Environmental Factors That Affect Global And Domestic Marketing Decisio

Environmental Factors that affect Global and Domestic Marketing Decisions Every company global or domestic has external factors that exist that eventually have an effect on the company’s operations. Some of these external factors can be controlled but a larger portion is uncontrollable and yet they can be managed and or influenced by the company. These specific factors make up the marketing environment in which a company has environmental factors that influence the company’s decisions. In this paper, the author will explore the domestic and global environmental factors that could have an impact on FedEx’s marketing decision. The five environmental factors that the author will be discussing are social, economical, technological, competitive, and regulatory. These five environmental factors are discussed at great length in the book entitled Marketing 8th Edition written by Roger A. Kerin, Steven W. Hartley, Eric N. Berkowitz, and William Rudelius. The writers define social forces as "the demographic characteristics of the population and its values" (Kerin & Berkowitz, Hartley & Rudelius, 2006, p. 74). Some of these demographic characteristics can include gender differences, buying patterns of consumers, culture, attitudes, and diversity. Economical factors are defined by the writers as anything that "pertains to the income, expenditures, and resources that affect the cost of running a business and household" (Kerin & Berkowitz, Hartley & Rudelius, 2006, p. 80). The writers also discussed technological factors as "inventions or innovations from applied science or engineering research" (Kerin & Berkowitz, Hartley & Rudelius, 2006, p. 83). The fourth environmental factor that is discussed in by the writers is competition, which... ...e social, technological, and environmental consideration in order to make them stand out against their competitors. FedEx has developed a three pronged strategy that is centered on a socially conscious marketing plan that limits their footprint in the environment. â€Æ' References Goldbach, Justin. (2008). A Closer Look at Business Education: Ethical Globalization. The Aspen Institute Center for Business Education. Retrieved February 27, 2009, from http://www.aspencbe.org/documents/Ethical%20Globalization%202008%20FINAL.pdf FedEx Corporate (2009) Mission Statement. Retrieved February 27, 2009, from URL: http://about.fedex.designcdt.com/our_company Kerin, R. & Berkowitz, E, Hartley, S, & Rudelius, W. (2006). Marketing (8th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin Retrieved February 27, 2009, from URL: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary/content/eReader.h

Wealth and Poverty :: Essays on Poverty

Wealth and Poverty The christen teaching on wealth and poverty is that all men should be equal and thus every one should have the same amount of money as everyone else and that good christens should give away their wealth to people that were poorer than them selves. In the bible Jesus said to a man who asked what he should do to enter into heaven: "Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me." (Mark 7: 21) . Although Jesus did not condemn wealth, he merely taught how hard it is for a wealth man to "how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God". After he said this, his disciples where shocked: "And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, with men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible." (Mark 10:27). The disciples where so astonished because the teachings of the time stated that riches where given by god as assign of approval. Amos, a profit acknowledged by both the Christian and Jewish religions. Amos also sheared Jesus' view that it was very hard for rich people to get into heaven, but not because of their riches alone, but because of the way that they acted. He believed that the rich should give aid to the poor, and he taught that social injustices such as this were a sin and he considered that the rich peoples worship to be a sham. Of all the people that caused injustices Amos said that the rich wives where responsible for the most, and he often called them 'The Cows Of Bashan' There is need for world development because there are over 600 million

Do Children Have False Memories

Citing relevant research, state and explain your opinion of the reliability of the testimony of a 5 year old child who accuses an adult of serious sexual abuse. It’s very easy to look at children’s testimony from a psychologist or a researcher’s perspective, but how would we respond if we were faced with a situation where a 5 year old child is accusing an adult of serious sexual abuse?Would we be quick to dismiss the strong accusation or would we examine the possibility of this event. In this essay evidence for and against the reliability of children’s testimony is evaluated, especially considering a delicate matter such as sexual abuse. It will start by outlining what developmental and cognitive psychologists have discovered to date about children’s memory capacity and how it differs from that of adults; then the focus will shift to literature on sexual abuse.Memory or remembering operates like any other aspect of development studied, its developme nt is gradual, and this goes to say that children without doubt, don’t possess the same ability to remember as adults. The digit span for memory seems to increase with age, so for example a child of 3yrs will remember about 2 words and a child of 4 will remember 3 words from a presented list of word, and these are likely to be the last words (recency effect( Meadows,1986).There are three areas of memory that seem to show improvement in children as we progress through development: basic capacity, the amount of information that can be remembered in STM, children will develop strategies that will help transfer information into LTM and finally they will also have greater world knowledge; which means a greater context allowing for the integration of new information, therefore new memories. (Meadows, 1986) There are many reasons why children show these deficits in memory.One of them is because they lack meta-cognition, basic beliefs and knowledge about memory, its dynamics, which i s fundamental for understanding how information is learned. Children clearly don’t possess this meta-cognitive awareness to monitor past experiences and performance to update resource allocation strategies. (Castel, Humphreys, Lee, Balota and McCabe, 2011) This previous paragraphs were to convey the fact that children do have distinct abilities compared to adults, this tells us that their recall for witnessed events might lack in accuracy.When we ask a child to give testimony for witnessing an event we are asking them to access their autobiographical memory, which includes a sketchy version of personal memories and experiences, diluted from all unnecessary details. This type of memory is highly subject to biases in attempting to maintain continuity and it often doesn’t follow the temporal frame. Can children accurately recall events that they experience in the past accurately or do they often develop false memories of events that never took place? Some studies show tha t children as young as 5 can remember events quite well even after a period of delay preceding recall. Flin, Boon, Knox and Bull (1992) gave children a talk on how to keep their feet clean, while the talk was happening an assistant staged tripping over and knocking over a side carousel. Recall was taken the day after the talk and 5 months later, similar to court proceedings. There was no relation found between age and amount of information recalled the following day, children age 6 recalled 17/ 26 items and adults recalled 18/26 items. However Flinn et al found that 5 months later 6 yr olds recall had decreased by 40 %.This study shows that children can remember quite well, however those memories are not fully stored in LTM . This event however isn’t a real life event neither is it of distressing nature like most events children are called to testify for in court cases. This could justify the high recall even for the younger children. Research by Goodman, Hirschman, Hepps and Rudy (1991); Peterson and Whalen (2001) and many more agree that children can actually remember stressful events very well and without doubt sexual abuse of any kind is a stressful enough situation which victims should remember well.Children can give accurate testimony following sexual victimisation, supported by evidence from allegations and high rate of omission errors instead of reporting unsupported events, (Birdrose & Goodman, 2000) More interestingly research has shown that children can easily develop false memories, known as memories of events that never took place (Loftus, 2004). A good example was -the Mc Martin trial . In this controversial trial a school teacher was accused of ritually abusing children.The charges against the teacher were eventually dropped, as some of the children recalled very ambiguous events, such as being taken on an helicopter to a far away farm to witness a horse while it was beaten. It is believed that they were suggestively interviewed and then developed enough details to make these become real memories. (Schreiber et al, 2006). Prevalence information can strongly influence children’s recall, it seems that children start by considering whether the event is plausible, then proceed to develop thoughts and images about the events, which at that point become mistaken for real memories.In an experiment Otgaar, Candel, Merckelbach and Wade (2009) exposed children age 7-8 and age 11-12 to a description of a real past experience and also that of a false past experience. The real experience was the child’s first day at school; the false one was a description of being abducted by an UFO, prevalence was given by giving them an article about the commonality of UFO abductions. The results showed that children again remembered accurately the real event, this is consistent with (Flin et al, 1992. ; some even were convinced they had been abducted, some even reported things not present in the story; such as being transported by a beam of blue light, clearly indicating formation of a false memory. 70% of younger children remembered being abducted. We cannot totally conclude that children’s memory for bizarre events is always false; however we can say that they can easily develop false memories for implausible events, this is more noticeable in younger child This still isn’t sufficient to answer the question of the reliability of a 5 yr old accusing an adult of abuse.Research suggests that children place an important emphasis on script like representations, basically representations of how events are connected in a stereotypical way, based on prior knowledge of everyday activities, they may use this scripts to fill in details of events even when they are not part of the story, ( Mc Shane 1991). When a child is required to provide eye-witness accounts of what happened during an episode, even when it’s not as severe as sexual abuse, they need to be able to separate that instance from th at in which they are questioned, things they have maybe seen and when they had spoken about it for the first time. Lloyd, Doydum and Newcombe, 2009), psychologist fear they are unable to do this. There is a great influence of prior knowledge on free recall, cued recall, recognition memory and source memory; sometimes children may rely on gist to make conclusions. Odegard, Cooper, Lampinen, Reyna and Brainard (2009) carried out an experiment where children attended 4 thematic birthday parties of fictional characters and were later interviewed regarding the events that took place, some which were generic and some which were specific to the theme of the party.When interviewed using the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) protocol, older children did better than the younger ones at providing both thematic and generic events for the parties, this could be explained by the fact that they possess knowledge of the script of parties and they used this to reconstr uct what happened; however this also led them to make more thematic source errors. It was also found that 45% of 5-6 year olds reported events that didn’t happen or mixed them up between the parties they attended.This is consistent with the previous study in that younger children made more mistakes; Nonetheless this cannot tell us how can a five year old wrongly accuse someone of something they have never heard of or even seen, they don’t posses schemas for these neither do they know whether it’s good or bad. Or how can they develop a false memory of an act of sexual abuse unless they had experienced it. Leander, Christianson and Granhag (2007) examined the eyewitness of 8 children between the ages of 3-10, who had been sexually abused by an unfamiliar perpetrator who was the same in all cases.They focused on the amount and type of information remembered and denial of the assault. The documentation of children’s testimony was found to be consistent with t he confession of the perpetrator, picture evidence, medical examination and police evidence. They found that most children reported things that preceded the abuse and that only 21. 5% of what they reported was of the sexual act, the remaining was neutral information. They youngest child age 3 didn’t say much about both post and pre-abuse factors and only mentioned one fact of sexual nature.The rate of denial and reluctance to report the act was high especially amongst younger children. In this case it was easier to believe that the abuse occurred because there were multiple victims, and enough evidence to give credibility to the children’s testimony. We can imagine that a five year old would not come to an adult saying’ I have been sexually abused’, they probably never eared those terms neither do they know the meaning. This is to say that testimony of abused children may be disconnected often not including any sexual facts, but we shouldn’t be too quick to discard it.Hershkowits and Lanes (2007) found that younger children who don’t understand the concept of abuse are better able to disclose information as they are unlikely to have feelings of guilt and don’t understand the severity of abuse in society. Over the years there has been extensive work on interviewing techniques, Psychologists have developed interviewing techniques to effectively extrapolate information from children, therefore interviewing the child can reveal whether testimony is true or false. Children’s description of real events differs from that of false events.In Hershkowitz (1999) children describing events that really happened provided longer and richer responses to open-ended prompts rather than focused ones. Children who are providing implausible accounts tend to rely of the suggestions of the interviewer and elaborate on them. The study also showed that younger children were more likely to recall implausible false events compared to older ones, so maybe false memories are not only created on the basis of event plausibility; perhaps if a 5 year old was giving a false account of abuse they would exhibit such characteristics.Holcomb and Jacquin (2007) mock sexual abuse trial revealed that the defendant was more likely to be found guilty when a by stander witness was present, unlike when a victim-witness was present; however jurors were more likely to believe young children. Research also shows that children find it difficult to discuss having been sexually abused; many will go through phases of secrecy, helplessness and retraction (Summit, 1983). If a child manages to disclose it, we should assume that there should be a degree of truthfulness if not why go through with it.Sometimes their testimony is characterised by retractions, which throw investigations into chaos and have two meanings: repairing a false allegation or preventing the consequences when it’s true. In a recent court trial Steven Barker, t he step father of Peter Connelly also known a ‘Baby P’ was accused of sexually abusing his 2 yr old sister. The girl disclosed this information to her step mother at the age of 4, the delay might suggest that some details of the could be omitted.The child was subject to very hard questioning and although the jury were divided due to her denial of the act on several accounts, it was proven that she was a victim. Coming to a conclusion isn’t as easy as it could seem and this gives just a brief insight to what jurors are often faced with in court trials that involve young victims of sexual abuse. The most important thing is that the ability to remember of a five yr old should never be taken for granted especially for something as severe as sexual abuse.The evidence shows that can remember stressful events, even with delay, but majority don’t report sexual details, are prone to suggestibility, and can develop false memories. None the less it’s very impr obable that a child, who has never seen nor eared of sexual abuse and hasn’t been fed with the wrong information by parents or even through suggestive interview would confess of having been a victim of sexual abuse. It is better to acknowledge children’s testimony and weight up the evidence. REFERENCES Bidrose, S. & Goodman, G. S. (2000).Testimony and evidence: A scientific case study of memory for child sexual abuse. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 14,  197-213. Castel, A. D. , Humphreys, K. L. , Lee, S. S. , Galvan, A. , Balota, D. A. , & McCabe, D. P. (2011). The development of memory efficiency and value-directed remembering across the life span: A cross-sectional study of memory and selectivity. Developmental Psychology,  47(6), 1553-1564. Flin, R, Boon, J. , Knox, A. And Bull, r. (1992) The effect of a five month delay on children’s and adults, eyewitness memory.British Journal of Psychology, 83 Goodman, G. S. , Hirschman, J. E. , Hepps, D. H. , &Rudy, L . (1991). Children’s memory for stressful l events. Merril Palmer Quarterly, 37, 109–158. Hershkowitz, I. , Lanes, O. , & Lamb, M. E. (2007). Exploring the disclosure of child sexual abuse with alleged victims and their parents. Child Abuse & Neglect,  31(2), 111-123. Hershkowitz, I. (1999). The dynamics of interviews involving plausible and implausible allegations of child sexual abuse. Applied Developmental Science,  3(2), 86-91. Holcomb, M.J. , & Jacquin, K. M. (2007). Juror perceptions of child eyewitness testimony in a sexual abuse trial. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse,  16(2), 79-95. Loftus, E. F. (2004). Memories of things unseen. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13,145–147. Lloyd, M. E. , Doydum, A. O. , & Newcombe, N. S. (2009). Memory binding in early childhood: Evidence for a retrieval deficit. Child Development,  80(5), 1321-1328. Leander, L. , Christianson, S. , & Granhag, P. (2007). A sexual abuse case study children's memories a nd reports.Psychiatry, Psychology And Law,  14(1), 120-129. Meadows, S. (1986). Understanding Child Development. London: Century Hutchinson Ltd. McShane, J. (1991). Cognitive development: . An information processing approach. Cambridge, MA, US: Basil Bruckwell. Otgaar, H. , Candel, I. , Merckelbach, H. , ; Wade, K. A. (2009). Abducted by a UFO: Prevalence information affects young children's false memories for an implausible event. Applied Cognitive Psychology,  23(1), 115-125. Odegard, T. N. , Cooper, C. M. , Lampinen, J. M. , Reyna, V. F. , & Brainerd, C. J. (2009).Children's eyewitness memory for multiple real-life events. Child Development,  80(6), 1877-1890. R. C. Summitt,† The child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome†, Child abuse and Neglect, Vol 7, 2, P. 177-193. Schreiber, N. , Bellah, L. D. , Martinez, Y. , McLaurin, K. A. , Strok, R. , Garven, S. , et al. (2006). Suggestive interviewing in the McMartin Preschool and Kelly Michaels daycare abuse cases: c ase study. Social Influence, 1, 16–47. Tully, B. (2002). The evaluation of retractions in sexual abuse cases. Child Abuse Review,  11(2), 94-102. doi:10. 1002/car. 728

Management and Steel Industry Essay

1. List and elaborate some strategic issues facing NUCOR. Key strategic issues challenging NUCOR include legislation related to climate change, fluctuating cost and supply of iron ore and scrap steel, increasing amount of steel imports, production technology improvements and economic weakness. Changes in legislation could have severe impacts on the firm’s numerous production facilities and could be costly to become compliant. The fluctuations in both the cost and supply of iron ore and scrap steel directly impact the firm’s profitability because it is difficult to pass those costs on to the customers due to the price-driven level of competition in the steel industry. The rise of low cost steel imports increases the domestic U.S. supply which puts pressure on NUCOR. The firm must stay at the front of technological advances for the production and processing of steel in order to stay competitive. Common for many firms and industries, economic weakness is an issue that challenges NUCOR’s strategy because it can impact the demand for its reputable high quality steel products. 2. What are the key elements of NUCOR’s low cost strategy? What factors have helped NUCOR achieve a low cost position? Key strategy elements for NUCOR: Conservative financial strength Team-based culture and decentralized operations Vertical integration Diversification Innovation – information technology, speed of design process Close proximity to important customers Financially stable employees – higher than average wages and non-discretionary incentive programs Employee empowerment Honesty and openness within the company No employee lay-offs Factors that have contributed to NUCOR’s low cost position: Strong, long-term relationships with outside parties for services such as research and development, purchasing recommendations, advertising, public relations, and  legal or environmental regulation compliance Stepping away from the steel industry’s tradition of equalized freight and offering all customers the sales terms of price plus actual shipping costs Not offering customers volume discounts Fleet of nearly 150 trucks for product delivery Vertical integration from joist manufacturing into steel production Steel production utilizing mini-mill technology Holding workstations responsible for identifying bottlenecks to increase efficiency Sophisticated computer program is used to compute accurate bids Improvements in the melting and casting processes for steel production including â€Å"continuous casters† Flat organizational hierarchy 3. Please apply Porter’s Five Forces model to the steel industry. While doing so, clearly identify who is behind each force and what the impact is of each force on the profitability of the industry (high/medium/low). At the end, also provide a summary of all the five forces and propose whether you think the steel industry is attractive or not. The bargaining power of buyers is high due to minimal product differentiation, low switching costs, excess capacity of steel production and large volume purchases. The threat of substitutes is medium because substitutes such as aluminum and plastic would not provide equivalent strength and durability but could still serve the same purpose as steel. The bargaining power of suppliers is low primarily due to the product being a commodity, high ratio of imported raw materials, and low switching costs. The threat of new entrants is low due to the trend toward consolidation and high amount of capital required to establish production/processing facilities capable of achieving economies of scale. Rivalry is intense because the steel industry is mature with little differentiation among products and mergers both in the U.S. and across the globe creating giant companies with deep pockets. Generally speaking, I think the steel industry is unattractive primarily due to its maturity, significant capital requirements and intense price-based competition that ultimately lead to low profitability. 4. What are NUCOR’s resources and capabilities? Resources: Team-based organizational culture Alliances with outside parties for support services Joint ventures with Physical locations of plants in proximity to key customers Loyal employees comprised of production workers, department heads, support and administrative staff, and senior management Innovative mini-mill technology Own fleet of nearly 150 trucks for distribution Computer program to generate bids Plants, mills, equipment, and machinery Reputation Financial capital Capabilities: Management’s philosophy and leadership skills Successful quality control process Flat organizational hierarchy and incentive program that keeps the workforce cooperative and productive Acquisition management Multidivisional coordination Speed of design process 5. Elaborate on some of the key lessons you have learnt from the case analysis. The most significant lesson I learned from this case analysis is that management style and culture can be key to being competitive. These really are the two things that will give NUCOR sustainable competitive advantage  because they are the most difficult to find and imitate. Building such an impressive employee loyalty takes time and cannot be replicated easily. In addition, the minimization of the corporate bureaucracy is something that makes employees at all levels feel comfortable and as if they are part of a family. I think there are many companies, including the one I work for that could really benefit from adopting this management style.

Succubus Revealed Chapter 4

â€Å"But I don't know what it is I'm doing!† I cried. â€Å"Do you?† â€Å"I've told you all I can for now,† said Carter, that sadness returning. â€Å"The most I can do now is buy you a drink.† I shook my head. â€Å"I don't think there's enough whiskey in the world.† â€Å"There isn't,† he said bleakly. â€Å"There isn't.† Despite Carter's pessimism, I still tried calling Hugh to see if he knew anything. He didn't, but his incredulity was so similar to mine that I took some comfort in it. â€Å"What? That's ridiculous,† he told me. â€Å"It was a mistake. It has to be.† â€Å"Will you try to get ahold of Jerome for me?† I asked. â€Å"I mean, I'll keep trying too, but maybe if we're both calling, he'll eventually notice the phone.† Even though it was still early for the demon, I also had this strange feeling that he could very well be avoiding my calls if something was afoot. Hugh might sneak in where I couldn't. I was fast approaching the time when I was supposed to meet Seth at the twins' school. I had wanted to run home and try talking to Roman about my potential transfer, but it didn't seem as important now, not until I had the story confirmed or denied by Jerome. So, after a few more errands that seemed hopelessly mundane compared to the greater supernatural workings of the universe, I drove up to Lake Forest Park and arrived at the school just as Seth did. Ian got out of the car too, and Seth flashed me a quick look that said he wasn't thrilled about having brotherly company. Ian was wearing the jacket Seth had mentioned, a brown wool peacoat that fit him well enough to be tailored and had strategically placed patches meant to give it a vintage appearance. Ian completed the look with a carefully knotted striped scarf and fedora. He also had on glasses, which I'd seen no sign of at Seth's. â€Å"I didn't know you wore glasses,† I told him. He sighed. â€Å"They go with the scarf.† Seth was carrying two huge containers of white-frosted cupcakes that were liberally and sloppily dusted with green and red sparkles. I took one batch from him and walked inside with the brothers, where we signed in and were given directions to the classroom. â€Å"Looks like you were productive,† I said with a smile. â€Å"No thanks to Mom,† Seth replied fondly. â€Å"It took her forever to leave. She kept offering to help and double-check my work, make sure the oven was set and all that. It was a boxed mix. There wasn't that much I could mess up.† Ian muttered something about preservatives and high fructose corn syrup. The classroom was pleasant, organized chaos. Other parents and family friends were there to help with the party, distributing food and running games. The twins ran up to the three of us with quick, fierce hugs before scurrying off to play with their friends. I didn't see Morgan and McKenna outside of the family very often, so it was neat to watch them so active and outgoing with their peers. They charmed their friends as much as they charmed me, and it was clear the two girls were leaders of sorts. Tiny, adorable blond leaders. The knot I'd carried inside me since getting the HR memo began to soften as I allowed myself the small joy of observing them. Seth slipped an arm around me, following my gaze as we maintained our post near the food table. He nodded toward where Ian was trying to pitch his own cupcakes – organic, vegan, gluten-free creations from a local bakery – to some of the twins' classmates. To be fair, the cupcakes were beautiful. They were vanilla, topped with elaborately swirled chocolate icing that was in turn adorned with perfect white frosting flowers. They made Seth's cupcakes look like something the girls might have made, but I knew better than to be fooled. When you made cupcakes without most of the ingredients found in traditional baked goods, the truth came out in the taste. Pretty or not, Ian wasn't doing so good a job moving them. â€Å"These are so much better for you than all this other junk food,† Ian was telling a wide-eyed boy named Kayden. Despite the fact we'd been inside the warm classroom for almost an hour, Ian was still completely clad in his scarf and wool coat ensemble. â€Å"They're made with brown rice flour and garbanzo bean flour and sweetened with maple syrup – none of that processed white sugar crap.† Kayden's eyes grew impossibly bigger. â€Å"Those have beans and rice in them?† Ian faltered. â€Å"Well, yes . . . but, no, I mean. It's flour derived from those ingredients in a way that's totally fair trade and nutritious. Plus, I picked a brown and white color scheme, not only to save you from artificial dyes but also to show respect for all holidays and tradition, rather than giving into the mainstream domination of the Judeo-Christian machine.† Without another word, Kayden grabbed a red-frosted snowman cookie from the snack table and wandered off. Ian gave us a long-suffering look. â€Å"I fear for today's youth. At least we can take the leftovers back to Terry's.† â€Å"We'd better,† said Seth. â€Å"Those cost me a small fortune.† â€Å"You mean they cost me a small fortune,† said Ian. â€Å"They're my contribution.† â€Å"I paid for them!† â€Å"It was just a loan,† said Ian imperiously. â€Å"I'll pay you back.† The party didn't last too much longer – seven-year-olds didn't need to slam drinks for hours like my friends did – but I still kept checking my phone whenever Seth wasn't watching. I had it set to vibrate in my pocket but was afraid I would miss Jerome's call. But no matter how many times I looked, the phone's display remained the same. No incoming calls or texts. With things winding down, McKenna made her way back to me and wrapped herself around my leg. â€Å"Georgina, are you going to come to our house tonight? Grammy's cooking. We're going to have lasagna.† â€Å"And cupcakes,† piped in Ian, carefully packing up his goods. By my estimation, he'd given away exactly one cupcake, and that was to a boy who'd taken it on a dare from his friends. I lifted McKenna up, surprised at how big she was getting. The years didn't alter my immortal friends or me, but mortals changed by leaps and bounds in such short time periods. She wrapped her arms around me, and I pressed a kiss into her blond curls. â€Å"I wish I could, baby. But I have to work tonight.† â€Å"Are you still helping Santa?† she asked. â€Å"Yes,† I said solemnly. â€Å"And it's very important work. I can't miss it.† Without me, there was no telling how sober Santa would stay. McKenna sighed and leaned her head against my shoulder. â€Å"Maybe you'll come over when you're done.† â€Å"You'll be in bed,† I said. â€Å"I'll see what I can do for tomorrow.† This earned me a tighter hug, and I felt my heart ache. The girls always had this effect on me, triggering a mix of emotion that was both love for them and regret for the children I myself would never have. Children had been something I'd wanted as a mortal, something denied to me even then. The pain of that reality had been driven home last year when Nyx, a primordial chaos entity, had visited me in my sleep and used tantalizing dreams to distract me while she stole my energy. The one that had recurred the most had shown me with a little girl – my own daughter – stepping outside into a snowy night to greet her father. He'd been shadowy at first, later revealed as Seth. Nyx, in a desperate bid for help later, had sworn the dream was true, a prophecy of things to come. It had been a lie, however. An impossibility that could never be mine. â€Å"Maybe you'll come by my house after you're done with work,† Seth said to me in a low voice, once she'd wriggled away. â€Å"That depends,† I said. â€Å"Who's going to be in your bed?† â€Å"We had a talk. He knows to stay out of my room.† I smiled and caught hold of Seth's hand. â€Å"I would, but I've got some things to do tonight. I've got to hunt down Jerome about . . . business.† â€Å"You're sure that's it?† he asked. â€Å"You're sure my family's not scaring you off?† I'll admit, I didn't relish the thought of seeing Margaret Mortensen's disapproving gaze, but I also couldn't imagine I'd be very good company for Seth if I still didn't know what was going on with my transfer by tonight. The transfer. Looking into his kind, warm eyes, I felt a pit open in my stomach. Maybe I should be jumping at every chance I could get to be with him. Who knew how many more we had? No, I scolded myself. Don't think like that. Tonight you'll find Jerome and clear up this mess. Then you and Seth can be happy. â€Å"Your family has nothing to do with it,† I assured Seth. â€Å"Besides, now that you have extra help, you can use your free time to get some work done.† He rolled his eyes. â€Å"I thought self-employment meant not having a boss.† I grinned and kissed him on the cheek. â€Å"I'll come by tomorrow night.† Kayden, passing by for one last cookie, caught sight of my kiss and scowled disapprovingly. â€Å"Ew.† I parted ways with the Mortensens and headed off to the mall. It was often a surprise to mortals to learn immortals like me purposely chose to take day jobs, so to speak. If you were around for a few centuries and semiwise with your money, it wasn't that hard to eventually build up enough to comfortably live off of, making human employment unnecessary. Yet, most immortals I knew still worked. Correction – most lesser immortals I knew did. Greater ones, like Jerome and Carter, rarely did, but maybe they already had too concrete of a job with their employers. Or, maybe, lesser immortals just carried over the urge from when we were human. Regardless, days like today were clear reminders of why I chose gainful employment. If I'd had nothing but free time on my hands, I would've spent the rest of the day ruminating about my fate and the potential transfer. Assisting Walter-as-Santa – as absurd as it was – at least gave me a distraction while I waited to hear from Jerome. Vocation gave purpose too, which I'd found was necessary to mark the long days of immortality. I'd met lesser immortals who had gone insane, and most of them had done nothing but drift aimlessly throughout their long lives. A new elf – one whom Walter had christened Happy – had joined our ranks today, one who was certainly helping pass the time if only because of how much she was grating on my nerves. â€Å"I don't think he should be drinking at all,† she said, for what felt like the hundredth time. â€Å"I don't see why I have to learn this schedule.† Prancer, a veteran elf, exchanged glances with me. â€Å"None of us is saying it's right,† he told Happy. â€Å"We're just saying it's reality. He's going to get a hold of liquor one way or another. If we deny him, he'll sneak it in the bathroom. He's done it before.† â€Å"If we're the ones giving it to him,† I continued, â€Å"then we control the access and amount he gets. This?† I gestured to the schedule we'd drawn up. â€Å"This isn't much. Especially for a guy his size. It's not even enough to get buzzed.† â€Å"But they're children!† Happy cried. Her eyes drifted off toward the long line of families trailing through the mall. â€Å"Sweet, innocent, joyful children.† Another silent message passed between Prancer and me. â€Å"Tell you what,† I finally said. â€Å"Why don't you make them your priority. Forget about the liquor schedule. We'll handle that. You go trade places with Bashful at the head of the line. She doesn't really like working with the public anyway.† When Happy was out of earshot, I remarked, â€Å"One of these days, someone's going to report us all to the mall's HR office.† â€Å"Oh, they have plenty of times,† said Prancer, smoothing out his green spandex pants. â€Å"I've worked with Walter for three years now, and Happy's not the first elf to have moral qualms about Santa getting lit. He's been reported lots.† That was news to me. â€Å"And they haven't fired him?† â€Å"Nah. It's harder to fill these jobs than you might think. As long as Walter doesn't touch or say something inappropriate, the mall doesn't seem to care.† â€Å"Huh,† I said. â€Å"Good to know.† â€Å"Georgina!† Beyond the gates leading to Santa's pavilion, I saw someone waving at the edge of the crowd. Hugh. My heart rate sped up. This mall was actually right around the corner from his office, so he'd come by before for lunch. In light of recent events – and the look on his face – something told me he wasn't here for a casual meal today. â€Å"Hey,† I said to Prancer. â€Å"Can I take my break now?† â€Å"Sure, go for it.† I cut through the crowd and met up with Hugh, trying not to feel self-conscious about wearing the foil dress. Hugh had come from the office and was dressed impeccably, playing up the role of successful plastic surgeon. I felt cheap beside him, especially as he and I walked farther from the holiday mayhem toward some of the mall's more upscale shops. â€Å"I was on my way home from work and thought I'd stop by,† he said. â€Å"I figured you weren't taking many calls while on the job.† â€Å"Not so much,† I agreed, gesturing to the tight dress and its lack of pockets. I caught hold of his arm. â€Å"Please tell me you heard something. The transfer's a mistake, right?† â€Å"Well, I still think it is, but no, I haven't heard anything back yet – not from HR or Jerome.† He frowned slightly, clearly not liking the lack of communication. Underneath that, I also sensed another emotion in him – nervousness. â€Å"I've got something else for you. Can we talk somewhere . . . kind of private? Is there a Sbarro or Orange Julius around here?† I scoffed. â€Å"Not in this mall. There's a sandwich place we can go to.† â€Å"Sandwich place† wasn't entirely accurate. They also sold gourmet soups and salads, all of which were made fresh and packed with enough prissy ingredients to make Ian happy. Hugh and I snagged a table, my appearance gaining the attention of some children there with their parents. I ignored them as I leaned toward Hugh. â€Å"What's up, then, if not the phantom transfer?† He eyed the watchers uneasily and took several moments to begin speaking. â€Å"I was calling around today, trying to work connections and see if I could find out anything about you. Like I said, I couldn't. But I got caught up on all sorts of other gossip.† I was kind of surprised Hellish gossip was what he wanted to discuss, more surprised still that it had apparently warranted him coming in person. If he'd heard a rumor about a mutual friend, it seemed like a phone call would've sufficed to pass the news. Even e-mail or text. â€Å"Do you remember Milton?† he asked. â€Å"Milton?† I stared blankly. The name meant nothing to me. â€Å"Nosferatu,† he prompted. Still nothing, and then – â€Å"Oh. Yeah. Him. The vampire.† A month or so ago, Milton had visited on vacation, much to Cody and Peter's dismay. Vampires were territorial and didn't like outsiders, although Cody had been able to use Milton's presence to impress his macabre loving girlfriend, Gabrielle. Or so I'd heard. â€Å"I never actually saw him. I just knew he was in town.† â€Å"Yup, and it turns out last week, he was in Boulder.† â€Å"So?† â€Å"So, first of all, it's weird that he'd have two ‘vacations' in that short time. I mean, you know how it is for vampires. You know how it is for all of us.† It was true. Hell didn't like to give us vacations very often. When your employers owned your soul, they really didn't feel any need to make your life pleasant. That wasn't to say we didn't occasionally get time off, but it certainly wasn't a priority for Hell. The business of souls never rested. For vampires, this was doubly true because they didn't like to leave their territory. They also had various complications with traveling, say, like with sunlight. â€Å"Okay, so, it's weird. How does that affect us?† Hugh dropped his voice low. â€Å"When he was in Boulder, a local dark shaman died under mysterious circumstances.† I felt my eyebrows rise. â€Å"And you think Milton was involved ?† â€Å"Well, like I said, I had time to make some calls and do some research today. And it turns out that even though he's based in Raleigh, Milton travels an awful lot for a vampire – and every place he goes, some mortal in the supernatural community ends up dead.† â€Å"You're saying he's an assassin,† I said, intrigued but still not seeing the point. As part of â€Å"the great game† we all played, angels and demons weren't supposed to directly influence mortal lives. That's where lesser immortals came in, with our offers of sin and temptation. Now, we weren't really supposed to kill either, as far as the game went, and we certainly weren't supposed to do it on behalf of a greater immortal's instructions. We all knew it happened, however, and Milton wasn't the first assassin I'd heard of taking out inconvenient mortals. â€Å"Exactly,† said Hugh. He frowned. â€Å"He goes to places, and people disappear.† â€Å"How does that affect us?† Hugh sighed. â€Å"Georgina, he was here.† â€Å"Yeah, but nobody – † I gasped, freezing a moment in shock. â€Å"Erik . . .† The world reeled around me for a moment. I was no longer in an elite mall's food court but instead was looking down on the broken, bleeding body of one of the kindest men I knew. Erik had been a longtime friend in Seattle, using his many years of occult and supernatural knowledge to advise me on my problems. He'd been investigating my contract with Hell when a freak robbery at his store had resulted in his death by gunshot. â€Å"Are you saying . . .† My voice was barely a whisper. â€Å"Are you saying Milton killed Erik?† Hugh shook his head sadly. â€Å"I'm not. I'm just laying out the evidence for you, which is compelling – but not enough to form a hard link to Milton.† â€Å"Then why tell me at all?† I asked. â€Å"You don't like to get involved with anything that questions the status quo.† It was true, and it had been a constant point of contention with Hugh and me. â€Å"I don't,† he said. I understood now why he was so uneasy. â€Å"Not at all. But I care about you, sweetheart. And I know you cared about Erik and wanted answers.† â€Å"Key word: wanted. I thought I had them.† My heart still mourned Erik, but I had begun to heal from his loss, moving on with life the way we all must after losing a loved one. Knowing – or, well, thinking – he'd been killed in a robbery didn't exactly give me peace, but it did provide an explanation. If there was any shred of truth to Hugh's dangerous theory, that Milton – a potential assassin – might have been responsible, then my whole world was suddenly knocked offkilter. And in that scenario, the big issue wasn't that Milton had done it. What became important was why he had done it. Because if he was one of those Hellish assassins lurking in the shadows, then someone higher up had given him his orders, meaning Hell had a reason to want Erik dead. â€Å"You okay?† Hugh's hand on mine made me jump. â€Å"Jesus, Georgina. You're like ice.† â€Å"I'm kind of in shock,† I said. â€Å"This is big, Hugh. Huge.† â€Å"I know,† he said, not sounding happy at all. â€Å"Promise me you won't do anything foolish. I'm still not sure I should have told you.† â€Å"You should have,† I said, squeezing his hand and making no such promises about the foolish part. â€Å"Thank you.† I had to leave shortly thereafter, returning to assist Happy. A little of her zeal about the pure, magical nature of children had faded in that time. I think it was the six-year-old who asked for a nose job that might have cracked her. As for me, I was in a daze, stunned over what Hugh had told me. Erik murdered. His dying words to me had implied something more was going on, but there'd been no evidence to prove it. Or wait . . . was there? I vaguely remembered the glass pattern of his broken window, the suspicion from the police that it had been broken from within. But what did I do with this theory? How did I get the answers I needed? Equally amazing to me was the concession Hugh had made in telling me this. He valued his job and his comfortable position. He really wasn't the type to try to upset Hell or ask questions about things that didn't concern him. Yet he'd pursued his hunch about Milton and passed on the news to me, his friend. Hell made desperate, soulless creatures out of its employees – and most certainly liked it that way – but I doubted any of the higher-ups had imagined the levels of friendship we were still capable of managing. Naturally, only one other thing could have distracted me from this new development, and that was Jerome's presence in my condo later that night. I was returning home after work and sensed his aura coming from within as soon as I put my key to the door. My fears and theorizing about Erik and Milton moved to one part of my brain, replaced by all the old speculation about the mystery transfer. When I entered, I found Jerome sitting in the living room with Roman, both at their ease and barely acknowledging my presence. â€Å"And so,† Jerome was saying, â€Å"that's why you need to do this. As soon as possible. Nanette's people have been at it for a long time, so you've got a lot of ground to cover. Set up a schedule – I don't care how rigorous it is – and make those slackers start putting in their time at the alley.† I stared incredulously. â€Å"You're here about the bowling competition?† Both men looked at me, Jerome seeming irritated at the interruption. â€Å"Of course. The sooner you start practicing, the better.† â€Å"You know what else might be better the sooner it happens ?† I produced the well-worn HR memo with a flourish. â€Å"You telling me if I'm being transferred or not. My money's on it being a mistake because surely, surely you wouldn't put off telling me. Right?† Several heartbeats of silence hung in the room. Jerome held me in his dark, dark gaze, and I refused to look away. At last, he said, â€Å"No. It's real. You're being transferred.† My jaw wanted to drop to the ground. â€Å"Then why . . . why am I only just now hearing about it?† He sighed and made an impatient gesture. â€Å"Because I just found out about it. Someone jumped the gun and delivered the memo to you before telling me.† His eyes glinted. â€Å"Don't worry, I wasn't too thrilled about that myself. I made sure they know my feelings on the matter.† â€Å"But I . . .† I swallowed. â€Å"I was so sure there was a mistake. . . â€Å" â€Å"There was,† he agreed. â€Å"Just not the kind you were thinking of.† I wanted to sink to the floor and melt away but forced myself to stay strong. I had to ask the next most important question, the question that would shape the next phase of my life. â€Å"Where . . . where am I going?† Jerome studied me once again, this time I think just to drag out the suspense and agony. Bastard. At last, he spoke. â€Å"You're going to Las Vegas, Georgie.†

Cause and Effect in Economics

Organizing An Essay Often student writers are taught short-term solutions to the problem of organizing an essay. The most common short-term essay is the â€Å"five-paragraph essay† format. The five-paragraph essay uses the following organization: 1. Introduction–Background and thesis 2. First Body Paragraph–The first reason why the thesis is true 3. Second Body Paragraph–The second reason why the thesis is true 4. Third Body Paragraph–The third reason why the thesis is true 5. Conclusion–Recap of essayIt is important to understand that the five-paragraph essay is not necessarily bad. However, most student writers are led to believe or falsely believe that all essays must follow the five-paragraph essay format. Just a little thought makes clear that format is very limiting and limited and does not provide an adequate organization for many types of writing assignments. That is why I have crossed-out the description of the five-paragraph essay, so that you won't make the mistake of thinking that it is the best way to organize your essays.Instead, student writers should see that the form of an essay (its organization) needs to match the purpose of the essay. To begin with, we should look at one of the most common tasks student writers are asked to perform and the one of the organizational strategies effective for this task. Explaining Cause and Effect Often writers are asked to explain how certain conditions or events are related to the occurrence of other conditions or events. When a writer argues that â€Å"one thing leads to another,† he or she is making a cause-and-effect argument.For example, in an Economics class, students might be asked to explain the impact of increasing oil prices on the nation’s economy. Inherent in the question is the assumption that increasing oil prices is a cause, which produces specific effects in the rest of the economy. So, higher oil prices produce higher gasoline prices rais ing the cost of shipping goods. Higher oil prices produce higher jet fuel costs raising the cost of travel, and so on. Higher oil prices† is the cause, and increased shipping costs and travel expenses are among the effects. Writing tasks involving cause and effect analysis usually take one of two forms: explaining how a known cause produces specific effects; explaining how specific effects are produced by a previously unknown cause (which the writer has discovered). The second type of analysis is commonly referred to as root-cause analysis. The first type of analysis is what the technology and privacy topic requires.To argue that certain conditions will lead to other conditions (that the loss of privacy will lead to something else), first the writer needs to define clearly what those conditions are, and then the writer needs to make clear how those conditions lead to other conditions. Finally, the writer needs to explain what this cause-and-effect relationship means. This type of essay then has five parts (not paragraphs! ), with each part corresponding to a specific task the writer needs to perform, and each part consisting of one or more paragraphs.Essay Part| Scope| Purpose (not all necessary for every essay)| Introduction| General| * Background for the topic * Setting out the issues * Focusing the argument—the purpose of the essay| Description of the â€Å"Cause†| Begins general; becomes increasingly specific| * What the specific conditions are * Specific illustrations of these conditions * How these specific illustrations are representative of (can stand in for) other situations In this first part of the analysis, the writer needs to provide enough detail for the reader so the reader can understand the present situation.In addition, the writer needs to focus the description of the situation in such a way as to prepare for the â€Å"effect† that the writer is arguing for. For example, if the writer wants to argue that the loss of privacy has led to (or will lead to) a loss of individual freedom, then the description of how technology affects our privacy should focus on technologies that affect an individual’s freedom to act. Description of the â€Å"Effect†| Begins general; becomes increasingly specific| * What the specific effect is (or effects are) * How we get from the specific conditions to the specific effects * Specific illustrations of these effects * How these specific illustrations are representative of (can stand in for) othersIn this second part of the analysis, the writer needs to walk the reader through the logical steps the writer has used to move from cause to effect. For example, if the writer rgues that loss of privacy leads to loss of individual freedom, the writer needs to explain carefully how privacy and freedom are linked. So perhaps the writer might claim that privacy allows an individual to be free from the observation of others. With our privacy becoming increasingly l imited by surveillance, we are no longer free from the observation of others. If we believe that we are always being watched, we will probably change our behavior and be less willing to take chances or act independently.If we feel we cannot act independently then we are no longer free. | Explanation of the meaning of the cause-and-effect relationship| More General| * Why this analysis is important * How we might act upon the ideas the writer has presentedIn this third part of the analysis, the writer argues for the importance of the argument’s findings, often by putting in perspective the short-term or long-term consequences of the â€Å"effect. † In addition, in this part the writer usually makes some sort of recommendation (what we should do).So if the writer is arguing that loss of privacy leads to loss of freedom, in this part the writer might speculate one what might happen if this trend towards further loss of privacy continues. In addition, the writer might desc ribe some of the specific actions we can take to safeguard our existing privacy, or how legislation might provide such safeguards. | Conclusion| General| * Summing up * How our understanding of the larger issue might be changed by the writer's analysis * Appeal to the reader—how this situation affects us|

Arizona State Museum building located in the University of Arizona Essay

Arizona State Museum building located in the University of Arizona - Essay Example This will take into consideration of the context, audience and the visual impact. I hope to comprehend and convey to the reader how this type of building is designed and the type of collections of the building employ the use ethos, pathos, and ethos. Audience : My audience will be the teacher of my English class. He has in depth comprehension of rhetorical appeals, in this regard I must present my argument using the accurate knowledge of rhetoric. I am obliged to avoid advocating and generalizing. Context: My paper will be one of the papers that my teacher will read this assignment, so I have to be insightful and creative in my analysis. I have to make arguments in order to grab his attention. Outline Introduction: I plan on using my introduction to establish my own ethos as well as describe the the structure and design of the building that is being analyzed. I will describe my experience in and outside of the Arizona State Museum building which will help the reader to understand tha t I had the opportunity to analyze the building at is significance in the University of Arizona. ... Introduction When we think about teaching rhetoric and critiquing rhetorical acts, we base out thoughts on text and artifacts that are primarily oral or written. Nonetheless, our day to day experiences are saturated with the rhetorical invocation that move beyond the written word to visual. The objective of this essay is to explore the multi – modality of the rhetoric and illustrates how we think about the rhetoric on a wider perspective. The arguments regarding architecture particularly invoke this focus that deals with the nature objects, spaces and artifacts (Rosteck 45). This case study looks at one specific building known as Arizona State Museum building in order to show how this type of rhetoric takes place. Despite the distinct content of the building, the visual, textual and experimental are all used mimetically. This means that multi- model rhetoric on this site imitates the form a function of a natural history museum in order to persuade its visitors of its legitimac y. The Arizona State Museum building is the oldest and the largest anthropology museum located in the southwest region of the campus was established in 1893 by the Arizona Territorial Legislature. This building is the state’s official permitting agency for archeology and paleontologist projects. This is one of the oldest research units at the University of Arizona. It is known for hosting numerous researchers around the world and allow them to use the collection to expand their frontier of their knowledge in enthology, ethnohistory and archeology. The museum resides among several buildings. Most of these buildings look similar as they are made of stone colored concrete slabs and reflective