Littleton Manufacturing Case Study PowerPoint presentation Speech or

Littleton Manufacturing Case Study PowerPoint - Speech or Presentation Example These changes coupled with increased competition in the market affected Littleton manufacturing through Brooks industries dwindling financial performance (Whiteside, 1994). To address this issue, the management at Littleton manufacturing got concerned with addressing the deep lying problems that affected the company. The company decided to compute a human resources process improvement team-PIT, to outline the issues and second a corrective course of action. This paper will aim towards identifying the problems at Littleton and providing solutions that will help consolidate the company’s position in the market. Problems identified and their symptoms Complaints at different levels of the company’s plant arose over the issue of poor organizational communication at the company. With this as a sign of organizational problems at the company, the management sought help from students at a nearby faculty to asses the organizational communication at Littleton (Whiteside, 1994). Th e PIT team collected the results from the students and conducted an in-house analysis that identified six critical problem areas that the company was to address. The six problems get discussed below in separate paragraphs. The first problem identified was a lack of organizational unity at Littleton. The apparent lack of organizational unity got viewed through the disquiet shown by the workers who believed the fabrication side got overlooked over the newer components side (Whiteside, 1994). The components side had newer machines while the fabrication side had older machines that required frequent servicing yet they never got replaced. Workers also mentioned of the stringent working conditions in the fabrication side of the plant compared to the components side. The workers viewed the management of the components side as stringent while that of the components side appears flexible and relaxed. The workers observed that the two sides of the plant appeared to have different management s tyles. The second problem cited was a lack of consistency in the enforcement of rules and procedures within the different sides of the plant. Complaints arose from workers about the differences within the department and sides at the plant when enforcing rules and procedures. Evidence of this appeared when workers complained that some supervisors in the components side gave longer breaks compared to other supervisors in other departments. In the very components side, some supervisors allowed workers to leave as early as twenty minutes before quitting time (Whiteside, 1994). Inconsistencies also got cited in terms of application of punishments. Fighting in the plant would result to automatic dismissal, but there were two incidents where the culprits never got punished. Some employees mentioned of an incident where someone was caught smoking marijuana within the plant, but only got a written warning for such a misdemeanor. A lady also got suspended from work for three days for missing work due to doctor appointments for her child. However, an operator got no punishment for missing work regularly due to suspicions of drug or alcohol abuse. Another example of inconsistency in applying rules and procedures got viewed through the absenteeism levels from either side of the plant. The fabrication side had less than one percent absenteeism compared to the 2.2% recorded in the components

The Best Day of My Life Essay Example for Free

The Best Day of My Life Essay The most important day of my life was when I received my nursing license. I was very proud of myself that I finally achieved my dream of becoming a nurse. Through discipline and hard work I was able to embrace this day with open arms. Ever since childhood I have known the value of a solid education and also having a meaningful profession. Education is especially important along with being current in our ever changing day-to-day events. Another important factor is having a profession of your own choosing . It all came to me when I was a child. During my summer vacation I used to visit my grandparents. Every morning they would read the daily newspaper and would discuss what they read afterwards. I enjoyed their lively conversations about the events of the day. They would often include me in their discussions and asked me how I felt about certain topics. At the age of ten I remember watching a news channel where they covered the devastating loss of life and property in South America during an earthquake. My heart trembled, I was perspiring and I started to cry. I was so affected that my legs began to shake. I turned to my mother and said,†Oh my gosh what can we do to help those poor victims?† She gave me a hug, brought me to another room, and wrote out a check for fifty dollars. From that day on I realized that my passion in life was to be of service to those in need. The value of focused discipline and hard work encompasses all aspects of life. I learned a great deal about discipline during nursing school. Discipline and hard work is necessary for all achievements, especially outstanding achievements. Discipline goes hand in hand with hard work. Discipline makes it possible to endure the vigors of hard work, making it fruitful and self-fulfilling in the long run. I also realized that discipline is fruitless without hard work. These two qualities enabled me to strive forward towards my sometimes-elusive prize. It is by only understanding that the world is in desperate need of help and by recognizing not only the importance of continuing education, but also by the expanding beneficial effect to all those involved that we can truly uplift our planet by pursuing a course of unconditional service. My ongoing quest has unexpectedly brought me a true sense of unlimited Joy, unforeseen returns, and a profound sense of inner peace and love.

Intellectual Property Rights

Intellectual Property Rights Intellectual Property Rights Intellectual property can be instrumental to the value of any business. The ability to protect a business or an individuals ideas, inventions and original processes is something that is considered essential to many establishments, particularly those that rely on innovative ideas and products as their unique selling point. Intellectual property rights span a wide range of situations and products, although the most common rights are designs, copyright, patents and trade marks. Each of these intellectual property rights aims to protect a different area of invention. Copyright protects works such as art or music; design protects the physical appearance of a product; trade marks protect the way in which a trader separates himself from his competitors; and patents protect the method by which a product is technically made up and functions. This latter category of intellectual property right can cause considerable difficulty to those applying for protection and those attempting to enforce existing rights. Technology and the associated functions are changing constantly and often being tweaked or altered to meet a new requirement. At what point does this become patentable and distinct from the original technology? This requirement to be innovative in some way is the subject of much debate. Determining when that extra step results in a new protectable technological item is the key to ensuring that the correct items are offered protection. Courts have grappled with the relevant issues in determining whether or not a patent should be protected and when an attack on validity should be successful. Throughout the years, various tests have been forwarded by the courts; however, consistency in relation to obviousness and the concept of novelty and invention have proved particularly troublesome and are often hotly debated in court proceedings. Elements of Patent Law Before determining the way in which the courts deal with the issues surrounding obviousness and novelty, it is first important to gain an understanding of what must be established in order to establish a valid patent, successfully. The basic definition of what is patentable is contained in Section 1(1) of the Patent Act 1977 (the Act). This Act states that in order to be patentable the invention must be new, must involve an inventive step and be capable of industrial application. The Act then goes on to consider each of these requirements, in more detail. Section 2 deals with the requirement that the invention is new. This requirement is commonly referred to as the novelty requirement. Section 2(1) states that for an invention to be novel or new it must not form part of the state of the art. Section 2(2) goes on to consider what state of the art actually encompasses. It defines state of the art as any matter (i.e. product, process, etc. ) that has previously been made available to the public by either a written or oral description. Simply put, if the invention has already been made available to the public, it is not going to be eligible for patent protection. When determining whether or not an invention is new or novel, the issue of whether or not it has been made available to the public will become central. The invention, in order to be considered in the public domain, must have been disclosed to at least one member of the public, who could if he wished use the information freely and the disclosure had to be sufficiently enabling. Sufficiently enabling means that the information contained must be such that someone who has a reasonable level of skill in the area to which the invention relates would be able to implement and make use of the disclosure. The disclosure must be in relation to one document (or one document with several others interlinked) and cannot simply be disclosure obtained from a mosaic of documents. There are exceptions to this rule in relation to disclosure that allow a patent still to be established where the disclosure has been made within six months of the patent application and has been done in confidence. Pulling these factors together, it is clear that the need for novelty insists on the patent being completely new and innovative. Although, based on the mosaic rule, the collection of previous documents and information to create a new invention will not be barred from receiving patent protection. The Issue of Novelty From looking at the above breakdown of what an individual has to prove in order to establish a valid patent, it is clear to see that the issue of novelty is central to most patent decisions. The Section 2 requirement for novelty contained in the Act is a corresponding provision of Articles 54 and 55 of the European Patents Convention (1973) (EPC). As a general rule, an invention is not novel if the amalgamation of features has already been anticipated in a previous disclosure. This point was considered in detail in the case of SmithKline Beecham Plcs Patent [2006] RPC 10. In this case, it was held that for there to have been that degree of anticipation, there must firstly have been a disclosure and there must secondly have been the element of enablement. That is, based on the disclosure, the suitably skilled individual receiving the details of the process would have been able to replicate the process disclosed. Pulling together both of these elements will allow the court to decide whether or not the patent before them is novel or not. Let us first consider the element of disclosure. When it comes to determining whether or not the specific invention has been previously disclosed, the question is not whether the prior disclosure was for an item of similar utility, i.e. it does not necessarily have to solve exactly the same problem as the current invention. In deciding this matter, courts have stated that in order to be a conflicting patent, the situation previously disclosed must be so close to the new invention that the utility gained by the new invention would be a practical certainty. This suggests that in order to establish a valid objection to a patent application on the basis of a prior disclosure, it would have to be shown that the prior invention was inextricably linked in terms of function to the new invention. Therefore, even if something similar has been previously disclosed, provided it is not close with the degree of inevitability that is required, the patent application will not necessarily fail on the basis of not being novel. A general disclosure of a possible process does not impact on the novelty of an invention; however, where there is a series of processes, each individual process could be the reason for a future patent application failing, due to lack of novelty. Secondly, there is the element of enablement. This means that whatever has been disclosed must be sufficient for a person, skilled in the relevant art, to copy or replicate the process or invention. This enablement provision should be thought of separately to the disclosure, as in the case of disclosure the information must be sufficient for a skilled individual to understand the disclosure. For the purpose of enablement, the skilled person must be capable of actually utilising or at least trying to utilise the relevant invention. When it comes to determining whether or not the invention is novel, therefore, several issues need to be considered. It is not simply a matter of determining if something similar has ever been made public. It must have been made public with sufficient clarity as to allow the invention to have been understood and put into effect by another third party. The patent, therefore, in order to gain protection, must offer a solution to a situation that has not been possible to achieve before and not simply a fanciful possibility of a solution given enough further experimentation. As stated in the case of General Tire Rubber Co. v Firestone Tyre Rubber Co. Ltd, the disclosure must contain clear and unmistakable directions to do what the patentee claims to have invented. Pharmaceutical Application The pharmaceutical industry as a whole has been one of the most litigated and dynamic areas in relation to the test of novelty. The recent case of Actavis UK Limited v Merck Co. Inc changed the way in which UK courts look at the test of novelty in relation to medical products. Prior to the Actavis case, it was thought that a new dosage or way of taking a particular drug could not be seen as novel; this has now been reversed by the Court of Appeal. In this case, it was held that a new regime for taking medicine could constitute a novel invention for the purpose of obtaining a valid patent. Furthermore, the court dealt with the issue of obviousness, stating that it had to be obvious at the date of priority, not before or after, to defeat the patent, on this basis. The leading case of Merrell Dow v. Norton and Penn, commonly referred to as the Terfenadine decision, held that when looking at a pharmaceutical process the definition of new had to be applied to the actual processes and not to a new result or outcome. In this case, it was held that although Merrell had discovered a new reaction from Terfenadine, it was not novel as the composition had previously been disclosed to the public (albeit not for that specific purpose). This produces an interesting position. Based on this judgment, it would seem that whether or not the process or invention produces a solution for a previously unsolvable issue is irrelevant; the issue is whether the actual matter itself has been disclosed. The focus of the test is on the physical items and not on the resulting outcome. Bearing this decision in mind and the way in which the courts have chosen to deal with pharmaceutical claims, it would seem impossible to conclude that the issue of patentability is based purely on finding a solution for a technical problem that could not be solved before. Obviousness This leads us on to consider how important the actual resulting process or invention is to the determination of whether or not it is patentable. Aside from the requirement of novelty, the process or invention must involve and innovative step. This has been interpreted to mean that the invention would not be obvious to someone skilled in the art when presented with the relevant matter. One of the ways in which this test has been interpreted is to consider whether or not it fills a gap in the market, thus becoming an immediate business success. If this is the case, it is more likely that the invention would be seen as non-obvious and, therefore, patentable. The requirement for this inventive step is contained in Section 3 of the Act. Deciding on what exactly is obvious and what is not has been a matter for the courts. In the case of Windsurfing International Inc. v Tabur Marine (Great Britain) Ltd, the main test for obviousness was laid down and remains the starting point for judges when deciding whether or not the invention is obvious. It was held that the court should take a four stage approach. Firstly, it should look at the inventive step itself in isolation, i.e. separating it from any supplementary aspects of the invention. Secondly, once the court is clear what the inventive step in question actually is, it should put itself in the position of the common person, skilled in the relevant art with the knowledge that was available at the date of priority. Thirdly, the court needs to consider the difference between what is known by the common man and what the invention professes to display. Finally, the court needs to determine whethe r the step between what is known and the invention would have been obvious to the common man. For example, in the case of Sabaf SpA v. MFI Furniture Centres Limited and others, the House of Lords considered the issue of whether the gas burner in question was obvious. In this case, the argument that Sabaf was presenting to the court was that its patent for a gas burner had been infringed. The respondents (MFI and others) claimed that they were using a new invention as it was, in fact, the combination of two inventions that had generated their specific gas burner. The crucial point here was that it was not possible to take two existing inventions and put them together to establish a new invention, where this new invention would be the obvious product of the two original inventions. The test for being obvious seems to be reasonably wide with the court requiring a definite inventive step and not simply a natural progression, even if the natural progression is novel. Conclusions The area of patent law and, in particular, determining whether or not an invention is novel and / or obvious is by no means clear. The courts take a very individual approach to each case as it is presented to them based on the individual facts. Despite this, it seems that both elements, i.e. novelty and obviousness, remain instrumental. It is not true to say that provided an invention is novel it does not matter whether or not it is obvious. The courts have widened their view of obviousness but not so far as to remove it entirely. Therefore, if the patent in front of the court fails the test of obviousness and a person skilled in that specific area could have also established the invention it would fail, regardless of how novel the invention turns out to be. Both tests must be suitably established in order to gain patent protection. Producing a solution to a problem is highly important to the decision, but it is not the only deciding factor. The issue of obviousness simply cannot be ignored. Bibliography (14 required) Bagley, Margo A. , Patent First, Ask Questions Later: Morality and Biotechnology in Patent Law, William and Mary Law Review, Vol. 45, 2003 Bainbridge, David I. , Intellectual Property, Pearson Education, 2006, Pages 374 407 Colston, Catherine, Principles of Intellectual Property Law, Cavendish Publishing, 1999, Pages 86 105 Cornish, William Rodolph, Vaver, D. , Bently, Lionel, Intellectual Property in the New Millennium: Essays in Honour of William R. Cornish, Cambridge University Press, 2004, Pages 91 95 Grubb, Philip W. , Patents for Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotechnology: Fundamentals of Global Law, Practice, and Strategy, Oxford University Press, 1999 Hodkinson, Keith, Protecting and Exploiting New Technology and Designs, Taylor Francis, 1988, Pages 32 71 Johnston, Josephine, Wasunna, Angela A. , Patents, Biomedical Research. And Treatments: Examining Concerns, Canvassing Solutions, The Hastings Center Report, Vol. 37, 2007 Karet, Novelty under English Law. Appeal in Merrell Dow v Norton 16(5) European Intellectual Property Review 204, 1994 Muir, Ian, Brandi-Dohrn, Matthias, Gruber, Stephan, European Patent Law: Law and Procedure under the EPC and PCT, Oxford University Press, 1999 Patterson, Mark R. , Contractual Expansion of the Scope of Patent Infringement through Field-of-Use Licensing, William and Mary Law Review, Vol. 49, 2007 Pressman, David, Patent It Yourself, Nolo, 2008, Pages 15 20 Taylor, Christopher Thomas, Silberston, Aubrey, The Economic Impact of the Patent System: A Study of the British Experience, CUP Archive, 1973, Pages 12 23 Thomas, John R. , Litigation beyond the Technological Frontier: Comparative Approaches to Multinational Patent Enforcement, Law and Policy in International Business, Vol. 27, 1996 White, The Novelty-Destroying Disclosure: Some Recent Decisions 9 European Intellectual Property Review 315, 1987

A Farwell to Arms :: Essays Papers

A Farwell to Arms For hundreds of years, writers have used religion as a fundamental issue and point of discussion in their novels. Joseph Conrad expressed his views in Heart of Darkness, George Orwell did the same in 1984 and in other writings, and even Ernest Hemingway used his writing to develop his own ideas concerning the church. This is fully evident in his novel A Farewell to Arms. Even in a book in which the large majority of the characters profess their atheism, the ideas of the church materialize repeatedly as both characters and as topics of conversations. Religion is presented through reflections of the protagonist "Lieutenant Henry", and through a series of encounters involving Henry and a character simply identified as "the priest". Hemingway uses the treatment of the priest by the soldiers and by Henry himself to illustrate ways of approaching religion in a situation in which God has no place, and employs these encounters between the priest and other characters as a means of express ing religious views of his own. Most evident to the reader is the distinct difference between the priest's relationship with Henry and that which he has with the other soldiers. Hemingway repeatedly emphasizes this in all sections of the book, even after Henry is injured, when he is completely isolated from the other soldiers. The first instance the reader sees of this is only six pages into the novel. Hemingway writes, "That night in the mess after the spaghetti course †¦ the captain commenced picking on the priest" (6-7). The manner in which Hemingway frames this line is suggesting that not only do the soldiers start picking on the priest, but picking on him was the predinner entertainment. Almost the same scenario is portrayed only a few pages later: "The meal was finished, and the argument went on. We two stopped talking and the captain shouted, Priest not happy. Priest not happy without girls.'" (14) The soldiers' ridicule of the priest is again highlighted when Henry, bed-stricken with his injury, asks the priest "How is the mess?" (69). The priest replies "I am still a great joke" (69). The reader sees an obvious pattern in the relationship between the priest and the others. More important, though, than the fact that the other soldiers ridicule the priest, is for what he is ridiculed.

History of Juventus Essay

Edoardo Agnelli of the Agnelli family, owners of the Fiat company gained control of the club in 1923.[7] They had a private stadium in Villar Perosa (south-west of Turin) built and a complete set of facilities and services. This proved a good move for the club, as Juventus won their second Italian Championship during the 1925-26 season; they beat Alba Roma in the final with an aggregate score of 12-1, Antonio Vojak’s goals were essential that season.[5] From the 1930-31 through the 1934-35 season, Juventus collected a record of five consecutive Italian league championships, four of which were under coach Carlo Carcano;[5] the squad included the likes of Raimundo Orsi, Luigi Bertolini, Giovanni Ferrari and Luis Monti amongst others. Notably, the club reached the semi-finals of the Mitropa Cup before going out to Czechoslovakian side Slavia Prague.[8] During 1933, Juventus moved to what is considered their first major home; Stadio Benito Mussolini, it was built in 1933 for the 1934 FIFA World Cup, holding a capacity of 65,000.[9] It was originally named after Benito Mussolini who was Prime Minister of Italy at the time. Edoardo Agnelli died on 14 July 1935, this affected the club’s league performance in a large manner as some of the most prominent players left soon after his death. Although the club were unable to re-capture their form for the rest of the 1930s, they did finish as runners-up to Ambrosiana-Inter in the 1937-38 season.[5] After-World War II the club’s ground was renamed, Stadio Comunale and Edoardo’s son Gianni Agnelli was put in place as honorary president;[7] the club added two more scudetto championship’s to their name in the 1949-50 and 1951-52 seasons, the latter of which was under the management of Englishman Jesse Carver. This kind of form would be a sign of things to come in the future. After a dry spell, Juventus signed Welshman John Charles and Italo-Argentine Omar Sivori in 1957 to play alongside Giampiero Boniperti (who had been with the club since 1946). This system was very successful for Juventus and they won Serie A in 1957-58 and 1959-60 with Fiorentina finishing second on both occasions, the latter of which was Juventus’ first ever double, as they also won the Coppa Italia that season. This record breaking squad became the first Italian clubs to win ten championships in 1961, in recognition of this the club were awarded a Golden Star for Sport Excellence (Stella d’Oro al Merito Sportivo) to wear on their shirt. Notably, Omar Sivori became the first Juventus player to win the European Footballer of the Year that year too.[10] When Boniperti retired in 1961, he retired as the all-time top scorer at the club, with 182 goals in all competitions; a club record which would last for 45 years. The last Juventus championship victory came with Heriberto Herrera as coach in 1966-67,[5] a notable players of this time was the reliable defender Sandro Salvadore. Juventus further solidified themselves as a tower of strength in Italian football during the 1970s by winning the scudetto in 1971-72, 1972-73, 1974-75 and 1976-77,[5] as well as reaching the 1973 European Cup Final where they lost to Ajax. Coached in the early part of the decade by ÄÅ'estmà ­r Vycpà ¡lek, a Czech who had once played with Juventus (and Palermo), the Old Lady built up a strong squad of players to push them forward, with Gaetano Scirea, Dino Zoff, Roberto Bettega, Fabio Capello, and Brazilian Josà © Altafini who would become the joint-third highest scorer in Serie A history.[11] Franco Causio also became a very popular player at the club during the 1970s, in fact he was so popular that the club allowed him to wear his hair long, prior to Causio this was against the rules.[12] The club also provided the team with official formal wear (made by famous tailors) and forced them to complete their educational studies. Most of its players remained with Juventus until the end of their careers; many were given jobs with the club or for Fiat (and related companies) after playing retirement.

Nursing Scholarship Essays

Nursing Scholarship Essays Nursing Scholarship Essay Nursing Scholarship Essay Fort Collins, CO Accomplishments: Worked with a team to develop and implement a mass-communications-research coding scheme studying the coverage of health issues by television, print, and internet media.Performed general office clerical duties including use of a variety of computer programs and office equipment. Trained new employees on use of computer and office equipment and methods of office administration, research, and data organization. Wrote a user-guide for the office scanner. Tracked files and data for three research projects.

Free Essays on Soul On Ice

In the book entitled Soul On Ice, author Eldridge Cleaver presents many of his philosophical ideas and personal experiences while scrutinizing the social dilemmas, civil injustices, and overbearing realities that non-white peoples have faced through their history. Some of the ideologies he develops are highlighted in the essay â€Å"Black Man’s Stake in Vietnam.† Through this examination he studies the common interest that black Americans share with Third World countries. Even though his presumptions do appear pragmatically masculine at times, his descriptions of injustices experienced by black people are vivid and definite. However, constructive strategies to achieve African American unity and social equality seem to be missing. One may be inclined to believe that no matter how clearly a person of color conceives the issues of unfair treatment, exclusion, or injustice, in order to ameliorate the situation for themselves or their people, they must suggest steps which address the problems they describe. By failing to outline positive ways to deal with the troubles he reputes, Cleaver estranges those readers with the potential to understand and unite these victims of oppression. Simultaneously, Cleaver frequently expresses this moment in history as â€Å"the last act of the show.† This expression of despair and hopelessness negatively effects the search for solutions to the issues he recognizes as being so very significant. (151) African Americans have always played a crucial role in America’s development as a powerful and independent nation. Even still, the expectation of dying for one’s nation is unrealistic for people who feel oppressed by the country and society in which they live. Growing awareness within America’s borders brought about varying types public protest during the 1960's. â€Å"Both inherently and overtly political in content, the Black Arts movement was the only American literary movement to advance "soci... Free Essays on Soul On Ice Free Essays on Soul On Ice In the book entitled Soul On Ice, author Eldridge Cleaver presents many of his philosophical ideas and personal experiences while scrutinizing the social dilemmas, civil injustices, and overbearing realities that non-white peoples have faced through their history. Some of the ideologies he develops are highlighted in the essay â€Å"Black Man’s Stake in Vietnam.† Through this examination he studies the common interest that black Americans share with Third World countries. Even though his presumptions do appear pragmatically masculine at times, his descriptions of injustices experienced by black people are vivid and definite. However, constructive strategies to achieve African American unity and social equality seem to be missing. One may be inclined to believe that no matter how clearly a person of color conceives the issues of unfair treatment, exclusion, or injustice, in order to ameliorate the situation for themselves or their people, they must suggest steps which address the problems they describe. By failing to outline positive ways to deal with the troubles he reputes, Cleaver estranges those readers with the potential to understand and unite these victims of oppression. Simultaneously, Cleaver frequently expresses this moment in history as â€Å"the last act of the show.† This expression of despair and hopelessness negatively effects the search for solutions to the issues he recognizes as being so very significant. (151) African Americans have always played a crucial role in America’s development as a powerful and independent nation. Even still, the expectation of dying for one’s nation is unrealistic for people who feel oppressed by the country and society in which they live. Growing awareness within America’s borders brought about varying types public protest during the 1960's. â€Å"Both inherently and overtly political in content, the Black Arts movement was the only American literary movement to advance "soci...

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ENGLISH ESSAY WRITING SERVICE for Students Essay writing is important and mostly crucial part of education process. Through the essays students are able to demonstrate their unique capabilities. The primary goal of essay writing is to determine the ability to organize a well-structured essay in a logical and systematical manner. When the student is lacking such ability, actions must be taken at once. One of the options is to buy custom written papers from online English essay writing service. Professional writers with years of writing experience will write a paper you need including all personal requirements you wish to include. Every essay writing assignment is your chance to improve your paper writing skills. Explore and read more information do as much research as you can and continue writing. Your essay writing skills are promised to be improved. Good English is your primary objective. The second important aspect is proper essay structuring start with introduction and finish up with nice and logical conclusion. For all other assignment writing requests, use professional essay writing service.

IRB Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

IRB Company - Essay Example Data Gathering Instrument(s): Not addressed from the previous review. Please include all data gathering instruments in the portfolio. IRB needs to review these. I have already included the interview guide. Let me know if you still do not have it so I upload it to you again. How will the participants be contacted about the study?Three levels of contact shall be designed. The first shall be through the use of official e-mail where the researcher shall contact the General Managers of these companies. Upon receiving a reply from the companies, the researcher shall then follow up with a telephone call to all the 8 companies. Where applicable, the researcher shall contact the companies in person to introduce the purpose of the research and the role to be played by the respondents to the managers. Who will contact the potential participants and in what manner? (in person, via email, via the phone, etc.) Also, if contact will be made at a place of business, via a business email or phone numb er, permission from that business too.Potential participants shall be human resource managers. These will first be contacted through their General Managers, using the official e-mail of the companies. Once the researcher visits the companies in person, the human resource managers shall then be contacted in person and presented with the consent forms, which will contain the purpose of the study, the role of participants, and arrangements made to secure the anonymity, confidentiality, and safety of participants.

There Are No Children Here Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

There Are No Children Here - Assignment Example trating great unwillingness to leave the place at the high point in the city significantly related to my personal life and also affected me personally. Pharaoh is a young boy of only nine at that time when he goes with his brother and other boys to that high point in the city from where they could watch the downtown skyline. The children go there looking for snakes, but Pharaoh gets distracted by nature as they are about to leave when the night begins to fall. This small moment in Pharaoh’s life moved me on a personal level and made me feel nostalgic of my own childhood. When I was about nine or ten myself, I suffered the loss of my grandfather with whom I was really close emotionally and psychologically. He was the most influential figure in my life because he was there for me always when my parents due to their hectic working schedules could not make it. When I lost him to a case of heart disease, I became very gloomy and used to feel tired all the time. However, one day my parents took me for hiking at a hilly area which is known for boasting some very natural and beautiful views. I remember how being at that place made me feel exactly like Pharaoh felt in that scene from the story. That moment breaks my heart and reminisces of my own past when the little boy cannot bring himself to leave the place because he is so engrossed in the view of diving sparrows returning to their nests and the smell of wildflowers that the harsh realities of real life totally release him from their shackles for a while. Adolescents have raw minds which explains why they are so impressionable. They are highly receptive to what their surroundings have to offer which can be good or bad. For Pharaoh, the environment of the bad neighborhood in which destiny forced him to live offered him bad memories to escape which he longed to stay forever at the place which offered overwhelmingly beautiful views of birds and nature. Similarly, the death of my grandfather m ade me hung up on the time I

In Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, Ibsen explores as to why Nora, the Research Paper

In Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, Ibsen explores as to why Nora, the main character and protagonist, lacks such values and str - Research Paper Example Through the ‘ideology of separate spheres’, women became trapped within the domestic sphere, thus isolating them from the world and holding them back from forming complete identities. The reference used by Ibsen for the title, suggests the false and constructed reality of the domestic sphere as it limits women from reaching their potential In Henrik Ibsen’s â€Å"A Doll House† Ibsen explores as to why Nora, the main character and protagonist, lacks such values and struggles to find her own authentic identity in the face of a tyrannical male domineering society. During the 19th century a specific ideology in Victorian England emerged that defined the spaces in which the genders were assigned. Women were confined to the dominion of their husband within the domestic sphere, their lives to be lived within the space of home and social experience. Males were in dominion of the public sphere, their lives expanded to include business and politics with women not all owed, by law, to participate in their lives, which included their economic status where financial and real estate was concerned. There is some debate about the representation of separate spheres within literature. ... Some of this might be observed with â€Å"A Doll’s House†, although not outside of a believable relationship between a man and a woman, there is a distinct point made about the nature of male oppression. As Helmer uses diminutive language towards his wife, he sets the nature of their relationship through treating his wife like a child, a ‘doll’ that is coddled and protected into an unrealistic framework in which he dominates all important aspects of their life together. Helmer says to her â€Å"The same little feather head† and â€Å"Hasn’t Miss Sweet-Tooth been breaking rules in town today?† (Ibsen 12, 14). In regard to her spending habits he says â€Å"It’s a sweet little spendthrift, but she uses up a deal of money† (Ibsen 14). He treats her like a child, speaking to her in a manner that is condescending and without any sort of recognition of her adult place within the marriage. Nora is not a complete person to him, but someone who has no sense and must be considered without any regard to the concept of her opinion. He determines what is important within the household and when he fails to see some of the aspects of domestic life that must be attended, she must find ways to manipulate their relationship in order to accomplish what must be done. Her choices are limited because she is not considered to have a valuable place within their household, other than that which he has determined she is qualified to hold. When Helmer addresses her by saying â€Å"Hasn’t Miss Sweet-Tooth been breaking rules in town today†, he is chastising her like she is a naughty child, ‘teasing; her with the idea that she is not in control of her desires and impulses (Ibsen 14). He further diminishes her when he speaks to her without a direct application of her name, the

Art and Advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Art and Advertising - Essay Example This essay "Art and Advertising" outlines the connection between the business world and creative; and what areas of overlap might exist between art and advertising. We only have to look at the commissioned work of the masters in the renaissance era to see the influence of the rich and famous patrons of the arts in their works. Going further back, we can examine how the kings and queens influenced the works of the artists in the classical and medieval eras. Therefore, it is perfectly logical to see how some of the best artists in present times (including the top graduates of art schools) have been recruited by advertising agencies and media syndicates to work for them. In the modern world, art and advertisements seem to have the same purpose, i.e. to motivate and move people towards some form of action (Lee, 2000). In this respect advertising may be a more difficult art form than painting or sculpture since it might be far easier for people to give off an emotion which costs them nothing rather than loosen their purse strings and spend money on something which they might even not need at all. Given the times we live in, even things like the GUI (Graphical User Interface) design of a computer or the layout and graphics used on a website could indeed by accepted as a valid form of art (Brierley, 2002). Moreover, even the applications being used on the computer for productivity or entertainment can be art forms as exemplified by the computer gaming industry which now beats Hollywood in terms of monetary size (Wikipedia, 2006).

Financial Analysis for Managers II Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial Analysis for Managers II - Essay Example It is a fixed amount paid on annual basis (Myers & Allen, 2005). This amount might be constant for a certain period of time or may have a steady trend for some time and may fluctuate otherwise. The annuities and the time value of money are related and affected by certain factors. These are as follows; Interest rates are the prevailing charges of availing the facility of the capital that might have been invested in an interest generating instrument or a bank account. The interest rates of advancing loans and paying on the deposits are different and that the difference is actually the monetary reward of utilizing that capital. However, the actual value of money, even when the principal amount is added up with the total interest amount received as an annuity, is normally different from what it was at the time of blocking that money into the respective reserve under question. This may have a different affect on the compounded interest approach. Since the interest is compound, therefore it yields a higher amount at each step and thus even the actual value of the total of that amount might be more than the amount actually invested depending on the terms, policies and interest rates. This introduces the concept of the present value of future payments and/or income(s) that are expected to be received (Myers Allen, 2005). This means that the present value always differs from the future value. The idea is also related to the fact about the future value of any of the long term and/or even short term investments that were made. They will seldom be equal in real terms, even when they seem to be equal as an annuity. The most commonly applied model of the time value of money is our same old compounded interest model. An amount of money 'C' for 't' years at a rate of interest of 'I'% (where interest of 15 percent" is expressed also as 0.15) compounded on annual basis, the present value of the receipt of C, t years in the future, is: Ct = C(1+i)-t = C/(1+i)t The expression (1 + i)t is a generic form of calculating almost al sorts of present value. Where the interest rate is deemed to be something which is not constant figure over the period of the investment(s), different values for 'I' may respectively be used; an investment over a two year period would then have PV (Present Value) of: PV = C(1+i1)-1.(1+i2)-1 Present value is additive. This means that the present value of a bundle of cash flows is the sum of each individual's present value. If there are no risks involved in the project i.e. the project is deemed to be risk free, the expected/forecasted rate of return from the project must equal or exceed this rate of return or else it would be better to rather invest the capital investment in these (potentially) risk free assets. If there are risks involved in any such investments or a project ventures this can be reflected through the use of a 'risk premium'. The risk premium that is required can easily be found by comparing the investment with the rate of return required from other similar projects with similar risks (Ross & Westerfield, 2007). Thus it is possible for almost all investors to take account of any uncertainty or risk factor

How democracy caused the fall of athens greece Essay

How democracy caused the fall of athens greece - Essay Example The general standard of living became better, the poor earning more than before. The equality of rights for all, regardless of their class, was introduced. Later, great pieces of art and literature were produced. That period is called the ‘Golden Age’ of Athens. The people enjoyed being the ones helping out in creating new laws. The head went through their suggestions, so the city was ruled keeping everybody’s thoughts and wants in mind. The Athenians seemed to be happy in the way their city was governed. Several years later though, questions were raised and arguments arose regarding the democratic system. Greece produced many philosophers which are famous now like Socrates, his pupil Plato and Aristotle. They were great thinkers and had their own theories concerning the ruling of their city. Their questions and thoughts led to the rest of the general public raise their own queries until there was a general unrest. Nothing quite major, but the seeds of uncertainty were laid and one could easily imagine what the future could entail. There were several rulers who governed the state, Perciles being the most loved and greatest. But after his death, Athens did not remain to its former glory and that was partially due to the decision made by him whilst he was alive. Athens and Sparta were both powerful cities and great competitors. When the latter saw

Art and Advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Art and Advertising - Essay Example This essay "Art and Advertising" outlines the connection between the business world and creative; and what areas of overlap might exist between art and advertising. We only have to look at the commissioned work of the masters in the renaissance era to see the influence of the rich and famous patrons of the arts in their works. Going further back, we can examine how the kings and queens influenced the works of the artists in the classical and medieval eras. Therefore, it is perfectly logical to see how some of the best artists in present times (including the top graduates of art schools) have been recruited by advertising agencies and media syndicates to work for them. In the modern world, art and advertisements seem to have the same purpose, i.e. to motivate and move people towards some form of action (Lee, 2000). In this respect advertising may be a more difficult art form than painting or sculpture since it might be far easier for people to give off an emotion which costs them nothing rather than loosen their purse strings and spend money on something which they might even not need at all. Given the times we live in, even things like the GUI (Graphical User Interface) design of a computer or the layout and graphics used on a website could indeed by accepted as a valid form of art (Brierley, 2002). Moreover, even the applications being used on the computer for productivity or entertainment can be art forms as exemplified by the computer gaming industry which now beats Hollywood in terms of monetary size (Wikipedia, 2006).

How democracy caused the fall of athens greece Essay

How democracy caused the fall of athens greece - Essay Example The general standard of living became better, the poor earning more than before. The equality of rights for all, regardless of their class, was introduced. Later, great pieces of art and literature were produced. That period is called the ‘Golden Age’ of Athens. The people enjoyed being the ones helping out in creating new laws. The head went through their suggestions, so the city was ruled keeping everybody’s thoughts and wants in mind. The Athenians seemed to be happy in the way their city was governed. Several years later though, questions were raised and arguments arose regarding the democratic system. Greece produced many philosophers which are famous now like Socrates, his pupil Plato and Aristotle. They were great thinkers and had their own theories concerning the ruling of their city. Their questions and thoughts led to the rest of the general public raise their own queries until there was a general unrest. Nothing quite major, but the seeds of uncertainty were laid and one could easily imagine what the future could entail. There were several rulers who governed the state, Perciles being the most loved and greatest. But after his death, Athens did not remain to its former glory and that was partially due to the decision made by him whilst he was alive. Athens and Sparta were both powerful cities and great competitors. When the latter saw

A Natural and Privatized life Essay Example for Free

A Natural and Privatized life Essay Haruki Murakami, a Japanese writer of short story, The Year of Spaghetti. The depiction of Murakami’s stories with point-of-view narratives provides certain distinctiveness to the characters, depending on how the dialogue is conveyed. The abstract things the narrator says and does provide the idea of human isolation with little feelings of fear. Although the story has no definitive plot, it grabs hold of conflicting emotions between fear and loneliness. The unnamed protagonist in The Year of Spaghetti, illustrates the meaning of loneliness through naturalization and privatization. According to the Article, Murakami Haruki and the Naturalization of Modernity, â€Å"Privatization is the process that makes naturalization possible.† (Cassegard 87) The first paragraph of Haruki’s story, The Year of Spaghetti, already shows how alone and private his life it. He says, â€Å"I cooked spaghetti to live, and lived to cook spaghetti.† (pg. 178) It already seems as if his mind is made up for the rest of his life. That he has found his life’s calling to cook spaghetti every day and every night. That is what is natural to him. Naturalization means, â€Å"that one has grown used to an environment that was once shocking.† (Cassegard 83) Nothing really phases him, however, he could not have reached naturalization without having privatization occur first. Privatization is: The process whereby individuals â€Å"become used† to solitude, or—to be more precise—their instinctual needs and fundamental impulses become channeled in such a way that their gratification is made less dependent on relations to other people. The term does not imply that human interaction decreases, but stands for the subjective process whereby such interactions become less important as sources of gratification for individuals. (Cassegard 87) This explains how the protagonist in this story can be conveyed as someone who is lonely, hurt, and avoiding the rest of the world, but could actually just be content with life. Privatization explains that the interactions with other people are not necessarily something he is bad at or is avoiding, but  just has less interest in it. The story then goes on to how the protagonist’s phone rang and how he could barely even recognize the fact that someone was calling him. This was due to the fact that he does not call nor get calls regularly. This is a shock to the protagonist because he was not expecting anyone to call or talk to him. As he answered the phone it was his friend’s ex girlfriend and by the sound of her voice he already knew she needed some kind of help. He then says to himself, â€Å"whatever trouble was brewing I knew I didn’t want to get involved.† (Murakami 180) Before even knowing what the girl’s problem was he already knew he did not want any part of it. This is part of his privatized life. According to Cassegard, â€Å"Their peace of mind is paid for by loneliness.† (pg. 87) Cassegard is trying to say that Murakami’s protagonist likes being alone and therefore, knows, getting involved in any type of way with this girl or anyone else for that matter will interfere with him being alone. He is so use to his everyday life of buying different types of spaghetti every week, cooking it in his, â€Å"huge aluminum cooking pot, big enough to bathe a German shepard in.† (Murakami 178), then eating it all by himself. Perhaps the German shepard is also a symbol of loneliness because this is all he did in 1971. He did it everyday and that is what he sees as normal. He kept his life privatized like this and that is why nothing is a shock to him, because it is natural to him. The protagonist’s tone in the story sounds content with subtle undertones of fear. It is like the spaghetti has some type of deeper meaning in accordance to his loneliness. When explaining how spaghetti is cooked a specific type of way he also mentions more than once how he must eat it alone. He even says he expects to be alone, and him subconsciously thinking people are at his door proves how lonely he really is. The protagonist says: Every time I sat down to a plate of spaghetti- especially on a rainy afternoon- I had the distinct feeling that somebody was about to knock on my door. The person who I imagined was about to visit me was different each time. Sometimes it was a stranger, sometimes someone I knew. Once, it was a girl with slim legs whom I’d dated in high school, and once it was myself, from a few years back, come to pay a visit. Another time, it was none other than William Holden,  with Jennifer Jones on his arm. (Murakami 179) Although he may be content and satisfied with being alone, you can still tell how lonely he really is by his actions. Whenever, he eats spaghetti alone he imagines people coming to visit. He especially imagines people up when it is a rainy day. The rain symbolizes the mood of sadness and loneliness, therefore, especially on rainy days he would doze off. The protagonist in the story shows his loneliness because he has to daydream of random people that are visiting him but do not actually come inside. According to Cassegard, â€Å"Few things are as striking in the protagonists of Murakami as their loneliness, even when they are with other people.† (p. 83) Cassegard is saying that Murakami’s protagonists are always perceived to be lonely even when interacting with others. For example, when the protagonist in The Year of Spaghetti is talking to the girl on the phone, he makes up a lie so that he can hang up with her because he does not want to speak or help her with her problem of needing to contact her ex boyfriend, the protagonist’s friend because he owes her a sum of money. He is not happy to have a phone call because he likes to be alone, so therefore, he lies about cooking spaghetti just to cut the conversation off. After he lies he thinks to himself, â€Å" I lied. I had no idea why I said that. But that lie was already a part of me- so much so that, at that moment at least, it didn’t feel like a lie at all. (Murakami 181) That line can make us idealize the fact that he has been cooking spaghetti for the purpose of a lie that has turned true. Him cooking spaghetti symbolizes his way of privatization. Eating spaghetti provides allusion to the idea of a tangled relationship that he is avoiding with anyone, especially the girl he was speaking on the phone to. His constant rejection to the world has lead him imagining a pot with water, on his stove, and an imaginary match. (Murakami) This collectively provides the constant isolated relationship between him and his world. Murakami is a different kind of Japanese writer. He adapted his writing style from the Western side. DiConsiglo says, â€Å"Growing up, he dreamed of America. He read American detective novels, and listened to American music  on the radio. Even the defining moment in his life was distinctly American. At age 29, while watching a baseball game, he suddenly realized he wanted to be a writer.† (pg. 1) Murakami then says, Writing in Japan for Japanese people is in a particular style, very stiff. If you are a Japanese novelist you have to write that way, Murakami has said. But I am different in my style. I guess Im seeking a new style for Japanese readership, and I think I have gained ground. Things are changing now. (DiConsiglio) Murakami was always teased for the way he writes. He was a disgrace to the older Japanese people because of the way he wrote. Japanese people would tease Americans and call them names like batakusai, which literally means, â€Å"stinking of butter.† (DiConsiglio 1) Murakami has been different from everyone else as he group up because of his interests and that is possibly why his characters in the stories he writes are so lonely, privatized, but also natural. His characters in the stories never seem to be shocked by anything because they accept everything as they are. They do not have any desire to figure out or question why certain things are the way they are. The characters just exist neither happy nor sad. And that is how the protagonist in Murakami’s story The Year of Spaghetti is like. His character shows not much emotion to anything else except his love for spaghetti and his few day dreams of random imaginary people. That is really lonely but does not seem to shock the protagonist nor phase him, because as said, t hat is what is natural to him. (DiConsiglio) In conclusion, the point of view narration has emphasized the point that gives his stories uniqueness and relatable aesthetic. It’s tone helps a reader to understand the author and protagonist’s ideas of privatization from the world that became natural to him. It is only then the symbolism of spaghetti provides a greater and deeper meaning to why the protagonist acts in the certain way that he does- a privatized and natural life. Works Cited Cassegard, Carl. Murakami Haruki And The Naturalization Of Modernity. International Journal Of Japanese Sociology 10.1 (2001): 80-92. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Sept. 2014. DiConsiglio, John. Haruki Murakami Stinks. Literary Cavalcade 51.4 (1999): 15. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Sept. 2014. Murakami, Haruki. The Year of Spaghetti. (2005): 178-83. Web.

Singapore Airlines Business And Management Strategies Tourism Essay

Singapore Airlines Business And Management Strategies Tourism Essay The purpose and objective of this report is to look into the business and management strategies of Singapore Airlines. Thing that I will be looking into would be the different challenges and threats that Singapore Airline face and also I will be sharing on how and what kind of strategy they used to survive and be on top of the competition. I will be using SWOT analysis to analyze Singapore Airlines strategies, to give an in-depth understanding on what are the contributing factors that helps or cripples the company. Table of Contents Introduction 3 Strategies of Singapore Airlines Service strategy 4 Human Resource Management and Marketing strategies 5 Competitive challenges faced by Singapore Airlines 6 How did Singapore Airlines outstand their challengers 7 Star alliance 7 Cargo alliance with Lufthansa 7 Cost reduction 7 Problem Singapore Airlines might face in the future 8 SWOT analyze of Singapore Airlines Strength Branding 9 Quality of services 9 Weakness 9 Opportunity 10 Threat 10 Analysis of SWOT 10 Recommendation/conclusion for the report 11 References 12 Introduction A brief introduction to Singapore Airlines on how it is form and what difficulties the company faced at first. Singapore Airlines was found in 1947 with Malaysian Airlines (known as Malayan at that time), it was a joint venture between the Malaysia and Singapore government, placing their service mainly in the South East Asia region. Singapore Airlines is considered one of the worlds best airlines travelling up to 93 destinations and 38 countries. After Singapore Separated from Malaysia in 1965 and both governments coincide to set up different airlines. Thus, Singapore Airlines was born in 1972. Different from most other airlines, Singapore Airlines was at a disadvantage position as compared to them. What causes this is because it is due to that Singapore Airline is not given the choice of domestic routes to serve, as Singapore itself it too small, so Singapore Airlines is force to compete with international airlines for routes the moment it starts its business. The things to compete for are like getting access to terminals, securing flights slots and landing rights, and also trying to draw in a new customer base. Not like most state-owned entities, Singapore Airlines was force into to massive competition from the start of its business. Using this as motivational factor, it led and brings Singapore Airlines competitive spirit to an incomparable level and also the dedication to make a good branding of Singapore Airline be better than every service sector. These factors have stayed within the company acting as the core and since then, it has shown to serve the airline very wel l, allowing them to overcome any challenges. It was shown that Singapore Airlines earned a profit of $253 million in April to June 2010. This was a complete change of $560 million from the loss of $307 million recorded in the same quarter a year ago. [1] Strategies Singapore Airlines used to achieve success Service Strategies Singapore Airlines is known as one of the greatest and popular brands in the international business world. Singapore Airlines is also well respected as an airline that capable of providing one of the best flight services in the world. They are not only well known for its brand but also on its service quality, beating other famous airlines such as Fly Emirates, Qantas and British Airlines The first aspect that I would share on is about the service process. This is a factor which has always has been presenting at its best by the entire cabin crew for the passengers up till present. The service is being personified in the Singapore girl figure, which is the air stewardess of the airline. The Singapore girl consistent visual advertising slogan applied to depictions of stewardesses of Singapore Airlines dressed in distinctive our Malay ethnic costume sarong Kebaya. This has been representing as the icon of the service guarantee and the exciting and unforgettable flight experience. Secondly, what contributes to the Singapore airlines glory is their strategy where they are always keeping the innovative edge particularly on the in-flight services. The Singapore airlines is the first airlines that brings in the personal system of the entertainment system and video on-demand for every seat. It is called the Krisworld. Apart from that, they are also the first airlines who introduce the seat configuration that brings maximum comfort to the passengers. Recently, they also introduce the first suite class in the commercial airlines which is the A380, a class that designed exactly as the five star hotel room, completed with the private compartment which also brings the comfort level even higher. Thirdly, Singapore airlines consistently use new airplanes for one purpose. It is to enable a lower cost of operational as it is cheaper and more efficient to maintain younger airplanes as compared to older airplanes. This helps in cutting down the cost for Singapore airlines in the financial aspect. Using those three strategies point, the excellent service, the continuity innovation, and the technology superiority, this is why Singapore Airlines is always remaining as one of the best airlines. Human Resource Management and Marketing Strategies   The Singapore airlines make use of a Human resource management policy where productivity is closely related with motivational policies for employees to provide better service and productivity. It is to say that higher income particular are more likely than lower income particular to report them at higher sense of satisfaction. This practice is found in Singapore airlines where human resource management in Singapore airlines approaches viewing performance management as to further improve the particular performance through assessing past performance and rewarding them in purely financial terms. The most important and different marking strategy exploited by Singapore Airlines is based on their quality of image and service of Singapore girl. The Singapore Girl is essential part of this brand image. One of the Singapore Girl core value is having the mindset of approachable customer orientated staff delivering better quality of customer service. This has become the most important competitive advantage for Singapore Airlines, because Singapore Girls can be considered as the frontline behind the success of the achievement. In order to retain its customers, staff trainings and development programs have been implied to the employees. To ensure the professional service amongst employees, they also have to attend language courses and attitudinal programmes. Global customers are high due to the awareness of the Singapore Girl image. The effective marketing strategy helped Singapore airlines to reduce their cost pressures in order for them to compete in the airline industry through value adding targeted market division. Using the Singapore Girl as an icon for Singapore airlines has boost Singapore Airlines competitive position in the industry. Competitive challenges faced by the Singapore airline Airline industry has seen many changes and competition are stronger and fiercer than ever. Ranging from business and economic class flights to low-cost flights and the coupled with economic downturn, the competition between the airline industry is remarkably high. Some of the low-cost flights operators such as Ryanair, an Irish low-cost airline, are more flexible in responding to increase the cost pressure on profitability which set a threat to Singapore airline operations and growing. Singapore airlines acted to these pressures and thus invested in newer technology in order to maintain its cost levels while trying to not sacrifice any customer service quality in order to achieve profitability. One concern caused at this stage in considering changing the consumer behaviour and attitudes towards flying in Singapore Airlines are related to what extent Singapore Airlines will be able to preserve and enhance its brand image of customer service. Continuous cost pressure such as increased in fuel prices as well as operational costs related to enhanced security will continue to be a challenge for Singapore airlines in preserving profitability in competing with budget operators. If budget operators to date have been either locally or regionally based should operators like Ryanair by expanding to provide international journeys, this will create huge threat to Singapore airlines in terms of competition for long-haul passengers. Due to the economic downturn, consumers are leaning towards the area of low pricing of low-cost flights. Some notable competitors that Singapore Airlines are facing would be Cathay Pacific, Ryanair and the Malaysian Airlines. How did Singapore airline outstand their competitors? Singapore airlines increased its network via code-sharing with members of Star alliance marketing partnership including Lufthansa and united airlines. Code-sharing allows airlines to sell tickets on one anothers flight and this will offer service to additional destinations. Star Alliance: Partnership with star alliance allows Singapore airline to develop and improve operations, facilitates and processes and able to provide access to new capabilities as well as new knowledge and new technologies. The major airline part of star alliance marketing partnership which includes Lufthansa, united airlines, Thai airways and Singapore airlines. These legal agreement linkages are designed to meet the different needs for expanding worldwide through marketing linkages, without acquiring the costs involved in major fleet investments. Cargo alliance with Lufthansa: Partnership between Scandinavian Airliness cargo, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines where this operation marketed under the brand name WOW. Expands are made including the carriers services as well as information technology and cargo handling. This alliance will help both airlines to expand their market to even wider area over the world where they did not have it earlier on. Cost Reduction Singapore airline has been seeing an increasing of its profit by starting new alliances with more other airlines. SIA has benefited in three ways. The first would be the success of getting the economies of scale through the joint operations of air and ground services. Secondly, scope which is through increased reach and efficient connections and lastly, the increased in traffic density through network expansion and additional traffic feed. Problems Singapore airline might face in the future Singapore airlines have an alliance with united airlines where it is now operating under bankruptcy protection. This alliance may face difficulties in the future and also have a reduction in the market share in the US sector. If something happen to the alliance, it will affect Singapore airline greatly. And there will also be bigger carriers that will be developing from each group of alliances. Big giants of the airline industry are combining and this will soon become a threat to other airlines. Lack of clear goals and objectives Singapore Airlines might also face the problem of having a partner who lack of clear goals and objective. It had faced similar problems with the American carrier delta and Swiss air, thus had to leave the tri alliance. Reasons for such failure are mainly is because of different objectives, inability to share risk and lack of trust towards the different companies. SWOT analysis of Singapore Airlines Strength Branding: Singapore airline is well known for its branding from all over the world. Singapore airline is the one that has the most profit internationally. It is the strong brand management that driven primarily by its top management. Singapore airlines brand is unique in the way that the boardroom takes commitment of leadership of the brand strategy unlike many other airlines. The Singapore Airlines keeps enhancing innovation as an important part of the brand, and the ambience and experience are key factors of their success today. Quality of service: The quality of service of Singapore airline plays a very crucial part in the strength of the company. Behind the professional performance of cabin crews, Singapore airline gives their entire cabin crew rapid trainings to maintain their high quality of service. They constantly educate their cabin crew including Singapore girl, in order to fulfil the world class airlines service standard. This is why Singapore airlines is always at the top at customer satisfaction survey about in-flight service observed by the independent institution. Weaknesses Heavy, on-going investments and high costs. Singapore airlines has dedicated itself strongly to positioning branding name and quality of services, and in order to maintain the high standard, it is of a high financial costs. By purchasing of new and young aircrafts, it proves to have a bigger fleet space and thus will create a high parking and maintenance cost. All these expenditure will be a weakness in down times. Opportunities The expansion into key aviation markets has provide Singapore airline to break through its limited space as compared to before, and this will increase market shares worldwide. Alliances, code-sharing with other aviation company increases Singapore airlines opportunity to provide better services and also to cut costs. Threats After terrorist attack on September 2001 in united state, it has been confronted with a tremendous decline in international tourism. The airline industry became more competitive in Asian region as there are more than thirty country operate around thousand of airline company. Singapore airline is one of the operating Asian region as well as in Europe and American region. This has affected the travel density for Singapore airlines. The outbreak of H1N1 is also a huge threat to Singapore airline as people are in fear of travelling overseas due to the infection rate and highly contagious nature of the virus. And to add on to the bad news and misfortune, one for our Singapore airline flight attendances is also first cabin crew to be contracted with H1N1. This has tremendously affected the airline. Analysis of SWOT Opportunities of Singapore airlines can help to overcome their weaknesses. Their weaknesses is mainly high costs and heavy, on-going investments. By having the opportunity to partnership with other companies this help to cut cost. Alliances, code-sharing with other aviation company increases Singapore airlines opportunity to provide better services and also to cut costs. Singapore airlines threat can also be overcome by the company strength which is quality of service and branding. The competitive advantage of Singapore airline has achieved sustainable competitive advantage. Singapore airlines have consistently outdo its competitors since the time it was born, and still retaining high standard and services for customers. The major factor of Singapore airlines competitive success that it managed to drive skilfully between poles that most companies think of as different. This includes delivering best service in a cost-effective way, at cost levels lower that they are comparable to budget airlines in the world. Recommendation/conclusion for the report What recommendations I have for Singapore airlines are as the following. I think that Singapore can make use of the most number of benefits by the existing alliances and equally contributing to the partners by services or other benefits. If not, Singapore airlines can also prefer to have fewer partnership in the industry and add more to the destination, more aircrafts and customer service which will make them sustain their position of being the best. I believe that they should continue working on its branding and providing excellent service which is meant to maintain customer satisfactory level, and continue having strong workforce at the expense of costs. They should maintain what they are now like their branding name and quality of service and if they were to switching to different market, this would provide risky results if their strategy fails. This will prove fatal to the company as there are also other companies that are also have established their names in the market. Through researching on Singapore airlines, it seems to me that the core of their success in the near future would be dependent on their innovativeness, this is because it has come to a point where all the airline are providing almost the same thing. Things like technology can be easily obtain by any other different companies.

Business Reengineering Essay -- Business, Change

Reengineering or the business process reengineering was one of the biggest business ideas in the 1990s, in its classical view, Davenport et al (2003) claimed, it incorporated few diverse ideas: â€Å"a) The radical redesign and improvement of work; b) The attacking of board, cross-functional business processes; c) [Stretch] goals of order-of-magnitude improvement; d) The use of IT as an enabler of new ways of working† (p. 157). In the beginning, reengineering was simply an idea to rebuild processes using the then new applications of IT, but lastly it became a dissolute thing: laying-off loads of workers or cutting the cost of production merely to get a company's stock price up; it instead became a real hierarchical diversion or pastime for senior executives that they suppose to create solution or new approach for issues (Ubiquity, 2003). 3C leaders and managers must learn all these past mistakes of reengineering related to organizational change and new business ideas, as Davenport et al (2003) analyzed and suggested: 1) Do not forget that any transformation, change must be implemented by employees. If people and their wishes and behaviors are not consider firstly in any new business approach, it will probably have a tough time succeeding; 2) Do not seize-upon the most radical, hype-laden narrative of the new idea as the one you want to set up in your organization; the expectations about what you can achieve may be raised higher than what you can achieve; 3) Reengineering should augment or supplement rather than replace ideas; No single idea is all-encompassing or all-powerful; 4) Radical or across-the-board change is inherently riskier than incremental change; 5) When carrying out a new business idea, managers are all ... ...in which to run experiments that the gurus may need to develop their proposals or ideas (Harvard). In strategic planning and evaluating creativity, 3C management must measure the courses of idea and creativity to ensure they obtain the best and maximum returns from platforms; feedback, criticism and suggestion could develop into the direction or focus of creativity, but they also would facilitate, motivate and improve idea or innovation in the organization (Davenport et al, 2003). Overall, in order to manage and deal with the attributes that consider stifling creativity in 3C, management not only must discourage intolerance or fear of failure and maintain openness with constructive and optimistic, but they also must continue tolerance, flexibility, determination and intelligent risk taking with understanding creative potential in self (Harvard, 2003).

Energy Needed Essay -- Environment Oil Fossil Fuels Papers

Energy Needed As the world population soars, we as a global community are met with a need to fulfill the energy requirements of this increasing population. Probably no one is in complete agreement on how to accomplish this. The World Energy Conference has concluded that energy needs in 3 decades will be 75% higher than today. The popular concern over fuel consumption that was so prevalent following the 1970 oil crunches has gone by the wayside. This concern has recently been revived, but the action is still left to "other" people. One area of concern is the environmental impact of our consumption of fossil fuels. The use of these fuels are often blamed for global warming, however the reasons are still under much debate. We are generally looking to achieve better fuel efficiency. But with lowering fuel costs, sometimes this is not a priority. Political and economic interests tend to maintain the status quo. The 1970 oil shocks increased our fuel efficiency tremendously, but we still have a ways to go relative "to European countries or Japan"(Chase). The current energy mix is also an area for debate. This has changed throughout the past couple centuries--are we in the process of another transition, is a change necessary? Currently oil is the principle energy supplier, followed by coal and natural gas. Natural gas would seem poised to become the fuel of the 21st century with advantages over coal and oil and being more abundant than previously thought (Chase). The view of the World Energy Council and other organizations is to maintain the current trend, but shift reliance somewhat toward other fossil fuels like lignate or shale. With this scenario large technological or policy changes will not have to o ccur (Flavin and Lensse... ...p://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/infocard.html [11-13-96]. Flavin, Christopher. USA Today: Harnessing the Sun and Wind. Nov. 1995. Flavin, Christopher and Nicholas Lenssen. Beyond the Petroleum Age: Designing a Solar Economy. Washington, D.C.: Worldwatch Institute, 1990. Flavin, Christopher and Niccholas Lenssen. Power Surge: Guide to the Coming Energy Revolution. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1994. Hoagland, William. Scientific American: Solar Energy. Sept. 1995. Kazloff, Keith Lee. Environment: Renewable Energy Technology: an urgent need, hard sell. November 1994. Matthews, W. Samuel. National Geographic: Is Our World Warming? Oct. 1990. Potts, M. The Mother Earth News: The Future of Solar is Now. Aug./Sept. 1995. United States Interagency Task Force on Solar Energy. Project Independence . Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing, 1995. Energy Needed Essay -- Environment Oil Fossil Fuels Papers Energy Needed As the world population soars, we as a global community are met with a need to fulfill the energy requirements of this increasing population. Probably no one is in complete agreement on how to accomplish this. The World Energy Conference has concluded that energy needs in 3 decades will be 75% higher than today. The popular concern over fuel consumption that was so prevalent following the 1970 oil crunches has gone by the wayside. This concern has recently been revived, but the action is still left to "other" people. One area of concern is the environmental impact of our consumption of fossil fuels. The use of these fuels are often blamed for global warming, however the reasons are still under much debate. We are generally looking to achieve better fuel efficiency. But with lowering fuel costs, sometimes this is not a priority. Political and economic interests tend to maintain the status quo. The 1970 oil shocks increased our fuel efficiency tremendously, but we still have a ways to go relative "to European countries or Japan"(Chase). The current energy mix is also an area for debate. This has changed throughout the past couple centuries--are we in the process of another transition, is a change necessary? Currently oil is the principle energy supplier, followed by coal and natural gas. Natural gas would seem poised to become the fuel of the 21st century with advantages over coal and oil and being more abundant than previously thought (Chase). The view of the World Energy Council and other organizations is to maintain the current trend, but shift reliance somewhat toward other fossil fuels like lignate or shale. With this scenario large technological or policy changes will not have to o ccur (Flavin and Lensse... ...p://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/infocard.html [11-13-96]. Flavin, Christopher. USA Today: Harnessing the Sun and Wind. Nov. 1995. Flavin, Christopher and Nicholas Lenssen. Beyond the Petroleum Age: Designing a Solar Economy. Washington, D.C.: Worldwatch Institute, 1990. Flavin, Christopher and Niccholas Lenssen. Power Surge: Guide to the Coming Energy Revolution. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1994. Hoagland, William. Scientific American: Solar Energy. Sept. 1995. Kazloff, Keith Lee. Environment: Renewable Energy Technology: an urgent need, hard sell. November 1994. Matthews, W. Samuel. National Geographic: Is Our World Warming? Oct. 1990. Potts, M. The Mother Earth News: The Future of Solar is Now. Aug./Sept. 1995. United States Interagency Task Force on Solar Energy. Project Independence . Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing, 1995.

The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion Chapter Eleven

The car skidded in behind one of the police cars that was parked crookedly in the street. There were lights everywhere, lights flashing blue and red and amber, lights blazing from the Bennett house. â€Å"Stay here,† Matt snapped, and he plunged outside, following Stefan. â€Å"No!† Bonnie's head jerked up; she wanted to grab him and drag him back. The dizzy nausea she'd felt ever since Tyler had mentioned Vickie was overwhelming her. It was too late; she'd known in the first instant that it was too late. Matt was only going to get himself killed too. â€Å"You stay, Bonnie-keep the doors locked. I'll go after them.† That was Meredith. â€Å"No! I'm sick of having everybody tell me to stay!† Bonnie cried, struggling with the seat belt, finally getting it unlocked. She was still crying, but she could see well enough to get out of the car and start toward Vickie's house. She heard Meredith right behind her. The activity all seemed concentrated at the front: people shouting, a woman screaming, the crackling voices of police radios. Bonnie and Meredith headed straight for the back, for Vickie's window. What is wrong with this picture? Bonnie thought wildly as they approached. The wrongness of what she was looking at was undeniable, yet hard to put a finger on. Vickie's window was open-but it couldn't be open; the middle pane of a bay window never opens, Bonnie thought. But then how could the curtains be fluttering out like shirttails? Not open, broken. Glass was all over the gravel pathway, grinding underfoot. There were shards like grinning teeth left in the bare frame. Vickie's house had been broken into. â€Å"She asked him in,† Bonnie cried in agonized fury. â€Å"Why did she do that? Why?† â€Å"Stay here,† Meredith said, trying to moisten dry lips. â€Å"Stop telling me that. I can take it, Meredith. I'm mad, that's all. I hate him.† She gripped Meredith's arm and went forward. The gaping hole got closer and closer. The curtains rippled. There was enough space between them to see inside. At the last moment, Meredith pushed Bonnie away and looked through first herself. It didn't matter. Bonnie's psychic senses were awake and already telling her about this place. It was like the crater left in the ground after a meteor has hit and exploded, or like the charred skeleton of a forest after a wildfire. Power and violence were still thrumming in the air, but the main event was over. This place had been violated. Meredith spun away from the window, doubling over, retching. Clenching her fists so that the nails bit into her palms, Bonnie leaned forward and looked in. The smell was what struck her first. A wet smell, meaty and coppery. She could almost taste it, and it tasted like an accidentally bitten tongue. The stereo was playing something she couldn't hear over the screaming out front and the drumming-surf sound in her own ears. Her eyes, adjusting from the darkness outside, could see only red. Just red. The record player clicked and the stylus swung back to the beginning. With a shock, Bonnie recognized the song as it started over. It was â€Å"Goodnight Sweetheart.† â€Å"You monster,† Bonnie gasped. Pain shot through her stomach. Her hand gripped the window frame, tighter, tighter. â€Å"You monster, I hate you! I hate you!† Meredith heard and straightened up, turning. She shakily pushed back her hair and managed a few deep breaths, trying to look as if she could cope. â€Å"You're cutting your hand,† she said. â€Å"Here, let me see it.† Bonnie hadn't even realized she was gripping broken glass. She let Meredith take the hand, but instead of letting her examine it, she turned it over and clasped Meredith's own cold hand tightly. Meredith looked terrible: dark eyes glazed, lips blue-white and shaking. But Meredith was still trying to take care of her, still trying to keep it together. â€Å"Go on,† she said, looking at her friend intently. â€Å"Cry, Meredith. Scream if you want to. But get it out somehow. You don't have to be cool now and keep it all inside. You have every right to lose it today.† For a moment Meredith just stood there, trembling, but then she shook her head with a ghastly attempt at a smile. â€Å"I can't. I'm just not made that way. Come on, let me look at the hand.† Bonnie might have argued, but just then Matt came around the corner. He started violently to see the girls standing there. â€Å"What are you doing-?† he began. Then he saw the window. â€Å"She's dead,† Meredith said flatly. â€Å"I know.† Matt looked like a bad photograph of himself, an overexposed one. â€Å"They told me up front. They're bringing out†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He stopped. â€Å"We blew it. Even after we promised her†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Meredith stopped too. There was nothing more to say. â€Å"But the police will have to believe us now,† Bonnie said, looking at Matt, then Meredith, finding one thing to be grateful for. â€Å"They'll have to.† â€Å"No,† Matt said, â€Å"they won't, Bonnie. Because they're saying it's a suicide.† â€Å"A suicide?. Have they seen that room? They call that a suicide?† Bonnie cried, her voice rising. â€Å"Oh, my God,† Meredith said, turning away. â€Å"They think maybe she was feeling guilty for having killed Sue.† â€Å"Somebody broke into this house,† Bonnie said fiercely. â€Å"They've got to admit that!† â€Å"No.† Meredith's voice was soft, as if she were very tired. â€Å"Look at the window here. The glass is all outside. Somebody from the inside broke it.† And that's the rest of what's wrong with the picture, Bonnie thought. â€Å"He probably did, getting out,† Matt said. They looked at each other silently, in defeat. â€Å"Where's Stefan?† Meredith asked Matt quietly. â€Å"Is he out front where everyone can see him?† â€Å"No, once we found out she was dead he headed back this way. I was coming to look for him. He must be around somewhere†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Sh!† said Bonnie. The shouting from the front had stopped. So had the woman's screaming. In the relative stillness they could hear a faint voice from beyond the black walnut trees in the back of the yard. â€Å"-while you were supposed to be watching her!† The tone made Bonnie's skin break out in gooseflesh. â€Å"That's him!† Matt said. â€Å"And he's with Damon. Come on!† Once they were among the trees Bonnie could hear Stefan's voice clearly. The two brothers were facing each other in the moonlight. â€Å"I trusted you, Damon. I trusted you!† Stefan was saying. Bonnie had never seen him so angry, not even with Tyler in the graveyard. But it was more than anger. â€Å"And you just let it happen,† Stefan went on, without glancing at Bonnie and the others as they appeared, without giving Damon a chance to reply. â€Å"Why didn't you do something? If you were too much of a coward to fight him, you could at least have called for me. But you just stood there!† Damon's face was hard, closed. His black eyes glittered, and there was nothing lazy or casual about his posture now. He looked as unbending and brittle as a pane of glass. He opened his mouth, but Stefan interrupted. â€Å"It's my own fault. I should have known better. I did know better. They all knew, they warned me, but I wouldn't listen.† â€Å"Oh, did they?† Damon snapped a glance toward Bonnie on the sidelines. A chill went through her. â€Å"Stefan, wait,† Matt said. â€Å"I think-â€Å" â€Å"I should have listened!† Stefan was raging on. He didn't even seem to hear Matt. â€Å"I should have stayed with her myself. I promised her she would be safe-and I lied! She died thinking I betrayed her.† Bonnie could see it in his face now, the guilt eating into him like acid. â€Å"If I had stayed here-â€Å" â€Å"And that would have been better!† Stefan cried. His chest was heaving. â€Å"I would rather have died with her than stood by and watched it! What happened, Damon?† He had gotten hold of himself now, and he was calm, too calm; his green eyes were burning feverishly in his pale face, his voice vicious, poisonous, as he spoke. â€Å"Were you too busy chasing some other girl through the bushes? Or just too uninterested to interfere?† Damon said nothing. He was just as pale as his brother, every muscle tense and rigid. Waves of black fury were rising from him as he watched Stefan. â€Å"Or maybe you enjoyed it,† Stefan was continuing, moving another half step forward so that he was right in Damon's face. â€Å"Yes, that was probably it; you liked it, being with another killer. Was it good, Damon? Did he let you watch?† Damon's fist jerked back and he hit Stefan. It happened too fast for Bonnie's eye to follow. Stefan fell backward onto the soft ground, long legs sprawling. Meredith cried out something, and Matt jumped in front of Damon. Brave, Bonnie thought dazedly, but stupid. The air was crackling with electricity. Stefan raised a hand to his mouth and found blood, black in the moonlight. Bonnie lurched over to his side and grabbed his arm. Damon was coming after him again. Matt fell back before him, but not all the way. He dropped to his knees beside Stefan, sitting on his heels, one hand upraised. â€Å"Enough, you guys! Enough, all right?† he shouted. Stefan was trying to get up. Bonnie held on to his arm more firmly. â€Å"No! Stefan, don't! Don't!† she begged. Meredith grabbed his other arm. â€Å"Damon, leave it alone! Just leave it!† Matt was saying sharply. We're all crazy, getting in the middle of this, Bonnie thought. Trying to break up a fight between two angry vampires. They're going to kill us just to shut us up. Damon's going to swat Matt like a fly. But Damon had stopped, with Matt blocking his way. For a long moment the scene remained frozen, nobody moving, everybody rigid with strain. Then, slowly, Damon's stance relaxed. His hands lowered and unclenched. He drew a slow breath. Bonnie realized she'd been holding her own breath, and she let it out. Damon's face was cold as a statue carved in ice. â€Å"All right, have it your way,† he said, and his voice was cold too. â€Å"But I'm through here. I'm leaving. And this time, brother, if you follow me, I'll kill you. Promise or no promise.† Damon hitched up his jacket, straightening it. With a glance at Bonnie that scarcely seemed to see her, he turned to go. Then he turned back and spoke clearly and precisely, each word an arrow aimed at Stefan. â€Å"I warned you,† he said. â€Å"About what I am, and about which side would win. You should have listened to me, little brother. Maybe you'll learn something from tonight.† â€Å"I've learned what trusting you is worth,† Stefan said. â€Å"Get out of here, Damon. I never want to see you again.† Without another word, Damon turned and walked away into the darkness. Bonnie let go of Stefan's arm and put her head in her hands. Stefan got up, shaking himself like a cat that had been held against its will. He walked a little distance from the others, his face averted from them. Then he simply stood there. The rage seemed to have left him as quickly as it had come. What do we say now? Bonnie wondered, looking up. What can we say? Stefan was right about one thing: they had warned him about Damon and he hadn't listened. He'd truly seemed to believe that his brother could be trusted. And then they'd all gotten careless, relying on Damon because it was easy and because they needed the help. No one had argued against letting Damon watch Vickie tonight. They were all to blame. But it was Stefan who would tear himself apart with guilt over this. She knew that was behind his out-of-control fury at Damon: his own shame and remorse. She wondered if Damon knew that, or cared. And she wondered what had really happened tonight. Now that Damon had left, they would probably never know. No matter what, she thought, it was better he was gone. Outside noises were reasserting themselves: cars being started in the street, the short burst of a siren, doors slamming. They were safe in the little grove of trees for the moment, but they couldn't stay here. Meredith had one hand pressed to her forehead, her eyes shut. Bonnie looked from her to Stefan, to the lights of Vickie's silent home beyond the trees. A wave of sheer exhaustion passed through her body. All the adrenaline that had been supporting her throughout this evening seemed to have drained away. She didn't even feel angry anymore at Vickie's death; only depressed and sick and very, very tired. She wished she could crawl into her bed at home and. pull the blankets over her head. â€Å"Tyler,† she said aloud. And when they all turned to look at her, she said, â€Å"We left him in the ruined church. And he's our last hope now. We've got to make him help us.† That roused everyone. Stefan turned around silently, not speaking and not meeting anyone's eyes as he followed them back to the street. The police cars and ambulance were gone, and they drove to the cemetery without incident. â€Å"We left his feet untied,† Matt said heavily, with a grimace of self-disgust. â€Å"He must have walked away since his car's still down there.† Or he could have been taken, Bonnie thought. There was no mark on the stone floor to show which. Meredith went to the knee-high wall and sat down, one hand pinching the bridge of her nose. Bonnie sagged against the belfry. They'd failed completely. That was the long and short of it tonight. They'd lost and he had won. Everything they'd done today had ended in defeat. And Stefan, she could tell, was taking the whole responsibility on his own shoulders. She glanced at the dark, bowed head in the front seat as they drove back to the boarding house. Another thought occurred to her, one that sent thrills of alarm down her nerves. Stefan was all they had to protect them now that Damon was gone. And if Stefan himself was weak and exhausted†¦ Bonnie bit her lip as Meredith pulled up to the barn. An idea was forming in her mind. It made her uneasy, even frightened, but another look at Stefan put steel in her resolve. The Ferrari was still parked behind the barn-apparently Damon had abandoned it. Bonnie wondered how he planned to get about the countryside, and then thought of wings. Velvety soft, strong black crow's wings that reflected rainbows in their feathers. Damon didn't need a car. They went into the boarding house just long enough for Bonnie to call her parents and say she was spending the night at Meredith's. This was her idea. But after Stefan had climbed the stairs to his attic room, Bonnie stopped Matt on the front porch. â€Å"Matt? Can I ask you a favor?† He swung around, blue eyes widening. â€Å"That's a loaded phrase. Every time Elena said those particular words†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"No, no, this is nothing terrible. I just want you to take care of Meredith, see she's okay once she gets home and all.† She gestured toward the other girl, who was already walking toward the car. â€Å"But you're coming with us.† Bonnie glanced at the stairs through the open door. â€Å"No. I think I'll stay a few minutes. Stefan can drive me home. I just want to talk to him about something.† Matt looked bewildered. â€Å"Talk to him about what?† â€Å"Just something. I can't explain now. Will you, Matt?† â€Å"But†¦ oh, all right. I'm too tired to care. Do what you want. I'll see you tomorrow.† He walked off, seeming baffled and a little angry. The bulb in the attic ceiling lamp was missing, and Stefan had lighted a candle. He was lying haphazardly on the bed, one leg off and one leg on, his eyes shut. Maybe asleep. Bonnie tiptoed up and fortified herself with a deep breath. â€Å"Stefan?† His eyes opened. â€Å"I thought you'd left.† â€Å"They did. I didn't.† God, he's pale, thought Bonnie. Impulsively, she plunged right in. â€Å"Stefan, I've been thinking. With Damon gone, you're the only thing between us and the killer. That means you've got to be strong, as strong as you can be. And, well, it occurred to me that maybe†¦ you know†¦ you might need†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Her voice faltered. Unconsciously she'd begun fiddling with the wad of tissues forming a makeshift bandage on her palm. It was still bleeding sluggishly from where she'd cut it on the glass. His gaze followed hers down to it. Then his eyes lifted quickly to her face, reading the confirmation there. There was a long moment of silence. Then he shook his head. â€Å"But why? Stefan, I don't want to get personal, but frankly you don't look so good. You're not going to be much help to anybody if you collapse on us. And†¦ I don't mind, if you only take a little. I mean, I'm never going to miss it, right? And it can't hurt all that much. And†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Once again her voice trailed off. He was just looking at her, which was very disconcerting. â€Å"Well, why not?† she demanded, feeling slightly let down. â€Å"Because,† he said softly, â€Å"I made a promise. Maybe not in so many words, but -a promise just the same. I won't take human blood as food, because that means using a person, like livestock. And I won't exchange it with anyone, because that means love, and-† This time he was the one who couldn't finish. But Bonnie understood. â€Å"There won't ever be anyone else, will there?† she said. â€Å"No. Not for me.† Stefan was so tired that his control was slipping and Bonnie could see behind the mask. And again she saw that pain and need, so great that she had to look away from him. A strange little chill of premonition and dismay trickled through her heart. Before, she had wondered if Matt would ever get over Elena, and he had, it seemed. But Stefan- Stefan, she realized, the chill deepening, was different. No matter how much time passed, no matter what he did, he would never truly heal. Without Elena he would always be half himself, only half alive. She'd come up here to give Stefan a gift that he didn't want. But there was something else he did want, she realized, and only she had the power to give it to him. Without looking at him, her voice husky, she said, â€Å"Would you like to see Elena?† Dead silence from the bed. Bonnie sat, watching the shadows in the room sway and flicker. At last, she chanced a look at him out of the corner of her eye. He was breathing hard, eyes shut, body taut as a bowstring. Trying, Bonnie diagnosed, to work up the strength to resist temptation. And losing. Bonnie saw that. Elena always had been too much for him. When his eyes met hers again, they were grim, and his mouth was a tight line. His skin wasn't pale anymore but flushed with color. His body was still trembling-taut and keyed up with anticipation. â€Å"You might get hurt, Bonnie.† â€Å"I know.† â€Å"You'd be opening yourself up to forces beyond your control. I can't guarantee that I can protect you from them.† â€Å"I know. How do you want to do it?† Fiercely, he took her hand. â€Å"Thank you, Bonnie,† he whispered. She felt the blood rise to her face. â€Å"That's all right,† she said. Good grief, he was gorgeous. Those eyes†¦ in a minute she was either going to jump him or melt into a puddle on his bed. With a pleasurably agonizing feeling of virtue she removed her hand from his and turned to the candle. â€Å"How about if I go into a trance and try to reach her, and then, once I make contact, try to find you and draw you in? Do you think that would work?† â€Å"It might, if I'm reaching for you too,† he said, withdrawing that intensity from her and focusing it on the candle. â€Å"I can touch your mind†¦ when you're ready, I'll feel it.† â€Å"Right.† The candle was white, its wax sides smooth and shining. The flame drew itself up and then fell back. Bonnie stared until she became lost in it, until the rest of the room blacked out around her. There was only the flame, herself and the flame. She was going into the flame. Unbearable brightness surrounded her. Then she passed through it into the dark. The funeral home was cold. Bonnie glanced around uneasily, wondering how she had gotten here, trying to gather her thoughts. She was all alone, and for some reason that bothered her. Wasn't somebody else supposed to be here too? She was looking for someone. Step by step, as if something were pulling her, Bonnie approached the casket. She didn't want to look in. She had to. There was something in that coffin waiting for her. The whole room was suffused with the soft white light of the candles. It was like floating in an island of radiance. But she didn't want to look†¦ Moving as if in slow motion, she reached the coffin, stared at the white satin lining inside. It was empty. Bonnie closed it and leaned against it, sighing. Then she caught motion in her peripheral vision and whirled. It was Elena. â€Å"Oh, God, you scared me,† Bonnie said. â€Å"I thought I told you not to come here,† Elena answered. This time her hair was loose, flowing over her shoulders and down her back, the pale golden white of a flame. She was wearing a thin white dress that glowed softly in the candlelight. She looked like a candle herself, luminous, radiant. Her feet were bare. â€Å"I came here to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Bonnie floundered, some concept teasing around the edges of her mind. This was her dream, her trance. She had to remember. â€Å"I came here to let you see Stefan,† she said. Elena's eyes widened, her lips parting. Bonnie recognized the look of yearning, of almost irresistible longing. Not fifteen minutes ago she'd seen it on Stefan's face. â€Å"Oh,† Elena whispered. She swallowed, her eyes clouding. â€Å"Oh, Bonnie†¦ but I can't.† â€Å"Why not?† Tears were shining in Elena's eyes now, and her lips were trembling. â€Å"What if things start to change? What if he comes, and†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She put a hand to her mouth and Bonnie remembered the last dream, with teeth falling like rain. Bonnie met Elena's eyes with understanding horror. â€Å"Don't you see? I couldn't stand it if something like that happened,† Elena whispered. â€Å"If he saw me like that†¦ And I can't control things here; I'm not strong enough. Bonnie, please don't let him through. Tell him how sorry I am. Tell him-† She shut her eyes, tears spilling. â€Å"Stefan, no! Elena says-† It didn't matter. His mind was stronger than hers, and the instant she'd made contact he had taken over. He'd sensed the gist of her conversation with Elena, but he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Helplessly, Bonnie felt herself being overridden, felt his mind come closer, closer to the circle of light formed by the candelabras. She felt his presence there, felt it taking shape. She turned and saw him, dark hair, tense face, green eyes fierce as a falcon's. And then, knowing there was nothing more she could do, she stepped back to allow them to be alone.