Diversity Training Essay

Research diversity training programs and their effectiveness. Discuss the purpose of diversity training and review the types of programs that are most effective in meeting goals for improving diversity within organizations. Diversity training is recommended to provide employees with the knowledge and skills to effectively communicate and relate to shareholders of different ethnicity, gender, mannerisms, sexual orientation, religion, and age. Diversity training has a positive impact on the company because it helps employees to respond more sensitively to differences in the workplace. Employees will become more aware of their actions, and mannerisms with others in the workplace. Also, it may be necessary to train managers in diversity in order to comply with the equal opportunity/affirmative action laws. Managers that are trained can effectively address diversity issues in the workplace (Reasons for Diversity, n.d.). Diversity training is effective if employees can recognize the advantages of becoming a culturally diverse workplace. Advantages can include; attracting and retaining valuable employees, increased innovation and creativity, and improved team performance. Organizations that encompass diversity can provide a better service or product if employees can understand their customer’s culture and background. The most effective approach for improving workplace diversity is to create a program to promote diversity hiring. A position or task force should be created who’s primarily responsibility is to oversee diversity hiring and training. Typically, diversity training is effectively taught through group exercises, role play, lectures, and video presentations. In conjunction with diversity training programs, the organization should promote employee involvement through diversity committees, diversity staff positions, and affirmative action plans (Rolander, n.d.). When employees are more involved, they become more aware of their actions and the actions of others to help promote diversity. References: Reasons for diversity training. (n.d.). Retrieved April 7, 2010, from Ehow website: http://www.ehow.com/facts_4912414_reasons-diversity-training.html Rolander, G.-C. (n.d.). Creating effective diversity policies . In Divesity central. Retrieved April 7, 2010, from http://www.diversitycentral.com/ diversity_practitioners/research_07_04.html What are the ways an organization can identify managers with dysfunctional behaviors? Once these managers are identified, describe the various actions that could be undertaken to help them change these behaviors. The symptoms and warning signs of a dysfunctional manager include; arrogance in leadership, lack of leadership performance feedback (from employees), favoritism, over-management that inhibits communication between staff members, lack of collaboration, lack of teamwork, low productivity, decline in employee morale, backstabbing, and high rate of employee absenteeism and turnover (Jones, n.d.). Consequently, with bad workplace politics and performance, employees will often distance themselves and can become uncooperative if they feel discriminated against and unappreciated. In some cases, employees will resort to sabotaging the company name, and the organization will risk losing their high performers. Furthermore, employees will lose their motivation and productivity (Jones, n.d.). Once the managers are identified, performance-oriented goals should be set to cure the bad behavior (Jones, n.d.). Fist, the organization must identify the performance issues and get feedback from employees. Employee feedback can be evaluated through an employee feedback survey. The manager must be willing to participate in the change program and recognize their bad behavior. Team-building workshops can be used to educate and train management on effective communication and conflict resolution (Jones, n.d.). If differences are still apparent after arbitration, replacement of the uncooperative management is necessary. References: Jones, M. (n.d.). Dysfunctional Leadership & Dysfunctional Organization . In The Politics of failure: watch out for the warning signs of bad leadership. Retrieved April 7, 2010, from http://www.iim-edu.org/ dysfunctionalleadershipdysfunctionalorganizations/index.htm

Fast Food Nation Essay

Summary: All Americans effect the huge growth of fast food but adolescents play even more of a vital role in than the average consumer. Not only do teenagers consume fast food, but they work for it and steal from it because they are attracted to it the most. The fast food industry provides the easiest way for young people to get started and continue to succeed in our â€Å"Fast Food Nation. † Our country loves fast food, there is speedy service with cheap tasty food in over one million restaurants world wide. Though we all love it, we do not like the stories behind it. In 2004, Americans spent over 110 billion dollars on fast food, that’s more than higher education, computers, computer software and new cars combined (Scholosser, 3). Teenagers provide a huge role in the fast food industry. Teenagers work at these restaurants, eat at these restaurants, are objects of advertisements by these restaurants and steal from these restaurants more than any other age group. Ever since the age of three more than 75 percent of American children can recognize the face of Ronald McDonald. Since our nation is currently being raised around fast food it is only inevitable that as children grow, they only become more of a part of it everyday. The average American child begins to work around the age of 16 doing low wage low labor jobs. At anytime a teenager can walk into any fast food restaurant and apply for a job. Fast food restaurants prefer to employ teenagers because they are easily trained, less expensive to tend to than adults and are easier to control. Also since most teenagers still live at home they can afford to work for wages too low to even support an adult. â€Å"No other industry in the United States had a workforce so dominated by adolescents. About two-thirds of the nations fast food workers are under the age of twenty† (Scholosser, 68). Working in McDonalds is not difficult, but just tedious and long. Since most fast food restaurants are run my machines, it is up to these 17 year-old employs to push buttons and say commands. All Burger King wants is for things to get done faster, not how much effort is put into work, so teenagers feel working at Taco Bell or KFC won’t be as difficult as it will a strain. Any teenager working behind the counter at any fast food restaurant is given less respect than animals at the pet store. .†.. she hates the job and is desperate to quit. Working at the counter she has to deal with rude remarks and complaints. She is often yelled at by strangers angry that their foods taking to long or that something is wrong with their order. One elderly woman threw a hamburger at her because there was too much mustard on it† (Scholosser, 81). Though rudeness is a downside to a fast food job, there are perks for kids who do not need a lot. Many of the 200 dollar a week salary is used for teenage spending; clothes, nights out, cars and other desirable things. Teenagers run and continue the fast food work force every day, not because they have to but because it’s the best option available to them. Though we may not like the way the food is cooked or served; the way it tastes is still great. McDonalds makes a huge profit off of everything; soda fries and sandwiches all profit so largely, and teenagers are one of the most popular customers. A medium soda in McDonalds is $1. 29, it cost McDonalds $4. 25 per gallon of soda syrup, only about 9 cents worth of syrup is used in a medium drink, giving McDonalds almost a 95% profit. Soda consumption among teenagers has doubled within the past 20 years, reaching an average of twelve ounces of soda a day per child. (Scholosser, 54). With French fries McDonalds buy them frozen for 30 cents a pound, then sells them reheated in oil for 6 dollars a pound, pure profit pulled from the hands of teenagers. McDonalds makes billions upon billions of dollars annually by selling things for such a low price but really making the largest profit possible. Recently, fast food restaurants have become more attractive to armed robbers than a clothing store or gas station. Since fast food industries do almost all of their business in cash, others rely on credit card transactions. Robbery in fast food chains is not uncommon at all, even when most of it happens by their own employees, underage teenagers who are desperate for money. Though most of these robberies occur early in the morning or late at night when few people are working. â€Å"The typical employee stole about $218 a year and according to industry studies, about two thirds of the robberies at fast food restaurants involve current or former employees. † (Scholosser, 84). Employees have low pay, high turnover and know the restaurant, why not steal? McDonalds is already a billion dollar industry, many of the people think, its not going to hurt their business, they won’t even notice. However these robberies have led to deaths and injuries, and make teenagers realize what horrible conditions they are working in. All Americans effect the huge growth of fast food but adolescents play even more of a vital role in than the average consumer. Not only do teenagers consume fast food, but they work for it and steal from it because they are attracted to it the most. The fast food industry provides the easiest way for young people to get started and continue to succeed in our â€Å"Fast Food Nation. â€Å"

Leadership Interaction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Leadership Interaction - Essay Example The Japanese business leader would certainly feel more confident and upbeat when he is allowed to speak in his mother tongue yet this does not happen in the business world. This is because there is Nigerian, French and Indian business leader sitting across the table and they would have difficulty understanding his language yet alone the manner in which he conveys the gestures, the nonverbal actions and other related aspects. Similarly, the Nigerian has an accent and style which is more suited to African nations than say for instance a European or Asian country. The French business leader would be attuned properly towards the European business leaders and hence would make his point in a much clearer fashion. Lastly the Indian business leader would suit someone who can understand his South Asian accent and can relate to his regional and cultural facets in a much more better manner than the Japanese, French and Nigerian business leaders combined could do. The communication styles that these business leaders bring with them to the meeting table are varied and thus offer room for each other’s understanding and comprehension. Thus it is advisable if they could bring their managers along so that they could properly understand what is being said and discussed during the length of the meeting. Even if there is no problem at reaching a point of consensus as far as the communication aspect is concerned, it would be in their best interest to openly address each other’s needs without feeling any awkwardness towards their respective non-understanding attitude since none of these business leaders adequately comprehend what is actually being conveyed. They could all make use of slide presentations on projectors so that they are assisted at delivering their ideas to each other as well as look after the desires of the respective parties which are

MAE504case3 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MAE504case3 - Research Paper Example This is identical to theory derived deductively from grand theory, without assistance of data. This could end up fitting no data at all. Grounded theory addresses the controversies brought about by other theories especially the grand theory, which people claim, is identical to grounded theory. While grand theory may end up fitting no data especially if it does not gain data assistance, grounded theory depends on nothing and assures a complete dataset (Bryant & Charmaz, 2007). All research theories support grounded theory because they all fall under the same category. For example, grounded theory and grand theory are more or less the same because both of them address the issue of data. Both of them are employed in filling the databases from the outcomes established on the ground after an extensive research. Just, like the other research theories such as labeling and professionalism theories, grounded, theory takes a case other than viable perspective (Bryant & Charmaz, 2007). This makes differentiation of this perspective almost impossible. This shows that the researcher takes distinct cases to be complete, in which the variables interact as a unit to generate some outcomes. All the research theories employ case-oriented perspective in examining how variables interact. The primary notion of the grounded theory approach is to read a textual database like a corpus of field notes. This is done to identify or label variables mostly referred to as concepts, categories, and properties, as well as, their interrelationships (Bryant & Charmaz, 2007). The capability to distinguish variables and associations is called â€Å"theoretical sensitivity†. This is influenced by the numeral of things engrossing a person’s reading of literature and his employment of techniques structured to facilitate compassion. This means that the methodological approach to grounded theory is through theoretical sensitivity. It is

Three major political approaches to fixing the problem with the Research Paper

Three major political approaches to fixing the problem with the national debt - Research Paper Example During a meeting in Cleveland, President Obama proposed a tax breaks and, directed corporate to eliminate one hundred percent of their ventures in industries and machineries. This move was further supported by Dave, a senior member of the Republican Party. In addition, a senior director of tax at Cato institute Edward Chris supported the three positions by arguing that the proposed approaches of fixing the problem with the national debt will help to revive the U.S economy. Mann Thomas a political scientist also advocated for the three proposed approaches by president Obama. Thomas asserted that the three approaches will help to promote economic growth tremendously. Additionally, the minority Leader Boehner John R-Ohio supported president Osama’s proposal to cut down budget and increase tax breaks (Raum, paras.1-5). The three positions have further been substantiated by the law whereby, the law provides corporate a chance to obtain fifty percent of the cost up front and the out standing balance to be settled within twenty years. Senior political official substantiated the move to implement tax breaks by proposing its benefits to the individual and to the entire economy at large. Some of the benefits include increase both individual and corporate investments which intern will lead to employments creation. The three proposals will further help to promote economic growth and expansion of small business (Raum, paras.3-7). ii) Give the pro’s and con’s of each approach. The pro’s of the first approach which involves cutting down government expenditures and give more tax breaks and incentives to small and big business include: it will help to eliminate government deficit and foreign debts because this approach helps at ensuring that the their readily available resources to be utilize productively. This approach further provides members of the public especially low income earners and middle class families with an opportunity to improve their s tandards of leaving. In addition, this approach will help to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor as well as promote growth of small medium enterprises (Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, p.158). On the contrary, the first approach tends to have some con’s. Among the con’s of this approach include: increase in negative externalities such as pollution because cutting down government expenditure limits the availability of funds to provide social services to the public. Reduction in government spending will causes a reduction in aggregate demand. This further leads to a reduction in economic activities as well as increase in unemployment problems. In addition, this approach discourages income distribution among members of the public. The approach will further affect those people who rely on social welfare benefits because they would not receive as much as they had expected to receive. This will further affect their budget and speeding (Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, p.158). The second approach for fixing the problems with the National budget involves putting more emphasize on our exports by lowering our dollar value or forcing our trade partners – China – to regulate more accurately its currency. This approach tends to have the following pro’

Global Warming Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Global Warming - Assignment Example dence on rising sea level that threatens to displace people along seashores and submerge cities and resources along the shores is an example because residents of the area fear for their stakes and the resources have massive significance on economies. Evidence on rising temperatures and have informed the public of the need for a solution because of effects of temperature on agriculture and health. High temperatures do not favour agriculture, a major source of food, and is therefore a threat to food security and increases susceptibility to some infections. In addition, evidence on effects of global warming on biodiversity has also influenced public opinion on needs for a solution. States and local politicians such as governors and state legislators have been active in efforts towards addressing global warming. In California and many other states, strong legislations have been enacted for cleaner air and climate change, some stronger that federal laws on environmental issues. Schwarzenegger’s California State is the leading and states enjoy support from local leaders for environmentally friendly policies (Davoudi, Crawford and Mehmood 125, 126). Corporations and environmentalists have assumed different perspectives in efforts to address global warming issue. With leading efforts from environmental scientists, environmental groups have advocated for efforts to manage global warming through addressing its major causes and they have used evidence to create awareness and campaign for policy changes by government agencies and social responsibility by the corporate sector. Corporations have however opposed efforts to control global warming because of the adverse economic effects that they are likely to suffer. This is because industrial activities into greenhouse gas emissions are some of the major identified causes of global warming. In response to evidence and advocacy of environmental groups and legislative measures, corporations have argued that scientific evidence

Law of Corporations Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Law of Corporations - Case Study Example In the changing conditions for forming a new company and listing the company in stock exchange for trading its share it has become statutory to show the track record of the trading. To fulfill such conditions promoters are required enter into contracts on behalf of the company. "A promoter stands in a fiduciary relationship towards his company. A contract made between him and the company is voidable at the company's option unless he has disclosed all material facts relating to the contract to an independent board, and the company has freely agreed to the terms." [L.S.Sealy, Cases and Materials in Company Law, 2001 (p.35)] Promoters hold fiduciary relationship towards the company that they form. This fiduciary relationship is the development equity law. Equity law imposes on persons holding in fiduciary relationship a duty of care to protect the interest of such company, and its stakeholders such as shareholders. The law imposes a duty on them to disclose all the material facts of contracts they make to an independent board, and the company accords free acknowledgment of the terms of contract, else such contract is voidable at the option of the company. In such condition promoters are liable for breach of such contract but not the company. Duties of promoters is elaborately described by the court in Erlanger V New Sombreno Phosphate Co2 case. Erlanger V New Sombreno Phosphate Co2: In this case a syndicate led by Erlanger, a banker formed a company. The syndicate acquired an island for producing phosphate for a lease of 55,000 for the company, which they intended to form, prior to incorporation the new company. The promoters nominated three directors of the newly formed company among them one director was independent of the syndicate and remaining two directors are mere puppets of Erlanger. The promoters have sold the lease of the island for 110,000 at double the price they have acquired. The board of directors ratified the transaction without making any enquiry into the transaction and this transaction was undisclosed. Public have subscribed for shares. Later the phosphate shipment failed. The shareholders have removed the directors nominated by the promoters and new directors were appointed. The new board of directors has brought the proceeding before the court. The Court has laid down what position the promoters to be placed and what duties they owe to with reference to the company, which they proposed to form. The court said (a) The promoters stand in a fiduciary position, (b) the creation and moulding of the company is in their hands, (c) they are vested with powers of defining (i) how the company starts its existence (ii) when it starts (iii) in what shape it starts (iv) under what supervision it shall start and act as trading corporation. (d) Promoters shall take care while forming the company that they provide board of directors who (i) are aware of the fact that the property, which the company is asked to purchase is of the

Internal Software Audits are more effective than External Software Article

Internal Software Audits are more effective than External Software Audits - Article Example One of the major reasons behind this may be because today almost all the companies are aware of risk factors involved in the core functionalities. A software audit is a process of conducting elaborative and detailed examination of each and every activity with in the purview of policies followed in the organisation. It not only includes the identification of core business areas as well as the tools and technologies used for those functions, the validity of those technologies that is their licences and number of licenses for particular software package. Therefore regular and timely audits are the great requirement of all the organization as it controls the occurrences of failures or frauds and helps in managing the risks. Thus software audits also helps in assuring the quality of the product whether it fulfils the requirement of customer or not. But they are not at all related to source code audits. All these factors demand that there must be some quantitative and qualitative way to check the quality of the software and software audits help tremendously in achieving this objective. Broadly there are following two different types of audits, which can be further sub, divided into sub categories. In first party quality audits, coalescence to the documented and acknowledged quality systems is scrutinized. Broadly speaking it is a type of internal audit, which proves the correct functionality of quality management system in an organisation. The first party audit is accomplished within the purview of an organisation with the core objective of measuring its potency and frailty against the strategies and methodologies followed by the organisation, against the external standards obligatory on the organisation. The organisation may recruit auditors, who don't have their benefits resides, for conducting such type of audits. According to the quality and environment audit standard ISO 19011 independence of audit team from the activities being audited is considered and conflicts of interest should be avoided when selecting the audit team members. Outsourcing an audit program to some other equally capable company saves the time of internal employees and they can do their day-to-day acti vities efficiently and effectively. Moreover auditors are more objective and impartial and organisation may benefit from the experiences of auditors. They also help the organisation in formulating new policies, procedures, and practices and revise the existing ones. Internal auditors often help in executing other activities like merger, acquisition, and transition etc of an organisation. Thus they help the top management to adjudge preserve and regulate that include suitable documentation and audit trails during the organisation's acquisition planning and implementation processes. An effective external audit function endow the board of directors and management with: Feasible certainty about the efficacy of internal control, accuracy and completeness of all the activities of an organisation An independent and objective view of a organisation's activities Information useful to directors and management in maintaining an organisation's risk management processes. The objective of recruiting

Distinguish between the public and private aspects of human sexuality Essay

Distinguish between the public and private aspects of human sexuality - Essay Example Naturally, sex is a mechanism through which human beings procreate and give rise to offsprings who continue the generation of human beings. Thus, human sexuality encapsulates activities that undergo in the body of a human being, their thoughts, and spirits. The paper herein thus provides a profound discussion about the distinction between public and private aspects of the human sexuality through incisive ideas and rational arguments. The interest in sexual intercourse in human beings normally develops when a person reaches puberty. However, the propensity to engage in sexual relations usually varies between people. Some scientists argue that genes or environmental factors cause the variation in sexual inclination. On the other hand, enthusiasts in the sexual relations discussion sphere maintain that some sexual activities are influenced by intuition or societal pressure. Nevertheless, the bottom-line is that people engage in sexual activities despite their various reasons. The discussion on this subject breeds contentious issues especially when it extends to distinguishing public and private aspects of the human sexuality (Botcherby and Creegan 6). The society has set standards to mark the difference between sexual relations that are considered public or private. The outcome has been the setting of legal boundaries and creation of moral standards that human beings are expected to adhere to when they engage in sexual relations (Scott and Harold 187). Human sexuality has been public by default especially for heterosexual people. Sexuality has culturally been the defining factor of a persons identity. The society has been the prime shaping agent in matters of human sexuality, rendering some private aspects of human sexuality public. In the past, some of the private aspects of human sexuality as defined by the forces of society were the different sexual orientations that people have. Naturally, human beings are

Risky Behaviors in Teens Essay Example for Free

Risky Behaviors in Teens Essay â€Å"Teens are at high behavioral risk for acquiring most STDs. Teenagers and young adults are more likely than other age groups to have multiple sex partners, to engage in unprotected sex, and, for young women, to choose sexual partners older than themselves. Moreover, young women are biologically more susceptible to chlamydia, gonorrhea and HIV. † (http://www. cdc. gov/std/Trends2000/trends2000. pd). In the United States alone teen births are extremely high, they represent about 10 percent of 4 million births each year. Not only does having a child during the teenage years causes social, emotional, and physical problems it also cost the United States 9 billion dollars a year. When having unprotected sex, not only pregnancy is a concern but receiving a sexually transmitted disease is a huge concern as well. In order to treat STDs in America it cost the government $17 million a year. The two most common STDs that teenagers catch are chlamydia, and gonorrhea. As a public health official it is important to know why do teenagers continually put themselves in situations that can alter their lives. Another thing public officials need to look into is the adolescents psychosexual health. There have been so many studies looking at the vantage point on the amount STDs, abortions, and pregnancies teens have. Now that depression is a growing concern in adolescents today, looking into the correlation between sexual activity and depression will be of great help to the public health community (Kosunen,Heino, Rimpela, and Laippala). In order to find these answers we must first examine two human behavioral theories: 1) Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory and 2) the attachment theory. Once we have the answers to the question of why, then we can start the prevention of teen pregnancies and the spread of STDs amongst our youth. Bronfenbrenner is the leading contributor to the ecological systems theory. The ecological theory uses four types of roles and norms that shape children’s development. In order to make the theory is easy-to-understand Bronfenbrenner described it as the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macro system. It is stated that, â€Å"This theory looks at a child’s development within the context of the system of relationships that form his or her environment. Bronfenbrenner’s theory defines complex â€Å"layers† of environment, each having an effect on a child’s development. This theory has recently been renamed â€Å"bio ecological systems theory† to emphasize that a child’s own biology is a primary environment fueling her development. The interaction between factors in the child’s maturing biology, his immediate family/community environment, and the societal landscape fuels and steers his development. Changes or conflict in any one layer will ripple throughout other layers. To study a child’s development then, we must look not only at the child and her immediate environment, but also at the interaction of the larger environment as well† (http://pt3. nl. edu/paquetteryanwebquest. pdf). The microsystem is where the child has direct daily contact with certain structures. The microsystem includes the child’s family, school, daycare, and the child’s neighborhood. Since this is the most important part of the ecological system the relationships have an impact that can go into different directions(both away from the child and towards the child). For example, a child’s parents may affect his beliefs and behavior; however, the child also affects the behavior and beliefs of the parent. Bronfenbrenner calls these bi-directional influences, and he shows how they occur among all levels of environment. The interaction of structures within a layer and interactions of structures between layers is key to this theory. At the microsystem level, bi-directional influences are strongest and have the greatest impact on the child. However, interactions at outer levels can still impact the inner structures. † ((http://pt3. nl. edu/paquetteryanwebquest. pdf). The mesosystem is the connection between the child’s microsystems. This can be the connection between the teacher and the child’s parents. The exosystem is the layer where the child does not function directly. This could be the parent’s work place or work schedule; even though the child does not function directly in this atmosphere the child can still feel the positive or negative consequences associated with the interaction. The macrosystem consists of the child’s culture, values, customs, and laws. For example if the child’s culture believes that it takes a village to raise a child, not only will mom and dad punish you but Ms.  Susie the next door neighbor will too. This gives the parent’s many more resources in order to raise their child in the appropriate way. â€Å"Attachment theory describes the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans especially as within families and between life-long friends. Its most important tenet is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally, and that further relationships build on the patterns developed in the first relationships. Attachment theory is an interdisciplinary study encompassing the fields of psychological, evolution , and ethological theory. † (http://www. absoluteastronomy. com/topics/Attachment_theory). For a lot of adolescents, going into the teen years can be a very stressful transition. This met with a lot of intense challenges and changes. During this time the teen is moving away from his or her parents as their primary attachments figure and are looking towards their friends to be their primary attachment theory. If the teen’s friends are engaging in risky behaviors such as having more than one sexual partners, having unprotected sex, and etc. he teen is more likely to engage in the same type of behavior(Tracey and Shaver p. 2). â€Å"Adolescents interact simultaneously in several social spheressuch as family, peer, and neighborhood systemsthat can serve to either restrain or promote individual behaviors† (DiClemente, Salazar, Crosby, Rosenthalp. 1). The roles of the parents are very important; studies have shown that if parents are more focused on their child’s wellbeing and know the whereabouts of their child, the adolescent is less likely to engage in risky behaviors (Voisin and DiClemente p. ). in understanding how the ecological theory works, if the child or adolescent is surrounded by teen pregnancy, risky behaviors, and the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases this adolescent will believe that this behavior is okay. It is important for the adolescent to have support inside and outside of his or hers home. It is a belief that teen pregnancy and STDs can be prevented, but the question is how do public health officials began to combat these problems? In January 2011 Frayser high school made national news because 90 girls were pregnant who currently attended the school. â€Å"In Memphis, the teen pregnancy rate is between 15 percent and 20 percent – and in Frayser, the rate is 26 percent, said Deborah Hester Harrison, executive director of Memphis’ Girls Inc. It’s no surprise that Harrison places at least part of the blame on the media, such as the popular MTV shows â€Å"16 and Pregnant† and â€Å"Teen Mom. † (http://fieldnotes. msnbc. msn. com/_news/2011/01/14/5841767-90-pregnancies-at-o ne-high-school). In order for Memphis to fight this epidemic, they have received funding from the Center of Disease Control (CDC) in order to conduct a youth risk behaviors survey and implement effective policies, programs, and practices to avoid, prevent, and reduce sexual risk behaviors among students that contribute to HIV infection, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and pregnancy. (http://www. cdc. gov/healthyyouth/states/locals/tn-memphis. htm). The youth risk behavior survey shows that 90% of teenagers in Memphis do not use protection when having intercourse. The survey also shows that over 60% of teens have had sex are sexually active. Memphis City Schools are implementing a lot of different programs that will teach teens the importance of using protection during sex and the different effects that STDs and pregnancy can have on their lives (http://www. cdc. gov/healthyyouth/states/locals/tn-memphis. htm#1). It is a well-known fact that parents play an important part in their child’s development, there should be a free parenting class to parents that will teach them how to deal with their teens risky behaviors. Also teachers need to be better trained on how they deal with a student’s situation. Schools represent another socializing agent for adolescents and can be a significant source of support. This may be particularly important for many high-risk teenagers, whose families may lack adequate resources and parental support. Adolescents who believe that they are receiving high levels of support in school and feel that they are connected to teachers are less likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors compared with peers reporting less school support or teacher connectedness† (DiClemente, Salazar, Crosby, Rosenthal, p. 1). By involving the parents and teachers into the preventive process teen pregnancy and STDs will decline.

Calculation Of Traditional Costing Method Accounting Essay

Calculation Of Traditional Costing Method Accounting Essay The objective of doing this Cost Accounting Assignment is to understand how to do a proper calculation of traditional costing method and the Activity-based Costing. It is important to have this basic practice to help us in the experience of doing this calculation while we are studying other topic. Through the process of calculation of both methods, I have done by given the history of both method, the definition of both method, and the explanation of both methods. Other than that, I also have given the differences of the traditional costing method and activity-based costing. I also have given the advantages and disadvantages of both methods. This calculation is for understand total profit of ScooterDrivers product. And discuss the implication of activity-based costing for the director. TABLE OF CONTENT PAGE NO. 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 2. QUESTION 1 Calculation total profit Absorption costing Activity-based costing Report Evaluate absorption costing and activity-based costing Implication of activity-based costing 3-4 4-5 6-12 12-14 3. QUESTION 2 15-24 4. REFERENCES 25-26 QUESTION 1 Calculate the total profit on each ScooterDrivers three types of product using each of the following methods to attribute overheads Absorption costing OAR = Budgeted production overhead Budgeted activity level OAR = RM2,400 000+RM6,000 000+RM3,600 000 200 000 + 220 000 + 80 000(direct labour hours) = RM12, 000 000 500 000(direct labour hours) = RM 24 per direct labour hours Product cost per unit RisingStar(RM) RoadRider(RM) FireRoll(RM) Direct material 400 600 900 Direct labour (RM5ÃÆ'-100hrs) 500 (RM5ÃÆ'-137.5hrs) 687.50 (RM5ÃÆ'-200hrs)1000 Prime cost 900 1287.50 1900 (+)Production (RM24ÃÆ'-100) 2400 (RM24ÃÆ'-137.5hrs)3300 (RM24ÃÆ'-200hrs) 4800 Overhead Production cost per unit 3300 4587.50 6700 Profit RisingStar(RM) RoadRider(RM) FireRoll(RM) Total(RM) Selling Price per unit 4000 6000 8000 (-) Production costs (3300) (4587.50) (6700) Profit per unit 700 1412.50 1300 (ÃÆ'-)Output Unit 2000 1600 400 Profit 1,400 000 2,260 000 520 000 4,180 000 Activity based costing OAR = Budgeted production overhead Budgeted activity level Deliveries to retailer = RM2,400 000 250 (100+80+70) = RM 9600 per deliveries to retailers Set- up costs = RM 6,000 000 100(35+40+25) = RM60000 per set up Purchase orders = RM 3, 600 000 800(400+300+100) = RM 4500 per purchase order Product cost per unit RisingStar(RM) RoadRider(RM) FireRoll(RM) Direct material 400 600 900 Direct labour (RM5ÃÆ'-100hrs) 500 (RM5ÃÆ'-137.5hrs) 687.50 (RM5ÃÆ'-200hrs) 1000 Prime cost 900 1287.50 1900 Production overhead [ Deliveries to retailers 480 480 1680 [ [ Set up costs 1050 1500 3750 [ [ [ Purchase order 900 843.75 1125 Production cost per unit 3330 4111.25 8455 Profit RisingStar(RM) RoadRider(RM) FireRoll(RM) Total(RM) Selling Price per unit 4000 6000 8000 (-) Production costs (3330) (4111.25) (8455) Profit per unit 670 1888.75 (455) (ÃÆ'-)Output Unit 2000 1600 400 Profit 1,340 000 3,022 000 (182 000) 4,180 000 To : ScooterDrivers director From : Management Accountant Evaluate the labour hour and the activity-based costing methods in the circumstances of ScooterDriver. ABSORPTION COSTING METHOD During the most of the 1900s, almost all companies used traditional costing systems that those do not accumulate or report costs of activities or processes (Anderson, 1995). Traditional absorption costing methods attribute production overheads to units of output without attempting to allocate administration, selling or distribution overheads and many activities are not directly related to production volume(e.g. ordering, delivery, transportation, equipment set-up, machining and administration) (Miller and Vollman, 1985). These require non-volume based cost drivers if costs are to be appropriately traced and provide the motivation for the development of activity based costing (ABC) systems(Hilton, 1994). Direct material and direct labour costs can be easily be traced to jobs and processes, but manufacturing overhead may bear no obvious relationship to individual units of product and assignment of overhead made through a volume-based activity base (or cost driver), attempt to ensure that products which cause large amounts of overheads costs correspond with those which require large amounts of the cost driver (Sizer, 1989). The allocation of manufacturing overhead (indirect manufacturing costs) to products on the basis of a volume metric such as direct labour hours or production machine hours(Sizer, 1989). As manufacturing becomes more sophisticated the manufacturing overhead costs usually increase while the direct labour hours or production machine hours decrease therefore, the direct labour or machine hours are unlikely to be the root cause of the manufacturing overhead(Hilton, 1994).   ABC (ACTIVITY-BASED COSTING) ABC (Activity-Based Costing) arise in the 1980s from the increasing lack of relevance of traditional cost accounting methods (Weetman,2006). The traditional cost accounting methods were designed around 1870 1920 and in those days industry was labor intensive, there was no automation, the product variety was small and the overhead costs in companies were generally very low compared to today, from the 1960s particularly 1980s this changed rapidly (Whitehead and Upson, 1982). For these reasons, and more, traditional cost accounting has been called everything from number 1 enemy of production and questions whether it is an asset or a liability have been raised (Innes and Mitchell, 1998). ABC has been promoted by Johnson(1988), Kaplan(1988) and Cooper (1988), among others, as a means of improving the quality of management accounting information when traditional methods of allocation overhead costs might be misleading to the users of product cost information (Smith, 1995). Harvard Business School Professor Robert S. Kaplan was an early advocate of the ABC system, while mainly used for private businesses, ABC has recently been used in public forums, such as those that measure government efficiency (Cooper, 1990). ABC recognizes that many significant overheads are related to activities which are independent of volume and identifies those cost drivers which consume resources to determine process and product costs (Innes and Mitchell, 1998). ABC is an alternative to traditional accounting where business overhead (indirect costs such as lighting, heating, and marketing) provided in the percentage of direct costs of the activities but this is not satisfactory because the two activities that absorb the costs are directly can use very different amounts of overhead (Izhar, 1990). An industrial robot is a large scale, for example, can use the same amount of labour and materials as a robot. But the specific robot uses far more time (overhead) engineers from a mass production company (Johnson and Kaplan, 1987). ABC is an accounting method that allows businesses to gather data about their operating costs and they are assigned to specific activities such as planning, engineering, or manufacturing and then the activities are associated with different products or services (Jones and Dugdale, 2002). In this way, the ABC method enables a business to decide which products, services, and resources are increasing their profitability, and which are contributing to losses (Johnson and Kaplan, 1987). Managers are then able to generate data to create a better budget and gain a greater overall understanding of the expenses that are required to keep the company running smoothly (Izhar, 1990). Generally, activity-based costing is most effective when used over a long period of time, as opposed to shorter-term solutions such as the theory of constraints (Smith, 1995). ABC is a method of allocating costs to products and services (Izhar, 1990). It is generally used as a tool for planning and control and it was developed as an approach to address problems associated with traditional cost management systems that tend to have the inability to accurately determine actual production and service costs, or provide useful information for operating decisions (Hopper, Northcott and Scapens, 2007). With these defiencies managers can be exposed to making decisions based on inaccurate data. The higher exposure is for companies with multiple products or services (Innes and Mitchell, 1998).   DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL AND ABC SYSTEMS There is a basic philosophical difference between the traditional and the ABC approaches. Traditionally sees overheads as rending a service to cost units, the cost of which must be charged to those units (Atrill and Laney, 2007). ABC sees overheads as being caused by activities, and so it is the cost units that cause the activities that must be charged with the cost cause (Drury, 2005). It is not always easy to see how and why some overheads costs have arisen (Atrill and Laney, 2007). This has traditionally made them more difficult to control that direct labour and materials costs, if, however an analysis of overheads can identify the cost drivers, question can be asked about whether the activity driving certain costs is necessary at all, and whether the cost justifies the benefit (Warren, Reeve and Fess, 2005). Adopting ABC requires that most overheads can be analysed and the cost drivers identified (Drury, 2005). This means that it might be possible to gain much cleaner insights about the overheads costs that are caused, activity by activity, so that fairer and more accurate product costs can be identified, and costs can be controlled more effectively (Warren, Reeve and Fess, 2005). Under ABC, an overheads cost pool is established for each cost driver in which all of the costs caused by that driver are placed (Atrill and Laney, 2007). All costs associated with this activity would be allocated to that cost pool and the total costs in that pool would then be allocated to output, using the cost driver identified, according to the extent to which each unit of output drove those costs (Warren, Reeve and Fess, 2005). Allocating overheads costs to cost pools, as is necessary with ABC, contrasts with the traditional approach, where the overheads are normally allocated to production departments (cost centers) (Atrill and Laney, 2007). In both cases, however, the overheads are then charged to cost units (goods or service) (Drury, 2005). With the traditional approach, overheads are apportioned to product departments (cost centers) (Dyson, 2007). Each department would then derive an overhead recovery rate, typically overheads per direct labour hour (Weetman, 2006). Overheads would then be applied to units of output according to how many direct labour hours were worked on them (Abraham, Glynn, Murphy and Wilkinson, 2008). With ABC, the overheads are analysed into cost pools, with one cost pool for each cost driver (Drury, 2005). The overheads are then charged to units of output, through activity cost driver rates, and these rates are an attempt to represent the extent to which each particular cost unit is believed to cause the particular part of the overheads (Abraham, Glynn, Murphy and Wilkinson, 2008). ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF ABSORPTION COSTING AND ABC ABSORPTION COSTING ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES It assumes all the costs that contribute to the final product in some way(Atrill and Laney, 2007). This includes both direct costs and indirect costs(Atrill and Laney, 2007). Direct costs refer to the costs that can be detected directly to the product itself, such as direct materials or direct labor(Atrill and Laney, 2007). Indirect costs refer to costs which cannot be detected directly to the products and allocated to products, such as property taxes or factory manager wage(Atrill and Laney, 2007). A disadvantage of absorption costing involves pricing decisions(Drury, 2005). When a company has excess capacity and it considers various business opportunities, it may deny business that would generate profits for the company(Drury, 2005). The company evaluates each business opportunity using absorption costing as its base cost(Drury, 2005). The company accepts business opportunities that provide revenue above the absorption cost and rejects business opportunities that provide revenue below the absorption cost(Drury, 2005). Some of the business that the company rejects may contribute additional profits to the company when it has excess capacity (Drury,2005). Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) represents the standard that most corporations pursue for financial reporting(Johnson and Kaplan, 1987). Generally accepted accounting principles need corporations to use absorption costing for external reporting(Johnson and Kaplan, 1987). Companies that use different forms of product costing for internal analysis is still necessary to maintain a system of absorption costing to GAAP(Johnson and Kaplan, 1987). Companies that use absorption costing for all the valuable products have the advantage that the cost of the same can be used for all purposes(Johnson and Kaplan, 1987). Another disadvantage of absorption costing involves skewing the results of decisions made to discontinue business segments(Izhar, 1990). When the company uses absorption costing in the decision, the analysis includes fixed costs that will remain whether the company eliminates the segment or not(Izhar, 1990). Absorption costing identify fixed costs in the cost of the product(Izhar, 1990). Because it is suitable to determine the price of the product(Izhar, 1990). Pricing based on absorption costing ensure that all costs are covered. (Izhar, 1990) Absorption costing does not help in cost control and planning and control functions(Johnson and Kaplan, 1987). It is not useful in determining the responsibility for the occurrence of cost(Johnson and Kaplan, 1987). It is not practical to hold the manager responsible for the cost of which he / she does not control(Johnson and Kaplan, 1987). Absorption costing will show the proper calculation of the profit of variable costing in situations where production is carried out to have a sale in the future (e.g., seasonal production and seasonal sales) (Izhar, 1990). Some costs can be removed from the product during the income statement for the inventory issue(Johnson and Kaplan, 1987). Therefore, managers evaluated on operating income can temporarily increase profit by increasing production(Johnson and Kaplan, 1987). . ACTIVITY-BASED COSTING ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES The advantage of activity-based costing is the accuracy in the process of costing with regards to the product line, the end-users of the product, the stock-keeping units employed by the management and the channel and category which streamline the flow of the product from the producer to the end user(Dyson, 2007). The process of data collection for this system is very time consuming(Smith, 1995). This system helps in the process of better understanding the concept of resource allocation overhead costs business as common as they used by specific product line and their relationship to specific cost drivers(Dyson, 2007). The system is so transparent that some managers will not approve because they want to keep a few things from the viewpoint of owners(Smith,1995). This process is for   cost of unitary, or the marginal cost calculations based on the contrast with the traditional method of cost accounting that uses the total cost(Dyson, 2007). Capital expenditure on systems based on the following activities and running costs can be a road block for the firm(Smith, 1995). The system is easy to understand and interpret it can be accessed, use and functional implemented throughout all forms of business set-up(Dyson, 2007). The system helps in the process of benchmarking which is part of the quality control system(Dyson, 2007). The system works very well will increase the quality and up gradation program(Dyson, 2007). The implication of activity based costing The finance director argued that I very much doubt whether selling FireRoll is viable but I am not convinced that activity-based costing would tell us any more than the use of labour hours in assessing the viability of each produt. From my opinion, I not agree with what finance director told because in activity-based costing use cost driver. Cost driver is a factor that can cause a change in the cost of an activity. An activity can have more than one cost driver attached to it. For example, a production activity may have the following associated cost-drivers such as a machine, machine operators, floor space occupied, power consumed, and the quantity of waste and/or rejected output. In ScooterDriver they used three type of cost driver such as deliveries to retailers, set-up costs and purchase orders. So we can see how much each cost driver cost for the product and choose the product fairer and more accurate product costs can be identified, and costs can be controlled more effectively. Other than that, activity-based costing not only using labour hours for assessing the viability of each product, it also use machine hours. The marketing director argued that I am in the process of negotiating a major new contract with a motorcycle rental company for the RisingStar model. For such a big order, they will not pay our normal prices but we need to at least cover our incremental costs. I am not convinced that activity-based costing would achieve this as it merely averages costs for our entire production. From my opinion, I not agree with what marketing director told because activity-based costing shows average cost better than absorption costing. Absorption costing is more simplistic and less accurate than activity-based costing, and typically assigns overhead costs to products based on an arbitrary average rate. Activity-based costing is more complex and more accurate than absorption costing. This method first assigns indirect costs to activities and then assigns the costs to products based on the products usage of the activities. The managing director argued that I believed that activity-based costing would be an improvement but it still has its problems. For instance, if we carry out an activity many times surely we get better at it, and costs fall rather than remain constant. Similarly, some costs are fixed and do not vary either with labour hours or any other cost driver. From my opinion, I not agree with what managing director told because the definition of fixed cost in activity-based costing is a cost element of an activity that does not vary with changes in the volume of cost drivers or activity drivers. For example The deprecation of machine may be direct to a particular activity, but it is fixed with respect to changes in the number of units of the activity driver. Same goes to ScooterDrivers product the cost is fixed over a given time not all time or period. And the designation of fixed cost can also vary depending on the extent which the volume of production , activity drivers or cost drivers may change. The chairman argued that I cannot see the problem. The overall profit for the company is the same no matter which method of allocating overheads we use. It seems to make no differences to me. For my opinion, I agree with what chairman argued that both method gave same profit but from my point of view, I think that activity-based costing more benefit than the absorption costing. The profit of ScooterDriver company is RM4180000. For what I said that activity-based costing more benefit because absorption costing mostly utilizes volume related allocation bases while activity-based costing. uses drivers at various levels. Activity-based costing is a method that allocates a cost to various activities which then enable an organization to make informed decisions regarding products and/or services. Once the costs have been determined, they can be input into computer applications designed to analyze the costs. Management can then modify the budget and help the company become more profitable by decreasing inefficient activities. So activity-based costing is more advantage to a company to make profit. Question 2 Explain how the business environment that businesses face has changed over the past decades and discuss how this has had impact on management accounting. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) The so called new media boom of the 1980s failed to live up to expectations because the underlying technologies never became widespread(Drury, 2004). In contrast, technological advances on two fronts which are digitization and networking have become indispensable components of todays society(Drury, 2004). Digitization is enabling the fusion of different media based on technologies for processing and transmitting huge volumes of data(Drury, 2004). Networking is creating virtual communities on networks (cyberspace) centered on the Internet(Drury, 2004). With the advance of technology, electronic networks are revolutionizing structures and processes in the business world(Hilton, 1994). To improve processes, businesses are introducing e-mail and intranets. But of even greater impact is the revolution in business contacts not only with other companies but with consumers. The infrastructure has grown as more consumers use personal computers and participate in networks, and technological advances are making communication more efficient. Whereas information technology in the past mainly focused on changing work processes inside companies, todays revolution in information and communications technology could potentially alter the model of communication between businesses and consumers. In the old economy information communication, and transactions are all physical things(Hilton, 1994). They include cash, stamps, invoices, stock certificates, reports, face to face meetings, analog telephones, radio and television broadcasts, receipts, blueprints, maps, photographs, books, newspapers, magazines, and direct mail advertising. In the new economy, all types of information transactions, and personal communication will increasingly be digitized-that is, compressed into bits, stored in computers and transmitted through networks at the speed of light. The quality of information will be much better than with analog transmission. Today our approach to daily life is centered on physical things(Hilton, 1994). For example, the act of shopping involves a process of going to a store, obtaining information on the desired product, making a purchasing decision, paying money, and receiving the product. With the emergence of mail order shopping, transactions could be carried out simply by exchanging information on a product or service, and credit cards and mail delivery eliminated the need to visit a store and talk to a sales clerk(Hilton, 1994). In other words, information on products and services could be dissociated from and distributed separately from the physical product or service, eliminating time and space restrictions of conventional physical communication. This implies a shift in management resources from land, labor and capital, to information. In the information network society, the conventional conditions for corporate success such as large cities, large markets, and large companies will no longer apply. Companies can operate from anywhere if they are connected to a network, and can plunge right into the global market rather than grow in the local market. Since the most important factor is the value of the information a company possesses, we predict that market entry and competition will intensify as size of capital becomes irrelevant to market entry. Application of IT in management accounting has major impact on the organizations profits. It is wrong to conclude that implementation of new technology in management accounting will improve companys profits. Implementation of new technologies may reduce companys income, as the implementation is costly depending on the technology adopted. There is a risk to the companies that if inappropriate technology is chosen, then the company is forced to incur unnecessary costs which lead to waste of resources. However, if the management and the accountants study the feasibility and the functionality of the systems before the implementation of IT in management accounting, then the above risk can be avoided. The skill and knowledge of accountants should be repositioned to support the application of IT in management accounting. The companies have to send their staff to IT related training to acquire and update their IT skills to use the system efficiently. The users of the system must be trained w ell in order to take advantage of the technology within the system. Selecting user friendly system is essential, as it require less IT skilled personnel to handle the system. Most of the systems available now are user-friendly and easy to use. Technology is changing fast and it is very difficult to keep track with the technology changes. The companys challenge is to adopt a technology that can be used for a long period which may not be achievable now. The new technology today will be obsolete within couple of months and will be replaced by more sophisticated technology. So the company has to select the technology that is upgradeable to meet the future technology requirement. GLOBALIZATION Globalization means  the reduction of the difference between one economy and another  so that trade within and between different countries is increasingly similar all over the world. Globalization has become a big buzz word in the last 10/15 years, but it has been going on for centuries, and especially since 1945. In the 17th Century new ship design allowed Europeans to start trading with the rest of the world in a much bigger way, although trade was still a tiny part of the economy compared to agriculture. Later developments in transport, steam ships, the railways and now aircraft, have all contributed to the development of trade. Aircraft also move people around quickly, so the sense of the size and distances of the world shrinks making us feel that far-away places are no longer so strange. The internet now allows international communication in a way that was not possible before; your favourite site could just as easily be in New Zealand as in London. The following main factors have fuelled the pace of globalization which are first is technological change, especially in communications technology.  For example, UK businesses and data by satellite to India (taking advantage of the difference in time zones) where skilled but cheaper data handlers input the data and return it by satellite for the start of the UK working day. Second is transport is much cheaper and faster.  This is not just aircraft, but also ships. The development of containerization in the 1950s was a major breakthrough in goods handling, and there have been continuing improvements to shipping technology since then. Third is removal of capital exchange controls.  The movement of money from one country to another was also controlled, and these controls were lifted over the same period. This allowed businesses to move money from one country to another in a search for better business returns; if investment in ones own country looked unattractive, a business could buy businesses in another country. During the 1990s huge sums of money, mainly from the US, have come into the UK economy. There are three impact of globalization on management accounting. First, management accounting deals with both financial and non-financial data to support a wide range of managerial decisions in contrast to financial accountings focus solely on financial data to support investors and creditors capital allocation decisions. For many companies, notes CareerBank.com CFO Douglas Banister, the real value-add is the integration of financial reporting with operational information. Second, management accounting looks forward as well as backward, whereas financial accounting is oriented solely towards history. Management accounting involves anticipating what will, could, or should happen, as well as figuring out what did happen. Forecasting, planning, and budgeting are typical management accounting activities. Third, management accounting looks outward as well as inward, whereas financial accounting is focused solely on what happens internally within an enterprise. Management accounting involves proactively seeking and identifying opportunities and threats that an enterprise faces from customers, competitors, suppliers, regulatory agencies, and other external parties. In short, management accounting is focused on enhancing business performance in a competitive environment, not simply on ensuring compliance with standards and regulations. MANUFACTURING ENVIRONMENT New manufacturing strategy commonly involves the use of new technologies, and changes in organizational structure and management practices, such as Just-in-Time (JIT) and Total Quality Management (TQM) that possible lead to a radical change in the way business is conducted. AMT applications include applications such as computer integrated manufacturing (CIM), computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided engineering (CAE), flexible man

History of Puerto Rico and Spanish Rule :: Hispanic History Historical Essays

History of Puerto Rico and Spanish Rule The history of Puerto Rico under Spanish rule is one of European exploitation of non white peoples for the purpose of economic gain. The ‘discovery’ made by Columbus in 1492 had a great impact on the highly competitive countries in Europe who saw, in lands like Puerto Rico, the possibility of prosperity and advancement. More than hoping to spread their influence or religion, Europeans wanted to take advantage of the lands and resources which seemed unused. Actually the lands were being used quite successfully, but in unfamiliar ways which did not concern many Europeans. With little regard for the native people, Europe began conquering the eastern hemisphere in the name of colonization. Areas which had only known one race for centuries were flooded with people from all over the world seeking money and status. As the stakes grew, and select people and countries heavily prospered off their colonies, ethical and moral restraint declined. The result was a world filled wit h a diverse group of races, extreme distinctions in class differences, and mixing of culture. This was the case for Puerto Rico, which was just as much affected by colonialism as other areas, but has certain qualities which make the Puerto Rican identity unique. After conquering Puerto Rico in 1508 Juan Ponce de Leon looked for a labor supply which he could use to produce riches for Spain and himself. He attempted to force the native Tainos into hard labor and plantation life, but could keep them neither controlled or stationary. Many Tainos escaped enslavement or other forms of forced labor for two reasons (Figueroa, Sept. 24). First Tainos were historically a mobile culture, which roamed the land intentionally before the Spanish made it a necessity. Second, the hinterlands, the rough mountainous interior of Puerto Rico, was easily accessible and navigable to Tainos, but extremely difficult for the Spanish. Thus, Whites were unsuccessful in their attempts to bind natives to the land because the Tainos were able to strategically move away from their persecution. In their attempt to escape class persecution a subculture was formed in Puerto Rico. Many Puerto Ricans turned towards artistic means of expression, represented by the jibaro, because this was one area the Spanish could not restrict (Figueroa, Sept. 17). The result was the â€Å"total expression of the life of the spirit† through language in all of its forms (Valle Antilles, 95).

Uranus :: Essays Papers

Uranus 2,870,990,000 km (19.218 AU) from the Sun, Uranus hangs on the wall of space as a mysterious blue green planet. With a mass of 8.683e25 kg and a diameter of 51,118 km at the equator, Uranus is the third largest planet in our solar system. It has been described as a planet that was slugged a few billion years ago by a large onrushing object, knocked down (never to get up), and now proceeds to roll around an 84-year orbit on its belly. As the strangest of the Jovian planets, the description is accurate. Uranus has a 17 hour and 14 minute day and takes 84 years to make its way about the sun with an axis tilted at around 90 ° with retrograde rotation. Stranger still is the fact that Uranus' axis is almost parallel to the ecliptic, hence the expression "on its belly". Uranus is so far away that scientists knew comparatively little about it before NASA's Voyager 2 undertook its historic first encounter with the planet. The spacecraft flew closely past distant Uranus, and came within 81,500 kilometers (50,600 miles) of Uranus's cloudtops on Jan. 24, 1986. Voyager 2 radioed thousands of images and mass amounts of other scientific data about Uranus, its moons, rings, atmosphere, interior and magnetic environment. However, while Voyager has revealed much about the gas giant, many questions remain to be answered. The history of the planet's discovery is the first we have of its kind; Uranus was the first planet to be discovered with a telescope. The circumstances surrounding the discovery of the object are befitting of the odd planet. The earliest recorded sighting of Uranus was in 1690 by John Flamsteed, but the object was catalogued as another star. On March 13, 1781 Uranus was sighted again by amateur astronomer William Herschel and thought to be a comet or nebulous star. In 1784, Jean-Dominique Cassini, director of the Paris Observatory and prominent professional astronomer, made the following comment: 'A discovery so unexpected could only have singular circumstances, for it was not due to an astronomer and the marvelous telescope†¦was not the work of an optician; it is Mr. Herschel, a [German] musician, to whom we owe the knowledge of this seventh principal planet.' (Hunt, 35) Four years passed before Uranus was recognized as a new planet, the first to be discovered in 'modern' times.

The Decline of the American Dream Essay -- American Dream in Decline

On a brisk September day in 2011, in the commercial district of Manhattan Island, a minute protest in Liberty Square commenced against the fiscal atrocities committed by economic establishments leading to the financial crisis and subsequent economic recession in 2007 and 2008. Over the course of the month, the movement protesting the miscarriage of justice and democracy following the economic catastrophe and the overall inequitable and unfair wealth distribution diffused to over 100 American cities as well as 1,500 cities worldwide. The revolutionary movement was named Occupy Wall Street and through occupying and protesting the symbolic location of the financial elite, Wall Street, the crusade aimed to â€Å"[revolt] against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process.† With mass media attention domestically and internationally in the months after the initial demonstration, Occupy Wall Street acquired global reputation as the representatives of the destitute 99% protesting the fiscal tyranny of the top 1% of income earners in the United States who were â€Å"writing the rules of an unfair global economy†¦[and] foreclosing on [America’s] future† (â€Å"About Us†). Occupy Wall Street exposed the controversy of income inequality to the forefront of American society, public, and politics, as the issue was being widely neglected in favor of social as well as racial diversity and inequality. These issues only illustrate one dimension of the multilayered diversity in America, the social aspect. While social diversity is an integral component to the foundation of American society today, the issues of income and wealth diversity is also paramount. Income inequality and its implications can be traced to th... ...ranscript of the Constitution of the United States.† The Charters of Freedom. Archives.gov, n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. . â€Å"2012 General Election Turnout Rates.† United States Elections Project. George Mason University, 2012. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. . â€Å"2012 Presidential Race.† OpenSecrets.org. The Center for Responsive Politics, 2012. Web. 25 May 2014. . â€Å"Wealth Trends of Members of Congress.† OpenSecrets.org. The Center for Responsive Politics, n.d. Web. 25 May 2014. . Williams, Roberton. â€Å"CBO Details Growing U.S. Income Inequality.† Forbes. Forbes, 9 Dec. 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. . The Decline of the American Dream Essay -- American Dream in Decline On a brisk September day in 2011, in the commercial district of Manhattan Island, a minute protest in Liberty Square commenced against the fiscal atrocities committed by economic establishments leading to the financial crisis and subsequent economic recession in 2007 and 2008. Over the course of the month, the movement protesting the miscarriage of justice and democracy following the economic catastrophe and the overall inequitable and unfair wealth distribution diffused to over 100 American cities as well as 1,500 cities worldwide. The revolutionary movement was named Occupy Wall Street and through occupying and protesting the symbolic location of the financial elite, Wall Street, the crusade aimed to â€Å"[revolt] against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process.† With mass media attention domestically and internationally in the months after the initial demonstration, Occupy Wall Street acquired global reputation as the representatives of the destitute 99% protesting the fiscal tyranny of the top 1% of income earners in the United States who were â€Å"writing the rules of an unfair global economy†¦[and] foreclosing on [America’s] future† (â€Å"About Us†). Occupy Wall Street exposed the controversy of income inequality to the forefront of American society, public, and politics, as the issue was being widely neglected in favor of social as well as racial diversity and inequality. These issues only illustrate one dimension of the multilayered diversity in America, the social aspect. While social diversity is an integral component to the foundation of American society today, the issues of income and wealth diversity is also paramount. Income inequality and its implications can be traced to th... ...ranscript of the Constitution of the United States.† The Charters of Freedom. Archives.gov, n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. . â€Å"2012 General Election Turnout Rates.† United States Elections Project. George Mason University, 2012. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. . â€Å"2012 Presidential Race.† OpenSecrets.org. The Center for Responsive Politics, 2012. Web. 25 May 2014. . â€Å"Wealth Trends of Members of Congress.† OpenSecrets.org. The Center for Responsive Politics, n.d. Web. 25 May 2014. . Williams, Roberton. â€Å"CBO Details Growing U.S. Income Inequality.† Forbes. Forbes, 9 Dec. 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. .

Aama

American Association of Medical Assistants Jennifer Lingler LIBS 100: Information Literacy Bryant & Stratton April 14, 2010 Introduction As a result of the expanding healthcare industry, technological advances in medicine, and increased number of elderly in the United States, medical assisting is one of the nation’s fastest growing careers. The extensive and unique knowledge of a medical assistant is in demand more than ever. It is imperative that a medical assistant is knowledgeable and current about changes in the healthcare field. It is also important that a medical assistant’s rights to practice are protected on the job. The American Association of Medical Assistants (or AAMA) is an organization that was created to aid and support medical assistants working in the healthcare field (AAMA, 2010). Any individual interested in a career in medical assisting would benefit from becoming a member of this organization. Mission and Purpose The AAMA is the only organization created solely for the medical assisting profession. The mission of the American Association of Medical Assistants is to enable medical assisting professionals to enhance and demonstrate the knowledge, skills and professionalism required by employers and patients; protect medical assistants' right to practice; and promote effective, efficient health care delivery through optimal use of the CMA (AAMA)† (AAMA, 2010). The AAMA was created for medical assistant students, practicing medical assistants, and medical assistant educators (AAMA, 2 010). Local AAMA Chapter The AAMA was created in 1955 and has grown to include over 325 local chapters throughout a total of 43 states (AAMA, 2010). One local Ohio chapter of the AAMA is the Ohio State Society of Medical Assistants. In 1956, four Ohio medical assistants attended an AAMA meeting in Kansas City, Kansas. Although there were three existing Ohio chapters, these women had a desire to form an organization that would be a part of the AAMA. Meetings were held from April seventeenth through April twenty-eighth of nineteen fifty-seven. After two days of deliberations the Ohio State Society of Medical Assistants was created. The OSSMA would then be approved by the AAMA on June eighth of nineteen fifty-eight (OSSMA, 2010). Membership A medical assistant graduate from an accredited school is eligible for membership with the AAMA. The graduate must fill out an application with the AAMA and pay an enrollment fee of one-hundred and twenty-five dollars. According to the AAMA, â€Å"The Certification Department will inform you of your application status within 30 days of the date you mailed your application†¦. After your application has been approved and processed, you will receive a scheduling permit approximately three weeks prior to your testing start date with instructions for making an appointment at a Prometric test center in your area. The exam may be taken throughout the year† (2010). Upon passing the exam, a medical assistant can expect to receive an official certificate and AAMA card (AAMA, 2010) The AAMA requires members to recertify every sixty months. Recertification may be obtained through further education or examination. Recertification will cost an AAMA member two-hundred and fifty dollars (AAMA, 2010) Benefits There are numerous benefits available to AAMA members. The first benefit is a subscription to CMA Today. AAMA member receive this bimonthly publication automatically when they become members. CMA Today â€Å"provides educational articles, current medical news, health policy updates, and association happenings† (AAMA, 2010). AAMA members also receive discounts on AAMA self-study courses and conference workshops which can be useful educational tool throughout their medical assisting career. Low member rates are also available for credit cards, loans, and insurance to AAMA members. The greatest benefit for an AAMA member is the opportunity to communicate, share information, and network with other medical assistants in the health care industry (AAMA, 2010). Conclusion The American Association of Medical Assistants is the only organization created solely for the medical assisting profession. Any individual interested in a medical assisting career would benefit from becoming a member of this organization. The American Association of Medical Assistants official website states it best, â€Å"When you join the AAMA you are investing in your career and your future. And, you are strengthening an association that has your professional interests at heart† (AAMA, 2010). References American Association of Medical Assistants. (2010). AAMA Mission Statement. Retrieved from http://www. aama-ntl. org/about/mission. spx American Association of Medical Assistants. (2010). AAMA Services. Retrieved from http://www. aama-ntl. org/about/services. aspx American Association of Medical Assistants. (2010). How to Become a CMA (AAMA). Retrieved from http://www. aama-ntl. org/becomeCMA/how. aspx American Association of Medical Assistants. (2010). What is a CMA (AAMA)? Retrieved from http://www. aama-ntl. org/about/what_is_a_cma. aspx Ohio State Society of Medical Assistants. (2010). OSSMA History. Retrieved from http://www. ossma. org/historyofOSSMA. html

The Architecture of the One New Change in City of London

â€Å"Stealth Fighter† was the ocular inspiration for Atelier Jean Nouvel who invited by Land Securities to a limited competition for the redevelop of the One New Change Site. The site is located in a really critical and historic point in London and in the bosom of the City of London. City of London is a alone country taking London economic sciences by giving work to more than 370.000 people. The 70 % of the edifice in the City of London are Offices for Financial and Business Services. Although the City is a place of about 10.000 occupants, a acquisition centre of over 29.000 pupils, a national centre, a house for art and cultural heritage but besides a finish for every visitant by giving a high quality of environment through its development. The One New Change’s location is something really sensitive as the site is lied straight face-to-face of the St Paul’s Cathedral. A 1950s Portland rock and ruddy brick building was occupied before the site. The edifice was designed by Victor Heal and was originally constructed for the Bank of England. Although it had been criticized for being out of day of the month and when they asked to go a listed edifice it described as â€Å" the worst provincialism † . Besides a missive to the Times signed by many outstanding art historiographers said that it would do â€Å" a really bad neighbour for the St Paul’s Cathedral † . In 2003 Land Securities the proprietor of the site arranged a competition for the redevelop of the One New Change Site. Atelier Jean Nouvel, which supported by Arup, won this competition and the design of the new undertaking started in serious in 2004. The new design of the One New Change is situated to the E of St Paul ‘s Cathedral and it is bounded by Cheapside to the North, Bread Street to the E, New alteration to the West and Watling Street to the South of the Site. The proposed strategy of the new edifice is a new mixed-use development with retail and offices. The new development design embodies the rules of high quality design, that attract the people to a well-designed and sustainable topographic point where could work and loosen up. A new 6 floors constructing with more than 20 000 m2retail topographic point, stores and associated installations designed at the cellar, land and first floor degrees and with more than 30 000m2floors of offices above up to about 51.80m tallness. Besides on the top eating house, cafe , saloon and unfastened public infinite designed carefully for the roof degree. The new retail stores unfastened seven yearss a hebdomad giving life to the City of London as during the weekend the most of the stores are close. Besides it offers a shelter infinite for the tourers who visit the City of London, as it is located between the St Paul’s Cathedral, Tate modern, the Millennium Bridge, the Barbican and Bank. As the edifice was criticized during the design procedure that a new shopping promenade will construct following to the St Paul’s Cathedral ; Peter Rees the City’s of London main contriver answered that: â€Å"This isn’t a shopping promenade. This is a high street reborn.† He is right as the new design is location among three alive streets in the fireplace of the City of London and the purpose of the designer was to make a assorted community of stores, eating houses, coffeehouse, office workers, shoppers and tourers. The design represents the modern-day metropolis centre where young person, elderly, workers and households could all portion the high quality designs. In 2003 when Land Securities asked from the Atelier of Jean Nouvel to take part in the limited competition for the redevelop of the One New Change some inquiries were critical for the design and development of the site: â€Å" Therebuilding of the block bounded by New Change, Cheapside, Bread and Watling Streets must enrich the full vicinity. There are inquiries to reply: how makewefinish the bing system of shopping streets? How do we construct following to St. Paul’s Cathedral In a manner that pays court and is in duologue? How do we make a roof landscape, worthy of being viewedfromthe Dome, anattractive,sober, roof landscape that is â€Å" initstopographic point † in harmoniousness with the environing rooftops? † The location of the site is so of import as the site is situated merely 60m to the E of the St Paul’s Cathedral so some issues took into history during the construct and develop design. One of the vital and large issue was the â€Å"St Paul’s Heights† and protected position ordinance. The new design respect the ordinances for the â€Å"St Paul’s Heights† and protected position and a new 6 floors constructing about 51.80m height that it is merely the one tierce of the Cathedral tallness, It is proposed and designed carefully for the One New Change Site. â€Å"In response to turning concern that of import positions of the Cathedral would be obscured by the exalted constructions being erected in the vicinity.† The concluding proposed design creates two prosaic back streets in between the new edifice. These prosaic back streets are chiefly associating Cheapside with Watling Street and Bread Street with New Change ; with the New Change being unfastened to the sky. The two back streets meet in the centre of the edifice, making a cardinal point to the dome of the St Paul’s Cathedral. The stores and offices are organized around, where a lift gives to the populace a bird's-eye entree to the roof through the cardinal atrium that is besides provides natural visible radiation to the office floors. The Atelier of Jean Nouvel had clever used this ordinance of â€Å"St Paul’s Heights† to carve an unfastened public roof patio that gives to the populace wholly new positions of the St Paul’s Cathedral and the City of London. This ordinance is good known to anyone involved with any edifice in the City of London. However, this ordinance is straight related with the demands of â€Å"St Paul’s Depths† as London was an outstation of the Roman Empire and this heritage is protected the resistance. In 1935 the Act3was passed for the protection of the St Paul’s Cathedral, because through the old ages, some amendss had happened to the Cathedral as a consequence of some foundation motions from different beginnings. This was statute law in relation to deep basis with the â€Å"St Paul’s Depths† to protect and safe the cloth of the Cathedral from farther amendss. The One New Change needs to follow the ordinances of the â€Å"St Paul’s Depths† as is located merely 60m E of the St Paul’s Cathedral, but when the building phase started the site was founded in shallow foundations. The cellar of the new design had to widen down to the London Clay encroached the statute law and the Act3about the â€Å"St Paul’s Depths† . It was the first clip where the diggings in such deep proposed with in the country. So it was truly of import from the design squad and the client to proof that no harm will do to the Cathedral after the completion of the diggings will hold the minimum consequence to the Cathedral’s foundation. After a batch of observations and surveies one of the cardinal inquiries was if there would be any alteration in the groundwater government at the Cathedral’s foundations. So a batch of appraisals and studies of land motion during the diggings and motion monitories took topographic point and eventually they proofed that no effects will happened to the Cathedral’s foundation. However in the phase of the developed design a missive from the Prince of Wales to the Land Securities about the design of the new proposed edifice created a batch of treatments for the design and the stuffs, that the designer chosen for the edifice. The Prince made clear to the client that the Atelier Jean Nouvel approached wrong the site and he called for an alternate house to take over the sensitive site paces of the St Paul’s Cathedral. The reply from the designer Jean Nouvel was that: â€Å"What you regulate is what you get.†

Night World : Daughters of Darkness Chapter 17

Well, she wasn't telling humans anything-but she did defy the authority of the Night World,† Ash said in his most lazy, careless voice. Quinn said succinctly, â€Å"How?† It was late Monday afternoon and the sun was streaming through the western windows of the Burdock farmhouse. Ash was wearing a brand-new shirt bought at the Briar Creek general store, a turtleneckwith long sleeves that covered the almost-healedscars on his throat and arms. His jeans werebleached white, his hair was combed over the scabon the back of his head, and he was playing the scene of his life. â€Å"She knew about a rogue werewolf and didn't tell.anybody about him.† â€Å"So she was a traitor. And what did you do?† Ash shrugged. â€Å"Staked her.† Quinn laughed out loud. â€Å"No, really,† Ash said earnestly, looking intoQuinn's face with what he knew were wide, guileless eyes-probably blue. â€Å"See?† Without taking his eyes from Quinn's he whipped a pink-and-green country quilt off the bundle on the couch. Quinn's eyebrows flew upward. He stared for a moment at Aunt Opal, who had been cleaned so that you'd never know she'd ever been buried, and who had the picket stake carefully replaced in her chest. Quinn actually swallowed. It was the first time Ash had ever seen him falter. â€Å"You really did it,† he said. There was reluctant respect in his voice-and definite shock. You know, Quinn, I don't think you're quite as tough as you pretend. After all, no matter how you try to act like an Elder, you're only eighteen. And you'll always be eighteen, and next year maybe I'll be older. â€Å"Well,† Quinn said, blinking rapidly. â€Å"Well. Well___ I have to hand it to you.† â€Å"Yeah, I just decided the best thing to do was cleanup the whole situation. She was getting on, you know.† Quinn's dark eyes widened fractionally. â€Å"I have toadmit -I didn't think you were that ruthless.† â€Å"You've gotta do what you've gotta do. For the family honor, of course.† Quinn cleared his throat. â€Å"So-what about thewerewolf?† â€Å"Oh, I took care of that, too.† Ash meandered over and whipped a brown-and-white quilt off Exhibit B. The wolf was a charred and contorted corpse. It had given Mary-Lynnette hysterics when Ash insisted on pulling it out of the car, and Quinn's nostrils quivered when he looked at it. â€Å"Sorry, it does smell like burnt hair, doesn't it? Igot a little sooty myself, keeping him in the fire†¦.† â€Å"You burned himalive?† â€Å"Well, it is one of the traditional methods†¦.†Ã¢â‚¬ Just put the blanket back, all right?† Ash put the blanket back. â€Å"So, you see, everything's taken care of. No humans involved, no extermination necessary.† â€Å"Yes, all right †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Quinn's eyes were still on the quilt. Ash decided the moment was right. â€Å"And by the way, it turns out the girls had aperfectly legitimate reason for coming. They just wanted to learn to hunt. Nothing illegal about that,is there?† â€Å"What? Oh. No.† Quinn glanced at Aunt Opal, then finally looked back at Ash. â€Å"So they're coming back now that they've learned it.† â€Å"Well, eventually. They haven't quite learned it yet†¦ so they're staying.† â€Å"They'restaying?† †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†Right. Look, I'm the head of the familyon the West Coast, aren't I? And I say they're staying.† â€Å"Ash†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. â€Å" â€Å"It's about time there was a Night World outpost in this area, don't you think? You see what's happened without one. You get families of outlaw werewolves wandering around. Somebody's got to stay here and hold down the fort.† â€Å"Ash †¦ you couldn't payNight People to strand themselves out here. Nothing but animals to feed on, nobody but humans to associate with †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Yeah, it's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it.Besides, wasn't it you who said it's not good living your whole life isolated on an island?† Quinn stared at him, then said, â€Å"Well, I don't thinkthis is much better.† â€Å"Then it serves my sisters right. Maybe in a few years they'll appreciate the island more. Then theycan hand the job over to someone else.† â€Å"Ash †¦ no one else is going to comehere.† â€Å"Well.† With the battle won, and Quinn simplylooking dazed and as if he wanted to get back to LosAngeles as fast as possible, Ash allowed himself a small measure of truth. â€Å"I might come visit them someday,† he said. â€Å"He did a beautiful job,† Rowan said that evening. â€Å"We heard it all from the kitchen. You would have loved it.† Mary-Lynnette smiled. â€Å"Quinn can't wait to get away,† Jade said, in tertwining her fingers with Mark's. Kestrel said to Ash, â€Å"I'd just like to be around when you explain all this to Dad.† â€Å"That's funny,† Ash said. â€Å"I feel just the opposite.† Everyone laughed-except Mary-Lynnette. The big farm kitchen was warm and bright, but the windowswere darkening. She couldn't see anything in the gathering darkness-in the last two days the effects of her blood exchange had faded. Her senses were ordinary human senses again. â€Å"You're sure you won't get in trouble?† sheasked Ash. â€Å"No. I'll tell our dad the truth-mostly. That anoutlaw werewolf killed Aunt Opal and that I killed the werewolf. And that the girls are better off here,hunting quietly and watching out for other rogues. There's sure to be some record of the Lovett fam ily†¦. Dad can check out the history all he wants.† â€Å"A whole family of outlaw werewolves,† Kestrel said musingly. â€Å"Ofcrazy werewolves,† Ash said. â€Å"They were as dangerous to the Night World as any vampire hunters could be. God knows how long they've beenhere-long enough for their land to get named Mad Dog Creek.† â€Å"And for people to mistake them for Sasquatch,† Mark said. Rowan's brown eyes were troubled. â€Å"And it wasmy fault that you didn't know,† she said to MaryLynnette. â€Å"I told you-he couldn't be the killer. I'm sorry.† Mary-Lynnette captured her gaze and held it. â€Å"Rowan, you arenotgoing to feel guilty for this. You couldn't have realized. He wasn't killing for food like a normal werewolf. He was killing to protect his territory-and to scare us.† â€Å"And it might have worked,† Mark said. â€Å"Exceptthat you guys didn't have anywhere else to go.† Ash looked at Mark, then at his sisters. â€Å"I have a question. Is the territory around here going to be enough foryou?† â€Å"Of course,† Rowan said, with gentle surprise. â€Å"We don't always need tokill the animals,† Jade said. â€Å"We're getting it down pat now. We can take a little here and a little there. Heck, we can even trythe goat. â€Å" â€Å"I'd rather try Tiggy,† Kestrel said, and for a moment her golden eyes glimmered. Mary-Lynnette didn't say it, but she wondered sometimes about Kestrel. If maybe, someday, Kestrel might need a bigger territory of her own. She was a lot like Jeremy in some ways. Beautiful, ruthless, single-minded. A true Night Person. â€Å"And what about you?† Ash said, looking at mark. â€Å"Me? Uh†¦ Well, when you get down to it, I'm kind of a hamburger guy†¦.† â€Å"I tried to take him hunting last night,† Jade interpreted. â€Å"You know, just to show him. But he threw up.† â€Å"I didn't actually-â€Å" â€Å"Yes, you did,† Jade said calmly and cheerfully. Mark looked away. Mary-Lynnette noticed they didn't stop holding hands. â€Å"So I take it you're not going to become a vampire,† Ash said to Mark. â€Å"Uh, let's just say not any time soon.† Ash turned to Mary-Lynnette. â€Å"And what about the human end of things? Do we have that taken care of?† â€Å"Well, I know everything that's going on intown-by which I mean that I talked with BunnyMarten this morning. I'm so glad she's not a vampire, incidentally Mark said, â€Å"I always knew it† â€Å"Anyway, here's the quick version.† MaryLynnette held up a finger. â€Å"One, everybody knowsthat Jeremy is gone-his boss at the gas stationmissed him yesterday and went up to check the trailer. They found a lot of weird stuff there. But all they know is that he's disappeared.† â€Å"Good,† Rowan said. Mary-Lynnette held up another finger. â€Å"Two,Dad is sorry but not surprised that the stationwagon blew up. Claudine has been predicting itwould for a year.† Another finger. â€Å"Three, Mr. Kimble doesn't have any ideawhatkilled his horse-but now he thinks it was an animal instead of a person. Vic Kimble thinks it was maybe Sasquatch. He and Todd are very spooked and want to get out of Briar Creek forgood â€Å"And let's have a moment of silence to show howwe'll miss them,† Mark said solemnly, and blew a raspberry. â€Å"Four,† Mary-Lynnette said, holding up a fourthfinger, â€Å"you girls are eventually going to have to mention that your aunt hasn't come back from her ‘vacation.' But I thinkyou can wait awhile. Nobody comes out here so nobody will notice she's gone. And I think we can bury her and Jeremy safely. Even if somebody finds them, what have they got? A mummy that looks about a thousand years old and a wolf. They won't be able to connect them to the missing people.† â€Å"Poor old Aunt Opal,† Jade said, still cheerful.†But she helped us in the end, didn't she?† Mary-Lynnette looked at her. Yes, there it is, shethought. The silver in the eyes when you laugh about death. Jade is a true Night Person, too. â€Å"She did help. And I'm going to miss her,† she said out loud. Kestrel said, â€Å"So everything is taken care of.† â€Å"Seems like it.† Ash hesitated. â€Å"And Quinn is waiting down the road. I_ told him it would only takea couple hours to finish making arrangements and say goodbye.† There was a silence. â€Å"I'll see you off,† Mary-Lynnette said at last. They went together to the front door. When theywere outside in the twilight Ash shut the door be hind them. â€Å"You still can come with me, you know.† â€Å"With you and Quinn?† â€Å"I'll send him away. Or I'll go and come back tomorrow and get you. Or I'll come back and stay†¦.† â€Å"You need to go tell your father about this. Make everything right with him, so it's safe for your sisters. You knowthat.† â€Å"Well, I'll come back afterthat,†Ash said, with an edge of desperation to his voice. Mary-Lynnette looked away. The sun was gone. Looking east, the sky was already the darkest purple imaginable. Almost black. Even as she watched, a starcame out. Or-not a star. Jupiter. â€Å"I'm not ready yet. I wish I were.† â€Å"No, you don't,† Ash said, and he was right, of course. She'd known ever since she sat there by theroad, crying while her car burned. And althoughshe'd thought and thought about it since then, sitting in her darkened room, there was nothing she coulddo to change her own mind. She would never be a vampire. She just wasn't cutout for it. She couldn't do the things vampires hadto do-and stay sane. She wasn't like Jade or Kestrelor even Rowan with her pale sinewy feet and her instinctive love of the hunt. She'd looked into the heart of the Night World . . .and she couldn't join it. â€Å"I don't want you to be like that,† Ash said. â€Å"Iwant you to be likeyou. â€Å" Without looking at him, Mary-Lynnette said, â€Å"Butwe're not kids. We can't be like Jade and Mark, and just hold hands and giggle and never think about the future.† â€Å"No, we're only soulmates, that's all. We're onlydestined to be together forever†¦.† â€Å"If we've got forever, then you can give me time,† Mary-Lynnette said. â€Å"Go back and' wander a little. Take a look at the Night World and make sure youwant to give it up â€Å"I know that already.† â€Å"Take a look at humans and make sure you wantto be tied to one of them.† â€Å"And think about the things I've done to humans, maybe?† Mary-Lynnette looked at him directly. â€Å"Yes.† He looked away. â€Å"All right. I admit it. I've got a lot to make up for†¦.† Mary-Lynnette knew it. He'd thought of humansas vermin-and food. The things she'd seen in hismind made her not want to picture more. â€Å"Then make up for what you can,† she said, although she didn't dare really hope that he would. â€Å"Take time to do that. And giveme time to finish growing up. I'm still in high school, Ash.† â€Å"You'll be out in a year. I'll come back then.† â€Å"It may be too soon.† â€Å"I know. I'll come back anyway.† He smiled ironically. â€Å"And in the meantime I'll fight dragons, just like any knight for his lady. I'll prove myself. You'll be proud of me.† Mary-Lynnette's throat hurt. Ash's smile disappeared. They just stood looking at each other. It was the obvious time for a kiss. Instead, they just stood staring like hurt kids, and then one ofthem moved and they were holding on to each other. Mary-Lynnette held on tighter and tighter, her face buried in Ash's shoulder. Ash, who seemed to have lost it altogether, was raining kisses on the back of her neck, saying, â€Å"I wish I were a human. I wishI were.† â€Å"No, you don't,† Mary-Lynnette said, seriously unsteady because of the kisses. â€Å"I do. I do.† But it wouldn't help, and Mary-Lynnette knew he knew it. The problem wasn't simply what he was, it was what he'd done-and what he was going to do. He'd seen too much of the dark side of life to be a normal person. His nature was already formed, and she wasn't sure he could fight it. â€Å"Believe in me,† he said, as if he could hear her. Mary-Lynnette couldn't say yes or no. So she did the only thing she could do-she lifted her head. Hislips were in the right place to meet hers. The electric sparks weren't painful anymore, she discovered? and the pink haze could be quite wonderful. For a time everything was warm and sweet and strangelypeaceful. And then, behind them, somebody knocked on thedoor. Mary-Lynnette and Ash jumped and separated.They looked at each other, startled, emotions still tooraw, and then Mary-Lynnette realized where she was. She laughed and so did Ash. â€Å"Come out,† they said simultaneously. Mark and Jade came out. Rowan and Kestrel werebehind them. They all stood on the porch-avoiding the hole. They all smiled at Ash and Mary-Lynnette in a way that made Mary-Lynnette blush. â€Å"Goodbye,† she said firmly to Ash. He looked at her for a long moment, then looked at the road behind him. Then he turned to go. Mary-Lynnette watched him, blinking away tears.She still couldn't let herself believe in him. But there was no harm in hoping, was there? In wishing. Evenif wishes almost never came true†¦. Jade gasped. â€Å"Look!† They all saw it, and Mary-Lynnette felt her heartjump violently. A bolt of light was streaking acrossthe darkness in the northeast. Not a little wimpyshooting star-a brilliant green meteor that crossedhalf the sky, showering sparks. It was right above Ash's path, as if lighting his way. A late Perseid. The last of the summer meteors. But it seemed like a blessing. â€Å"Quick, quick, wish,† Mark was telling Jade eagerly. â€Å"A wish on that star you gotta get.† Mary-Lynnette glanced at his excited face, at theway his eyes shone with excitement. Beside him, Jade was clapping, her own eyes wide with delight. I'm so glad you're happy, Mary-Lynnette thought. My wish for you came true. So now maybe I can wish for myself. I wish †¦ I wish †¦ Ash turned around and smiled at her. â€Å"See you next year,† he said. â€Å"With slain dragons!† He started down the weed-strewn path to the road. For a moment, in the deep violet twilight, he didlook to Mary-Lynnette like a knight walking off ona quest. A knight-errant with shining blond hair and no weapons, going off into a very dark and dangerous wilderness. Then he turned around and walked backward, waving, which ruined the effect. Everyone shouted goodbyes. Mary-Lynnette could feel them around her, her brother and her three blood-sisters, all radiating warmth and support. Playful Jade. Fierce Kestrel. Wise and gentle Rowan. And Mark, who wasn't sullen and solitary anymore. Tiggy wound himselfaround her ankles, purring amiably. â€Å"Even when we're apart, we'll be looking at the same sky!† Ash yelled. â€Å"What a line,† Mary-Lynnette called back. But hewas right. The sky would be there for both of them.She'd alwaysknow hewas out there somewhere,looking up at it in wonder. Just knowing that was important. And she was clear on who she was at last. Shewas Mary-Lynnette, and someday she'd discover a supernova or a comet or a black hole, but she'd doit as a human. And Ash would come back next year. And she would always love the night. [The End]