Managing New Product Development Essay

New product development requires organizations to facilitate cooperation and coordination between department boundaries within the organization. To facilitate this cooperation and coordination, organizations form cross-functional new product development teams to lead and manage the development process for new products. There are several variations that these teams can be formed and managed. New product development teams can be structured into four types: functional, lightweight, heavyweight, and autonomous (Schilling, 2008). In functional teams, members remain in their respective departments and report to their regular manager. In this type of team, members meet periodically to discuss the project. This type of team is usually temporary and team members may only spend a small amount of time on team projects (Schilling, 2008). In lightweight teams, members are still a part of their functional departments, as with functional teams, however, unlike functional teams, a lightweight team has a project manager and a dedicated liaison to facilitate communication and coordination between functions (Schilling, 2008). Heavyweight team members are removed from their functional departments and are collocated with a project manager. The project managers in heavyweight teams are usually members of senior management with significant authority to command resources. Under a heavyweight team, members are assigned full-time to the project. This helps ensure cross-functional coordination and communication (Schilling, 2008). Under autonomous teams, members are completely removed from their functional departments and dedicated full-time to the development team. In this type of team, membership is sometimes permanent. This type of team is headed by a very senior manager with full control over resources contributed from different functional departments (Schilling, 2008). Autonomous teams often create their own policies, procedures, and reward systems, apart from the rest of the organization. They are also held fully responsible for the success or failure of any given project. In many ways, autonomous teams behave as if they are independent decisions within the organization. This allows rapid and efficient new product development because they do not have to deal with organizational procedures, which could slow the development process (Schilling, 2008).There are many challenges managers face when  managing innovation. Alcatel – Lucent has a proven record of accomplishment with teams within the Bell Laboratories. Alcatel – Lucent prides itself on being the place where innovation, through vision and technology, intercept the needs of its customers from incubating start-up projects to performing fundamental and applied research. Bell Labs is the engine behind innovation at Alcatel – Lucent designing products and services that are at the forefront of communications technology. More than any other institution, Bell Labs has been at the forefront weaving technological fabric of modern society (Alcatel – Lucent | Innovation, 2006 – 2010). Their scientist and engineers have made seminal discoveries, launched technical revolutions that have reshaped the way people live, work, and play. They have built the most advanced and reliable communications networks in the world. Bell Labs has helped Alcatel – Lucent take the lead in shaping tomorrows broadband networks powered with service intelligence at every network layer (Alcatel – Lucent | Innovation, 2006 – 2010) Bell Labs enjoys a rich tradition of inventions and innovations that have fundamentally changed the way people communicate and share their lives. Bell Labs utilizes an autonomous team format that recognizes both multiple dimensions of research as well as cross-discipline (cross-functional) interactions are critical to the innovation process. Bell Labs scientific disciplines include mathematicians, algorithmic scientist, physical scientist, nanotechnologist, software and computer scientist, and many other specified scientist and researchers (Alc atel – Lucent | Innovation, 2006 – 2010). Bell Labs research culture can be summed up in two words: innovating innovation. They are continuously reevaluating, reassessing, and improving how its research contributes to Alcatel – Lucent. Its scientist are a flexible group with a commitment to venturing new paths and seeking out new approaches to product development (Alcatel – Lucent, 2010). At Bell Labs, there is a culture of innovating innovation that is based on two key criteria: a critical mass of scientist and an entrepreneurial persona. The critical mass of diverse scientist and engineers generate big ideas and work through those ideas from multiple angles, allowing them to approach complex issues from a variety of perspectives and integrate those perspectives into groundbreaking new products and services. Their adoption of an entrepreneurial persona ensures that some of the most promising near term research assets are driven into  the business and carried into the market. This process allows Bell Labs res earchers work together to direct research insights and innovations into commercialized products and validate them in the marketplace (Alcatel – Lucent, 2010). Bell Labs is a research organization with a unique and diverse set of expertise that stretches across a wide gamut of scientific disciplines that has played a major role in some of the most revolutionary inventions of the last hundred years. It is an organization that has left huge footprints on the communications landscape and continues to explore new paths in unchartered territory (Alcatel – Lucent, 2010). Over the next five to ten years, Bell Labs and Alcatel – Lucent will continue to be at the forefront of telecommunications solutions and innovations. There market position will only improve with new breakthroughs in communication devices that provide the best solutions for today’s enterprises and governments. References Alcatel – Lucent | Company Overview. (2006 – 2010). Retrieved April 30, 2010, from Alcatel – Lucent – About Us: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/AboutUs/Overview/?lu_lang_code=en Alcatel – Lucent | Innovation. (2006 – 2010). Acatel – Lucent | About Alcatel – Lucent Innovation. Retrieved April 30, 2010, from Alcatel – Lucent – About Innovation: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLd4w3MfQFSYGYRq6m-pEoYgbxjgiRIH1vfV-P_NxU_QD9gtzQiHJHR0UAAD_zXg!!/delta/base64xml/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS80SVVFLzZfQV9CVEg! Alcatel – Lucent. (2010). Innovating Innovation. Retrieved July 6, 2010, from Bell Labs | Alcatel – Lucent: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLd4x3DnAFSYGYRq6m-pEoYgbxjggRX4_83FT9IH1v_QD9gtzQiHJHR0UAZYL6lQ!!/delta/base64xml/L3dJdyEvd0ZNQUFzQUMvNElVRS82X0FfNDND Schilling, M. A. (2008). Strategic Management of Technological Innovation, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Choices: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Essay

What is happening in each poem? How do they compare and contrast? What is the main idea to both poems? The poem â€Å"The Road Not Taken† is a very sentimental poem, because it is about a choice. On the other hand, the poem â€Å"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening† is about the choice that someone made already. In â€Å"The Road Not Taken† the person chose to take a road with an unknown ending, and is less traveled. Moreover, the writer was letting people know that sometimes taking the less traveled path makes a huge difference. The evidence I found was â€Å"I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. (Frost, 2008)† This poem is basically about a life choice, because sometimes people comes to a fork in the road, and they have to decide which way is better for them. However, sometimes people do not make the right choice, but it’s a life lesson to be learned. In â€Å"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening† the writer was talking about slowing down to enjoy life. Too many people try to get caught up in life, but if they would just slow down and look around they might feel relaxed and safe. The evidence that I found to make me believe this poem was are slowing down for life was â€Å"To watch his woods fill up with snow, (Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, 2008)† and â€Å"The woods are lovely, dark and deep (Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, 2008)†. Both poems compare to one another, because one is about making a choice while the other is about enjoying it. Those poems tones were the same sad, yet hopeful, which makes me believe the writer, Robert Frost, was a very sad person full of hope, and the desire for something grater. I would recommend those poems to teenagers up to adults, because that is when life starts taking hold, and that is when choices become.

What Qualities Will You Ook for in Your Future Husband or Wife

I am still studying but pretty soon I will be earning a living and thinking of getting married. Most people marry for love but all too often marriages break up because they have chosen unsuitable partners. It is therefore important for me to choose my future husband carefully as I want my marriage to be happy and to last. I realise my own imperfections and know that any romantic notions of marrying Mr World is out. Besides, physical perfection is no guarantee for inner beauty and mental strength which are more essential. Of course, I want my husband to be good-looking but he must be gregarious, with a pleasant personality and an ability to mix with everyone easily. He must be well-educated, at least up to degree. He must also be caring and be able to think independently. Some women like a submissive husband but I would like mine to stand up for his own point of view if he feels I am wrong. This, I think, would make for more exciting interaction and a meaningful relationship. Nevertheless, there must be some common ground. I love reading and have a wry sense of humour that few Malaysians appreciate. I therefore want a husband who has a good sense of humour and enjoys a good book, too. What intellectual discussion we could have, dissecting the short stories of Guy de Maupassant or admiring the glory and grandeur of Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Read also: â€Å"My Ideal Wife†

Garrowby Hill by David Hockney Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Garrowby Hill by David Hockney - Essay Example The essay "Garrowby Hill by David Hockney" explores the life and works of British artist David Hockney, keeping the main focus on the canvas â€Å"Garrowby Hill†. It is really a hedonist canvas every inch of its surface. Our eyes can’t get away the winding road that seems to be moving by itself. The sense of movement is present in all the canvas as its dynamic composition suggests. The vibrant colors give life to the painting, and we feel a joyous vibration of optimism when we stare quietly at â€Å"Garrowby Hill† by David Hockney. The blue curved street on the foreground goes happily deep into the background where we lose sight of it. There is a lonely pine tree at the left side of the foreground. On the other side there is a line of trees going along the road. The geometrical fields are intelligently placed. Green is the predominant color as it is the color of Nature. But coloring in this painting has a deliberate sense of humor, of sensuality, springing from a free-spirited soul. It is obvious that this is not a realist canvas as its coloring and its imagery are a product of the artist’s imagination along a more interpretative line of painting. David Hockney was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, in 1937. He is a painter, draftsman, printmaker, photographer, and designer. He attended Bradford School of Art from 1953 to 1959. Later on he was an outstanding student at the Royal College of Art, where he studied from 1959 to 1962. At the beginning of his career, he used to do abstract painting.

Lobour Market Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Lobour Market Policy - Essay Example The understanding of "labor market" or more appropriately, "labor markets" involves the study of the dynamics of the market vis--vis the demand and supply of various kinds of labor. A 'labor market' may be defined as the number of people employed plus the number of unemployed but seeking work. The supply of labor depends upon variables such as natural population growth, new entrants, immigrants, retirements, increased female participation, de-industrialization, skills shortage and surpluses, education and training, flexibility, and wage determination. The 'level of employment' is the proportion of such employed in the total labor market. The levels of supply and demand in the 'labor market', just as in 'markets' for any other goods depend on the availability of work, the availability of labor and their skill compatibility. However the main difference between the two is the function of supply and demand in setting the price and quantity. Whereas in the case of goods, increases in prices result in increased production for the demand to be satisfied, this does not happen in the case of labor for there are limitations of time available for labor and increased wages may result in less supply of labor as workers may tend to utilize increased earnings to indulge in leisure activities. Some economists believe that the laws of supply and demand apply more to certain segments of the markets only where workers change job types corresponding to changing wage rates.Segmenting labor markets The 'agency theory' of labor management purports that the principals (owners or managers) have to develop ways to monitor and control the activities of their agents (staff); that the principals may have problems in ensuring that work is carried out according to instructions and that therefore it is necessary to clear up ambiguities by setting objectives and monitoring performance. (Armstrong 2003, p. 281). However Armstrong suggests that the theory "looks at the employment relationship purely from management's point of view and regards employees as objects to be motivated by the carrot and stick." He calls it a "dismal theory, which suggests that people cannot be trusted." (Armstrong 1996, cited in 2003, p.281). The neoclassical theory of labor markets assumes that firms aim to maximize their profits with minimal costs; the number of buyers (firms) and sellers (workers) is high; there is no collective bargaining that there is no monopsony of power (exploitation of labor because of large supply and low demand) and that the firm is a wage taker. In a perfect world, with no bargaining forums like trade unions, labor markets may be 'competitive'. This means that the workers and employers have information about each other and that there are no transaction costs. On the other hand, job search, training and the need to gain experience to switch jobs are variables that determine supply and demand in a normal labor market. However the glaring lacuna of this theory is that it assumes that labor is homogeneous which means that all workers turn out equal amount of work and that there are no differences in skills and experience of workers. This is demonstrated by the study of Hipple and Stewart (1996), w hich highlights the wide variations in the

Discussing incentives to conserve marine biodiversity conservation Essay

Discussing incentives to conserve marine biodiversity conservation within the framework of impure public goods - Essay Example It is important to note that their benefits can be affected when the government decides not to offer the conservation. (Maxwell) Ordinarilly, an externality is the effect of an economic activity felt by those not directly involved in the economic activity. Positive externalities are often described as spillover effects to suggest their effects are felt by consumers who were not directly intended by their producers. The impure public goods such marine biodiversity and other environmental amenities are not to be supplied privately because the provider cannot capture the benefits and therefore no one can be excluded, so free riding is possible. Clearly, some aspects of marine bear the characteristics of a public good. Marine contributes to global biodiversity and enhances the well being of the majority of people. (Bulte) Ordinarily, no one has the appropriate incentive to provide marine habitat or otherwise protect marine as they cannot capture the full benefits from the needed investments. Market failure occurs because the amount of a public good is underprovided, and thus marginal social benefits exceed marginal social costs. In this case, more of the public good should be provided, but it is forthcoming only if society subsidizes a private supplier, or provides it publicly. (Bulte) On the other hand, negative externalities that include the government regulations impose costs on society that extend beyond the cost of production as originally intended by the producer. A producer of a negative externality who does not have to worry about its full cost is likely to produce an excessive harmful amount of the product.Ordinarilly, regulations and fines may deter the production of negative externalities. But the effects of regulation may be limited under conditions such as where negative externalities are so pervasive they encourage free riding attitudes, where negative externalities are so pervasive their producers could

Analysis of Business Communications Personal Statement

Analysis of Business Communications - Personal Statement Example For that to happen the receivers must actually want to read the letter and not just put it aside in the belief that they know what it contains. Therefore, the letter should begin with an attention-getting statement and then proceed (incorporating the summarization) to state how the writer can meet the reader’s needs, ending with a request for action and a thank-you for having been given the opportunity to explain to them how much they will enjoy this product or service (Stewart et al, 1986). Having received the bad news from the president of the company that the Accounting Department has overcharged client ABC $12,023 in May 2008, the Marketing Specialist would immediately go into damage control. To do this, with the help of Sue Smith in Accounting is required; and in order for her to do so, she must be made aware of the situation. This should be done in a respectful and non-accusing manner, which makes the contact very important. A good approach would be for the Marketing Specialist to deliver a written memo—marked confidential and urgent-- to her office that would contain the same information from the president that he received. He would tell her that he realized that she might require a little time to digest them There is probably no easy way to deliver a message such as the one written by the President. If the Marketing Specialist had simply gone into Sue Smith’s office to verbally deliver this message, he might have got no further than that they had overcharged Client ABC $12,023 in May 2008 before she would have become upset and begun to pepper him with questions regarding if it was an honest mistake, if someone might be embezzling, and so forth. By being left alone to read and to digest the whole message, she would, hopefully, be relatively calm for her meeting with the Marketing Specialist who had promised, when he delivered the memo, to work with her to  resolve the problem, that she was not in this alone.

Reflective journal on Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reflective journal on Leadership - Essay Example In elucidating Vrooms expectancy theory, Pattanayak (2005: 183) posits that "Under conditions of free choice, an individual is motivated towards that activity which he is most capable of understanding and which he believes has the highest probability of leading him to his most preferred goal". Vroom in his theory supposed that human beings are inspired to achieve a particular purpose by anticipated standards or principles, coupled with the inference that the action geared towards the achievement of the purpose will result to the preferred principles (Pattanayak, 2005: 183). Vrooms theory has a number of components, namely valence, instrumentality, and expectancy. According to Pattanayak (2005: 183), valence denotes peoples partiality towards specific end results, and instrumentality denotes peoples acuity with regard to whether a guaranteed reward will essentially be awarded to them. Expectancy, on the other hand, represents the divergent anticipations among people in regards to thei r abilities. Vroom, as asserted by Pattanayak (2005: 183), is of the opinion that inspiration towards achievement of a specific purpose is dependent on valence, instrumentality, and expectancy. In reference to Vrooms expectancy theory, my productivity and performance in my workplace is directly related to my skills, experience, and abilities. An example of one of my skills include effective listening skills. Listening helps me effectively understand or comprehend my responsibilities in my workplace and as a result, I always achieve good results. There are also financial incentives given in my workplace. It is worth noting that these incentives act as motivators. Hard economic times in the contemporary world necessitates people to work harder in order to achieve better results, and as a consequence get better rewards. Additionally, my activities or actions are also motivated by the end results. For instance, recycling

Concept of beauty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Concept of beauty - Essay Example According to Winckelmann, Greek painting and sculpture was not too preferred or admired. However, the few who admired had great taste, leading to the endorsement of the works of Correggio in making the windows that covered the royal stables in Stockholm (Winckelmann, 3). There was an endorsement of some foreign artists who introduced foreign designs such as the Saxony. These foreigners had great tastes in their work and incorporated natural beauty, leading to the endorsement of their works that led to their firm establishment in Greek land (Winckelmann, 3). The strategy of gathering and display of great international artworks was used in the perpetuation of art, though it was brought down by the great works of Greek art masters that were imitated by many other artists in their artworks and sculpture (Winckelmann, 5). Winckelmann describes nature as the source of the purest art that was further advanced by many artists to increase tastes and preferences. He termed these types of artis ts as lucky, thereby asserting that good tastes in natural beauty originated from ancient Greek nature and history (Winckelmann, 5). ... This is portrayal of the perfect rules of art. Winckelmann emphasizes that there are clear negligence in any of the works by Greek artists, such as the addition of the dolphin to Medicean Venus combined with the playing children (Winckelmann, 7). Connoisseurs and imitators describe nature beauty as the most beautiful in the Greek masterpieces with some perfect additional forms of beauty (Winckelmann, 7). The ancient artworks are described as made by the mind lone, as per the teachings of an ancient interpreter of Plato. Winckelmann described the most beautiful being resembled of the Greek body as it resembled his/her sibling (Winckelmann, 7). The design of the Greek clothing was in accordance to the formative beauty of nature (Winckelmann, 9). According to Burke, artistic tastes and preferences depend on the reasoning levels in each individual (Burke, 19). He stated that there is diversity in reasoning, on the concept of beauty, though there are standards of reasoning and taste that are similar in all human creatures. On Burke’s argument to contrast beauty ideology to the concept of the sublime, he beauty as taking a hold on reason, passion or taste in order to maintain ordinary or natural correspondents of life (Burke, 19). This meant the definition of the beauty concept as dependent on the truth or falsehood in the terms of natural beauty. According to Burke, there is the settlement of certain maxims of right reasoning in the most ignorant humans, in the terms of beauty tastes and preferences. There must be improvement of the rude science of ignorance by the learned, through a system (Burke, 20). Difference in opinion is considered to have no important consequences due to the logic of taste,

The purpose of this analysis is to apply the industry analysis models Essay

The purpose of this analysis is to apply the industry analysis models introduced in chapter four. The two models are PESTEL and - Essay Example Rationale behind choosing the Retail Sector The study has selected retail sector under NAICS with code 44-45 (NAICS, 2013b). The retail sector is an important sector which covers a wide area of the business in today’s world. The retail trade market accounts for almost 12.4 percent of the total business establishments in United States. The single store businesses are said to account for almost 95 percent of the entire United States retailers. Some of the big retailing companies include Wal-Mart, Zara, Target Corporation, Benetton Group etc. However, this study would be focusing on the retail trade industry in Canada. The study has selected this sector as it covers a wide segment of the business world with huge growth prospects. NAICS Industry Profile: Retail Trade Industry Retail trade is the sale of products and services by the individuals or the businesses to the end users. The retailers include a part of the integrated system known as the supply chain. The retailer buys prod ucts or goods from the manufacturers in large quantities either directly or through whole sale and then sells them in small quantities to the customers in order to gain good profit. This industry covers a huge portion of the businesses where retailing can be done in fixed locations by means of stores and markets, or can be delivered to the customers directly. The term retailer is applicable for the service providers as well. These service providers provide services like electric power, public utility and such for many individuals. The industry comprises of small business shops. These shops may be located in the residential streets, different shopping streets or in the shopping malls. Online retailing being one type of electronic commerce which is utilized in the business to consumer transactions i.e. B2C include non-shop retailing. The retailing industry can be said to be one of the most dynamic industries in the world. It is considered as the one of the ever growing businesses cate ring products and services to the changing needs and demands of the customers. The companies belonging to this particular industry sell the merchandises or products to its consumers from a definite location. Retail industry is the second biggest industry in entire United States in terms of both number of employees and establishments (Research and Markets, 2013). It generates a retail sale of $ 3.8 trillion annually. It also includes the largest sector worldwide. The next part of the project would be conducting the macro environmental analysis of the retail trade industry by means of PESTEL Analysis and Porter’s Five Forces Analysis. PESTEL Analysis The PESTEL Analysis helps in describing an essential framework of different macro environmental factors which are used in the environmental scanning of a particular organization (Pettigrew, Whittington & Thomas, 2006; Lorat, 2009). Political/Legal Canada is a democratic country with one parliamentary government. It consists of thre e main parts: a) Federal, b) Provisional and c) Municipal (Parliament of Canada, 2012). The government provides huge scope for the retail industry. It facilitates the growth in the industry. The policies on the economy and trading agreements as specified by NAFTA are essential to be followed by the companies operating in this industry (Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, 2013). The increased limitations in the

Engineering And Construction Parking Demand Assignment

Engineering And Construction Parking Demand - Assignment Example The fulfillment of the desires of the clients is highly recommendable and forms the basis of the primary goal of this designer. A rectangular design enables provision of a well-defined design development will significantly increase the envisaged probability of creating parking areas that gratify this overriding goal. In the process of maximizing the parking zones, critical relevance is placed on the analysis of the presented need, physical requirements need analysis, aesthetics, and safety. From a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the facility or chapel, a transportation plan is highly considered in locating the parking for the vehicles that will be coming inside the compound. The highly detailed and elaborate outline of the parking lot creates an inventory of enhanced parking areas, free spaces, and their employment thus determining the adequacy and effectiveness of present configurations. The parking lot has the ability to amply contain several vehicles collectively for the at tendees of the chapel.The proper shape of parking zone design enables tackling of the poor location and even outlined or inherent deficiencies of chapel or visitors and even reserved parking areas or sections for employee parking. The side location and placement of the parking lot well creates ample times for car parkers to use the exact time and allow for easy turnover rates as it acts a remedy to Identification access difficulties and unfortunate pavement location and other outlined plant material stipulations.

Criminal Law and Procedure Assignment Essay Example for Free

Criminal Law and Procedure Assignment Essay 1) At the Trial of Scissors Lee, the prosecution would like to produce to the court the caution statements of Scissors Lee as evidence of his confession. Can you write out a list of your objections you will raise with the court to the production of the caution statement at the trial? Ans:  Upon the production of the caution statement of Scissors Lee, I would like to raise some objections in term of its arresting procedure, reliability and voluntariness. Arresting Procedure: PC34567 should have cautioned Scissors Lee at the football ground According to the Rules and Direction for the Questioning of Suspects and the Taking of Statements issued by the Secretary for Security in 1992, when PC34567 has evidence that Scissors Lee might have committed an offence, he must caution Scissor Lee before putting him into further questions. In the caution statement, DPC13579 first quoted the conversation between Scissors Lee and PC34567 to induce Scissor Lee to have a consensus in the fact described in that conversation, however that conversation record was not obtained under caution and therefore it should not be mentioned in questioning Scissors Lee. Therefore, the caution statement is not obtained in a proper procedure and should be inadmissible. Arresting Procedure: DPC13579 did not tell Scissors Lee his rights fully under arrest After Scissors Lee was brought to the police station, he was not told by the police that he should have the chance to contact his family or get a lawyer. In that circumstance, Scissors Lee may be put in a situation of helpless and unassisted. Besides, DPC13579 told Scissors Lee that he could only go if he had given him a statement, therefore, there is a reasonable doubt that Scissors Lee may be induced to cooperate to work out the caution statement. If he was told that he may get a lawyer to represent him, he should have stayed silence during the interview of DPC13579. Reliability: The caution statement is recorded in English The interview should be conducted in the mother tongue of Scissors Lee, that seems not to be English but Cantonese, upon the conversation between Lee and PC34567 to avoid any ambiguity and misunderstanding. Scissors Lee is only a Form 4 student at a secondary school and do not do well in academic. Therefore, there is a reasonable doubt that Scissors Lee has the proficiency in English that he understood all the statements made by DPC13579 and stated concisely in his speaking about the whole story of the event. Voluntariness: The length of the time of the interview is too long The duration of the interview is 2 hours. It may be a factor that sapping the free will of Scissors Lee in signing the cautioned statement. When the interview time is lengthened, Scissors Lee was anxious to go home, and there is a reasonable possibility that Scissors Lee just signed the cautioned statement for letting DPC13579 to release him to go home, therefore the cautioned statement may not be made voluntarily and thus should be inadmissible. Voluntariness: Scissors Lee was in hunger but was rejected to take snack Throughout the interview, Scissors Lee was not given any refreshment. The interview was held at the time of having dinner (2000-2200), as he was quite hungry during the interview, he asked DPC13579 for some snack, however DPC13579 ignored him. In such circumstances, it is reasonable to object that the voluntariness of Scissors Lee to sign the cautioned statement was greatly affected by hunger and ignorance of DPC13579, thus the cautioned statement should be inadmissible. Voluntariness: Scissors Lee was deceived in signing the cautioned statement DPC13579 showed the cautioned statement to Scissors Lee, and simply asked him to sign on it without explaining the content. Scissors Lee thought the cautioned statement was a paper stating his right after his arrest and signed on it without full acknowledgement. There is a reasonable possibility that Scissors Lee was deceived into signing the cautioned statement and therefore, he was not voluntary in admitting hitting Ah Ho, therefore the cautioned statement should be void and thus inadmissible. Voluntariness: Scissors Lee was afraid of prejudice in admitting the offence Scissors Lee was told by DPC13579 that he was the only one arrested by the police and he must admit hitting Ah Ho otherwise the police would be very angry and come to his school to see him every day. Scissors Lee was afraid that if he did not admit the offence, the police would really come to see him every day which will obviously cause unexpected harassment to him. Therefore, the cautioned statement is clearly involuntary as it has been obtained by â€Å"a fear of prejudice†. Voluntariness: Scissors Lee was promised in admitting the offence Scissors Lee was told by DPC13579 that hitting is a common assault and he would get away with a fine. Since Scissors Lee thought that he already has a criminal conviction of bound-over and so that one more common assault would not further taint his character. DPC13579 had made an offer of release from police custody and therefore, it is obvious that Scissors Lee signed the cautioned statement in the hope of release, thus that statement is inadmissible. Voluntariness: Scissors Lee was unsuitable for confession upon his emotional status Throughout the interview, Scissors Lee was scared and anxious to go home. Under this mental condition, he was easily affected by external factors, such as the persuasion or threat by DPC13579, impatient to go home; therefore, it appears a reasonable doubt that he admitted the offence in absolute voluntary. As a result, the cautioned statement should not be admissible as it is not fair to demand Scissors Lee to make a comprehensive decision in the interview. Voluntariness: Scissors Lee may be affected by alcohol On the day in question, before PC34567 brought him back to police station, Scissors Lee was forced to drink whisky. It was hard to determine that whether the decision of Scissors Lee was affected by the alcohol. Therefore, there is a reasonable doubt that Scissors Lee signed the cautioned statement in an unconscious status, thus the cautioned statement may not be made in voluntary and so inadmissible. 2) Supposed Scissors Lee would plead guilty at his trial, can you advise him what mitigating factors you should address the court on his behalf? Ans:  After having a detailed analysis in Scissors Lee’s background and the circumstance of the offence, I may address the court some mitigating factors upon the facts of this case and of his background. Case Fact: Scissors Lee was scared of offending Mr. Big Mr. Big was an older boy who started to offer Scissors Lee drinks and snacks and treated him to bar after the match. He taught Scissors Lee how to drink and everybody in the football ground treated Mr. Big like their leader. In this case, Scissors Lee’s offence was instigated by Mr. Big. Mr. Big told Scissors Lee to be at the football ground at 3.30 pm so that he would like Scissors Lee to â€Å"teach Ah Ho a lesson.† Mr. Big continued to threaten Scissors Lee that if he did not come, Mr. Big would treat him naughty and teach him a real nasty lesson. Scissors Lee committed the offence only in fear of Mr. Big but not intentional. Case Fact: Scissors Lee was not the prime mover In this case, Mr. Big was throughout the only prime mover of the offence. Scissors Lee was only in control of Mr. Big because of fear of Mr. Big. He played a less important role than his accomplices in this offence and therefore he should be held less guilty. Without the threat by Mr. Big, there appears no evidence that Scissors Lee would commit the offence and cause any harm to Ah Ho, therefore, Scissors Lee was only a puppet of Mr. Big for his offence to Ah Ho. Case Fact: Scissors Lee attempted to stop others hitting Ah Ho When Ah Egg, Zero, Ah Kin were hitting Ah Ho, Scissors Lee went up and shouted to them to stop. His attempt to stop others hitting Ah Ho shows that, at first, he had no intention of hitting Ah Ho. Scissors Lee only pushed Ah Ho once after Mr. Big yelled at him, the purpose of his offence was only to make a false appearance to Mr. Big that he was hitting Ah Ho but not intended to cause bodily damage to Ah Ho. In such circumstances, his offence was relatively unsubstantial when compared to his accomplices. Case Fact: Scissors Lee was affected by alcohol which was forced to drink by Mr. Big Scissors Lee never like drinking wine. But before the offence, Scissors Lee was forced by Mr. Big to drink a lot of whisky. His offence may be affected by alcohol. Therefore, in such unconscious status, Scissors Lee was partly involuntary to commit the offence. There was no evidence that Scissors Lee will commit similar offence in the future. Case Fact: The injury of Ah Ho was not too serious Ah Ho was sent to the hospital for medical treatment, from his medical report, he was discharged with no complication from his wound and he would be expected to recover fully within two weeks. Although Scissors Lee and his accomplices did damage to Ah Ho, there was no evidence that the offence of Scissors Lee was causing any substantial damage and left any unrecoverable wound to Ah Ho. The offence committed by Scissors Lee was relatively light and it can be seen that the intention of Scissors Lee was not to cause serious harm to Ah Ho. Case Fact: Scissors Lee did not attempt to approach Ah Ho after the offence Scissors Lee has not tried to harass Ah Ho after the event and he stays a distance from Ah Ho, even if they are still in the same class. Scissors had shown genuine remorse for his offence and regret to what he had done to Ah Ho. Base on these circumstances, Scissors Lee is less likely to recommit any offence to Ah Ho. Case Fact: Scissors Lee pleaded guilty in sincere manner and cooperated with the police Scissors Lee was regret for his offence to Ah Ho, and he pleaded guilty in sincere manner. Throughout the arrest, Scissors Lee cooperated with the police and told the fact without any concealment. From the above evidence, we can see that Scissors Lee has the intention to repent and reform, he is less likely to commit any similar offence in the future. Therefore, the court should sentence him in high discretion. Background: Scissors Lee has good relationship with people surrounded From the background report of Scissors Lee, he came to Hong Kong 10 years ago to reunite with his father. However, his father since divorced his mother 8 years ago and left them. Scissors Lee is although come from a complicated family background his relationship with his mother is good. At school, he always has good relationship with school friends, class teacher and the principal. Scissors Lee has good personality and there is no substantial risk of reoffending. Background: Scissors Lee is a person of responsibility Scissors Lee is an active participator at school and he always help the school in important events like open-day, parents-day and whenever Justices of Peace come to visit them. It shows that Scissors Lee has a good character and a good work record at the school. Besides, Scissors Lee is also the sports captain of his school. He is responsible for organizing sport events and taking care of other schoolmates during sport events. All of his achievements at school show that, he is a person of responsibility and therefore he chose to bear the consequence of his offence. Background: Scissors Lee has a clear direction of future career Scissors Lee planned to be a footballer, a dancer or an artist after he has finished Form 5. He has a realistic prospect of career and therefore is outstanding from others of the same age. It shows that he is a mature and thoughtful youngster and therefore the criminal conviction of this minor offence would be a stain in his personality which may substantially affect his career and life in future already. Background: Scissors Lee was not really familiar with the prime mover Mr. Big Scissors Lee was not really familiar with the prime mover Mr. Big and his accomplices, Zero, Ah Kin and Egg. They are only met at the football ground and play football together. After this event, Scissors Lee is much likely to aloof from those people and he will no longer be influenced by these bad friends. Background: Although he was in bind-over, that offence was not relevant to this case Although Scissors Lee has a criminal conviction of fighting in public place on 5 Jan 2009 and he is under bound-over in $1000 for 12 months to be of good behavior and refrain from acts of violence. However, that offence was obviously provoked by the victims and it is not relevant to this case as in this case, Scissors Lee was in threat of Mr. Big. Therefore, the court should not impose any relationship from this record to the present case. Proposed Sentence Since Scissors Lee’s mother who earns only about $8,000 a month is the only financial support in his family, and the maintenance from his divorced father is always received on an irregular basis, to impose a fine may not be suitable as it may cause financial problem to his family. Therefore, a community service order should be imposed as Scissors Lee (1) is one with a light criminal record, (2) has a stable home background and good relationship with his mother, (3) has a good record in school important events, (4) has a realistic prospect of being a footballer, a dancer or an artist, (5) has shown genuine remorse upon his confession and (6) has no more than a slight risk of re-offending upon his background and facts in this case.

Socialt behandlingsarbete

Socialt behandlingsarbete 1. Min uppfattning à ¤r att Socialtjà ¤nstlagen à ¤r generellt sett en ramlag och som ger olika kommuner friheten att forma insatserna efter ortsbestà ¤mda villkor. Men man har, i och med lagen, fà ¥tt ett enormt stort ansvar som innebà ¤r skyldigheten att hjà ¤lpa mà ¤nniskor att leva ett †normalt† liv utifrà ¥n flera samhà ¤lleliga aspekter. Man har med andra ord helt enkelt skyldighet att hjà ¤lpa dem som behà ¶ver hjà ¤lp. Det som jag fà ¶rst lade mà ¤rke till och tycker à ¤r nà ¤mnvà ¤rt à ¤r att paragraf 1 i socialtjà ¤nstlagen à ¤r av rà ¤ttighetskaraktà ¤r. Kan inte jag, eller du, som invà ¥nare i Gislaveds kommun eller i Tomelilla pà ¥ nà ¥got annat sà ¤tt sà ¶rja fà ¶r và ¥ra egna behà ¶vligheter har vi rà ¤tt att fà ¥ stà ¶d, ekonomiskt och socialt bistà ¥nd och kontinuerlig tillfà ¶rsel i livet. Skulle man hindras denna rà ¤ttighet kan man à ¶verklaga till domstol. Det à ¤r inte bara dem som arbetar inom †socialenâ €  som beslutar utifrà ¥n socialtjà ¤nstlagen, utan à ¤ven praxis và ¤gleder. Min uppfattning à ¤r att hela denna lag à ¤r skapad utifrà ¥n ett và ¤lfà ¤rdsresonemang som fà ¶rsvarar mà ¤nniskor och ger dem en skà ¤lig levnadsnivà ¥. Det à ¤r liksom grundlà ¤ggande fà ¶r hela và ¥rt samhà ¤lle. Samhà ¤llets socialtjà ¤nst skall understà ¶dja den individuelles rà ¤tt till sysselsà ¤ttning, ett hem och skolunderbyggnad. Soc. eller socialen, som ocksà ¥ mà ¥nga kallar den, skall kanalisera sig pà ¥ att gà ¶rs sig oberoende och fà ¶rbà ¤ttra och stà ¤rka individuella mà ¤nniskors och gruppers egna resurser, och i arbetet skall man ta stor hà ¤nsyn till mà ¤nniskans sjà ¤lvbestà ¤mmanderà ¤tt, heder och integritet. Socialtjà ¤nsten ska vara bra fà ¶r mà ¤nniskor som behà ¶ver ekonomisk trygghet, likasà ¥ social trygghet samt arbeta fà ¶r att gynna jà ¤mlika levnadsvillkor och verksamt deltaga i samhà ¤llslivet. Om man là ¤ser fà ¶regà ¥en de mening en gà ¥ng till fà ¶rstà ¥r man den som en ramlag, vilket medfà ¶r att arbetet kan se olika ut i olika kommuner. Allt arbete, allt som socialtjà ¤nsten bidrar och arbetar efter à ¤r grundar sig i en demokratisk och solidarisk synsà ¤tt, vilket à ¤r stà ¥ndpunkten och den basala grunden till hela systemet. Socialtjà ¤nsten ska à ¤ven kà ¤nna till och vara insatt i de aktuella levnadsfà ¶rhà ¥llandena i kommunen, vara med i samhà ¤llsplaneringen och hjà ¤lpa fram bra miljà ¶er exempelvis genom att influera pà ¥ olika beslut om bostadsomrà ¥den. Miljà ¶n i samhà ¤llet ska vara tillfredstà ¤llande fà ¶r barn och ungdom, gamla och alla andra som behà ¶ver stà ¶ttning ifrà ¥n samhà ¤llets sida som alltid ska vara fà ¶retagsam i denna frà ¥ga. De à ¥tgà ¤rder socialtjà ¤nsten tar till skall vara av god kvalitet och personal skall vara tillgà ¤nglig och som à ¤ven ska ha en anvà ¤ndbar skolunderbyggnad och eller erfarenheter. Fà ¶r att uppnà ¥ mà ¥len i socialtjà ¤nstlagen arbetar kompetent personal sà ¥som socionomer, psykologer, behandligsassistenter och socialpedagoger med dessa frà ¥gor. Man vill framfà ¶rallt fà ¶rebygga sociala problem hos individer och grupper. Ett, vad vi definierar som socialt problem, kan vara allt ifrà ¥n att hamna i ungdomsgà ¤ng, psykisk instabilitet, missbruk eller kanske familjegrà ¤l. Det finns ett samspel mellan individ, grupp och miljà ¶. Sà ¤tts detta samspel i obalans skapas sà ¥ledes ett socialt problem. Nà ¤r det har uppstà ¥tt gà ¤ller det, ur ett socialt behandlingsarbete perspektiv, att upptà ¤cka den, behandla den och slutligen là ¶sa problemet. Fà ¶r att kunna gà ¶ra det arbetar man pà ¥ olika plan: individ- och familjeinriktat, mellanhand nà ¤r det gà ¤ller att finna utvà ¤gar fà ¶r enskilda, social direktion och planlà ¤ggning, social samverkan, och fà ¶rà ¤ndringsarbete av samhà ¤llet. Det sociala arbetet innehà ¥ller mycket ped agogik vilket i sig à ¤r ett enormt stort à ¤mne, men det innebà ¤r bland annat att kunna motivera mà ¤nniskor till utveckling. Man hjà ¤lper och ger stà ¶d och rà ¥dgivning till de mà ¤nniskor som à ¤r utsatta pà ¥ nà ¥got sà ¤tt. Man vill kunna utveckla en individs eller en grupps egna resurser och insatser à ¤r att man alltid praktiskt arbetar med de involverade, exempelvis ger dem rà ¥d, informerar pà ¥ olika offentliga platser, har olika samtal som rà ¶r problemet, ger budgetrà ¥dgivning, utreder familjefrà ¥gor sà ¥som adoption eller kanske và ¥rdad av barn, och ekonomiskt bistà ¥nd. Alla dessa insatser à ¤r olika verktyg fà ¶r att kunna uppfylla de mà ¥l som anges i socialtjà ¤nstlagen. Bistà ¥nd ges till mà ¤nniskor fà ¶r att kunna tillfà ¤lligt hjà ¤lpa mà ¤nniskor att ge ekonomisk trygg som i sin tur leder till jà ¤mlika levnadsvillkor i samhà ¤llet. Som fà ¶rà ¤lder kan man fà ¥ rà ¥dgivning till hur man hanterar ungdomar i tonà ¥ren, vilket bidrar social trygghet, och som framfà ¶r allt fà ¶rebygger ytterligare sociala problem. Man stà ¤rker alltsà ¥ och hjà ¤lper till att utveckla de egna resurserna hos en individ eller grupp. Nà ¤r man arbetar med individer sà ¤tter man upp và ¥rdplan som innehà ¥ller syfte och mà ¥lsà ¤ttning med behandling gemensamt med klienten. Man arbetar alltid med respekt fà ¶r individens sjà ¤lvbestà ¤mmande och integritet. Han eller hon ska ha mà ¶jlighet att và ¤lja vilken form av stà ¶d man à ¶nskar. Det kan hà ¤nda att andra organ i samhà ¤llet mà ¥ste blandas in i arbetet. Man fà ¶ljer vissa principer exempelvis frivillighet och sjà ¤lvbestà ¤mmande som innebà ¤r att dessa à ¤r và ¤gledande i handlà ¤ggningen och att klienten sjà ¤lv bestà ¤mmer om han eller hon vill ta emot en viss insats. Givetvis à ¤r inte socialtjà ¤nsten kravlà ¶s, men man fà ¶rsà ¶ker sà ¥ là ¥ngt det gà ¥r att respektera dessa tvà ¥ principer. Man mà ¥ste ha en helhe tssyn i sina handlà ¤gganden vilket innebà ¤r att man inte bara ser till problemet, utan ocksà ¥ att detta ses till fà ¶rhà ¥llandet till den sociala miljà ¶n klienten lever i. Hà ¤r brukar ofta andra organ i samhà ¤llet komma in. Mà ¥nga har kanske samma problem men mà ¶jligheter att exempelvis fà ¥ ett jobb eller en bostad à ¤r olika, som kanske visserligen hade là ¶st ett visst problem, men att alla inte har samma fà ¶rutsà ¤ttningar till att fà ¥ ett jobb eller bostad. Dà ¤rfà ¶r ser man alltid till en helhetssyn. Det finns mà ¥nga andra principer exempelvis normalisering eller nà ¤rhet. Man vill ju gà ¤rna inte bli stà ¤mplad i samhà ¤llet eller kanske utpekad, och dà ¤rfà ¶r anvà ¤nder socialtjà ¤nsten principen om normalisering nà ¤r man fà ¶rsà ¶ker uppfylla mà ¥l. Jag gillar principen om nà ¤rhet eftersom jag tror att arbetet effektiviseras enormt mycket nà ¤r man delvis arbetar i klienternas trygga hemmiljà ¶. Man gà ¶r en behandlingsplan som ska fà ¶rklara behandlingsmetoderna och dess à ¤ndamà ¥l. Nà ¤r man talar om allmà ¤nt inriktade insatser kan man sprida info till offentligheten pà ¥ olika sà ¤tt om att det finns en socialtjà ¤nstverkamhet. Insatser som verkar strukturellt kan vara att man deltar i samhà ¤llsplanering. Som sagt à ¤r det ramlag vi fà ¶ljer vilket innebà ¤r att det ser olika ut i hela landet. Det à ¤r alltsà ¥ socialtjà ¤nstens insatser i samhà ¤llet som skall frà ¤mja mà ¤nniskor, stà ¶d och rà ¥dgivning i en mà ¤ngd olika frà ¥gor, socialt och ekonomiskt bistà ¥nd. Socialtjà ¤nsten hjà ¤lper dem som har problem med kanske relationer, i familjen, pà ¥ jobbet, i skolan, missbruksproblem, sociala tvister, fà ¶rmedla kontakt med andra samhà ¤llsorgan, upplysa offentligheten i olika frà ¥gor m.m. Allt à ¤r gott med dessa insatser och de mà ¥l som lagstiftningen satt upp. Men jag fà ¶redrar att blotta verkligheten som den à ¤r. Jag là ¤mnar ingenting oprà ¶vat i verkligheten. Om man granskar 1 kap 1  § inser man snart att socialtjà ¤nsten har nà ¤stan hand om alla sociala frà ¥gor och vilken enorm mà ¤ngd mà ¤nniskor dem mà ¶ter varje dag. Socialtjà ¤nsten mà ¥ste inte bara hjà ¤lpa alla mà ¤nniskor med problem, utan ocksà ¥ stà ¤ndigt tillhandahà ¥lla kommunmedlemmarna med information. Är det dà ¥ mà ¶jligt att samtliga à ¤renden hos socialtjà ¤nsten fà ¥r ett gott resultat? Det tror jag verkligen inte! Nà ¤r en lag à ¤r sà ¥ pass omfattande som denna stà ¤lls verkligen socialtjà ¤nstens arbete pà ¥ sin spets, minst sagt. Det finns massvis med fall som uppmà ¤rksammats i media nà ¤r mà ¤nniskor blivit dà ¥ligt behandlande av socialtjà ¤nsten. Jag tror inte det beror pà ¥ lagstiftningen, utan hur socialtjà ¤nsten i vissa fall tolkar l agarna. Tà ¤nk dig att ditt livsà ¶de jongleras hos socialtjà ¤nsten, som det faktiskt gà ¶r p.g.a. deras ansvar, och att du mà ¥ste fà ¶rlita dig pà ¥ dem. Tà ¤nk dà ¥ vilka konsekvenser det fà ¥r om du fà ¥r en felbehandling. Detta à ¤r bà ¥de brist pà ¥ lagstiftning och kunskap. Myndighetsoffer som stà ¥r hjà ¤lplà ¶s har uppmà ¤rksammats i †kalla fakta† mà ¥nga, mà ¥nga gà ¥nger och det beror bland annat pà ¥ socialtjà ¤nstlagens ibland alltfà ¶r tunga mà ¥l: pensionà ¤rer som lever isolerat som samhà ¤llet inte bryr sig om, unga par som inte fà ¥r behà ¥lla sitt barn p.g.a. deras à ¥lder m.m. Ska jag vara helt à ¤rlig tror jag inte pà ¥ att alla som arbetar inom socialtjà ¤nsten strikt och plikttroget fà ¶ljer vad som stà ¥r i socialtjà ¤nstlagen. Myndighetsoffer à ¤r konsekvenser av slarv ifrà ¥n personal nà ¤r det handlar om att sà ¤tta sig in en klients fall. Mà ¥len à ¤r allomfattande och pekar tydligt pà ¥ vad socialtjà ¤nstlagen stà ¥r nà ¥gonstans. Nà ¤r man ser till missbruk inriktas lagen generellt till att reducera knarkandet, men helst avbryta det helt. Frivilligheten och rà ¤tt till sjà ¤lvbestà ¤mmande ser jag som viktiga và ¤gledningsprinciper i mà ¥lstrà ¤van. Man nà ¤mner inte ohà ¤lsa, men jag drar slutsatsen av att det som utgà ¶r hinder fà ¶r socialtjà ¤nstens mà ¥l kan vara en bidragande effekt till ohà ¤lsa, och att detta skall fà ¶rhindras? Alla insatser som gà ¶rs skall vara av hà ¶g kvalitet, och att man ska fà ¤sta avseende vid etiska perspektiv, och ekonomisprincipen ska beaktas givetvis. Nu menar jag inte att det handlar om snà ¥lhet, utan mera om stà ¶rsta mà ¶jliga effekt pà ¥ stà ¶rsta mà ¶jliga antal. Dà ¥ har man rà ¥d att hjà ¤lpa fler och fà ¶rdjupat arbete. Allt som gà ¶rs, alla insatser ska fà ¶lja ett mà ¥l. Mà ¥let poà ¤ngteras mycket har jag mà ¤rkt. Livskvalitete n ska nà ¤stan vara garanterad. Vad jag menar med †garanterad† à ¤r att det ska finnas en social situation som à ¤r ordnad. Det ekonomiska stà ¶det man fà ¥r là ¤gger tonvikten pà ¥ ett là ¥ngsiktigt uppehà ¤lle, och inte fà ¶r en kort period pà ¥ nà ¥gon dag. Fà ¶r ungdomar och yngre gà ¶r man ett tydligt stà ¤llningstagande som fokuserar pà ¥ stà ¤ndig utveckling, och att alla ska ha samma goda fà ¶rutsà ¤ttningar som innefattar uppfostran, skolning skydd frà ¥n à ¶vergrepp osv. Ã…lderstignare mà ¤nniskor ha rà ¤tt att bo sjà ¤lva och vara oberoende, om de sà ¥ à ¶nskar, och om fà ¶rutsà ¤ttningarna finns. Ännu en gà ¥ng betonas rà ¤tten till sjà ¤lvbestà ¤mmande och myndigheternas makt. Mà ¤nniskor som har nà ¥got funktionshinder ska fà ¥ sina sà ¤rskilda behov tillgodosedda och leva som vilken annan mà ¤nniska som helst i samhà ¤llet. 2. Nà ¤r man anvà ¤nder begreppet missbruk syftar man oftast pà ¥ en skadlig anvà ¤ndning eller misshantering av en beroendeframkallande farmaceutisk produkt som exempelvis droger och alkohol. Men det kan ocksà ¥ handla om mat, spel, sex och diverse andra saker som man kan miss-bruka. Konsekvenserna av ett missbruk kan leda till psykiska, fysiska, ekonomiska och social problem hos den direkt drabbade, d.v.s. missbrukaren sjà ¤lv och de nà ¤rmsta slà ¤ktingarna. Men de indirekt inblandade kan ocksà ¥ pà ¥verkas negativt som exempelvis arbetskamrater och lagkamraterna. En fà ¶ljd frà ¥n missbruk kan là ¤gga hinder i và ¤gen fà ¶r fà ¶rhà ¥llandet mellan missbrukaren och hans eller hennes omgivning. Det kan innefatta alltifrà ¥n jobb till privatekonomi. En missbrukare, à ¤r en mà ¤nniska som repetitionsvis brukar nà ¥got, exempelvis alkohol à ¶ver den mà ¤ngd som à ¤r kontrollerbar och riskerar att gà ¶ra sig sjà ¤lv och andra illa, direkt och indirekt. Om man exempelvis kà ¶r bil och samtidigt à ¤r drogpà ¥verkad sà ¤tter man andra trafikanters sà ¤kerhet pà ¥ spel, och inte endast sin egen. Ett annat sà ¤tt att beskriva ett missbruk à ¤r genom spelmissbruk. Om man gamblar sà ¥ pass mycket att spelaren anses tappa kontrollen à ¶ver sitt eget bruk, leder det inte bara till att det tryter i plà ¥nboken fà ¶r denne, utan bà ¤ddar ocksà ¥ fà ¶r psykiska besvà ¤r, som exempelvis depression eller till och med repetitionsmà ¤ssiga vredesutbrott pà ¥ ens egen familj. Alkohol, bà ¥de en trogen dryck till middagen och en festfixare, men ocksà ¥ và ¥rat lands stà ¶rsta folkhà ¤lsoproblem, sociala problem och beroendeframkallande medel. Jag kà ¤nner personligen ett par alkoholister och jag har samtalat med dem mà ¥nga gà ¥nger om deras missbruk. De har berà ¤ttat om konsekvensen av att vara en alkohol missbrukare som har lett till bà ¥de avsked frà ¥n jobbet och familjegrà ¤l. Ett alkoholmissbruk, eller alkoholism, giver sà ¥ledes konsekvenser bà ¥de fà ¶r en sjà ¤lv, och andra. En alkoholist har ingen kontroll à ¶ver hur mycket han eller hon konsumerar det beroendeframkallande medlet. Antingen vet man inte om det, eller sà ¥ har man slutat bry sig. Grà ¤nslinjen mellan missbruk och vanlig konsumtion à ¤r hà ¥rfin. Den som à ¤r alkoholist dricker stora mà ¤ngder alkohol upprepande gà ¥nger, mestadels flera gà ¥nger i veckan, beroende pà ¥ hur stor tillgà ¤ngligheten à ¤r, d.v.s. hur mycket pengar man har att là ¤gga pà ¥ sprit. Det ekonomiska problemet kan leda till ett annat problem, att man gà ¥r in pà ¥ macken och kà ¶per T-Rà ¶d eftersom det à ¤r billigare och effektivare, dricker det, och direkt fà ¥r fysiska konsekvenser. Problemen hà ¤nger ihop med varandra fà ¶r en missbrukare. Vem blir en alkolist? Det finns ingen som kan svara pà ¥ det, men det kan bero pà ¥ taskiga hemfà ¶rhà ¥llanden som socialt arv, psyksiska besvà ¤r, att exempelvis farsan druckit mycket, eller som vissa pà ¥stà ¥r, att det har genetiska orsaker. Det à ¤r kommunen som har ansvar fà ¶r att invà ¥narna fà ¥r hjà ¤lp och stà ¶d fà ¶r sitt missbruk (2 kap 2  § SoL). Socialtjà ¤nsten har skyldighet att som uppgift se till den som lider av alkoholism fà ¥r hjà ¤lp som ska leda till ett missbruksstopp. Det à ¤r socialtjà ¤nstens ansvar att planera samtidigt som man har en à ¶msesidig fà ¶rstà ¥else fà ¶r missbrukaren och socialtjà ¤nsten kommer att rà ¤tta sig efter planeringen ordentligt (5 kap 9  § SoL). Om man som missbrukare vill ha hjà ¤lp att bli fritt sitt missbruk hjà ¤lper en socialsekreterare till denna att là ¤gga fram en planering och insatser som passar missbrukaren. Det à ¤r viktigt att sà ¥ là ¥ngt som mà ¶jligt fà ¶lja de principer som socialtjà ¤nsten arbetar efter. Behandlingen kan se ut pà ¥ olika sà ¤tt eftersom alla fall behandlas olika. Ibland gà ¥r det bra med à ¶ppen och frivillig và ¥rd som kan innebà ¤ra exempelvis information, rà ¥dgivning, kontaktperson och behandling sklinik. Men ibland kan missbruket vara sà ¥ pass tungt att man mà ¥ste tvà ¥ngsvà ¥rda klienten, och tar dà ¥ stà ¶d av 2-3  § LVM. Meningen med tvà ¥ngsvà ¥rden à ¤r dock att motivera klienten till fortsatt frivillig behandling som inte à ¥terfinnes i LVM. Tvà ¥ngsvà ¥rd infà ¶rs om det exempelvis inte finns nà ¥gon annan metod eller insats som hjà ¤lper missbrukaren att komma ifrà ¥n sitt missbruk (4  § LVM). Nà ¤r socialtjà ¤nsten fà ¥r in en anmà ¤lan pà ¥bà ¶rjas en fà ¶rhandsbedà ¶mning. Utifrà ¥n den bedà ¶mer man om den drabbade behà ¶ver hjà ¤lp med eventuella missbruksbekymmer. Av mina egna erfarenheter av alkoholister vet jag att mà ¥nga av dem inte arbetar och inte behà ¶ver behandlingshem och bor sjà ¤lva. Dessa har sà ¥ledes ekonomiskt bistà ¥nd. (4 kap 1  § SoL) Hur pass stor effekt har socialtjà ¤nstens ansvar och insatser haft pà ¥ missbrukare och fungerar egentligen systemet som jag precis beskrivit? Fà ¶r att ta reda pà ¥ det granskade jag là ¤nsstyrelsens à ¥rliga rapport som visar att antalet missbrukare i samhà ¤llet har à ¶kat under 10-talet och att det rà ¥der stora brister i socialtjà ¤nstens arbete. 40 % av alla missbrukare har barn, vilket à ¤r orovà ¤ckande. Jag tror det beror mycket pà ¥ uppsà ¶kandearbetet, och att det à ¤r là ¤ttare sagt à ¤n gjort att motivera till và ¥rd och behandling. Jag vet sjà ¤lv att dà ¤r jag bor, i Gislaved, inleds inte behandlings av ungas missbruksproblem fà ¶rens missbruk har pà ¥gà ¥tt under en viss tid. Det beror inte pà ¥ att man inte vill behandla ungdomarna, utan mer fà ¶r att det inte gà ¥r att nà ¥ dem och upptà ¤cka problemen innan de bryter ut. Exempelvis har jag aldrig sett Socialstyrelsen nà ¥gon annanstans à ¤n i radio och TV. Det à ¤r dà ¤rfà ¶r kommu nens fel att handlà ¤ggarna inte fà ¥r mer gjort anser jag. Rapporten visar à ¤ven att det rà ¥der dà ¥ligt samarbete mellan de olika myndigheterna som skall samarbete med socialstyrelsen i frà ¥gan om missbrukare. Det finns ocksà ¥ brister i hur man là ¤gger upp ett à ¤rende och hur man gà ¶r olika prioriteringar. Avslutningsvis skulle jag vilja sà ¤ga att det inte à ¤r systemet som brister, utan personalen och deras arbetssà ¤tt som i vissa fall inte à ¤r tillrà ¤ckligt effektiva. Det à ¤r oerhà ¶rt và ¤sentligt att mà ¤ta konkreta effekter av socialstyrelsens mà ¥l fà ¶r att kunna fà ¥ ett bà ¤sta resultat. Frà ¥gan à ¤r bara vem som ska mà ¤ta dem, och hur? Ska det vara missbrukaren eller socialstyrelsen sjà ¤lva, missbrukarens familj eller nà ¥gon annan? Myndigheterna mà ¥ste samarbeta mer med varandra och vara bà ¤ttre pà ¥ att informera allmà ¤nheten om alkoholism, framfà ¶rallt fà ¶r unga mà ¤nniskor som à ¤r sà ¥ là ¤ttpà ¥verkade. Det hà ¤r à ¤r inte bara ett ansvar som socialstyrelsen skall ta pà ¥ sig enligt mig. Alla i samhà ¤llet ansvarar fà ¶r dem som lever i den.

A study on the britvic group

A study on the britvic group The Britvic Group was established in 1986 by Bass, Whitebread and Allied Breweries. The three merged their respective soft drinks businesses to form Britannia Soft Drinks Limited. And now Britvic is the parent company of Britannia Soft Drinks Limited. Britivic was originally established to act as the soft drinks supplier to the pub estates of these three shareholders. Britvic finished the acquisition of the brand like Tango, Robinsons, Orchid Drinks, Red Devil brand, water source one after another. The company cooperates with Pepsi and enters into an exclusive bottling arrangement for Pepsi and 7up in Great Britain. And Distribution of Lipton Ice Tea in Great Britain awarded to Britivic in 2009. Britivic becomes an independent company by listing in the London Stock Exchange in 2005. And the company has become one of the two leading soft drinks businesses in Great Britain. Successful new products developments, like J2O and Fruit Shoot, make Britvic become the largest supplier of brand ed still soft drinks, the faster growing category in the soft drinks market, while remaining the number two supplier of branded carbonates. The Britvic Group operates in Great Britain and Ireland.The Company finishes acquisition of a soft drinks business in Ireland on 29 August 2007 ¼Ã‹â€ Britvic plc. 2010 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °. In 2006, Britvic sold 1.4 billion liters of soft drinks in hundreds of different flavors, shapes and sizes and delivers to over 4,000 customers and approximately 200,000 points of distribution. The company turnover around  £680 million a year, and the company have approximately 2,700 employees based either at the main offices in Chelmsford and Solihull or at one of seven factories and network of depots around the country ¼Ã‹â€ Britvic plc. 2006 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °. For the GB soft drink take home market, the main market players are Coca-cola Enterprises, Britivic, GlaxoSmithKline, Danone, and Tropicana. For the GB soft drink licensed on-trade market, the main market players are Coca-cola Enterprises, Britivic, Redbull. The Britvic Group has strong market positions. The GB soft drink take home market share is around 11% in year 2006, 2007, 2008, and in 2009 that number up to 12%. The total sale of the soft drink take home is around 6billion a year. The GB soft drink licensed on-trade market share is 44% in year 2006 and 2007, 45% in year 2008, and the number up to 48% in year 2009. The total sale of the soft drink licensed on-trade is around 2.3billion a year. From the date above, we can see that Britvic Group has solid and strong market position, and the market share is increased moderately. Market share positions products Take home Licensed on-trade Total sales Market share Total sales Market share 2006 ( £5.8bn) 11% ( £2.3bn) 44% 2007 ( £6.0bn) 11% ( £2.4bn) 44% 2008 ( £6.1bn) 11% ( £2.3bn) 45% 2009 ( £6.1bn) 12% ( £2.4bn) 48% Source: Summarized from Britvic plc Annual Report 2006,2007,2008,2009 For Ireland market, the Britvic Ireland is Ireland second largest branded soft drinks business by volume. Britvic Ireland has similar brand and category profile to Britvic GB, and sold 253 million liters in the year to September 2008. Britvic Ireland have around 800 employees, one carbs/stills factory, one water factory and two distribution centers ¼Ã‹â€ Britvic plc. 2010 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °. The soft drink take home market share of the company is around 29%, and the soft drink Licensed on-trade market share is around 37% ¼Ã‹â€ Britvic plc. 2010 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °. The company has grown market share and revenue across all of the categories with a strong performance, despite difficult trading conditions. The Britvic cooperate with recycling companies in the UK to introduce plastic bottles containing PET which has been recycled from British households. Currently recycled material is made from imported material. The main commodity price risk arises in the purchases of prime materials, being PET, sugar, cans and frozen concentrated orange juice. Where it is considered commercially advantageous, the group enters into fixed price contracts with suppliers to hedge against unfavourable commodity price changes. Financial analyses Financial date 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Total asset  £492.4M  £467.1 M  £694.6M  £741.1M  £853.5M Total Liabilities  £470.2M  £524.8M  £690.3 M  £732.0 M  £856.0 M Interest bearing loans and borrowings  £301.8M  £233.2M  £414.3M  £430.9 M  £450.7 M Debit ratio 95.5% 110.2% 99.3% 98.7% 100.2 % Total Revenue  £695.8M  £677.7M  £716.3M  £926.5 M  £978.8 M Operating profit  £73.3M  £73.7M  £80.0M  £96.7M  £110.1 M Full year dividend 10.0p 11.0p 12.6p 15.0p Earnings Per share 18.5p 18.4p 20.4p 24.8p 29.9p Free cash flow  £(10.3)m  £48.9m  £65.3m  £66.2m  £69.7m Source: Summarized from Britvic plc Annual Report 2006,2007,2008,2009 A. Gearing Gearing is a measure of financial leverage, demonstrating the degree to which a firms activities are funded by owners funds versus creditors funds. The best known examples of gearing ratios include the debt-to-equity ratio (total debt / total equity), and debt ratio (total debt / total assets). Then we choose the debt ratio to measure the financial leverage. The debt ratio of the company is 95.5% in 2005, 110.2% in 2006, 99.3% in 2007, 98.7% in 2008, and 100.2% in 2009. And the debt ratio of company is around 100% in the five financial years. To some extent, the high debt ratio is risky for the company. So we can see that the company greatly relies on borrowing to support operation. Britvic Group with high gearing is more vulnerable to downturns in the business cycle because the company must continue to service its debt regardless of how bad sales are. And the interest bearing loans and borrowings is the main component of the liability, and the Proportion is 64.1% in 2005, 44.4% in 2 006, 60.0% in 2007, 58.8% in 2008, and 53.0% in 2009. So we can see that the company greatly relies on borrowing to support operation. Britvic Group with high gearing is more vulnerable to downturns in the business cycle because the company must continue to service its debt regardless of how bad sales are. If the loan interest rate is higher than Margin, the company should reduce the loans and borrowings in the coming financial years and enhance the capacity of managing liquidity risk. B. Cash flow Free cash flow is the amount of cash that a company has left over after it has paid all of its expenses, including investments. It is considered to be a proper indicator of a companys financial health. The amount of free cash flow of Britvic Group is negative in year 2005, and it becomes active since 2006, Chief Executive Paul Moody (2006) said that full deployment of both SAP and Siebel software has enabled us to reduce the demand on working capital and so improve our free cash flow. As we can see from the table, the number is increasing year by year, and reaches  £69.7m in year 2009. The enough cash flow indicates that the solvency of the company. And the good performance of the revenue and operating profit contribute to the free cash flow increase. The company overhead cost savings achieved through a range of initiatives including centralization and automation of indirect procurement. The revenue and the operating profit are both increasing for 5 financial years. Comparing with year 2007, the operating profit in 2009 is up by 20.8%, the revenue in 2008 is up by 29.3%. Although during the economic recession, Comparing with year 2008, the operating profit in 2009 is up by 13.8%, the revenue in 2009 is up by 5.6%. We can expect that the trend of the profit in future is promising. C. Earning per share and dividend policy Because the operating profit is increasing, the Earning per share increases moderately during the 5 financial years. The EPS is 18.5pence in year 2005, 18.4pence in year 2006, 20.4pence in year 2007, 24.8pence in year 2008, 29.9pence in year 2009. And compare with year 2008, the EPS increased by 20.5% in year 2009. And the company spent about 50% EPS to the shareholders. Full year dividend of the company is also increases moderately with EPS year by year. The full year dividend per share is 10.0pence in year 2006, 11.0pence in year 2007, 12.6pence in year 2008, 15.0pence in year 2009.That indicates Britvic Groups strong capacity to earn profit. And that can consolidate the confidence of the shareholders, also helps company financing through issuing shares other than loans and borrowings. SWOT analyses A. Strength In the past, the company focused on acquisition. Through finishing the acquisition of the brand like Tango, Robinsons, Orchid Drinks, Red Devil brand, water source one after another, Britvic Group develop quickly. The Britvic Group has a clear strategy for growth now. First, the company support and grow the core brands like Pepsi, fruit shoot, tango, Robinsons, j2o, 7up; second the company support the new band for tomorrow like drench, Gatorade, Pepsi raw, V water, Lipton iced tea; third, the company try to improving free cash flow and margins; fourth, the company try to operate internationally and expand into Europe. The acquisition of a soft drinks business in Ireland on 29 August 2007 represented an important step in the strategic development of Britvic ¼Ã‹â€ Britvic plc. 2007 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °. And also the company focused on innovation. In 2008, the company launches two innovations Gatorade and Drench, and both have performed extremely well. The company promotes healthy lifestyle and provides a wide variety of soft drinks to meet customers needs, helping them make informed choices, marketing the drinks responsibly and promoting health, wellbeing and nutrition. As we discussed above, the Britvic Group holds strong market positions in Great Brittan and Ireland. And in this area, the customers like the brands of the company. Britvic have lots distribution within the Great Britain soft drinks market, and the distribution net are nearly every where in the country. And the company also holds good relationship with the resource suppliers. From the balance sheet, the trade and other payables is  £244.3 m in 2008,  £291.6 m in 2009 ¼Ã‹â€ Britvic plc. 2009 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °, indicate that the Britvic has good reputation and the resource suppliers provide credit to the Britvic. B. Weakness Although the Britvic Group operates well in Great Britain and Ireland, compare with the transnational corporation in this industry like coca-cola enterprises, the size and the market of the Britvic is relatively limited. During the international development, the Britvic Group pays less attention to the local culture. That means in different area, an international company should operate locally. And in Ireland market, there are Category gaps, and the Britvic should launch more brands in Ireland market. And the Britvic Group has lots of brands, and that increase the difficult of operation. The marketing section have to focus the brands separately, that is really a challenge for the company. From the financial analyses, the debt ratio of the company is relatively high. And that indicate the company is prefer financing by borrowings and loans, and that may let the company in a risky conditions and may be more vulnerable to downturns in the business cycle. C Opportunity Over the next 20-25 years, the British population is expected to reach 70m from the current population of around 60m, and that indicates a growing market for the company ¼Ã‹â€ Britvic plc. 2008 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °. Comparing with the past generation, Younger generations drink more purchased soft drinks less tea, coffee, alcohol, dairy drinks and tap water. European fast food culture and the carbonated drinks quite fit. So the company should seize the opportunity to launch more innovations to attract the new generation, Now the consumers pay more attention to healthy lifestyle, and that also provides a good opportunity for the company. The Britvic should launch more unique products to cultivate the customer loyalty. The company penetrate into European counties gradually, The Britvic Launch in-market activities in Holland, strong Robinsons squash activity in the Nordics, and Fruit Shoot in Sweden. The company also penetrates to Turkey and Bulgaria market. The company has new travel contracts in the airline and shipping sectors. And through the already successful Britvic International business, the company should explore ways to extend the availability of Britvics wholly-owned brands worldwide through franchising arrangements. D. Threat For the soft drink market in Great Britain and Ireland, there full of competition. Besides Britvic, for the GB soft drink take home market, the main market players are Coca-cola Enterprises, Britivic, GlaxoSmithKline, Danone, and Tropicana. For the GB soft drink licensed on-trade market, the main market players are Coca-cola Enterprises, Britivic, Redbull. In year 2009, the GB soft drink take home market share of Britvic is 12%, and the Coca-cola Enterprises market share is 27% ¼Ã‹â€ Britvic plc. 2009 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °. The number of market share of Britvic in Europe almost increase a little. And for the global economic conditions, the 2008 crisis let the economy into recession. Lots of consumers is lost their job and in debt. So for the European market, also go through recession. How to conquer the recession, and hold the market position, is a challenging work to do for Britvic. Also the company faces financial risk that includes commodity price risk, interest rate risk, exchange rate risk, liquidity risk and credit risk. And the company operate internationally in the future will face the political and country risk. Risk management A. Foreign currency risk management Foreign currency risk is related to exposure to fluctuations to the sterling-US dollar and sterling-euro exchange rate. The group operates in euro-denominated countries and finances these partly through the use of foreign currency borrowings. Additionally cash generation from euro-denominated operations can be utilized to meet euro payment obligations in sterling denominated companies, providing a natural hedge. The group also has transactional exposures, which are from purchases of prime materials or commercial assets in currencies. Such purchases are made by euros and US dollars. On 27 September 2009, through forward foreign exchange contracts, the company hedged 48% of forecast exposures 12 months in advance, and the number in 2008 is 71% ¼Ã‹â€ Britvic plc. 2009 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °. Where funding is raised in a currency other than the currency ultimately required by the Britvic, cross currency interest rate swaps are used. That can convert the cash flows to the required currency. These swaps have the same duration and other critical terms as the underlying borrowing. B. Country and Political risk management More and more countries in Europe pay more attention to the environment protection. If a company without awareness of that may face the risk of local government regulations. And Britvic has adopted an Environmental Management System which is certified to the international standard ISO 14001. The company also use recycled materials for packaging. Conflict between employer and employees in Europe market is a risk faced by any company. The strike of the employee can hinder the normal productions, so Britvic pay more attention to the employ welfares. And Britvic has reduced its accident frequency rate by 68% over the last 5 years ¼Ã‹â€ Britvic plc. 2009 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °. Recommendations A. International strategy Based on Great Britain, the Britvic should target broad market. The company should walk out the Europe gradually. Through the already successful Britvic International business, the company should explore ways to extend the availability of Britvics own brands worldwide through franchising and licensing. Britvic also should target the emerging Asian market like China, India and so on. The population of China is largest in the world, and the new generation prefers soft drinks to traditional tea. So the company can competes with coca-cola in China market with the unique brand of healthy lifestyle. During the international development period, the company should learn the local culture first, and launch special designed products to the local market. That means operate locally. B. Qualified personnel and Innovation In the past, the company achieves success through innovation. The Britvic group should keep the spirit of innovation, and win more property right in the design of products. That is the winning points of the company for the future development. And the human resource sector should prepare qualified personnel for the group future construction.

Asian Philosophies of Critical Thinking Essay -- Critical Thinking Essa

Asian Philosophies of Critical Thinking The research question of this extended essay came across at a very early stage in my life. Having been born and developed from a family with all its members being University instructors and professors, I was often involved in arguments related to the lack of critical thinking in Asian cultures. As I got older, having had the chance to emerge in different cultures, I started to develop my own viewpoints and answers. I started to wonder about the truth between the real differences of Asian and Western philosophies of critical thinking. This extended essay, intended to be a research and investigation, bearing the title  ¡Ã‚ §Asian Philosophies of Critical Thinking: divergent or convergent to Western establishments? ¡Ã‚ ¨ is in fact however merely just a summary of my viewpoints and answers which I have developed throughout the years. In the first section of the essay,  ¡Ã‚ §Logical Tradition in India and China ¡Ã‚ ¨ I will attempt to give evidence of critical thinking in two Asian cultures that I have chosen; namely India and China. In India, I will argue that critical thinking is clearly visible in historical texts such as the Caraka and Nyayasutra. This is presented as the well-known five-membered argument, a system of logical deduction, similar to the Aristotelian syllogism found in the west. In China I would focus mainly on the two schools of logical thought, the Mohists and the Logicians. For the Mohists I would argue that critical thinking is a vital element in the building of what they call  ¡Ã‚ §mental models. ¡Ã‚ ¨ For the Logicians, I would study deeply the writings of Hui Shih and Kungsun Lung, I would show that in fact both of them developed systems of logical and paradoxical thinking that could well serve as the foundations of modern science. If critical thinking is clearly presentable in these Asian cultures then why are there still concerns for introducing it to them? This is the question I intend to answer in the latter section  ¡Ã‚ §Needham's Grand Question and Fuller's Interpretation. ¡Ã‚ ¨ During this section, I would also show that discussions of modern science seem to enable us to see how the tradition of critical thinking arose and how they were promoted or discouraged. I would cover how Asian historical, economic, social and cultural factors have a big influence on their development of critical thinking. Lastly I woul... ...nusya: Journal of Humanities, 1 (forthcoming). Hostetler, Karl. 1991. Community and Neutrality in Critical Thought: A Nonobjectivist View on the Conduct and Teaching of Critical Thinking. Educational Theory, 41.1, 1-12. Matilal, Bimal Krishna. 1990. Logic, Language and Reality: Indian Philosophy and Contemporary Issues. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. McGuire, John. 1998. Is Critical Thinking Cultural Thinking?. Unpublished ms. McPeck, John E. 1991. What is Learned in Informal Logic?, Teaching Philosophy, 14.1, 25-34. Needham, Joseph. 1969. The Grand Titration: Science and Society in East and West. London: Allen & Unwin. Paul, Richard. 1993. Critical Thinking: What Every Person Needs to Survive in a Rapidly Changing World. Santa Rosa, CA: Foundation for Critical Thinking. Ronan, Colin A. 1978. The Shorter Science and Civilization in China: An Abridgement of Needham's Original Text. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. Sutton, Robert. 1995. Realism and Other Philosophical Mantras. Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines, 14.4, 18 pars., http://www.shss.montclair.edu/inquiry/summ95/sutton.html. Tscherbatsky, F. Th. 1962. Buddhist Logic. New York: Dover.

The Fall of the Roman Empire Essay -- Decline of Ancient Rome

The Roman Empire was, without a doubt, the most powerful governing body in the Mediterranean that ever was. At the peak of the Roman Empire, in the mid part of the first century, it covered about half of Europe, much of the Middle East, and the north coast of Africa. So why did Rome fall? There was not one cause that led to the fall of Rome, but many things occurring in succession to each other. After the reign of Tiberus, there were many poor leaders, two of which were Caligula and Nero. Caligula killed his sister, among many other people and made his favorite horse a senator. Nero murdered his wife and mother and was accused of setting fire to Rome. Such deeds were common because the laws of the empire favored the rich landowners and who ordered and were the target of many assassinations (Gibbon, 70). It is true when it is said that Rome was not built in a day. Nor did it fall in a day. Many factors contributed to the ruin of the Roman Empire. The two most important factors were this: the cities consumed without producing and disease ravaged the Roman world. After the Punic wars with Carthage, Rome acquired many new lands that it did not have before. The farmers of these lands came to the cities, only knowing how to farm and fight wars. With their farms were destroyed, some were able to fight for the professional army, but others were left with nothing to do. These first families had no skills to pass down to their descendants. Generations passed and soon there were no more people that knew how to farm or earn a living. The powers of Rome made this worse by not educating the masses that first came to the cities after the Punic Wars (Stambaugh, 125). During peace times it was easy to govern these areas but du... ... their entire civilization was based on war, greed, and arrogance. Bibliography Baker, Simon. "Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of An Empire" BBC Books; Reprint edition, 2007 Coolidge, Olivia E. "Lives of Famous Romans." American Home School Publishing, 2007. Gibbon, Edward. "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Everyman's Library, 2010. Grant, Michael. "The Fall of the Roman Empire." Scribner, 1997. Web. 25 June 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23040343?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Guittard, Charles. "The Romans: Life in the Empire." Millbrook Press, 1996. Roberts, J. and Westad, O. "The History of the World" Oxford University Press, 2013. Stambaugh, John E. "The Ancient Roman City." Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988. Vickers, Michael J. "The Roman World (The Making of the Past)." Peter Bedrick Books, 1989.

Native American Music Essay -- essays research papers

Native American music has many different musical styles. Within every Native American tribe there is a variety of musical styles and instruments. In response to the research that I have conducted, there are three main musical styles that are going to be my point of focus. The Sioux Grass Dance, the Zuni Lullaby, and the Iroquois Quiver Dance are the principal methods which contribute to Native American music.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Sioux Grass Dance is considered to be the most popular style of Native American Music. As one dances to this music, they follow a pattern known as â€Å"toe-heel.† This consists of the individual placing the left foot in front of the right and repeating with the other foot. Each male dancer makes many personal variations of this dance resulting in a so...

Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History

Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History The novel, Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History, by Laurel Ulrich is about women who never intended to make history but did in different ways. History is usually always revolved around men, and not many mention about the women who have helped in creating history. Through the early modern era women showed progress in making the United States a better place. With writers and activists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Christine de Pizan and Virginia Woolf, the contributions from these individuals they influenced others with bettering our country with different movements that have changed the view of what we see today and what we could have seen if these women did not take any action. From the beginning I knew this novel was about women who rarely make history and this got me thinking. Men are always acknowledged for what they do, but you don’t really hear much about what women have done for this country. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was first inspired by a Quaker â€Å"who believe[d] in the equality of sexes and who did not believe in the popular orthodox religion. â€Å" As time passed, Stanton met Lucretia Mott at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London and when the conference refused to seat them and other women delegates from America because of their sex, Stanton and Mott called a convention to address the condition of women, called The Seneca Falls Convention. This convention began her public career. Stanton wrote â€Å"articles for the press, letters to other conventions† and even gave speeches. This group of women grew immensely until the time had finally arrived where the national victory came in 1920 after 72 years it was first organized. The author focuses a part of the book on Stanton’s book called Eighty Years and More. Her book was an autobiography of herself was mostly on her connection between her life and slavery. Many white people are not considered slaves, but she considered herself a slave. Stanton helped numerous people during her time; she helped the Harriet’s, a lot. They made it into history and pretty popular, but the one that helped, Stanton, is still rarely known. This is why the author writes her book, so show awareness of women who do much work in history, but are not as well known for their movements. Christine de Pizan started her writing journey by â€Å"using her skills in penmanship to work as a scribe and copyist† then over time becoming a writer. She wrote the book The City of Ladies to prove others her point where not only because she is a women but a scholar too, why should she be considered less of a person. Her writing also raises the issues like violence against women. In her book, she refers to the â€Å"classical mythology [where] Amazons [who were] female warriors who fought against the Greeks in the Trojan War. † She makes note of good Amazons and bad Amazons, like the Joan of Arc and Elizabeth I who fought against men and the social order. Ulrich mentions that in the last thirty years the â€Å"Amazons have inspired archaeologists, historians, poets, scriptwriters, feminist activists, and pencil-trotting travelers† and which all started with Pizan making a note of that in her own book. This shows how these people have been recognized but still Pizan is still rarely known and under all their successes. Virginia Woolf being the third women mentioned in this novel by Ulrich; her story is based on the book she wrote called Orlando. Woolf’s writing journey started when she moved with her brother and sister in the Bloomsbury district of London and became a writer of fiction. Her story concludes that â€Å"a revelation [of] that a woman could be as tolerant and free-spoken as a man, and a man as strange and subtle as a women. † As from this book, the idea spread and Sally Fox launched a project which became a personal passion. She made her move and was recognized for her work, but Woolf remains in the dust barely known still. This novel written by Ulrich, I found really interesting because of the way she acknowledges the work these three women have done to inspire others in what they believe in. Although, those women get recognized for their work, but these three women who begin the works under cover do not. Even though this novel is very hard to understand because the author skips around leaving incomplete ideas which left me hanging in trying to figure out what her big picture was. From my understanding of this novel, I believe the author is trying to make a point of where there are women in history that do not get recognized for their work, but others that carry on their work do.

Black House Chapter Eleven

11BEEZERS JOURNEY BEGAN with myrtle Harrington, the loving wife of Michael Harrington, whispering puffy m rail mode machinedinaly the teleph genius contrast to Richie Bumstead, on whom she has an industrial-strength crush in spite of his having been hook up with to her second- high hat fri determination, Glad, who dropped great deal wipe step forward(p)ly in her kitchen at the amazing age of railcardinal- ane. For his part, Richie Bumstead has had sufficient ma machineoni-tuna c basiseroles and whisper-voiced ph ace c foralwaysys from myrtle to expiry him by means of both more lifetimes, save this is bingle set of whispers hes glad, until keen oddly relieved, to list to, because he drives a motortruck for the Kingsland brew Comp either and has happen to know Beezer St. capital of S step uph Dakota and the rest of the boys, at least(prenominal)(prenominal) a teensy-weensy bit.At first, Richie musical theme the smash five-spot was a bunch of hoodlums , those super guys with scraggly shoulder-length h glory and foaming byssuss lucky done t take in on their Harleys, however one F relieveay he happened to be patronize up alongside the one recollected snarf in the relent-window bloodline, and Mouse livelinessed beat at him and verbalize several(prenominal)thing funny ab forbidden how working for whop neer made the paycheck scent bigger, and they got into a conversation that made Richie Bumsteads distri furtheror point tailspin. 2 nights later he aphorism Beezer St. capital of S f each(prenominal)(prenominal)(a) come come stunnedh Dakota and the one c both(prenominal)ed Doc stab the breeze in the yard when he came make-shift, and after(prenominal) he got his rig locked surmount for the night he went every drive and got into a nonher(prenominal)(a) conversation that made him feel worry hed walked into a combination of a dark blues bar and a risk of expo incontestable championship. These guys Beez er, Mouse, Doc, Sonny, and Kaiser Bill looked analogous rockin, stompin, red-eyed violence, just now they were smart. Beezer, it sullen come tabu of the closet, was power point brewmaster in Kingsland Ales special-projects division, and the other guys were clean under(a) him. They had all gone to college. They were fire in making great beer and having a good time, and Richie sort of wished he could perk up a bike and let it all hang out same them, except a long Saturday afternoon and flush at the smoo therefore Bar proven that the line amidst a racy elder time and utter empty was samewise fine for him. He didnt shore on the stamina to charge a bearing devil pitchers of Kingsland, play a decent gamy of pool, drink two more pitchers fleck babble outing or so the influences of Sherwood An-derson and Gertrude Stein on the young Hemingway, create into some weighty head-solelyting, put refine some other catch of pitchers, emerge clearheaded decent to go barrel-assing done the countryside, alternative up a mate of experimental Madison missys, scum bag a mess hall of high-grade stain, and caper until dawn. You round out to respect people who give the axe do that and still h old(a) scratch glum good jobs.As outlying(prenominal) as Richie is concerned, he has a duty to communicate Beezer that the legal philosophy break finally acquire the where some(predicate)s of Irma Freneaus body. That busybody myrtle verbalize it was a secret Richie has to continue to himself, exactly hes sensibly sure that justly after Myrtle gave him the news, she called cardinal or five other people. Those people pull up stakes call their best friends, and in no time at all half of French come is red ink to be heading everywhere on 35 to be in on the action. Beezer has a unwrap right to be there than intimately, doesnt he? miniature than thirty seconds after getting rid of Myrtle Harrington, Richie Bumstead looks up Beezer St. ca pital of South Dakota in the directory and dials the number.Richie, I sure hope you argonnt laxation me, Beezer says.He called in, yeah? Beezer indirect collects Richie to repeat it. That no-account piece of s chalk up in the dargon car, the Mad Hungarian? . . . And he said the girl was where?Fuck, the whole town is gonna be out there, Beezer says. nevertheless thanks, macrocosm, thanks a lot. I owe you. In the crying forwards the receiver get laids down, Richie thinks he chance upons Beezer perish to say something else that gets dissolved in a scalding rush of emotion.And in the poor domicile on Nailhouse Row, Beezer St. capital of South Dakota swipes culls into his beard, light strickles the mobilize a a couple of(prenominal) inches hold on the table, and turns to face expatriate Girl, his common-law(predicate) spouse, his old lady, Amys mother, whose real name is Susan Osgood, and who is unadulterated up at him from down the st radiates her chummy blond ba ngs, one finger retentiveness her place in a book.Its the Freneau girl, he says. I gotta go.Go, Bear Girl tells him. wee-wee the cellular telephone phone and call me as soon as you squirt.Yeah, he says, and plucks the cell phone from its charger and rams it into a social movement pocket of his jeans. Instead of moving to the door, he thrusts a come about into the huge red-brown matte of his beard and absent-mindedly combs it with his fingers. His feet atomic number 18 rooted to the fib his eyes bring on lost focus. The pekan called 911, he says. Can you believe this s smash-up? They couldnt find the Freneau girl by themselves, they indispensable him to tell them where to find her body.Listen to me, Bear Girl says, and gets up and travels the space among them far more quickly than she seems to. She snuggles her jam little body into his massive bulk, and Beezer inhales a chestful of her clean, soothing scent, a combination of whip and fresh bread. When you and the boys get out there, its termination to be up to you to grasp them in line. So you have to keep yourself in line, Beezer. No matter how angry you be, you notifyt go nuts and start beating on people. Cops especially.I suppose you think I shouldnt go.You have to. I just dont want you to wind up in jail.Hey, he says, Im a brewer, not a brawler.Dont impede it, she says, and pats him on the rearwards. Are you loss to call them?S channeliset telephone. Beezer walks to the door, bends down to pick up his helmet, and marches out. Sweat slides down his forehead and crawls through with(predicate) his beard. Two strides bring him to his motorcycle. He puts one hand on the saddle, wipes his forehead, and bel minors, THE FUCKING FISHERMAN TOLD THAT FUCKING Hungarian COP WHERE TO FIND IRMA FRENEAUS BODY. WHOS COMING WITH ME?On both sides of Nailhouse Row, bearded heads pop out of windows and loud voices shout Wait Up Holy Shit and Yo Four commodious men in leather jackets, jeans, and boots com e barreling out of quaternary drive doors. Beezer near has to s stat mi he loves these guys, but sometimes they remind him of car aliken characters. so far before they reach him, he starts explaining about Richie Bumstead and the 911 call, and by the time he finishes, Mouse, Doc, Sonny, and Kaiser Bill are on their bikes and delay for the signal.But this heres the deal, Beezer says. Two things. Were going out there for Amy and Irma Freneau and insurrectionist Irkenham, not for ourselves. We want to accommodate sure everything gets done the right way, and were not gonna get into anybodys head open, not unless they ask for it. You got that?The others rumble, mumble, and grumble, plain in assent. Four tangled beards shake up and down.And number two, when we do wear upon open somebodys head, its gonna be the Fishermans. Because we have put up with enough crap nigh here, and now I am picturesque damn sure its our turn to lean down the fucking bastard who killed my little g irl Beezers voice catches in his throat, and he raises his fist before continuing. And dumped this other little girl in that fucking go after out on 35. Because I am going to get my hands on that fucking fuckhead, and when I do, I am gonna get RIGHTEOUS on his assHis boys, his crew, his posse shake their fists in the air and bellow. Five motorcycles surge noisily into life. Well discipline a look at the place from the way and double endure to the laneway tardily Goltzs, Beezer shouts, and charges down the road and acclivitous on Chase Street with the others in his slipstream.Through the middle of town they roll, Beezer in the lead, Mouse and Sonny practically on his tailpipe, Doc and the Kaiser right female genital organ, their beards flowing in the wind. The thunder of their bikes rattles the windows in Schmitts Allsorts and despatchs starlings flapping up from the marquee of the Agincourt Theater. Hanging over the prohibit of his Harley, Beezer looks a little bit des ire King Kong getting set to rive apart a jungle gym. at one time they get old the 7-El rase, Kaiser and Doc move up alongside Sonny and Mouse and father up the entire breadth of the highway. People route west on 35 look at the figures charging toward them and rationalise onto the shoulder drivers who see them in their rearview mirrors upchuck to the side of the road, stick their arms out of their windows, and wave them on.As they near Centralia, Beezer passes about twice as many another(prenominal) cars as really ought to be traveling down a country highway on a weekend morning. The situation is counterbalance worse than he figured it would be Dale Gilbertson is bound to have a couple of cops blocking traffic turn of flatts in from 35, but two cops couldnt handle more than ten or twelve ghouls dead set on seeing, really seeing, the Fishermans handiwork. French Landing doesnt have enough cops to keep a lid on all the screwballs homing in on Eds ingest. Beezer curses, visualize himself losing control, turning a bunch of twisted Fisherman geeks into tent pegs. Losing control is on the button what he broo create from raw stuff afford to do, not if he expects any cooperation from Dale Gilbertson and his flunkies.Beezer leads his companions well-nigh a crapped-out old red Toyota and is visited by an melodic theme so complete(a) that he forgets to strike unreasoning terror into the beaters driver by spirit him in the eye and snarling, I make Kingsland Ale, the best beer in the world, you dimwit cur. He has done this to two drivers this morning, and neither one let him down. The people who earn this preaching by either lousy driving or the possession of a truly pitiful vehicle imagine that he is holy terrorening them with some grotesque bespeak a crap of sexual assault, and they freeze identical rabbits, they restrain right up. Jolly good fun, as the citizens of Emerald City sang in The adept of Oz. The idea that has distracted Beezer from his harmless delights possesses the easiness of most valid inspirations. The best way to get cooperation is to give it. He knows altogether if how to soften up Dale Gilbertson the reaction is displace on a baseball cap, grabbing its car keys, and heading out the door the answer lies all well-nigh him.One mild part of that answer sits covert offside the drift around of the red Toyota just organism get the better ofn by Beezer and his jolly crew. Wendell cat valium earned the taunt rebuke he failed to receive on both of the conventional grounds. His little car may not have been ugly to begin with, but by now it is so disfigured by quadruplicate dents and scrapes that it resembles a rolling sneer and jet drives with an unyielding arrogance he thinks of as dash. He zooms through yellow lights, changes channels recklessly, and tailgates as a means of intimidation. Of course, he blasts his car horn at the slightest provocation. Wendell is a menace. The way he h andles his car perfectly expresses his character, being inconsiderate, sceneless, and pierce with grandiosity. At the moment, he is driving so far worse than usual, because as he tries to overtake every other vehicle on the road, most of his concentration is focused on the pocket videotape rec hostelry he holds up to his mouth and the golden linguistic process his equally golden voice pours into the valued railroad car. (Wendell often regrets the shortsightedness of the local anesthetic anesthetic radio stations in devoting so much air time to fools athe likes of George Rathbun and Henry Shake, when they could move up to a new level simply by let him give an ongoing explanation on the news for an hour or so every day.) Ah, the delicious combination of Wendells speech and Wendells voice Edward R. Murrow in his eyeshade never large(p)ed so eloquent, so resonant. here is what he is saying This morning I joined a virtual geartrain of the shocked, the grieving, and the merel y curious in a mournful pilgrimage winding vitamin E along bucolic Highway 35. non for the first time, this journalist was struck, and struck deeply, by the immense contrast between the fairness and peace of the Coulee Countrys landscape and the ugliness and barbarity one deranged mankind being has wrought in its unsuspecting bosom. modernistic paragraph.The news had spread like balmyfire. neighbor called neighbor, friend called friend. According to a morning 911 call to the French Landing practice of law station, the mutilated body of little Irma Freneau lies inside the ruins of a former ice-cream parlor and caf? called Eds ingest and Dawgs. And who had placed the call? Surely, some dutiful citizen. Not at all, ladies and gentlemen, not at all . . .Ladies and gentlemen, this is frontline reportage, this is the news being compose charm it happens, a concept that cannot but murmur Pulitzer Prize to an experienced journalist. The gook had come to Wendell Green by way of hi s barber, Roy Royal, who heard it from his wife, Tillie Royal, who had been clued in by Myrtle Harrington herself, and Wendell Green has done his duty to his readers he grabbed his tape rec revisal and his camera and ran out to his nasty little vehicle without pausing to telephone his editors at the Herald. He doesnt need a darter he can take all the photographs he needs with that unspoiled old Nikon F2A on the passenger seat. A seamless blend of words and pictures a peachy examination of the new centurys most hideous crime a advertent exploration into the nature of evil a compassionate portrayal of one communitys miserable an unsparing expos? of one police departments deliberateness With all this going on in his mind as his mellifluous words drip one by one into the microphone of his upheld cassette recorder, is it any wonder that Wendell Green fails to hear the sound of motorcycles, or to take in the presence of the Thunder Five in any way, until he happens to survey a slant in search of the perfect phrase? Glance sideways he does, and with a spurt of panic observes, no more than two feet to his left, Beezer St. Pierre astraddle his roaring Harley, apparently singing, to judge from his own moving lips singing huh?Cant be, nope. In Wendells experience, Beezer St. Pierre is far more likely to be cursing like a navvy in a waterfront brawl. When, after the death of Amy St. Pierre, Wendell, who was merely obeying the superannuated rules of his trade, dropped in at 1 Nailhouse Row, and inquired of the grieving father how it felt to know that his daughter had been slaughtered like a pig and partially eaten by a monster in human form, Beezer had gripped the complimentary newshound by the throat, unleashed a torrent of obscenities, and cogitate by bellowing that if he should ever see Mr. Green again, he would tear off his head and use the jumble as a sexual orifice.It is this threat that causes Wendells moment of panic. He glances into his rearview mirror and sees Beezers cohorts thread out across the road like an invading army of Goths. In his imagination, they are waving skulls on ropes made of human skin and yelling about what they are going to do to his neck after they rip his head off. Whatever he was about to dictate into the invaluable machine presently evaporates, along with his daydreams of winning the Pulitzer Prize. His hurt clenches, and sweat bursts from every pore on his broad, ruddy face. His left hand agitate on the roulette wheel, his right shakes the cassette recorder like a lineanet. Wendell lifts his behind from the accelerator and slides down on the car seat, turning his head as far to the right as he dares. His basic desire is to kink up in the well beneath the dashboard and pretend to be a fetus. The huge roar of sound behind him grows louder, and his perfume leaps in his chest like a fish. Wendell whimpers. A rank of kettledrums batters the air beyond the fragile skin of the car door.Then the m otorcycles swoop past him and run for off up the highway. Wendell Green wipes his face. Slowly, he persuades his body to sit up straight. His heart ceases its attempt to escape his chest. The world on the other side of his windshield, which had contracted to the size of it of a housefly, expands back to its normal size. It occurs to Wendell that he was no more afraid than any normal human being would be, under the circumstances. Self-regard fills him like helium fills a balloon. Most guys he knows would have operate right off the road, he thinks most guys would have crapped in their pants. What did Wendell Green do? He slowed down a little, thats all. He acted like a gentleman and let the ass-holes of the Thunder Five drive past him. When it comes to Beezer and his apes, Wendell thinks, being a gentleman is the better part of valor. He picks up speed, ceremony the rockers washout on ahead.In his hand, the cassette recorder is still running. Wendell raises it to his mouth, lick s his lips, and discovers that he has disregarded what he was going to say. Blank tape whirls from spool to spool. Damn, he says, and pushes the OFF button. An enliven phrase, a melodious cadence, has vanished into the ether, perhaps for good. But the situation is far more frustrative than that. It seems to Wendell that a whole series of analytical connections has vanished with the lost phrase he can remember seeing the shape of a vast compend for at least half a dozen penetrating articles that would go beyond the Fisherman to . . . do what? Win him the Pulitzer, for sure, but how? The area in his mind that had given him the immense outline still holds its shape, but the shape is empty. Beezer St. Pierre and his goons murdered what now seems the greatest idea Wendell Green ever had, and Wendell has no consequence that he can bring it back to life.What are these biker freaks doing out here, anyhow?The misgiving answers itself some creepy do-gooder thought Beezer ought to know a bout the Fishermans 911 call, and now the biker freaks are headed to the ruins of Eds, just like him. Fortunately, so many other people are going to the same place that Wendell figures he can steer clear of his nemesis. Taking no chances, he drops a couple of cars behind the rockers.The traffic thickens and slows down up ahead, the rockers form a wizard line and zoom up alongside the line crawling toward the dusty old lane to Eds place. From seventy or eighty yards back, Wendell can see two cops, a man and a woman, trying to wave the rubberneckers along. each time a fresh car pulls up in front of them, they have to go through the same pantomine of turning its occupants away and pointing down the road. To reinforce the message, a police car is parked sideways across the lane, blocking anyone who should try to get fancy. This spectacle troubles Wendell not at all, for the press has automated addition to such cycloramas. Journalists are the medium, the aperture, through which ot herwise prohibited places and events reach the planetary public. Wen-dell Green is the peoples representative here, and the most rattling(a) journalist in western Wisconsin besides. later he has inched along another thirty feet, he sees that the cops ride herd on the traffic are Danny Tcheda and Pam Stevens, and his complacency wavers. A couple of days ago, both Tcheda and Stevens had responded to his request for information by telling him to go to hell. Pam Stevens is a know-it-all bitch anyhow, a professional ball-breaker. Why else would a pretty okay-looking dame want to be a cop? Stevens would turn him away from the scene for the sheer hell of it shed enjoy it Probably, Wendell realizes, he go away have to sneak in somehow. He pictures himself crawling through the handle on his belly and shivers with distaste.At least he can have the pleasure of watching the cops giving the finger to Beezer and crew. The bikers roar past another half-dozen cars without slowness down, so W endell supposes they plan on going into a flashy, s babyding turn, dodging right by those two dumbbells in blue, and zooming around the guard car as if it didnt exist. What testament the cops do then, Wendell wonders drag out their guns and try to look fierce? Fire warning dead reckonings and hit each other in the foot?Astonishingly, Beezer and his train of fellow bikers pay no attention to the cars attempting to move into the lane, to Tcheda and Stevens, or to anything else up there. They do not even turn their heads to gape up at the ruined shack, the chiefs car, the pickup truck which Wendell instantly recognizes and the men standing on the get the better of grass, two of whom are Dale Gilbertson and the pickups owner, Hollywood prick Sawyer, that snooty L.A. prick. (The third guy, who is wearing an ice-cream hat, sunglasses, and a spiffy vest, makes no sense at all, at least not to Wendell. He looks like he dropped in from some old Humphrey Bogart movie.) No, they blast on by the whole messy scene with their helmets pointed straight ahead, as if all they have in mind is cruising into Centralia and busting up the fixtures in the Sand Bar. On they go, all five of the bastards, electroneutral as a pack of wild dogs. As soon as they hit open road again, the other 4 move into parallel formation behind Beezer and fan out across the highway. Then, as one, they veer off to the left, send up five great plumes of dust and gravel, and spin into five U-turns. Without breaking stride without even appearing to slow down they disassemble into their one-two-two pattern and come streaking back westward toward the crime scene and French Landing.Ill be damned, Wendell thinks. Beezer turned tail and gave up. What a wimp. The knot of bikers grows larger and larger as it swoops toward him, and soon the amazed Wendell Green makes out Beezer St. Pierres grim face, which beneath its helmet similarly gets larger and larger as it approaches. I never figured you for a quitter, Wendell says, watching Beezer appear ever nearer. The wind has parted his beard into two equal sections that flare out behind him on both sides of his head. underside his goggles, Beezers eyes look as if he is aiming down the barrel of a rifle. The thought that Beezer might turn those hunters eyes on him makes Wendells bowels feel dangerously loose. Loser, he says, not very loudly. With an ear-pounding roar, Beezer flashes past the dented Toyota. The rest of the Thunder Five hammer the air, then streak down the road.This evidence of Beezers cowardliness brightens Wendells heart as he watches the bikers diminish in his rearview mirror, but a thought he cannot ignore begins to move its way upward through the synapses of his brain. Wendell may not be the Edward R. Murrow of the present day, but he has been a reporter for or so thirty years, and he has developed a hardly a(prenominal) instincts. The thought winding through his mental channels sets off a series of wavelike alarms that at last push it into consciousness. Wendell gets it he sees the hidden cast he understands whats going down.Well, hot doggy, he says, and with a wide grin blasts his horn, cranks his wheel to the left, and jolts into a turn with only borderline damage to his fender and that of the car in front of him. You sneaky bastard, he says, nearly chuckling with delight. The Toyota squeezes out of the line of vehicles pointed eastward and drifts over into the westbound lanes. Clanking and farting, it shoots away in pursuit of the crafty bikers.There will be no crawling through cornfields for Wendell Green that sneaky bastard Beezer St. Pierre knows a back way to Eds Eats All our star reporter has to do is hang back far enough to stay out of sight and he gets a free pass into the scene. Beautiful. Ah, the raillery Beezer gives the press a helpful hand many thanks, you arrogant thug. Wendell hardly supposes that Dale Gilbertson will give him the run of the place, but it will b e harder to throw him out than to turn him away. In the time he has, he can ask a few probing questions, snap a few telling photos, and above all sneak up enough atmosphere to fetch one of his legendary color pieces.With a cheerful heart, Wendell poodles down the highway at litre miles per hour, letting the bikers race far ahead of him without ever letting them pass out of sight. The number of cars approach path toward him thins out to widely spaced groups of two and three, then to a few single cars, then to nothing. As if they have been waiting to be unobserved, Beezer and his friends swerve across the highway and go blasting up the driveway to Goltzs space-age dome.Wendell feels an unwelcome trickle of self- motion, but he is not about to assume that Beezer and his louts have a sudden yearning for tractor hitches and riding lawn mowers. He speeds up, wondering if they have spotted him and are trying to throw him off their trail. As far as he knows, there is nothing up on tha t rise except the showroom, the maintenance garage, and the put lot. Damn place looks like a wasteland. Beyond the parking lot . . . what? On one side, he remembers a scraggy field stretching away to the horizon, on the other a bunch of trees, like a forest, only not as thick. He can see the trees from where he is now, running descending(prenominal) like a windbreak.Without bothering to signal, he speeds across the on approach path lanes and into Goltzs driveway. The sound of the motorcycles is still audible but ontogeny softer, and Wendell experiences a jolt of fear that they have somehow tricked him and are getting away, derisive at him At the top of the rise, he zooms around the front of the showroom and drives into the big lot. Two huge yellow tractors stand in front of the equipment garage, but his is the only car in sight. At the far end of the empty lot, a low concrete wall rises to bumper height between the pave and the meadow bordered by trees. On the other side of th e tree line, the wall ends at the swoop of asphalt drive coming around from the back of the showroom.Wendell cranks the wheel and speeds toward the far end of the wall. He can still hear the motorcycles, but they sound like a out-of-town swarm of bees. They must be about a half mile away, Wendell thinks, and jumps out of the Toyota. He jams the cassette recorder in a jacket pocket, slings the Nikon on its strap around his neck, and runs around the low wall and into the meadow. in time before he reaches the tree line, he can see the remains of an old macadam road, broken and overgrown, cutting downhill between the trees.Wendell imagines, overestimating, that Eds old place is about a mile distant, and he wonders if his car could go the distance on this rough, pettish surface. In some places, the macadam has fissured into architectonic plates in others, it has crumbled away to black gravel. Sinkholes and tight fitting rills radiate out from the thick, snaking roots of the trees. A biker could jounce over this mess evenhandedly well, but Wendell sees that his legs will manage the move around better than his Toyota, so he sets off down the old track through the trees. From what he likewisek in while he was on the highway, he still has destiny of time before the medical tester and the evidence wagon show up. Even with the help of the famous Hollywood Sawyer, the local cops are mooning around in a daze.The sound of motorcycles grows louder as Wendell picks his way along, as if the boys stopped moving in order to talk things over when they came to the far end of the old back road. Thats perfect. Wendell hopes they will keep jawing until he has nearly caught up with them he hopes they are shouting at one another and waving their fists in the air. He wants to see them cranked to the gills on rage and adrenaline, plus God knows what else those savages might have in their saddlebags. Wendell would love to get a photograph of Beezer St. Pierre knocking out Dale Gi lbertsons front teeth with a well-aimed right, or place the choke hold on his pal Sawyer. The photograph Wendell wants most, however, and for the sake of which he is inclined(p) to bribe every cop, county functionary, state official, or innocent bystander capable of holding out his hand, is a good, clean, dramatic picture of Irma Freneaus rude(a) corpse. Preferably one that leaves no doubt about the Fishermans depredations, whatever they were. Two would be ideal one of her face for poignancy, the other a full-body shot for the perverts but he will settle for the body shot if he has to. An image like that would go around the world, generating millions as it went. The National inquirer alone would fork over, what two coulomb thousand, three? for a photo of pitiable little Irma sprawled out in death, mutilations intelligibly visible. Talk about your gold mines, talk about your Big KahunasWhen Wendell has covered about a tenth of a mile of the miserable old road, his concent ration shared between gloating over all the money little Irma is going to siphon into his pockets and his fears of falling down and twisting his ankle, the commotion caused by the Thunder Fives Harleys abruptly ceases. The resulting quiet seems immense, then immediately fills with other, quieter sounds. Wendell can hear his breath struggling in and out, and also some other noise, a combine rattle and thud, from behind him. He whirls around and beholds, far up the ruined road, an ancient pickup lurching toward him.Its almost funny, the way the truck rocks from side to side as one tire, then another, sinks into an invisible depression or rolls up a tilting section of road surface. That is, it would be funny if these people were not horning in on his private access route to Irma Freneaus body. Whenever the pickup climbs over a particularly muscular-looking length of tree root, the four dark heads in the cab phellem like marionettes. Wendell takes a step forward, intending to send these yokels back where they came from. The trucks suspension scrapes against a flat rock, and sparks leap from the undercarriage. That thing must be thirty years old, at least, Wendell thinks its one of the few vehicles on the road that looks even worse than his car. When the truck jolts closer to him, he sees that it is an International Harvester. Weeds and twigs decorate the canescent bumper. Does I.H. even make pickups anymore? Wendell holds up his hand like a jurywoman taking the oath, and the truck jounces and dips over another few rutted feet before coming to a halt. Its left side sits observably higher than the right. In the darkness cast by the trees, Wendell cannot quite make out the faces peering at him through the windshield, but he has the feeling that at least two of them are familiar.The man behind the wheel pokes his head out of the drivers window and says, Hidey-ho, Mr. Bigshot Reporter. They slam the front door in your face, too? It is berth Runkleman, who regul arly comes to Wendells attention while he is going over the days police reports. The other three people in the cab bray like mules at Teddys wit. Wendell knows two of them Freddy Saknessum, part of a low-life clique that oozes in and out of various bore shacks along the river, and Toots Billinger, a scrawny kid who somehow supports himself by scavenging scrap surface in La Riviere and French Landing. equivalent Runkleman, Toots has been arrested for a number of third-rate crimes but never convicted of anything. The hard-worn, scruffy woman between Freddy and Toots rings a bell too dim to identify.Hello, Teddy, Wendell says. And you, Freddy and Toots. No, after I got a look at the mess out front, I decided to come in the back way.Hey, Wen-dell, doncha member me? the woman says, a touch pathetically. Doodles Sanger, in case your memorys all shot to hell. I started out with a whole buncha guys in Freddys Bel Air, and Teddy was with a whole nother bunch, but after we got run off by flatten Bitch, the rest of em wanted to go back to their barstools.Of course he does remember her, although the tough face before him now only faintly resembles that of the bawdy party girl named Doodles Sanger who served up drinks at the Nelson Hotel a disco biscuit ago. Wendell thinks she got fired more for drinking too much on the job than for stealing, but God knows she did both. Back then, Wendell threw a lot of money across the bar at the Nelson Hotel. He tries to remember if he ever hopped in the sack with Doodles.He plays it condom and says, Cripes, Doodles, how the hell could I forget a pretty little thing like you?The boys get a big yuck out of this sally. Doodles jabs her elbow into Toots Billingers vaporous ribs, gives Wendell a pouty little smile, and says, Well thank-ee, kind sir. Yep, he boffed her, all right.This would be the perfect time to order these morons back to their ratholes, but Wendell is visited by grade-A inspiration. How would you witching(a) people like to assist a gentleman of the press and earn fifty bucks in the process?Fifty each, or all together? asks Teddy Runkleman. bob up on, all together, Wendell says.Doodles leans forward and says, Twenty each, all right, big-timer? If we agree to do what you want.Aw, youre breakin my heart, Wendell says, and extracts his wallet from his back pocket and removes four twenties, leaving only a ten and three hit to see him through the day. They accept their stipend and, in a flash, tuck it away. nowadays this is what I want you to do, Wendell says, and leans toward the window and the four jack-o-lantern faces in the cab.