Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Examine the Changes in Location and Development of Tourism Activities Essay

The changes in location and development of tourism activities over the past 50 years can be linked to advantages in air travel, economic growth and the development of technology linked to the internet dangers in the type and availability of accommodation for tourism has also been responsible for changes in the development of tourism activities. Population growth must also be considered when explaining changes in the development of tourism. Booking flights and hotels is now much easier. You can use a travel agent, but increasingly more people are going online to book their own flights and hotels and flights either directly or through agents. It is also possible to look at customer reviews so you can assess the quality of hotels, tours, etc. As communication and transport improved, more people hear about and travel to new places. At the same time that new destinations are discovered, more and more people are going on holidays on these places. Improved communication has not only made booking holidays easier, it has also meant people can now keep in contact much easier while abroad. This has removed the worry from many families. You can now update your status on Twitter or Facebook or send e-mail or texts to family letting them know where you are or what are you doing. It is now just as easy to communicate with your family half way around the world as it is from the next street. English is slowly become an international language – it is the most widely spoken second language. As the number of English speakers increase, more and more people are confident about going on holiday and knowing that they will be able to communicate. As the tourism industry develops the amount of multilingual guides is also increasing so it is possible to visit a foreign country and go on a tour in your native language. Even with the on-going global economic downturn, the world economy is growing. This economic growth is being led by the so called emerging economies e.g. China, Russia and India. With economic growth ore individuals are removed from poverty and are able to afford to go on holiday. People can afford holidays when there disposable income increases. Disposable income is the amount of money left over after all bills are paid for. Over the past 50 years the relative cost of transport has fallen and the ease of moving between countries has increased. Car ownership has increased, new train networks have been built and new airports opened. In the last decade low-cost airlines have emerged and increased tourism. Low-cost airlines offer cheaper flights that normal airlines by removing added extras like airport check-in, in-flight meals, checked baggage and seat selection. The growth of transport has meant people can go on more holidays and also go on shorter holidays (weekend breaks). We are now saturated with advertising on billboards, in magazines, on TV and increasingly online. These adverts make us aware of new destinations and persuade us to visit new places. There has also been a growth of TV programs just about holiday destinations. The emergence of credit cards has made it much easier to pay for holidays and it has made it easier for people to buy things once on holiday. Credit cards can be used to pay for hotels and flights online and can be used to pay for things on holiday or take local currency out of ATMs. Credit cars remove the worry of carrying large amounts of money and the time of exchanging currencies. In conclusion, the growth and changes in location of the tourism in the last 50 years it is caused by thing that went occurring by the pass of the year but the most important is the technology that it grows allot in the last 50 years. The tourism grow because booking flight and hotels is now much more easier, the communication improved so now the people can keep in contact being in any country in the world, the transport is better and cheaper, credit cards has made it much easier to pay for holidays.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Noonan’s point of view for the Anti-abortion Essay

Noonan’s is an extreme anti-abortionist. He believed that once conceived, the being was recognized as human because he/she had human’s potential. The criterion for humanity, thus, was simple and all embracing: if you are conceived by human parents, you are human. He believes in four pro-choice criteria for human being. The first criterion is viability. Viability is the point in time in which a fetus lived attached to its mother determines the fate. Notion of viability is that fetus is depended on its mother in order to live, and if this dependence is taken through abortion, then it is actually a right of life taken from a living human being. The second view is experience. Experience as defined through Noonan is, † A being who has had experience, has lived and suffered, who posses memories, is more human than one who has not†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Here he points out the stage of fetus when it can be responsive to touch and can feel the environment around him/her. He compares this stage of fetus to of an adult who has aphasia has lost his or her memories- his or her â€Å"experience†: Noonan asks rhetorically if this means the humanity of the adult has been erased. In this argument Noonan is implying that if there is an absences of experiences during fetus stage of human life, we can not deprive the fetus of his/her right to life. The third case is sentiment. Sentiment in this case means that if the fetus dies, it won’t receive the same grief as for a living child because it hasn’t been named or had personality. Noonan views this while contrasting different races among human kind. He portrays his feelings that if one human being is of different skin color or of different sex, we won’t say that his/her life lost is not grief able. Why isn’t then a fetus is given the same human respect he/she deserved. The last of these criteria’s is social visibility. They argument says that the fetus hasn’t been socially perceived as human: it cannot communicate like humans. Noonan’s views for this argument is as follows. He says that humanity does not depend on social recognition, although the failure to recognize this fact has led it to destruction of lives. These are the Noonan’s point of view towards the abortion.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Key Strategic Implementation Issues at BP Essay

Key Strategic Implementation Issues at BP - Essay Example Leadership perspective: Despite its immense growth and achievement, issues from leadership perspective are haunting this oil giant. In her article, Corkindale (2010) highlights that the major weakness of BP is its top leadership and points to mistakes made by BP. According to her, CEO, Tony Hayward, was solely responsible for the major oil spill that happened couple of years back. The attitudes and behaviors of senior most management team are believed to have caused this massacre. Organizations function based on strategic goals and objectives by following certain strategic values in the form of mission, vision and values (Ledlow & Coppola, 2011). While every organization sets its strategic objectives, makes strategic choices and directions, and links all tactical and operational strategies to the corporate strategies, leaders in critical positions must adhere to this principle. At BP, inappropriate governance and safety practices, and lack of ownership of its employees’ safety and hygiene emerged as a result of the major catastrophe. Moreover, Hayward is also accused of risky actions and investments; is accused of ignoring expert advice and overlooking warnings about safety issues and other facts (Corkindale, 2010). 6.1.2 Inappropriate business level strategic plans: Browne’s operating model comprised of six broad culture guidelines around people, openness, teamwork, simplicity, trust and empowerment. This model was introduced to make BP less bureaucratic and shift the command and control management to facilitated management through empowerment of middle management (Morrison, 2003). However, the catastrophes reported at BP could be the result of lack of knowledge and experience for middle management. Extreme empowerment to govern their individual units could have resulted in gaps or inappropriate safety and security management. Much before the recent BP Oil Spill, there have been other reported undesirable incidents that have caused loss to the community and environment, like the Texas City incident, few leakage incidents, blasts etc. The strategic drift in safety and operations were ignored by management. BP officials have been accused on many occasions of downplaying small erroneous operations and equipment, which had later caused larger blasts (Maresh & Williams, 2011). Moreover, BP’s cost cutting measures did not take into consideration its workers’ and environment’s safety, which is evident from BP’s corrosion-related history. Report from BP’s Congressional hearing (2006) indicates that these issues were repeatedly escalated to BP’s top management before the major catastrophe. This is an indication of lack of ownership and also lack of aligning business performance with broader organizational objectives. 6.1.3 Cultural issues: The top executives at BP acknowledge their responsibility to protect and preserve the environment. However, lack of ownership by the top management of governance measures have hi tched BP’s growth because of inappropriate practices and the consequential catastrophes, thereby questioning trust of their stakeholders in BP’

Sunday, July 28, 2019

What are 3 reasons why ''college'' is important to you What are your Essay

What are 3 reasons why ''college'' is important to you What are your expectations Give details and examples - Essay Example If one is ambitious and wants to fulfill their increasing needs and better living throughout their life, they need to get equipped with college education. College education provides not only higher income but also imparts more opportunity to go up the ladder in hierarchy. Higher post in an organization imparts better recognition in the society and status. The person gets better sense of achievement and satisfaction in the life. Currently, the world has become a global village where in a lot of exchange of goods and services take place. International trade has reached to the level of $1600 billion from a small sum in pre World War II era. Currently, the US does not manufacture several consumer goods for the simple reason that they can be procured at much lesser cost from the other countries such as Mexico, China, Korea and other countries. It is the comparative advantage that drives the global production system. This has caused the displacement of workers in the US in the traditional industries such as apparel, textile, leather, steel, fabrication and many such kinds. The US has an edge in high-tech industries and new emerging technologies because it leads the world in innovation and new researches. That is why college education is all the same more important and essential for anyone in the US, if one has to protect themselves from the risk of getting jobless. The statistics reveal that unemployment rate de creases as the education level goes up as presented in the following graphics. It is true that education helps earn more and protects one’s employability but that is not all. If one decides to start own small business, college education helps in taking many business decisions where one has to weigh pros and cons of the various actions and their outcomes. A business person needs proficiency in math where in they need to find true cost of the product or services so that neither they are in loss nor they are out priced by competition. While

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Virginia State and Local Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Virginia State and Local Government - Essay Example One such attempt made by the General assembly, has been the constitution of the Northern Virginia Transport Authority. The Northern Virginia Transport Authority, is a body constituted by a bill passed by t he General assembly of Virginia. This body is not an elected one and therefore, is not considered the representation of the people. The constitution makes it illegal for non-elected bodies to collect taxes and other fees, to raise funds for the public sector. The General assembly passed a bill stating the delegation of the functions of imposing and collecting taxes, to the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority. In other words, an unelected body would be in-charge of imposing a series of taxes and fees in the Northern Virginia localities, to raise funds for the construction of transportation infrastructure. The Supreme Court, in February 2008, nullified this bill passed by the General assembly in 2007. This was because, the bill did not adhere to the provisions of the constitution that forbids the imposition of such taxes by non-elected bodies. By virtue fo the power of judicial review, the Judiciary exercised its power to curtail the implementation of an illegal bill, by the Legislature of Vir

Friday, July 26, 2019

Saving the Environment and the Bottom Line Essay - 1

Saving the Environment and the Bottom Line - Essay Example Environmental Protection Agency which seeks to protect the future of our nations water supply by offering people a simple way to use less water with water-efficient products, new homes and other related services. In this case, a good example can be draw from Xavier Hotel. It can save 15 gallons per person per day implementing various improvements. With our operations including 375 rooms and if it’s occupied 70% of the time with 1.4 people, our yearly annual saving in gallons will be 2,015,895. This means that about $ 115,309.194 is saved a year. In order to purchase water sense labeled products such as toilets, showerheads and sinks from â€Å"www.lowes.com/† it will cost Xavier Hotel approximately $ 134,617.50 for all 375 rooms without any kind of industrial discounts and employee costs. Electricity consumption is a big problem in hospitality business. Guests and other staff members might waste electricity without knowing it. There are a couple of solutions that can be implemented in order to prevent extra electricity usage. For guest rooms, the hotel should use guest room key as an electric power by placing the room card into an electric source so it can save electricity usage while guests are not inside the rooms which is called key activated guest room energy management system. Also, the hotel management could use magnets for windows that is, if windows are open, it can directly turn off the air conditioning system. There are so many guests that leave windows open while they are sleeping and they also do not turn of the air conditioning system without knowing it this can lead to extra consumption of electricity. Hotels also consume electricity in the hallways. Hotel management could place motion sensors in order to prevent electricity usage. So if there is not an yone walking in the hallways, motion detectors can save

John Snow and Epidemology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

John Snow and Epidemology - Essay Example He attended day school because of his family background; his father could only afford that because he was an unskilled laborer. Snow was a bright student; his best subject was mathematics and he did well in that and on other subjects. Simmons (2002) reveals that Snow graduated from the University of London in 1843 and he also obtained a doctorate in medicine a year later. John Snow’s epidemiological studies assisted in finding the root of cholera in London in 1854. A number of diseases had affected the residents of England prior 19th century, some include plague in 1665. However, there was an epidemic of cholera in 1831 thought to have been brought by travellers and merchants from parts of Asia. Cholera was a serious threat to the population of England. Medical experts were confused, but John Snow came to their rescue. He revealed that Cholera was caused by a certain agent in London water. Previously before his revelation or theory, the other physicians attributed the spread of cholera to filthiness of London City (Simmons, 2002). The previous theories relating to the spread of cholera pointed out that it was an airborne disease. This was in mid-19th century whereby physicians thought that cholera concentrated at the low levels altitudes. Workers and merchants in slaughterhouses were causing the spread of cholera according to Miasmatists. The Miasmatists explained that the foul smell from the slaughterhouses was the causing the spread of cholera. John Snow refuted their claims saying that the workers who frequently works at the slaughterhouses inhales miasmus. They have however not been the targets of cholera. He meant that the inhalation of miasmus did not cause the spread of cholera. The spread of Cholera according to Snow was caused by ingestion of morbid matter related to cholera (Ramsay, 2006). Relationship between host, agent and environment increases the spread of the disease. The three aspects exist independently, but their integration will lead to

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Ethics in Cyberspace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethics in Cyberspace - Essay Example Following the explosion of internet popularity, there is the transfer of power struggles all over the world to the internet. All internet users ranging from businesses, private users, search engines, as well as any probable information source are making an attempt of controlling, manipulating, biasing, while, at the same time, censoring their information found on the internet in case they recognize it or not. As a result, the public gets to view a number of issues or events, which might be altered or not altered at all, thereby easily bending views in frightening manners. There are several computers based ethical dilemma; one set of matter deals with the emergence of various new ethical dilemma, or those taking new form, as a result of increase in Internet and Social Networking. Presently, there are various ways of gaining information concerning others, which were inaccessible, or available with ease, prior to the rise of computers. Therefore, ethical issues concerning storage of pri vate information are presently turning into an ever rising problem; this gives rise to the problem of selling this information for monetary benefit. This leads to distinctive ethical situations with regard to access, security, as well as the utilization of hacking within positive, as well as negative situations. Circumstances relating to the copyright breach of software, movies and music tend to be a hot topic with the increase in file sharing programs like Napster. The ethical questions arising from software piracy are whether it is immoral to copy software movies or even music. ... This happens to be a clear definition of the concept of an Opt-In against Opt-Out situation (Tavani 2010, p.25). Following the explosion of internet popularity, there is the transfer of power struggles all over the world to the internet. All internet users ranging from businesses, private users, search engines, as well as any probable information source are making an attempt of controlling, manipulating, biasing, while, at the same time, censoring their information found on the internet in case they recognize it or not. As a result, the public gets to view a number of issues or events, which might be altered or not altered at all, thereby easily bending views in frightening manners. There are several computers based ethical dilemma; one set of matter deals with the emergence of various new ethical dilemma, or those taking new form, as a result of increase in Internet and Social Networking. Presently, there are various ways of gaining information concerning others, which were inaccess ible, or available with ease, prior to the rise of computers. Therefore, ethical issues concerning storage of private information are presently turning into an ever rising problem; this gives rise to the problem of selling this information for monetary benefit. This leads to distinctive ethical situations with regard to access, security, as well as the utilization of hacking within positive, as well as negative situations. Circumstances relating to the copyright breach of software, movies and music tend to be a hot topic with the increase in file sharing programs like Napster. The ethical questions arising from software piracy are whether it is immoral to copy software movies or even music. Apart from that, questions

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Asian Americans Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Asian Americans - Assignment Example A nurse should not forget to put in to consideration the Asian American cultural issues while providing health care services (Oda, Le and Yoo, 2012). The issue of stereotyping is common among Asian American. They a regarded as foreigners or inventers by other American races. A practicing nurse should not be involved in the issue of stereotyping while dealing with this community. He or she should provide health care services to those in need without negative attitude. The Asian American people also have some cultural practice different from other American races. A nurse must be conversant with the cultural practices when providing services to the community. Some of the people do not belief in taking medicine made from some plants. It is the duty of the nurse to understand this belief and advice the patient on the benefits of taking the medicine. The Buddhist and Muslim regard some animals as cursed. A nurse attending a Muslim Asian American should not go to the treatment room with a dog, because they do not need any association with dogs. A nurse must be conversant with all the cultural beliefs and practices in order to attend to the patients appropriately (Oda, Le and Yoo,

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

EADs-BAe merger case analysis (Corporate Finance) Assignment

EADs-BAe merger case analysis (Corporate Finance) - Assignment Example Even though the companies had not revealed benefits and a detailed business structure for the merger it is believed that negotiations with the respective states had not reached that level. The two firms were optimistic that the merger would have built a strong case to pass to the owners of the business. This discussion will address the valuation of the two firms using various models, the motivation and strategy evaluation, the response in the security market and corporate governance analysis to seek ways of making such moves successful and establish the reasons behind the failure. Strategy and Motivation Analysis The motivation of the proposed merger were based on global rivalry, share in the market by the firms, the level of complimentarity, variation in the industrial structure like offsetting of the monopoly. BAE was also believed to be the springboard that would enable EADS to have its biggest jump it craved for in the Northern American continent (Jane's Defense Industry, 1900; p . 75). BAE has a chief role in the manufacture of military equipment as it was noted that 95% of the BAE systems total sales were related to military sales. BAE also plays a vital role in the production of military aircraft such as the Typhoon fighter and the Tornado fighter bomber. The terms of the negotiations were that EADs was to offer 35 billion Euros which was 12% bid premium even though the new ownership was to be divided on a ratio of 3:2 in favor of the shareholders of EADS. In case the term was favorable to BAE it would shape the likelihood of the merger’s success. The US state would also call for disposal of asset upon the merger strategy which was set for security review. There are no current plans to divest any of the company’s operations in the United States as a section of merger with EADS according to the spokesman of BAE (Spulber, 2007; p. 3). EADS and BAE had a deal to have cost savings without necessarily giving details in regard to the scale and the manner in which they might be generated. Amongst the potential opportunities was the potential to accumulate more sales as the network by BAE in the export markets was immense such as ties with India, Australia and Saudi Arabia which would open doors for the EADS. The benefits from the merger were meant to extend over widening markets and that the firms were to target industrial benefits and operational synergy in all joint business. The likely synergy from the merger comprised of a minimum synergy which could be derived as the value of the pre-merger of both companies + the synergy = pre-merger security value + the number of shares for the post-merger. Taking S = Synergy and taking data on 11th September where the EADS share price was 29.30Euros while the number of outstanding shares as at 31st December 2012 being 8.21 billion shares, it then stipulates that the pre-merger value for EADS was 26 billion Euros. Conversely, taking the share value for BAE on 11th September, 2012 as 4. 75Euros and the number of outstanding shares on 31st December, 2012 as 3.59 billion, it applies that the premerger value for BAE is 17.05 billion Euros found as 3.59X4.75 Euros (Financial times, 2013; p. 1-7). Now; by taking the pre-merger security price = the average price of the stock prior to the merger to be EADS + BAE It concurs that

Monday, July 22, 2019

Finance And Families Essay Example for Free

Finance And Families Essay The population heterogeneity theory forecasts that, stress resistance is closely attached to mortality. Accordingly, persons in a population who pass away prematurely in life will likely be individuals who are less resistant to environmental stresses. Those persons with a high longetivity are those individuals who are very resistant, and these persons as a grouping might have an extremely gradually increasing rate of mortality, yielding an estimated mortality level while the less- resistant clusters pass away. (Viano, E, 1992) Two different perspectives on the causes of marital violence: (Viano, E, 1992, p. 158) i.Feminist perspective: This perspective argues that, violence in the family is created by a patriarchal society in which the power of the male dominates. Historically, marital violence is viewed as been condoned by values as well as norms in the society. Consequently, one of the concrete subjects that the battered woman’s faction is confronted with is defying the tendency of the psychological health profession to renounce a feminist analysis.   ii.Sociological perspective: This perspective argues that, physical violence is not a manifestation of individual pathology. However; it is an essential feature of human association. Physical violence is viewed as almost normal and widespread, in other words, statistically common and ethnically accepted, feature of family life. Therefore, environmental interferences and social system are thought suitable. What is â€Å"double jeopardy† risk regarding women being victims of marital violence? â€Å"Double jeopardy† refers to individuals who are more at danger than the general populace since they are fatalities of other types of oppression: The following groups of females are at risk: (Viano, E, 1992) Ø   Disabled women and girls:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Disabled girls are four times more probable (than the nationwide standard) to be sexually maltreated.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Approximately 53% of women who have been disabled since birth have been maltreated, raped or physically attacked.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Approximately 83% of disabled women will be sexually or physically attacked. Ø   Aboriginals /First states:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An approximated 57% of indigenous females have been sexually maltreated.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The rate of sexual abuse in children in a number of aboriginal societies is as elevated as 75 to 80 % for young women below the age of 8 years. Ø   Fresh Canadians:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dread of the police as well as fear of being exiled frequently keep expatriates and migrant females from reporting family mistreatment. (a)What is child abuse? Child abuse is the emotional/mental or physical ill-treatment of children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes child mistreatment as every act or sequence of taking action or omission or commission by a care giver, parent or other close relative that results in injury, potential injury, or treat of injury to a child. The majority of child abuse takes place in a child’s residence, with a lesser amount taking place in the schools, associations or groups of people the child intermingles with. There are four main types of child abuse: sexual abuse, emotional/mental abuse as well as physical abuse. (Franchi, C, 1987, p. 1) (b)The prevalence of child abuse in the United States: According to the 1997 American National Committee to prevent child abuse, neglect represented approximately 54% of established incidences of child abuse, corporal abuse 22%, sexual exploitation 8%, and additional forms of mistreatment 12%. A report on the well-being of the child by UNICEF affirmed that, the United States ranked lowest amongst developed countries with reverence to the welfare of children. This investigation also established that child abuse and child neglect are far more widespread in families with a single parent than in family units with both parents. (Franchi, C, 1987, p. 1) A study recently carried out by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention established that, approximately 1 in 50 babies in the United States are fatalities of nonfatal maltreatment or neglect. In the U.S, neglect is described as the failure to meet up the fundamental wants of the children comprising food, clothes, shelter as well as access to health care. Researchers established more than 91 000 incidences of neglect within a span of one year (beginning October 2005-September, 2006) with their information emanating from a list of cases authenticated by protective services organizations. (Franchi, C, 1987, p. 1) 5. The concepts and principles f Social Learning Theory:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The social learning theory is the theory that people are taught novel behavior through punishment or explicit reinforcement, or through observational studying of their environment’s social actors. If individuals observe optimistic, desired results in the observed conduct, they are more probable to emulate, adopt or model the conduct themselves. (Akers, R, 2009) Social learning theory is obtained from Gabriel Tarde (1843-1904)’s work which suggested that social learning takes place through four major stages of limitation: (Akers, R, 2009) à ¼Ã‚   Comprehending of concepts à ¼Ã‚   Imitation of seniors. à ¼Ã‚   Close contact. à ¼Ã‚   Role model conduct. REFERENCE LIST Akers, R. (2009) Social Learning and Social Structure: A General Theory of Crime and Deviance. Transaction Publishers.ISBN:1412809991, 9781412809993. Franchi, C. (1987) Child abuse and its consequences: observational approaches. CUP Archive. ISBN: 0521316146, 9780521316149. Viano, E. (1992) Intimate violence: interdisciplinary perspectives. Taylor Francis. ISBN: 560322446, 9781560322443.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Development of an IMC Plan

Development of an IMC Plan Executive summary:- This term paper mainly focus that how an IMC plan is generated in order to make the product familiar with the customer and also how to introduce the product in the market. IMC [integrated marketing communication]is a vast concept under which their comes many sub concept on whose basis the whole IMC plan stands. The various sub topics which I have consider for making IMC PLAN for washing machine are situational analysis, determine a problem or opportunity , determine the budget and develop IMC strategies . Objectives:- the objective of this term paper is as follows :- To understand the concept of IMC. To analyze to how important an IMC is for making a brand. To understand that how various message can be send to various audience. To understand how various promotional activities can come out from IMC. IMC is about integrating the customer into the company: Its not about putting widgets or services in the marketplace based on what you think customers need. Instead, it is becoming a responsive organization driven by consumer insights that knows its customers wishes, wants, needs and desires and then creating products and services to fill those needs. IMC argues you need to get to know the customer better than your competitors, and maybe even better than they know themselves. A true IMC company is closer to the customer, and would never be nervous or ashamed to have one sit in on a strategic marketing meeting—a true IMC company has the best interests of its customers in mind. INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION Integrated Marketing Communications is a simple concept. It ensures that all forms of communications and messages are carefully linked together. At its most basic level, Integrated Marketing Communications, or IMC, as well call it, means integrating all the promotional tools, so that they work together in harmony. Promotion is one of the Ps in the marketing mix. Promotions has its own mix of communications tools. All of these communications tools work better if they work together in harmony rather than in isolation. Their sum is greater than their parts providing they speak consistently with one voice all the time, every time. As a marketing strategy, Integrated Marketing is closely related to and inter-dependent with Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). Indeed, many observers use the term integrated marketing when they probably mean integrated marketing communications. Whereas IMC aims to ensure consistency of message and the complementary use of media, integrated marketing is concerned with the alignment and focus of the whole organisation. Schultz and Kitchen (2000) identified four stages of IMC concluding with an integrated value-based model. According to this interpretation, as the organisation becomes more committed to achieving consistency and differentiation across all customer contact points the business management challenge moves from marketing and marketing communication to the whole organisation, requiring a cultural and systemic infrastructure for integration. This in turn calls on new practices and higher-order levels of organisation management. For example, at this point IMC and CRM are effectively merged. As I am doing the IMC plan for tooth brush it is very essential for me to view the situational analysis: My products will mainly target the kids in which I think is a very large scope for the tooth brush industry and I want to grab that opportunity. Name of the tooth brush:- SHEILD TOOTH BRUSH Brand vision: To be the catalyst of change for younger generation and to create a brand inspiring innovation and to see SHEILD in the hands of 70% of our target market after 5 years. BIG IDEA: â€Å"Brighten Up The Tooth Brushing Experience† Campaign Idea 1 : Its not a Compulsion. Its an Adventure!! Campaign Idea 2 : Watch Your Mouth. Campaign Idea 3 : Good Brushing Now Means More Teeth later. Campaign Idea 4: Rediscovering Fun! Communication Channel Strategy: Buzz or street marketing Awake TV, Print Interactive website Prompt Point-of-sale activities, Sales promotion. My focus : SHEILD, which is an unattractive toothbrush, we propose a plan to revitalize the brushing experience for kids. Target market : Aimed at children from age 5 to 10 Colgate, Oral B are the two major players advertising their messages. SHIELD is one of the local companies of Jammu and Kashmir, which is manufacturing distributing toothbrushes for kids. They are not at all considering the kids market segment as distinct and have not come up with a separate communication campaign for kids yet AIM : To generate trial, achieve 40% purchase rate and become most preferred local brand in kids segment. OBJEVTIVE: To build an image of SHEILD as adventurous and exciting, create awareness about our presence and inform about the features and benefits of SHEILD. Single idea : â€Å" Tooth brushing is not a compulsion, its an adventure†. Proposed Essence : changing the way you brush. Forever! SHEILDS SITUATION ANALYSIS Product Attribute: A toothbrush with a small head and soft bristles having rubber feet at the bottom enabling it to stand. Pricing: Rs.40 Distribution : Distributed in Jammu and Kashmir wholesalers and retailers. Promotion: We will offer trade incentives/ promotions in the form of gifts and discounts but on occasional basis. CURRENT TARGET MARKET FOR MY PRODUCT: Target market approach: Kids 5-10 years Product positioning: The product gives a better SMILE Attitudes: Mostly people are not aware of the fact that SHIELDS toothbrush range also has toothbrushes for children and those who do know dont find it appealing enough as compared to imported brands. CUSTOMERS: Due to increased level of awareness, parents care more about their childrens teeth. Previously consumer didnt have much knowledge about toothbrush functions and benefits. Consumers used to purchase toothbrushes without much information about the product. They dont have good quality perception of local products. MARKET SEGMENTATION : GEOGRAPHIC: All the cities which include both Jammu and Kashmir. DEMOGRAPHICS: Gender: Both male and female. SEC: Both low class and middle class people. Family Size: Families even with one child are enough for our target but if the family size is big, its even better because more family members means more children if not currently then may be in future. Family life cycle: The main focus is on full nest which means families having children at home. Education: Children studying in High schools to Primary school. PSYCHOGRAPHICS: Personality: Marketers endow their products with a â€Å"brand personality† that corresponds to a target consumer personality. If we look at the range of toothbrushes by SHIELD, well see that none of them has a distinct personality that could make it prominent amongst the other brands available in the market. SOWT ANALYSIS OF THE BRAND: Strength: SHIELD is a known company(Hypothesis), mostly people are aware of SHIELD toothbrush due to its distribution network by the virtue of which it is known to very body. Leader in oral and baby care segment because we have made our main thrust on the baby segment which is going for us in the long run. Diversification Strong distribution network Wide range of toothbrushes, each targeting different age groups. Price Range (ranging from Rs( 10)to Rs( 55) affordable as well as expensive. Weakness: Weak Positioning and Image. Low budgets. Lower quality as compared to MNC competitors. People mostly prefer Oral B and Colgate over Shield. Opportunities: Consumers are preferring functionally effective premium products with professional quality to meet their personal care needs. People are now more conscious about their image and appearance and prefer to use branded products. Increase in awareness of dental hygiene and its importance. Increase in population Exploring new categories like kids market Migration of people from rural to urban areas and Rural population switching from miswak, Desi toothpowder to toothpaste. Automated supply chain which we have decided to have for our shield product. Lifestyle of people is changing and they are becoming more. Awareness and Education of the people due to the increasing education standards. Hygiene conscious. Variety seekers. Threats: Local companies producing low priced products. Threat from Chinese products that are cheaper and more attractive. Threat from substitutes. Low brand loyalty and weak image. Increase in raw material price. Inflation in the country Competitors re-launching their products Competitors increasing their marketing budgets Unstable economic conditions SHIELDS CURRENT APPROACH Shields Objective: To become No.1 category toothbrush and we plan to pursue it by increasing awareness level among the customers. Their core communication message is based solely on smile, its our positioning strategy. Big idea is based on the fact that people should replace their toothbrush after every 3 months, otherwise it loses its effectively. We will follow continuous advertising pattern, the advertising mediums used are TV, radio, and print ads. Strength: product range, portfolio Tagline : â€Å"haso zara aur khil khila k† We will also use several sales promotion tactics in order to enhance the sales and ultimately the profit of our firm. Competitors: Our local competitor is EZI GRIP (Hypothetical) and we have made certain marketing strategies in order to tackle with these local brands. Chinese products are making the competition more and more tough for the other brands to survive the market. Colgate ,Oral-b are the two main competitors of my brand. ANALYSIS OF KIDS TOOTHRBRUSH MARKET TOOTHBRUSHES DEMOGRAPHICS PURCHASING POWER Sheild: Our main objective is to target the kids market. Our product is designed in a very sophisticated manner in order to save the grasp the kids market in which we think is the huge opportunity for the brush makers. Shield aimed at children from age 5 to 10 containing a very small head with soft bristles, particularly for children whose set of milk or baby teeth are still breaking. Is a high priced product. Our customers have a high purchasing power and are ready to spend money on purchasing an expensive toothbrush. Shield Junior is made for children from age 4 to 10 containing a very small head with soft bristles. The toothbrush has candy shaped figures at its end with two different colors. Low priced as compared to other competitors to maintain a certain difference between both the brushes and their target markets. Little Star shield made for children from age 5 to 10 containing a very small head with comparatively hard bristles. Little Star does not contain costly raw materials and does not have an extraordinary design therefore, it is also low priced. Chota Shield cater to the children from age 6 to 11 and the design of the toothbrush is very plain aimed at parents who dont want to spend muc h on toothbrushes. Regular toothbrush for children with an ordinary design and specially targeted to people with a low purchasing power. Little Star Shield is same as Chota Shield same as our new product FLEX JUNIOR aimed at children from age 10 to 12 as its head is a little big as compared to other toothbrushes and is made for those children whose baby teeth have been replaced by adult (permanent) teeth. Low priced according to the pricing of competitors because flexible toothbrushes are provided by all competitors. ISSUES FACED BY THE BRAND (SHIELD) Main purpose of the toothbrush is not being fulfilled (does not stand and falls down) Over Priced Low Quality Major focus is on the range and not on promoting children's toothbrushes separately Unattractive Colors Low Budget Major competition from low priced products (Chinese) in the market BRAND VISION: To be the catalyst of change for younger generation and to create a brand inspiring innovation. To see Giggles in the hands of 70% of our target market after 5 years. OBJECTIVE: To spread awareness about the importance of oral health and improve the quality of teeth of Indias Children so that they are able to live a better, happy and healthy life. ROOT STRENGTHS: Wide range of toothbrushes Local Brand The ‘Care is the core message, which has made Shield a recognized household name in Jammu and Kashmir. BENEFITS: SHIELD toothbrush is for children with a complex mixture of different sized permanent and baby teeth. It features a combination of bristles for cleaning sensitive gaps and to effectively reach and clean teeth. The handle is cartoon shaped sized to fit optimally into a childs hand for maximum comfort and control. POSITIONING: DISCRIMINATIOR: Only Shield is the first one in the local market of INDIA to emphasize only on KIDS Tooth Brushes. ESSENCE: Changing the way you brush. Forever! STRATEGY: Niche strategy By targeting the segment of consumers aged between 5-10 and charge a premium price. To be able to differentiate from other tooth brushes in the KIDS segment. AGENCY BRIEF 1. What are the JOBS TO BE DONE and resulting Marketing Objective? To get kids and their parents to understand the importance of having healthy teeth, brushing at young age and to create an association between fun, excitement and tooth brushing. MARKETING MEASURABLE OBJECTIVES: To generate trial amongst non-users by 30 % till January 2012. To achieve a 40% purchase rate amongst the target market by the end of 2010. To be the most preferred local brand in the kids market segment by the end of 2012. MARKETING COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES: To build an image of SHIELD as adventurous and exciting among 25% of our target market. Create awareness about our presence in the kids market segment. To inform 40% of the target audience about the features and benefits of SHIELD by the end of 2010. 2. What insight drives this brief? Oral health has a major impact on children physically and psychologically. It can have an impact on growth, enjoying life, appearance, how children speak, chew, taste food and socialize, as well as their feelings of social well-being . Dental health problems affect children, which impact their performance as students, lower self-esteem, and slow down their personal development. Failure to prevent dental diseases has a large effect on school attendance. Kids take tooth brushing as a compulsion and are always forced to do it by their guardians. Children find their toothbrushes boring and prefer their favorite cartoon characters on their tooth brushes. KIDS like bright, colorful and funky toothbrushes. Today kids have more autonomy and decision-making power within the family than in previous generations, so it follows that kids are vocal about what they want their parents to buy. " Pester power quot; refers to children apos;s ability to nag their parents into purchasing items they may not otherwise buy. Increasing participation of women in the workforce has prompted a shift in this role as children are increasingly the quot;buyersâ€Å" for the entire family. Even in families where women do not work, children are observed to share this role with their mothers. Children enjoy greater discretion not only in making routine consumption decisions for the family but also in pestering their parents to buy other products desired by them. CONSUMER INSIGHTS FROM OUR STUDY: There are lot of reasons why we choose that we will go for kids toothbrushes are: KIDS like bright, colourful and funky toothbrushes. Kids take tooth brushing as a compulsion and are always forced to do it by their guardians. Children find their toothbrushes boring and prefer their favorite cartoon characters on their tooth brushes. Favourite cartoons are Tom Jerry and Barbie. Majority of the mothers prefer Oral-B and Colgate. Majority of the mothers prefer imported brands of toothbrush over SHIELD, some of them do not know that SHIELD also has tooth brushes for Kids. Quality is the most important factor in purchasing a toothbrush. Dentists recommendation influence a lot when it comes to purchasing tooth brushes for kids. Parents are ready to buy a good quality tooth brush at any price. Kids spend less than 3 minutes while brushing their teeth Candies are consumed a lot by the kids. Majority of the kids eat sweets 1-2 times a day. Kids tooth brushes are replaced within 3-4 months. 3. Who is our Target Audience? PRIMARY TARGET AUDIENCE: AGE: KIDS aged between 5-10 years SEC: We will target both the sections of the society that is both financially strong as well as strong sections of the society. ATTITUDES: Have social interaction with peers of the same age group. They are not concerned about brushing their teeth and are quite careless. They love to eat lots of sweets and chocolates. LIFESTYLE: Kids that go to school, and are in the process of continuous learning. INFLUENCERS: Encouragement from parents, caregivers, teachers, adults, brothers, sisters and children themselves has a great influence on oral health. If everyone starts to encourage kids to take care of their teeth and also encourage big white smiles, children of all ages will benefit. SECONDARY TARGET AUDIENCE: Parents of the KIDS 4. What do they think do now? KIDS have comparatively less knowledge on how to keep their teeth neat and clean. Some of the children take tooth brushing as a very boring exercise and also create problems for their parents. Kids get attracted towards cartoon oriented tooth brushes. The bristles of toothbrushes do not clean the plaque properly. 5. What would we like them to think and do in response to the Communication? We would like them to think of tooth brushing as a fun experience, an experience full of adventure. In response to this, we want them to start tooth brushing twice a day for 3 minutes. We want KIDS to be the chooser of GIGGLES. We want parents to realize the importance of kids brushing their teeth at an early age. 6. What is the single most important point to communicate? â€Å"Tooth brushing is not a compulsion, its an adventure†. 7. Why should they believe it? Because SHIELD is the first one to communicate about only of KIDS toothbrush in India. SHIELD will be the first one to introduce colorful cartoon oriented toothbrushes for kids in Jammu and Kashmir. CREATIVE PLAN Our launch of SHIELD tooth brush with the cartoon character design will make the brushes appealing, colorful and more exciting for the kids. Kids will happily enjoy the brushing experience and will be encouraged to do it themselves without being forced by their parents. The soft and effective bristles of the new SHIELD Tooth brush will help children brush their teeth smoothly and they would not complain about the bristles being too hard or their teeth hurting. To communicate that SHIELD adventure of brushing will wave off the boring image of tooth brushing from the minds of the kids. To communicate that Kid should brush their teeth for 3 minutes and it is an effective way to keep their teeth healthy and clean. To communicate those Kids should take care of their teeth by keeping an eye on the intake of their food and cut down on candies, chocolates etc. To communicate that SHIELDS range of toothbrushes include tooth brushes for kids as well. CAMPAIGN IDEA 1 MESSAGE: Widen your imagination and make tooth brushing an activity full of excitement, fun and adventure that takes the kids into a fantasy world full of Disney characters dancing, playing and enjoying. TAGLINE: Its not a compulsion, its an Adventure†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.!!! APPEAL: Music appeal (Rhyme) JINGLE : Brush your teeth, Give your teeth a treat. Brush up and down and all around, To keep them clean and neat! We have decided to make certain ads so as to make a positive mind set in the minds of to costumers; the ad would be like this.. TV ad A girl is sleeping at night and sees a nightmare that one of her tooth is broken and she gets hurt by using her old hard tooth brush†¦suddenly she sees that a new tooth brush (SHIELD comes in) and kicks the old tooth brush that caused the little girl pain, and tells her that SHIELD is her new gentle best friend and wont hurt her while brushing â€Å"Creating a cartoon world, where all the cartoon characters are brushing their teeth and enjoying with SHIELD†. MESSAGE: WATCH YOUR MOUTH The toughest part of the body is not your bones but your teeth. Each tooth is covered with a substance called enamel which is so strong that it can cut or crush the toughest kinds of food. There is a price to pay for this toughness: unlike bones, teeth cannot repair themselves and it pays to take care of them. Keep track of what you are eating. PRINT Ad MESSAGE: When feeding is done at naptime: The child falls asleep and the liquid becomes pooled around the teeth. This liquid provides excellent medium for the bacteria to grow and cause CARIES which is defined as Tooth Decay causing cavity through bacteria. COMMUNICATION STRATEGY MEDIA SELECTION RATIONALE COMMUNICATION STRATEGY Trigger the target to talk about the Brand, create maximum exposure and create buzz around the new innovation. Awake the target, build high awareness, change consumers Perception. Captivate the target to make a purchase, engage, interact with the consumers and strengthen associations. Prompt/induce the target and get the product in consumers hands. Buzz or street marketing TV, Print activities, Brand Activation, Interactive website Point-of-sale activities, Sales promotion TRIGGER To create BUZZ and to generate talkability, we will place an Out-of-home hoarding at SRINAGAR. The hoarding would consist of a giant sized toothbrush with the cartoon character Jerry and the brand name GIGGLES on it. Another way to gain maximum exposure and create buzz around the new innovation will be to use a MOBILE BUS, decorating it with bright bulb lights, and a picture of Giggles toothbrush along with some of the favorite cartoon icons of children. The mobile bus will roam near parks in the evening. PRINT: In Print we will go for Hindustan Times, Times of India and Greater Kashmir(local news paper of Kashmir) ,with articles highlighting important facts and information such as Good oral health is important to your overall well-being. Healthy teeth not only enable you to look feel good, they make it possible to eat speak properly. Steps that should be taken to prevent dental problems and how to keep your smile healthy and bright. What you eat†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦affects your teeth. Proper tooth brushing techniques. We also decided to carry on some other activities like In welcoming the school holiday and the start of new school activities, we will launch a colorful package of Shield toothbrush along with a small tube of toothpaste for milk teeth with famous characters of TOM JERRY, BARBIE etc. CELEBRATING NATIONAL SMILE MONTH OR ORAL HEALTH WEEK: Following are the activities: Dental Expert Talk Oral health educators and dental professionals who want to help the community and for schools, colleges or workplaces who want to educate their pupil or staff. Both children and adults can learn something from an expert talk and different subjects can arise ranging from the importance of fluoride in toothpaste to the systemic links between the health of the mouth and body. Class Visit to the Dentist seeing the dental practice up close and meeting friendly staff can help encourage regular dental visits. Local newspapers will be happy to take a photograph of the event that can benefit both school and dentists. Creating characters and playing a small skit in schools. Characters such as Mickey mouse the tooth brush, exhibiting decayed tooth and a neat and clean tooth that uses SHIELD TOOTHBRUSH. Apartment activities- dental hygiene. FUN BASED ACTIVITIES IN PROMOTING OUR PRODUCT Organizing Special Fun days , an ideal way to grab the attention and interest of children as well as general public and can work well in schools, dental practices, retail outlets, colleges and the community. A fun day can be a great way to create a buzz in your local area as well as to engage your target audience. People are far more likely to learn when they are having fun, – so make sure you also hand out information. Writing stories on THE TOOTH FAIRY would be held in various schools, and distributing prizes to winners. Distribute ice creams among children, and the ice cream stick should be shaped like a toothbrush having the brand name SHIELD on it. Tooth brush drawing competition among children in different schools. Take a close-up of each students mouth (smile). Have each student cut out their mouth from the picture and glue it onto a cutout of a tooth. Have them write a sentence under their smile and on the tooth that describes something they do to keep their teeth healthy. (I brush my teeth after every meal. I drink milk. I use SHIELD. I eat a healthy diet) After these are completed staple them to a Bulletin Board entitled; LOOK WHO IS SMILING!!! PROMPT: Consumers Perceive the Brand through these 5 senses†¦ Sight, Touch, Sound, Smell and Taste. Marketers can use Sight and Sound for GIGGLES. Logos Contrast Style Size Cartoon characters Slogan Music Bright and happy color combinations can be used to give a certain brand recognition in the minds of the customer. Instead of holding a toothbrush, make the whole thing a Cartoon character to make SHIELD recognizable in the market. A unique rhyme in the ad (mentioned above) with a different tune which whenever. These senses will always help in breaking through the clutter and make SHIELD prominent amongst the different competitor products. This SENSORY BRANDING will stimulate the person to buy the product. POINT- OF -SALE (HIGH PRODUCT VISIBILITY): Audio Visual Display: A display in which audiovisual technology is used to stimulate purchases Big visual display of SHIELD TOOTHBRUSH Special racks, banners, signs Distribution of pamphlets, posters, puzzles, and stories to dentists Retail boards SALES PROMOTION: Placement of drawings of SHIELD TOOTHBRUSH in newspapers ( kids section), requesting them to color the drawing and send it to the company to get a FREE SHIELD tooth brush. ( for trial generation) Free SHIELD tooth brush with SHIELD TOOTHPASTE. Sampling: Organize samplings to pharmacies and dentists to generate trial. Coupons for discounted dental check up for 6 months on purchasing SHIELD TOOTH BRUSH. Coupons for getting free bags, lunch boxes, water bottles for schools (Specialty advertising) EVALUTION OF IMC PLAN IN LEGAL REGULATRY BUSINESS: The advertisement that we are giving in the media is legal which means that it has been approved by the law. All the documents that are required are legally approved. There are no fault chances in the documents. In future there will be no problem to the customer regarding any documented work or any servicing criteria, no problem will arise. This is a step taken for the customer satisfaction, for attracting more customers and this also help in sales area. The advertisement of my product is according to the standards of ASCI (Advertising standards if council of India) the advertisement of my product is within the legal boundaries of Indian Penal Code1860 The young Person act 1956 Indian copyright Act 1957 Trade mark act 1999 Advertisement of my product is truthful and honest. All objective information, claims and comparisons should be capable of substantiation. I the advertisement there is no reference to a person, firm and institution. We have not misled consumers by implication, omission, and ambiguity. We are not abusing the trust of consumers or exploit their lack of experience or knowledge. DEVELOPED AN IMC PLAN FOR SOCIAL AND ETHICAL VALUE: There is no objection against any advertisement of our product. There is no problem against our product. Our product is socially accepted which means our product is a social product that will be accepted by the society very easily for sure. There is no negative impact on the customer or people living in the society of our product as it is legal product. Customers are easily attracted towards the product The advertisement of my Tooth brush is according to the codes of ASCI as it is not derides any race, caste, color, creed or nationality. I am sensitive towards ethnic and cultural issues. BIBLOGRAPHY: http://www.multimediamarketing.com/mkc/marketingcommunications/ http://responsiblemarketing.com/blog/tag/imc http://www.slideshare.net/nyssar/shield-imc http://www.scribd.com/doc/13395424/lovely-ads-real-Funny http://www.scribd.com http://www.slideshare.com Books: Advertising Promotions(kruti shah,alan dsouza)

Impact of the Discovery of the Vaccination

Impact of the Discovery of the Vaccination An important Discovery in Microbiology Edward Jenner   Discovery of the vaccination Thesis: The discovery of the vaccine was extremely important to the lives of both humans and animals. There are many discoveries that are extremely important to the advancement of microbiology currently today. Micro-organisms cannot be seen with the naked eye their discovery was linked to the production of the microscope. The first person to see micro -organisms was a microscope maker Antoni van Leeuwenhoek in 1964. (Madigan et al 2003) Centuries after that discovery, a man called Edward Jenner discovered vaccination. He achieved this by eliminating small pox back in the eighteen century. In the eighteenth century, this disease was a fatal disease that accounted for 10% of deaths. That with the most part of the disease effecting young children and the killed 20-50% of those that was effected. And those that survived was led to blindness with the small poxs. (Smith 2011) I believe this is the most important discovery in microbiology to date, and this is what I am going to be writing about in my essay. Edward Jenner was a scientist who invented the small pox vaccination back in 1798. He discovered that by using a material from cow pox this would prevent many people from getting infected with small pox. This man started the science of immunology (Smith 2011). Pox viruses are the most complex and largest viruses and are not able to metabolize on their own. By the achievement of Edward Jenner, the application of this vaccine, has eradicated in the wild and is the first disease to be eliminate in this way. (Madigan et al 2003) Edward Jenner grew up in the countryside and this is where he achieved his early studies of smallpox and first inoculation. This is where he immunized the power of the cow pox. He collected any information form the milk maids about the disease, and then observed the milk maids for 10 years and then brought about his own experiment by inoculating a young boy. This young boy never had small pox and Jenner inoculated him with cow pox. The infected young man became ill, but after a few days made a full recovery with no side effects (Mc Nally 2001). This young boy became resistant to this disease because he was exposed to the disease, this is called passive immunity. Passive immunity occurred here because the young boy was exposed to the antigen which was the small pox. Edward Jenner achieved this when he injected the young boy with the material of the antigen. The young boy that Jenner injected acquired the infection and became immune to the disease. When the disease was introduced into the body the immune cells produced a large quantity of the antigen specific immune effector molecules that caused the immunity. The herd effect had an major impact on the termination of the small pox disease, the uptake of large amount of vaccines into different amounts of people caused the vaccine to become eradicated. Edward Jenner is said to be the father of immunity, and he achieved this by preventing deaths during the seventeen century. He was a pioneer to many other scientists and demonstrated that his inoculations saved many humans lives. Many years after this a second vaccine was discovered by a scientist called Louis Pasteur wanted to portray the same idea as Edward Jenner only Louis Pasteur did not want to save the lives of humans but the lives of animals. Louis Pasteur developed a vaccine against chicken cholera a disease that was terminating chickens caused by the bacteria Pasteurella multocida. This concept of using an attenuated organism for a vaccine happened by accident in the lab of Pasteur and his fellow scientists. When he inoculated the chickens with the bacteria they became ill and when he injected them accordingly days after this they didnt become ill. (WU X et al 2011). This showed that there was 75% of the infected diseases were zoonotic and this showed there was a vaccine ag ainst rabies a disease which was infecting both humans and animals. Initially Pasteur injected a series of increasingly viral solutions, that contained infected spinal cord from rabbit in suspect animal, mainly dogs that he used for his purpose. (Baer et al 2007). During Pasteur s experiment he increased the volume of rabies which meant that there was an increase in the death of his patients. Improvements of this experiment in 1911 by another scientist called Sir David Semple. He produced a vaccine that was produced by sheep brain tissue that was activated a substance that could inactivate all the virus in the vaccine. In 1955 an American scientist introduced another improvement in the vaccine. He took brain tissue from suckling mice. He completed this as he wanted to eliminate the neurological sides effects of the disease that was concerned with the myelin in the brain tissue of adult mice. (Schneider t al 1994). The amount of myelin was greatly reduced but there still was side eff ects that was occurring. This was the way in which the discovery of the vaccines became as essential need for the protection of both humans and animals. In the past centuries, we have seen a vast amount of vaccines that have been produced. Ranging from chicken poxes to hepatitis. In addition, there are vaccines being developed today which have a dramatic effect in developing countries such as malaria and meningococcal vaccines. (Wilby et al 2012) (Kristiansen et al 2013). In these developing countries there as a higher rate of disease which causes the population to experience a greater loss of human lives. These vaccines have been proven successful because of the changes in technology which has saved millions of lives. Vaccinations are the most important achievement in the 20th century according to the The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (Scudder 2013). The benefits of successful vaccinations are very clear, not only direct protection but also has indirect effects on the unvaccinated individuals in the case of animals in groups or herds. (Doherty et al 2016) Proven to be protection in the herd. The herd immunity is a way in which the vaccine benefits beyond the animal being injected. The indirect protection of the unvaccinated person is when the injected suspect immunity prevents the circulation of the infectious disease into the populations. (Kim et al 2011) The death rate of not just humans but animals would have been dramatically increased and this would have a huge effect on the environment that we live in today. This is an important discovery in microbiology because this cured many diseases that not only affected human health but affected animal health. There are multiple vaccines now produced today that prevent many diseases such as Chickenpox (Varicella),Diphtheria, Flu (Influenza), Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Hib, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and Measles in humans and DHPP (vaccines for distemper, adenovirus [hepatitis], parainfluenza, and parvovirus), rabies, Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), Tetanus, Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis, leptospirosis, BVD, Rhinotracheitis and Calicivirus in animals. These examples are only some of many vaccines discovered, to prevent death. This discovery according to me is defiantly a vial discovery to life today. The work of both Edward Jenner and Louis Pasteur is greatly known to be very valuable work to the health of humans and to help maintain the pathogenic bacteria. References:   Baer G.M,2007, The history of rabies A.C. Jackson, W.H. Wunner (Eds.),Rabies, Elsevier, Inc., Oxford pp. 1-22. Doherty M., Buchy P. , Standaert B., Giaquinto C. , Prado-Cohrs D. 2016, Vaccine impact: benefits for human health Vaccine, 34 pp. 6707-6714 Kim T.H., Johnstone J., Loeb M., 2011, Vaccine herd effect Scand J Infect Dis, 43 ,pp. 683-689 Kristiansen P.A., Diomandà © F., Ba A.K., Sanou I., Ouà ©draogo A.S., Ouà ©draogo R., Sangarà © L., Kandolo D., Akà © F., Saga I.M., Clark T.A, 2013, Impact of the serogroup A meningococcal conjugate vaccine, MenAfriVac, on carriage and herd immunity Clin. Infect. Dis. 56(3) pp 354-363. Madigan T. Micheal , Martinko M. John, Parker Jack, 2003, Pearson education Inc, International edition ,10th edition Brock Biology Of Microorganisms pp 540 -7779 Mc Nally Joseph,2001, The life of Dr Edward Jenner Seminars in Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Vol 12, No 1: pp 81-84 Schneider M.C. , Santos-Burgoa C.,1994, Treatment of human rabies: a summary of its history Rev Saude Publica, 28 , pp. 454-463 Scudder L, 2013, The importance of vaccinations The Journal Of Nurse Practitioners,9, pp A7-A8 Smith Kendall, 2011, Edward Jenner and the small pox vaccine Front. Immunol pp 1-4 Wilby K.J., Lau T.T., Gilchrist S.E., Ensom M.H. Mosquirix (RTS, S), 2012, a novel vaccine for the prevention of Plasmodium falciparum malaria 46(3) pp 384-393. Wu X , T.G. Smith, C.E. Rupprecht,2011, From brain passage to cell adaptation: The road of human rabies vaccine development Expert Rev Vaccines,vol 10 pp. 1597-1608

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Mr. Deeds Review :: essays research papers

â€Å"Sandler’s Mr. Deeds: Mis-Deeds†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With a prestigious resume’ of successful blockbuster comedies, Adam Sandler certainly fails with Mr. Deeds, his most recent attempt to duplicate his past successes. The quick-wit, unexpected, laugh-out-loud jokes are a forte’ of Sandler’s which go back to his days of being a young comedian on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Sandler’s comedy is the only thing that will keep you in your seat for an hour and a half. Fortunately for this movie, Sandler's large adolescent audience awaited the premier on June 28th. It’s hard to find the direction of this film. However, it does include criteria consisting of, or the lack-there-of, an unoriginal theme for Sandler, an unforeseen love between characters, an unrealistic storyline, the minuscule co-star involvement, and flat lackadaisical humor, is the proof behind this movie’s pudding; it defines the word lousy. However, Sandler’s newest flick will most likely enjoy box-off ice success from the strong fan base that follow every movie he makes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The screenwriter Tim Herlihy and the director Steven Brill appear to use the same old, similar storyline from past Sandler films: Billy Madison (1995), Happy Gilmore (1996), The Wedding Singer (1998), The Waterboy (1998), and Big Daddy (1999). Sandler plays a similar role of a guy that has a big heart with good intentions but is sometimes misunderstood until the â€Å"true person† comes out for the doubters to see. A key thing to remember here is that all of the previously mentioned films were successful and in their own way, very original. Mr. Deeds fails to be included on this list. Sandler plays the role of Longfellow Deeds, a small-town native of Mandrake Falls, New Hampshire. He is a pizza delivery boy/greeting card writer that inherits $40 billion dollars from an uncle he never knew. Deeds is a character that exemplifies a so-called â€Å"regular† American. He loves his friends; he loves to make others laugh and enjoys life in general. When his uncle suddenly dies, without a will, Deeds is overwhelmed by conniving executives Chuck Cedar (Peter Gallagher) and his tobacco-smoking partner Cecil (Erick Avari). The New York City high rollers arrive in Mandrake Falls to inform Deeds of his new income and then take him down to N.Y.C. via private helicopter, to sign over his shares to his dead uncle's vast corporation. Cedar eagerly wishes to take over the corporation and sell all of its shares for an enormous amount of money. Mr. Deeds Review :: essays research papers â€Å"Sandler’s Mr. Deeds: Mis-Deeds†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With a prestigious resume’ of successful blockbuster comedies, Adam Sandler certainly fails with Mr. Deeds, his most recent attempt to duplicate his past successes. The quick-wit, unexpected, laugh-out-loud jokes are a forte’ of Sandler’s which go back to his days of being a young comedian on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Sandler’s comedy is the only thing that will keep you in your seat for an hour and a half. Fortunately for this movie, Sandler's large adolescent audience awaited the premier on June 28th. It’s hard to find the direction of this film. However, it does include criteria consisting of, or the lack-there-of, an unoriginal theme for Sandler, an unforeseen love between characters, an unrealistic storyline, the minuscule co-star involvement, and flat lackadaisical humor, is the proof behind this movie’s pudding; it defines the word lousy. However, Sandler’s newest flick will most likely enjoy box-off ice success from the strong fan base that follow every movie he makes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The screenwriter Tim Herlihy and the director Steven Brill appear to use the same old, similar storyline from past Sandler films: Billy Madison (1995), Happy Gilmore (1996), The Wedding Singer (1998), The Waterboy (1998), and Big Daddy (1999). Sandler plays a similar role of a guy that has a big heart with good intentions but is sometimes misunderstood until the â€Å"true person† comes out for the doubters to see. A key thing to remember here is that all of the previously mentioned films were successful and in their own way, very original. Mr. Deeds fails to be included on this list. Sandler plays the role of Longfellow Deeds, a small-town native of Mandrake Falls, New Hampshire. He is a pizza delivery boy/greeting card writer that inherits $40 billion dollars from an uncle he never knew. Deeds is a character that exemplifies a so-called â€Å"regular† American. He loves his friends; he loves to make others laugh and enjoys life in general. When his uncle suddenly dies, without a will, Deeds is overwhelmed by conniving executives Chuck Cedar (Peter Gallagher) and his tobacco-smoking partner Cecil (Erick Avari). The New York City high rollers arrive in Mandrake Falls to inform Deeds of his new income and then take him down to N.Y.C. via private helicopter, to sign over his shares to his dead uncle's vast corporation. Cedar eagerly wishes to take over the corporation and sell all of its shares for an enormous amount of money.

Friday, July 19, 2019

resistance in denmark :: essays research papers

The occupation of a country subjects both the people and the invaders to a strange game of mutual suspicion: The occupier acts like a new owner and wants the tenants to behave and pay the rent on time, but those invaded feel violated — they know the country, by right, belongs to them, and while they cannot physically throw the occupiers out, they may well want to resist the invader's terms. Perhaps, if the invader finds the game is not worth the effort, he will leave. Or perhaps he will start killing uncooperative tenants. But the game gives one major advantage to those occupied: They will define the extent to which they are going to cooperate. And the offender, ironically, will have to defend his ill-gotten gains. The Danish resisters took the offensive against German occupying forces. Through symbolic and cultural protests, they asserted their right to govern their own lives, and that strengthened public morale — which inspired bolder resistance. Through strikes, defiance at work sites, and damage to physical property, nonviolent resisters attacked the economic interests of the invaders. Through underground publishing, an alternate network of communication was established, to subvert the lies of the occupiers' propaganda. By involving so many civilians in strikes, demonstrations, and other forms of opposition, Danish resisters forced the Germans to stop violent reprisals and suspend curfews. They denied the Nazis their prime goal, on which other objectives depended: making the fact of occupation normal. By definition, a successful military invasion gives the occupier superiority on the ground and in the air, in the ability to use physical force and violence. Despite that, when a military invader loses control of what the people read and believe, of when and if they work, of how they spend their money — when the occupiers are constantly on the defensive, as they try to maintain their position — their ability to command events is detached from their ability to use violence. War contorts the history of the nations it touches, but it also exhibits the greatness of their peoples. The Danes challenged the most barbaric regime of the modern period and did so not with troops or tanks but with singing, striking, going home to garden, and standing in public squares. Yet the power they brought to bear in resisting the Nazis did not come only from these things. It came first from the essential decision

Newspaper Report on a Town :: Papers

Newspaper Report on a Town I am going to write a newspaper article about my town, it is called Luton. It is thirty miles north of London. And has a population of around 187000 people. Its main features are the airport, which is currently being extended and the Vauxhall factory. The area, which I live in, is called Wigmore. It is on the very edge of the town and backs onto the countryside. There are a number of small villages beyond Wigmore, Tea Green, which has a small golf course, and Cockernhoe, which has a small junior school. They both have very few houses, as well as a church and of course a pub. All of the houses down my road are either four or three bed-roomed houses. They all have front and back gardens as well as a park. This is a good feature as it allows children to play in the comfort of their own road; this is very reassuring for parents. If you go out of my road there is a main road, which if you follow will either take you to Wigmore Valley Park, which is an enormous playing field that sits directly next to the airport. It is used mainly in the summer where you would have families with picnics, fun and games and people walking their dogs. If you go the other way you will be taken to the local supermarket, ASDA. Which is the second busiest attraction in my area, next to the airport. The supermarket consists of everything you could think of from designer clothes, ready cooked food as well as your every day shopping. It also has a music and video store which has a number of top of the chart products as well as a large archive of old music and videos. And all of this at exceptionally low prices. If you go slightly further than ASDA then you will reach Ashcroft area, this is where my School is. My school is an I.T communications college which means that its main interest is I.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Blood Promise Chapter Seven

It was like Christmas morning. I wasn't usually big on God or fate, but now I was seriously reconsidering. After I'd passed out, Sydney had apparently made some frantic calls, and someone she knew in Baia had driven to us-risking the darkness-to rescue us and take us back where I could be treated. That was no doubt why I'd had vague sensations of being in a car during my delirium; it hadn't all been part of the dream. And then, somehow, out of all the dhampirs in Baia, I had been taken to Dimitri's mother. That was enough to make me seriously consider that there might truly be forces greater than me at work in the universe. No one told me exactly how it happened, but I soon learned Olena Belikova had a reputation among her peers for healing-and not even any sort of magical healing. She'd had medical training and was the person other dhampirs-and even some Moroi-went to in this region when they wanted to avoid human attention. Still. The coincidence was eerie, and I couldn't help but think there was something going on that I didn't understand. For now, I didn't worry too much about the hows and whys of my current situation. I was too busy staring wide-eyed at my surroundings and its inhabitants. Olena didn't live alone. All of Dimitri's sisters-three of them-lived in the house too, along with their kids. The family resemblance was startling. None of them looked exactly like Dimitri, but in every face, I could see him. The eyes. The smile. Even the sense of humor. Seeing them fed the Dimitri withdrawal I'd had since he'd disappeared-and made it worse at the same time. Whenever I looked at any of them out of my peripheral vision, I'd think I was seeing Dimitri. It was like a house of mirrors, with distorted reflections of him everywhere. Even the house gave me a thrill. There were no obvious signs that Dimitri had ever lived there, but I kept thinking, this is where he grew up. He walked these floors, touched these walls†¦ As I walked from room to room, I'd touch the walls too, trying to draw his energy from them. I'd envision him lounging on the couch, home on break from school. I wondered if he'd slid down the banisters when he was little. The images were so real that I had to keep reminding myself that he hadn't been here in ages. â€Å"You've made an amazing recovery,† Olena noted the next morning after I'd been brought to her. She watched with approval as I inhaled a plate of blini. They were ultra-thin pancakes stacked and layered with butter and jam. My body always required a lot of food to keep its strength up, and I figured as long as I wasn't chewing with my mouth open or anything, I had no reason to feel bad about eating so much. â€Å"I thought you were dead when Abe and Sydney brought you in.† â€Å"Who?† I asked between bites of food. Sydney sat at the table with the rest of the family, hardly touching her food as usual. She seemed clearly uneasy at being in a dhampir household, but when I'd first come downstairs this morning, I'd definitely seen some relief in her eyes. â€Å"Abe Mazur,† said Sydney. Unless I was mistaken, some of the other people at the table exchanged knowing glances. â€Å"He's a Moroi. I†¦ I didn't know how badly you were injured last night, so I called him. He drove down with his guardians. He was the one who brought you here.† Guardians. Plural. â€Å"Is he royal?† Mazur wasn't a royal name, but that wasn't always a sure sign of someone's lineage. And while I was beginning to trust Sydney's social networking and connections to powerful people, I couldn't imagine why a royal would go out of his way for me. Maybe he owed the Alchemists a favor. â€Å"No,† she said bluntly. I frowned. A non-royal Moroi with more than one guardian? Very odd. It was clear she wasn't going to say anything else on the matter-at least not for now. I swallowed another mouthful of blini and turned my attention back to Olena. â€Å"Thanks for taking me in.† Dimitri's older sister, Karolina, sat at the table too, along with her baby girl and son Paul. Paul was about ten and seemed fascinated by me. Dimitri's teenage sister, Viktoria, was also there. She appeared to be a little younger than me. The third Belikov sister was named Sonya and had left for work before I woke up. I'd have to wait to meet her. â€Å"Did you really kill two Strigoi all by yourself?† Paul asked me. â€Å"Paul,† chastised Karolina. â€Å"That's not a nice question to ask.† â€Å"But it's an exciting one,† said Viktoria with a grin. Her brown hair was streaked with gold, but her dark eyes sparkled so much like Dimitri's when he was excited that it tugged at my heart. Again, I had that taunting sensation of Dimitri being here but not here. â€Å"She did,† said Sydney. â€Å"I saw the bodies. Like always.† She wore that comically tormented expression of hers, and I laughed. â€Å"At least I left them where you could find them this time.† My humor suddenly dimmed. â€Å"Did anyone†¦ any other humans notice or hear?† â€Å"I got rid of the bodies before anyone saw,† she said. â€Å"If people heard anything†¦ Well, backwoods places like that are always filled with superstitions and ghost stories. They don't have factual evidence of vampires, per se, but there's always sort of this belief that the supernatural and dangerous are out there. Little do they know.† She said â€Å"ghost stories† without any change of expression. I wondered if she'd seen any of the spirits last night but finally decided she probably hadn't. She'd come outside near the tail end of the fight, and if past evidence was any indication, nobody else could see the spirits I saw-except Strigoi, as it turned out. â€Å"You must have had some good training then,† said Karolina, shifting so the baby leaned against her shoulder. â€Å"You look like you should still be in school.† â€Å"Just got out,† I said, earning another scrutinizing look from Sydney. â€Å"You're American,† said Olena matter-of-factly. â€Å"What in the world could bring you out here?† â€Å"I†¦ I'm looking for someone,† I said after a few moments' hesitation. I was afraid they were going to press for details or that she too would have blood whore suspicions, but just then, the kitchen door opened and Dimitri's grandmother, Yeva, walked in. She had poked her head in earlier and scared the hell out of me. Dimitri had told me that she was a witch of sorts, and I could believe it. She looked like she was a gazillion years old and was so thin, it was a wonder the wind didn't blow her away. She barely stood five feet tall, and her hair covered her head in patchy gray wisps. But it was her eyes that truly frightened me. The rest of her might be frail, but those dark eyes were sharp and alert and seemed to bore into my soul. Even without Dimitri's explanation, I would have taken her for a witch. She was also the only one in the household who didn't speak English. She sat down at one of the empty chairs, and Olena hastily jumped up to get some more blini. Yeva muttered something in Russian that made the others look uncomfortable. Sydney's lips twitched into a small smile. Yeva's eyes were on me as she spoke, and I glanced around for translation. â€Å"What?† I asked. â€Å"Grandmother says you're not telling us the whole truth about why you're here. She says the longer you delay, the worse it will be,† Viktoria explained. She then gave Sydney an apologetic look. â€Å"And she wants to know when the Alchemist is leaving.† â€Å"As soon as possible,† said Sydney dryly. â€Å"Well, why I'm here†¦ it's kind of a long story.† Could I be any vaguer? Yeva said something else, and Olena retorted with what sounded like a chastisement. To me, she spoke gently: â€Å"Ignore her, Rose. She's in one of her moods. Why you're here is your own business-although I'm sure Abe would like to talk to you at some point.† She frowned slightly, and I was reminded of the earlier looks at the table. â€Å"You should make sure you thank him. He seemed very concerned about you.† â€Å"I'd kind of like to see him too,† I mumbled, still curious about this well-protected, non-royal Moroi who had given me a ride and seemed to make everyone uneasy. Eager to avoid more talk of why I was here, I hastily changed the subject. â€Å"I'd also love to look around Baia. I've never been in a place like this before-where so many dhampirs live, I mean.† Viktoria brightened. â€Å"I can definitely give you a tour-if you're sure you're feeling okay. Or if you don't have to leave right away.† She believed I was passing through, which was just as well. Honestly, I wasn't sure what I was doing anymore, now that it seemed likely Dimitri wasn't in the area. I glanced at Sydney questioningly. She shrugged. â€Å"Do whatever you want. I'm not going anywhere.† I found that a little disconcerting too. She'd brought me here as her superiors had told her to do-but now what? Well, that was a concern for later. As soon as I finished my food, Viktoria practically dragged me out the door, as if I was the most exciting thing that had happened around here in a while. Yeva hadn't taken her eyes off me for the rest of the meal, and even though she'd never said anything else, her suspicious look clearly told me she didn't believe a word I'd said. I invited Sydney along on the outing, but she declined, choosing instead to lock herself away in a bedroom to read about Greek temples or make world-controlling phone calls or do whatever it was she did. Viktoria said downtown wasn't far from where they lived and was easy to walk to. The day was clear and cool, with enough sun to make being outside pretty pleasant. â€Å"We don't get a lot of visitors,† she explained. â€Å"Except for Moroi men, but most don't stay long.† She added no more, but I wondered about her implications. Were these Moroi men off to find some action with dhampir women? I'd grown up thinking of these women, dhampirs who chose not to become guardians, as disgraceful and dirty. The ones in the Nightingale had certainly met the blood whore stereotype, but Dimitri had assured me that not all dhampir women were like that. After meeting the Belikovs, I believed him. As we approached the center of town, I soon discovered another myth shattered. People always talked about blood whores living in camps or communes, but that wasn't the case here. Baia wasn't huge, not like Saint Petersburg or even Omsk, but it was a real town with a large human population. Hardly a rural camp or farm settlement. The whole setting was astonishingly normal, and when we reached downtown, lined with small shops and restaurants, it too seemed like any other place in the world people might live. Modern and ordinary, just with a slight village feel. â€Å"Where are all the dhampirs?† I wondered aloud. Sydney had said there was a secret dhampir subculture, but I saw no signs of it. Viktoria smiled. â€Å"Oh, they're here. We have a lot of businesses and other places that humans don't know about.† While I could understand dhampirs going unnoticed in big cities, it seemed remarkable to pull that off here. â€Å"And lots of us just live and work with humans.† She nodded over toward what looked like a drugstore. â€Å"That's where Sonya works now.† â€Å"Now?† â€Å"Now that she's pregnant.† Viktoria rolled her eyes. â€Å"I'd take you to meet her, but she's grumpy all the time lately. I hope the baby's early.† She left it at that, and I again wondered about the dynamics of dhampirs and Moroi here. We didn't mention it again, and our conversation stayed light and even teasing. Viktoria was easy to like, and in only an hour, we'd clicked as though we'd known each other forever. Maybe my connection to Dimitri bound me to his family, too. My thoughts were cut off when someone called Viktoria's name. We turned to see a very cute dhampir guy crossing the street. He had bronze hair and dark eyes, his age falling somewhere between mine and Viktoria's. He said something chatty and conversational to her. She grinned at him and then gestured to me, giving my introduction in Russian. â€Å"This is Nikolai,† she told me in English. â€Å"Nice to meet you,† he said, also switching languages. He gave me a quick assessment in the way guys often do, but when he turned back to Viktoria, it was clear who the object of his affections was. â€Å"You should bring Rose to Marina's party. It's Sunday night.† He hesitated, turning a bit shy. â€Å"You're going, aren't you?† Viktoria turned thoughtful, and I realized she was completely oblivious to his crush. â€Å"I'll be there, but†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She turned to me. â€Å"Will you still be around?† â€Å"I don't know,† I said honestly. â€Å"But I'll go if I'm still here. What kind of party is it?† â€Å"Marina's a friend from school,† explained Viktoria. â€Å"We're just going to get together and celebrate before we go back.† â€Å"To school?† I asked stupidly. Somehow, it had never occurred to me that the dhampirs out here would be in school. â€Å"We're on break right now,† said Nikolai. â€Å"For Easter.† â€Å"Oh.† It was late April, but I had no clue what day Easter fell on this year. I'd lost track of the days. It hadn't happened yet, so their school must have their break the week before Easter. St. Vladimir's took its vacation afterward. â€Å"Where is your school?† â€Å"It's about three hours away. Even more remote than here.† Viktoria made a face. â€Å"Baia's not so bad,† teased Nikolai. â€Å"Easy for you to say. You'll eventually leave and go see new and exciting places.† â€Å"Can't you?† I asked her. She frowned, suddenly uncomfortable. â€Å"Well, I could†¦ but that's not how we do it here-at least not in my family. Grandmother has some†¦ strong opinions about men and women. Nikolai will be a guardian, but I'll stay here with my family.† Nikolai suddenly gave me a new appraisal. â€Å"Are you a guardian?† â€Å"Ah, well.† Now I was the uncomfortable one. Viktoria spoke before I could come up with anything to say. â€Å"She killed two Strigoi outside of town. By herself.† He looked impressed. â€Å"You are a guardian.† â€Å"Well, no†¦ I've killed before, but I'm not actually sworn.† Turning around, I lifted up my hair to show them my neck. In addition to all my regular molnija marks, I also had the little star-shaped tattoo that meant I'd been in a battle. They both gasped, and Nikolai said something in Russian. I let my hair drop and looked back. â€Å"What?† â€Å"You're†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Viktoria bit her lip, eyes contemplative as she groped for what she wanted to say. â€Å"Unpromised? I don't know the English word.† â€Å"Unpromised?† I said. â€Å"I guess†¦ but technically, aren't all the women here?† â€Å"Even if we aren't guardians, we still get marks showing we completed our training. No promise mark, though. For you to have killed so many Strigoi and have no loyalties to a school or the guardians†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Viktoria shrugged. â€Å"We call it being unpromised-it's a strange thing.† â€Å"It's strange where I come from too,† I admitted. Unheard of, really. So much so, that we didn't have a term for it. It just wasn't done. â€Å"I should let you two go,† said Nikolai, his lovesick eyes back on Viktoria. â€Å"But I'll see you at Marina's for sure? Maybe sooner?† â€Å"Yes,† she agreed. They said their farewells in Russian, and then he loped off across the street with the kind of easy, athletic grace guardians often acquired with training. It reminded me a bit of Dimitri's. â€Å"I must have scared him off,† I said. â€Å"No, he thinks you're exciting.† â€Å"Not as exciting as he thinks you are.† Her eyebrows rose. â€Å"What?† â€Å"He likes you†¦ I mean, really likes. Can't you tell?† â€Å"Oh. We're just friends.† I could tell from her attitude that she meant it. She was completely indifferent to him, which was too bad. He was cute and nice. Letting poor Nikolai go, I brought up the guardians again. I was intrigued by the different attitudes around here. â€Å"You said you can't†¦ but do you want to be a guardian?† She hesitated. â€Å"I've never really considered it. I get all the same training at school, and I like being able to defend myself. But I'd rather use it in defense of my family than Moroi. I guess it sounds†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She paused again to think of the right word. â€Å"†¦ Sexist? But, the men become guardians, and women stay at home. Only my brother left.† I nearly tripped. â€Å"Your brother?† I asked, keeping my voice as steady as possible. â€Å"Dimitri,† she said. â€Å"He's older than me and has been a guardian for a while. He's over in the United States, actually. We haven't seen him in a long time.† â€Å"Huh.† I felt horrible and guilty. Guilty because I was keeping the truth from Viktoria and the others. Horrible because apparently no one from back home had bothered to pass the news on to his family yet. Smiling at her own memories, she didn't notice my change in mood. â€Å"Paul actually looks exactly like he did at that age. I should show you pictures of him-and some recent ones, too. Dimitri's pretty cute. For my brother, I mean.† I was sure seeing pictures of Dimitri as a little boy would rip my heart out. As it was, the more Viktoria began to talk about him, the sicker I felt. She had no clue about what had happened, and even though it had been a couple of years since she'd seen him, it was clear she and the rest of the family loved him like crazy. Not that that should be a surprise. (And really, who couldn't love Dimitri?) Being around them just one morning had shown me how close they all were. I knew from Dimitri's stories that he was crazy about all of them, too. â€Å"Rose? Are you okay?† Viktoria was peering at me with concern, probably because I hadn't said anything in the last ten minutes. We had circled around and were almost back at her house. Looking at her, at her open, friendly face and eyes that were so much like Dimitri's, I realized I had another task ahead of me before I could go after Dimitri, wherever he was. I swallowed. â€Å"I†¦ yeah. I think†¦ I think I need to sit down with you and the rest of your family.† â€Å"Okay,† she said, the worry still in her voice. Inside the house, Olena was bustling around the kitchen with Karolina. I thought they were making plans for tonight's dinner, which was startling considering we'd just finished a huge breakfast. I could definitely get used to the way they ate around here. In the living room, Paul was building an elaborate racetrack out of Legos. Yeva sat in a rocking chair and appeared to be the world's most stereotypical grandmother as she knit a pair of socks. Except most grandmothers didn't look like they could incinerate you with a single glance. Olena was talking to Karolina in Russian but switched to English when she saw me. â€Å"You two are back earlier than I expected.† â€Å"We saw the town,† said Viktoria. â€Å"And†¦ Rose wanted to talk to you. To all of us.† Olena gave me a look as puzzled and concerned as Viktoria's. â€Å"What's going on?† The weight of all those Belikov eyes on me made my heart start thumping in my chest. How was I going to do this? How could I explain something I hadn't spoken about in weeks? I couldn't stand to put them-or myself-through it. When Yeva scuttled in, it made things that much worse. Maybe she'd had some mystical sense that something big was about to go down. â€Å"We should sit,† I said. Paul stayed in the living room, for which I was grateful. I was pretty sure I couldn't handle saying what I had to with a little kid-one who looked like Dimitri, apparently-watching me. â€Å"Rose, what's wrong?† asked Olena. She looked so sweet and, well†¦ motherly, that I nearly cried. Whenever I'd been angry with my own mother for not being around or doing a good job, I'd always compared her to some idealized image of a mom-a mom who seemed a lot like Dimitri's, I realized. Dimitri's sisters looked equally worried, like I was someone they'd known forever. That acceptance and concern made my eyes burn even more, seeing as they'd just met me this morning. Yeva wore a very strange expression, however-almost like she'd been expecting something like this all along. â€Å"Well†¦ the thing is, the reason I came here, to Baia, was to find you guys.† That wasn't entirely true. I'd come to search for Dimitri. I'd never thought much about finding his family, but now, I realized that it was a good thing I had. â€Å"You see, Viktoria was talking about Dimitri earlier.† Olena's face brightened when I said her son's name. â€Å"And†¦ I knew-er, know him. He used to be a guardian at my school. My teacher, actually.† Karolina and Viktoria lit up as well. â€Å"How is he?† asked Karolina. â€Å"It's been ages since we've seen him. Do you know when he's going to visit?† I couldn't even think about answering her question, so I pushed forward with my story before I lost my courage in front of all those loving faces. As the words came out of my mouth, it was almost like someone else was saying them and I was simply watching from a distance. â€Å"A month ago†¦ our school was attacked by Strigoi. A really bad attack†¦ a huge group of Strigoi. We lost a lot of people-Moroi and dhampirs, both.† Olena exclaimed in Russia. Viktoria leaned toward me. â€Å"St. Vladimir's?† I halted in my story, surprised. â€Å"You've heard of it?† â€Å"Everyone's heard of it,† said Karolina. â€Å"We all know what happened. That was your school? You were there that night?† I nodded. â€Å"No wonder you have so many molnija marks,† breathed Viktoria in wonder. â€Å"And that's where Dimitri's at now?† asked Olena. â€Å"We lost track of his latest assignment.† â€Å"Um, yeah†¦Ã¢â‚¬  My tongue felt thick in my throat. I couldn't breathe. â€Å"I was at the school the night of the attack,† I reaffirmed. â€Å"And so was Dimitri. He was one of the leaders in the battle†¦ and the way he fought†¦ he was†¦ he was so brave†¦ and†¦Ã¢â‚¬  My words were breaking up, but by this point, the others were catching on. Olena gasped and again murmured in Russian. I picked out the word for â€Å"God.† Karolina sat frozen, but Viktoria leaned toward me. Those eyes that were so like her brother's stared at me intently, as intently as he would if pushing me to tell the truth, no matter how awful. â€Å"What happened?† she demanded. â€Å"What happened to Dimitri?† I looked away from their faces, my eyes drifting to the living room. On the far wall, I caught sight of a bookcase filled with old, leather-covered books. They had gold-embossed lettering on the spines. It was totally random, but I suddenly remembered Dimitri mentioning those. They were these old adventure novels my mother collected, he'd told me once. The covers were so beautiful, and I loved them. If I was careful, she'd let me read them sometimes. The thought of a young Dimitri sitting in front of that bookcase, carefully turning the pages-and oh, he would have been careful-almost made me lose it. Had that been where he'd developed his love of western novels? I was losing it. I was getting distracted. I wasn't going to be able to tell them the truth. My emotions were growing too powerful, my memories flooding me as I fought to think about something-anything-that didn't involve that horrible battle. Then I glanced at Yeva again, and something about her eerie, knowing expression inexplicably spurred me on. I had to do this. I turned back to the others. â€Å"He fought really bravely in the battle, and afterward, he helped lead a rescue mission to save some people that the Strigoi had captured. He was really amazing there, too, only†¦ he†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I stopped again and realized tears were running down my cheeks. In my mind, I was replaying that awful scene in the cave, with Dimitri so close to freedom and taken by a Strigoi at the last minute. Shaking that thought away, I took another deep breath. I had to finish this. I owed it to his family. There was no gentle way to say it. â€Å"One of the Strigoi there†¦ well, he overpowered Dimitri.† Karolina buried her face in her mother's shoulder, and Olena made no effort to hide her own tears. Viktoria wasn't crying, but her face had gone perfectly still. She was working hard to keep her emotions in check, just as Dimitri would have. She searched my face, needing to know for sure. â€Å"Dimitri is dead,† she said. It was a statement, not a question, but she was looking to me for confirmation. I wondered if I'd given away something, some hint that there was still more to the story. Or maybe she just needed the certainty of those words. And for a moment, I considered telling them that Dimitri was dead. It was what the Academy would tell them, what the guardians would tell them. It would be easier on them†¦ but somehow, I couldn't stand to lie to them-even if it was a comforting lie. Dimitri would have wanted the whole truth, and his family would too. â€Å"No,† I said, and for a heartbeat, hope sprang up in everyone's faces-at least until I spoke again. â€Å"Dimitri's a Strigoi.†