Boost Juice Case Study Essay

3 reasons for Boost Juice experiencing economies of scale 1 – Purchasing inputs and raw materials in bulk †¢ Buying in bulk means that the average cost of each unit of raw material is cheaper than if each unit was bought individually †¢ In one year alone, Boost juice goes through more than 35 tonnes of mangos and you still have all of the other range of fruits that are bought. Therefore buying in bulk means that the average cost of the raw material decreases which therefore, using the value chain, means that the average cost per output decreases as output increases. †¢ As the order value increases, a business obtains more bargaining power with suppliers. It may be able to obtain discounts and lower prices for the raw materials 2- Cheaper marketing costs pet outlet †¢ Due to the rapid expansion of boost since it was established in 2000 (on average one new boost store opens every 4 days) has meant that the cost of advertising per outlet has decreased (e.g. if you had one outlet and advertising cost $10,000 and then the business expanded to 10 outlets it would mean that cost of advertising per outlet would go from $10,000 to $1000) †¢ This has enabled boost to undergo further marketing strategies which in turn brings more consumers to the product meaning that the price of each unit output would decrease 3- Economies of scale can be defined as reductions in costs per unit of output as output increases and so therefore arise when the cost per unit falls as output increases. They are the ‘savings of size’ if a firm is able to increase the size of its plant or operations in the long run production period. A business that is experiencing economies of scale in the present is the smoothie and juice making company called Boost Juice. Established in  2000, Boost Juice, managed by successful entrepreneur Janine Allis, is a business that has been able to be extremely successful through domination of their market and a number of marketing strategies that has enabled them to grow in size and thus currently be experiencing economies of scale. Since the very first Boost Juice was opened in 2000, the next 6 years saw the opening of 189 new stores and the rapid growth is still occurring today. There are two main types of economies of scale, internal and external each of which are leading factors as to why a business may currently be expericing economies scale. Within this case study of the highly profitable and highly successful business Boost Juice I will be discussing 3 of the reasons why Boost Juice are currently experiencing economies of scale which are bulk buying, cheaper marketing costs and —————— As stated above, economies of scale can occur due to both internal and external factors. One of the key internal factors of which has led to Boost Juice experiencing economies of scale is bulk-buying of raw materials and other inputs. Bulk buying can be defined as buying goods/ materials/ other inputs in large quantities which becomes highly relevant to business that are undergoing or have already expanded as a business due to the cost benefits that are associated with bulk buying. The leading cost benefit associated with the bulk buying is that the average cost of each unit of raw material is far cheaper that if each unit were bought individually. As businesses grow its essential that they order larger quantities of production inputs so that they can meet the increased demand and production. As the order value of wanted raw materials increases a business is able to obtain monopsony (buying) power with its supplier/s. This is extremely applicable to Boost Juice. Boost Juice is a highly successful fruit juice retailer thus requiring extremely large quantities of fruit (along with the other needed inputs). In one year, Boost Juice goes through more than 35 tonnes of mangoes alone and when you consider all of the other fruits that Boost Juice will have to purchase as inputs there is an extremely large quantity of fruit that needs to be supplied. Therefore buying in bulk is much more cost effective as it makes the unit price per input much cheaper through the cost volume benefits of buying in bulk. Therefore, Boost Juice has been able to experience economies of scale in the present through bulk  buying which drastically reduces the unit price per input, which reduces the cost of output.

Psychology: The Quest for Understanding Essay

Much of the ever-changing world of psychology had posed itself in the midst of diverse discussions based on both historical evidences and the latest discoveries, which were and are by-products of the complex minds of experts and heedful practitioners. Some elements of psychological concepts may have existed ever since, while some had been subjects of criticisms and debates for decades now. Nevertheless, this development never ceases to provide the base of perspective formulation for people studying Psychology. It enriches their ways of interpreting behavior based on empirical evidences, depending on their varying priorities and methodologies. Psychology employs the scientific methods in its efforts to discover the reasons for human behavior. There has been several different approaches developed for psychology and each perspective seems to attribute human behaviors and actions to different factors. In this paper, I shall be providing an insight of the five (5) major Psychological Issues that have come about as a result of varying positions and beliefs, giving emphasis on their basic concepts, arguments, and my personal standpoints on each. The debate over whether humans are the result of predisposed genetics or if their lives and personalities are shaped by the surrounding environment began in the 1600’s when a man named Richard Mulcaster wrote his book, â€Å"Nature Makes the Boy Toward, and Nurture Sees Him Forward. † Arguments on this issue contrasts genetic information against developmental process, instinct against learning, and history against environment. Moreover, debates over whether language is innate or learned and behaviorism are among the most popular topics of Quest for Understanding 3 discussion under this matter. It is hard to believe that something as complex as human behavior can be completely explained by either side of the argument. For instance, men are seen to be superior over women since birth. Through time, women had proven that they are just as valuable as men, in all fields for that matter. In Psychology, women’s contributions were overlooked. Who would have thought that the likes of Anna Freud, Karen Horney, Mealanie Klein, and Mary Whiton Calkins can surpass the underestimation to women during their time. It is just difficult to separate the role of genetics and environment. We should, rather, appreciate the interactions that take place between nature and nurture. Personally, I do not feel that either has any greater of an influence than the other. I believe that nature influences nurture and nurture influences nature simultaneously. We should seek a sense of equilibrium between the two. This issue tries to put a dichotomy to whether behaviors can be attributed to the unconscious or the conscious level of thinking. The word ‘conscience’ is derived from the Latin word ‘conscientia’ which means ‘knowledge within oneself. Sigmund Freud partially forged to the development of this issue with his Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality. Aside from the ego-ideal, he viewed conscience as a vital part of the superego. Within this proposition, people are hindered by the conscience to do immoral and punishable deeds, while the ego ideal motivates people to do morally acceptable acts. His theory also suggests that a child’s consci ence is shaped by what is taught to him by his or her parents. On the other hand, dreams and â€Å"slips of the tongue† usually express the unconscious. Thoughts, memories, and desires, which comprise this Quest for Understanding 4 level of the mind situated below the conscious has a considerable influence on one’s behavior. Maslow supports Freud’s claims regarding the conscience. He (Maslow) believes that it is our human nature to have a basically â€Å"good† personality and have an intrinsic conscience, which is based on the unconscious and preconscious perception of our own nature, of our own destiny, of our own capacities, of our own ‘call’ in life. † (Maslow, A. Toward a Psychology of Being. page 7). Also, Karen Horney speaks of unconditional love being valuable to a child’s well-being. She quotes: Unconditional love is an essential for the child’s normal development, and when this is refused, the environment comes to be dreaded†¦ – it is perceived as a menace to his individuality, his development, his instinctive strivings to grow, his freedom and his happiness. In an environment in which the basic anxiety develops, the child’s free use of energies is thwarted, his self-esteem and self-reliance are undermined, fear is instilled by intimidation and isolation, his expansiveness is warped through brutality or overprotective ‘love’. † It is my utmost belief that each of us has a conscience, being the source of our judgments. As a child, many of us were brought up to distinguish and practice our moral values. That is, we always strive to do good things, and avoid actions that may bring us feelings of frustrations and guilt. However, much is random that many people have â€Å"claimed consciousness,† that sometimes justifies acts offensive to others. That is why pursuing education, in addition to everyday life experiences to make it holistic, shall foster the preservation of our moral integrity. Situated at the core of our personhood, molded by our experiences form birth, it should be nourished and Quest for Understanding 5 developed. With regards to the unconscious, I honestly deem that it indeed has interplay with our conscious minds. Our aspirations, hidden thoughts, and memories do manifest with the way we think and react to every situations. B. F. Skinner is known to have pioneered the concept of behaviorism or the learning perspective. He argued that human beings respond to their environment, but also work on that environment to create certain consequences. This framework is based on a scheme which states that all actions that living things do should be regarded as behaviors. It assumes that the material world is the absolute reality, where man exists in the absence of mind and soul; that man is a biological machine that responds to conditioning; that we, human beings, are not responsible for our actions; and that people’s behaviors can be predicted and manipulated. In brief, great are the ethical consequences of behaviorism. Man is reduced to a purely biological being, unaccountable for the consequences of his actions, exempted from his responsibility, informed freedom, and dignity. He is to be â€Å"shaped† by those who can utilize the tools of behaviorism effectively. Alternatively, the examination of Internal Mental Process such as problem solving, memory, and language comprises Cognitive Psychology. This psychological framework has its foundations in the works of Wertheimer, Kohler, Koffka, and Piaget. They were all cognitive psychologists who were very much interested in how people comprehend, diagnose, and solve problems, focusing on the processes between stimulus and people’s response. It differs from behaviorism as it accepts the use of scientific method and openly acknowledges the existence of mental states like motivation, belief, and desire. Quest for Understanding 6 Underlying issues within the presumed dichotomy between behaviorism and cognitivism could include for instance how people use information in remembering and reasoning, how our senses define the character of our perceptions, how fear is learned from particular objects or situations, and the causes of anxiety and phobic disorders. I find it unethical to say that people’s behaviors should be manipulated and shaped, even by those who can effectively use the tools of behaviorism. Is there really such a person who can â€Å"effectively† do this? Are the minds of children for instance blank slates which shall be exclusively filled with his parents’ and teachers’ inputs? In our ever-changing world, especially that human beings are above the instinctive species, the concept of behaviorism cannot be absolute if not, utilized. Humans always learn to adapt in varying situations. The concept of cognitivism, I should say, is agreeable as it is more organized, and provides for empirical evidences that acknowledge scientific processes. It paved the way for scientific tools to emerge and measure cognitive levels, consequently identifying learning methodologies most suitable for different kinds of people. Free will is the belief that our choices are, ultimately, â€Å"up to us† and that an individual has control over his or her behavior and understands the motives behind it. Determinism, as one of the major concepts of psychoanalytical assumptions (Freud, 1940), asserts that our gestures, mistakes, and slips of the tongue are meaningful and non-accidental and that these seemingly innocent errors are in fact outcomes of the unconscious area of the mind. Other determinists Quest for Understanding 7 further claim that behavior is determined by some force over which humans have no control, such as genetics, upbringing, or fate. Although there exists a discussion whether everyday occurrences are determined or not (determinism versus indeterminism), debates involving these concepts do not strictly lie at putting a line between the two. Interestingly, it is whether determinism and free will can coexist (Compatibilism) or not (Incompatibilism). Compatibilism is the view that determinism and free will can coexist, and stands in direct contrast to incompatibilism, which posits that either determinism or free will is true, but not both. Incompatibilists believe that if determinism is true, then we are not free and cannot be held responsible for our actions. Most of us would like to believe that we have free will because we would like to think that we have a mind of our own and that everything that we do is up to us and the events of our lives were caused by our own choice of actions. Religiously speaking, free will is what distinguishes us from other creatures. It makes us believe that we control our lives. With that, it liberates us from the bondage of conforming and mediocrity brought about by our difficulty of fitting ourselves in. Accepting, however, that we are free consequently requires us to have a great deal of responsibility. And that responsibility makes free will not only a psychological issue. Mean to say, we cannot speak of free will without considering relationships, because we usually base our choices on existing political structures, our socio-economic situations, and cultural practices. Take a prostituted woman in a third world country for example. No girl has dreamt of being victimized by commercial sexual exploitation. Most of us would easily throw criticisms on her situation as we righteously speak of the alternative choice she could have opted to take. Does Quest for Understanding 8 she really have a choice if she is the eldest of eight siblings, with her mother and father separated; if poverty deprived her of finishing her studies; and if her body was her last resort to earn money to support her family’s needs?

Communiction Theories Ch. 25 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Communiction Theories Ch. 25 - Essay Example nment, income distribution, time use, health condition, community vitality, psychological well being, good governance, ecological resilience, and cultural diversity (Snyder, 1992). In one of the international GNH meeting, some of the preliminary results regarding the factors, which are important for an individual’s happiness and the tracking of the changes in GNH, were revealed. Consequently, such factors as modern household equipment, household income, high positive emotions, amount of land owned, low negative emotions, good physical and mental health, regular socialization, meditation, education qualification, and trust were highlighted to be important factors leading to the happiness in the Bhutanese life. From the revelation of these factors, the institutions that can support and look into such other finer factors like trustworthiness, positive emotions, socialization, meditation, and personal health should be put in place. This will ensure that the resources are directed to where they are needed. Happiness deconstruction also calls for people to understand it as the most significant end of society in any government (Snyder, 1992). Considering the issue of consumer behavior in economics, the findings based on preferences and rational choices were considered sufficient metric showing people’s desires. However, the findings have been found to have limitations, since it is not true that whatever someone pays reveals the choice and preference. The person may have had financial constraints, and therefore, had no otherwise but to pay. In this case, such things as lack of information concerning alternatives, ideology, and addiction are blamed for shaping the choices in adverse way, hence-preventing proper choice making. Because of this deconstruction, our understanding on the effect of ideology in shaping our choices is likely to broaden (Snyder,

Role Of The Ombudsman In The Corporate Setting Research Paper

Role Of The Ombudsman In The Corporate Setting - Research Paper Example To settle disputes that might arise between external constituents and the members under Ombudsman representation. Most employers are actively participating in reducing the litigation risk, by ensuring that they introduce the services of the Ombudsman. They ensure that they have a confidential, neutral, and independent third party to handle any confidential matter. Their purpose is to handle complaints of their employees before they advance to become lawsuits, which might be more costly and time consuming to both the management and the respective employee (Dona, 2011). Most company’s operations are at high risk of collapsing because of increased employee-initiated lawsuits. In relation to the most recent research conducted by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the medium cost in order to settle a discrimination lawsuit and any other complained by employee excluding legal costs is costing most organizations a lot (Edwin, 1989). In most of the situations, company employees are always very reluctant to air out their grievances relating to issues such as discrimination, as well as harassment. It is because of the fear of a possible judgment and prosecution that the company management might impose on an individual (Gershenfeld, 1997). In order to amicably deal with this sort of fear, as well as job insecurity, an ombudsman is an option viewed as a dependable, trustworthy, and risk-free party. Moreover, company employees use it to raise their grievances and at the same time be sure of their job security as well confidentiality. It is in the regard that ombudsman’s role comes into being and includes the following roles: Ombudsman has a major role, which is to act as a Listener (Mauton, 1984). In most cases employees in any given organization who have embraced the system, find it very useful to go the ombudsman way.

Branding and product life cycle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Branding and product life cycle - Essay Example In this stage the products are newly launched in the competitive market place by the organizations. In this product life cycle stage, monopoly can be developed based on the demand and efficiency of the product. The organizations generally achieve losses rather than profit during this product life cycle stage. The organizations generally implement aggressive promotional strategies in order to create awareness about the newly developed product. This introduction stage has two characteristics, such as low competition and low sales growth rate. Growth Growth stage is the second common stage in the product life cycle model. This stage comes with the recognition in the competitive market. Profit of the products starts to flow from this stage. The organizations can try some new innovative ideas in order to maintain the sales growth of products. This growth stage is considered as the appropriate time to develop new competitive and effective price in the competitive marketplace. This strategy helps the organizations to develop a potential customer base for the products. Maturity Maturity is the third stage in the product life cycle model. ... It affects the sales of product. Several organizations try to redesign their products to secure market share and customer loyalty towards it. However, low profit margin, limited sales growth rate and implementation of new innovative models are the major characteristics of this maturity stage. Decline Decline is the last stage of product life cycle model. Generally, majority of the products dies in this decline stage due to huge low sales growth rate. Several organizations share the same market for a single product class. It is difficult for these products to compete with the new entrants. It is true that, market demand and needs of customers change constantly due to the organizations’ product differentiation strategy (Lamb, Hair and MacDaniel, 2008, p.30). This strategy reduces the demand of the existing products. Target customers generally perceive these products as the old and ineffective products. Therefore, people try to experiment with newly developed products in the mark et place. It is not necessary that, every product would go through this specific product life cycle stage. It highly depends upon the category of products, scope of that particular product and market competition. Question 2: Branding Strategies Branding strategy can be defined as the long term plan for a particular brand. It includes determination of potential target audiences and a significant understanding of the market demand and needs of target customers. Effective branding strategy helps to identify the brand and its experience. There are several branding strategies that have been implemented by the organization. This part of the essay will discuss about Company Name Branding, Individual Branding, Attitude Branding,

Rising Unemployment Puts Strain on Social Security Fund Article

Rising Unemployment Puts Strain on Social Security Fund - Article Example However, with the recent financial crisis, the number of jobholders has been diminishing significantly leading to severe unemployment problem which in turn resulted in the reduction in inflow to social security trust fund. The origin of problem due to rising unemployment has been vividly described by Lori Montgomery (2009) in the article entitled â€Å"Rising unemployment puts the strain on Social Security fund† in Washington Post. Montgomery describes the negative impact of the U.S. recession on the Social Security trust fund that affected the social security benefits for nearly 51 million retirees and other recipients. More alarmingly, due to the existence of this situation, total surplus funds at the moment may get eroded by end of 2010 far earlier than expected period. The main concern is that a lot of necessity exists at the moment for the US government to spend on infrastructure and human resource development and the shortfall of social security fund is expected to make the financial balance sheet worse. In general, the Treasury Department borrows money from the Social Security trust fund to finance government operations and this option will no longer be available in nearby future due to this recent crisis. This would certainly force US government to borrow an additional $700 billion over the next decade from other countries like China and Japan. Another concern is that by 2017, the Treasury would have to start repaying the billions it has borrowed from the trust fund over the past 25 years, which forces the government to widen its external debt. This would force the US government to enhance the tax rates considerably on the limited number of employees. Recent Congress budget presentation in August 2008 revealed that the earlier projections were satisfactory, but the condition changed towards negative trend very rapidly with loss of more than 4 million jobs coupled with the recession.  

Plato The repubic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Plato The repubic - Essay Example Socrates did not leave his teachings in writing but Plato incorporated most of them in his many books. Socrates arguments exemplified and clarified to his listeners the various philosophical concepts. Socrates utilized various intricately woven arguments to illustrate such philosophical constructs. The conception of abstract ideas of beauty and justice are illustrated in the statement "we shall conclude then that those who behold beautiful things but cannot see beauty itself- and will not permit another to guide then to where it is- who observes many just things but do not see justice itself and think this way in all other things, such as men have opinions about everything but know nothing of what they profess to believe" (Republic, Book V, 479). Socrates begins his argument about the abstraction of the idea of beauty by emphasizing the excessive importance normally attached to the perception that philosophers have compared to the other groups. He believes that the rulers of the days, have natures quite distinct of those of philosophers. Rulers like other 'men of pleasure' are clouded and limited in their views of beauty. He cites the examples of the lovers who are so overwhelmed by there emotions of affection, love and attachment that "They love all, and turn blemishes into beauties. The snub-nosed youth is said to have a winning grace; the beak of another has a royal look; the featureless are faultless; the dark are manly, the fair angels; the sickly have a new term of endearment invented expressly for them, which is 'honey-pale.'Similarly lovers of wine and lovers of ambition also desire the objects of their affection in every form"(Republic, Book V) "As you are a man of pleasure, you will not have forgotten how indiscrim inate lovers are in their attachments; they love all, and turn blemishes into beauties. The snub-nosed youth is said to have a winning grace; the beak of another has a royal look; the featureless are faultless; the dark are manly, the fair angels; the sickly have a new term of endearment invented expressly for them, which is 'honey-pale.' Lovers of wine and lovers of ambition also desire the objects of their affection in every form. Now here comes the point:--The philosopher too is a lover of knowledge in every form; he has an insatiable curiosity. 'But will curiosity make a philosopher" (Republic, Book V) However the philosophical crux is missed in the process. For instance the philosophers are also lovers of knowledge in all form and also have a greedy curiosity to extend this knowledge to infinite. However the presence of mere curiosity doesn't imply that a philosophical attitude or approach is present. These philosophers attitude realizes that the brief and finite life the philosopher is more inward oriented to the soul. It is his soul that is hungrier for knowledge. We will never satisfy our real appetites without reason and to get reason ruling, we have to pass through the worldly appetites of wealth, power etc. A philosopher seeks honour and love. He is not frightened of death as he is less driven by the worldly appetite and more by the appetites of the soul like he seeks ho nour. The philosophical soul believes that there is something after death. And that it's a practice of death "Aporia" is state and place of not knowing. Real philosophical education is falling into a kind of death "here is the man

Nosocomial Diseases Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nosocomial Diseases - Annotated Bibliography Example Giving such a thorough overview is useful in tackling most of the basic knowledge needed to fully answer the thesis statement, as well as providing information on the specific prevention tactics that clinical staff can take. This peer-reviewed paper gives information provided by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) on nosocomial infections. This gives an official perspective on how to deal with the infections as well as their prevalence in medical environments. The definitions also cover the various diagnostic tests that need to be used to confirm the presence of a nosocomial infection as well as the infectious agent, which is important in ensuring the correct course of action is taken. This paper is not very useful in answering the question. The first problem is that it is over 25 years old, and epidemiology is a rapidly changing subject, and nosocomial infections are on the increase. It could have a purpose in arguing the thesis, if combined with more current epidemiological paper, because the thesis mentions the fact that hospital acquired infections are a rising trend. This source is only good in context. Again, this research paper is quite old, but does give an overview of the trends in the types of microbe that are involved in nosocomial infection. This paper gives a lot of scientific knowledge about the nature of the infectious agent and how they are likely to evolve and mutate to cause more problems in the hospital environment. It also warns against the over-use of antibiotics, something that we see today is causing a number of issues in producing antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains which are commonly seen in nosocomial infections such as MRSA. Although the information here should be taken with caution, it does provide some interesting perspectives. This is a clinical reference text and therefore can be used to provide

Miltary soldiers and substance abuse Research Paper

Miltary soldiers and substance abuse - Research Paper Example Substance and drug abuse in the military is a public and national threat to the security of a country because such behaviors distract the preparedness of the force. Furthermore, the habit may result to military personnel undermining the authority and strict orders that function to enhance the efficiency of the military, as well as risking their lives. The issue of drugs in the military is not something new: it began during the Vietnam between the late 1960s and early 1970s. Records indicate that more 20% of the veterans of the Vietnam War reported using narcotic drugs on a weekly basis, with another 20% showing signs of addictions. After the Vietnam War, a few military personnel continued with the regular use of the narcotics, especially heroin and opium. There was some considerable reduction in the percentage of usage, but concerns were high regarding addiction. With the prevalence of the drugs problem within the force, Cushman ordered a crackdown on military personnel abusing drugs in the mid-1970s (Ruiz and Strain, 2011). Consequently, all military troops were confined to their respective bases, with increase in guard patrols and a thorough search on all personnel entering the bases. In addition to these measures, there were numerous establishments of emergency medical clinics across the forces. The military command also engaged in sensitizing the personnel on the physical and legal consequences of substance abuse through all available media. The authorities published and distributed pamphlets to platoon leaders. Creation of drug abuse councils followed, with the initial duty to travel from unit to unit addressing the issue. These education programs seemed to fail in rooting out the issue, the command turned to punishment. However, the judicial system established could not court marshal all the soldiers, thus they turned to administrative discharges to get rid of

Mutual Fund Project Essay Example for Free

Mutual Fund Project Essay The fund employs a passive management investment approach. It is a low cost way to gain diversified exposure to the equity market in the United States. The fund invests in 500 of the largest companies in the United States. The companies span many different industries and the fund accounts for about 75% of the United States stock market’s value. VFINX measures the investment return of large-capitalization stocks. The most obvious risk is the volatility that comes with its full exposure to the stock market. The mutual fund portfolio’s composition is made up of 99. 45% stocks and . 55% cash. The expense ratio for this mutual fund is . 17%. This is the annual fee that shareholders are charged. It expresses the percentage of assets deducted each fiscal year for fund expenses, including 12b-1 fees, management fees, administrative fees, operating costs, and all other asset-based costs incurred by the fund. For the Year-to-Date (ytd) rankings in its category, VFINX ranked in at 24 according to Yahoo! Finance. Over the last 10 years, the fund has performed in direct correlation to the Samp;P 500 being that it is an index fund and there is a beta of 1, meaning that whatever the Samp;P 500 does, the fund will do as well. VFINX is a good choice if an investor is seeking a mutual fund that offers the stability of large, established companies and the wide exposure of a fund that holds both value and growth stocks. Fidelity Magellan Fund (FMAGX) has ridden the ups and downs over the years of the market’s roller coaster. The fund has gone through many changes over the years and one of the most important key factors to the fund’s performance has been related to the way it was managed. The fund currently has assets totaling 14. billion and its portfolio consists of growth and value stocks across the capitalization spectrum from around the world and the United States. The fund keeps about 20 percent of the holdings in foreign stocks. It is one of the world’s most known actively managed funds and has finally found some stability due to its newest manager, Harry Lange. In 2008, during the financial crisis, the management chose to stay aggressive instead of investing defensively and incurred a bad loss, which lead to the changes in management. FMAGX is classified as a large growth fund and is ranked 24 in its category according to Yahoo! Finance. The 3-year beta is 1. 7, which means that it bears more risk than investing directly in the Samp;P 500, however this also means that it could provide heftier returns. The mutual fund portfolio’s composition

Thailand And Japan After The Economic Crisis Economics Essay

Thailand And Japan After The Economic Crisis Economics Essay The relationship between Thailand and Japan were influenced from the beginning primarily by considerations of trade, and this is still the outstanding feature. However, according to the globalisaton, business relations and trade have expanded and have become increasingly intermingled with political affairs, economic cooperation, and investment. Objective To study and analyse the advantage and disadvantage of JTEPA to Thailand. To evaluate whether the cooperation between Thailand and Japan under the JTEPA framework will provide and create common interests and guide to the more interdependent relations. Hypothesis Upon the singing of the JTEPA, it seems to be that Thailand will closely dependent on Japan, which contradicts the Thai governments expectation on JTEPA to be an effective instrument to develop the unequal practices and relations between the two nations. Research Questions What are the character of Thai and Japanese economic relations? What does the Thai government look forward from JTEPA? How does JTEPA contribute to the alteration of relations between Thailand and Japan? Scope This research primarily focuses on Thailands role and its perspectives on international policy and relations with Japan after the great economic crisis in 1997, particularly the case of JTEPA. This study will look at the economic relations between Thailand and Japan and try to answer the question of whether JTEPA would contribute to the more dependent relationship between these two countries. Conceptual Framework In this research, Realism and Interdependence theories will be used as an international theory to answer the research questions and also to clarify the Thailand and Japan in term of economic relations. Realism Realism, or classical realism, is an approach of the study and practice of international relations. The core of realism is national and state survival. As Han J. Morgenthau who was the leading realist thinker of the twentieth century, was stated that Politic is a struggle for power over men. Power is its immediate goal and the modes of acquiring, maintaining, and demonstrating in determines the technique of political action () From this theory, the key point of international policy is to protect and defend the interest of the nation in the global politics. This purpose includes high political concerns of guaranteeing state survival. Security matters, as well as the low political purposes in such areas such as the pursuit of wealth and economic growth and power. In making international policy, the governmental decision-makers evaluate each option, and selecting the one that maximizes advantage or minimize cost associated with attaining the purpose sought. At the present time, Thailand is negotiating FTA with several countries. These FTAs will advantageous for Thailand in term of greater market access in goods and services due to the reduction of trade barrier, increased investment opportunities in oversea markets and decreasing of business costs arising from the dismantling of tariffs and non-tariff barrier. JTEPA is a part of Thai foreign policy toward the Japanese government, especially the economy. The national interest is the significant part in making foreign policy of state. Thailand has achieved to maximize its national interest in any situation it faced. Nevertheless, in negotiation of JTEPA which was the economic cooperation that provided shared interest, the Thai government selected the best option that takes advantage of its national interest without interfering Japanese interests. Although, this agreement made shared interest by enhancing cooperation and reducing the obstacles on trade for Thailand and Japan, it is suspici ous whether both countries are so rational in practice. Interdependence Nowadays the world has become interdependent in economics, in communications and in human aspirations. Interdependence in the global politics refers to situations characterised by reciprocal effects among countries or among actors in different countries. There are two different perceptions that can be adopted for analysing the costs and benefits of an interdependent relationship. The first perception focuses on the joint gains and joint loses to parties involved. The second is relative gains and distributional issue. It is important to remember that interdependence by no means implies equality. Such uneven relations are quite common in contemporary world politics, especially between developed and less develop countries. Interdependence may be highly asymmetrical; one actor may depend on another can often use the interdependent relationship as a source of power in bargaining over an issue perhaps to affect other issues. Due to the geographical proximity of Thailand and Japan, it would be beneficial to develop an economic partnership between them. It will bring economic gain and prosperity to both countries. Thailand is expected that JTEPA will strengthen and improve unfair relations between Thailand and Japan. Although Thailand needs equal treatment, it realises that symmetry interdependence is barely possible. When asymmetry is common in economic interdependence, the question of how much is permissible in a relationship, it should properly be interdependence, rather than one way dependence. The politics of economic interdependence involves competition even when large net benefits can be expected from the cooperation. Methodology The method to be applied in the course of doing this research was mainly a documentary research. To conduct the research, content and statistic analysis were used. Content and statistic was collected from various sources to get the accurate information. They were used to study the changes of economic relations between Thailand and Japan from JTEPA. The statistic of import, investment and ODA were used as a measure to access the degree of dependency between Thailand and Japan. Although dependence will not be eliminated immediately after signing the agreement, it should continually decrease. This research will study the changing of economics crisis with the relations after signing of the JTEPA. Thailand and Japan: Post War relations Thailand and Japan relations have involved several aspects including politics, economy and culture. During the postwar period, the political relations between them were not much mentioned since there were no serious conflicts between them. Moreover, during the Cold War both countries had joined the free world under the leadership of the United States, and supported each other politically. On the economic aspects, Thailand has imported a large amount of Japanese goods and services. Since Thailand had limited capital resources for national development, it had to import capital goods, especially machinery, transportation equipment, chemical, and other industrial materials from Japan. Difference in context of development level, types of product, and price had generated a large trade deficit between Thailand and Japan in favor of the latter, during the 1960s. (Dhiravagin, 1983) The said trade deficit les to the anti-Japanese movement in the 1970s according to the fact of Thai people were terrified of the Japanese domination of their economy. The anti Japanese attitude did come out not only in Thailand but also in other countries in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines and Indonesia. Therefore, the Fukada Doctrine was declared to develop the economic relations between Japan and Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand. (Sudo, 1988) However, this doctrine was likely to slightly ease the strained situation, the trade deficit between Thailand and Japan was still about US$ 2 billion or 15 percent of the total trade in 1979. (Akrasanee, 1983) Afterward, the Thai government demanded for an equivalent treatment on trade by asking the Japanese government to firstly open their market to the Thai products; secondly, to establish the export-oriented industries in Thailand; and thirdly, to enhance the economic cooperation through more active transfers of techn ology. (Thai MOFA, 2010) In the White Paper on the restructuring of the Thai-Japanese economic relations, established in June 1985, the Thai government requested a reconsideration of the engineering-service conditions on the projects funded by the Japanese government, the Oversea Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) and Yen Loan, in order that the Thai contractors could have more chance in bidding. (Doner, 1991) However, the result of this negotiation was unsuccessful for the Thai government according to the Japanese government did not guarantee to do anything seriously. Thailand started to industrialise its economy in 1950s. By reason of, the shortage of technology and capital, the Thai government necessitated foreign direct investment (FDI) for its Thailand development projects. (Ismail and Yussof, 2003) The Investment Promotion Act 1962 was established for FDI attraction. According to the rapid rise in the wage level in Japan, labor demanding Japanese firm actively undertook FDI in Thailand and other countries in Asian countries. (Wannitikul, 1996) As a result, the Japanese investors have been one of the most important direct investors of Thailand, particularly in the manufacturing area. Importance Japanese industries were textiles, transport equipment, chemical products, electrical appliances and automobiles. Most of the Japanese registered capital was in the form of the joint ventures; only 17 percent of them were in the form of wholly owned Japanese firms. However, the relationship among staff in their joint ventures did not go effortlessly. A number of Thai partners in the joint ventures complained about the unwillingness of Japanese staff in the interfering technological know-how to the Thai staff. In some companies, the high level technology was realised only among Japanese technicians and engineers. The transfer of management authority was another difficulty found in Thai-Japanese joint venture firms. The Japanese head-quarter provide a lot of Japanese staff to control the managerial positions in affiliates, which really prevented Thai staff from learning the management know-how. As a result, several local partners had not been able to create their own business even after several years of joint investment with Japanese companies. (Tho, 1991) For Official Development Assistance (ODA), Thailand has considered Japan as one of the most significant benefactors. It had received a big amount of Japanese ODA for its national development projects through several types including grant, loan, and technical cooperation. From 1961 to 1986, due to the five national economic and social development plans, Thailands development strategy had focused on industrialisation programs. Therefore, Thai government had to set up sufficient infrastructure to support these programs. However, according to the budget constraint, it was required that Thai government had a loan of money from foreign sources. The total overseas loan of Thai government during 1961-1986 amounted to 15,529 million dollars, of which 2,851 million dollars or 18.4 percent came from Japan. (Tinakorn and Siroros, 1991) Apart from bilateral loans, Thailand had also received technical assistance and grant supporting from the Japanese government. Japans yen loans were concentrated on infrastructure which was the foundation of industrialisation while the grants went to agricultural, educational, scientific, technological, health, and community development. Overall, it seems that Thailand was heavily dependent on Japan during the post war era. It was clearly seen that Thailand had faced the trade deficit problems with Japan, it still imported Japanese capital and industrial goods according to the requirement for industrial development. At the same time, Japanese partners did not fulfill the Thai anticipation of technological transfer so Thai staffs must rely on Japanese technicians in operating high technology. In addition, Thailand, at the same time, still depended on both grants and loan of Japanese ODA for its domestic development projects. Thailand-Japan Post-Cold War Relations In the first half of 1990s, trade between Thailand and Japan continued to increase. With the high rate of economic growth of Thailand, Japan was the largest supplier of Thai imports and one of the top targets of Thai exports. Thailand imported capital and industrial products from Japan. These types of products were used for expanding industrial ability and supplying many export industries whereas Japan imported agricultural and consumer products from Thailand. Changes have taken place since the beginning of 1996 according to the economic recession. Thailands imports from Japan had been decreasing. (National Statistical Office, 1992) The trade inequality between Thailand and Japan was becoming slighter. Nevertheless, trade between two countries was increasing again during the recovery of the Thai economy. Regardless of the changing trade relations, trade deficit was still the main problem in the relations between Thailand and Japan. Taking the investment part into consideration, Thailand was a favorite target of foreign direct investment according to its lower labor costs, reasonable infrastructure and stable society, and when Japan faced another period of yen appreciation that made the raised production costs. Japanese investors started strengthening or expanding their production bases in Thailand trough the production of supporting industries, including basic industries such as steel and petrochemicals. Thailand laid the foundations for its strong investment partnership with Japan. These further strengthened economic ties between Thailand and Japan (Japan External Trade Organisation, 2010) However, Japanese investment declined during 1997 according to the unfavorable environment for foreign investment in Asia in 1997. The technology transfer continued to be the difficulty of the Thai-Japanese joint ventures companies. On the Thai side, the lacking of technology manpower, particularly engineers and technicians, and the shortage of capability to adopt and utilize technical knowhow and production technology were the difficulties of Japanese technology transfer. (Prayoon, 1990) On the Japanese side, the Japanese style of management, characterized by intra-firm training and promotion, the seniority system, and lifetime employment always results in a slow transfer of managerial posts from Japanese to local staffs. (Japans MOFA, 2010) With regard to Japanese ODA, although the Thai economy smoothly and increasingly grew in the first half of the 1900a, Thailand still obtained technical assistance from Japan of which the total value amounted to 147.46 billion US dollars. In the second half of the 1990s, Thailand faces a great economic crisis in 1997. (Glassman, 2001) Then, in the midst of the economic crisis, Japans role as a supporter was very important for Thailand because it had provided more than 12.6 billion US dollars for both the financial and technical aid apart from the 4 billion US dollars in August 1997 under the IMFs support package. (Japanese MOFA, 2010) Thailand had also received a large amount of financial and technical support from the Japanese government to raise productivity and competitiveness in Thailand after the economic downturn in 1997. Another Japanese ODA was the New Miyazawa Initiatives which amounted to 1.9 billion US dollars for pushing the Thai economy out of the economic crisis. All in all, since the post-Cold War, the relations between Thailand and Japan have improved in an optimistic direction. Thailand and Japan have became a good partners in the good and crucial moments; however, Thailand has went on facing the trade deficit with Japan and has still depended on Japan both in term of investment and ODA. They have been significant suppliers for each other. The foreign direct investment is essential for the Thai government to develop its economy and society. Japanese investments have completed some parts of the Thai domestic development plans. Japan was as well as an essential donor when Thailand in the economic recession. Nevertheless, the Thai government has made an attempt to develop the relations from this heavily dependence on Japan to be more interdependence. Thailand and JTEPA In the last few decades, the global and regional context has become more complex, with rise of the People Republic of China and India, and the breakdown of the multilateral agreement on trade and investment under the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Many countries in the global community, including Thailand and Japan, have been using trade agreement to improve competitiveness. According to compete in the new type of global context and to retain their profits in the global market, both of Thailand and Japan had to create the strong and effectiveness economic links between the two countries, which is befitting that the agreement between them is named the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement or JTEPA. During 1997-2010, in Thailand, there are six governments governing the country after the economic crisis in 1997. Although, each government had its own economic policy, it is clearly that all of six governments were focused on economic cooperation with other countries, develop mutual interest and avoided conflict among them. Thailand had completed FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with several countries including China, Australia. Thailand is also developing FTA with the essential trading countries; such as U.S.A. and Japan. Being one of Thailands primary trading partners, the Japanese governments attempt to promote with EPA with Thailand will be advantageous to Thailand. Thailand and Japan were negotiating the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement. This agreement did not concentrate only on trade but also other dimensions, including investment, labor, intellectual property rights and so on. It is expected that JTEPA would further widen and deepen Thai-Japanese relations and jointly beneficial cooperation by foreign closer economic relations, enhancing a more favorable investment climate, and generating greater business opportunities through cooperation, liberalisation and facilitation in trade and investment between the two countries. It is also considered that JTEPA will spot a new dimension for Thailand-Japan strategic partnership. (Thai MOFA, 2010) In order to complete economic development and industrialisation, Thailand badly requires foreign investment and technology transfer to shore up its flagging economy (The Nations online, 2000) Japan is not only an important trading partner but also a key investor and source of technology for Thailand. The Thai government understands that the comparative disadvantage if it does not build up and develop FTA with Japan. From the Thai governments point of view, concluding the free trade agreement with Japan may be one instrument to success the Thai economic development according to increasing trade value and foreign investment to Thailand. At the same time, it could also contribute to strengthen Thailand-Japan relations and improve the cooperation between the two countries. Since JTEPA will provide more opportunities for Thai goods and services to entrance into the Japanese market and technology transfer from Japan, these will support Thai industrialisation and develop Thai capability. (S riratanaban, 2004) From Japans point of view, Japan had realised about its disadvantaged competition in this region as the market share would be smaller after China concluded their free trade agreement with ASEAN countries. (ASEANWEB, 2010) Consequently, Japan was looking to set up and develop economic cooperation with its Asian neighbors by offering the Japan-ASEAN Economic Partnership to ASEAN members individually and multilaterally. (Singh, 2002) Japan also completed the Japan-Singapore Economic Partnership Agreement in 2002. Thailand was the second nation in Southeast Asia which Japan supposed to conclude the economic agreement after Singapore. It is considered that JTEPA will support with good conditions for Japanese investment in Thailand and provide greater access in Japanese industrial goods, especially automotive and steel industry, to Thai markets. While Thai government considers that JTEPA will be advantageous to Thailand-Japan relations, especially in the economic dimension, according to reducing obstacles on trade and developing cooperation between them, the researcher does not believe that this agreement will be beneficial to Thailand as it is expected, because of the reason that Thailand is a less developed country with economic status. This research will study whether JTEPA would make Thailand and Japan to be more interdependent or vice versa. The impact of JTEPA During the negotiation of the JTEPA, there were several sensitive topics becoming a matter of public concern. According to Pasuk Phongpaichit (2007), there are two points in the negotiation of the JTEPA which indicate what is the impact of this Agreement. In addition, these key points also influence whether the JTEPA is subsequently judged an achievement or disappointment from the Thai perspective: 1. Process 2. Intellectual property Process The first topic focused on the process of JTEPAs negotiation. Bilateral relations in trade and investment agreement are created for share interests. (Anderson, 2008) Accordingly, it means that there is no one party able to obtain all of the profits and there is no one will bear all the loss. General speaking, in international trade agreement, the inequity of power between the two countries can conclude the distribution of the gains. (Phongpaichit, 2007) Up to this point, in the negotiation process, the skill of the individual negotiating parties is very necessary. Due to the process of negotiation is secretive and non-transparent, there always misunderstand between what the negotiators think advantageous and what the public opinion consider beneficial. Up to this point, in Thailand, the negotiations process was condemned for the reason of insufficient transparency. During the negotiation continued from 2004-2006, several significant information was not review visibly available for Thai public opinion. Regarding to Thai law, there was not obligation for this Agreement to be discussed to Thai parliament. It was just discussed and debated in the Legislative Assembly, where Thai legislators were given with little information of the Agreement. Moreover, they had no power to judge and vote anything on the detail of the Agreement. On the other hand, in Japan side, the information on the detail of JTEPA submitted through the Japanese parliament and provided the detail of the Agreement to the public. While there was no public controversy in Japan, there were issues left with suspicion in Thai society. These left suspicions on the Agreement reflects the best interest of Thailand, because there was no mechanism to guarantee those interest wer e appropriately articulated and taken into account. Intellectual property According to Thai protecting intellectual property law, it is hard to get intellectual property right upon a natural organism. Moreover, under the Agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property right (TRIPS), each state are authorised to protect themselves by such a law. (WTO, 2010) However, by a clause in the Article 130 of the JTEPA states that each party shall ensure that any patent application shall not be rejected solely on the grounds that the subject matter claimed in the application is related to a naturally occurring micro-organism. () When this issue of the Agreement was disclosed to the public, this issues was questioned that why a clause on intellectual property rights appeared to give Japan with more advantages than those available in TRIPS. Up to this point, Phongpaichit also adds in this point that Thailand provided Japan more benefits of intellectual property rights than Japans EPA was provided by Malaysia. (2007) In sum, given the strong and effectiveness economic links with Japan for the development of the Thai economy, it can be said that it is essential for Thai economy to conclude an agreement with Japan, especially in point of the parallel negotiation between the two countries. However, regarding to this Agreement, it seemed to be that Thailand has become more dependence with Japan. Becoming more dependence with Japan, it gives rise to fear that the weaker parties may be disadvantage in the negotiations. Chapter 2 Literature Review The literature and research that related to the Thailand and Japan economic relations topics had focused on several aspects, namely trade, investment and assistance. Those articles outlined the gain and loss that Thailand would obtain from the economic links between the two countries, for example, Japanese investment that helped Thai industrialisation, trade deficit problems, technology transfer difficulties, the exploitation of resource etc. Some authors recommended a resolution to the problems. After the economic crisis, the economic between the two countries were deepened in view of the fact that Japan became the key actor to help the Thai economy from the economic regression. On the other hand, the assistance of Japan in the revival period caused the dependent problems between Thailand and Japan to be more obvious. As a result, the Thai government continued to improve the economic policy which increase its national interest and decrease economic problems between two countries. This research studies the Thai foreign policy towards Japan in the context of JTEPA, with the expectation that this agreement can be an important factor to develop economic links and decrease economic problems between them. Articles which relate to Thailand and Japan economic relations are reviewed as following: Regarding to Japan was an important trade and investment partner since it resumed economic relations after the World War II, the Thai government focused on attention to improve Thai foreign policy to deal with Japan, particularly economic dimension. Prapat Thepchatree, who wrote Thai-Japanese Economic Relations, analysed the Thai-Japanese economic relations after the World War II (2007).For the trade, He outlined that the trade deficit between Thailand and Japan caused by the nature of trade of both countries was on the same scale in which Thailand exported agricultural goods to Japan while the most of Japanese exports to Thailand were capital and industrial goods. In addition, the protectionism was the important non-tariff barrier for Thai product that reasoned the trade deficit problems. For the investment, the author pointed that although Japanese investment played a critical role to develop Thai industrial, Japanese investment caused several problems such as technology transfer. For ODA, he considered that the Japanese ODA did not suit with Thailands demand, consequently, the Thai problems were not solved by ODA. Regarding to his study, the economic relations trend between Thailand and Japan would be closer and as a result trade, investment and cooperation would be increased. Regarding to Theerawongseri (1990), Although Japan was a key factor in the Thai economy, there were the economic problems between the two countries. It was obviously that Thailands economic dependence rooted from the structural imbalance of this economic link. The Thai government hoped that the White Paper that proposed to redistribute the Thai-Japanese economic relationship would be proper the inequality problems. (Trinidad, 2007) Under the White Paper, both of the two countries required to restructure its economic structure in the face of the rapidly changing global economic context. Accordingly, Thailand needed to pay more attention to enhance its agro-industrial goods to be value-added commodities. Moreover, Thailand should keep the cooperation with the Japanese public and private firm to create the mutual interest and aspiration for the peace, stability, and well-being of the relations between the two countries. (Theerawongseri, 1990) For the investment issue, Johzen Takeuchi (1991) outlined the technology transfer between Thailand and Japan in Technology Tranfer and Japan-Thai Relations. Takeuchi (1991) analysed that Thailand and Japan were misleading in a technology transfer concept and process. Up to this point, Thailand realised that the technology transfer was a piece of baggage with a bundle of handbook manuals (Takeuchi, 1991) while most of Japanese manufacture considered the concept of technology as meaning accumulative and dynamic process. Due to Thailand was an agricultural based country and its economic was condemned as undeveloped (Limskul, 2004), this factor was partly responsible for the lack of inadequate of various skills which was necessitated in the industrial issue. Therefore, Japan did not transfer high technology to Thailand but Thailand did not understand this point. According to the study of Takeuchi (1991), there are four main reasons that Thailand criticised in the issue of Japanese reluct ance to transfer the latest technology and the research and development (RD) sections: 1. The scale of Japanese firms was smaller than the European and American Firms, particularly in terms of employment, Therefore, Japan did not have enough beneficial effects on employment creation. 2. Japanese forms were uninterested to adopting local materials and intermediate goods, and their business activities did not advantage on national industrial sector. 3. Japanese firm did not export their products, which showed that they transferred out of date production systems that lack the potential to gain competitiveness in international market. 4. Japanese firms did not point out the complete handbook manual for operation and management. Moreover, the author (Takeuchi, 1991) also recommended that it would be useful that both of Thailand and Japan to collect more information as well as do more case studies to enhance the sympathetic in order to reduce the perception gap. Shiowattana (1990) also studied in the issue of technology transfer between Thailand and Japan but in other context. According to her study, the importance of introducing new of technology was not the key factor leading to successful industrialization, but the capability to learn and improve the acquired technology was much important in order to ensure healthy industrial development. Shiowattana (1990) pointed that the cause of the problem was that Thailand lacked the ability in technology reproduction. Therefore, the Thai government became more aware of the necessity to promote and strengthen the technological capabilities of industry. On Japans side, the technology transfer was determined by the policy of Japanese MNCs. In addition, the author outlined that the Japanese joint venture had successful records in technology transfer. As Japan wish for dominating as a self-contained network in the Thai economy, it realised that technological strength was a dynamic force, consequently, p ressing for further growth of its economic abilities in Thailand. Xiaodong (1994) analysed the effect of Japanese Investment in Thailand since 1986 in What Thailand has gained and lost from Japanese investment. The author mentioned that Japanese Direct Investment (JDI) after 1986 was a significant event which changed the situation in the Thai economy. Acording to Xioadongs study, this study paid much attention on the issue of contributions and conflicts in the JDIs process towards to the Thai economy. For the contribution, JDI stimulated economic growth and industrialisation in Thailand. For example, one fifth of JDI flew into the Thai manufacturing export sector, this stimulated Thai exports and

African American History in America Essay -- History Blacks African Am

In From Slavery to Freedom (2007), it was said that â€Å"the transition from slavery to freedom represents one of the major themes in the history of African Diaspora in the Americas† (para. 1). African American history plays an important role in American history not only because the Civil Rights Movement, but because of the strength and courage of Afro-Americans struggling to live a good life in America. Afro-Americans have been present in this country since the early 1600’s, and have been making history since. We as Americans have studied American history all throughout school, and took one Month out of the year to studied African American history. Of course we learn some things about the important people and events in African American history, but some of the most important things remain untold which will take more than a month to learn about. The Fight for Freedom and Rights When Afro-American’s came to America in hopes of having a better and easier way of life, and after they arrived it was a totally opposite of what they expected. The following are a couple events that took place in different locations for the fight for freedom and right. The first is Bloody Sunday; which took place in Selma, Alabama. This particular event was the march of black activists from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Thomas-Samuel (1996) stated that â€Å"In 1965, Alabama state troopers and local deputies stopped and clubbed black activists as they marched peacefully†¦.† (para. 1). These people just wanted to make a point by marching from one city to another and they got beating just for it. Next is the fight for... ...7, 2007 from Web site: http://www.who2.com/denmarkvessey From Slavery to Freedom: African in the Americas. (2007). Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Retrieved October 7, 2007 from Web site: http://www.asalh.org/ Harlem Renaissance (1997-2007) Microsoft ® Encarta ® Online Encyclopedia 2007. Retrieved October 7, 2007 from Web site: http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566483/Harlem_Renaissance.html/ Harlem Renaissance. (2007) The Columbia Eletronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Retrieved October 7, 2007 from Web site: http://www.factmonster.com./ce6/ent/A0822748.html History of Little Rock Nine. (1999) Little Rock Nine Foundation. Retrieved October 7, 2007 from the Web site: http://www.littlerock9.com/

Capital Punishment has NO Place in Civilized Society :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Capital Punishment has no Place in Civilized Society Since our nation's founding, the government -- colonial, federal and state -- has punished murder and, until recent years, rape with the ultimate sanction: death. More than 13,000 people have been legally executed since colonial times, most of them in the early 20th Century. By the 1930s, as many as 150 people were executed each year. However, public outrage and legal challenges caused the practice to wane. By 1967, capital punishment had virtually halted in the United States, pending the outcome of several court challenges. In 1972, in _Furman v. Georgia_, the Supreme Court invalidated hundreds of scheduled executions, declaring that then existing state laws were applied in an "arbitrary and capricious" manner and, thus, violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, and the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantees of equal protection of the laws and due process. But in 1976, in _ Gregg v. Georgia_, the Court resuscitated the death penalty: It ruled that the penalty "does not invariably violate the Constitution" if administered in a manner designed to guard against arbitrariness and discrimination. Several states promptly passed or reenacted capital punishment laws. Thirty-seven states now have laws authorizing the death penalty, as does the military. A dozen states in the Middle West and Northeast have abolished capital punishment, two in the last century (Michigan in 1847, Minnesota in 1853). Alaska and Hawaii have never had the death penalty. Most executions have taken place in the states of the Deep South. More than 2,000 people are on "death row" today. Virtually all are poor, a significant number are mentally retarded or otherwise mentally disabled, more than 40 percent are African American, and a disproportionate number are Native American, Latino and Asian. The ACLU believes that, in all circumstances, the death penalty is unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment, and that its discriminatory application violates the Fourteenth Amendment. Here are the ACLU's answers to some questions frequently raised by the public about capital punishment. Doesn't the Death Penalty deter crime, especially murder? No, there is no credible evidence that the death penalty deters crime. States that have death penalty laws do not have lower crime rates or murder rates than states without such laws. And states that have abolished capital punishment, or instituted it, show no significant changes in either crime or murder rates. Claims that each execution deters a certain number of murders have been discredited by social science research. The death penalty has no deterrent effect on most murders because people commit murders largely in the heat of passion, and/or under the influence of alcohol or drugs, giving little thought

Assessing Organizational Culture Essay

Almost every organization, whether public or private, on paper or in practice, has a culture that fairly dictates its everyday functioning. The term culture has many definitions but in this discussion it is defined as shared beliefs, values, symbols, and behaviors. Culture binds a workforce together and is its control mechanism, or purpose, to facilitate its functioning. These items are powerful driving forces in the success of an organization and their value to the community they serve whether it is a public or private entity will affect the success of any organization. While cultures are found in some organizations more prominently than in others, there are those organizations where the culture of that specific organization’s ideal stands out above others. Police departments, military units and religious organizations all have a strong, centralized culture that forms its base and permeates its entire existence. Many times people outside of those professions do not understand the mentality or job commitment a person from one of these career fields shares with his/her co-workers. An example would be the duty and honor commitment of a United State Marine, especially when considered by a person who was anti-military; the Marines belief or core value system is not understood. The medical profession and more specifically hospitals, demonstrate a common goal that simply stated, is the care and healing of the sick or injured. For the most part, the medical staff employed at a hospital is there for that specific purpose. The medical field brings together a vast array of individuals from different backgrounds and cultures. But once they become a doctor, hospital nurse, surgical technician, etc. they take on a new life and thereby absorb a new culture into their lives. Subcultures, as defined by organizational theorists John van Maanen and Stephen Barley, are â€Å"a subset of an organization’s members who interact regularly with one another, identify themselves as a distinct group†¦and routinely take action on the basis of collective understandings unique to the group† (Cheney, 2011, 78-79) The organizational culture in a hospital is based on the premise that the hospital is there to provide a place for the care and healing of the sick or injured. Organizational theorist Mary Jo Hatch puts forth that there are five (5) â€Å"Degrees of Cultural Integration and Differentiation† (Cheney, 77) identified as follows: Unitary, Diverse (Integrated), Diverse (Differentiated), Diverse (Fragmented) and Disorganized (Multi-cephalous) (Hatch, 1997, 210). A hospital in its purest form would be well represented as a Unitary culture because the staff as a whole all have the same values or beliefs. But individual staff or even medical units may fall into any of the other cultures identified as well. A particular unit, i. e. cardiac telemetry floor, may be a Diverse (Fragmented) unit due to a group of nurses who do not view their critical task requirements in the same way and as a result the level of patient infections or deaths rises, causing unrest among the staff, supervisors, patient families and resulting in legal ramifications thereby fragmenting the staff’s solidarity. Social psychologist Edgar Schein formulated a theoretical model that shows an organization’s culture is built on three levels: artifacts, values and norms, and assumptions and beliefs. Artifacts are usually the most common and visible sign of a specific culture. Schein puts forth that things such as nursing uniforms, terminology, surgical protocols and more, actually and accurately represent the basic aspects of organization’s culture. The values and norms aspect of his theory, while not always visible, can be seen through behavior of the individual or group; it reveals what is important to the group and how they treat each other within their organization. Each aspect of the profession may have an operating procedure or environment nique to that area of specialization, but still have the same values and norms for their actions. In a surgical room, sterilization of the environment is much more important than it would be in a patient’s room on a medical/surgical floor, but they still have the same belief in keeping an open wound as clean as possible. While values in the medical profession do not vary as a whole, values do define accepted behavior and action. Genuine assumptions and beliefs are nurtured by a persons or organizations values and norms. Values vary only slightly in the various medical professions and facilities. Depending on the medical specialty area, operational norms and methods may differ according to training priorities, equipment and environment unique to that specialty. For instance, the hospital in-patient wound care team may have the same desire to treat a patient’s wounds as a home health nursing team, but the methods of treatment or medications used may be different. Differences begin to surface when a patient is sent home on a negative pressure wound therapy system, i. e. a wound V. A. C.  ®, that aids in the healing of wounds via suction (http://www. kci1. com/KCI1/vactherapy). Many home health nurses does not know how to properly change the intricate dressing or fully understand this equipment or the damaging results that can occur if not changed properly. Faulty assumptions are therefore made based on the beliefs of the home health nurse of what should be done for the patient. When that happens, problems arise in this particular scenario that could result in the patient being brought back to the hospital for a further period of hospitalization due to a breakdown of their wounds or even the creation of new wounds as a result of improper V. A. C.  ® placement. The overriding culture of the medical field is based on the Physician’s Creed of â€Å"First, do no harm† (author uncertain but it is based on the Hippocratic Oath which states â€Å"to abstain from doing harm†). This belief echoes throughout the medical field all over the world. And while there are individual exceptions or exceptions in areas such as animal research for the betterment of mankind or the ethical issue of abortion, the creed has gone unchanged since the time of the ancient Greeks and before. Schein’s three (3) levels of artifacts, values and norms, and assumptions and beliefs, are evident in every clinical setting. With further exploration, Hatch’s five (5) Degrees of Cultural Integration and Differentiation will also be found, albeit not everyone will be seen on every hospital floor or unit. Medical facilities are a kaleidoscope or a microcosm of many subcultures under the roof of the main culture of being a place for the care and healing of the sick or injured. Without that organizational culture giving guidance to all of the subcultures involved in this humanitarian career field, the death rate for minor injuries and diseases would compound exponentially.

George Orwell’s Animal Farm

In the allegorical novel â€Å"Animal Farm†, author George Orwell reminds us how power can corrupt an individual. â€Å"Animal Farm† tells us about the rebellion of animals against humans. The rebellion is a great success and pigs, being the most intelligent animals, take control. However, as time goes on, life for the other animals becomes worse while the pigs prosper. Orwell based this book on Russian communism and used Stalin as prototype for Napoleon. He also tries to demonstrate that once a person has complete power, that individual will become corrupt and will do anything in order to maintain it. Orwell wanted this novel to be a warning for future societies. An example of that is seen in the character Napoleon who slaughters any animal who openly opposes him. He also uses different methods of psychological manipulation and physical threats to maintain his hierarchy of leadership. Napoleon attempts to maintain his power by threatening animals physically, even slaughtering them. For instance, he slaughtered four pigs that opposed him when he abolished the Sunday Meetings. Napoleon killed them using his dogs because they questioning and criticizing his decisions and leadership. If that continued, other animals would start to analyse the situation and come to the conclusion that Napoleon was in fact a poor and corrupted leader. Napoleon could not let this happen, so he murdered the pigs because they confessed that they had been secretly in touch with Snowball ever since the expulsion, that they had collaborated with him in destroying the windmill, and that they had entered into an agreement with him to hand over Animal Farm to Mr Frederick†. Napoleon also murdered three hens (that had been the ringleaders in the attempted rebellion over the eggs) after they stated that Snowball had appeared to them in a dream and incited them to disobey Napoleon's orders†. However, it is obvious that Napoleon simply decided to get rid of all opposition. Mass murder was not the only physical threat used by Napoleon. At one point in the novel, hens did not wish to give up their eggs to Napoleon, so he cut off their food supply. Napoleon starved the hens because they opposed him, just like the pigs. Orwell tries to show us that once a dictator gains power, he will not accept any criticism or opposition and will simply murder whoever questions his leadership. For example, a Chilean dictator called Augusto Pinochet murdered over forty thousand people during his first month of power simply because they questioned his decisions. But, Napoleon could not always go to extreme measures such as executing the opposition so he employed Squealor to persuade animals through rhetoric. For example, Squealer, Napoleon's right hand, made up a statistic that animals had more oats, more hay and more turnips than they had had in Jones's day. They also worked shorter hours, had better quality drinking water, lived longer, saw an increased number of their young ones survive infancy, had more straw in their stalls and suffered less from fleas†. In combination with complete isolation from other farms, other animals could not prove Squealer wrong so they believed that they actually had a much better life than other farms. In reality, the animals had even lower food rations than those living on other farms. Napoleon also encourages other animals to use Boxer's slogans such as â€Å"Napoleon is Always Right† and â€Å"I Will Work Harder†Ã¢â‚¬ . Boxer is very loyal to Napoleon due to his low intelligence but he is respected by other animals because of his strength and stubbornness. Napoleon knows that animals will listen to Boxer and try to work as hard as Boxer. In this case, Orwell tries to show that dictators carefully control the flow of information and simply block anything that could potentially harm them (a contemporary example is the Chinese government blocking web-sites such as YouTube because they sometimes contain information that the government deems to be inappropriate). However, making up statistics would not be enough to control the animals so Napoleon used patriotic songs and the seven commandments in order to manipulate the animals. He attempted to make the other animals believe that he was the wisest, kindest leader they had. He did it by replacing â€Å"Beasts of England† â€Å"with â€Å"Comrade Napoleon†Ã¢â‚¬ , a song that contains lyrics such as â€Å"Full belly twice a day, clean straw to roll upon; Every beast big and small sleeps at peace in his stall, thou watchest over all, Comrade Napoleon! This song helps Napoleon maintain his leadership as the animals believe every word it says. Another example of biasing the truth is when Squealer explains why pigs take apples and milk. He justifies it by saying â€Å"Milk and apples contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig. We pigs are brain-workers. The whole management and organization of this farm depends on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for YOUR sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would come back! â€Å"† Squealer confuses animals with words such as â€Å"substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig † and then acts on the fear of the fact that Jones may come back, although in reality Jones was on the other end of the country. Dictators such as Stalin justified their actions using reasons similar to Squealer's. These reasons were similar in a way that they acted on people's fears, causing them to believe everything Stalin said. Orwell's novel is based on Russian communism and it criticizes the decisions and methods used by Stalin using Napoleon as a representation of him. However, Orwell also tries to warn future generations. Orwell wanted to show what the future would look like if nobody ever questioned their leaders. He wanted to show that once a person obtained great power, he could become corrupt and a many people would suffer because of it. People need to speak their mind, criticize and question everything their government says, otherwise leaders will not care about their people. But, at some point, people may get tired of totalitarianism and they will rebel against their leaders, just like people did in Egypt. One last thing that Orwell wanted to show is how much propaganda can influence people and how hard it can be to regain freedom of speech using examples of the mass executions of animals and the fact that nobody â€Å"dared to speak his mind â€Å"after this mass slaughter. â€Å"

My Life-Changing Decision

MY LIFE CHANGING DECISION ROSS BROWN ENGL 1301-270 SUSAN ROBBINS 4/2/2013 It was the beginning of spring about two years ago- a wet and gloomy day. I was thirty two years old, strung out on meth and homeless. Headed back to prison for the third time, I was faced with a life changing decision, â€Å"do I turn myself in† or â€Å"do I keep running and take my chances†. It was a decision that would affect the ones I love the most, my children. As I sat in the woods behind a run down, drug infested motel, I closed my eyes and all I could see were the tears in my kids eyes every time they came to see me in prison.The ones that depended on me for love and security, were now sad and scared of me. They were as lost as I was. Thoughts began to run through my head, â€Å"have I failed my children as a father†, â€Å"do I want them to go down the same path I went down† or â€Å"do I want to give them a future and a father to be proud of†. Living the life style I lived for ten years, taught me not to trust people. Especially authority figures. So the thought of turning myself in didn’t sound like a good idea to me at the time. It left me puzzled and scared.I could keep running, but the past ten years had been nothing but a continoues cycle that always landed me back in prison and left my children without a father. I’ve always been known for taking chances. Turning myself in would require taking the biggest chance of my life, trusting an authority figure and the system that I thought had already failed me. My Pastor had always told me â€Å"recovery has to start somewhere son†. At that moment, with my children in mind, I had made my decision. I was going to turn myself in.As I opened my eyes, tears streaming down my face, the day seemed to turn from wet and gloomy, to calm and clear. I picked up my phone and made the call. I was to turn myself in to the authorities within two weeks. On April 20,2011 I walked into the F ederal Halfway House. I was tired, physically and mentally. I did not know what to expect or what was expected of me. They gave me three meals a day and a hard mat to sleep on. They provided transportation and the opportunity to become stable, if you wanted it. I wanted it bad! It would require a lot of effort and determination to make it through the system successfully.Not many ex felons make it. They looked at me as another statistic when I first arrived. You only have a certain amount of time to get a job and start your recovery. I struggled, nobody wanted to hire a recovering ex con. I was starting to think I was not going to make it. I was at the end of the dead line, they were wanting go ahead and send me back to prison. On the very last day the phone rang, it was Bill Orr with Gym Bleacher Boards. He asked me to come in right away for an interview. I had to get permission from the job coordinator in order for that to happen.He was not wanting to give me this last chance at ge tting a job. Then out of nowhere my case worker, Ms. Woodson, showed up and said â€Å" just give him this one last chance before you send him back†. When I arrived at Gym Bleacher Boards, I was nervous and had mixed emotions about everything. As I sat there waiting on my interview with Bill, I said a little prayer to myself, â€Å" Lord, please let me get this job, not for me, but for my children†. Bill came out of his office and called me in and I was up front about everything.By the time the interview was over, we were talking as if we had known each other for years. Then he looked over at me and said, â€Å" Ross, everybody deserves a second chance at life, you are hired†. Within two months I was able to get my own place and out of the Federal Halfway House. Now, two years later I got my family back, a good job, and a set of nine month old twin daughters. As I look back on the day I made my decision, I realize I took a chance that changed my life. Now, I am able to give my children a future and a father to be proud of.

Bred in South Auckland Essay

I think Glen Colquhoun’s purpose in creating this poem was to make people, like myself, realise our self-worth and embrace our individuality. He mocks his everyday habits to show us that we can’t always be put into categories, just because a person does something like ‘†¦I read the newspaper. ’ That doesn’t mean the person has to be stereotyped into a certain group, in this case ‘Some people think I am a typical Pakeha’. I really enjoyed reading the way the author made fun of his everyday habits to tell that there is more than one way of viewing our identity, instead of being guided to a racial or cultural stereotype. I found it easy to believe him when he said ‘I think I am the luckiest mongrel I know. ’ He accepted his cultures but did not let them sculpt him into their typical stereotypes. I really liked the way Glen Colquhoun relates himself to four stereotypical cultures: Maori, Pakeha, Asian and Pacific Islander. I also enjoyed the way he described his everyday habits to each of his cultures. ‘I think I’m the luckiest mongrel I know’ by portraying himself as a mongrel- a dog of mixed breed he tells us he has many different cultural influences as a part of him. This quote made me realise that every person has many dimensions to them; it doesn’t matter if your family isn’t from multiple cultures. When you grow up in a society where there are many diverse cultures influencing your behaviour, your attitude, it shapes your personality and you as a person. This poem relates to many people around New Zealand, especially in South Auckland because we’re so multi-cultural and so many people have parents, partners, cousins, aunties and uncles from many different cultures. Even though I’m from Pakistan some people think I’m Indian and others think I’m from some Middle Eastern country. So in a way I could relate to this. I enjoyed reading this poem because the theme relates to everyday things and everyone gets stereotyped at some point in their life regardless of their culture, which is why we should define ourselves by our personality not culture stereotypes.

Digital Fortress Chapter 107-109

Chapter 107 Susan had no idea how much time had passed. A burning in her throat pulled her to her senses. Disoriented, she studied her surroundings. She was on a carpet behind a desk. The only light in the room was a strange orange flickering. The air smelled of burning plastic. The room she was standing in was not really a room at all; it was a devastated shell. The curtains were on fire, and the Plexiglas walls were smoldering. Then she remembered it all. David. In a rising panic, she pulled herself to her feet. The air felt caustic in her windpipe. She stumbled to the doorway looking for away out. As she crossed the threshold, her leg swung out over an abyss; she grabbed the door frame just in time. The catwalk had disappeared. Fifty feet below was a twisted collapse of steaming metal. Susan scanned the Crypto floor in horror. It was a sea of fire. The melted remains of three million silicon chips had erupted from TRANSLTR like lava. Thick, acrid smoke billowed upward. Susan knew the smell. Silicon smoke. Deadly poison. Retreating into the remains of Strathmore's office, she began to feel faint. Her throat burned. The entire place was filled with a fiery light. Crypto was dying. So will I, she thought. For a moment, she considered the only possible exit-Strathmore's elevator. But she knew it was useless; the electronics never would have survived the blast. But as Susan made her way through the thickening smoke, she recalled Hale's words. The elevator runs on power from the main building! I've seen the schematics! Susan knew that was true. She also knew the entire shaft was encased in reinforced concrete. The fumes swirled all around her. She stumbled through the smoke toward the elevator door. But when she got there, she saw that the elevator's call button was dark. Susan jabbed fruitlessly at the darkened panel, then she fell to her knees and pounded on the door. She stopped almost instantly. Something was whirring behind the doors. Startled, she looked up. It sounded like the carriage was right there! Susan stabbed at the button again. Again, a whirring behind the doors. Suddenly she saw it. The call button was not dead-it had just been covered with black soot. It now glowed faintly beneath her smudged fingerprints. There's power! With a surge of hope, she punched at the button. Over and over, something behind the doors engaged. She could hear the ventilation fan in the elevator car. The carriage is here! Why won't the damn doors open? Through the smoke she spied the tiny secondary keypad-lettered buttons, A through Z. In a wave of despair, Susan remembered. The password. The smoke was starting to curl in through the melted window frames. Again she banged on the elevator doors. They refused to open. The password! she thought. Strathmore never told me the password! Silicon smoke was now filling the office. Choking, Susan fell against the elevator in defeat. The ventilation fan was running just a few feet away. She lay there, dazed, gulping for air. She closed her eyes, but again David's voice woke her. Escape, Susan! Open the door! Escape! She opened her eyes expecting to see his face, those wild green eyes, that playful smile. But the letters A-Z came into focus. The password†¦ Susan stared at the letters on the keypad. She could barely keep them in focus. On the LED below the keypad, five empty spots awaited entry. A five-character password, she thought. She instantly knew the odds: twenty-six to the fifth power; 11,881,376 possible choices. At one guess every second, it would take nineteen weeks†¦ As Susan Fletcher lay choking on the floor beneath the keypad, the commander's pathetic voice came to her. He was calling to her again. I love you Susan! I've always loved you! Susan! Susan! Susan†¦ She knew he was dead, and yet his voice was relentless. She heard her name over and over. Susan†¦ Susan†¦ Then, in a moment of chilling clarity, she knew. Trembling weakly, she reached up to the keypad and typed the password. S†¦ U†¦ S†¦ A†¦ N An instant later, the doors slid open. Chapter 108 Strathmore's elevator dropped fast. Inside the carriage, Susan sucked deep breaths of fresh air into her lungs. Dazed, she steadied herself against the wall as the car slowed to a stop. A moment later some gears clicked, and the conveyor began moving again, this time horizontally. Susan felt the carriage accelerate as it began rumbling toward the main NSA complex. Finally it whirred to a stop, and the doors opened. Coughing, Susan Fletcher stumbled into a darkened cement corridor. She found herself in a tunnel-low-ceilinged and narrow. A double yellow line stretched out before her. The line disappeared into an empty, dark hollow. The Underground Highway†¦ She staggered toward the tunnel, holding the wall for guidance. Behind her, the elevator door slid shut. Once again Susan Fletcher was plunged into darkness. Silence. Nothing except a faint humming in the walls. A humming that grew louder. Suddenly it was as if dawn were breaking. The blackness thinned to a hazy gray. The walls of the tunnel began to take shape. All at once, a small vehicle whipped around the corner, its headlight blinding her. Susan stumbled back against the wall and shielded her eyes. There was a gust of air, and the transport whipped past. An instant later there was a deafening squeal of rubber on cement. The hum approached once again, this time in reverse. Seconds later the vehicle came to a stop beside her. â€Å"Ms. Fletcher!† an astonished voice exclaimed. Susan gazed at a vaguely familiar shape in the driver's seat of an electric golf cart. â€Å"Jesus.† The man gasped. â€Å"Are you okay? We thought you were dead!† Susan stared blankly. â€Å"Chad Brinkerhoff,† he sputtered, studying the shell-shocked cryptographer. â€Å"Directorial PA.† Susan could only manage a dazed whimper. â€Å"TRANSLTR†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Brinkerhoff nodded. â€Å"Forget it. Get on!† The beam of the golf cart's headlights whipped across the cement walls. â€Å"There's a virus in the main databank,† Brinkerhoff blurted. â€Å"I know,† Susan heard herself whisper. â€Å"We need you to help us.† Susan was fighting back the tears. â€Å"Strathmore†¦ he†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"We know,† Brinkerhoff said. â€Å"He bypassed Gauntlet.† â€Å"Yes†¦ and†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The words got stuck in her throat. He killed David! Brinkerhoff put a hand on her shoulder. â€Å"Almost there, Ms. Fletcher. Just hold on.† The high-speed Kensington golf cart rounded a corner and skidded to a stop. Beside them, branching off perpendicular to the tunnel, was a hallway, dimly lit by red floor lighting. â€Å"Come on,† Brinkerhoff said, helping her out. He guided her into the corridor. Susan drifted behind him in a fog. The tiled passageway sloped downward at a steep incline. Susan grabbed the handrail and followed Brinkerhoff down. The air began to grow cooler. They continued their descent. As they dropped deeper into the earth, the tunnel narrowed. From somewhere behind them came the echo of footsteps-a strong, purposeful gait. The footsteps grew louder. Both Brinkerhoff and Susan stopped and turned. Striding toward them was an enormous black man. Susan had never seen him before. As he approached, he fixed her with a penetrating stare. â€Å"Who's this?† he demanded. â€Å"Susan Fletcher,† Brinkerhoff replied. The enormous man arched his eyebrows. Even sooty and soaked, Susan Fletcher was more striking than he had imagined. â€Å"And the commander?† he demanded. Brinkerhoff shook his head. The man said nothing. He stared off a moment. Then he turned back to Susan. â€Å"Leland Fontaine,† he said, offering her his hand. â€Å"Glad you're okay.† Susan stared. She'd always known she'd meet the director someday, but this was not the introduction she'd envisioned. â€Å"Come along, Ms. Fletcher,† Fontaine said, leading the way. â€Å"We'll need all the help we can get.† Looming in the reddish haze at the bottom of the tunnel, a steel wall blocked their way. Fontaine approached and typed an entry code into a recessed cipher box. He then placed his right hand against a small glass panel. A strobe flashed. A moment later the massive wall thundered left. There was only one NSA chamber more sacred than Crypto, and Susan Fletcher sensed she was about to enter it. Chapter 109 The command center for the NSA's main databank looked like a scaled-down NASA mission control. A dozen computer workstations faced the thirty-foot by forty-foot video wall at the far end of the room. On the screen, numbers and diagrams flashed in rapid succession, appearing and disappearing as if someone were channel surfing. A handful of technicians raced wildly from station to station trailing long sheets of printout paper and yelling commands. It was chaos. Susan stared at the dazzling facility. She vaguely remembered that 250 metric tons of earth had been excavated to create it. The chamber was located 214 feet below ground, where it would be totally impervious to flux bombs and nuclear blasts. On a raised workstation in the center of the room stood Jabba. He bellowed orders from his platform like a king to his subjects. Illuminated on the screen directly behind him was a message. The message was all too familiar to Susan. The billboard-size text hung ominously over Jabba's head: ONLY THE TRUTH WILL SAVE YOU NOW ENTER PASS-KEY ______ As if trapped in some surreal nightmare, Susan followed Fontaine toward the podium. Her world was a slow-motion blur. Jabba saw them coming and wheeled like an enraged bull. â€Å"I built Gauntlet for a reason!† â€Å"Gauntlet's gone,† Fontaine replied evenly. â€Å"Old news, Director,† Jabba spat. â€Å"The shock wave knocked me on my ass! Where's Strathmore?† â€Å"Commander Strathmore is dead.† â€Å"Poetic fucking justice.† â€Å"Cool it, Jabba,† the director ordered. â€Å"Bring us up to speed. How bad is this virus?† Jabba stared at the director a long moment, and then without warning, he burst out laughing. â€Å"A virus?† His harsh guffaw resonated through the underground chamber. â€Å"Is that what you think this is?† Fontaine kept his cool. Jabba's insolence was way out of line, but Fontaine knew this was not the time or place to handle it. Down here, Jabba outranked God himself. Computer problems had away of ignoring the normal chain of command. â€Å"It's not a virus?† Brinkerhoff exclaimed hopefully. Jabba snorted in disgust. â€Å"Viruses have replication strings, pretty boy! This doesn't!† Susan hovered nearby, unable to focus. â€Å"Then what's going on?† Fontaine demanded. â€Å"I thought we had a virus.† Jabba sucked in a long breath and lowered his voice. â€Å"Viruses†¦Ã¢â‚¬  he said, wiping sweat from his face. â€Å"Viruses reproduce. They create clones. They're vain and stupid-binary egomaniacs. They pump out babies faster than rabbits. That's their weakness-you can cross-breed them into oblivion if you know what you're doing. Unfortunately, this program has no ego, no need to reproduce. It's clear-headed and focused. In fact, when it's accomplished its objective here, it will probably commit digital suicide. â€Å"Jabba held out his arms reverently to the projected havoc on the enormous screen. â€Å"Ladies and gentlemen.† He sighed. â€Å"Meet the kamikaze of computer invaders†¦ the worm.† â€Å"Worm?† Brinkerhoff groaned. It seemed like a mundane term to describe the insidious intruder. â€Å"Worm.† Jabba smoldered. â€Å"No complex structures, just instinct-eat, shit, crawl. That's it. Simplicity. Deadly simplicity. It does what it's programmed to do and then checks out.† Fontaine eyed Jabba sternly. â€Å"And what is this worm programmed to do?† â€Å"No clue,† Jabba replied. â€Å"Right now, it's spreading out and attaching itself to all our classified data. After that, it could do anything. It might decide to delete all the files, or it might just decide to print smiley faces on certain White House transcripts.† Fontaine's voice remained cool and collected. â€Å"Can you stop it?† Jabba let out a long sigh and faced the screen. â€Å"I have no idea. It all depends on how pissed off the author is.† He pointed to the message on the wall. â€Å"Anybody want to tell me what the hell that means?† ONLY THE TRUTH WILL SAVE YOU NOW ENTER PASS-KEY ______ Jabba waited for a response and got none. â€Å"Looks like someone's messing with us, Director. Blackmail. This is a ransom note if I ever saw one.† Susan's voice was a whisper, empty and hollow. â€Å"It's†¦ Ensei Tankado.† Jabba turned to her. He stared a moment, wide-eyed. â€Å"Tankado?† Susan nodded weakly. â€Å"He wanted our confession†¦ about TRANSLTR†¦ but it cost him his-â€Å" â€Å"Confession?† Brinkerhoff interrupted, looking stunned. â€Å"Tankado wants us to confess we have TRANSLTR? I'd say it's a bit late for that!† Susan opened her mouth to speak, but Jabba took over. â€Å"Looks like Tankado's got a kill-code,† he said, gazing up at the message on the screen. Everyone turned. â€Å"Kill code?† Brinkerhoff demanded. Jabba nodded. â€Å"Yeah. A pass-key that stops the worm. Simply put, if we admit we have TRANSLTR, Tankado gives us a kill-code. We type it in and save the databank. Welcome to digital extortion.† Fontaine stood like rock, unwavering. â€Å"How long have we got?† â€Å"About an hour,† Jabba said. â€Å"Just time enough to call a press conference and spill our guts. â€Å"Recommendation,† Fontaine demanded. â€Å"What do you propose we do?† â€Å"A recommendation?† Jabba blurted in disbelief. â€Å"You want a recommendation? I'll give you a recommendation! You quit fucking around, that's what you do!† â€Å"Easy,† the director warned. â€Å"Director,† Jabba sputtered. â€Å"Right now, Ensei Tankado owns this databank! Give him whatever he wants. If he wants the world to know about TRANSLTR, call CNN, and drop your shorts. TRANSLTR's a hole in the ground now anyway-what the hell do you care?† There was a silence. Fontaine seemed to be considering his options. Susan began to speak, but Jabba beat her to it. â€Å"What are you waiting for, Director! Get Tankado on the phone! Tell him you'll play ball! We need that kill-code, or this whole place is going down!† Nobody moved. â€Å"Are you all insane?† Jabba screamed. â€Å"Call Tankado! Tell him we fold! Get me that kill-code! NOW!† Jabba whipped out his cellular phone and switched it on. â€Å"Never mind! Get me his number! I'll call the little prick myself!† â€Å"Don't bother,† Susan said in a whisper. â€Å"Tankado's dead.† After a moment of confused astonishment, the implications hit Jabba like a bullet to the gut. The huge Sys-Sec looked like he was about to crumble. â€Å"Dead? But then†¦ that means†¦ we can't†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"That means we'll need a new plan,† Fontaine said matter-of-factly. Jabba's eyes were still glazed with shock when someone in the back of the room began shouting wildly. â€Å"Jabba! Jabba!† It was Soshi Kuta, his head techie. She came running toward the podium trailing a long printout. She looked terrified. â€Å"Jabba!† She gasped. â€Å"The worm†¦ I just found out what it's programmed to do!† Soshi thrust the paper into Jabba's hands. â€Å"I pulled this from the system-activity probe! We isolated the worm's execute commands-have a look at the programming! Look what it's planning to do!† Dazed, the chief Sys-Sec read the printout. Then he grabbed the handrail for support. â€Å"Oh, Jesus,† Jabba gasped. â€Å"Tankado†¦ you bastard!†