Night World Spellbinder Chapter 15 Free Essays

Thea.† Dani was shaking her arm. ‘They’re talking to you. We will write a custom essay sample on Night World : Spellbinder Chapter 15 or any similar topic only for you Order Now † The visions were gone. Thea was standing in Gran’s workshop, seeing everything as if through a distorting lens. People’s faces seemed to stretch; their voices seemed to drag. â€Å"I asked, how did you learn the invocation for summoning spirits?† Gran said slowly. Eric. He won’t wait; he’ll start without me. Or will he? I told him not to. But he’ll be worrying about the party†¦. The party. All those kids†¦ even little kids. Humans, but people. like baby chicks with a hawk up above. How many of them will end up like Kevin? â€Å"The invocation for summoning spirits!† Gran was shouting, as if Thea were hard of hearing. â€Å"I†¦ we†¦ I heard you at Samhain two years ago. In Vermont. I saw the summoning the Inner Circle did.† Even her own voice sounded weird and distorted. â€Å"We saw you. Both of us. We were hiding behind the trees and you never even noticed,† Blaise said clearly, and the bells rang again. Dimly, Thea felt appreciation. But most of her mind was reeling from horrible thought to thought. Eric†¦ but if I try to get to him, if the Inner Circle finds out he’s involved†¦ that will get him killed. A human who knows about the Night World. Immediate death sentence. But Suzanne. If he burns those dummies, Suzanne will kill him the way she killed Kevin. No matter what happened, Eric was going to end up dead. Unless†¦ â€Å"Which†¦ of the spirits†¦ did you call?† Gran was shouting, as if Thea was now not only hard of hearing but slow of understanding. Unless†¦ â€Å"That’s what I want to tell you,† Thea said. She could see the way. It would mean the end for her, but she might possibly save Eric. If there was enough time, if they would let her alone, if Eric wasn’t right now trying to be a hero†¦. â€Å"I want to tell you about it,† Thea said again. And then the words were tumbling out in a rush, faster and faster, as if some dam had broken inside her. â€Å"And I’ll tell you everything-but please, Grandma, please, you have to let me go out now. Just for a little while. There’s something I have to do. You have to let me go, and then I’ll come back here and you can do whatever you want to me.† â€Å"Hold on a minute,† Mother Cybele said, but Thea couldn’t stop. â€Å"Please-please. Grandma. I’ve done a terrible thing-and I’m the only one who can take care of it. I’ll come back-â€Å" â€Å"Wait, wait, wait. Calm down,† Gran said. She looked agitated herself. â€Å"What’s this rush all of sudden? Try it slowly. What do you think you have to do?† â€Å"I have to put her back.† Thea saw that she was going to have to give some explanation. She tried to speak dearly and slowly, to make them understand. â€Å"The spirit I let out, Grandma. Her name is Suzanne Blanchet and she was burned in the sixteen hundreds. And she’s out, out there, and she’s already killed a human.† Everyone was listening now, some leaning forward, some frowning. Thea looked around at the circle of faces, talking to all of them. She was still terrified, but what did that matter? Eric mattered. â€Å"Last week she killed a boy at my high school. And tonight she’s going to kill more people, at the high school Halloween party. I can’t explain how I know-there isn’t time. But I do know. And I’m the only one who can stop her. I called her; I’m the only one who can put her back.† â€Å"Yes, but unfortunately it’s not that easy,† a low voice said. Thea turned and identified Rhys, a wiry man in a white lab coat. â€Å"If the spirit’s at large-† â€Å"I know about that, but I have a way to trap her. It’s all set up, and I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Thea hesitated. â€Å"I’ve tricked somebody into helping me,† she said slowly. â€Å"And he’s in danger right now. Which is why you have to let me go, let me take care of this. Please.† â€Å"You want to go to the high school, where the party is,† Aunt Ursula said. Although her lips were as thin as ever, she didn’t sound angry. More-astute. Thea opened her mouth to say no, and then stopped, confused again. The party-or the desert? If Suzanne was really killing people at the party, she should go there. But only if Eric wasn’t doing something to attract Suzanne to the desert. He was still more important to her than anyone else. But if he wasn’t doing something-and if Suzanne was at the party-she might kill before Thea and Eric could lure her†¦. I’m going crazy. She felt, literally, as if she might faint. Her head was swimming. There were too many possibilities. It all depended on where Suzanne was right now, and there was no way to know that. Thea began to shake violently, black dots dancing in front of her eyes. I don’t know what to do. â€Å"I’m sorry†¦ could everybody listen for a moment? I’m seeing something.† It was Aradia’s voice, quiet and gently self-possessed. Mature, even though she was only a little older than Thea. Thea tried to see her through the black dots. â€Å"I think it’s something important, something about what we’re talking about,† Aradia said. Her beautiful face, with its smooth skin the color of coffee with cream, was turned toward Thea. Her wide brown eyes looked straight ahead without focus, the way they always did. Aradia couldn’t see with those eyes-but then she didn’t need to. She saw with her mind-and saw things that were hidden to most people. â€Å"I’m seeing a boy-he’s dressed in some old-fashioned costume. He’s beside a fire, inside a circle of stones.† Eric†¦. â€Å"He’s got a stick-an ember. He’s looking around. Now he’s going to†¦ it looks like a scarecrow. I can’t see it well. There’s a pile of sticks underneath it. He’s bending. He’s lighting the sticks.† No. â€Å"I have to go,† Thea said. She wasn’t asking permission anymore. Aradia was still speaking. â€Å"Okay, the sticks are catching fire. Now I can see better†¦ and it’s not a scarecrow; it looks sort of like a witch. A doll.† She stopped, her lovely blind eyes widening. â€Å"It’s-and it’s moving-no, there’s something moving it. I can see it now-a spirit. A spirit is moving the doll. It’s coming out now-toward the boy-â€Å" â€Å"I have to go,† Thea said. And then she was moving, pushing her way between Rhys and Old Bob, breaking out of the circle. The beads of the curtain struck her face, clattering as they fell back behind her. â€Å"Thea, wait a minute!† â€Å"Thea, come back here!† â€Å"Ursula, you go get her-â€Å" The jeep. My backpack’s in the jeep. I have to get it first. The keys to the Lincoln were hanging on a nail by the back door. Thea grabbed them. She pushed the back door open just as three or four people came hurrying through the bead curtain. She slammed the door in their faces. Get to the car. Fast. Now drive. She backed out of the alley, tires squealing. She could see light spill as the door to the shop opened, but by then she was turning onto Barren Street. She found herself driving at some new level, squeezing through the tail end of yellow lights, recognizing shortcuts in the dark. In just a few minutes she was at the Night World club with the jack-o’-lanterns on the porch. There was no place to park the Lincoln. She left it in the middle of the street, with the keys still in the ignition. She pulled the key to the jeep out of her belt and jumped in. Hurry. Hurry. She burned rubber again getting the jeep moving. Hurry. The freeway. Just let me get to him. And let it not be too late. That’s all I ask, after that I don’t care. Would you give up everything? The voice didn’t seem like a stranger this time, didn’t seem menacing. Just curious. And Thea had an answer. Yes. If I can just get there, in time, I can send him away. I can tell him some story, make him go somehow. Make him hide. I’ll tell the Circle I tricked him or enchanted him into helping; I won’t even tell them his name. They can’t make me. Whatever they do to me, he’ll be safe. That’s all I care about. That’s all I’m asking. But even that was a lot, and she knew it, so she kept her foot mashed down on the gas pedal. Freeway off ramp. Side road. She drove crazily fast. The pounding inside her head kept saying hurry, hurry, even as she was careening off curbs. Desert. Now the road was bad. It was hard to see; the moon was almost down. The jeep lunged over bumps and lurched into potholes. Eric, be doing something. Be talking to her, be running. You’re so smart, please, please, be smart now. Keep her distracted, keep her hair away from your neck. How strong was a spirit? Thea didn’t know. Please, I see everything so clearly now. I’ve been selfish, only thinking of me, what would make me happy. All that â€Å"encased in ice† garbage. I should have been dancing in the street. As long as Eric is all right, I don’t care if he lives on Mars, I don’t care if I never see him again. As long as he’s well I’m happier than anybody has a right to be. A jolt rattled her teeth. She was off the road now, driving by landmarks. Through forests of dead yuccas that looked like skinny gray Cousin Its. It’s taking so long, it’s too long. Hurry. Hurry. She could see red sandstone in front of her. Pillars in the headlights. That’s it! Go, go! The jeep rocketed over clumps of blackbrush. She could see fire in the depression between the pillars. She drove straight toward it. Fire-movement-the top of a silhouette†¦ â€Å"Eric!† She was yelling even as she slammed on the brakes. The jeep ground to a shuddering stop a few inches from a misshapen sandstone tower. â€Å"Eric!† She had the backpack in her hand. She tore the door open and jumped out, running. â€Å"Thea! Stay out of here!† She saw him. The light of the fire cast an eerie glow onto the already lurid sandstone. Everything seemed red, as if this place were bathed in blood. The roar of the jeep’s engine and the roar of the fire merged to sound like the flames of hell. But Brie was alive and fighting. Fighting it. Thea threw herself at it, even as her brain was registering impressions. A wraith shape that looked at one second like a woman, and the next second like tattered clouds. Part of it seemed to be coiled around Eric, and he had both hands at his throat. Bits of the pine-needle amulet Thea had made for him were scattered around his feet. Useless. â€Å"Get away from him! I’m the one who set this up!† Thea screamed. She reached Eric and grabbed wildly at the wraith, at the part of it around his throat. Her hands felt Eric’s hands, felt cold air. â€Å"No-Thea, watch out-â€Å" She saw the thing come free of Eric, who staggered. She saw it re-form, gather, then dive straight for her. â€Å"Thea!† Eric knocked her sideways. Cold air rushed by. She and Eric fell in a heap. She gasped â€Å"Eric, go,† even before she got up. She tried to shove at him, looking around for the wraith. â€Å"Go-get out of here! The jeep’s running-get in and just drive. I’ll call you later.† â€Å"Stay back to back,† Eric said breathlessly. â€Å"She’s incredibly fast.† He added through his teeth, â€Å"You know I’m not leaving.† â€Å"This is witch stuff, you jerk!† she snarled, standing back to back. â€Å"I don’t want you. You’ll just get in my way!† It was a valiant effort. She even managed to inject something like hatred into her voice. And Eric wasn’t perfect. He turned around, grabbed her by the shoulder, and yelled, â€Å"You know I’m not going, so don’t waste any more time!† Then he shoved her sideways again and freezing wind streaked by her cheek, leaving her ear numb. â€Å"Sorry,† he said in his normal voice. â€Å"You okay?† Thea spun and looked behind her. The wraith was bobbing there. It was shaped like a woman made of vapor, with arms and legs only suggested, but with a long tail of hair that whipped around. â€Å"I’ve got the stuff,† Thea muttered to Eric. Admit- ting she knew he’d never leave. â€Å"But it’ll take a few minutes to do the spell. We’ll have to keep out of-† She was watching the lashing tail, but she wasn’t fast enough. There was a sound-something between the snap of a whip and the crackle of electricity- and the tail flashed out. It was around her neck. At first it just felt cold. Insubstantial but icy, like a scarf of subzero wind. But then the wraith gave a jerk and it tightened and it did have substance. It felt like metal, like a pipe full of supercooled liquid, like the tentacle of some alien creature with ice for blood. It was choking her. She couldn’t breathe and she couldn’t get her fingers under it. It squeezed tighter, hurting her. She could feel her eyes start to bulge. â€Å"Look at me!† Eric yelled. He had a stick that was blazing at one end and he was dancing up and down like a crazy person on the other side of the fire. â€Å"Look! Suzanne! I’m going to get your little sister!† He poked the burning stick at the dummy Lucienne, not at the wood piled around her, but at the actual doll. â€Å"There! There! How do you like that?† He jabbed at the doll. A ring of fire blossomed in the black clothes. â€Å"Confess you’re a witch!† Thea felt something slide away and her neck was free. She tried to shout a warning to Eric, but all that came out was a croak. He was already diving to one side anyway. That must be what he’s been doing all this time. Dodging. â€Å"Eric, keep it up!† â€Å"Okay, but work fast!† He threw himself the other way. She forced herself to turn her attention from him. Her backpack was at the edge of the circle where she’d dropped it. She grabbed it and dumped the contents out on the ground. She had to do this right and she had to do it faster than she’d ever worked a spell before. Oak and ash. She threw them on the central fire, then scooted toward it, dragging the other materials close with a sweep of her arm. She ripped open a plastic bag and grabbed the quassia chips. They were light, and she had to thrust her hand into the flames to make sure they actually went in the fire. Blessed thistle was powder; she threw it. Mandrake root was solid, she threw it, too. She had just grabbed the ounce vial when Eric shouted, â€Å"Thea, duck.† She didn’t look up to see what she was ducking. She fell flat instantly. It saved her. Icy wind blew her hair almost into the fire. â€Å"Suzanne!† Eric was yelling. â€Å"I’ve got your brother! Look!† There were fires at all three stakes now, and Eric was dashing between them, poking at one figure after another. Thea pulled the plastic cap off the vial with her teeth. She shook it into the fire, her hand in the flames again. One, two, three. The fire roared up, louder than ever, and pure blue. Thea fell back from it. â€Å"Suzanne! Over here!† Eric’s voice was faint beyond the roar. Tears were running down Thea’s face, her nose and eyes stinging from the acrid smell. She fumbled for the last object necessary for the sending-back†¦ the bag of residue from the bronze bowl. She took a handful in her left hand and dropped it between two charcoaled logs at the edge of the fire. Then she stood up-and saw that Eric was in trouble. He’d lost his burning stick. The wraith had him by the throat and it was whirling him around, changing shape every second. His mouth was open, but Thea couldn’t hear any sound. â€Å"May I be given the Power of the Words of Hecate† She screamed it, into the roaring fire, toward the wheeling, changing spirit shape. And the words came, rolling off her tongue with a power of their own: â€Å"From the heart of the flame†¦ I send you back! Through the narrow path†¦ I send you back!† She put all her own power into the words, too, screaming them with an authority that she’d never felt in herself before. Because the wraith was fighting. It didn’t want to go anywhere. â€Å"To the airy void†¦ I send you back! Through the mist of years†¦ I send you back!† Eric staggered, was jerked sideways. He seemed to be lifted off his feet by the wraith. â€Å"To beyond the veil†¦ I send you back! Go speedily, conveniently, and without delay!† Eric’s feet were kicking in the air. This is how Kevin died, Thea realized suddenly and with absolute certainty. She found herself yelling words she’d never heard before. â€Å"By the power of Earth and Air and Water! By the power of Fire on this night of Hecate! By my own power as a daughter of Hellewise! Go speedily, conveniently and without delay, you bitch!† She had no idea where that came from. But the next instant Eric fell. The wraith had dropped him. It shot toward Thea-but then it stopped as if it had slammed into an invisible brick wall. It was directly over the fire. Caught. The blue flames were belching smoke-but sideways. Thea could see the wraith dearly above them. And for the first time, it didn’t look like a cloud shape. It looked like a woman. A girl. Older than Thea, but still in her teens. With long dark hair that floated around her and a pale face and huge sad eyes. Her lips were parted as if she were trying to speak. Thea stared. She heard herself whisper, â€Å"Suzanne†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The girl held out a pale hand toward her. But at the same moment the fire flared up again. It seemed to turn the girl’s hair to fire, too. Dark fire was burning all around her and there was an expression of infinite sadness on her face. Thea reached out a hand instinctively- The fire roared- And there was a flash like lightning. Suzanne had been drawn to the heart of the flame. And now the lightning formed a cone: the narrow path. Plastic bags and other debris whipped around the circle as if caught in a whirlwind. Suzanne and the cone of white lightning disappeared into each other. To the airy void. Through the mist of years. The fire flared up above Thea’s head, and then sank down. The blue seemed to fall to the bottom. The flames turned yellow, like ordinary fire. It was as if a curtain had been drawn. To beyond the veil. That was where Suzanne was now. At the edge of the bonfire, where the residue had been, there was a lump of soft clay. Thea knelt and picked it up. She looked into the center of the flames-and saw a coil of long hair, the color of mahogany. The ends were starting to blacken and shrink in the fire. Thea reached in to grab it. She folded the hair over and quickly pressed the clay around it. It was a clumsy job, Blaise would have done much better, but the hair was enclosed. She groped on the ground for the wooden seal, found it, punched it into the clay. Suzanne’s symbol, the cabalistic sign for her name, was printed. It was done. The amulet was restored, Suzanne was trapped again. She’d stay where she belonged unless somebody else was stupid enough to summon her. Thea dropped the amulet without looking at it, got up, and staggered around the fire to where Eric was lying. Her vision was strangely gray. After all this†¦ he has to be all right†¦ oh, please, let him be†¦ He moved when she reached him. â€Å"Eric, we did it. She’s gone. We did it.† He grinned faintly. Said in a scratchy voice, â€Å"You don’t have to cry.† She hadn’t realized she was. Eric sat up. He was terminally mussed, his hair wild, his face dirty. He looked wonderful to her. â€Å"We did it,† she whispered again. She reached out to smooth his hair, and her hand stayed there. He glanced at the fire, then back at her. â€Å"I kind of hated to say those things to her. I mean, no matter how bad she was†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He touched Thea’s neck, stroking gently. â€Å"Are you okay? I think you’ve got a bruise.† â€Å"Me? You’re the one who really got it.† She put her free hand to his throat, fingers just barely touching. â€Å"But I know what you mean,† she whispered. â€Å"I felt-sorry-for her at the end.† â€Å"Don’t cry again. Please. I really hate that,† he whispered, and he put his free arm around her. And then they were just kissing madly. Deliriously. Laughing and kissing and holding each other. She could taste her own tears on his lips, warming with his warmth, and she was trembling like a bird in a thicket. A few moments later a noise broke in. Thea didn’t want to move, but Eric looked, and then he stiffened. â€Å"Uh, we’ve got company.† Thea looked up. There were cars just outside the sandstone pillars. Parked cars. They must have driven up sometime during the fight with Suzanne, while the roar of the fire blocked out the sound of their engines, while Thea’s attention was focused on the wraith trying to Ml her. Because the people were already out of the cars. Grandma Harman, supported by Aunt Ursula. Rhys in his lab coat. Dumpling-shaped Mother Cybele, with her hand on Aradia’s arm. Old Bob, Nans Buruku. Most of the Inner Circle was here. How to cite Night World : Spellbinder Chapter 15, Essay examples

Performance and Management free essay sample

Performance and Management A. Policy For Recognizing Employee Contributions The purpose of this report is to use the compensation system we previously developed in Phases I and II to pay people, develop plans that reward performance, add benefits into the mix, and evaluate these results. First we will look at performance-based-pay as a policy for recognizing employee contributions. Performance-based-pay is a pay plan that varies with some measure of individual or organizational performance, such as merit pay, lump-sum bonus plans, skill-based pay, incentive plans, variable pay plans, risk sharing, and success sharing. It is basically a pay plan that moves away from the traditional base pay and across-the-board increases, and focuses more on factors of performance that can increase overall productivity for a company. Performance-based-pay plans can be very effective in creating a positive impact in performance of both employees and a company as a whole, but only is the plan is designed well. In order to be successful, it is crucial that the performance-pay plan be designed to support FastCat’s business strategy and compensation objectives. To design this pay-for-performance plan, we will recommend a specific policy plan that is tailored to FastCat’s goals towards success. We will compare different performance-based plans, which include individual vs. group incentives and merit vs. incentive pay, to see which combinations will help FastCat compete more effectively. a. Emphasis on Individual vs. Group Incentives Two strategies to consider with performance-based-pay plans are providing individual incentives, group incentives, or both. Individual incentive plans involve incentive compensation that is tied directly to objective measures of individual production. On the other hand, group incentive plans are incentive plans that are based on some measure of group performance rather than individual performance. Taking data on a past year as a base, group incentive plans may focus on cost savings or on profit increases as the standard for distributing a portion of the accrued funds among relevant employees. We recommend a mixture of both individual incentive and group incentive pay plans. How the individual incentive plan will work is there will be a year-end bonus pool as function of company performance. The employee’s share in the pool will be based on three factors: (1) employee’s grade, (2) employees personal performance analysis, (3) employee’s tenure at the company. This plan will go hand-in-hand with the group incentive plan we recommend, which will be a profit-sharing plan. A profit-sharing plan is a plan that focuses on profitability as the standard for group incentive. This group incentive plan will encourage employees to work hard as a team to create better company performance overall. We used the balanced scorecard approach to measure the company’s performance. A balanced scorecard approach is a way to look at what contributes value in an organization. It is a corporate-wide overall performance measure typically incorporating financial results, process improvements, customer service, and innovation. We determined that there are eight main elements that must be measured to determine good company performance. These metrics, which are weighted differently based on importance to FastCat’s business strategy, are as follows: (1) revenue growth, (2) labor costs, (3) innovation, (4) customers see FastCat representatives as responsive and knowledgeable, (5) customers value FastCat solutions, (6) employees take pride in working for FastCat, (7) employees have the tools and support to do their jobs, (8) employees understand how to make teams successful. In essence, the individual incentive plan and the group incentive plan work together to increase both individual performance and company performance. The better the company performs based on the balanced scorecard approach, the more money there is for the bonus pool in the individual incentive plan. b. Emphasis on Merit vs. Variable Pay All the pieces of this compensation system fit together Add justification on why this matches FastCat’s business and compensation objectives from problems B. Implementation a. Matching FastCat Jobs With Benchmark Survey Jobs When matching FastCat jobs with benchmark survey jobs we first had to separate the jobs at FastCat into four different job families: engineering, technical, marketing, and administration. We started off with sixteen FastCat positions of the various job families and matched them with the benchmark jobs based on the responsibilities of the job as well as the experience and competencies required to hold the position. For example, take the engineering family. For the Engineer 1 of the benchmark survey job, it is described by the following statements: â€Å"Participates in development, testing and documentation of software programs. Performs design and analysis tasks as a project team member. Typical minimum requirements are a Bachelor’s degree in a scientific field or the equivalent and up to two years of experience. † We compared that to the Usability Engineer in our own organization. Some responsibilities of the Usability Engineer are as follows: â€Å"Contributes to the development and implementation of FastCat web applications,† â€Å"work with FastCat quality assurance to ensure integrity of FastCat software; test, debug, and fix data,† and â€Å"design appropriate software testing strategies. † The position requires a B. S. egree in Computer Science or related field plus at least two years of experience. A competency required of the position is to communicate with team members, support team decisions, and work effectively as part of a team. As the numbers within the families of the benchmark jobs increase (Engineer 2, Engineer 3) the responsibilities, experience, and competencies required of the position also increase. For example, Senior Fellow, the position we assigned the most JE points in the organization to, was matched with Engineer 5, the highest position in the benchmark engineer family. . Determining Relevant Market(s) When selecting market competitors to establish our suggested pay policy line for FastCat our team tried a few different markets before deciding on the one we felt most reflected the values of the company. The first market group we chose to try was all the surveyed industries provided to us by FastCat. This line fit well with our benchmark jobs being fairly close to the line on both the high and low end. The second fit we looked into was just using the data regarding Software companies, this line seemed to fit slightly better than the previous with jobs on both the high and low end of the JE scale being fairly evenly distributed above and below the line. The final fit we tried was software companies with the exception of company 15 because we found that their compensation data created a huge outlier from the average of the other companies. We decided to go with the final fit of only software companies excluding company 15 because we felt this line best reflected our views on which jobs were most important. c. Adjusting our Data for More Desirable Regression Results Our team was rather flexible when making decisions about possible adjustments to our data during and after making our regression results. At first when our team was benchmarking the FastCat jobs against other companies, we felt that a couple FastCat jobs were very similar. We matched two of them with the same survey job titles. The first match was Software Developer and Implementation Consultant, which were both matched with â€Å"Engineer 2†. The second match was with Administrative Assistant II and the Administrative Aide, which were both matched with â€Å"Office Support 2†. When we were entering the data into the software to create a regression analysis, we realized that we would only be able to create this analysis on fourteen jobs, instead of the sixteen that was expected. We initially decided that moving some of our matches around and entering full data for all sixteen jobs would be the proper route to take. Our R? number was not where we wanted it to be after doing this; coming in at less than . 70, and this was probably because it was a bit forced and unnatural for us to change the jobs around just to get the full amount of jobs. Going back to our original benchmarking brought our R? up considerably. When we looked at the new data we saw that there was one major outlier and it was the Senior Quality Assurance Technician. Our team had marked this position at a â€Å"Technician 4† originally, but we all took a look at the FastCat information again and reached an agreement that we had made a mistake in benchmarking the position. What threw us off at first was the statement that the Senior Quality Assurance Technician was, â€Å"at the direction of the Implementation Consultant, which had a rather low amount of Job Evaluation points. We decided to move the position from a â€Å"Technician 4† to a â€Å"Technician 5†. This is the last change we made, and it gave us our final R? of . 882. d. Different Grades and Ranges Regarding grades of pay and the range of pay within those grades we chose to go with 4 grades of 100 JE points each. We found this to be a satisfactory suggestion as the jobs falling within these ranges have a relatively similar importance to the company and should be compensated in a way that demonstrates this. We used 15% as our selected range for all grades, meaning that the amount paid in each grade would range from 15% below to 15% above the midpoint of our pay policy line within that grade. With the results from the selected grades and ranges we had one difficulty; the difference in pay from grade 1 to grade 2 was nearly $10,000. To fix this discrepancy and encourage our lower level employees to stay with the company we chose to use an above market policy of 15% for this grade to close the gap. After completing these steps we had a pay policy that we felt was right to suggest to the FastCat Company for their base wage policy.

Sexuality, Nurture or Nature free essay sample

Many people like to argue that our sexuality is a product of the environment we are raised in, or that it is simply a choice people make for one reason or another. Many people also believe it’s something that is decided for us, we’re either born with it or we’re not and that it’s something that predetermined by our genetic make-up. Something that is generally well accepted across the board is that human sexuality is something incredibly complicated, brain meltingly complicated really, and that we may or may not ever even find the reason behind it. For a lot of people, it’s nice to imagine that humans are simple and you can know a person’s sex and then you’ll know all sorts of things about them deeply and clearly- except that’s not how it is most of the time. There are some people who fit into that nice little box but the vast majority does not. We will write a custom essay sample on Sexuality, Nurture or Nature? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page There are many variables and contributing factors to human sexuality, such as your biological sex, gender, sexual orientation, romantic orientation, and sexual behavior. To argue whether or not your sexuality is a product of nature as opposed to nurture as well as the opposite argument there has to be first a firm understanding of each of these. A person’s biological sex, as defined by Planned Parenthood, is â€Å"†¦ is how we are defined as female, male, or intersex. It describes our internal and external bodies — including our sexual and reproductive anatomy, our genetic makeup, and our hormones. † Biological sex is what your body is and it’s not necessarily the same thing as your gender. Biological males bear both X and Y chromosomes and usually have male genitalia, biological females have two X chromosomes and usually have female genitalia. There are all sorts of variations of this as well, in the case of intersex individuals they may have a combination of the two and in some cases there have been individuals born with two sets of male or female genitalia. When DNA and chromosomes a person’s sex is generally a set in stone thing but there are procedures that involve altering the genitalia to work and act like another and even complete removal of them that could result in having a person’s ‘sex’ registered as another. â€Å"Our gender includes a complex mix of beliefs, behaviors, and characteristics. Gender is determined in a person’s brain and a person could be a man, woman, neither, or both, or any variation of any of these. Trying to name them all is like trying to label every point on an infinite continuum and that’s what we’re dealing with here. Gender, unlike sex, and not usually binary and this is what decides what sort of pronouns you should use with the individual. Sexual orientation is just as complicated and broad as gender but for the sake of defining it sexual orientation is what your body wants to have sex with, what your body is telling you to attempt to produce offspring with. Obviously humans don’t always have sex for the sole purpose of producing offspring and even animals such as the dolphin and bonobo have sex for pleasure and hundreds of different animals have homosexual sex. Homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual, asexual, and pansexual are common terms used for a person’s sexuality but there are tons of paraphilia which describe a sexual attraction to objects and situations. Romantic orientation may or may not be linked to sexual orientation and describes what type of romantic preferences a person has. For example; a biological male that only has sex with woman who can only develop strong intimate relationships with men. His sexual orientation is heterosexual but his romantic orientation is homosexual. Though this may not be a very common occurrence it is far from impossible. Simply romantic orientation is exactly what it sounds like it is; who you’re romantic with. Sexual behavior is the last of the common variables associated with sexuality and describes specifically what goes on when you throw another person into the mix. A good example is a heterosexual priest who, because of his religion, is celibate. His sexual orientation is heterosexual yet he abstains from sexual interaction because of his beliefs, that’s behavior. The most important thing to remember before going into the argument of whether or not sexuality is a product of nurture or nature is that these variables can all be independent of each other and that’s what makes this argument so frustratingly difficult to work with. Charles Darwin himself said we do not even in the least know the final cause of sexuality. The whole subject is hidden in darkness. There is no definite proof of either side of this argument and it is still being researched today. In the article Kimberly Cornuelle wrote for BU Today she describes an experiment in which two scientists â€Å"examined identical and fraternal twin brothers—as well as nonrelated brothers who had been adopted—in an effort to see if there was a genetic explanation for homosexuality. They found that if one identical twin was gay, 52 percent of the time the other was also; the figure was 22 percent for fraternal twins, and only 5 percent for nonrelated adopted brothers. These finding have been highly debated over the years but if they are true, wouldn’t that mean that at least part of human sexuality is the cause of nature? Look back again to the example of the heterosexual priest who chooses celibacy. Religion isn’t a natural thing, meaning part of his sexuality is determined by his lifestyle. All in all there are always going to be people who fit in the box for each argument and there will always be people who do not, leading me to the conclusion that sexuality itself is a mixture between both nurture and nature and that it can be a different combination of the two for each individual. Other people can argue for one way or another all they want but there is no way that it is simple enough to be defined. It probably never will be defined; there are just far too many variables.

Saving the Forest and Climate Changes

Saving the Forest and Climate Changes A global climatic change is commonly referred to as global warming. It involves the scope and pace at which a number of both physical and chemical changes take place in the world altering the nature from its original state to a hazardous condition.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Saving the Forest and Climate Changes specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This degradation in the physical environment has been suggested by numerous scientists to be caused by different factors including carbon monoxide emissions (CO2 gases), some greenhouse gases and many other. Patricia Campbell, MacKinnon and Stevens (125) argue that the greenhouse gases are released as a result of human, industrial and land usage activities, for instance, in a process of deforestation, etc. The greenhouse gases from such emissions play a key role in the depletion of the most essential ozone layer, thereby increasing the solar heating effect on the adjacent Earth’s surface as well as the rate of suns radiation on the atmosphere, hence leading to global warming. Most of the greenhouse gases are poisonous to humans and other forms of life on the earth; these are chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), methane, aerosols, sulphur dioxide, hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), carbon monoxide and others. In spite of being poisonous, these gases have always acted as buffers by absorbing the sun’s heat and preserving it to increase the impact of global warming on the earth’s atmosphere. The global warming effect is a catastrophe that has led to decreased levels of agricultural productivity and scorching of human skin. Global warming is on the rise nowadays due to wanton deforestation activities of humans causing widespread levels of desertification and aridity all over the globe. Regardless of the importance of forests and other vegetations in controlling the high rates of global warming and rainfall formation, it seems that humans have decided to destroy their natural ecosystems and habitats through chopping trees for timbers, charcoal and furniture. In fact, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the rate of global deforestation grew at an alarming rate between 2000 and 2005. The report added that the reasons for global deforestation activities ranged from land clearing for agricultural purposes, building of new houses, commercial logging and timber to creating space for commercial developments, plants, etc. The study also recorded that up to 53,000 square miles occupied by the tropical rain forest were shattered yearly beginning with the 1980s (Honey 14). Discussed below are some of the harmful effects of deforestation on the rate of global climatic changes.Advertising Looking for essay on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The emission and formation of carbon dioxide (CO2) gas in the atmosph ere has been largely linked to the wanton destruction of trees and vegetation in regard to the fact that trees and greenery are responsible for the â€Å"consumption† or intake of the excess carbon dioxide gas released from animals as metabolic wastes; hence, when the forests are cut down (due to deforestation activities), CO2 gas accumulates in the atmosphere to trap and store solar heat and radiations. Some trees, especially in tropical rain forests, assist in reducing the rates of water evaporative cooling by forming canopies that cover and protect the underlying vegetation from direct excess solar heat, hence always keeping the greenery and soils wet, thereby increasing the levels of atmospheric moisture. Forests and other vast vegetations also act as water catchments by raising a region’s humidity levels and causing rainfalls, for instance, tropical rains. Due to the interconnectivities in tropical ecosystems, the effect of deforestation always spreads and extends to very large areas from the exact point of deforestation. The destruction of trees results into devastation of natural habitats for the millions of other plants and animals, especially small insects and birds that also play major roles in soil formation and trees pollination respectively. In fact, to some greater extent, deforestation leads to outbreaks of communicable diseases, e.g. malaria, in regard that logging roads from deforestation activities always act as disease carriers. For instance, Peru experienced high cases of malaria attacks of up to 64,000 cases in 2007 due to accumulation of pools of water in the holes left by logging roads allowing the growth of increased number mosquitoes, which transmit malaria through their bites. Moreover, extreme logging leads to an increased level of contraction of the human immunodeficiency viruses (HIVs) from bushmeat in tropical zones (White 21). Summary Deforestation activities make humans very vulnerable to natural calamities, such a s aridity, desertification due to the tendency of creation of bare lands from deforestation, soil erosion and mass flows in mountainous regions. These factors play key roles in the global climatic changes and patterns; for example, aridity is a disaster that leaves soils bare exposing them to the adverse effects of the solar heating and radiation. Another calamity of massive mudslides befell Philippines and Indonesia hitting their major towns and causing a lot of havoc due to deforestation (Driml Common 4).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Saving the Forest and Climate Changes specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In fact, according to the United Nations Statistics, the economic benefits of the deforestation are emphasized in the following ways. It is said that the forests act as sources of food, medicine and fuel to about 1.6 billion people in the entire globe. The scientists also found that up to about 2/3 of animal sp ecies lived in the woods, hence they acted as habitats for many animals and plants. The analysis also reported that deforestation caused up to about 20 percent of the yearly greenhouse gases emissions in the 1990s. Campbell, Patricia, MacKinnon, Aran and Christy Stevens. An Introduction to Global Studies. United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print. Driml, Sally and Mick Common. Ecological Economics Criteria for Sustainable Tourism: Application to the Great Barrier Reef and Wet Tropics World Heritage Areas, Australia. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 4.1(1996): 3-16. Honey, Martha. Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who owns Paradise? Washington, DC: Island Press, 1998. Print. White, Lynsey. The Need for Effective Partnerships to Address the Bushmeat Trade. Washington: Integrating Conservation Development in Central Africa, n.d. library.conservation.org. Web.

Airborne infectious disease

Airborne infectious disease Tuberculosis (TB) is an airborne infectious disease which is caused by bacteria belonging to Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex1. There are approximately one third of the world’s population are infected with tuberculosis where nine millions of new cases reported annually2. Although tuberculosis is essentially curable and preventable, it continues to cause millions of deaths every year2. When infected individual coughs, sneezes or spits, M. tuberculosis is propelled into the air and infected those who breathed in the bacteria that existed in droplets of saliva3. Primarily, tuberculosis will affect the lungs, known as pulmonary tuberculosis3. It will also affect other parts of body, for instance lymph nodes, bones, brain and kidneys3. Once a person is infected with tuberculosis, there are basically three possible ways may occur. Firstly, the immune system plays a vital role and strong enough to kill the bacteria3. Secondly, immune system is not strong enough to fight off the ba cteria but is able to build a defensive barrier against the bacteria3. Individuals who are latently infected with M. tuberculosis show asymptomatic where these bacteria lie dormant in the lungs and able to reactivate after years1. The disease is often reactivated in those who are immunocompromised or generally weakened. Lastly, the immune system fails to kill bacteria causing the bacteria to grow and spread towards other parts of body which is called active tuberculosis3. In the fight of tuberculosis, World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends universal Bacille Calmette-Guà ©rin (BCG) vaccination in the countries with high TB burdens4. BCG vaccine contains weakened form of M. tuberculosiswhich will induce antibodies to fight against this type of bacteria. The efficacy of BCG vaccination can be ranging from 0% to 84%5. This may be due to the frequency of TB exposure and quality of vaccine used, leading to arguments on BCG vaccination efficacies4. One of the greatest arguments is th at BCG vaccination causing positive reactions to tuberculin skin testing and hence interfere with the diagnosis of latent TB4. Existence of evidences showing the rates of efficacy also depends on geographical location, age at vaccination and form of TB further complicate the situation. Currently, TB chemotherapy is made up of a cocktail of first-line drugs isoniazid (INH), rifampicin (RIF), pyrazinamide (PZA) and ethambutol (EMB) 6. If the treatment fails due to bacterial drug resistance, or patient unable to tolerate, second-line drugs for instance para-aminosalicylate (PAS), fluoroquinolones, ethionamide and cycloserine are introduced6. These are considered as second line drugs generally either less potent with larger doses or more toxic with serious side effects6. Tuberculosis is presently treated in two phases, namely initial phase and continuous phase7. In initial phase, the patient will be treated with concurrent use of four first line drugs, with the aim to eradicate or contr ol bacteria population to replicate in rapid motion and also avoid the emergence of bacteria resistance7. The treatment choices available for initial treatment include isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol7. Streptomycin is used rarely but can be used in patients who infected with bacteria that are resistant to isoniazid before the therapy is commenced7. The duration for initial phase is 2 months whereas the continuous phase takes 4 months7. During the four months of continuous phase, patients are treated with isoniazid and rifampicin at same doses7. Most of the TB treatment is supervised where drug administration needs to be fully supervised by healthcare professions since lengthy duration of treatment causing incompliance in patients7. These patients who are unlikely to be compliance will be given the drugs three times a week until the course is completed while patients who able to comply with the treatment will not be supervised7.

Physical therapy evidence based practice articles Research Paper

Physical therapy evidence based practice articles - Research Paper Example Moreover, the patients were expected to have no pre-existing conditions limiting mobility or contra-indications or balance to TENS. Furthermore, the participants were selected from local community stroke factions and volunteers from the research groups database. Additionally, the participants were expected to be able to give an explicit consent and travel to the study facilities for the necessary testing. The intervention involved a single session of "active TENS" given through a "sock electrode" (frequency between 70-30Hz over a 5s cycle) as well as a course of control treatment (participants wearing the sock electrode lacking stimulation), lasting about two hours in total. There was blinding where all the patients acted as their own control while the randomization followed the order in which the control or TENS was issued thus all participants receiving both stimulation and control conditions. The outcomes reported were obtained from plantar flexor and dorsiflexor strength and proprioception employing an Isokinetic Dynamometer, balance, gait speed and falls risk. The analysis was an exploratory trial to determine the effects of "activeTENS." The study provided initial evidence of the possibility of "activeTENS" to benefit physical function following stroke that merits further second phase trials to improve the intervention. All the patients tolerated "activeTENS" and most of the parameters, advanced throughout stimulation with activeTENS; gait speed (p = 0.002), balance (p = 0.009), proprioception of plantar flexion (p = 0.029) and plantar flexor strength (p = 0.008), except dorsiflexion proprioception (p = 0.078) and dorsiflexor strength (p = 0.194). There was no threat to validity or reliability as the only complaint of leg pain after treatment was resolved the following day. Moreover, the concerns that "activeTENS" could have

Oedipus the King Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Oedipus the King - Essay Example All this happened because he tried to escape the predictions that he will commit these mistakes. He ran away from his foster parents, thinking that they were his real parents and ran into the horror all by himself. Oedipus represents the basic predicament of human beings trapped in the unknown spheres of their own destiny. In the beginning, he laments the suffering of himself and everyone else in the inflicted city of Thebes, without realizing that the cause for it is his sinful actions: Oedipus can be seen as belonging to the Greek culture which operated on the pragmatic aspects of life which included action at the expense of introspection though the element of piety was a major element in their day-to-day existence. In a broad analysis, it is possible to analyze Oedipus as a Dionysian representation in Greek terms, exhibiting sudden action, excesses, violence, ruthlessness, and so on. The Apollonian representations, on the contrary would depict contemplative action with due emphasis on intelligence over impulse Terry Eagleton, in his Holy Terror (2005) observes how in Sophocles’s Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus â€Å"is transformed into a tutelary deity, protecting the citizens of Athens from assault† (15) and states that the Dionysian impulse for violence is normally a reaction to â€Å"lack of piety† (16). In Oedipus the King, the question of morality is not strictly the concern of its protagonist, a man of action. He kills Laius where the three roads meet, because he was denied his freedom to proceed further. Even as he was troubled by the need to discover his identity, Oedipus does not try to find out the identity of the people whom he attacked and killed. He did not exhibit any sense of guilt even as he had to narrate this incident to Teiresias, after many years. Even though Oedipus has committed his sins unknowingly, the thoughtless actions from his side are not to be discounted, especially as he was