Charles Dickens Essay

Pip describes a setting and makes dialog which emphasize him feeling small, alone, and helpless in a large world. His feelings of isolation and smallness in this chapter are shown in the description of his self’s presence in a large scene: â€Å"At such a time I found out for certain that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard†¦ and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry was Pip. â€Å"(10). This description contrasts with that of the life of Pip as a whole, shifting from a larger perspective to a smaller one instead of vice versa. Also, the feeling of helplessness overtakes Pip as he pleads, â€Å"Oh! Don’t cut my throat sir,† and, â€Å"Pray don’t do it, sir. â€Å"(10). Although Pip’s speech makes him seem helpless, ironically, the convict seems much more mentally deprived. The first chapter portrays the relationship between innocence and corruption. Pip visiting the graveyard provides an example of this theme, as his innocence contrasts with the graveyard’s death or horror connotation. Pip also encounters an escaped convict, with whom he differs with in deed, manner, and speaking pattern. For example, when forcing Pip to retrieve a file and wittles, the convict says, â€Å"Now lookee here†¦ the question being whether you’re to be let to live. You know what a file is? † and Pip later describes the convict leaving: â€Å"As I saw him go†¦ he looked into my †¦ eyes as if he were eluding the hands of the dead people, stretching up cautiously out of their graves to†¦ pull him in. â€Å"(11, 13). Despite the convict’s mistreatment of Pip, Pip sympathetically describes the convict leaving the churchyard. Errors in speech and child poverty create social commentary. For example, Dickens comments on the necessity of a country-wide education with the dialog of the convict, as the convict says, â€Å"Pint out the place! † instead of using the word â€Å"point. † (10). Furthermore, Pip makes deductions based on a small amount of evidence, as he concludes his mother was named â€Å"Also Georgiana† from the text on her tombstone. The novel also depicts the effects child poverty, as Pip speaks about his younger brothers â€Å"who gave up trying to get a living exceedingly early in that universal struggle† in reference to the hardships the poor faced and the carelessness towards lives of children (9). Bread falling out of Pip’s pocket as the convict overturns him also alludes to poverty. The first chapter defines the novel type and describes the protagonist, Pip. A bildungsroman novel describes a character’s moral or psychological development or experiences early in life. The childish narration of Pip and his name itself, meaning the seed of a fruit, conclude the novel to be of this type. Social commentary and Pip’s perspective characterize him as a naive narrator. For example, the convict flips him upside-down and Pip declares the object he looks at to flip over: â€Å"When the church came to itself – for he was so sudden and strong that he made it go head over heels before me†¦ † (10). In conclusion, Dickens accomplishes social and literary goals in this novel. He introduces a naive narrator and literary paradox in the first chapter. The importance of names inside the novel and contrasts of corruption and innocence show two primary motifs. Pip’s descriptions and observations make social commentary on the struggles of the impoverished and the need for widely available education. Meaningful names in the novel, contrasts between corruption and innocence, and social commentary also continue to appear further in the novel and serve as a basis for other themes.

Aids in India

Why is the A.I.D.S. epidemic prevalent in India? There are several factors that contribute to the spread of the disease but in my opinion, two are more pronounced than the rest. Prevailing cultural practices and economic factors would count as one. This will prove beyond a doubt that my observation is acceptable, as the factors below would reveal.If we observe the geographical boundaries of India, it appears that the AIDS epidemic is more concentrated with the Southern provinces than it is in the North. The reason of course is the disparity in the context of economic conditions.While the South enjoys a much better standard of living, it likewise becomes more susceptible to the spread of the AIDS virus. Remember that AIDS/HIV transmission transpired first in more advanced urban centers like the West and East Coast of the United States (Atwal & Alexander).In India, the epidemic follows the same route; the influx of migrant workers is a take off point. Naturally in the course of their s tay, they are bound to have a casual rendezvous with the local sex workers. This is typical with workers coming from the Northern States (Uttar Pradesh) for example enters Mumbai to become part of the labor force, so in effect they are the source of HIV transmission.This phenomenon likewise limits the spread of the disease to the Northern States because said migrant workers stay indefinitely and often postpone trips back home, thus delaying the transmission of the virus to their wives (Atwal & Alexander).Another factor that definitely promotes the spread of HIV points to the cultural upbringing of the populace. Did you know that sex, as a topic, is taboo to most in India? Moreover, discussion of sex in public is inviolable where age-old traditions of the religious denominations abhor even the slight mention of the word. So what happens next (Indo-Asian News Service)?Besides, the majority of the population are illiterate and unschooled, so you can rule out the possibility of educatin g them on the merits of HIV prevention. Culture further contributes by keeping residents mum about the disease.Even though the symptoms manifest in them, still they refuse to enter treatment centers because of the stigma that is likely to follow. Even monogamous women become inflicted with the HIV virus, simply because their partners have illicit affairs with other women. In fact there the incidence for HIV is higher in women (Frith).Due to these cultural barriers, health workers cannot educate the majority and up to this day, inhabitants still practice unsafe sex where low condom use has been found responsible for 84% of reported cases.Migration and mobility – due to economic reasons, workers prefer to extend working hours that keep them away from a healthy social environment surrounded by their families and community. This eventually puts them at risk, being prone to unusual behavior (â€Å"Preventing HIV/AIDS in India).Recent studies indicate that a number of drug users t oday are switching from the inhalation to the injection of drugs, which is relevant to HIV transmission that is more often triggered by the use of unclean needles and syringes. Infections have also been attributed to the low status of women under the norms of Indian society.Given unequal power in relations as well as limited access to human, financial, and economic assets weakens the stance of protection in the context of demanding safer sex, thereby increasing the risk (â€Å"Preventing HIV/AIDS in India).The ethnic composition in India is likewise a big factor as the population has roughly 800 million Hindus and 150 million Muslims. This is vital because these religious sects never practice circumcision. And the health manuals are explicit in the assumption that circumcision indeed can reduce health risks, the risk being seven times for uncircumcised males (Russell).As mentioned above, aside from economic factors that helps spread the virus, cultural leanings as well helps to hid e the actual incidence of HIV transmission. Government figures are so low that they seem to downplay the seriousness of the situation.Even President George Bush of the United States has been disheartened by the fact that India shows no interest and restricts the outside world from helping curb the AIDS epidemic. That is the reason why the United States’ campaign against AIDS has been transferred to Vietnam (Russell).As of today, 22 million lives worldwide have been lost to the HIV/AIDS virus and most of these casualties originated from Southern Africa. Will India be next? All indicators point out to India to likely suffer the same fate, as 200 million of its population are already infected with the virus and a little over 5 million are actually suffering from a full blown AIDS infection (Indo-Asian News Service).When will HIV/AIDS reach uncontrollable proportion? The HIV/AIDS situation in India is starting to manifest its ugly head through government neglect and unsound progr ams. Detailed below are the failed attempts of the government as well as the unfruitful intervention of NGOs and private foundations in the drive against the spread of HIV/AIDS in India.The sub-Saharan region of Africa already registered 13 million deaths due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic while another 25 million are reported be infected with the virus. Recent reports from other countries once categorized as heavily infected have shown signs of abating (Beaubien).Thought of as the main reason for the onset of the AIDS epidemic happens to be poor rain conditions that have made a significant impact on local harvests; adding most likely to the severe food crises.During its heyday, the African epidemic pulls out healthy and productive workers from the fields due to sickness or to aid in the care for a sick relative. And due to this shortage apart from the desire to avert hunger, some women traded sex for food, which thereby increases the risk further.Africa has the highest rate of HIV infect ion in the world to date, but not anymore because as mentioned, figures could be deceiving (Evers).Given the present rate of HIV infection in India, the number for AIDS could reach a total of 25 million by the year 2010 to eclipse the cases registered in Africa. That is if the Government in India would disregard all efforts to curb the disease.The government should accept the fact that the infection has reached epidemic proportion, so a world effort from the United Nations, donor countries and NGO’s could help thwart the virus in its tracks (â€Å"World AIDS News†).A medical expert from India, Dr Ishwar Gilada presents a bleak assessment of the situation. Sooner or later, India will be home to half of the world’s HIV-infected people with around 200 million of its population infected with the virus, of which around 10 million already contracted a full-blown status where roughly 1 million patients have already died.And if the Government fails in its endeavor to co ntrol the epidemic, then the projected 25 million cases could be expected in the next two years (â€Å"World AIDS News†).The projection is bleak indeed since the Global Fund intended for the prevention of AIDS urgently needs some 700 million dollars to support its outlined projects. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for example has pledged 200 million dollars in its India AIDS initiative.The grant will be used to help support HIV prevention measures in the Indian States of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Manipur and Nagaland (â€Å"World AIDS News†).What has the Government done so far? India’s fight against AIDS started in 1992 through the World Bank-financed National AIDS Program. The effort was nationwide in scope that set-up AIDS control offices in 32 states and union territories.The program somehow increased access to information, education and communication programs, using media and regular communication mediums such as folk music, festivals, HIV consciousness campaigns and even elephant parades to broadcast the risks involved in HIV (â€Å"India: Stemming the AIDS Epidemic†).Other Government initiatives include blood safety measures or the mandatory screening conducted by most blood banks, which banned professional blood donations while promoting it as voluntary and systems-wide strategy to improve blood banks services.All these somehow raised public awareness on the evils of HIV/AIDS, informing around 80% of the population; 64% in the countryside, particularly the high-risk group.Some positive observations have already been stipulated with reports coming from the states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal, all presenting encouraging feedback for their HIV programs (â€Å"India: Stemming the AIDS Epidemic†).There are still persistent reports that the Government effort does not suffice with the continued rise of the HIV/AIDS. The information drive and prevention measures seem to have failed in its drive to educate t he majority.The think-tank in New Delhi failed to show remarkable strides in the desire to contain the epidemic. The world may just as well brace for a 19% full-blown AIDS infection rate by 2020 or that would be around 200 million cases.

The Mezquita Mosque Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The Mezquita Mosque - Research Paper Example It is the third largest mosque in the world and also one of the oddest, because it contains a Christian cathedral that was built inside it after the Moors got expelled in 1236. The graceful Moorish architecture combined with the triumphant Baroque cathedral memorializes in stone the conflict between Christianity and Islam that wracked Spain for 700 years. The Mezquita mosque was built in 785 and enlarged four times during the following 200 years; the cathedral was added in the 16th century. (Brockman, 2011, pg. 330) The Mezquita Mosque was founded by Abd ar-Rahman I in 785. Rahman I was the sole survivor of a tribe known as the Umayyards who fled Syria. Before Rahman I, the first Muslims who arrived to Cordoba shared la Mezquita with Christians. Rahman I bought the Christians out and started what would become a seven century dynasty of Muslim rule over Spain. After Rahman I died, he was followed by Abd ar-Rahmann II (822-52), who vastly extended the Mosque in the ninth century and un der Abd ar-Rahman III (912-61), Cordoba rose to become the largest and most prosperous city in Europe. Improvements on the Mosque continued under his son Al-Hakim II (961-76) who doubled its size and hired Greek contractors to build the new Mihrab (huge doorway used as the entrance to the Mezquita), which stands to this day. The final improvement in size, on the mosque, came under Al-Mansour (977-1002). (Ward, pg. 151) The Mezquita Mosque is a patchwork combination of all civilizations that occupied Cordoba. None, however, could bring themselves to destroy the Mosque, so each culture added their own personal touches. (Ward, pg. 151) Cordoba was probably a sophisticated center of the arts from the time of ‘Abd al-Rahman I. Chronicles suggest his keen interest in Syrian culture, which is apparently confirmed by aspects of the Mezquita. (Bloom, J.M., and Blair, S., 2009, pg. 506) The mosque began as the Christian Visigothic church of St. Vincent around 600, which was in turn buil t on the ruins of a Roman temple. In 784, the local emir bought it and began replacing it with the mosque. It got enlarged and embellished over the next two hundred years. (Brockman, 2011, pg. 331) The architectural uniqueness of the Mezquita lies in the fact that it was a revolutionary building for its time, structurally speaking. It defied precedents. Both Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock and the Great Mosque in Damascus had vertical, navelike designs, but the aim of the Mezquita mosque was to create an infinitely spacious, democratically horizontal and classic space, where the spirit could roam freely and communicate easily with God. The original space of Islamic prayer (normally the open yard of a desert home) was transformed into a 14,400 square meter metaphor for the desert itself. Men prayed side by side on the argamasa, a floor made of compact, reddish slaked lime and sand. A flat roof, decorated with gold and multicolored motifs, shaded them from the sun. The orange pati o, where the ablution fountains gurgled with water, was the oasis. The terracotta and white striped arches indicated a hallucinogenic forest of date palms, and upheld the roof with over one thousand columns, 1293 to be precise, (856 of which remain). (Ham, 2010, pg 204) Construction of the Mezquita It is almost certain that the building that

International management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

International management - Essay Example This will call for development, implementation and control of marketing strategies needed to attain and sustain firm’s competitive advantage through analysis and evaluation of contemporary issues in the marketing practice and development of a strategic marketing plan. The purpose of competitive strategy is to achieve sustainable competitive advantage to enhance business financial performance and recognizing relationships between elements of marketing mix and assessment of the competitive aspects of the market and industry structure. Firms competing in foreign markets may choose to adapt their products to fit local market needs or to standardize their offer so as to keep costs low, and to understand principles and behaviors underlying appropriate methods and effective performance I project based teams. Introduction Hewlett-Packard Company is a multinational information and technology corporation that provides hard ware, software, and technological services to final end consumer s, small and medium enterprises and large enterprises including governments, health and education sectors. It has a significant global market share specializing in developing and manufacturing networking hardware, computing networks and software, data storage and delivery of innovation and technological services to its clients. The firm sells its products and services directly to the consumers via online distribution, retail outlets such as consumer electronics and office supply, partnership production and consulting with major technology vendors. With a wide range of products in its line the company boasts diversification in enterprise security services such as network security, information security and information assurance compliancy, wireless access points, mobile applications, analytics and portfolio management software (HP.com). Whenever firms go international, major marketing decision to be made is what marketing program is to be devised; choice between development of a globa l product and creation of adapted product that satisfies foreign market’s consumer needs while meeting the global efficiency goals and responsiveness (Qian & N.B.E.R, 2012, 4). This paper will seek to evaluate the international marketing strategy by Hewlett-Packard Company [HP] and evaluate the effectiveness for its products and the impacts of the strategy in its global standards and market share. International Marketing Strategy As an international corporation HP Company has applied several international marketing strategies in a bid to acquire significant market share and coupled by the industry it is in, its innovative strategies of production gives it market sustainability. The logic behind this is formulation of competitive marketing strategies such as relationship marketing which serve as a moderator for sustenance of positional advantages (Peterson, 2007, 2) coupled with the production competitive advantage gives the firm positive impacts of competition and market cond itions on the formulation of other marketing strategies. Literature Review Standardization is selling of the same products in all markets regardless of the economic, socio- cultural and economic backgrounds; a driving force of globalization trends in the market due to higher convergence of consumer needs, tastes and preferences, more technological uniformity and

Your change story Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Your change story - Assignment Example In that sense, it must express its direction, purpose and core values. UMass Dartmouth University’s vision statement explicitly expresses these three concepts. The purpose and core values will inevitably remain constant while all other features may be modified, which ensures that a vision is always dynamic, inclusive and comprehensive (McKeon, 2012). In comparison to Harley Davidson’s visioning, UMass Dartmouth University’s similarly reflects the relationships, culture, markets and organization aspects of a business. For an institution of higher learning, this vision statement actually gives it an outlook that is not entirely focused on the business or profit aspect of its operations; rather, it makes it appear more of an institution keen on mutually beneficial relations. This is best manifested by their commitment to not only deliver academic education, but nurture individual skills and civic responsibility with the objective of producing successful professional s. This is synonymous to Harley Davidson’s in the sense that a business enterprise need not only concentrate on building a customer base, but also be keen on the quality of service and relations they keep with those they already

Business Intelligence Dashboards in a Learning Organization Research Proposal

Business Intelligence Dashboards in a Learning Organization - Research Proposal Example The finest of business decisions are data driven. A learning organization has data coming from all departments, processes and employees. Business intelligence comprises of complex methods to convert organizational data into useful information and then converts this information into knowledge. Based on this knowledge the organization-wide decisions can be made after thorough analysis (Atre, 2011). Thus busdata-drivenligence improves the decision process of an organization. The top learning organizations have a deep-rooted implementation of business intelligence and analytics in their organizational design. Data mining tools such as data marts, data warehouses, dashboards, etc. mine large amounts of data to extract the useful information. These tools are used to improve the efficiency of the business intelligence processes (Nittaya and Kittisak, 2007). 1.1. Business Intelligence Dashboards Performance control is a vital aspect of organizational management. The efficiency and performanc e of an organization can only be increased through the cooperation of all its departments. When the organization is small, the management is straight forward and easy. Management becomes complex in large organizations comprising of numerous branches, departments and hundreds of employees. And sometimes these departments may even be located miles apart. Visiting them in person takes time. And if visited, the data becomes out-of-date by the end of the visit. The solution for management of big organizations is business intelligence dashboards which consolidate the management information for the entire company in one place. Business intelligence dashboard is an effective data visualization tool that uses metrics and the key performance indicators to display the current status of an entire organization’s performance against some predefined goals (Atre, 2011). In learning organizations, the culture is such that the information is shared and is accessible to all employees alongside the managers and executives. The employees are encouraged to try new ideas and make decisions (Hagen, 2011). So in a learning organization, the requirement of business intelligence penetrates deeper than merely the organization’s frontline i.e. the managers and executives (Gonzales, 2013). And therefore business intelligence dashboards can benefit everyone at an organization i.e. the employees too. 1.2. Constructing Usage Specific Dashboard Dashboards do not have the same role in all learning organizations. They can be customized. They can be constructed for specific executive roles e.g. CEO, CIO or they may display metrics targeting specific point of view or a department for the managers or they can give a high level as well as a detailed view of the organization’s performance based on its data which all the committed employees can gain benefit from. Based on the type of information presented by dashboards and how they are used, they can be classified into a variety o f categories. However, the three most common usage types are strategic, operational and tactical.

Legalizing marijuana for recreational use Speech or Presentation

Legalizing marijuana for recreational use - Speech or Presentation Example This can be put into a few basic facts. Both Washington’s Initiative 502 and Colorado’s Amendment 64 which legalized cannabis for people aged 21 and above, proposed a relatively heavy taxation on the drug. They called for a 25 percent tax rate to be imposed on the product three times; from grower to processor, from processor to retailer, and from retailer to customer, (Smith 1). While it is not clear the amount of revenue this would raise, estimates for this measure are out at about $500 million. According to a study carried out by the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, about 13 percent of people in Colorado use the substance. This translates to about half a million people. By legalizing this retail market, the regulation could raise about $46 million in combined local and state revenue between excise and sale taxes. In California, a similar measure in 2010 known as Proposition 19 was estimated to earn $352 million in tax revenue annually, (Smith 1). This revenue can go to a state fund where it can fund the construction of schools. Besides raising revenue, marijuana is used for medical purposes. It is commonly referred to as medical marijuana. According to Stone (1), marijuana has long been utilized in treating ailments that are associated with inflammation and pain. It is also used to relieve symptoms that are related to chronic illnesses such as cancer. For example, for many decades, cannabis has been used to treat glaucoma. It usually lowers the intraocular pressure when treating glaucoma symptoms, and is more effective when smoked, ingested, inhaled, or administered intravenously. Also, the National Cancer Institute (1) recognizes cannabis and its components as a treatment for individuals with cancer-related symptoms. Besides these, medical marijuana has been associated with the treatment of AIDS, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, anxiety, and chronic pain. The legalization of marijuana could also significantly cut down on crime. On one hand, it i s illegal. On the other hand, the people demand and want to use it. This provides room for a middleman who carries out the illicit trade, and hence crime. Therefore, legalizing marijuana would mean that drug cartels will lose business, there will be less crime in borders since there is no need for trafficking, and crime will ultimately reduce in the streets and in the country. According to former Seattle police chief Stamper (1), this will free up police resources that can be focused on tackling other crimes such as robberies, burglaries, and sexual assaults. However, there needs to be guidelines that control the use of marijuana. These should be in form of legislations. One such legislation made in the California is the Medical Marijuana Regulation, Control and Taxation Act, which stipulates the guidelines for the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. Other guidelines should include the amount of cannabis that a person can be in possession at any one time, or the number of mariju ana plants that one can plant at his or her backyard. These political guidelines need to be clearly set, implemented, and enacted. Without such guidelines, there would be a total mess with students even â€Å"puffing† on the school corridors just like cigarettes. Therefore, it means that once marijuana is legalized, society has to deal with it. Many opponents to the legalization claim that it draws the path to drug usage in the society. According to Citizens Against the Legalization of

International Market Comparison Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

International Market Comparison - Assignment Example Uniliver allows for innovations from all over the world since they have a link for ensuring this in their site (Isobel, 2008). Annual accounting reports of the company is also available nestle, on the other hand, gives an annual report in three minutes. Thus, investor is able to analyse these and make decisions. Nestle gives information about investment opportunities in different regions, in their company. Uniliver provides company news. Nestle, on the other hand, gives press releases that inform investors of the continuing events in the company (Philip, 2008). Nestle gives pictures of the products that they deal in. On the other hand, unilever gives a list of their brands. Both of them achieve the intended purpose by this provision. Nestle provides for a sign in while Uniliver does not. Thus, nestle can control and collect data concerning the interested parties easily (frank, 2005). From the above-varied elements in the websites of both companies, it can be noted that the companies make efforts in globalising their products to the international markets. This has been enhanced by providing information to investors who may take charge in setting up new lines in their products (David, 2008). Information concerning their products is also available in the website in a varied way. This makes the customers aware of the information they may need concerning the products and

Blackrock Inc. strategic business and model Essay

Blackrock Inc. strategic business and model - Essay Example The study highlights on the development of corporate strategy for BlackRock. Strategic position and Business Model of BlackRock Strategic position helps the organization to influence every aspect of business such as development of product, services provided by the company, location of operation and day to day operations (R. Abrams and R.M. Abrams, 2003). BlackRock believes in the core philosophy that gives paramount importance to the requirement of the clients and their business aims towards managing the assets of the clients based on their requirements only. In this context BlackRock has a team of investment professionals who are experts in global capital market. The focus of the company is on excellent investment and state-of-art analytics, which is complemented by senior level commitment towards service. This helps the company to build dynamic relationship with the client and serving them with a range of services that caters to their liabilities and asset allocation needs (BlackRo ck, 2013). Business model is defined by the operations, policies and technologies used by the business. The business model of an organization describes how the company generates revenue (Morley and Parker, 2009). The business model of BlackRock is very simple. They invest heavily in management and risk management and gives first priority to the interest of the clients. By following this business model they make themselves easily differentiable from their competitors. They do not make any differentiation between the clients whether it is Federal Reserve, insurance company, pension plan, wealth fund or any individual client, everyone is treated with the similar proprietary structure (Fink, 2010). SWOT Analysis of BlackRock Inc. SWOT analysis is the technique that is easily understandable and provides strategic analysis of the company by sorting the ideas about the future and the ability of the firm to exploit the future (Piercy and Giles, 1989). By listing the unfavorable and favorabl e, external and internal issues, the planner can understand how the strength can generate new opportunities and how weaknesses can slow down the progress of the firm and create threat for the organization (Helms and Nixon, 2010). Strength BlackRock looks toward providing opportunities to build a better financial future for its clients. They have a huge unparallel range of passive and active investment strategy among which iShare is the leading. iShare is used by clients to equitize their cash and adopt tactical and core exposures. iShare has recorded the strongest business by generating $18.2 billion new business or an annualized growth of 12% (BusinessWire, 2012). BlackRock has a strong set of expert people who are working with them to provide excellent solution. At the same time they are also backed by â€Å"World class risk management capabilities of BlackRock solutions† (BlackRock Inc., 2011, p. 3). Business Operation Group established by BlackRock ensures that all the op erations are efficient and consistent across the products, regions and client channel. The employees of the company feel that BlackRock has a meaningful and strong cultural base and they have rated themselves as highly engaged. This shows that the employees are also satisfied with the firm (BlackRock, 2013). The reputation and brand name of the company contributes efficiently towards the strength of the company. Moreover the company has strengths in multiple

Cultural Geography Ethnic,, Mosaic of Languages or Geolingustics, Assignment

Cultural Geography Ethnic,, Mosaic of Languages or Geolingustics, Political Geography - Assignment Example in the American culture, Cinco de Mayo as a holiday in America, and even African American Christian Churches that follow African traditions like singing and dancing. 2) Is the USA a plural society or a melting pot? Take a position and defend your position. The USA can be considered both a plural society and a melting pot. Since Americans have freedom to be separate, like the Amish, White Supremacist groups, or certain Islamic groups, the USA is a plural society. However main streams Americans are a melting pot. Irish, African American, Latino, Polish, German, and the other diverse cultures work, play, love, and intermix daily in America. All of the cultures keep a part of their heritage, but melt with the other cultures as well. 3) Compare and contrast the Amish of Pennsylvania and the Cajuns of Louisiana. How did these groups end up where they are and what is unique about them? Amish Mennonites immigrated to Pennsylvania in the 18th century due to religious wars, poverty, and religious persecution in Europe. The Amish shun technology and keep to themselves. Cajuns are descendants of Acadian exiles, French-speaking settlers from parts of what is now Canada. The Cajuns speak an evolved French, despite being Americans. 4) Contrast the rimland and heartland political theories of geopolitics. Rimland is the land surrounding a country, like the states on the border of America. Heartland is the land inside a country. The political theory is the rimland holds the key to the heartland’s defense. If the rimland falls, then the heartland is in danger. However some feel the heartland is more important due to its impenetrability. The heartland can supply the rimland with support in any war or fight. Although there is no doubt that the rimland trade advantages are vital to a country. 5) Describe how formal and functional regions can be applied to political geography. Give your own examples. Formal regions are regions with defining features from border to

Alcoholic Beverage and Scott Russell Sanders Essay Example for Free

Alcoholic Beverage and Scott Russell Sanders Essay Analysis of â€Å"Under the Influence† by Scott Russell Sanders Scott Russell Sanders’ narrative essay â€Å"Under the Influence† is a piece about his experiences with his alcoholic father. To describe these experiences, Sanders uses animalistic diction, asyndeton, and explains how his father’s disease creates insecurities in himself. Sanders’ purpose is to describe life with an alcoholic in order to demonstrate the effects and devastation in correlation with the â€Å"disease†. Using negative connotation, Sanders creates animal-like characteristics when writing about this father’s illness. Sanders reminisces about this childhood when he would â€Å"tiptoe past [his father], as past a snoring dragon†(59); he is portraying his father as a creature known for being a giant, angry, fire breathing monster. While intoxicated, people are often referred to as having â€Å"dragon’s breath†, which is why Sanders chooses a dragon over any other monster or creature. When Sanders’ father argues with his mother, â€Å"he snarls back, she yells, he growls† (59); this gives the father traits of an animal showing that his disease is dehumanizing and turning him into a monster when he drinks. In addition, Sanders’ gives his father animalistic qualities in contrast to his mother. His mother would regularly address the fathers’ alcohol problem which would lead to an argument in which the father would â€Å"grunt† and â€Å"snarl† while the mother â€Å"yells†. This implies the father is an animal while the mother still has human qualities. The disease of alcoholism not only destroys the father, but also places several insecurities inside Sanders himself. Sanders feels that maybe if he â€Å"[earned] A’s in school, [won] baseball games, [or fixed] the broken washer† (59), it would take away the â€Å"ache that gnaws† at this father. Seeing his father drink as a child, Sanders feels tha t it is his fault that his father drinks as much as he does, because he is not the great son every father dreams of having. Sanders also recognizes that he is more likely to become an alcoholic and shies away from â€Å"nightclubs, from bars, from parties where the solvent is alcohol† (68). He is reluctant to drink alcohol because he is insecure about his ability to resist acquiring the â€Å"illness† (â€Å"†¦a glass of wine, a can of beer, nothing stronger, nothing more. I listen for the turning of a key in my brain.†); since statistics show that since his father is an alcoholic, the disease is contagious. Using asyndeton, Sanders shows how certain memories are stronger than others. When using the asyndeton, (â€Å"our father prowls the house, thumping into furniture, rummaging in the kitchen, slamming doors†¦Ã¢â‚¬ )(59), it gives the effect that these memories are often repeated over a long period of time and he remembers vividly, this technique gives a tone that Sanders is annoyed and somewhat depressed with the effects of his father’s drinking. If these memories were frequently happening, Sanders probably became annoyed of seeing his father under the influence and going through the same routine everyday, and becoming depressed knowing that there is something wrong with his father and that he is hurting from his illness. These strategies give us a deeper understanding of the life of an alcoholic and how it not only destroys the one with the disease, but the people around them. If you were Sanders, how well should your shining armor stand against the dragon of alcoholism?

Fashion Blogging - the Impact on Sales Essay Example for Free

Fashion Blogging the Impact on Sales Essay Thus, we first investigate whether blogging activity leads to (differential) market outcomes. We then examine whether managerial communication (magazines advertising) and blogging are synergistic. We assemble a unique data set from fashion containing market outcomes (sales), new media (blogs) and traditional media (magazines advertising) for a brand of clothing, and a brand of shoes. Each category has at least one product launch during the duration of our sample periods. We specify a simultaneous equation log-linear system for market outcomes and the volume of blogs. Our results suggest that blogs are predictive of market outcomes, new and traditional media act synergistically, pre-launch magazines advertising spurs blogging activity but become less effective post-launch and that market outcomes have some effect on blogging. We find detailed support for some of these findings via a unique and novel text mining analysis. We discuss the managerial implications of our findings. I-Introduction Consumer generated media (CGM) such as blogs (a contraction of the term â€Å"Web logs†) have witnessed explosive growth in the last few years. For example, the number of blogs worldwide is estimated to be 184 millions with a readership of 346 million (March 2010). In contrast, in March 2003, the number of blogs was essentially zero. Other types of CGM have also seen similar growth patterns, e. g. , Facebook, which started in February 2004, now has about 400 million members worldwide (February 2011). There are also indications that blogs are now being seen as similar to mainstream media sites – the number of blog sites in the top 100 most popular sites (blogs and mainstream media) worldwide was twenty-two in 2008 and blogs were being viewed by consumers as â€Å"sites for news, information, gossip etc. † (2008). In 2010, four of the top ten entertainment sites were blogs (March 2010). It is clear from these statistics that there is considerable activity (multi- media posting, blogging, visits, traffic etc. ) on the part of consumers. However, an important question, from a managerial perspective, is whether this activity leads to (differential) business outcomes such as sales or profits. In addition, little is known about the relationship between traditional or old media (where the company creates content and delivers it to consumers) and consumer generated, or new, media (where consumers create content and there in an exchange of this content between other consumers and potentially, the company). That is, are there any synergies between new media and old media? In this research, we take the first step towards answering these questions. Blogging is perhaps the most established and largest form of consumer generated media at this point in time. The total worldwide viewership of blogs is estimated to be about 346 million (March 2010). Wikipedia defines as a blog as â€Å"a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Blogging is a worldwide phenomenon with the two biggest blogging markets being the United States and Japan. The number of blogs in the United States is about 23 million (about 12% of all US Internet users) and about 8 million in Japan (about 5% of all Japanese Internet users) in 2009. However, if one examines the total number of posts by language, Japanese language posts account for 37% of all posts worldwide followed closely by English language posts at 36%. Fina lly, readership of blogs in these two markets is ery high about half of all Internet users in the US and about one-fifth of all Japanese Internet users have read a blog in the past year. While there are many informal opinions on the effectiveness of CGM in general (and blogs in particular) vis-a-vis market outcomes, there is limited empirical research that sheds light on this issue, especially for the launch of new products. The majority of the existing research has focused on online chatter (newsgroup postings, reviews and ratings) and its effect on market outcomes. There is some evidence that volume of online user ratings is positively correlated to sales. Blogging, on the other hand, has been seen as a unique type of user generated content as being a highly personal, non-directed communication tool. As Kumar (2005) note, blogs are unique for sociological reasons – they comprise a â€Å"highly dynamic, temporal community structure† that â€Å"focuses heavily on local community interactions† and for technical reasons – blogs â€Å"offer us a ready-made view of evolution (of content) in continuous time. † In addition, blogging activity was probably the most pervasive CGM activity on the web during the time of our data. Given these unique characteristics of blogs as opposed to reviews, it is not obvious that bloggers’ activity should affect market outcomes. Surprisingly, there is very little research that has tried to quantify the effect of blogs on market outcomes, especially in the presence of traditional media and/or an examination of pre- and post-launch changes in the role of old and new media. Two recent empirical papers have focused on blogs and market outcomes. Dhar and Chang (2009) explore the relationship between music album sales (imputed via sales ranks on Amazon. om) and online chatter (as seen in blogs and on social networks). Using 108 music albums in early 2007 (before four weeks and after four weeks of their release), they find a positive correlation between both the number of blogs and Myspace member intensity with future music sales. Gruhl (2005) propose a new methodology to automatically generate a query of blog keywords to detect spikes in Amazon. com’s book sales rank. They conclude that their new algorithm could adequately predict the changes and spikes of future sales ranks. Thus, while these two studies suggest that there may be a correlation between blogging activity and market outcomes, they do not use actual sales data but only sales ranks from Amazon. com. To the best of our knowledge, the second issue that we outline above the positive relationship between traditional media and new media has not been investigated in the literature. Our expectation is that there will be a positive correlation between the quantity of traditional media and new media as traditional media is likely to provide discussion materials for bloggers. From a managerial perspective this issue is crucial, as managers have no direct control over CGM (blogs in our case). However, if there is indeed a synergistic relationship between traditional media, which are under managerial control, and new media, which are outside managerial control, then managers can leverage this relationship. Specifically, they can carry out â€Å"better† resource allocation and media planning (to traditional media) as they can take the spillover effect (from traditional to new media) into consideration. We examine the role of new media with respect to market outcomes as well as the relationship between new media and traditional media using data of two different clothing and shoes brand that are both promoted in fashion blogs. We consider the number of units sold, customers or subscribers (all a proxy for demand) as market outcomes, blogs as representations of consumer generated media and magazines advertising as traditional media. We specify a simultaneous equation model that links sales to advertising and blogs as well as a model that links blogs to advertising. Our results, after controlling for many temporal and cross-sectional factors, suggest that first, the volume of Blogstock (cumulative sum of past blog posts) is positively correlated with market outcomes (volume of clothing sold, and the volume of shoes sold) post launch. Second, the interaction between blogs and magazines advertising has a positive effect on market outcomes. Third, we also find that traditional media (magazines advertising) positively affects new media (the volume of blogs) pre launch. In other words, bloggers consume advertising, independent of the product, and this ncreases their blogging activity. Finally, we find that the effect of blogs varies between pre and post launch. In general, the positive relationship between magazines advertising and the volume of blogs pre-launch becomes weaker after launch. This result suggests that while magazines advertising can independently increase blogging pre-launch via the provision of information and content, post-launch (i. e. , once the product is available), consumers may rely less on traditional media, leading to a much weaker relationship between new and old media at that point. These last three sets of results shed light on the possibility that, broadly speaking, advertising and blogs act synergistically (with the relationship changing somewhat post-launch). The process explanations for our findings is not obvious. We take the first step in eliciting process explanations by carrying out a novel text mining analysis of the blog posts for the two markets (shoes and clothing) for which we have access to the textual content data. The findings from the text mining analysis suggest that blogs may affect market outcomes as they represent a rich source of product information and consumer opinion for other consumers. Also, bloggers do use advertising as a subject for blogging pre-launch but turn their attention to product attributes post-launch. II-Data Our data come from fashion market. We consider data from two brands – clothing and shoes. We first describe the market outcome data for each product market and then we describe the measurement of traditional and new media. III-Market Outcomes The daily sales of clothings were made available for the total fashion market based on a nationally representative consumer panel. The data include daily sales of two new pieces of clothing introduced in the period from January 2013 to March 2013. For shoes, the outcome variable we use is based on the same principle. We have data of two new models that were released (launched) in the period from January 2013 to March 2013. IV-Traditional Media The traditional marketing variable we use is magazines advertising. This was measured in units of daily or monthly Gross Rating Points (GRPs). There are some differences in the patterns of magazines advertising pre and post launch across the two brands. For clothing, most of the advertising is post launch. Typically, commercial ads in this market begin to air about five days pre launch and then the heavier advertising kicks in post launch. In contrast, for shoes, pre-release magazines GRPs are larger (on average) than the post-release magazines GRPs. Specifically, peak advertising for shoes was, not surprisingly, a week before its launch date in order to generate high demand at the time of the opening. V-New Media We obtain blogging data from blog 1 (www. leblogdebetty. com) for clothing data and blog 2 (www. sorayabakhtiar. com) for the shoes data. Both the brands scan and index the two blogging sites on a daily basis using keywords with coverage of about 64% of all blog articles. They then aggregate the data and provide the count of the daily number of blogs that mention a particular keyword on a specific temporal period such as day or month (multiple mentions in the same temporal unit are counted as one). As is typical for most blogs, its contents appear in a reversal chronological order and also include the blogger’s profile, â€Å"trackbacks† (links showing other websites, typically other blogs, that a blog is linked to), and comments. Buzz Research archives the contents of all blog posts. It also carries out lexical analysis of the contents of each tracked blog by using a proprietary text- mining method and classifies each blog as positive, negative and/or neutral with respect to a given keyword. We therefore have access to the actual content of all posts as well as the daily percentage of positive, negative and neutral blogs for the movies and cellular phone service markets. There is big increase in the average number of blogs per period post launch in all two brands. Interestingly, for the two brands markets where we have valence data, the biggest growth is in the percentage of neutral blogs post launch. To illustrate the relationship between marketing outcomes and both traditional and new media, we pick a product across our two brand markets. The figure suggests that magazines advertising, blog volume and shoes buyer are temporally correlated. Dividing the data temporally at the date of release we see that magazines GRPs and the number of blogs exhibit an increasing trend pre-release, but a decreasing one post-release. While we illustrate a typical data pattern through this example, the pattern is not identical for all brands across product markets. In conclusion, these data are novel in the sense that they combine marketing data for both traditional and new media along with market outcomes from a market where new media have proven to be important (at least in terms of activity). Our data are also novel in the sense that they enable us to focus on new product launches. In addition, the fact that we have data from two different brand markets (frequently purchased consumer goods) with varying characteristics (e. . , more versus fewer new product launches) will help us determine if the relationship between market outcomes and new media as well as the relationship between new media and traditional media generalizes across product markets. Finally, the availability of the actual blog post text (for two categories) opens up the possibility to conduct a deeper text-mining analysis. VI-Managerial Implicati ons So far, we have discussed the findings purely from a statistical point of view. However, it may be useful to translate these findings in a manner that uantifies the effect sizes from a managerial point of view. We therefore ran two experiments – the first to get a sense of how managers could change resource allocation and the second to see how managers could use blog data to improve sales forecasts. In the first experiment, we use the estimates from the clothing market data. To illustrate short-term effects, in the experiment, we assumed there were only three periods, two in the pre-release and one in the post-release. Recall that blogging is outside the control of managers. We therefore used the marketing instrument under managerial control in our data set – traditional magazines advertising. In the experiment, we increased the Adstock by one percent in the first pre-release period. The output we measured was the percentage increase in the size of the daily volume sold in the post-release period. A ten percent increase in the Adstock results in a 3. 3 percent increase in the number of blogs at the second pre-release period. As a result of this increase in the Adstock, we find that the net increase in the sales volume is 2. 1 percent. A decomposition of this overall increase due to traditional media versus new media suggested that the increase in the Adstock directly enhances the sales by 0. 13 percent while the interaction between blogging and advertising increases the sales by 0. 1 percent. Furthermore, the largest and most significant increase in the sales volume at post-launch is led by the indirect impact from advertising via blogging activity, which accounts for 1. 9 percent. Similar experiment for the other product markets also support these findings with the overall effect being slightly smaller for shoes (0. 4%). In addition to simulating the short-term effects of advertising, we use a simulation setting similar to the above experiments and expand the time horizon from one period to ten periods. The largest indirect effect of the ten percent increase in Adstock decays slower than do the other two effects across two product categories. The peaks of the indirect effects are located at the third period for t he clothing and at the second period for the shoes. These are resulted from the larger estimates of the carry-over constants of Adstock and Blogstock at post-launch in the blog equations. In the second experiment, we hold out the last observation from each brand and re-estimated the model. We then use the model estimates for prediction and computed the difference in the predicted value and the actual data across all the held out observations. We do this for the full model and a restricted version of the full model where the response coefficients for the number of blogs and the cumulative number of blogs were set to zero. Thus, the difference in prediction (based on the Root Mean Square Deviation) between these two models shows the extent to which the use of blog data can improve sales forecasts. The improvement in RMSD is very high for shoes, and modest for clothing. VII-Conclusion, Limitations and Directions for Future Research This paper adds to the very limited, but rapidly growing field of research into the effectiveness of new media, especially in the case of new product launches. Using a unique dataset from two product markets (a major new media market), we are able to combine into a single source, data on market outcomes, traditional media (magazines advertising) and new media (volume and content of blogs). We used a simultaneous equation model to capture the effect of new media on market outcomes and the effect of market outcomes on new media. While this in itself is somewhat novel, we were also able to include the major marketing activity (mgazines advertising) in both equations, both directly and via interactions. Thus this allows us to investigate two open questions in this domain (a) whether new media (blogging activity in our case) leads to (differential) market outcomes and (b) whether traditional marketing actions (i. e. , magazines advertising) and new media act synergistically. We also make a first attempt, to the best of our knowledge, to use the content of the blog posts to shed â€Å"process† light on our econometric findings via a careful and methodical text mining analysis. Using data from clothing, and shoes brands, we find that patterns across the two categories showing clear linkages between traditional media, new media and market outcomes. In general, we find that cumulative blogs (Blogstock) are predictive of market outcomes, blogs and magazines advertising act synergistically, pre-launch advertising spurs blogging activity (that is predictive of marketing activity) but becomes less effective in inducing blogging activity post- launch and market outcomes also do have some effect on blogging activity. Our text mining results provide additional support for some of these findings. From a managerial point of view, in the experiment using clothing estimation results, we find that a one percent increase in the traditional marketing instrument (magazines advertising) leads to a median increase in market outcomes of 0. 2%, with a majority of the increase coming from the increase in blogging activity generated by the advertising pre-launch. Our analyses do also have a few limitations (driven mostly by the nature of the data). First, as noted earlier, the aggregate nature of our data makes it very hard to offer micro-level causal explanations of the effectiveness of new media and the synergistic relationship between new and traditional media. While our text mining analyses shed some light on our findings, it would be very beneficial to obtain datasets that link individual activity to market outcomes for a larger variety of new media. Second, our measures of new media are at present limited to blog content volume – and in two product markets, keywords and valence. ). Third, our model could be improved with the potential use of non-parametric models to model the effects of both old and new media and the associated interactions. Finally, our data do not contain information on all marketing instruments and hence we use proxies (such as lagged sales in the case of distribution). We hope that with better data, future research will be able to address these limitations.

Role Of The Quantity Surveyor in Construction

Role Of The Quantity Surveyor in Construction 1.1 Background to the Study A competent design team is crucial for any new building project according to Lee (2008:127). The quantity surveyor can be a very valuable addition to the design team for the client, giving expert advice on contractual and financial matters. The quantity surveyor will have the clients interest as his number one priority and his services can be of great value to any person considering constructing a new building. According to Bowles Le Roux (1992:1) any person considering building or investing in construction projects needs expert advice from a quantity surveyor. No matter the size or complexity of a project, the quantity surveyor provides valuable advice through the various stages of the project. The Guide for Quantity Surveying Appointments (2006) states that any client who is considering building any structure of any size, changing an existing structure or investing in construction projects no matter how simple or complex, needs the expert advice of a professional quantity surveyor for establishing budgets, cash flows, cost planning, cost management and obtaining value for money. Construction projects differ from each other and every project has its own unique challenges. Construction projects are not standard products which have been designed and mass manufactured in a controlled environment. There is a lack of a relatively stable market price. This is due to monthly payments which are made as the work proceeds, before the project reaches completion. As a result of technological, financial and economical influences the methods adopted for construction work are varied and complex and the expert advice of a quantity surveyor should be obtained before the start of any project planning. This is the main reasons why there is a need for the services of a quantity surveyor. (Bowles Le Roux, 1992:2) The ordinary member of the general public has little knowledge or experience in the construction industry. However economically active individuals who can be seen as potential clients for residential construction projects are often reluctant to utilize the services of a professional quantity surveyor. According to Lee (2008:123), a potential pitfall for the first-time homeowner is to utilize the services of a non-reputable contractor who is not affiliated to the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC). Members of the general public who are not experienced in the construction industry can be subjected to un-ethical practices and this may lead to their exploitation. Due to the many problems caused by these un-ethical and non-reputable contractors to the homeowners and other property professionals, the South African government passed legislation in 2001 known as the Housing Consumers Protection Measures Act. The intention of this Act is to guard homeowners against non-reputable contractors who build to substandard quality and then refuse to be held responsible. (Lee, 2008:123) One factor which may deter people from using the services of a quantity surveyor is the professional fees. According to research done by Cruywagen and Snyman (2005) professional quantity surveying services can be rendered as affordable in South Africa. The research shows that, due to the competitiveness of the market, it has become the norm for quantity surveyors to reduce professional fees. Cruywagen and Snyman (2005), state that there is a distinct relationship between the profitability for the quantity surveyor and the value of a project. This means residential projects are not profitable as compared to big industrial developments, shopping centers etc. This may be the reason for the lack of marketing in the residential sector and why the general public is not aware of the quantity surveying profession. The purpose of this study is to identify and understand the specific role of the professional quantity surveyor in the construction industry and to explain the significant effect a quantity surveyor can have on a construction project. 1.2 Problem Statement The general public who is not involved in the construction industry is unaware of the quantity surveying profession and the functions the quantity surveyor perform and this lack of knowledge can lead to their exploitation if a quantity surveyor is not involved. 1.3 Hypothesis For the purpose of this study the following hypotheses are set out: The general public is unaware of the quantity surveying profession and the services the profession provide. Fees associated with the quantity surveyor may intimidate homeowners who are looking to complete a project with as little investment as possible, not realizing that the quantity surveyor can save you a substantial amount of money by providing you with expert advice on financial and contractual matters. 1.4 Objectives This study has four primary objectives. The objectives are to: Outline the specific role of the quantity surveyor. Realize the major effect a quantity surveyor can have on a building project Make the general public aware of the quantity surveying profession and the functions the quantity surveyor performs. To learn why the general public is reluctant to use the services of a quantity surveyor. 1.5 Methodology A qualitative research approach was follow for the purpose of this study. The researcher has conducted a comprehensive review of relevant literature on the topic. The focus has been on the quantity surveying profession and the services it provide. Personal interviews have been conducted with professional quantity surveyors. To understand the broader picture members of the general public who recently became homeowners (of newly constructed buildings) was asked to complete a questionnaire. Attention has been given to whether or not the services of a quantity surveyor was utilized and if not, why? 1.6 Delimitations The research is limited to the residential construction industry. The focus of the research is on the services of a professional quantity surveyor and not that of the contractors quantity surveyor. Members of the general public who was approached with questionnaires was limited to those who were recently involved with the construction of a residential building. 1.7 Assumptions The researcher assumed that all data collected are accurate and all interviews and questionnaires conducted were answered truthfully. CHAPTER TWO THE QUANTITY SURVEYING PROFESSION 2.1 Introduction In this chapter all the literature on the related topic collected by the researcher will be reviewed. This review will include literature on the history of the quantity surveyor, the contractors quantity surveyor, competencies of a professional quantity surveyor, fees of the professional quantity surveyor, estimating and cost advice as well as the use of a bill of quantities. The core focus however will be to outline the specific functions of the professional quantity surveyor. 2.2 History of the quantity surveyor According to the Association of South African Quantity Surveyors (2010), the quantity surveying profession started with the turn of the nineteenth century. The first recorded use of the term Quantity surveyor was in 1859. Before then the terms measurer, Custom surveyor or surveyor were used. At that time it was custom for the surveyor to work for the master builders, measuring the completed work and often submitting biased final accounts to the building owners. As a result of this behavior it became the norm for building owners to enter into a contract and invite tenders before any work commenced. According to Bowles Le Roux (1992:4), this gave rise to competition and builders tendering realized that they were spending an immense amount of time and effort measuring and calculating to arrive at a tender figure. In addition there was the added danger that the builders interpreted the architects drawings differently which would lead to inaccurate pricing and result in the tenders not being calculated on an uniform basis. The builders realized that a surveyor could be employed to act as an unbiased person to measure the quantities on their behalf. This insured that the builders tendered on the same basis whilst sharing the cost for the surveyor. Building owners were afraid of unethical practice between the builders and the surveyor and realized it would be to their personal advantage to appoint and compensate the quantity surveyor. This is how the independent professional quantity surveyor gained consultant status. In South Africa the title quantity surveyor is reserved under the Quantity Surveyors Act of 1970 for the sole use by those who had acquired the obligatory qualifications and experience stipulated under the Act. Furthermore, those persons must register with the South African Council for Quantity Surveyors before they can act as consultants to the general public (ASAQS, 2010) 2.3 Contractors quantity surveyor The main difference between a professional quantity surveyor and a contractors quantity surveyor is that the latter is employed by the construction company and not by the client. Dent (1970:7) states that a contractor who undertakes big projects will need a quantity surveying staff. The contractors surveyor will represent the contractor and the contractors interest will be the main priority. According to Cornick and Osbon (1994:108), the contractors quantity surveyor spends comparatively the same amount of time on cost planning, feasibility studies and tender appraisal as the professional quantity surveyor and significantly more on post-contract services but significantly less on preparing tender documentation. Project cost control is one function that requires equal efficiency by both surveyors, the contractors quantity surveyor on behalf of the contractor and the professional quantity surveyor on behalf of the client. Cornick and Osbon (1994:109) identified seven main functions for the contractors quantity surveyor namely: Valuation of work completed for payment from client and payment to subcontractor. Determination of change due to variation from client or designer. Preliminaries allocation. Subcontractor accounts to agree tender and actual costs. Financial reporting for quarterly account forecasts. Cost accounting for plant and material use by company. Cost accounting for labour use by the company. Clients expectations of project cost control will increase as the clients and their cost advisers become more complex. The clients will be expecting the cost of their buildings to be reduced to match their budget. Therefore contractors quantity surveyor must strive to improving their cost controlling and accounting capabilities for the construction companies that they work for. 2.4 The professional quantity surveyor According to Bowles Le Roux (1992:3) the quantity surveyor is a professional consultant appointed by the client who wishes to invest in property development. It is the quantity surveyors responsibility to advise the client, architect and engineer on all financial and contractual matters from the pre-tender stage right through to the completion of the project. For the quantity surveyor to accomplish this role he must develop a comprehensive understanding of the various construction methods and have a transparent understanding of the different forms of contract and sub-contract agreements available in the construction industry. The quantity surveyor must be capable of advising on the cost of alternative construction methods and costs of different materials. An analytical approach must be adopted in finding beneficial solutions in the interest of the client. The Guide for Quantity Surveying Appointments (2006) states that a professional quantity surveyor will draw on extensive cost information obtained from client databases and experience from other projects for effective budget setting. It is the quantity surveyors ongoing implementation of financial discipline in the areas of budget setting, alternative design option costing, cash flow predictions, final cost forecasting, management of variations including potential areas of dispute and timeous final account settlement, etc. that allows the maximum value for money requirement to be achieved. 2.4.1 Standard quantity surveying services According to A Guide for Quantity Surveying Appointments (2006) the standard services that can be provided by a professional quantity surveyor are: Financial viability studies and the initial budget planning prior to the detailed design to establish whether the project is feasible in terms of the clients financial budget; Preliminary cost studies and comparing alternative designs and materials in terms of operating and maintenance costs; Monitoring the design as it evolves to ensure it stays within clients budget; Preparing tender documentation for pricing by contractors and advising on contractual arrangements; Evaluating the submitted tenders and reporting on the suitability thereof; Negotiating the contract sums with the individual contractors; Preparing cash flow predictions; Preparing cost reports at regular intervals; Valuing construction work in progress; Preparing the final account thus determining the final cost; Settlement of the final costs with the contractor and sub-contractors. Additional specialist services that many quantity surveyors are experienced in providing are: Acting as project manager; Acting as principle agent; Consulting on property development; Valuation of buildings for insurance purposes etc.; Acting as an expert witness; Advising on the settlement of disputes through mediation and arbitration. Facilitating with fast track construction projects; Providing services for projects in engineering, mining and petro-chemical industries. It is recommended to employ the quantity surveyors full services as a professional consultant rather than in a technical/measurement role in order to utilize the quantity surveyors expertise to the best advantage. 2.4.2 Competencies of the professional quantity surveyor Competencies can be defined as the ability a person should have in a given occupational area subject to external and internal factors like organization size, type, and age (Barret, 1992). (Holmes Joyce, 1993) defined competence as a description of an action, a mode of behavior or outcome that a person should be able to demonstrate, or the ability to transfer skills and knowledge to new situations within the occupational area. In the construction industry the quantity surveyor can be seen as the economist and cost accountant, whose services facilitate the client to obtain the maximum value for the clients investment. There are three aspects which reflect value for a client in the construction industry, namely cost, time and quantity. Quantity surveyors add value to the construction project performance by using the appropriate competencies. It is therefore important for an assessment of the quantity surveyors competencies in order to highlight the continuing relevance of their services in the construction industry (Nkado Meyer, 2001:483). The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) set out the competencies required by professional quantity surveyors in three categories, namely basic -, core and optional competencies. Table 1 below presents the competencies in three categories. Under the structure of the RICS the basic competencies are present in all construction professions, the core competencies primarily for quantity surveyors and the optional competencies are required for specialization in a specific field. Table 1: Competencies set out by the RICS (Nkado Meyer, 2001:484). A Study conducted by Nkado and Meyer (2001:484) identified 23 defined competencies which apply to quantity surveyors in South Africa. A questionnaire was sent to randomly selected members of the ASAQS of a different demographic background. The questionnaire listed the 23 competencies in alphabetical order. The respondents were asked to rate the importance of the competencies for a career as a professional quantity surveyor in South Africa at present, the importance in the future and the level of evidence of each competency in the quantity surveying profession. Rating worked on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"not important and 5 being à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"very important. The researchers ensured the respondents anonymity to attain an honest response. Table 2: Competencies ratings (Nkado Meyer, 2001:487). Table 2 shows the ratings which have been converted to percentages for effective interpretation. It is interesting to note that three of the traditional core competencies are rated in the top five competencies required by quantity surveyors in South Africa at present, the three being procurement and financial management, economics of construction and construction contract practice. The results showed that management orientated competencies were rated of higher importance for future services while the highest importance for current services were technically orientated. The five most important competencies required by quantity surveyors in South Africa at present are: Computer literacy and information technology; Procurement and financial management; Economics of construction; Construction contract practice; Measurement. The five most important competencies required by quantity surveyors in South Africa in the future are: Computer literacy and information technology; Procurement and financial management; Economics of construction; Project management; Marketing. Competencies utilized by quantity surveyors with greatest efficiency in South Africa are: Measurement; Procurement and financial management; Professional practice; Construction contract practice; Economics of construction. It is evident that management orientated competencies will grow in importance and will replace the traditional technically orientated competencies as the core competencies of the quantity surveyor (Nkado Meyer,2001:490). 2.4.3 Professional quantity surveying fees The fees charged by professional quantity surveyors are proportionate with the work done for the client and according to A Guide for Quantity Surveying Appointments 2006 there are 5 options available: A time charge; A percentage fee based on a tariff recommended by The South African Council for the Quantity Surveying Profession (see Table 3); An agreed percentage of the contract value; A lump-sum fee; Any other fee arranged between the quantity surveyor and the client. 2.4.3.1 Time Charges The following recommended hourly time charges for the private sector were approved by The South African Council for the Quantity Surveying Profession with effect from 1 January 2010 (SACQSP, 2010). (All rates are exclusive of VAT.) Not exceeding 5 years experience R 700-00 Exceeding 5 years and not exceeding 10 years experience R 1 250-00 Exceeding 10 years experience R 1 750-00 Specialist work R 2 190-00 2.4.3.2 Percentage fees By using table 3 a basic fee will be determined and multiplied by the appropriate percentage (Table 4, 5 6). The basic fee shall be calculated on the value for fee purposes (see table 3). Table 3: Basic fee (SACQSP, 2010) Table 4: Appropriate percentages for building work (SACQSP, 2010) Table 5: Appropriate percentages for engineering work (SACQSP, 2010) Table 6. Appropriate percentages for management services (SACQSP, 2010) Once the primary charge (table 3) is established, the amount is multiplied by the appropriate percentage. In addition to this there will be a marginal rate which would be added to the primary charge. The gross amount will be payable to the quantity surveyor as the professional fees. 2.5 Estimating and cost advice Aibinu and Pasco (2008:1258) states: Pre-tender cost estimation (or early stage cost estimation) is the forecasting of the cost of a project during the planning and design stage. Research done by Trost and Oberlender (2003) identified 11 factors that play a role in the precision of estimates of which the 5 most important are: Process design; Estimator team experience and cost information; Time spent on preparation of estimate; Site requirements; The current labour and bidding climate. According to Bennett, Morrison and Stevens (1981) estimating is the main function of cost planning services provided by the quantity surveyor. They conclude that cost planning is unsuccessful without decent estimating. Morrison (1984:57) states that quantity surveyors have developed different methods for estimating to deal with the large variety of projects and designs. These different methods differ in detail with some estimates being very thorough, for instance a priced bill of quantities. Other may be very simple and only entail a simple lump sum estimate. All other factors being equal, the estimates accuracy will increase as the detail and time spent in preparing the estimate increases. 2.5.1 Clients brief The client, architect (design team) and the quantity surveyor are the most important members in the in the project briefing process. According to research done (Bowen, Pearl, Nkado Edwards, n.d.) it is vital to have an efficient client brief if the client is to reach his objectives with regard to the time, cost and quality of the project. Insufficient briefing of the design team by the client can lead to major frustration and unhappiness for the client. The brief procedure is the process where the client explains and spells out the objectives and requirements of a project (Bowen et al., n.d.). Bowen (1993) states that: The purpose of this stage is for the clients to communicate to the design team and specialist consultants their needs and objectives in initiating the project. For the client to be satisfied, the design of the building must fulfill the clients needs with regards to the technical aspects and quality standards. In addition to this the project must be completed within the budget and on time (Seymour Louw, 1990). In order to achieve this, a detailed and complete client brief is necessary to eliminate as many uncertainties as possible. 2.5.2 Feasibility studies After the briefing process, the quantity surveyor will do a feasibility study. The outcome of the feasibility study helps the client to decide whether to go ahead with the project. A feasibility study is conducted to ascertain whether a project idea is economically viable (Hofstrand Clause, n.d.). It is the quantity surveyors responsibility to make recommendations to the client on the viability of the project and give professional advice on any alternatives. The feasibility study involves economical and technical investigations that allow the client to decide whether to proceed with the project (Association of South African Quantity Surveyors, 2010). According to Hofstrand Clause (n.d.) a feasibility study: Identifies alternatives. Identifies reasons not to proceed. Indicate new opportunities. Gives quality information for better decision making. Assist in acquiring funding from banks and other investors. 2.6 Use of bill of quantities After the quantity surveyor completes the elemental estimate the client will decide whether the project will go ahead or not. This decision is largely based on whether the estimate is within the clients budget or not. If the estimate is within budget the client should instruct the architect to prepare detailed working drawings for construction. The quantity surveyor can start with the preparation of the bill of quantities once he has received these drawings (Bowles Le Roux, 1992). Davis, Love and Baccarini (2009:99) states that the bill of quantities has 2 main uses and these can be categorized under pre-contract and post-contract stage. In the pre-contract stage the bill of quantities aid contractors to prepare their tenders. In the post-contract stage the bill of quantities assists the quantity surveyor and the contractor in the valuation of the work in progress and work completed for payment purposes. The bill of quantities is mainly used for tendering purposes. It enables contractors to prepare tenders using the same information which will lead to more accurate tender sums. The bill of quantities allow for a common basis on which the tenders can be compared. This brings about a competitive market (Kodikara, Thorpe McCaffer, 1993:261). According to Bowles and Le Roux (1992) the bill of quantities describes the nature of the building. It is a document which lists all the items that need to be completed for the construction of the building. These items required for the completion of the building is measured from drawings and specifications received from the architect and engineers. The total cost for the project will be the sum of all the individual items added together. When these items are priced there must be an allowance for the execution of each item as well as a realistic profit margin. The information in the bill of quantities can be classified into three fundamental categories namely; preliminaries, preambles and bills. The preliminaries of a contract entail all requirements of the project which do not have a direct impact on the construction works. The preliminaries of a contract may include health and safety requirements, access to and from site, accommodation for workforce, insurances required etc. Preambles define the standards of workmanship and materials to be used. The bills contain the measured items needed to complete the works and comprises of the description, units and quantities (Kodikara et al., 1993:261). The bill of quantities, detailed construction drawings, engineering drawings and specifications will be issued to building contractors. These documents form part of the tender documentation. The tender documents enable contractors to submit a competitive tender for a project and aid them in determining an accurate price for the completion of the building. A practical time limit is set for the contractors to price the bill. All tenders should be handed in before the specified closing date. According to Davis et al. (2009:103), the bill of quantities has various advantages to the parties involved in a project: Pre-contract stage: Database à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" It provides a cost database for future estimating Fee calculation à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" It provides a conclusive basis for the calculation of professional fees Asset management à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" It provide data for asset management of finished building, insurance, maintenance schedules etc. Taxation à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Provide basis for precise preparation of depreciation schedules as part of the asset management plan. Post-contract stage: Accurate progress payments à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" It becomes a basis from which the interim payments can be evaluated. This insures work is done at a reasonable price and gives the contractor and client peace of mind that the contractor is not paid too much or too little for work completed. Pricing of contract instructions à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" It provides a basis for the valuation of variations to the project. Risk management à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Prices from the contractor in the bill of quantities can be compared with current market related prices. According to Davis et al. (2009:103), the major disadvantages of the bill of quantities are that the preparation is time consuming and it tends to increase cost. 2.7 Conclusion It is clear from the above that the quantity surveyor can be a very valuable addition to the clients professional team. Quantity surveyors in South Africa are competent professionals. From the inception stage of a project, right through to the final payment, the quantity surveyor will give expert advice on financial and contractual matters. The successful completion of a project can never be guaranteed due to the many uncontrollable factors in the construction industry. However having the services of a quantity surveyor at your disposal will greatly improve the chances of completing a project successfully and within budget. CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY 3.1 Data In this chapter the data collection methods and the analysis of the data is explained. For the purpose of this study a qualitative research methodology was followed in order to test the hypotheses put forward. The research was conducted by way of a comprehensive literature review and collecting data through interviews and questionnaires. The research problem is mainly that the general public is unaware of the quantity surveying profession therefore data relating to the services that the quantity surveyor offer and the profession in general were required. 3.2 Collection of data Books and journals on the related topic from local and international sources were used for the collection of data. All the data was collected before the field work started and was done over a two month period. Furthermore, primary data was collected through personal interviews and questionnaires. Interviews were conducted with quantity surveyors. The interviews were informal but due to the researchers relative lack of experience in conducting interviews the questions were well prepared. Questionnaires were used to obtain the necessary data from members of the general public who were recently involved in the construction of a residential building. The questionnaires consisted out of open ended questions and were administered in person. To maximize to accuracy of the response the questions were short and in unambiguous language (Leedy Ormrod, 2005:190). To insure the validity of the research an honest response is required. For this reason the names of individuals and the quantity surveying company approached for the research will be held confidential. 3.3 Data analysis The qualitative data was organized, summarized and analyzed by the researcher in order to reach a conclusion and make recommendations. It should be noted that the sample is very small, but for the purpose of this study it is sufficient for the researcher to understand the problem at hand and reach a conclusion. CHAPTER FOUR FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS 4.1 Introduction Primary data was collected through interviews and questionnaires as explained in the previous chapter. Ten individuals who were recently involved in a residential project were approached to complete the questionnaire. This chapter will discus the findings of the questionnaire and will incorporate the data collected from interviews with quantity surveyors. 4.1.1 Awareness of the quantity surveying profession Figure 4.1 Indicate the awareness of the quantity surveying profession. It was found that the large majority of the respondents were aware of the profession. However this does not necessarily mean they understand what the profession entails. An interesting observation was that the respondent, who was not aware of the quantity surveying profession, was the only respondent under 30 years of age. 4.1.2 Understanding of the quantity surveyor The question was what the understanding of quantity surveyors was by the respondents. Three of the ten respondents had reas

Survival In Auschwitz Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Imagine now a man who is deprived of everyone he loves, and at the same time of his house, his habits, his clothes, in short, of everything he possesses: he will be a hollow man, reduced to suffering and needs, forgetful of dignity and restraint, for he who loses all often easily loses himself.† This short quote is taken from Primo Levi’s â€Å"Survival in Auschwitz†. It depicts a true story of Primo Levi during the Holocaust, who was relocated to an extermination camp after beginning a great life after college. Primo was captured with a resistant group from Italy. He used his college education and degree in chemistry to stay alive.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The above quote brings a similar quote to mind. â€Å"What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and yet loses his own soul†. That quote is taken from the front wall of St. Aloysius Catholic Church in Olivia, Minnesota. It gives an idea about our savior Jesus Christ’s life. He spent his whole life teaching the word of God and humanity to all people of any race or religion. These two, Primo Levi and Jesus Christ, lived similar lives.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Primo lived growing up as a Jewish citizen during the bad economic times of Europe. Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party blamed this economic tragedy on the Jewish society. Primo tried to fight against this, but like most Jews was found guilty and taken to conservation camps. Here he was giving the chance of what he learned in life...

More than a Pastry :: Personal Narrative Essays

Danish is More than a Pastry Okay...this is one of the saddest things. I just spent 45 minutes typing this email and then the stupid mail system broke down and it was lost when I sent it! Aaaghh...the horror... The email was about my crazy, crazy day yesterday. What an adventure! But what happened, exactly? Well, I'll start from the very beginning! Here goes: I woke up to a beautiful day. Took my time preparing breakfast and enjoyed my good cup (well, cups) of coffee, as well as a bowl of oatmeal with sugar and raisins sprinkled on top, soaked 3/4s with milk. Delicious! I checked my email and started psyching myself up for the bike ride into Copenhagen. When 10:30 rolled around, I got my stuff together and headed out. I began my long, arduous journey from Roskilde to Copenhagen officially at 10:45. Rested from last night's good sleep, I could push myself and make it there in about an hour and a half. I was in no hurry though...my first obligation for the afternoon was meeting Carolina concerning our IPO (initial public offering) project due next week. And my first class wasn't until 3:30. So I had plenty of time! I was spinning pretty well...staying in second gear mostly. Yeah, that is NOT a typo...second gear. It must be noted that this bike HAS only 3 gears. It's my host-mom's bike...3 gears, purple frame, and you pedal backwards to brake. Oh, and when it's dark out I use what you call a "dynamo". I push it down until it touches the front wheel's rim, start pedaling, and it creates electricity so the light turns on! So smart! (I just consulted with my host-brother, Michael, and have decided to name my bike "Lille Lilla" which is "Little Purple" in Danish. That's a nice name) Right, back to the story...so Lilla and I are heading steadily east and I'm thinking "Gosh! This is amazing! I'm in Denmark...biking.....into school!" How cool is that? I'm in Europe and it's gorgeous here!" Sometimes I just get this overwhelming happy feeling; it's almost unreal I'm here. I'm about halfway to Copenhagen and I cross an intersection. When I cross, a car honks. Now, it's rare that cars honk in Denmark. You know, the Danes ARE very civilized people...and it's not necessarily honking at me, of course.

The Holocaust Essay -- History German Jew Nazi Genocide Essays

The Holocaust †We are the children of the holocaust. We are both Germans and Jews. We are the children of the victims. We are the children of the oppressors. We started out on opposite sides but the memory of the holocaust will join us forever. We shall never let the victims be forgotten, for if we do, we will forget that the perpetrator can be in all of us.† This poem expresses quite well the sensation that most individuals feel when they hear the word â€Å"Holocaust.† Although they may not have been there, or known someone who was, they may still feel an underlying sadness or anger due to the events that took place during World War II. I myself am neither a Jew nor have German decent, and I too become emotional at just the thought of such a devastating occurrence. It is in this sense that I will discuss how the Holocaust has affected not only the Jewish world, but other peoples as well. In 1933, the Nazi party began their reign in Germany, under the malevolent dictator Adolf Hitler; his role as â€Å"prime minister† of the county lead to the temporary suspension of civil rights for communists and Jews. The first concentration camp, known as â€Å"Dachau† was erected, which contained over two hundred communists, and all books that included ideas and concepts contrary to Nazi belief were burned. Jewish newspapers were not allowed to be sold in the streets, and as Hitler’s power became more and more apparent, he gained the title of Fuhrer, or â€Å"Leader of Germany.† His charismatic ways charmed many people into believing that his ideas were conceptually sound, and within only a few years, the Jewish people were stripped of their liberties, including their right to vote. In 1938, on Kristallnacht the Nazi regime terrorized Jews throughout both Germany and Austria; over 30,000 Jews were arrested, having their licenses revoked, car registrati ons taken away, and securities and jewels stolen as well. Upon the acclimation of World War II in 1939, when France and Britain declared war on Germany, Hitler ordered that all Jews must wear a yellow Star of David, in 1940, he began the deportation of all German Jews to the country of Poland (Morretta). Once in Poland, the Jews were forced to reside in ghettos and concentration camps; in 1942, the â€Å"Final Solution† planning had begun by Hitler and his Nazis regime, and by 1943, eighty five percent of all of the Jewish people that ... ... the Holocaust itself, as devastating as it was, may have happened for the Jewish people to acquire a larger capacity than others for forgiveness and understanding. This idea rings true for every other human being in the world as well, because once again, â€Å"We shall never let the victims be forgotten, for if we do, we will forget that the perpetrator can be in all of us.† 1 This poem was written by Rudi Raab, and is from The Acts of Reconciliation Project, where Germans and Jews met to build a common ground. 2 â€Å"The Night of Broken Glass† 3 An elaborate plan of mass genocide in which the Nazi officials would annihilate all European Jews. 4 This poem was written by Rudi Raab, and is from The Acts of Reconciliation Project, where Germans and Jews met to build a common ground. Works Cited Feig, Konnilyn. Hitler’s Death Camps: The Sanity of Madness. New York, Holmes & Meier, 1979. Jacobs, Alan. â€Å"Auschwitz/Birkenau.† http://www.remember.org/jacobs/index.html. 1996. Morretta, Theresa. â€Å"History of the Holocaust: Timeline.† http://www.remember.org/educate/mtimeline.html. 1997. Watts, Franklin. "Auschwitz and the Allies." Voices of History 1942-43 .New York, 1943.

A Game of Thrones Chapter Sixty

Jon Are you well, Snow?† Lord Mormont asked, scowling. â€Å"Well,† his raven squawked. â€Å"Well.† â€Å"I am, my lord,† Jon lied . . . loudly, as if that could make it true. â€Å"And you?† Mormont frowned. â€Å"A dead man tried to kill me. How well could I be?† He scratched under his chin. His shaggy grey beard had been singed in the fire, and he'd hacked it off. The pale stubble of his new whiskers made him look old, disreputable, and grumpy. â€Å"You do not look well. How is your hand?† â€Å"Healing.† Jon flexed his bandaged fingers to show him. He had burned himself more badly than he knew throwing the flaming drapes, and his right hand was swathed in silk halfway to the elbow. At the time he'd felt nothing; the agony had come after. His cracked red skin oozed fluid, and fearsome blood blisters rose between his fingers, big as roaches. â€Å"The maester says I'll have scars, but otherwise the hand should be as good as it was before.† â€Å"A scarred hand is nothing. On the Wall, you'll be wearing gloves often as not.† â€Å"As you say, my lord.† It was not the thought of scars that troubled Jon; it was the rest of it. Maester Aemon had given him milk of the poppy, yet even so, the pain had been hideous. At first it had felt as if his hand were still aflame, burning day and night. Only plunging it into basins of snow and shaved ice gave any relief at all. Jon thanked the gods that no one but Ghost saw him writhing on his bed, whimpering from the pain. And when at last he did sleep, he dreamt, and that was even worse. In the dream, the corpse he fought had blue eyes, black hands, and his father's face, but he dared not tell Mormont that. â€Å"Dywen and Hake returned last night,† the Old Bear said. â€Å"They found no sign of your uncle, no more than the others did.† â€Å"I know.† Jon had dragged himself to the common hall to sup with his friends, and the failure of the rangers' search had been all the men had been talking of. â€Å"You know,† Mormont grumbled. â€Å"How is it that everyone knows everything around here?† He did not seem to expect an answer. â€Å"It would seem there were only the two of . . . of those creatures, whatever they were, I will not call them men. And thank the gods for that. Any more and . . . well, that doesn't bear thinking of. There will be more, though. I can feel it in these old bones of mine, and Maester Aemon agrees. The cold winds are rising. Summer is at an end, and a winter is coming such as this world has never seen.† Winter is coming. The Stark words had never sounded so grim or ominous to Jon as they did now. â€Å"My lord,† he asked hesitantly, â€Å"it's said there was a bird last night . . . â€Å" â€Å"There was. What of it?† â€Å"I had hoped for some word of my father.† â€Å"Father,† taunted the old raven, bobbing its head as it walked across Mormont's shoulders. â€Å"Father.† The Lord Commander reached up to pinch its beak shut, but the raven hopped up on his head, fluttered its wings, and flew across the chamber to light above a window. â€Å"Grief and noise,† Mormont grumbled. â€Å"That's all they're good for, ravens. Why I put up with that pestilential bird . . . if there was news of Lord Eddard, don't you think I would have sent for you? Bastard or no, you're still his blood. The message concerned Ser Barristan Selmy. It seems he's been removed from the Kingsguard. They gave his place to that black dog Clegane, and now Selmy's wanted for treason. The fools sent some watchmen to seize him, but he slew two of them and escaped.† Mormont snorted, leaving no doubt of his view of men who'd send gold cloaks against a knight as renowed as Barristan the Bold. â€Å"We have white shadows in the woods and unquiet dead stalking our halls, and a boy sits the Iron Throne,† he said in disgust. The raven laughed shrilly. â€Å"Boy, boy, boy, boy.† Ser Barristan had been the Old Bear's best hope, Jon remembered; if he had fallen, what chance was there that Mormont's letter would be heeded? He curled his hand into a fist. Pain shot through his burned fingers. â€Å"What of my sisters?† â€Å"The message made no mention of Lord Eddard or the girls.† He gave an irritated shrug. â€Å"Perhaps they never got my letter. Aemon sent two copies, with his best birds, but who can say? More like, Pycelle did not deign to reply. It would not be the first time, nor the last. I fear we count for less than nothing in King's Landing. They tell us what they want us to know, and that's little enough.† And you tell me what you want me to know, and that's less, Jon thought resentfully. His brother Robb had called the banners and ridden south to war, yet no word of that had been breathed to him . . . save by Samwell Tarly, who'd read the letter to Maester Aemon and whispered its contents to Jon that night in secret, all the time saying how he shouldn't. Doubtless they thought his brother's war was none of his concern. It troubled him more than he could say. Robb was marching and he was not. No matter how often Jon told himself that his place was here now, with his new brothers on the Wall, he still felt craven. â€Å"Corn,† the raven was crying. â€Å"Corn, corn.† â€Å"Oh, be quiet,† the Old Bear told it. â€Å"Snow, how soon does Maester Aemon say you'll have use of that hand back?† â€Å"Soon,† Jon replied. â€Å"Good.† On the table between them, Lord Mormont laid a large sword in a black metal scabbard banded with silver. â€Å"Here. You'll be ready for this, then.† The raven flapped down and landed on the table, strutting toward the sword, head cocked curiously. Jon hesitated. He had no inkling what this meant. â€Å"My lord?† â€Å"The fire melted the silver off the pommel and burnt the crossguard and grip. Well, dry leather and old wood, what could you expect? The blade, now . . . you'd need a fire a hundred times as hot to harm the blade.† Mormont shoved the scabbard across the rough oak planks. â€Å"I had the rest made anew. Take it.† â€Å"Take it,† echoed his raven, preening. â€Å"Take it, take it.† Awkwardly, Jon took the sword in hand. His left hand; his bandaged right was still too raw and clumsy. Carefully he pulled it from its scabbard and raised it level with his eyes. The pommel was a hunk of pale stone weighted with lead to balance the long blade. It had been carved into the likeness of a snarling wolf's head, with chips of garnet set into the eyes. The grip was virgin leather, soft and black, as yet unstained by sweat or blood. The blade itself was a good half foot longer than those Jon was used to, tapered to thrust as well as slash, with three fullers deeply incised in the metal. Where Ice was a true two-handed greatsword, this was a hand-and-a-halfer, sometimes named a â€Å"bastard sword.† Yet the wolf sword actually seemed lighter than the blades he had wielded before. When Jon turned it sideways, he could see the ripples in the dark steel where the metal had been folded back on itself again and again. â€Å"This is Valyrian steel, my lord,† he said wonderingly. His father had let him handle Ice often enough; he knew the look, the feel. â€Å"It is,† the Old Bear told him. â€Å"It was my father's sword, and his father's before him. The Mormonts have carried it for five centuries. I wielded it in my day and passed it on to my son when I took the black.† He is giving me his son's sword. Jon could scarcely believe it. The blade was exquisitely balanced. The edges glimmered faintly as they kissed the light. â€Å"Your son—† â€Å"My son brought dishonor to House Mormont, but at least he had the grace to leave the sword behind when he fled. My sister returned it to my keeping, but the very sight of it reminded me of Jorah's shame, so I put it aside and thought no more of it until we found it in the ashes of my bedchamber. The original pommel was a bear's head, silver, yet so worn its features were all but indistinguishable. For you, I thought a white wolf more apt. One of our builders is a fair stonecarver.† When Jon had been Bran's age, he had dreamed of doing great deeds, as boys always did. The details of his feats changed with every dreaming, but quite often he imagined saving his father's life. Afterward Lord Eddard would declare that Jon had proved himself a true Stark, and place Ice in his hand. Even then he had known it was only a child's folly; no bastard could ever hope to wield a father's sword. Even the memory shamed him. What kind of man stole his own brother's birthright? I have no right to this, he thought, no more than to Ice. He twitched his burned fingers, feeling a throb of pain deep under the skin. â€Å"My lord, you honor me, but—† â€Å"Spare me your but's, boy,† Lord Mormont interrupted. â€Å"I would not be sitting here were it not for you and that beast of yours. You fought bravely . . . and more to the point, you thought quickly. Fire! Yes, damn it. We ought to have known. We ought to have remembered. The Long Night has come before. Oh, eight thousand years is a good while, to be sure . . . yet if the Night's Watch does not remember, who will?† â€Å"Who will,† chimed the talkative raven. â€Å"Who will.† Truly, the gods had heard Jon's prayer that night; the fire had caught in the dead man's clothing and consumed him as if his flesh were candle wax and his bones old dry wood. Jon had only to close his eyes to see the thing staggering across the solar, crashing against the furniture and flailing at the flames. It was the face that haunted him most; surrounded by a nimbus of fire, hair blazing like straw, the dead flesh melting away and sloughing off its skull to reveal the gleam of bone beneath. Whatever demonic force moved Othor had been driven out by the flames; the twisted thing they had found in the ashes had been no more than cooked meat and charred bone. Yet in his nightmare he faced it again . . . and this time the burning corpse wore Lord Eddard's features. It was his father's skin that burst and blackened, his father's eyes that ran liquid down his cheeks like jellied tears. Jon did not understand why that should be or what it might mean, but it frightened him more than he could say. â€Å"A sword's small payment for a life,† Mormont concluded. â€Å"Take it, I'll hear no more of it, is that understood?† â€Å"Yes, my lord.† The soft leather gave beneath Jon's fingers, as if the sword were molding itself to his grip already. He knew he should be honored, and he was, and yet . . . He is not my father. The thought leapt unbidden to Jon's mind. Lord Eddard Stark is my father. I will not forget him, no matter how many swords they give me. Yet he could scarcely tell Lord Mormont that it was another man's sword he dreamt of . . . â€Å"I want no courtesies either,† Mormont said, â€Å"so thank me no thanks. Honor the steel with deeds, not words.† Jon nodded. â€Å"Does it have a name, my lord?† â€Å"It did, once. Longclaw, it was called.† â€Å"Claw,† the raven cried. â€Å"Claw.† â€Å"Longclaw is an apt name.† Jon tried a practice cut. He was clumsy and uncomfortable with his left hand, yet even so the steel seemed to flow through the air, as if it had a will of its own. â€Å"Wolves have claws, as much as bears.† The Old Bear seemed pleased by that. â€Å"I suppose they do. You'll want to wear that over the shoulder, I imagine. It's too long for the hip, at least until you've put on a few inches. And you'll need to work at your two-handed strikes as well. Ser Endrew can show you some moves, when your burns have healed.† â€Å"Ser Endrew?† Jon did not know the name. â€Å"Ser Endrew Tarth, a good man. He's on his way from the ShadowTower to assume the duties of master-at-arms. Ser Alliser Thorne left yestermorn for Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.† Jon lowered the sword. â€Å"Why?† he said, stupidly. Mormont snorted. â€Å"Because I sent him, why do you think? He's bringing the hand your Ghost tore off the end of Jafer Flowers's wrist. I have commanded him to take ship to King's Landing and lay it before this boy king. That should get young Joffrey's attention, I'd think . . . and Ser Alliser's a knight, highborn, anointed, with old friends at court, altogether harder to ignore than a glorified crow.† â€Å"Crow.† Jon thought the raven sounded faintly indignant. â€Å"As well,† the Lord Commander continued, ignoring the bird's protest, â€Å"it puts a thousand leagues twixt him and you without it seeming a rebuke.† He jabbed a finger up at Jon's face. â€Å"And don't think this means I approve of that nonsense in the common hall. Valor makes up for a fair amount of folly, but you're not a boy anymore, however many years you've seen. That's a man's sword you have there, and it will take a man to wield her. I'll expect you to act the part, henceforth.† â€Å"Yes, my lord.† Jon slid the sword back into the silver-banded scabbard. If not the blade he would have chosen, it was nonetheless a noble gift, and freeing him from Alliser Thorne's malignance was nobler still. The Old Bear scratched at his chin. â€Å"I had forgotten how much a new beard itches,† he said. â€Å"Well, no help for that. Is that hand of yours healed enough to resume your duties?† â€Å"Yes, my lord.† â€Å"Good. The night will be cold, I'll want hot spice wine. Find me a flagon of red, not too sour, and don't skimp on the spices. And tell Hobb that if he sends me boiled mutton again I'm like to boil him. That last haunch was grey. Even the bird wouldn't touch it.† He stroked the raven's head with his thumb, and the bird made a contented quorking sound. â€Å"Away with you. I've work to do.† The guards smiled at him from their niches as he wound his way down the turret stair, carrying the sword in his good hand. â€Å"Sweet steel,† one man said. â€Å"You earned that, Snow,† another told him. Jon made himself smile back at them, but his heart was not in it. He knew he should be pleased, yet he did not feel it. His hand ached, and the taste of anger was in his mouth, though he could not have said who he was angry with or why. A half dozen of his friends were lurking outside when he left the King's Tower, where Lord Commander Mormont now made his residence. They'd hung a target on the granary doors, so they could seem to be honing their skills as archers, but he knew lurkers when he saw them. No sooner did he emerge than Pyp called out, â€Å"Well, come about, let's have a look.† â€Å"At what?† Jon said. Toad sidled close. â€Å"Your rosy butt cheeks, what else?† â€Å"The sword,† Grenn stated. â€Å"We want to see the sword.† Jon raked them with an accusing look. â€Å"You knew.† Pyp grinned. â€Å"We're not all as dumb as Grenn.† â€Å"You are so,† insisted Grenn. â€Å"You're dumber.† Halder gave an apologetic shrug. â€Å"I helped Pate carve the stone for the pommel,† the builder said, â€Å"and your friend Sam bought the garnets in Mole's Town.† â€Å"We knew even before that, though,† Grenn said. â€Å"Rudge has been helping Donal Noye in the forge. He was there when the Old Bear brought him the burnt blade.† â€Å"The sword!† Matt insisted. The others took up the chant. â€Å"The sword, the sword, the sword.† Jon unsheathed Longclaw and showed it to them, turning it this way and that so they could admire it. The bastard blade glittered in the pale sunlight, dark and deadly. â€Å"Valyrian steel,† he declared solemnly, trying to sound as pleased and proud as he ought to have felt. â€Å"I heard of a man who had a razor made of Valyrian steel,† declared Toad. â€Å"He cut his head off trying to shave.† Pyp grinned. â€Å"The Night's Watch is thousands of years old,† he said, â€Å"but I'll wager Lord Snow's the first brother ever honored for burning down the Lord Commander's Tower.† The others laughed, and even Jon had to smile. The fire he'd started had not, in truth, burned down that formidable stone tower, but it had done a fair job of gutting the interior of the top two floors, where the Old Bear had his chambers. No one seemed to mind that very much, since it had also destroyed Othor's murderous corpse. The other wight, the one-handed thing that had once been a ranger named Jafer Flowers, had also been destroyed, cut near to pieces by a dozen swords . . . but not before it had slain Ser Jaremy Rykker and four other men. Ser Jaremy had finished the job of hacking its head off, yet had died all the same when the headless corpse pulled his own dagger from its sheath and buried it in his bowels. Strength and courage did not avail much against foemen who would not fall because they were already dead; even arms and armor offered small protection. That grim thought soured Jon's fragile mood. â€Å"I need to see Hobb about the Old Bear's supper,† he announced brusquely, sliding Longclaw back into its scabbard. His friends meant well, but they did not understand. It was not their fault, truly; they had not had to face Othor, they had not seen the pale glow of those dead blue eyes, had not felt the cold of those dead black fingers. Nor did they know of the fighting in the riverlands. How could they hope to comprehend? He turned away from them abruptly and strode off, sullen. Pyp called after him, but Jon paid him no mind. They had moved him back to his old cell in tumbledown Hardin's Tower after the fire, and it was there he returned. Ghost was curled up asleep beside the door, but he lifted his head at the sound of Jon's boots. The direwolf's red eyes were darker than garnets and wiser than men. Jon knelt, scratched his ear, and showed him the pommel of the sword. â€Å"Look. It's you.† Ghost sniffed at his carved stone likeness and tried a lick. Jon smiled. â€Å"You're the one deserves an honor,† he told the wolf . . . and suddenly he found himself remembering how he'd found him, that day in the late summer snow. They had been riding off with the other pups, but Jon had heard a noise and turned back, and there he was, white fur almost invisible against the drifts. He was all alone, he thought, apart from the others in the litter. He was different, so they drove him out. â€Å"Jon?† He looked up. Samwell Tarly stood rocking nervously on his heels. His cheeks were red, and he was wrapped in a heavy fur cloak that made him look ready for hibernation. â€Å"Sam.† Jon stood. â€Å"What is it? Do you want to see the sword?† If the others had known, no doubt Sam did too. The fat boy shook his head. â€Å"I was heir to my father's blade once,† he said mournfully. â€Å"Heartsbane. Lord Randyll let me hold it a few times, but it always scared me. It was Valyrian steel, beautiful but so sharp I was afraid I'd hurt one of my sisters. Dickon will have it now.† He wiped sweaty hands on his cloak. â€Å"I ah . . . Maester Aemon wants to see you.† It was not time for his bandages to be changed. Jon frowned suspiciously. â€Å"Why?† he demanded. Sam looked miserable. That was answer enough. â€Å"You told him, didn't you?† Jon said angrily. â€Å"You told him that you told me.† â€Å"I . . . he . . . Jon, I didn't want to . . . he asked . . . I mean I think he knew, he sees things no one else sees . . . â€Å" â€Å"He's blind,† Jon pointed out forcefully, disgusted. â€Å"I can find the way myself.† He left Sam standing there, openmouthed and quivering. He found Maester Aemon up in the rookery, feeding the ravens. Clydas was with him, carrying a bucket of chopped meat as they shuffled from cage to cage. â€Å"Sam said you wanted me?† The maester nodded. â€Å"I did indeed. Clydas, give Jon the bucket. Perhaps he will be kind enough to assist me.† The hunched, pink-eyed brother handed Jon the bucket and scurried down the ladder. â€Å"Toss the meat into the cages,† Aemon instructed him. â€Å"The birds will do the rest. â€Å" Jon shifted the bucket to his right hand and thrust his left down into the bloody bits. The ravens began to scream noisily and fly at the bars, beating at the metal with night-black wings. The meat had been chopped into pieces no larger than a finger joint. He filled his fist and tossed the raw red morsels into the cage, and the squawking and squabbling grew hotter. Feathers flew as two of the larger birds fought over a choice piece. Quickly Jon grabbed a second handful and threw it in after the first. â€Å"Lord Mormont's raven likes fruit and corn.† â€Å"He is a rare bird,† the maester said. â€Å"Most ravens will eat grain, but they prefer flesh. It makes them strong, and I fear they relish the taste of blood. In that they are like men . . . and like men, not all ravens are alike.† Jon had nothing to say to that. He threw meat, wondering why he'd been summoned. No doubt the old man would tell him, in his own good time. Maester Aemon was not a man to be hurried. â€Å"Doves and pigeons can also be trained to carry messages,† the maester went on, â€Å"though the raven is a stronger flyer, larger, bolder, far more clever, better able to defend itself against hawks . . . yet ravens are black, and they eat the dead, so some godly men abhor them. Baelor the Blessed tried to replace all the ravens with doves, did you know?† The maester turned his white eyes on Jon, smiling. â€Å"The Night's Watch prefers ravens.† Jon's fingers were in the bucket, blood up to the wrist. â€Å"Dywen says the wildlings call us crows,† he said uncertainty. â€Å"The crow is the raven's poor cousin. They are both beggars in black, hated and misunderstood.† Jon wished he understood what they were talking about, and why. What did he care about ravens and doves? If the old man had something to say to him, why couldn't he just say it? â€Å"Jon, did you ever wonder why the men of the Night's Watch take no wives and father no children?† Maester Aemon asked. Jon shrugged. â€Å"No.† He scattered more meat. The fingers of his left hand were slimy with blood, and his right throbbed from the weight of the bucket. â€Å"So they will not love,† the old man answered, â€Å"for love is the bane of honor, the death of duty.† That did not sound right to Jon, yet he said nothing. The maester was a hundred years old, and a high officer of the Night's Watch; it was not his place to contradict him. The old man seemed to sense his doubts. â€Å"Tell me, Jon, if the day should ever come when your lord father must needs choose between honor on the one hand and those he loves on the other, what would he do?† Jon hesitated. He wanted to say that Lord Eddard would never dishonor himself, not even for love, yet inside a small sly voice whispered, He fathered a bastard, where was the honor in that? And your mother, what of his duty to her, he will not even say her name. â€Å"He would do whatever was right,† he said . . . ringingly, to make up for his hesitation. â€Å"No matter what.† â€Å"Then Lord Eddard is a man in ten thousand. Most of us are not so strong. What is honor compared to a woman's love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms . . . or the memory of a brother's smile? Wind and words. Wind and words. We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy. â€Å"The men who formed the Night's Watch knew that only their courage shielded the realm from the darkness to the north. They knew they must have no pided loyalties to weaken their resolve. So they vowed they would have no wives nor children. â€Å"Yet brothers they had, and sisters. Mothers who gave them birth, fathers who gave them names. They came from a hundred quarrelsome kingdoms, and they knew times may change, but men do not. So they pledged as well that the Night's Watch would take no part in the battles of the realms it guarded. â€Å"They kept their pledge. When Aegon slew Black Harren and claimed his kingdom, Harren's brother was Lord Commander on the Wall, with ten thousand swords to hand. He did not march. In the days when the Seven Kingdoms were seven kingdoms, not a generation passed that three or four of them were not at war. The Watch took no part. When the Andals crossed the narrow sea and swept away the kingdoms of the First Men, the sons of the fallen kings held true to their vows and remained at their posts. So it has always been, for years beyond counting. Such is the price of honor. â€Å"A craven can be as brave as any man, when there is nothing to fear. And we all do our duty, when there is no cost to it. How easy it seems then, to walk the path of honor. Yet soon or late in every man's life comes a day when it is not easy, a day when he must choose.† Some of the ravens were still eating, long stringy bits of meat dangling from their beaks. The rest seemed to be watching him. Jon could feel the weight of all those tiny black eyes. â€Å"And this is my day . . . is that what you're saying?† Maester Aemon turned his head and looked at him with those dead white eyes. It was as if he were seeing right into his heart. Jon felt naked and exposed. He took the bucket in both hands and flung the rest of the slops through the bars. Strings of meat and blood flew everywhere, scattering the ravens. They took to the air, shrieking wildly. The quicker birds snatched morsels on the wing and gulped them down greedily. Jon let the empty bucket clang to the floor. The old man laid a withered, spotted hand on his shoulder. â€Å"It hurts, boy,† he said softly. â€Å"Oh, yes. Choosing . . . it has always hurt. And always will. I know.† â€Å"You don't know,† Jon said bitterly. â€Å"No one knows. Even if I am his bastard, he's still my father . . . â€Å" Maester Aemon sighed. â€Å"Have you heard nothing I've told you, Jon? Do you think you are the first?† He shook his ancient head, a gesture weary beyond words. â€Å"Three times the gods saw fit to test my vows. Once when I was a boy, once in the fullness of my manhood, and once when I had grown old. By then my strength was fled, my eyes grown dim, yet that last choice was as cruel as the first. My ravens would bring the news from the south, words darker than their wings, the ruin of my House, the death of my kin, disgrace and desolation. What could I have done, old, blind, frail? I was helpless as a suckling babe, yet still it grieved me to sit forgotten as they cut down my brother's poor grandson, and his son, and even the little children . . . â€Å" Jon was shocked to see the shine of tears in the old man's eyes. â€Å"Who are you?† he asked quietly, almost in dread. A toothless smile quivered on the ancient lips. â€Å"Only a maester of the Citadel, bound in service to Castle Black and the Night's Watch. In my order, we put aside our house names when we take our vows and don the collar.† The old man touched the maester's chain that hung loosely around his thin, fleshless neck. â€Å"My father was Maekar, the First of his Name, and my brother Aegon reigned after him in my stead. My grandfather named me for Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, who was his uncle, or his father, depending on which tale you believe. Aemon, he called me . . . â€Å" â€Å"Aemon . . . Targaryen?† Jon could scarcely believe it. â€Å"Once,† the old man said. â€Å"Once. So you see, Jon, I do know . . . and knowing, I will not tell you stay or go. You must make that choice yourself, and live with it all the rest of your days. As I have.† His voice fell to a whisper. â€Å"As I have . . . â€Å"