, â€Å"You can’t imagine, because I can’t imagine.† But Charlie could imagine, because he was a Beta Male, and imagination was his curse; and he could imagine because he had lost Rachel and now he had a daughter, that tiny stranger sleeping in his sister’s arms. He could imagine the man in mint green taking her. Charlie looked at the tear-spotted floor and said, â€Å"That’s why most funeral homes are carpeted. Someone could slip.† â€Å"Poor boy,† said Rachel’s mother. â€Å"We’ll sit shivah with you, of course.† Charlie made his way across the room to his sister, Jane, who wore a man’s double-breasted suit in charcoal pinstripe gabardine, that along with her severe eighties pop-star hairstyle and the infant in the pink blanket that she held, made her appear not so much androgynous as confused. Charlie thought the suit actually looked better on her than it did on him, but she should have asked him for permission to wear it nonetheless. â€Å"I can’t do this,† he said. He let himself fall forward until the receded peninsula of dark hair touched her gelled Flock of Seagulls platinum flip. It seemed like the best posture for sharing grief, this forehead lean, and it reminded him of standing drunkenly at a urinal and falling forward until his head hit the wall. Despair. â€Å"You’re doing fine,† Jane said. â€Å"Nobody’s good at this.† â€Å"What the fuck’s a shivah?† â€Å"I think it’s that Hindu god with all the arms.† â€Å"That can’t be right. The Goldsteins are going to sit on it with me.† â€Å"Didn’t Rachel teach you anything about being Jewish?† â€Å"I wasn’t paying attention. I thought we had time.† Jane adjusted baby Sophie into a half-back, one-armed carry and put her free hand on the back of Charlie’s neck. â€Å"You’ll be okay, kid.† Seven,† said Mrs. Goldstein. â€Å"Shivah means ‘seven.’ We used to sit for seven days, grieving for the dead, praying. That’s Orthodox, now most people just sit for three.† They sat shivah in Charlie and Rachel’s apartment that overlooked the cable-car line at the corner of Mason and Vallejo Streets. The building was a four-story brick Edwardian (architecturally, not quite the grand courtesan couture of the Victorians, but enough tarty trim and trash to toss off a sailor down a side street) built after the earthquake and fire of 1906 had leveled the whole area of what was now North Beach, Russian Hill, and Chinatown. Charlie and Jane had inherited the building, along with the thrift shop that occupied the ground floor, when their father died four years before. Charlie got the business, the large, double apartment they’d grown up in, and the upkeep on the old building, while Jane got half the rental income and one of the apartments on the top floor with a Bay Bridge view. At the instruction of Mrs. Goldstein, all the mirrors in the house were draped with black fabric and a large candle was placed on the coffee table in the center of the living room. They were supposed to sit on low benches or cushions, neither of which Charlie had in the house, so, for the first time since Rachel’s death, he went downstairs into the thrift shop looking for something they could use. The back stairs descended from a pantry behind the kitchen into the stockroom, where Charlie kept his office among boxes of merchandise waiting to be sorted, priced, and placed in the store. The shop was dark except for the light that filtered in the front window from the streetlights out on Mason Street. Charlie stood there at the foot of the stairs, his hand on the light switch, just staring. Amid the shelves of knickknacks and books, the piles of old radios, the racks of clothes, all of them dark, just lumpy shapes in the dark, he could see objects glowing a dull red, nearly pulsing, like beating hearts. A sweater in the racks, a porcelain figure of a frog in a curio case, out by the front window an old Coca-Cola tray, a pair of shoes – all glowing red. Charlie flipped the switch, fluorescent tubes fired to life across the ceiling, flickering at first, and the shop lit up. The red glow disappeared. â€Å"Okaaaaaaay,† he said to himself, calmly, like everything was just fine now. He flipped off the lights. Glowing red stuff. On the counter, close to where he stood, there was a brass business-card holder cast in the shape of a whooping crane, glowing dull red. He took a second to study it, just to make sure there wasn’t some red light source from outside refracting around the room and making him uneasy for no reason. He stepped into the dark shop, took a closer look, got an angle on the brass cranes. Nope, the brass was definitely pulsing red. He turned and ran back up the steps as fast as he could. He nearly ran over Jane, who stood in the kitchen, rocking Sophie gently in her arms, talking baby talk under her breath. â€Å"What?† Jane said. â€Å"I know you have some big cushions down in the shop somewhere.† â€Å"I can’t,† Charlie said. â€Å"I’m on drugs.† He backed against the refrigerator, like he was holding it hostage. â€Å"I’ll go get them. Here, hold the baby.† â€Å"I can’t, I’m on drugs. I’m hallucinating.† Jane cradled the baby in the crook of her right arm and put a free arm around her younger brother. â€Å"Charlie, you are on antidepressants and antianxiety drugs, not acid. Look around this apartment, there’s not a person here that’s not on something.† Charlie looked through the kitchen pass-through: women in black, most of them middle-aged or older, shaking their heads, men looking stoic, standing around the perimeter of the living room, each holding a stout tumbler of liquor and staring into space. â€Å"See, they’re all fucked up.† â€Å"What about Mom?† Charlie nodded to their mother, who stood out among the other gray-haired women in black because she was draped in silver Navaho jewelry and was so darkly tanned that she appeared to be melting into her old-fashioned when she took a sip. â€Å"Especially Mom,† Jane said. â€Å"I’ll go look for something to sit shivah on. I don’t know why you can’t just use the couches. Now take your daughter.† â€Å"I can’t. I can’t be trusted with her.† â€Å"Take her, bitch!† Jane barked in Charlie’s ear – sort of a whisper bark. It had long ago been determined who was the Alpha Male between them and it was not Charlie. She handed off the baby and cut to the stairs. â€Å"Jane,† Charlie called after her. â€Å"Look around before you turn on the lights. See if you see anything weird, okay?† â€Å"Right. Weird.† She left him standing there in the kitchen, studying his daughter, thinking that her head might be a little oblong, but despite that, she looked a little like Rachel. â€Å"Your mommy loved Aunt Jane,† he said. â€Å"They used to gang up on me in Risk – and Monopoly – and arguments – and cooking.† He slid down the fridge door, sat splayed-legged on the floor, and buried his face in Sophie’s blanket. In the dark, Jane barked her shin on a wooden box full of old telephones. â€Å"Well, this is just stupid,† she said to herself, and flipped on the lights. Nothing weird. Then, because Charlie was many things, but one of them was not crazy, she turned off the lights again, just to be sure that she hadn’t missed something. â€Å"Right. Weird.† There was nothing weird about the store except that she was standing there in the dark rubbing her shin. But then, right before she turned on the light again, she saw someone peering in the front window, making a cup around his eyes to see through the reflection of the streetlights. A homeless guy or drunken tourist, she thought. She moved through the dark shop, between columns of comic books stacked on the floor, to a spot behind a rack of jackets where she could get a clear view of the window, which was filled with cheap cameras, vases, belt buckles, and all manner of objects that Charlie had judged worthy of interest, but obviously not worthy of a smash-and-grab. The guy looked tall, and not homeless, nicely dressed, but all in a single light color, she thought it might be yellow, but it was hard to tell under the streetlights. Could be light green. â€Å"We’re closed,† Jane said, loud enough to be heard through the glass. The man outside peered around the shop, but couldn’t spot her. He stepped back from the window and she could see that he was, indeed, tall. Very tall. The streetlight caught the line of his cheek as he turned. He was also very thin and very black. â€Å"I was looking for the owner,† the tall man said. â€Å"I have something I need to show him.† â€Å"There’s been a death in the family,† Jane said. â€Å"We’ll be closed for the week. Can you come back in a week?† The tall man nodded, looking up and down the street as he did. He rocked on one foot like he was about to bolt, but kept stopping himself, like a sprinter straining against the starting blocks. Jane didn’t move. There were always people out on the street, and it wasn’t even late yet, but this guy was too anxious for the situation. â€Å"Look, if you need to get something appraised – â€Å" â€Å"No,† he cut her off. â€Å"No. Just tell him she’s, no – tell him to look for a package in the mail. I’m not sure when.† Jane smiled to herself. This guy had something – a brooch, a coin, a book – something that he thought was worth some money, maybe something he’d found in his grandmother’s closet. She’d seen it a dozen times. They acted like they’ve found the lost city of Eldorado – they’d come in with it tucked in their coats, or wrapped in a thousand layers of tissue paper and tape. (The more tape, generally, the more worthless the item would turn out to be – there was an equation there somewhere.) Nine times out of ten it was crap. She’d watched her father try to finesse their ego and gently lower the owners into disappointment, convince them that the sentimental value made it priceless, and that he, a lowly secondhand-store owner, couldn’t presume to put a value on it. Charlie, on the other hand, would just tell them that he didn’t know about brooches, or coins, or whatever they had and let someone else bear the b ad news. â€Å"Okay, I’ll tell him,† Jane said from her cover behind the coats. With that, the tall man was away, taking great praying-mantis strides up the street and out of view. Jane shrugged, went back and turned on the lights, then proceeded to search for cushions among the piles. It was a big store, taking up nearly the whole bottom floor of the building, and not particularly well organized, as each system that Charlie adopted seemed to collapse after a few weeks under its own weight, and the result was not so much a patchwork of organizational systems, but a garden of mismatched piles. Lily, the maroon-haired Goth girl who worked for Charlie three afternoons a week, said that the fact that they ever found anything at all was proof of the chaos theory at work, then she would walk away muttering and go out in the alley to smoke clove cigarettes and stare into the Abyss. (Although Charlie noted that the Abyss looked an awful lot like a Dumpster.) It took Jane ten minutes to navigate the aisles and find three cushions that looked wide enough and thick enough that they might work for sitting shivah, and when she returned to Charlie’s apartment she found her brother curled into the fetal position around baby Sophie, asleep on the kitchen floor. The other mourners had completely forgotten about him. â€Å"Hey, doofus.† She nudged his shoulder with her toe and he rolled onto his back, the baby still in his arms. â€Å"These okay?† â€Å"Did you see anything glowing?† Jane dropped the stack of cushions on the floor. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Glowing red. Did you see things in the shop glowing, like pulsating red?† â€Å"No. Did you?† â€Å"Kind of.† â€Å"Give ’em up.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"The drugs. Hand them over. They’re obviously much better than you led me to believe.† â€Å"But you said they were just antianxiety.† â€Å"Give up the drugs. I’ll watch the kid while you shivah.† â€Å"You can’t watch my daughter if you’re on drugs.† â€Å"Fine. Surrender the crumb snatcher and go sit.† Charlie handed the baby up to Jane. â€Å"You have to keep Mom out of the way, too.† â€Å"Oh no, not without drugs.† â€Å"They’re in the medicine cabinet in the master bath. Bottom shelf.† He was sitting on the floor now, rubbing his forehead as if to stretch the skin out over his pain. She kneed him in the shoulder. â€Å"Hey, kid, I’m sorry, you know that, right? Goes without saying, right?† â€Å"Yeah.† A weak smile. She held the baby up by her face, then looked down in adoration, Mother of Jesus style. â€Å"What do you think? I should get one of these, huh?† â€Å"You can borrow mine whenever you need to.† â€Å"Nah, I should get my own. I already feel bad about borrowing your wife.† â€Å"Jane!† â€Å"Kidding! Jeez. You’re such a wuss sometimes. Go sit shivah. Go. Go. Go.† Charlie gathered the cushions and went to the living room to grieve with his in-laws, nervous because the only prayer he knew was â€Å"Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep,† and he wasn’t sure that was going to cut it for three full days. Jane forgot to mention the tall guy from the shop.