A Day When Everything Went Worng Essay

I just cannot think myself lucky when a day of my life goes totally wrong. Recently after starting university a day made me totally upset and frustrated. It was a normal day but my mobile did not give any alarm in the morning so I woke up late. While I was in hurry for university my mother told me that our driver did not come today so I had to go alone. I lived in Dhanmondi and the university was in Bashundhara so I had to take a CNG for university. As soon as I reached Nabisco the CNG had stopped. I asked what happened to the CNG driver. He answered me that the gas was finished and he had to refill it now. As I was late before I just came out from the CNG and hired another one. Finally I reached to the university but it was 10 minutes late. I saw that everyone was writing in the class. When I asked what was going on, they replied me that miss was taking a surprise test. My heart was biting fast but when I heard about the test it started biting faster. After the class I went to the cafe for a cold drink but I found that I had only 50 taka with me. See more: Defining research problem and setting objectives Essay Then I remembered that in harry I forget to take money from mother for CNG rent and I already paid 180 taka to the CNG when I came here. So, I had no money for food at the same time no money for further CNG rent. I had to take bus for home but I never had a bus ride alone before. After asking some of my friends I got an idea about the bus counter here. Then I went there and took a bus. When I heard the bus conductor was screaming ‘New Market’, I found that I was in the wrong bus. This bus was in new market but I should take a bus which had a stoppage in Kolabagan. Since I had nothing to do, I had to get off in new market and took a rickshaw. When finally I was in home it was 6 pm. As long as I met with my mom I saw she was getting ready for going out and she was looking tensed. I asked her what happened. She answered me that one of my aunts was in hospital and maybe she had cancer. I just suddenly became blank. What should I do now? After a while I decided to go with my mom. We were there in the hospital till late night. When I reached home I thought about the whole day and marked it as a totally wrong day of my life.

Bite Me: A Love Story Chapter 23

23. Brat in the Paper Aisle MAKEDA She stood under the eave of a post office that looked out on the Safeway parking lot, watching the old man with the dogs pounding at the door. Well, that would make seven. She knew she should wait for the others, but what fun was there in that. A lean black guy let the old man and his dogs into the store, then locked the door behind him. She moved to the side of the building, then along the front behind a long train of shopping carts, where she could look through the windows without being seen herself. They were spread out, each working an aisle to himself. She really should call for the others. Neither would be that far away, but she did so little on her own anymore. She examined the window. Thick Plexiglas, she wasn't going through that. She could kick the door down, of course, but then they would run and there'd be chasing and if any got away Rolf would pout with disapproval for months. Not that she wasn't beyond pouting herself. She once awakened to find Bella and Rolf merged together in mist without her and refused to take solid form for a year except to feed. That was how they began each night, merged in mist form, still inside their titanium chamber, experiencing every corner of each other's consciousness, every memory, every emotion, every want, every fear-complete knowing, complete intimacy. After an hour or so, they would assume their solid forms, then leave the chamber and feed, or watch a video of a sunrise or sunset. That was it! Mist. She would go into the store by stealth. Except for the one with the dogs, they were all young men, weren't they? She knew she could hold the rapt attention of a young man. She'd take each one, drain him without the others even knowing what happened, then share the experience with Rolf and Bella tomorrow night. It was always fun to bring something new and dangerous to their night. She wouldn't be able to wear her special suit, or take any of the weapons, but it was just as well. She couldn't leave bodies. Seven. She'd be as full as a tick, ready to pop. She checked that none of them was by the door, hid her weapons under the shopping carts, then lay down and oozed out of the Kevlar bodysuit, across the sidewalk, and under the door. Rock and roll was blasting out of the PA system, filling the store with a relentless chainsaw rhythm guitar that drowned all other sound. She swirled around the registers, then started to make her way across the aisles. The first two were empty, then in the third, the old man was sitting all by himself on a milk crate. Scented candles were lit up and down either side of the aisle, as if someone had laid out a landing strip. She could sense the others around her, but her perceptions weren't as sharp in mist form and the odor and heat from the candles made it nearly impossible to tell how far away they were. Their heartbeats and breathing were lost in the music, but there was blood in the air. All over in the air. She floated up to the ceiling, where she could see over the tops of the shelf gondolas. There were two of them working on the other side of the store, bobbing in time to the music. Rolf would have wafted back out the door and called the others, and Bella would have drawn an elaborate plan to stalk them, one at a time, and pick them off when they were alone, but that was exactly why she wasn't going to do either of those things. As she pulled herself into solid form she felt a horrible wrenching in her chest, like her heart caving in on itself. Not a physical pain, but a sudden absence. One of the others was suddenly not there. Rolf. Just not there. She stood there in front of the old man, naked, shaking, trying to bring herself back to the hunt. â€Å"Don't scream,† she said. THE EMPEROR He didn't like that the men were locked in the walk-in cooler, and he didn't like that the Animals had tied him up, rubbed liver and steaks all over him, and set him on a milk box, but he had done his duty to his city. He had alerted the only people who would listen to the presence of the black ship, told them what the strange faux-Hawaiian had said about the old vampires coming for them, and he could have some peace of mind in that. They didn't have to duct tape his hands so tightly, and tape his ankles to the milk box. They could have just asked. Ah, youth. She materialized about twelve feet in front of him, nude, nubile, and athletic, so black she might have been made of polished ironwood, yet the death-pallor made her lips appear lavender. Her hair was trimmed close to her scalp, her eyes appeared to be gold, but he couldn't tell for sure. She shivered for a moment, as if a current was being applied to her body. He watched her muscles tensing and relaxing, rippling under her skin in waves. Then she stopped shaking and opened her eyes. â€Å"Don't scream,† she said. Blood tears formed in the corners of her eyes. â€Å"Oh my, if you aren't lovely,† said the Emperor. She smiled and he saw fangs there, and he suddenly felt as if he might wet himself. She moved a few steps closer to him. â€Å"Are those steaks on your shoulders?† she said. â€Å"Yes. There's liver in my pockets as well.† She cocked her head as if listening. â€Å"Where are the others?† â€Å"I don't know,† he said. Her hand shot out and in an instant her fingers were wrapped in his beard and she was pulling his head back, not yanking, but pulling with an irresistible strength, as if he'd been hitched to a power winch. â€Å"Where are they?† He could feel his vertebrae cracking, feel her raking her fangs over his neck. Then the sound of a high-pressure gas burst and she wasn't there, and there was a length of heavy nylon line in the space where her face had been. â€Å"Down!† came Lash's voice, as he, Troy Lee, Jeff, and Drew all rolled out of the shelves where they had been hiding behind rows of toilet paper and paper towels. The vampire woman's head was pinned to a bale of paper towels with the stainless-steel spear from Barry's spear gun. She screeched like a wildcat and pulled herself away and leapt at Drew, who was leveling a Super Soaker. Lash yanked the spear gun and the nylon line whipped her around. Jeff and Troy Lee opened garden sprayers on her from the front, while Drew unloaded the Super Soaker from the back. She screeched and writhed in the streams, but her flesh was coming off in great slimy chunks, as if she were wax and had been dropped into a foundry furnace. It was all over in ten seconds, and every item for twenty feet in either direction had been knocked off the shelves, the Emperor was on his back, unable to right himself, and the ancient vampire was a puddle of red goo that still bubbled as it broke down. â€Å"What do you know,† said Troy Lee. â€Å"Grandma's tea worked.† Lash nodded and threw the spear gun to the floor with a clank. â€Å"Clint! Clean up on aisle four!† JODY Because she never liked going to the gym, Jody decided to stake out the Raven from the roof of an office building next door instead of on the Bay Club. The fact that she'd been able to leap from brick balcony to brick balcony until she was on the roof, six floors up, proved what she had always maintained, at least when she was alive: working out is narcissistic bullshit. She almost wished that the girls she'd worked with at the Transamerica Building could see her now-all of them stuffing themselves into Spandex and nylon after work and heading to the Bay Club or 24 Hour Fitness in hope of meeting someone who wasn't a creep and, in the case of the Bay Club members, someone who was rich. She imagined them saying, â€Å"Do you want to come with us? We can get you a guest pass. Mohitos afterward?† â€Å"No thanks,† she'd say. â€Å"I'm going to go bench-press an Audi a couple of sets, grab the satchel with the three-hundred grand I stashed on a roof up the street, and go back to my loft and fuck my immortal boyfriend until dawn.† Okay, that wasn't really what she was going to do, but she for goddamn sure was not going to the gym and getting all sweaty so she could meet guys. She didn't even want to be on the roof of the gym, knowing that there was unprotected fitness going on below. She could see the Raven across the Embarcadero, and the Rasta kid was doing nautical stuff with different instruments. At least she thought he was doing nautical stuff. He could have just been dicking around with expensive equipment. None of the vampires was there. There were lights coming from a few of the ports below the cockpit, but she didn't see any movement. The sense of immediacy that had driven her here had evaporated somewhat. She thought about calling Tommy, but didn't have any idea what his new cell phone number might be. She used Abby's phone and dialed Foo's number, but it went to voice mail, which she didn't see as a good sign. If the other two vampires were out of the ship, and she had to wait for them to return, she'd never get a shot at them from this far away. If they didn't come back until dawn, she'd be caught outside at sunrise. There was a warehouse by the pier, perhaps that roof. And she'd set herself a time limit. If they didn't show by a half-hour before sunup, she'd head back to the loft. Even at a slow, human jog she'd make it in plenty of time. She'd have to sneak down the back of the building, though. You didn't want people to see you jumping two or three stories at a time. She understood why the vampires had to keep their secret, she really did, but not at the expense of them killing her friends. â€Å"Good view?† A woman's voice came from behind her. Jody rolled and whipped around, pulling Foo's UV laser from the waistband of her jeans. She didn't have on the sun-glasses so she pointed the laser at the figure coming across the roof toward her, closed her eyes, turned away, then fired. The laser buzzed out a blue beam that lasted two seconds, then started making a high-pitched whining sound as it recharged its capacitor. â€Å"Oh, very nice,† came the voice. It was definitely a woman, amazing figure, wearing a skin-tight black suit, a black mask, and sunglasses, and carrying some sort of weapon. She looked like a superhero. Jody was on her feet, in a crouch. The laser thing was still charging, but maybe it would fire a weaker blast, give her time to move. â€Å"Nah, nah, nah.† The woman raised her weapon, and fired. A stuttering stream of pellets peppered Jody's arm and she lost hold of the laser. Jody felt as if her arm were on fire. She looked to see ten tiny holes, each smoking, with a clear liquid, not blood running out of it. The woman whipped off her hood and sunglasses, but kept the weapon trained on Jody. She was stunning, a pale, Mediterranean beauty with waist-length hair like black silk and almost impossibly large eyes. â€Å"That light thing is sweet, but you should get one of these,† she said. â€Å"It's basically just a pellet gun modified to fire chemical pellets, but the chemical, there's the magic.† â€Å"It burns like hell,† Jody said. â€Å"Yes, it does. And I could cut you in half with this before you could get to me. That's the problem with light weapons, they don't have range and it doesn't take much to stop them. Like this suit, for instance. I mean, this thing has a UV light on it, but that's just to keep you from turning to mist. Can you do that, fledgling?† â€Å"That's what Elijah called me,† Jody said. â€Å"That's what he called all of us in our day.† Jody tried to figure out how to get to the woman. She knew she could move impossibly fast for a human, but this was another vampire, a very old vampire. She had once squared off against Elijah thinking all things were equal among vampires and he'd nearly ended her. As if she was reading Jody's thoughts the vampire fired her weapon and Jody felt her other arm light up with pain from shoulder to elbow. â€Å"Ouch. Fuck. You bitch!† â€Å"Bella, not bitch. And what were you going to do to me, fledgling? Do you have any idea what you've done? We have been together hundreds of years. You ended pieces of history. You took parts of me.† She fired again and Jody's right leg gave way. â€Å"What do you mean, pieces?† â€Å"You don't know what it is to merge with another being then? With a lover? We were lovers, Rolf, Makeda, and me, for hundreds of years, and now they are gone.† â€Å"I don't know what you're talking about.† â€Å"Both are gone, I could feel it. Funny, I didn't know I was always aware of their presence until they were gone. Not an hour ago. I'm alone now. I should let you live if only because we've lost two. There are fewer than a hundred of us, fledgling, and you might have been one of us.† â€Å"I didn't know,† Jody said. â€Å"I don't even care anymore. Maybe I'll just kill you and lie down and wait for the sun to come up. I'll never even know what happened.† â€Å"Trust me, that's not as painless as you think it is,† Jody said. â€Å"Don't!† said Bella. She raised her weapon again but this time, when the little UV light came on, Jody pushed off with her good leg, did a high backflip, and fell six stories to the courtyard below. She expected to feel bone-crushing pain, hear the crackle of vertebrae, maybe even the crunch of her skull, but instead she felt warm water envelop her. She had landed in the Bay Club's pool, which meant she must have launched herself a good forty feet away from the roof. Her predator mind, the one that had risen to tell her that the City was hers, now kicked in, assessing survival. She was under water, that was good. The pellet weapon wouldn't penetrate the water more than a foot before losing it's effectiveness. Plus, the pool water was flushing out whatever heinous chemical had been burning her. She felt herself healing, even as she hovered at the bottom of the pool. She could stay there indefinitely without breathing if necessary. The bad news was that Bella was still up there, and as soon as Jody left the water, the good news would end. It was very unlikely she could take the older vampire hand-to-hand, even if she could get past the pellet weapon, but she could run. Even if she was no faster than Bella, she knew this neighborhood. She'd worked here for years, and she wasn't three blocks from Okata's dismal little apartment. She dug in her jacket pocket and found Abby's phone. It was a weatherized model and the screen was still showing the time. Still four hours until sunup, and that was a guess. She had to cut it extremely close, but if she could bolt away from the Raven with just enough time to find shelter herself, but not enough time for Bella, she just might get away. And maybe in the meantime, Rivera and Cavuto would call out a S.W.A.T. team to storm the black ship. Or the Animals would blow it up, like they had Elijah's yacht. Maybe Bella would dive into the water after her, although losing the high ground would take away a distinct advantage. Maybe one of the people in the apartments above would look down and think there was a body in the pool, and she could make her escape when the EMTs came to rescue her. That's it. She assumed the yoga posture called â€Å"down-floating corpse† and waited, listening for any disturbance that might indicate she had company in the pool, and concentrated on her wound healing. Maybe if she healed enough she could go to mist and sneak out that way. She hadn't moved a lot in mist form, nor had she ever changed under water and she wasn't sure she could, but it might be worth a try. A shadow fell across the bottom of the pool, cast by the mercury lights above, and she flipped over to see Bella moving catlike at the edge of the pool. Then again, maybe not. CHET He'd watched them slaughter all of his fellow vampire cats and instead of running, as would have been his feline instinct, he tracked the killers, which was behavior born entirely of his human side. The three sides of his nature were in constant conflict. Even now, his cat side hated water, and wanted to flee, but his human side felt hate rising and wanted to attack. The vampire side told him to remain hidden, to approach in stealth, as mist, but his cat side told him to pounce, rip her throat out with claw and fang. It occurred to him, as he watched from the roof of the Bay Club as she paced around the pool in her skin-tight black suit, that water or no water, revenge or no revenge, he was going to hump the bejezus out of her before any other action took place. There was part tomcat in all of his natures. He'd started his pack by mating with any female in heat, then they turned males, and so on. And he continued his undead romp through the alleys and backyards of San Francisco, but as he grew larger, and the human part of him manifested, he was just too big to finish the deed. If he fed on them, they went to dust before he got to hump them, and if humped them, they didn't survive for him to feed on them, and he'd humped a bunch of cats to death before he figured that out. It turned out, size did matter. But here was the perfect solution. Moving strong and sexy, just the right size-he could lock his jaws on her neck and have at it, then drink her blood or bite her head off as the whim hit him, and all the time that horrible weapon would be pointed away from him. He went to mist and oozed down the side of the building in a stream that blended with the night fog creeping in off the Bay. JODY Jody just happened to be looking up at Bella's watery silhouette against the mercury light when she saw another shape appear behind Bella, leap on her back, and pull her away from the edge of the pool. Jody was not going to sit around checking references, whatever that thing was, it was an ally. She came out of the water like a rocket, and in two steps she leapt to the top of the twelve-foot security fence and looked back. Something had pulled Bella around and now had her face-down on the pavement and appeared to be humping the bejezus out of her. Jody knew she shouldn't, but she paused. Big kitty ears, big kitty tail, big kitty sinking his fangs into the back of Bella's neck. Kitty was as big as Bella, maybe a little bigger. Chet. Bad kitty, Jody thought. Bella shrieked, then launched herself backward with her arms, lifting both of them into the air, where they did a half-backflip and landed on the concrete with Chet's back as the point of impact. He let go with his jaws and Bella spun around and let loose with the pellet weapon. Chet yowled and jerked on the ground. Bella strafed his neck, which dissolved instantly into a mass of goo. He stopped moving. Jody had seen enough. She leapt off the fence to the sidewalk and took off into the financial district, taking a right at the next corner, then a left, going as fast as her legs would carry her-to hell with someone seeing. She tried to go to mist, but couldn't. Either the fear or her injuries were stopping her. She could hear Bella's footsteps behind her, a block away, now less than a block. What was the range of that pellet weapon anyway? Left on Broadway, left on Battery, right on Pacific, footsteps on her ass, now left on Sansome, next left, she heard the pellet gun sputter and she felt her right leg go out from under her. She rolled and tried to come up but the gun sputtered again and her left leg was gone. She rolled over onto her back, pushed away, scooting on her butt. The gun spat and her left elbow stopped working. â€Å"Fuck, how much ammo does that thing have?† â€Å"More than I'll need to turn you to soup,† Bella said. â€Å"Oh look, no swimming pool.† â€Å"Shame, I guess you won't get to enjoy another kitty fuck.† The gun spat. Jody's right arm folded behind her with a splash of pain. Bella ran her nails over her breast. â€Å"Didn't happen. This suit will stop light, even small-caliber firearms-â€Å" But evidently not blades, Jody thought. Because she was a vampire, and things happened more slowly to her predator eyes, she saw the blade come over Bella's shoulder, enter her body at her left trapezius, and zip across her chest and her kitty-dick-proof suit to exit just under her right arm. Bella's head and right arm slid right, her left arm and the rest of her body fell left. She had a rather surprised expression on her face that stayed there, even as her mouth continued to work soundlessly, as if she really, desperately wanted to finish that last sentence. â€Å"Hello,† Okata said. Jody looked past the swordsman to the sign on the corner that read: JACKSON STREET.

Latin and United States

Apush Revolution is a huge change of power under a very short period of time. The world revolution comes from the Latin language and is defined as â€Å"a turn around†. It is an overthrow of government by the human population being governed. It is a very sudden event, which can last from 5 months to ten years. Changes occur regardless over a short period of time. America was a revolution whether we like it or not. It went through many changes under such a short period of time, which would consider it a revolution. America has hosted many revolutions. The country itself has been an entire revolution.We still go through many changes as a country, as we grow and build. In addition, America has grown incredibly quick since it was found by Christopher Columbus in 1492. We have become diverse. Take slavery, which was abolished and now nonexistent in this country. We have the ability to change drastically which is a beautiful thing. Standing up for our rights is what has changed our country incredibly. Unfortunately, people claim America was never considered a revolution. These humans do not look deeply under the surface of the situation though. Take all of the arguments and battles that we have been through.Take example, pilgrims settling in America for the first time. They formed communities, to towns. We then populated over the entire United States. Our country is the epitome of change. In conclusion, the United States of America will always be considered a revolution all on its own. Too many changes have occurred in this country for it not to be a revolution. People are welcome to argue the point, but everyone in the end knows the real answer. We should be happy with the fact of our country being able to change so well. It is something not many countries our capable of.

A research that works on the education system to develop it as much as Paper

A that works on the education system to develop it as much as possible - Research Paper Example 1).† Researchers assert that the implication of the use of technology in moderating education by applying heuristics evaluation of mobile services in Saudi Arabia merit further investigation. 2. Gogu, E., Muresan, M., & Turdean, M. (2012). Academic Excellence through Research and Development of Higher Education Institutions at Domestic and International Level, Romanian Statistical Review Supplement, Romanian Statistical Review, vol. 60(2), pages 135-140. Saudi Arabia have made a priority to establish world-class universities for academic excellence like Aisan countries. Saudi King Abdullah has allocated $ 10 billion for the new Science and Technology University like how U.S., China, European Union and Japan invested much on technology to improve education. 3. Hepbasli, A.& Alsuhaibani, Z. (2011). A key review on present status and future directions of solar energy studies and applications in Saudi Arabia. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(9), pages 5021-5050. The study on renewable energy in Saudi Arabia is relevant in exploiting renewable solar energy. Technology has been utilized to understand the development of solar-powered hydrogen-generation plant and in evaluating available sustainable energy for energy policy formulation. It included review of â€Å"solar radiation correlations, exergetic solar radiation, solar collectors, solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, solar stills, solar-powered irrigation, solar energy-related greenhouses, solar hydrogen, solar water desalination and solar energy education (p. 1)† The use of technology therefore is more apt in understanding the complexity of realities that are being subjected for classroom interaction and researchers. 4. Al-Zoubi, S., Al-Faqeeh, M. & Rahman, M.B. E. (2013). An Evaluation of Special Education Program in Saudi Universities According To National Standards,"

The Effects of Management Style on Employee Performance Essay

The Effects of Management Style on Employee Performance - Essay Example Leadership style of management is essential in defining both the direction and the performance of an organization. However, the corporate world is full of one-directional leaders who center the whole of decision-making on them alone (Uchenwamgbe, 2013). Such leaders are authoritarian, and will only consult with the top management at best, while having the administration of the organization centered on them only. Such leaders do not invite the participation of subordinates, but rather requires them to follow orders. Nevertheless, it is important to realize that the need to have subordinates involved in the organizational decision making is not a passing fancy (Mullins, 2007). Employee participation is rooted deep in the culture of successful organizations, and no doubt continues to drive them. The other major problem affecting the corporate world leadership is the lack of authenticity of the leaders in different leadership and management capacities. Thus, such leaders fail to define t heir own style of leadership, rather trying to emulate and copy the leadership strategies of other notable leaders. In most cases, such copied leadership styles lack merit, while such leaders lacks the competency to apply the copied leadership styles to achieve the set goals and targets of the organizations (Uchenwamgbe, 2013). Once this happens, the realization of the set organizational goals, as well as giving the appropriate direction and guidance to the employees is thrown into disarray.

Festivals of Greece & Rome Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Festivals of Greece & Rome - Essay Example The Romans theatre history shows that they had several problems especially the stage craft and the imbalanced concept of drama with stage performances. As a result the stages in the beginning were constructed based on Greek models. In fact the concept of drama was introduced to Romans only from the Greeks. In this instance Romans stand next to the Greeks not equal to Greeks. The Greeks have a mythological background for all its religious festivals. Greeks’ strong faith in the supremacy of God is evident from the worship of each God and the reason they associate with their Gods. They honored their Gods through these festivals and had a faith that they could be punished in terms of earthquake or war if they don’t honor Gods. A festival according to both Greeks and Romans is not only for them but also for other visitors and participants from other countries to take part in competitions and contests. Especially sports, music and games. The course of the festival is declared as holiday. Greeks declare their festivals honoring their Gods such as Zeus, Olympia, Hera, and Dionysus who symbolize health, fertility, vegetation etc. The Greeks looked at their Gods as personifications of spring and periods. Where as most of the Roman festivals are celebrated during summer. Women were treated with equal importance as a result a special festival is organized for women honoring the Goddess Olympia, where sports events were conducted for women. The Panathenic festival in honor of the Goddess Hera, contained contests for singers, poets and playwrights. The Athens festival was considered as the most interesting event of the year, where series of operas, symphonies and ballets were performed at the theatre of Herodes Atticus. The influence of Greek drama could be seen in all the plays of all the times. Greeks performed plays in other religious festivals also especially the Church quoted dramatic scenes to explain religious

Cliente Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Cliente Project - Assignment Example As the patient is having obesity, so the physician has decided to suggest physical training facilities. It has been expected that the physical exercise will be suitable for restoring the patient’s condition. As the patient is having high blood pressure and diabetes, the clinical exercise testing is preferably suitable for the patient’s health condition. The cardiorespiratory testing is considered to be one of the important diagnoses for those patients who are suggested for Clinical Exercise Testing. Cardiorespiratory testing is important for those patients affected by hypertension or high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and obesity. Thus, the client is suitable for the cardiorespiratory testing. 4. GXT test includes HR rates, BP level and physical description such as height and weight of the clients. The test diagnoses the vulnerability of the heart dieses. GXT termination is helpful to identify the VO2max of the client by the exercised prescription. The 1 RM (repetition maximum) is the test of gold standard test which is concerning with the group mussels. For the upper body, the 1 RM is 300 lb barbell weight. The 1 RM upper body is 80% of 1 RM x 300 lbs barbell = 240 lb barbell. Adult patients are facing several changes on their health. The changes majorly affect the psychology of the patients. Adults of age group within 60 face problems related to obesity, blood pressure, blood sugar or diabetics and hypertension. The heath condition of the client is estimated based on the strength and weakness of the client’s profile. The client is of 60 years of age and does not have any major injury or major health related issues. The height of the patients is ascertained to be 6’0†. Though the client is little obese, but he does not want to make so much effort to lose the weight. Additionally, the patient is having regular exercise, which may have a good impact on

Discuss how and why leaders are able to influence their followers Essay - 1

Discuss how and why leaders are able to influence their followers. Illustrate your answer by using examples from different power - Essay Example Any form of leadership whether born or made must be associated with factors of situation, communication and followers. Since different leadership styles are applied under different situations, for a leader to be able to control and coordinate his followers then he must have a clear understanding about human knowledge, emotions, demands and how to consolidate goals and objectives of the firm. Moreover, good leadership is associated with appropriate communication skills which, involves giving illustrations whether verbally or through any other form and the followers reluctantly admit or accept the instructions without cohesion or use of force. In very concept of leader’s follower relationship, majority prefers leaders with whom they can give a lot of respect while offering guidance to the achievement of some visions and mission of a group (Neeraja 2011). Power In a broader context, power has been known to work effectively together with leadership or where leadership but the two are distinct and independent. By definition, power is described as the ability to influence the behavior of specific people or alter the cause of action with experience of no or very minimal resistance from the followers. There are several forms of power and each and every leader should be in a position to handle any form. Several researches have indicated that most leaders are psychologically ill prepared to handling different forms of power and therefore appropriate training is often advised so as to avoid cohesion and intrigues that may erupt form a group controlled by a specific leader (Lussier 2012). Concerning the guidance of an organizational behavior, power is considered as a vital concept totally different from authority that legitimizes organizational working. Several psychologists have come up with different forms of power but the most common types of powers include: Reward power This type of power involves a leader motivating the employees by offering incentives so as to enable them increase organizational productivity. All the aspects of financial demands would call for reward power. The main purpose of this type of power in an organization is to recognize the employees’ latitudes for the job well done. Besides, most leaders recognize this as the best method of cultivating employer employee relationship in an organization (Lane and Draft 2008). Coercive power This is where a leader instills fear on the followers so as to enhance organizational performances. It involves the use of threat and force by identifying the mistakes of the employees who therefore toil extremely hard son hard to sustain their jobs by meeting the targets. It is however, advised that leaders should avoid this type of power because no credibility and quality performance can be achieved by subjecting a person into coercive influence (Lane and Draft 2008). Legitimate power This type of power is accorded to a person to achieve a higher rank so that he can lead a specific t eam or a group of people. Legitimate power becomes more valid when organizational employees are able to recognize that position as the head they are able to abide with the direction of command of a specific head such as head of

Leadership from the Organisational Behaviour area of study Essay

Leadership from the Organisational Behaviour area of study - Essay Example Over the decades, numerous theories on the subject of organizational leadership have been suggested and deliberated over. These include, but are not limited to, Transactional Leadership, Trait Theory, Behavioural Theories, which constitute The Managerial Grid and Theory X and Theory Y, Situational Leadership, Participative Leadership, which comprises the infamous Lewin’s leadership styles, Contingency Theory, and Transformational Leadership (Time-Life Books 1994, p.453). Trait or Great Man theory places a leader at a different level in terms of thinking, dreams, ambitions and general intelligence as compared to the normal person. The major assumptions made in this theory include; some habits are specifically suited for leadership, individuals who make the best leaders have the perfect blend of leadership traits and the individuals inherently acquire those traits. Extensive research into successful leaders has been carried out in an attempt to discover some of these traits and if when applied to other individuals, they may also make good leaders. Some of these behaviours include intelligence, assertiveness, decisiveness, innovativeness, flexibility, conceptually skilled, team player, diplomacy, sensitivity to the social environment, dreamer, reliable, good orator, charismatic, dominance, persuasiveness and persistence (Burns 1978, p.654). Behavioural theories assume that leaders are not born, but made and that the best leadership is based on principles that can be practiced over time. These theories approach is not to focus on the inherent characteristics of an individual, but rather those habits that they have picked up over the years that have shaped and nurtured their leadership skills. There are two types of behaviour under this theory that each leader possess as a result of training. These include general concern

Electronic documents Essay Example for Free

Electronic documents Essay Before the birth if the World Wide Web, people used to rely solely on written and printed documents on paper. Researches depended on books and journals that can be found in libraries and bookstores. When one needed to look for a source, they would know only one place to look into which are libraries. This has been the traditional way of learning and still continues to become one of the main ways to learn. However, since the birth of the internet, electronic medium have come out and they have been used as sources by most students and scholars. Most users of such technology have enjoyed its services as it offers convenience at most. With a lot more advantages to this new medium, researchers can find different data in just one click and a few seconds. Paper documents have long been used even before the idea of electronic documents was brought up to the minds of people. There was even a time when it was the only medium known to mankind. Before Google and Yahoo, there were only but dictionaries and thesauruses. But why is it that paper documents seem to have been forgotten and buried immediately by its users as soon as electronic sources and the cyberspace arrived? This paper will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both paper documents and electronic documents. Perhaps readers will become enlightened as to why people have chosen electronic documents over paper documents most of the time. The paper will also be able to show which medium should be used in certain aspects which will depend on the needs of the users, depending on the strengths and weaknesses of both media. ARGUMENTS One of the main reasons why electronic documents are chosen over paper documents nowadays is because of the convenience that it offers. Looking for electronic documents can be done at home as long as you have a computer which is something that almost every home has. Yes, due to the widespread of electronic documents and the students’ preference of such over paper documents, computers have been in demand as well, and are almost a necessity for every student or professional. The convenience that electronic documents offers is far from what paper documents have in store for its users: manual searching and reading, especially when looking for a specific topic. This takes up a lot of time and energy. However, it teaches researchers to research well and not solely rely on instant searches. In line with convenience that electronic sources offer is the summaries and reviews that can be found online or even in word processors. This is a feature that can help users access information faster and have a better understanding on a certain document or topic. However, a fallback of this is that, most of the time researchers rely too much on the summaries and reviews and tend not to read the whole section anymore. This â€Å"shortcut† can either work as an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on the usage of readers. Although a lot of people own computers and laptops, there are still a few who do not. And this is due to the fact that computers can be expensive. An alternative to not owning a personal computer for access to electronic documents is to go to internet shops. However, such services are not free, unlike for paper documents which can be found in different libraries. Most documents that are in paper can be bought, but most of the time, they can be borrowed, which is one advantage over electronic sources. Electronic sources are often questioned of its credibility as there are a lot of sites which can be accessed by anyone, even those who are not experts on areas that they have written about. Take for example sites such as Wikipedia. org and About. com. These sites give fast but unreliable information. But since these sites give complete documents, a lot of researchers settle for them, which becomes a disadvantage for electronic sources. There are also some who claim to be experts but are hard to verify. The main problem with electronic sources is that, people behind the internet are hard to trace which makes it hard to find out whether one site is credible or not. Paper documents however have all the details and information essential to prove that such documents indeed come from credible sources. Most of the time there is a background of the author located inside the book, which proves the credibility of the document. This is done with some electronic sources as well, but in very few. Filing is one of the issues between electronic and paper documents. The problem with paper documents is that they get destroyed in floods, rains and fires. They easily get lost as well, especially if the filing was not very organized. For example, books in libraries can be easily lost if they are misplaced in the wrong shelf. However, electronic sources are easier to manage as they can be found in just one click. Databases will not get destroyed when they get wet or burned, as long as they are stored properly or even uploaded on the internet. The downside of electronic sources on this matter is that viruses can get to different documents saved in a personal computer which will lead to the deletion of such files. Also, there can be a lot of errors that can possibly happen in this technology which might endanger the presence of electronic documents. For example, computers crash for no reason at all and in one click, files can be thrown away and most of them can never be recovered. A major downfall of paper documents is its effects on the environment. Of course, it is common knowledge that papers come from trees. To produce one ton of paper, 17 trees are cut down, so paper documents take a lot out of the environment, not only through trees but also through water. To produce a paperback book, 28 liters of water is consumed, which can be a week supply of water for an individual. These facts only show that papers consume a lot of from the environment which might turn out to be very costly for humans in the future. Although electronic sources have turned out to be very convenient for its readers and users, it has become the opposite for publishers. The internet has a lot of issues as to its legality. There are a lot of illegal downloads which causes authors and publishers to lose credit from their work. The copyrights of different sources are pushed aside as there are a lot of free accesses to different sources and documents. A plus side on paper documents however is that it is highly accessible and very much portable. There are libraries everywhere and money is almost not a requirement. Also, the grammar and spelling is better because paper documents go through rigorous copyediting to ensure the quality of the documents, which in turn, makes it more reliable for the researchers and scholars using such medium. Electronic sources have lower production costs than paper documents. This is because paper documents have to be mass produced individually while electronic sources can reach millions of people in just one site. For example, one book has to have thousands of copies for it to make a mark. However, one source only needs to be posted in one site and needs words of mouth for it to reach a lot of people. This makes the distribution of information through electronic sources faster and easier. Documents that are electronic will be able to last for a long time as there are no storage costs as opposed to paper documents that require a lot of space. Storage costs a lot and so does shipping, and if such documents do not get sold, storage will still need to be paid for, which is why storage time is limited as much as possible. Cyberspace is almost unlimited as it is evolving every day, which is why people can rely on the fact that what they found yesterday will still be in cyberspace the next weeks, months or even years. Although it was discussed earlier that paper documents are portable, electronic documents are more portable since the beginning of diskettes, Compact Discs and Flash Drives. The information that has been researched from the electronic source can now be saved in different storage devices (flash drives are commonly used today). Such devices can be placed in pockets and purses and almost do not weigh anything, as compared with paper documents that have huge masses and sizes that are very difficult to carry around. There are a lot of arguments which have been discussed. It is not easy to weigh the advantages of both medium as they have been very helpful to researchers, students, professionals and those who simply need information. Others may say that paper documents have been outdated a long time ago and electronic documents are the new paper documents in this generation. But there are still some who prefer paper documents over electronic sources which is not so bad since people lived through paper documents way before electronic documents came to life. Bibliography Lunsford, K. (1995). Electronic Texts and the Internet: A Review of The English Server. In K. Lunsford, Computers and the Humanities (pp. 297-305). Springer.

Business Responses to the Global Economic Crisis

Business Responses to the Global Economic Crisis Global Economic crisis began in 2008 and has drawn a great amount of blood from the financial sector of both developed and developing economy. Under usual circumstances the fall of one will result in rise of another economy. But with GFC the mighty economies has fallen and the developing economies has reached stagnation stage in their growth. UK is one of the economies that are affected by the crisis above the moderate level but not as serious as USA. Economic recovery is taking place all around the world and UK is one among them. Beginning of British economy slowdown was marked when the Northern Rock bank was forced to apply to the Bank of England for emergency financial support on 13thSeptember 2007. The British economy went to serious slowdown in 2008 3rd quarter (Authers, 2012). The economy temporarily exited it in the 4thquarter of 2009, only to enter a double dip recession in the first quarter of 2012 (Office for National Statistics, 2012). The present statement from Bank of England regarding the robust recovery is positive news for the market. The present president of bank Mr Mark Carney has devised a good plan to bring the economy out of recession. As a result of the concentrated efforts from Bank of England the growth has shown a steady rise. The present policies taken by the policy determining panel are being analysed through the viewpoint of the banks new forward guidance† policy. This new policy has given the markets, business and individuals a control over the interest rates of coming months . The rate of interest is now kept at an all-time low in order to pump more money into the market. Another sign of recovery is the revival of housing industry, thanks to the â€Å"help to buy† policy of government. The increase found in number of mortgage approvals for house purchase is a testimony of this fact. Bank of England strongly believes that monetary stimulus is found to be considerable and the investors have started showing confidence in market and overall sentiment is confident and positive. Growth will be stable and economy will be recovering just simply with this stimulus if the economy of Britain is an isolated one. But this is not so as the economy is linked with various economies of world. The stability of trading partners is an essential prerequisite for staging a sustained growth. The imbalance between export and domestic usage of production also point towards the greater risk of a double dip as similar to one that happened in 2009-10. The present growth rate of 3% is not a high figure under normal circumstances. But considering the slow growth of allied economies tis could be viewed as a robust growth According to Mark Carney new policy unemployment reduction is target of the current policy. The interest rates will be kept low till the unemployment drops from 7.7 to 7%. The recovery of economy is greatly dependent on the financial stability of both workers and companies. HRM policies have a significant role to play in this resurrection of economy. Studies show that half of the working population are into the job not because they love doing the present job but because they do not have another job to pursue. Hence when the economy is recovering they will move out in search for better job. This leaves their primary employer stranded. Good HR Management strategy is to be kept in place to ensure that the best are retained and worst are laid off as the economy recovers. This is a critical role of HRM in recovery period of economy. The productivity of employee determines the profitability of a company. The salary paid to an employee during recession time was above the contribution made by him in monetary terms. This could hamper the growth prospects of economy because with such a structure of pay he will be spending more than what he produce giving rise to economic instability. It is the function of HRM to bring out parity between the productivity and income so that growth of economy will not be affected. Similarly another factor that determines the production level of every employee is the motivation levels. Prior to recession time companies have spent well on employee engagement programme. During the recession time they had to cut down the cost and this was an area that became scapegoat of cut down. In the recovery period it is essential to keep employees from different cultures motivated. This can provide sufficient propulsion for growth programme. HR team has to look for cost cutting but viable option like flexible working time for its employees so that operational cost can be brought down significantly. Research shows that during the recession time the stress level of employees were very high. The permanency of their job was a concern for all of them. The stress levels need to be brought down to normal level in order to get the best output from each of them. This will help a lot in improving recovery rate of economy. Another contribution needed from HR team for a recovering economy would be to manage the sudden demand from employees for salary hike. A company based out of UK will find it difficult to hike the salary of their employees in another country which is not it by recession as the parent company lies in a recession hit economy. The pay of many employees was frozen for a long period. The employees who shared the pain of recession expect that they will be rewarded for their sufferings with a serious hike. But the growth rate of 3 % is not that robust enough to facilitate a pay hike for all of them. This will result in elevated level of grievance. Negative sentiment created in the mind of work force can create reduction in productivity which ultimately affect growth rate. It is the role of IHRM team to contain the angst of these people, in UK and abroad, and make them realise the situation and bring them to the main stream of production without any angst. Skill shortage among employees is a serious area of concern in this period of economic recovery. But no significant investment is, made on training front as measure of cost cutting. The concentration on skill development needs to be improved to stage good performance in recover period. Britain’s economy as well as world economy is on a recovery mode and the new policy implemented by new president of bank of England is taking the economy in the right direction. The HRM activities have a significant role to play in improving the economic conditions. The productivity is directly related to man power and their mind set. Keeping them ready and fit for growth is the task in the hands of HRM teams all around the globe. Reduction in human capital cost without compromising on motivation level would be the target of HRM teams all around the world. Inflation and interest rates are closely related and determine the health of economy. Too high levels of both the factors portray the poor health of economy. Inflation always follows good economic growth. Theoretical speaking inflation is caused when too much money is chasing too few goods in market. The money inflow into the market takes place when the population of a country is paid well. Inflation rate will be low in an economy where employment levels are low. The new policy of bank of England to keep a control over the hike of interest rates has shown good sentiments in market. The bank is planning to keep the interest rate on borrowings fixed at all-time low of 0.5 % till the level of unemployment fall to 7%. This ensures that sufficient money is available for entrepreneurs to invest and there by generating more employment. If things goes as expected more employment will produce more salaried person and hence more spending. This will set up the ideal stage for inflation to enter the economy. Under usual circumstances the enhanced money flow into the market will create a condition where domestic production is low but expenditure is high. All this boils down to too much money chasing few goods. The vicious circle of inflation is kicked off by these events. Increased money flow in the market will force the controlling financial institution to hike interest rate. The hike in interest rate will dampen economic growth .as the above mentioned e vents unfold the economy gets crippled and falls back to period of under growth. The bank of England’s feels that the possibility of an inflation-induced, economy-crippling rise in interest rates over the next couple of years is not in line of sight. According to them there are plenty of gaps it the economy and this will prevent setting up of the vicious circle of inflation. By definition, output falls in a recession. At the same time, it is common for some people to lose their jobs or to reduce their hours of work. The path of labor productivity in a recession is determined by the relative sizes of the falls in output and total hours worked. The bank strongly believes that the productivity and efficiency of workers will improve and the extra demand for goods and services could be met by the same working population producing more in for same salary. The data of Britain’s productivity do not justify bank of England’s claim. Off late in Q2 and Q3 0f 2013 productivity failed to touch 100%. This is a point of concern. Many reasons are there for the fall in productivity. Usually under periods of recession employees are supposed to work more in fear of termination. But the companies have preferred to hold on to nonperforming employees in order to avoid rehiring and retaining them once recession ends. This is presently creating a class of lazy work force. The real wages of employees are falling and this prompts the employer to move forward with more labor intensive methods of production and hence affecting the productivity. Data from Office of National statistics reveals an alarming picture of Britain’s working population. It shows that British workers are less productive than before the recession. In 2012 the countrys output per worker was 19% below the average for the rest of the major industrialized economies, while output per hour was 16% lower. The present policy of increasing the rate of interest rate when unemployment falls under 7% needs to be scanned properly. If the percentage of unemployment is the driving force for deciding interest rates the there is a serious problem at hand. With the present system economy is relying on falling real wages rather than improved productivity. The percentage of unemployment is falling and this is not by virtue of growth of economy but due to falling real wages. The reduced cost of hiring has led the employers to hire more thereby reducing unemployment percentage. According to above discussed data the number of employed person are increasing without productivity improvement. This will result in inflation as consumption is increased due to more umber of salaried person at the same time no improvement is achieved in the productivity. The reduced level of unemployment along with inflation will prompt bank to increase interest rate. Data shows that in 2013 the indebtness of British people is 140% of their salary and the debt is not distributed evenly among working population. Any hike in interest rate will result in many of the borrowers defaulting their payments on mortgages. Finally this will result in dampening of economic growth as the hike in interest rate is based out of unrealistic assumption of reduced unemployment. The HRM has a great deal to do in order to direct the scenario to the one expected by Bank of England. The wages and productivity of working class are the contrasting factors that influence the inflation. More salary along with low productivity will result in supply demand imbalance and will trigger inflation. If the wages are at par with the productivity levels then the economy will be able to stage growth. Working class will not acknowledge the fact that economy is growing unless it reflects in their pay pack. So to create a sentiment of growth the pay package need to be improved. This improvement should be accompanied by parallel improvement in productivity standards. The HR system in any firm has to devise clear steps to facilitate tis symbiotic activities of rise in wages and improved productivity. The HRM system has a significant role to play in economic growth of Britain. The trend of hiring while the real wage falls is giving a wrong feedback to policy makers. The unemployment falls without contributing to productivity. This result in the chain reaction of increased inflation which further leads to increase in interest rate that ultimately result in weakening of economic growth. The focus of HRM should be reducing unemployment at the same time improving productivity proportionately with the increase given in wages. Economic growth could be defined as an increase in value of goods and services provided or produced by a country over a period of time. Long term expansion of productive potential of an economy results in economic growth. It is measured using GDP and per capita income. Growth of an economy will not happen in isolation. As the economy is globalized events happening in one country will have detrimental effect on growth prospects of another country. For e.g. ban on import of agricultural product into a developed country will have serious impact on economy of developing country whose main source of income would be the agricultural exports. The drivers of economic growth of any economy whether developed or developing are the same. The contribution of each driver may differ depending on the type of country at hand. The drivers could be listed as a) Growth in physical capital stock b) growth in size of labor population c) Growth in quality of human d) technological growth that improves productivity e) Institutions of state f) Demand for goods and services (both domestic and eternal trade). Growth is in brief adding more value to your activities. Off late developed countries have moved out of concept of growth and started to focus on sustainability and stability. Developing countries are still after growth as small investment in capital could produce greater returns. This is in line with the â€Å"neo classical† theory of growth. For developed countries like UK major driver of growth is growth in quality of labor population and technological growth that improves productivity. The level of capital stock of developed country is high and has reached a stagnation state. The source of improvement for these countries comes from the technology development and improved quality of labor population. Technology improvement will demand for employees with enhanced skill. The employment level in a developed country will research a saturation level and the number of opportunities could not be further improved. There is a limit to how far the employment rate can be improved in the long term in developed countries.in such economy the growth for long term is driven primarily by productivity. Further the two improved productivity the growth will be pushed by increased employee participation and engagement in the business. Employee engagement is a critical part of growth and productivity in developed economy. The employee is les s motivated by the monetary benefit and looks for motivation in the role they handle. The involvement of the employee to the job makes him to deliver more which in turn results in improved productivity. In UK Tesco has realized this and incorporated employee engagement as a part of their HRM strategy. The GDP of developed countries rose during early periods as the demand existed for consumable products. With improved productivity of these products the growth rate was high. But once the product demand reached stagnation further improvement in productivity will not add to GDP. Hence new product segments need to be identified. For UK the prospects will thus be stronger in more knowledge-intensive manufacturing and services. The UK’s relative specialization in Publishing, Finance, Business Services, Communications, and Computer and Information Services is likely to persist for some time, supported by the increasing exportability of services and increasing demand for services as global incomes continue to rise. However, these are likely to continue to become more specialized, with some lower value added activities outsourced or offshored. Hence HR should focus on improving specialized kills and Innovative mindset of their work force. In developing countries focus is more on improving the quantity of employable population. The set of skilled labor is very low and hence the primary target of HRM system was to improve the number of employable population. Many IT companies in India have hired people with basic qualification and imparted training to them in order to induct them to their work force. This improved the human resource base of the firm and helped them in executing big foreign orders. These activities eventually pumped n more of foreign currency into Indian market and hence aided ion economic growth. The opening yup of Indian economy to the world in 1992 forced many of the companies to change the way they managed their human resources. HR functionality in developing countries like China and India is still evolving. Till a few years back the HR function was just limited to administrative functionalities like recruiting and dismissal, paying taxes and benefits. Talent acquisition, training, skill improvement were new concepts. . They had to make a way around the redundant work culture that prevailed in the country. Focus had to be shifted to more productivity than more employment. Another major HR intervention required in developing economy is regarding the wage and incentive. It includes remuneration system and also the system of appraisal, promotion and career advancement. The incentive factor implemented as part of the new system motivated employee to produce more resulting in improved productivity. The implementation of incentive system on base of quantity propelled the production and hence improved the GDP of these economies. The quality was compromised in this policy and China and India succeeded in capturing the price conscious market around the world. Sustainability of this mode of growth is being questioned and the concept of quality has to be introduced to the scheme. There is a need for a paradigm shift in mind set of working population for this transition. The HRM system in these developing countries has to come forward and contribute in this front to facilitate easy transition. The growth of every economy is determined by the influence of various driving forces in the economy. Human capital is a significant part in it no matter it is a developed or developing economy. The role of HR function is to improve the quality of human capital. Method deployed for this is different in these two types of economy. In the developed economy more focus is given to enhanced kill development and employee engagement where as in developing economy the focus is on production based incentives and expanding the employable population base.

Essays --

It is no secret that in the decade after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, defense spending increased in the United States, but something that people are less aware of are the continued government efforts toward biodefense: protecting a country of more than 317 million people from the threat of biological warfare. In 2004, Congress passed the Project Bioshield Act. The aim of Project Bioshield was to create a market for medical products to be provided to the public at large in the event of bioterrorism. It called for more than 5 billion dollars to be used to purchase vaccines, over a 10-year period. (The White House, 2004). As we approach the 10-year mark of Project Bioshield, and consider all of the advancements in bioengineering and biotechnology that have occurred since then, it’s important to reflect but also to look forward into what the next decade of biodefense innovation might look like, and what ethical impacts it may have. According to a paper published by the Center for Bioethics at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (Loike and Fischbach, 2013), we face eight ethical challenges as our biodefense efforts increase. â€Å"1. Allocation of resources and personnel and cost benefit analysis. 2. Triage assessment. 3. Clinical testing of potential therapies or vaccines in young children and older adults. 4. Preventing unauthorized individuals from entering research laboratories. 5. Dual-use: publication of papers containing useful information that also could be used to create bioweapons. 6. Dual-use: curtailing the development of harmful technologies while promoting beneficial applications by scientists of these technologies. 7. Restriction of personal freedoms. 8. Allocation of ... ...lications of biodefense technology, of which biological engineers are at the heart of. Biological engineers have a triple role in biodefense: some develop biodefense technology; some find applications for new biodefense technology; all have an obligation to first and foremost protect the people. The first fundamental canon of the Code of Ethics for Engineers is that â€Å"Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties, shall hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public† (NSPE). Developing new biodefense technology fits in with this mission, but only if we also take care of the three ethical issues raised above: adequately testing new vaccines and medical products so that they do not pose risk to the user, showing care in publishing new technology that could be used in a harmful way, and promoting beneficial applications of such technology.

The European Expansion and its Effects on the World Essay -- Industria

"The growth of commerce and industry led to the technological advances, which in turn stimulated, and were stimulated by science.† (p. 403) The European scientific revolution was fueled by the blending of â€Å"liberal† and â€Å"servile† arts, in other words, science and technology. Because of the European expansion taking place throughout the world, new commerce and industries were advancing, creating the need for new technology and science. The theories and inventions that Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton provided were the fist major advances during the scientific revolution, and perhaps were the most profound. The European expansion during the 15th and 16th centuries lead to major economic expansion throughout Europe and the newly established European colonies throughout the world. This economic growth, also called the commercial revolution, helped to fuel the industrial revolution of the eighteenth century by â€Å"Providing large and expanding markets for European industries† (p. 409) The commercial revolution created the need for new technology to meet the demands of the new and ever changing markets created by the European expansion. The commercial revolution also â€Å"Contributed the large amounts of capital necessary to finance the construction of factories and machines for the industrial revolution.† (p. 409) The industrial revolution began in the late eighteenth century with the invention of the steam engine by James Watt. Thanks to the steam engine, people were now able to harness the power needed to run pumps, locomotives and eventually machines used in factories. â€Å"It (the steam engine) provided a means for harnessing and utilizing heat energy to furnish driving power for machines.† (p. 412) The British quickly moved to the forefront of the industrial revolution due to their investment in the coal and iron industries. England was also at the forefront of modern banking due to the large amounts of profit from commerce that the British experienced. In addition to the steam engine, some of the most notable British inventions in the late eighteenth century were the new spinning machines that revolutionized the textile industry. As a result of the technological advances of the steam engine and cotton machines, increasing amount of steel, coal and iron were now needed to fuel the new machines largely in use by the beginning of the nineteenth century. The various im... .... Liberalism, the basis of modern democratic society, is â€Å"Emancipation of the individual from class, corporate or governmental restraint.† (p. 448) This ultimately led to the rising of the middle class and shifting away from autocratic dictatorship for the majority of the modern world. Socialism, emphasizing the community and the collective welfare, took a stronghold in various countries that proved to be short lived with the exception of World War I Russia. One last ideology, feminism, was also born out of the ashes of the European revolutions. The commercial, scientific, industrial and political revolutions of the European Transformation changed the world forever. If it weren’t for the technological and scientific advances made during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the world might still consist of isolated countries without communications between them, and without the ability to mass-produce and travel from one place to another quickly. The ideological advancements, perhaps the most important outcome of the 1400-1900’s, are what opened the doors to the freedom and independence from autocratic and class rule that the greater part of the modern world now experiences.

Poor Communications and Conflict Essay -- Functions of Communication

Is most conflict in an organisation is caused by poor communication? If we had perfect communication would conflict cease? Consider for example, an e-mail asking for some information â€Å"yesterday† to stress how important this request is. The sender thinks e-mails are great as they travel at the speed of light and spell things out in black & white. The recipient may consider that if its in a e-mail then it can’t be that urgent because servers can loose, misdirect or delay an e-mails transmission. They may also consider that as the information was wanted â€Å"yesterday† its already too late to be effectively utilised. Both parties saw the same communiquà ©, neither read the same message. Each will blame the other for failing to communicate properly and conflict may result. E-mail flame wars are a high tech twist on whispering campaigns. And like the system of claims & loyalties in a feudal states the smallest e-mail spat can spiral out of control with careless use of the C.C. and B.C.C functions. Drucker (1977)says that there are four fundamentals of communication: communication is perception of the recipient not the utterance of the instigator communication is expectation in that recipients will heed only what they are expecting to hear communication makes demands of the recipient that they become someone, do or believe something communication and information are different and largely opposite - yet interdependent Employees need to know a number of things such as what is expected of them, how they are performing and how can they advance. If these are not communicated, on a regular basis, then role or expectation conflict will develop and motivation decline as the employee is berated for failing to meet the goals their superiors [are convinced they] assigned them. But if this is all the communication they receive they may begin to feel like machines. According to Pearson & Thomas there are three levels of communication that employees need, these being: Must know discussed above. Should know which includes significant staff changes and company/market developments. Then could know which although having no operational impact makes life more interesting. Office gossip is only a could know but probably the communication that really binds a company together. Barring security, legal and share price sensitive data everyone should... ...’s healthy. If people fight each other openly in your presence for what they believe in that’s healthy. But keep all the conflict eyeball to eyeball [as opposed to back stabbing] Towsend,R Orders flow down a company hierarchy. Communication of the understanding of such flows upwards. Crosswise people share information on getting things done often in contravention of policies Employees need direction, information and entertainment accurately and truthfully delivered by both the formal and informal company chains of communication. References DRUCKER, P (1977) People and Performance The best of Peter Drucker on Management: Heinemann. DRUCKER, P (1974) Management Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices: Butterworth. PEARSON, B & THOMAS, N (1991) The Shorter MBA: HarperCollins TOWSEND, R (1988) Further up the Organisation: Harper & Row Bibliography BUHLER, PM(1999) Supervision, Vol. 60 Issue 2, p16, 3p KREITNER, R et al (1993) Organizational Behaviour: McGrawHill PUGH, DS (1971) Organization Theory: Pelican PUGH, DS & HICKSON, DJ (1964) Writers on Organisations: Penguin THOMAS, AB (1993) Controversies in Management: Routledge

Crystal Pepsi: A Giant’s Failure Essay

Introduction We all have heard and seen it over and over again in commercials, movies, documentaries, stories, about Pepsi and its huge line of products. But very few of us (nationally and internationally) know about the company and its history. PepsiCo, Inc. was established through the merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay. Pepsi-Cola was created in the late 1890s by Caleb Bradham while Frito-Lay Inc. was formed by the 1961 merger of the Frito Company, founded by Elmer Doolin in 1932. Throughout its history, PepsiCo has introduced number of products for its consumers from cola to water, to teas and dark chocolate mocha. It went through number of transformation and acquired several other companies along its way. Today, Pepsi is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world operating nationally and internationally1. However, it has seen many failures on its way to success. One of its failures is Crystal Pepsi, introduced in April 1992 as a colorless drink with a market slogan â€Å"You ’ve never seen a taste like this†2. The main strategy was to introduce its colorless drink with fewer sweeteners to its health conscious consumers. The marketing began in 1990s and was tested in Denver, Sacramento, Dallas and Providence that resulted positive3. The paper discusses about its making, marketing mix, target market, competition and failure in detail. Product Every big business whether it is retail, manufacture or service depends on some kind of a product or product line it’s introduced. A proper strategy is required to sustain in market especially when competition is tough and rival is continuously coming up with some strategy to get the first movers advantage. Products that lack continuous innovation often suffers up to the extent that the internal or external forces ultimately drive them out of business. Crystal Pepsi is such product that gained the attention of consumers by its fancy name but lost the market in no time due to its lack of innovation. Although, PepsiCo tried hard to sustain its beloved product by introducing it in diet and different flavors but all strategies failed miserably.4 The making Crystal Pepsi by Pepsi was first introduced in 1992 and remained a mystery not only for its consumers but also to its manufacturers in terms of sales, strategy and market share. It was one of the most fascinated drinks when introduced as it was a colorless cola that provides relief from thirst and has health benefits simultaneously. The idea, however, was captured from the remake of Ivory Soap from its classic milky solution. There were two reasons behind the launch of Crystal Pepsi; Competition and a shift of consumer taste towards healthier beverages5. Crystal Pepsi targeted the market right but failed in both as the drink was nothing but a combination sugar and water with little flavor in it. Taste It was first marketed as the caffeine free, naturally flavored with preservatives drink that is different from other colas in many ways as it uses fewer sweeteners, equating as clearness with purity and health. The drink also claimed to be lighter than other drinks and Pepsi itself. Moreover, the drink was then introduced in lime flavor as well which was a part of limited edition and sales promotion. PepsiCo tried to save its product by adding citrus flavor to it. The company also shorten its name to Crystal and added â€Å"from the makers of Pepsi† on the packaging to give it a new brand image and changed formula but failed again. As the sales went down drastically all major projects related to Crystal Pepsi were put to halt that resulted in its disappearance from the shelves and discontinued supplies6. Packaging After receiving the positive response from its test market, PepsiCo decided to launch the product in United States and Canada to gain the maximum market share. A large campaign was launched and it was the first time in the company’s history a first photo-realistic, computer generated bus wrap was invented to advertise the product. The bottles were designed in the most sophisticated packing with a combination of blue, red, and silver prominent colors giving it a refreshing looks. It was also available in different sizes from 2 liters bottles to 250 ml cans7. Promotion The promotion strategy is one of the most significant parts of business. One  of the best quotes about the importance of advertising is by Stuart Henderson Britt and goes like this: â€Å"Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but nobody else does.† Obviously, like any other strategy promotion strategy consist of introduction, growth, maturity and decline but Crystal Pepsi is among those products that came in the market with a bang but suffered terribly since after. Advertising Crystal Pepsi started it full marketing campaign in 1992 nationally including media campaign featuring Van Halen’ music, â€Å"Right Now†. This gave boost to sales in the market for a short period of time but went down again due to its competition with its rival Coca Cola. The Advertisement also appeared in on network TV during Super Bowl XXVII on January 31st, 1993. PepsiCo has always been famous for its promotion and the time and money company spend on its every product line. PepsiCo was doing all it could to sustain the product in the market by using different electronic media resources available at that time. Promoting Crystal Pepsi through advertisements on buses and on merchandizes like pool float, glass and wall clock were few of its marketing strategies to improve the sales. Like many other companies, Pepsi also arranged promotions with major retailers like Walmart but it didn’t ended well. The other promoting methods that used were radio commercials and major newspapers including USA Today. The major factor that Pepsi was unable to recognize at the time of promotion was the differentiation. It stressed on the importance of product attributes like fewer sweeteners, less calories, flavored drink etc. when the time was to segregate itself from regular carbonate drink to more of an energy drink. Changing names, color of the packaging and commercial medium wasted time and money of the company that ultimately result in the failure of the product8. Price The pricing strategy is crucial in any decision making process. Often times products that are new in market are either priced too high or too low. For any company that has vast experience in customer relationship and dealing, pricing strategy is of greatest importance. The price of its product should reflect the quality of the product as well as the reaction of consumers. If  the price is set too low then the customers would reject the product and vice versa. In any case the strategy for Crystal Pepsi was the same; to penetrate. Pricing Strategy According to various sources, Crystal Pepsi was sold at regular cola prices which means no major efforts were put forth to enforce the selling of the product at higher prices. Crystal Pepsi at first gained a lot of attention from the other soda drinkers and they lined up to try this new refreshed cola that promotes healthy drink and fewer sweetener. The sales were skyrocketed and company made more than expected profits. However, the customers found no difference between sprite and 7up and eventually gave up on Crystal Pepsi. The price never went down but instead changes were made on its appearance to gain attention through attraction9. Consumer’s Reaction The pricing was not the issue in the case of the cola. Crystal Pepsi was selling good at the asking price varying from 89 cents to a dollar in 90s. When the cola was disappeared from the market it was due to its taste and by the end of its time period, the cola lost major part of its target market. Today, Crystal Pepsi is still available on websites such as eBay and Amazon where the ask prices vary from $50 to $10010. Lately, few videos were made by students at several universities on YouTube asking Pepsi to bring back Crystal Pepsi again. The future of Crystal Pepsi, however, is still unknown. Pepsi has tried many times to bring back Crystal Pepsi in National and International markets but was unable to fully penetrate because of severe competition posed by its either competitors or the companies that already have significant market share. Place The placing of the product plays a vital role in increasing sales revenue and gaining the maximum profit from the market. But like promotion, placing depending on emphasis. Crystal Pepsi has emphasized and stressed on promoting its formula and stretched to convince people that how different this cola is and what health benefits would they get after drinking it11. The mistake that was done by PepsiCo was in differentiation and positioning of its product. The product was different than regular Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola but had the same appearance and taste as of 7up and Sprite. That  is why it became hard for Crystal Pepsi to differentiate itself in the market and form a new image in its consumer’s minds. Distribution Crystal Pepsi was first taste tested by participants from different target markets and then was released to test market in April 1992. The launch was limited to test the reaction of its target consumers. The test markets were conducted in Denver, Dallas, and Providence, Rhode Island for nine months straight bringing all the possible changes to the formula according to the preferences of the consumers. It was then launched nationally during December 1992. Crystal Pepsi was among the favorite drinks of its consumers at that time and gained a good market share in matter of weeks. People tried it partially due to curiosity just to see what’s new in there12. It was available at all the major retailers like Walmart and did very well in sales. After its launch in the United States it was launched in Canada, Europe and Australia for limited time. The time span for Europe was the highest among all the markets but ultimately pulled off the shelves due to poor sales13. The Canadian and A ustralian Markets responded the same as United States but since Crystal Pepsi held different grounds in terms of taste and appearance, it lasted longer than United States. Pepsi later introduced Pepsi Max in Australia replacing Crystal Pepsi during the summer of 1993. Mexico A newer version of Crystal Pepsi under the name of Pepsi Clear was introduced in 2005 in Mexico. However, it was available for a limited time and in quantity in the market. It was another attempt to revive the product in an international market where diet colas are among the most favorite drinks. The product was not a failure but discontinued after the limited time14. Target Market One of the sensitive and time consuming decisions for any company to make is to get proper knowledge of its target market. Many companies have failed to properly evaluate the preference and taste of its target markets and vanished completely or at least their product lines were disappeared from the market. Crystal Pepsi focused on two types of consumers; 1. Health conscious individuals 2. People who prefer white soft drinks over colas Health Conscious Individuals The first target market was quite easy to capture because at the time of its launch people in most of the developed countries were getting health conscious. They made exercise their part of life. It was the start of an era where people begun to think of their fitness and gave workout and fitness priority15. PepsiCo targeted those individuals and presented them an innovative drink with fewer sweeteners and lower calories to help them in achieving their fitness goals. By removing the brown color from the regular cola, Crystal Pepsi easily made an impression of pure drink by presenting an image of â€Å"good health, purity and icy cold-water† to its drinkers. Soft-drinkers The other category was hard to tackle as many colorless soft-drinkers were already committed to their existed products and were brand loyal. However, the marketing strategy done by PepsiCo paid off during its launch and people tried the new product for the change. However, this market wasn’t captured at all and people went back to their original drinks completely ignoring Crystal Pepsi16. PepsiCo put all of their focus and attentions toward this group by changing formulas, packaging and differentiation, putting their health conscious group at stake. They lost both markets in matter of months17. Competitors PepsiCo has always been and still is in direct competition with Coca-Cola, another food and beverage giant. The competition is so severe that they spend millions of dollars to protect their secrets from one another just like many major companies in Silicon Valley. Although the rivalry between Pepsi and Coca-Cola is always severe, the other rivals were tough too. First Movers Advantage Crystal Pepsi was one of its kind products that was first introduced to a limited target market, made a huge impact in its test market, launched with a refined formula, failed and disappeared in 15 weeks. It is one of the most  anticipated products by PepsiCo still demanded by many consumers to date. Crystal Pepsi has enjoyed its top spot for few months and has gained the first mover advantage. They spell bound the market with its fewer sweeteners, low calories and new formula with amazing prices in the market. Consumers liked the taste initially as it was a 90s reason to drink cola without color, caffeine or preservatives1819. Competition Crystal Pepsi was introduced to directly compete with already existed products in the market such as Clearly Canadian. This and similar products were already held the major market share and stayed strong in its demand vs supply. They addressed the need and want of its consumers more strongly as compared to its competitors. Crystal Pepsi when came in targeted its competition in a unique way. Although the cola was colorless, it was a direct threat to Clearly Canadian and Quibell. Clearly Canadian and Quibell both offered non-carbonate drinks that were the market segment of soft-drinkers. Their products still exists in the market in many flavors. Coca-Cola, on the other hand, tried to come up with same product but with different strategy and named it as Tab Clear which also failed in market miserably. Although Coca-Cola also pushed its product like Pepsi, the results were the same for both the companies. Reason for failure As mentioned earlier in the discussion, the major contributor for failure of product was lack of differentiation. PepsiCo stressed over its new formula but failed to meet the expectation of consumers. It was hard for customers to tell the difference between Crystal Pepsi and 7up or Sprite. Crystal Pepsi failed to target its market accurately. The cola was launched for health conscious individual and soft-drinkers20 but lost its way to form a brand image in the minds of consumers. One other factor for failure was poor name execution. Crystal Pepsi was named crystal to give it an image of pure drink that was more attracted to older generation as compared to the younger ones. The younger generation was still drinking regular colas that had the same cost as of Crystal Pepsi. Evaluation/Critique The product was made with an intention to target the consumers that are health conscious and working their way out towards healthy lifestyle. The lack in differentiation and positioning of product made things worse for Crystal Pepsi that was in competition since its launch. Emphasizing on new formulas over and over again, cost the company enormous sum of money and time. Overall, the product was never seen as a failure, rather, an opportunity to study the market accurately for future products. References 1. Miller, Cyndee. (1993, February). Ebsco Host Database. Trendy marketers want consumers to see right through their products. http://gsuproxy.govst.edu:3963/ehost/detail?vid=3&sid=95159dfc-8f54-472c-98c0-0c533cb0e06b%40sessionmgr115&hid=117&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=17599561 2. Lavinsky, David. (1993, March). Ebsco Host Database. â€Å"When Novelty wears off, soft drinks clearly will fail†. http://gsuproxy.govst.edu:3963/ehost/detail?vid=10&sid=95159dfc-8f54-472c-98c0-0c533cb0e06b%40sessionmgr115&hid=117&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=17598728 3. Triplett Tim. (1994, May). Ebsco Host Database. â€Å"Consumers show little taste for clear beverages†. http://gsuproxy.govst.edu:3963/ehost/detail?vid=13&sid=95159dfc-8f54-472c-98c0-0c533cb0e06b%40sessionmgr115&hid=117&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bsh&AN=9410311353 4. Laura Zinn. â€Å"Pepsi’s future becomes clearer†. Bloomberg Business week. January 31st, 1993 < http:// www.businessweek.com/stories/1993-01-31/pepsis-future-becomes-clearer 5. Eben Shapiro. â€Å"It’s a transparent attempt to revive Pepsi’s Cola sales†. The New York Times. April 13th, 1992. < http://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/13/business/it-s-a-transparent-attempt-to-revive-pepsi-s-cola-sales.html?action=click&module=Search ®ion=searchResults&mabReward=relbias%3Ar&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%3Faction%3Dclick%26region%3DMasthead%26pgtype%3DHomepage%26module%3DSearchSubmit%26contentCollection%3DHomepage%26t%3Dqry51%23%2Fcrystal%2Bpepsi%2F 6. Editorial review. â€Å"New Pepsi drinks offer clear choice†. Dayton Daily News. December 13th, 1992. < http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=0F5052CF4CD4FA55&p_docnum=7 7. Del Jones, USA Today. â€Å"Even good CEOs pick the wrong direction†. ABC News. November 7th, 2007. < http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=3830073 8. Jeff Hirsch and Tom

Dating and the Single Parent Essay

Summary In the book Dating and the Single Parent Ron Deal walks the single parent through the process of dating again. This book is broken into three sections. Section one has five chapters and is titled â€Å"Getting Past the Butterflies and Warm Fuzzes.† In the beginning Deal starts with â€Å"Dating in a Crowd: Dating with Purpose.† (29) With this in mind the reader begins to understand you will be dating the entire family. Deal describes different types of daters, and warns the reader against the â€Å"Consumer daters who want guarantees† (44) about the dates. These consumer daters want the dates to be their all in all and meet their every need. Deal also describes the thought of â€Å"Mirror, Mirror on the Wall; Am I Ready to Date? (47) This section describes â€Å"the impact loss has on you, and your willingness to surrender to God’s direction regarding divorce and remarriage.† (58) While determining if you are ready to date; Deal lists the readiness factors: can you handle being alone, trusting in God, looking at past issues, and asking the questions like, â€Å"What in my past can I not shake?† This is getting yourself and kids ready for dating. While thinking of fear as the main hurdle in beginning to date, Deal suggests you not â€Å"sidestep† (83) your fear but â€Å"acknowledge it.† (83) Not only your fear but how to handle the kids’ fears and concerns in the dating world. Deal explains â€Å"When a parent dates, kids feel the shift in direction away from them and the family; this ignites their fear of more loss.† (98) The second section of the book is called â€Å"Going Fishing† (115) and talks about finding love. â€Å"Finding love in all the right places †¦and in all the wrong ways† (117) talks about defining the  relationship or the DTR; there are three ways to look at relationships; we need to learn when to yield, stop or run with yellow, red and green lights. â€Å"Going deeper† (163) reminds us to think of where we are in life. Deal states â€Å"Single people need that perspective so that won’t overvalue getting married, and married people need that perspective so they won’t lose sight of their purpose in being together.† (165) â€Å"Marital Commitment and Stepfamily Preparation† (181) is the topic of the third section of the book. It is about getting re-engaged and making decisions about getting married. Guidelines are given about what things to look for such as commitment and trust issues, how to be open with the children (young and adult). Some key steps in how to become a blended family are listed. Deal suggests exercises on how to be introduced, recognize loss in your child, planning the wedding and including the children, and telling the ex. This book takes you through the processes of wanting to date again, dating, and choosing the right type of person to date. The next steps are about the engagement, telling families and children you’re getting married and creating a happily blended family. Potential Use for Christian Couples The chapter on â€Å"Yellow Light. Red Light. Green Light.† (141) is a chapter that most pastors need to share with their clients in the premarital counseling. This chapter and the concepts to be taught and learned can save couples from a lot of pain down the road and give additional skills for making a marriage more compatible. â€Å"Yellow lights saying slow down† (143) warm that things are great for now, however when you get married and the honeymoon is over rough times are coming. When you are trying to carefully blend families you need to make sure no one has on â€Å"rose-colored glasses† (145) or is ignoring the bumps in the road that will turn in to mountains later on if not dealt with before the couple gets married. A counselor needs to advise a couple to slow down if â€Å"loneliness or desperation† (146) are detected in the counseling sessions. This could indicate an underlying problem that will come out later in the marriage. The person with one of these disorders may demand that the other person in the relationship try to be their all in all, and no one can be everything to someone. Counselors should consider a postponement of a marriage if one of the clients comes in with any character traits like: â€Å"quick temper, intimidating, anger  reactions, chemical or physical abuse, can’t say no, constantly blaming others, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, problems staying calm, financial problems, disengagement with family, hiding previous relationships, or diagnosed personality disorder.† (147-148) If a person has experienced or is experiencing one of these challenges, this counselor will strongly suggest that it is dealt with before the marriage takes place. One of these problems will cause too much stress for most marriages to overcome. Deal suggests there are red stoplights. If you â€Å"have extreme differences in parenting styles† (151) you need to stop dating. This counselor would agree. Raising children is a very hard job when you agree; however, when you disagree children tend to play one parent off the other causing conflict between the parents. You need to remember you are not only marrying the person, but also the children. Another red light could be the ex-spouse. If he/she causes constant trouble, you will be in constant turmoil in the new marriage and will need to consider canceling your plans to marry. Deal suggests other red flags such as cohabitation. This counselor would agree with Deal that cohabitation leans toward persons â€Å"who have negative attitudes toward marriage, increase their divorce risk by 50%, are less sexually trustworthy, have lower religious commitment, and are tempted to slide into marriage.† (154) Cohabitation is not biblical, in Genesis 2:24 gives us the standard for all marriages and in Matthew 19:5 Jesus tells us marriage is a legal and binding relationship. The â€Å"green light† (159) means everything is good and you can proceed with the dating or marriage plans. In the â€Å"green light† stage you can define your relationship. At this point Deal suggests you can share your relationship with your children. This also is the stage during which it is suggested you take the â€Å"Couple Checkup† (169). There are two advantages to doing it in this stage: first â€Å"it provides you and your partner an objective X ray of your relationship health.† (169) Second â€Å"learning about your weaknesses helps you as a couple target specific ways to improve.† (169) This counselor will encourage couples in the red light zone to take a break and consider not dating any longer. If they are in the yellow light zone this counselor will encourage them to consider looking deeply at what the problems are and working through them before proceeding with the relationship. In the green light zone this counselor will encourage them to be willing to talk about issues when they arise, to be willing to  talk about them, and to work on a compromise. Deal states: â€Å"Confidence calms the heart and reduces anxiety†. (194) This counselor could not agree more, and knowing where you stand in a relationship is the most important element. Solidifying the relationship so both persons know how each other feels and what to expect keeps the green light going. Telling the children if you have children will be important. A plan needs to be made about how to tell them and expect the unexpected. One needs to expect them to be happy and for them to be angry about the decision. Letting the children know what will happen will help them through the fear and anger. Deal does not go into depth about what to do if the families do not want this marriage. What if the families do not like the person you want to marry? This counselor agrees the spouse that was married to the ex ought to tell him/her before the wedding day. Once the wedding day has taken place often times the children are going to be stressed out by this and misbehave. Deal suggests often times when things settle down from the wedding the child parent relationship will work itself out. This is a relationship neither party has had to handle before and it will be new challenges to both the parent and the child. Deal encourages parents to have a united front with the children. (206) If they do not have a â€Å"unified team everything will begin to crumble.† (207) Critique Deal speaks about â€Å"commitment and trust† (187) issues with couples. He explains that marriage is complicated and requires a couple to not be selfish. â€Å"God in his infinite wisdom ask each person to make a covenant that binds them together throughout life,† (187) or â€Å"until death do us part.† (187) Elwell states in the time of Christ a man could â€Å"divorce his wife for the most trivial of reasons† (347) from the â€Å"Hillelite Pharisees.† (347) This would suggest that if you take the side of the Hillelite Pharisees, our no fault divorce laws have been around for centuries. It is a delicate dance to get someone to commit to marriage to you when you are ready to commit to marriage and they will not. Deal gives several ideas: â€Å"Patiently continue dating, wrestle with your impatience, identify any specific concerns, give time for the hesitant person to find resolution, and at some point, the higher desire person will grow weary of waiting.† (188) Deal does later in the book suggest a time line of five years is a reasonable time to wait on  someone. If you have waited for five years and they still have not made a decision but you love them and cannot imagine life without that person do you walk away? Would it not be like a divorce? This counselor would not suggest anyone stay with someone for more than the five years unless they can make a decision to marry or not to marry. Deal speaks about crockpots and blenders in the chapter about â€Å"Preparing for a Good Blend.† The crockpots are those couples who move slowly with low heat,† (208) while the blender couples are those who â€Å"move quickly with high velocity.† (208) Deal states: â€Å"It is far wiser to adopt the crockpot cooking style.† (208) Otherwise slow and study is a much better way to blend a family than trying to quickly trying to force them to be a blended family. In this chapter he gives ideas about how to create stepfamilies. He says: â€Å"Younger children under the age of five may require far less time to soften toward stepparents than those between the ages of ten and fifteen years. Also, on occasion, a stubborn ingredient may resist softening and retain a sour taste. In either case, keep cooking.† This counselor would whole heartedly agree with his wisdom. The younger children are when stepparents arrive into their life, the easier it is to accept t hem. Deal also gives ideas about how to handle situations like: â€Å"getting married, calling a stepfather Daddy, combining holidays and other special-day traditions, and taking pictures as a family.† (209-210) With statistics saying that â€Å"fifty percent of first marriages fail and sixty percent of second marriages fail† (smartmarriages.com) this counselor believes Deal has made great recommendations in his book about how to blend families. Blended families will take work and Deal says that many times in this book. This book is an easy read with thought provoking topics. Some of the topics have a different way of looking at them than traditional thoughts. This book is a must read if you are thinking of remarrying or marrying someone who has been married before. References Deal, R. (2012). Dating and the single parent. Bloomington, MN: Bethany House Publishing. Eller, W. (2001). Evangelical dictionary of theology. 2n ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. Marano, H. E., Divorced? Don’t even think of remarrying until you read this. www.smartmarriages.com. Accessed November 8, 2014.