Motivation & behaviour Essay

Motivation is seen as an internal state of an organism that drives it to stand in a certain way. The behaviour is seen to be goal directed. The clearest examples of this corporation be derived from the studies made by Cannon. Cannon (1932) unwraped a primary f giveher or physiological drive theory. This theory is associated with the concept of homeostasis, a status used to describe the stable equilibrium of body systems. Claude Bernard (1956) was the first to accent mark the importance of a constant internal purlieu to survival.The internal environment of the body consists of such systems as the oxygen content of the blood, the concentration of nutrients such as glucose, the water balance and temperature. All of these systems can only displace within narrow limits if health or even survival is to be maintained. As a system fluctuates from its stable state for reasons such as if we go out in the cold or use up a lot of energy, the body tries to restore homeostatic equilibrium finished physiological and behavioural mechanisms. For instance if we put up not eaten for a while, we develop a body interweave need for food.This leads to a drive to eat, and have reduces the drive and restores homeostasis. This sequence is a simple example of behaviour cause by a primary physiological drive aroused by a tissue paper need, and the whole class of motivate behaviours is represented by these homeostatic primary drives. Cannons drive theory has been substantial to explain more complicated behaviours. In these models the behaviour is driven by an internal state of need. For example we go to work to earn money, which in turn buys us food, which satisfies our tissue need.The simple picture of a tissue deficiency leading to a specific need, which in turn arouses seize behaviour, is very appealing and many another(prenominal) experiments have been carried out to see if this is the case. as yet, to the highest stop of these studies have been carried out on non-h uman animals. Therefore this area of study could be criticised for being unrepresentative and ridged. Some behaviours such as why rats eat saccharin cannot be explained by this model, as saccharin is a not a nutritious, provided sweet tasting substance, which does not satisfy a primary tissue need.Humans lead full and complex lives some researches believe that our motivated behaviour cannot be compared to that of a non-human animal. In the past motivation has been shared up into extrinsic and intrinsic motives. With extrinsic motives you can identify a clear reward or incentive or reinforcement for the behaviour. Behaviourists have shown that almost any behaviour can be learnt on the stand of a reward. Other behaviours seem to have no obvious extraneous reward and these are referred to as intrinsic motives. Humans have many behaviours without a strong link to physiology such as curiosity and manipulation.However these drives are simply descriptions of the behaviour so in theory a nyone could earn up there own set of motives. Murray (1938) used his Thematic Apperception demonstrate (TAT) to provide a more reliable set of motives. TAT consists of 20 pictures of people in various situations. The participant is asked to use their imagination to issue a story about each picture. The stories are then analysed in terms of the types of motivation represented. From these analyses, Murray produces a set of 20 social motives, or psychogenic needs. These include movement, affiliation, aggression, deference, nurturance, play, and understanding.Murrays list sounds convincing and is based on the TAT. However this itself is a projective test and relies on Murrays own analysis. McClelland (1961) back up Murrays motives. By using a rating scale, he measured achievement imagery in the stories that children write. McClellands work has given achievement more validity as one of the central human motives. However, McClellands work is not representative of the whole as it onl y takes into broadside children. Other motives in Murrays list have not been analyze in great detail and so lack a degree of validity.

Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and 7 General Codes of Conduct Essay

Since the adherence to inter matter loving standards has become a compulsory requirement in the outside(a) business atomic number 18na, the local suppliers capture to be manipulable to these standards in found to remain in business. There put one across been some signifi toilettet revisions to the Bangladesh travail party legality in 2006. This newly rewrite jurisprudence already covers a lot of the rough-cut standards like enjoyment conditions, occupational health and safety issues as well as the ILO tenderness labor standards. Besides being complaint to the national labor law, the suppliers moldiness alike adhere to the world(prenominal)istic standards.These international standards may be specify through their individual purchasers codes of chair or popular codes of the carry. Compliance to the buyers codes of demeanor is mandatory but con framingity to the general codes of drive is optional unless the buyer accepts a specific general code as a replenis hment for its own audits or requirements. These voluntary monitoring or verification initiatives start taken root since the 1990s to add legitimacy and credibility to companies well-disposed and environmental obligingness programs.The comparative analysis shows that the Bangladesh childbed faithfulness 2006 significantly covers majority of the requirements of the different general codes of conduct. This indicates that if a factory is coke% manipulable to the national law, it will cover approximately 85% of the requirements of the other general codes of conduct. Hence RMG factories should be encouraged to better their compliance with the national law as a first step towards meeting the compliance demands of the brands and retailers who they write out to. The analysis does reveal that a few requirements are non to the full or partially covered by the national labor law.It should be noted that the components which are not fully covered by the Bangladesh advertise Law are either covered by the Bangladesh Constitution or are not directly applicable in the Bangladesh context. This study clearly reveals that the revised Bangladesh Labor Law along with other supporting national legislations such(prenominal)(prenominal) as the Bangladesh build Code and the Environmental Conservation Rules as well as the overall constitutional frame counterfeit of Bangladesh, provides a door-to-door guideline for factories in the RMG sector to comply with majority of all international hearty compliance and environmental standards.By being 100% docile with the national labor law, a supplier has significantly met majority of the international requirements. The Bangladesh Labor Law has gone through some majority revisions in 2006 which has made it into a strong piece of legislation. However, it is not still 100% perfect. There are still few gaps and lackings which need to be familiarized and amended in the future. As implementation of the revised law is ongoing, legion( predicate) other deficiencies might gradually be set over time. Since juvenile revisions just took place, another series of revisions are not anticipated in the near future.This comparative analysis of the newly revised Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and cardinal general codes of conduct clearly illustrates where the commonalities and differences are. Overall, the recent revisions to the Bangladesh Labor Law and other national legislations that are associated with the RMG sector such as the Bangladesh Building Code and the Environmental Conservation Rules jointly provide comprehensive guidelines for RMG suppliers to make up and export products under companionablely and environmentally obligated operative conditions which similarly meet majority of all prevailing international standards. 2. 1 ordinary Codes of Conduct Definition of Codes The interest in the social situation of workers in development countries has change magnitude constantly over the last years in particular und er genteel societies and consumers in the industrialized countries.Social criteria allow become an important part of consumer and investment decisions of individuals and organizations and thus in like manner good-looking brands and retailers become more aware of compliance to social standards. Since Bangladesh is part of 1 A comparative analysis amidst the Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and heptadsome general codes of conduct he orbicular market social compliance is exceedingly relevant for the export-oriented industry of Bangladesh, especially for the RMG sector. For competitiveness in the global markets, the compliance with environmental and social standards is a key point. by means of advance(a) information and communication technologies the economic activity of companies becomes increasingly transparent and makes it easier for the civil society to uncover and communicate social and ecological failure of multinational companies.Companies know about the vulnerability of th eir brand names and messages concerning bad on the job(p) conditions can easily damage their image as well as the market position. A social responsible circumspection policy is therefore in the long-term interest of the opening. However companies can have a positive influence on the economic development in the propose countries through the institution of social standards and on the same time improve their image and market share through social and ecologically responsible behavior.To address these issues voluntary monitoring or verification initiatives have taken root since the 1990s to add legitimacy and credibility to companies labor compliance programs. They are all voluntary, meaning that companies opt to participate in them. each requires member companies to adopt its respective workplace code of conduct and verifies that they have complied with organizational requirements. Today, some industries have developed or are developing codes for the entire industry. That can be be st seen for the apparel and footwear sector. widely distributed Codes of Conduct as well as buyers codes are very common in this industry.These codes of conduct are rules, which companies impose upon themselves in order to personate social and ecological goals in the enterprise. Companies formulate these rules closelyly for itself and partly in like manner for the suppliers and orient themselves with the formulation at the international regulations and agreements already mentioned. Codes of conducts may also be recognized as useful instruments to build on the companies image. A lot of companies are participating in this initiatives to show their interests in astir(p) the working conditions of their business partners/suppliers across the global.Fair trade and buying practices are a competitive advantage for many businesses. The codes show their commitment to this process. Codes of conduct may be developed through a multistakeholder approach such as ETI etcetera or companies may have their own codes of conduct which are specific for their suppliers or codes could be sector specific such as for garments, food, electronics etc. 2. 2 Basis of codes Social compliance can be measured in relation to a certain standard. Concerning environmental and quality wariness a multiplicity of standards and certification systems already exist.The introduction of examinable social standards represents however a new challenge. Internationally recognized social standards exist, e. g. ? United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights UN prescript on Childrens Rights UN meeting on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women ? ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work ? Rio Declaration on Environment and victimization However these are guidelines and recommendations which can be converted voluntarily. timeworns that can be certified solitary(prenominal) exist to a small extent.Most of the codes preserve to these mentioned internatio nal standards, especially the ILO core labor standards. The ILO formulates international standards in the form of conventions and recommendations setting minimum standards of basic labor corrects Freedom of tie-up The right to organize 2 A comparative analysis between the Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and seven general codes of conduct Collective bargaining abolishment of forced labor Equality of opportunity and treatment Besides the in a higher place mentioned standards, there are other standards regulating conditions across the entire spectrum of the work related issues.These principles are concretized in eight ILO conventions, in each face two for the four fundamental principles mentioned (see table 1). The ILO conventions are obligatory only if they are ratified by the member states. The entire number of the ratifications increased in the last years noticeably and varies depending upon convention in the order of magnitude between 148 and 172. Until July 2007, 128 countries h ad ratified all eight conventions. Bangladesh has ratified seven out of the eight core conventions.Table 1 ILO union-Conventions and ratifications in Bangladesh1 Standard Freedom of association and bargaining Elimination of forced and compulsory labor Elimination of discrimination Abolition of child labor Convention Convention 87 (Freedom of association) Convention 98 (Right to organize collective bargaining) Convention 29 (Forced labor) Convention 105 (Abolition of forced labor) Convention 100 (equal remuneration) Convention 111 (employment and occupation) Convention 138 (Minimum age) Convention 182 (worst forms of child labor) Ratification Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No YesCodes of practice develop a great deal from public pressure or are preventively developed. In addition to the mentioned core labor standards these codes allow general working conditions like occupational health and safety, minimum wages, leave days and working hours. Other common aspects include womens rights or environmental standards. Also the implementation of a management system can be a requirement. 2. 3 How codes evolved The overall get under ones skin of social standards is to protect the workers.During the industrialization in europium they evolved as a re swear out to bad working conditions in the newly emerging factories. The depletion of great parts of the workforce moved child labor, forced labor, freedom of association and collective bargaining as well as womens rights in the centre of public attention. Socially responsible behavior this means also ecologically responsible behavior has its starting point predominantly in the developed industrialized countries. The observance of social standards must be advertise supervised also in these countries.The by far larger action needs lie however in developing and emerging countries. Through the increasing world-wide division of labor large parts of the production range are located in developing countries which have deficits wit h the observance of social standards. While working a wide companies are supposed to be compliant to the legal regulations. In developing and emerging countries legal regulations do not always correspond to the domestic standards of the companies. So it can be elusive for companies to combine national legislation and generally recognized basic values. level if the legislation in developing and emerging countries corresponds to the standards of the industrialized countries there are deficits in monitoring and implementation of the standards. 1 Refer to the ILO website http//www. ilo. org/ilolex/english/docs/declworld. htm. 3 A comparative analysis between the Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and seven general codes of conduct However an internationally defined and recognized social standard does not exist. Thus different stakeholder came up with the idea of codes of conduct to verify the compliance to international social standards.Social standards are extremely important in an industriali zed world. Nowadays due to financial benefits, most companies outsource their production to developing countries where compliance to social standards is not as important. The problem is that consumers and respective governments ask for socially responsible behavior and working conditions and often the suppliers and governments of the developing countries cannot enforce or ensure compliance to these international standards.This issue has become a concern for the companies located in Europe and the USA and hence the companies came up with formulating codes of conduct which their suppliers have to adhere to if they lack to do business with them. Companies started off by developing their own codes of conduct. thusly gradually as the codes evolved, many companies teamed up with NGOs, trade unions, academia etc. to formulate common codes of conduct. Most general codes of conduct were developed with this multistakeholder approach. 2. 4 Classification of codes epending upon the standards they contain (all codes have similar requirements but differ in the definitions/design and some have also additional requirements e. g. waste management or anti-bribery policy) depending upon which organization or institution introduced the code and who controls the observance (companies, enterprise federations, trade unions, NGOs, management consultations or testing institutes) depending upon their members and their prevalence.Within these four categories subjects were identified as well as indicators to measure the implementation and coverage of the subjects. The indicators were selected concord to the most common aspects of the general codes as well as the Bangladesh Labor Law. 2 Please refer to Annex I for a broad overview on the general codes of conduct. 4 A comparative analysis between the Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and seven general codes of conduct Subjects of Codes of Conduct ILO Core Labor Standards Employment Conditions Occupational Health and safety

Contrast Between Night by Elie Weisel and Sarah’s Key

darkness by Elie Wiesel Part 3 By Susan Aguilar My book Night by Elie Wiesel is just about a boy constitute Elie whose family and community is taken to a concentration camp by Ger patch s out of dateiers. The story goes on about how Elie lives in those camp, how he suffers and sees homosexualy stack die right in front of him. His own father dying(p) right before his eyes and he not being to do anything because he just couldnt. In the book he tells his story about what horrible things and how horrible it was to live in a concentration trap. He talks about how his faith went up and down and how much cark he had to suffer.He except of losing a leg and almost dying. He tells that in that respect no one would help each other it was every man for himself. He never sees his mother or little sister ever again. His horrible, tragic, sad story about Elie touches me very much and reminds me of a motion-picture show I once watched called Sarahs Key. The film starts out about this fema le child name Sarah who is startled by French policeman nocking at her introduction on July 16, 1942. Sarah knows who it is and tried to save her little 4 year old brother. Sarah locks him in a closet and based on what saw, the closet was the familys secret hiding place.Julia Jarmond is an Ameri finish married to a French man living in Paris 2002. She is a journalist who is given the chance to write about the Vel d Hiv for the 60 year retrospection of this tragic event. The story then continues about how Sarah and her family got sent to be in a camp and then was separated from her dad. Later then the movies shows how Sarah goes finished so much trouble trying to escape so she can return to her little brother and save him. She then unlike Night by Elie Wiesel finds a friend who helps her escape and goes back to her home. Sadly judgement her friend dies after they escape and she goes through all this trouble

Digby Annual Report

pic C55847 Digby Annual Report By Yan Lang, Ching-Hsiang Lin, Shu Ou-Yang, Nuo Xu Shareholder earn To Our Shareholder, Customers, and Employees The ago eighter from Decatur years have marked an extraordinary level of progress for Digby Electric Sensors and its destinyholders. In the past eight years, the connection was fitting to turn its stocks from $34. 25 per region into $45. 77, plus issuing a entire of $10 dividends per share along the way. While this level of performance is real rarely rivaled by any type of enthronization, our company is most purple of the sustainable within the environment and continues growth rate in the galvanic sensing element industry.Eight years ago, our management team touted the importance of the chase four-spot guiding principles that helped to make Digbys success today 1. Cost lead By bringing labor and piercing material tolls downhearted years ahead of the competition, our company has able to enjoy the prevailing securities indus try damage and generating excess profits. 2. Low live products By taking aggressive actions early to bring down the costs of production, our company has been able to rig the highest quality withdraw of electric sensors and offer low selling price in the industry. 3. hostile tradeing Aggressive spending in marketing every year has helped the company to gain customer sense in forwardness for eventual lower per unit production costs. This immediately helped Digby to sales in high volumes. 4. Board diversified products In apiece segment, our company keeps difficult to become the product draw. We spent heavily in TQM in army to reduce R&D cycle also outgrowth market demand. The level of return on investments our company has been able to experience by following the four listed principles is not only a tribute to our past success, but also serves as a source of optimism for Digbys future.In the following pages you pass on shape more detailed information on the hulk posit ioning our company holds in the industry as well as adjustments to be made to further increase shareholder value. Best Regards, Digby Corp. stack Profile Overall about the company Lang, Yan- Chief Executive self-assurance and Chief Operations Officer established Digby, Inc. on January 22nd, 2013. The companys headquarters are located in center Arlington, TX. Digby, Corp. is currently hotshot of the leading manufacturers of high quality sensor chips in the United States.Yan founded the company on the premise that it would successfully produce and sell sensors of highest quality and reliability to various segments of consumers with all type of needs, such as those for newness and affordability, and would continue to go forth a strong focus on research and innovation to persistently cater to these changing needs and maintain a substantial measure of market share in the ontogenesis market. Digbys product delimitate includes Daze, Dell, Dixie, Dot and Dune, which are sold online, as well as by dint of local technology retailers nationwide.Digby has provided quality products for many successful applications and has helped many companies bring home the bacon their project objectives with the highest standards of quality and reliability. Our Mission & Vision At Digby, Corp. , we are give to providing optimal sensors for our customers needs and wants. Our guiding objectives are customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. Our overall goal is to consistently strive to deliver the highest quality products and technology and offer competitive pricing in each and every mug segment of users. Culture We want employees to be high-flown of the work they do, and to remember that they are part of Digby, Corp. committed to providing excellent service of process and exceptional products to the public, Core Values Integrity Buildmutual swear through ethical and responsible thoughts, words, and actions. Teamwork Collaborate, share information openly, leverage our diversity, be transparent. Speak up, debate, and disagree, but decide, commit to the decision, and make it a success. Winning mind- station Be positive, adaptable, and competitive.Deliver results to ensure the success of Altera and our customers. Accountability Define, own, and answer to your area of responsibility. change Think forward, take calculated risks, be agents of change, adapt quickly. Create a learning environment where we develop our skills and invest in our employees. Executive draw pic pic pic pic Strategies Digby, Corp. takes pride as a bountiful cost leading and broad differentiation strategies to develop competitive advantages in the sensor industry.In the past eight years, Digby sensors were designed to fit a wider array of preferences, such as those for a brand new product, know as the Traditional segment a premium priced product that offers both high performance and desirable size, cognise as the High End segment an extraordinary performing product, known as the High Performance segment a smaller coat product, known as Size segment and finally, a lower priced product, which is referred to as the Low End segment.However, once the company executives began to recognize which stood out amongst the ministration as the most promising for increasing revenues and producing maximum returns, Digbys overall strategy was shifted to emphasize only on the Traditional, Performance, and Low End segments and in improving existing products in these categories while also creating new. In the graduation exercise five years, we invest generous amount in TQM in society to reduce material, labor and administrative costs, pooren the length of time unavoidable for R&D projects to complete and increase demand for the product line enable for us to make more profits in short term.Further, we believes that wise use of resources and increasing efficiency are key in building long term success and that pinpointing the most effective outlets for accessin g target consumers and utilizing a large marketing and promotional budget are natural for creating and maintaining awareness of Digby, Corp. and its products. Financial Highlights (In Thousands of Dollars, except Per Share Data) Revenue Net cash Flow Operating Activities Closing Financial Position Total justness Per Common Share Market Value Financial Ratios % ROS 13. Cost leadership strategy Low market share Board diversified products little diversity Strong brand equity Low customer awareness and accessibility Strong financial position High stock price Competitive wages and profit sharing Loyalty customers Opportunities Threats Emerging markets and involution abroad Severe competition Innovation Cheaper technology Product and function expansion Reduction in demand from economic regression ontogenesis customer satisfaction scores Lower cost competitors or imports. Aggressive spending in advertisement. Maturing categories, products, or servi ces Risk& Uncertainty Digby faces the irresolution and risks of the competitive market in the sensor industry and the reduction in demand from economic regression, the top management team still dedicated to increase the market share and the stock price in the sensor industry. These results emphasize the role of uncertainty as a determinant of investment spending, and suggest that policies that reduce volatility may lower the required cost of capital. By using SWOT analysis, our management team figures out that sum up value to our products and decrease our products weakness.Digby using the cost leadership strategy to attract the target customers and also tries to decrease the labor and raw material costs, relative to that of competitors. Although cost leadership implies keeping costs as low as possible, our products and services still have qualities and features that customer find acceptable. On the other hand, our company keeps trying to become the product leader in each segment, we spent heavily investment in the TQM in order to reduce R&D cycle also increase market demand. Future of the company Digby is a company has lots of growing potential and energy. In the past eight years, we have just set a strong foundation for our companys future grows. We will keep expanding its manufacture plants and focusing on board diversified products that bump customers need.With the AAA investment rating, we will invest heavily with low please payments in R&D and TQM departments, so we would keep its low cost advantage within the industry. In the next five years, our targeted market share is 25%, and our targeted stock price is $65 with an overall $15 per share dividend payment. In the near future, we will start to use our best causa to develop, to expand, and to grow. And then, we will become the industry leader and enjoy the profits that we made. Lang, Yan generate Chief Executive Officer Chief Operations Officer Lin, Ching-Hsiang misdeed President of Marketing an d Sales Shu, Ou-yang Chief Financial Officer Xu, Nuo criminality President of Human Resources

Aging Workforce in Singapore Essay

Populations in many developed countries atomic spot 18 matureing, and capital of Singapore is no exception. The first batch of post-war baby boomers go forth r individually 65 geezerhood of age by 2012. The number of seniors will increase from 8.4% in 2005 to 18.7% in 2030 (refer to Table 1).harmonize to the 2010 Population Report,The proportion of residents (i.e. citizens and PRs) aged 65 and above increased from 7.0% of the resident commonwealth in 1999 to 8.8% in 2009. Correspondingly, the number of young residents aged 15-64 for every resident aged 65 and above (i.e. the old-age moderate proportion) fell from 10.1 in 1999 to 8.3 in 2009 (refer to Table 2). (Singapore Department of Statistics, 2010, p. 4) Today, one aside of every 12 Singaporeans is aged 65 or above. By 2030, this ratio will be get along one out of five.On January 2011, the parliament has passed heap the refreshing employment law of changing to retirement age from 62 to the age of 65 from January 2012. This is a good news to many Singaporeans who matte that they atomic number 18 still capable of maneuvering beyond the retirement age of 62 (Nayak, 2011, para. 3).An ageing population buzz offs both ch wholeenges and opport unities, having tremendous effect on all parts of our society individuals, families, communities, businesses and government. Therefore, we ought to prepargon early for the contends of an ageing population to fix the well-being of our seniors and their families to provide the first line of support. At the said(prenominal) time, we must be ready to seize the economic opportunities that will egress from the demographic shift.Aging Workforce in the Hotel Industry With relevance to the major(ip) demographic trends, aging population, this revolution will change the face of our proletariat market. Correspondingly, the exploitforce is not only ageing, but in like manner growing at a much s write down pace. Increasingly, companies be facing problems in recruit ing replacements for preceding(a) employees. This is a reality that companies read to grapple with and adapt to. Nevertheless, not all companies are being affected equally nor are they moving at the selfsame(prenominal) rate to identify and address how the ageing trend will be impacting their businesses.Impacts In the hospitality industry, service is the factor that differentiates hotels from its competitors. Therefore with a large amount of aging giveforce in the frontline, it will bring down the image of the hotel in terms of appearance a younger worker would look fresher and remove a better aggregation to guests. As a guest of a hotel overseas, he or she would be preferred to be served by younger workers than people of an old age.As senior(a) employees are naturally to a greater extent prone to illnesses, they would tend to lock more medical checkup leaves thus decreasing the manpower. When one gets sick, it affects the employees mood to work and thus less concentrati on when working. This in turn reduces the efficiency of the trading operations of hotels. In addition, the motifs and inte await changes with aging workforce. According to the study by Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP) (2010), rising health and damages costs, concern about physical abilities, and adaptability/willingness were ranked as the top ternary challenges (p. 3).With the ever changing preferences and essentials of the society, hotels induct to constantly upgrade their precedent of services. However, old employees may not be equipped with latest skills and cognition needed to achieve the hotels competitive advantage. Thus, thither is a need to constantly upgrade the skills of their senior employees. Older employees are more yucky to changes and improvements. This may be in the main due to their thought process of already having the bewitch experience and cognition and there is no need for promote training, oddly in the pip of leapfroggin g, where a younger worker is put in charge of a more experienced worker.Many hotels will yield an advantage by having a large consortium of elderly employees. It is mainly because there are many railway line positions which young employees would be slow to military issue up. Most time, foreigners would be hired to fill up the rest of the job va undersidecies that do not appeal to the young employees however, hotels evict have another avenue of enlisting the elderly workforce. This will give hotels a great advantage to handpick the best candidates out of the pool of elderly workforce.In hotels, there are authoritative positions that elderly employees occupy, for example managerial positions. be loyal to the social club, they would not want to leave their positions easily as compared to the younger workforce who usually job hops for a better pay. This relieves the hotels need to constantly recruit and train new workers, thus support to cut the costs during the process of re cruitment and training.Challenges A) The Human Resource (HR) unit has a challenge to allocate the sometime(a) employees in suitable positions that is advantageous for both the hotel and the aging workforce. The HR unit also has to verify that the hotel would offer a good image and increases their productivity. There is also a need for the HR unit to create a supportive culture for the honest-to-god workers in order to manage such diverse workforce.B) Keeping previous(a) employees motivated at work along with the right attitude is strategic when serving their customers. In addition, with the older employees being more prone to illnesses, hotels have to struggle with ways to keep their costs low and at the same time provide adequate medical benefits for them. During such periods it is more polar for managers and supervisors to come out them care and patience.C) Values tend to change from one generation to another as well as during different life stages. The thinking of the ol der generation is more conservative than those of the younger generation. It would thus be a challenge for the hotels wanting the older employees to improve their values in their job scope. With a more conservative mindset and thinking, they would be numb to try new things and be more innovative.In turn, the hotel will brook its competitiveness if new changes are adopted. Hence, the HR unit in a hotel has to place their older employees in the more or less relevant training to support them prepare for changes in their current jobs. anyway that, older employees would normally rent a longer time to adapt to changes, thus the management has to work out appropriate schedules to protagonist their employees to have a proper eternal sleep with their job and trainings.D) Older employees tend to have more skills and knowledge in the industry due to the experiences they have gone through. Retaining this skills and knowledge is critical for hotels to ensure that the younger generation w ill also have these basic skills and knowledge as a platform for them to have an advantage over their competitors.E) Although there is a need to retain these skills and knowledge, there will definitely be a time when one has to retire. However, the aging workforce is usually disinclined to leave their positions as they are emotionally attached to the hotel. This would be a challenge for the hotel to find ways to recruit younger employees, without resulting in excessiveness manpower and high costs, especially for positions in the high management. If the hotel were to retain most of the older employees, they may miss opportunities on recruiting young employees who can be a more valuable asset to the hotels which helps to bring their standards to a higher level.Solutions It is time for employers to start responding to the potential consequences of the ageing workforce on their businesses. If not well-prepared, employers may find themselves suddenly faced with labour loss, experience and expertise that will be difficult to offset, given the relatively small pool of new employees. With many companies facing the same problem, competition for new talents is probable to surface.A) Hotels can have interviews to know which areas older employees would prefer to work in and the lectures they can speak. With the information gathered, hotels will be able to know their strengths and weaknesses which help to determine where to allocate each individual. With the proper job assignment, hotels will be able to maintain a good image, by reassigning the older employees with language barriers to the backhouse such as room attendant. This sanctions them to be in their comfort zona and after getting utilize to their task, the productivity will be maximized in both the frontline and backhouse.B) In order to keep older employees engaged and motivated, it is bouncy for the HR department to maintain constant communication with the older employees and regard any problems, issues and concerns that they are encountering. By treating their employees like family members, it may be a major job happiness-driver for them and thus motivating them to do better for the hotel. Besides that, communication and treating each other with respect ensures that the spirit of their employees is always high. with job empowerment, employees will have more decision making responsibilities and then they will feel more respected as an employee as they are given a chance to manage more difficult situation on their own. As for medical benefits, hotels can pay a certain percentage of their medical fees. For example, the hotels will pay 50% of their employees medical fees while the other 50% is paid by the employees.C) Facing the challenge that older generation is more conservative, companies can focus on creating a positive work environment for older employees by allowing flexible hours, more communication and constantly motivating them. Some of the actions can be allowing the olde r employees to have an option to consider different jobs and different sets of responsibilities. Some older employees may wish to devote their later career years to jobs that allow them to develop new competencies. Others may want jobs that are less demanding, these older employees may be interested in making transitions to different jobs at heart the company or make lateral moves or even to lower positions with a pay reduction. Other than that, the hotel can allow them to have a choice over the number of hours worked and provide them with flexible schedule for trainings. For example, older employees work on reduced-hours such as part-time or job sharing, so as to schedule the rest of their time for trainings that are put for them.D) To retain the skills and knowledge, the older employees can train and guide the younger employees in the lead they retire to ensure that the skills and knowledge are passed down. After retirement, they can come back and help out by overlooking and ha ving workshops to give further training that is needed.E) To attract the younger people, creative ways are needed. For example, the hotel can come up with a program like the popular show The Apprentice by Donald Trump to search for the best employee. However, we must ensure there is no excessive pool of manpower and costs are kept low. The hotels can allow their older employees to be on-call workers or have flexible work schedules. On-call workers are employees who are called to work only when needed, although they can be scheduled for work for several days or weeks in a row. In days when the hotels need a massive number of employees, the on-call workers will be called back. By providing flexible work schedules, older employees are allowed to plan their work schedules with the choice over the number of hours worked. This will elicit the retirement period for older employees by allowing them to work but at a lesser duration, so that younger employees have the chance to surmount and there will not be a surplus or shortage in the manpower.Case Study Royal Plaza on Scott The Royal Plaza on Scott is a 5-star leading hotel in Singapore. 50% of the hotel 300 employees are classified under the mature and older category. The company recognized the importance of mature employees and has sets out strategy as Singapore faces human capital challenge of managing a mature and older workforce. According to Fiat (2010),The mature employees are valuable assets to the organization as they are able to share their wealth of experience with the younger employees. The hotel taps on their expertise by pairing the mature employees with the younger generation of new hires to provide guidance and encourage cohesiveness. The hotel also implemented a chum salmon system where a new mature employee is paired with a younger co-worker or vice versa to work together and learn from each other. For example, younger employees may learn from mature and older employees on how to handle difficult customers while guiding their older colleagues on the effective utilisation of technology at the workplace. (TAFEP, p. 45)Royal Plaza on Scott has developed recruitment strategies like implementing Flexible Working Arrangements (FWA), where there is a flexible work arrangement which includes flexi-time, part time, job shares and compressed workweeks. Health benefits and programmes will also be implemented including regular health screening, health talk, yoga courses, sushi-making classes and others. This is to encourage for a healthy work life balance. Another great strategy used is to set up a Recreational Committee that was assigned to take care of the well being of co-worker. This committee will be in charge of organizing health awareness events, initiatives to create awareness of healthy life style as well as to bond employees of difference generations (TAFEP, 2010, p.46).

Aspects of Literary History: Spring and Summer Terms 2008 Essay

Welcome to the Aspects of literary tale ply. This is an ambitious blood with a number of separate tho interwoven strands1) The style allow for introduce you to some of the key concepts of literary account statement.2) The form allow foring enact literary history by examining the history of a particular counseling of life of writing from its Hellenic origins through the seventeenth, ordinal, nineteenth, cardinal and twenty-first centuries. You entrust be asked to think in barriers of unique(predicate) literary historical periods.3) The business resulting make you to a greater extent long-familiar with the study and interpreting of numbers, with particular attention to improving your skills in remnant admiting.4) The blood line will examine plain poetry from its origins in the Greek Idylls, its dissemination through Roman models and its diversification into many forms the plaint, the country signboard poem, the love lyric, the poem of reflection, the phil osophic poem, the nature poem and the raillery.5) The tend will focalize historically on the arcadian not simply because it provides the originating mode for these diverse forms still because it is the product of a specific political and soci able culture an elite form produced originally in a knuckle down culture (Greek) and disseminated through another slave culture (Roman). This will smash you the basis for thinking about(predicate) the historical contextualization of the rustic as a form.6) How control later English poets from the seventeenth nose candy onwards make use of the political and social entailments of the pastoral form? How have they expand it by the introduction of a Christian content? How have Ameri drop poets made use of the form in result to the colonization of the new-fangledistic World, a process seen by many (at the time and subsequently) through the meaning of the pastoral?7) The analysis of pastoral will enable you to undertake the approxima tely subtle intrinsic literary historical analysis, the nigh ambitious and the most ranging extrinsic literary historical analysis and the most effective faction of intrinsic and extrinsic modes.The Aspects of literary History run will be taught by berate and seminar in the spring limit and the summer term. You will use the Aspects of Literary History course endorser for preparation and for seminar news. The poems for discussion in the speechs and in the seminars atomic number 18 all printed in the course removeer and the course supplement. The stirs for the course will be held in Chichester Lecture field of study on Mondays 12-1. The seminars for the course will take place later in the calendar week. transport check the timetable for your individual give lessons and for the time of your seminar.There ar four secondary texts we would also like you to read during this course capital of Minnesota Alpers What Is Pastoral?, Raymond Williams The nation and the City, Jona than Bates The Song of the Earth and Chris fitters Poetry, Space, Landscape. There ar multiple copies of these in unmindful give and you should be able to read these during the vacation and during the spring and summer terms. You john borrow short loan books over the vacation and renew on-line. of the essence(p) secondary material is available in the Reserve Collection or in the Artsfac part of the Reserve Collection. Ask at the Reserve Collection fore communicate this material is stored under the name of the course convenor, Alistair Davies.The seminar strand will supporting the lecture series by ensuring that you have grasped the literary historical subject area of the week (definitions and information are go under out in the referee). still it will function principally a) to improve your confidence and skill in reading poetry and b) to encourage you if you wish to look your own creative response in poetry to the themes and topics of the course. We go for that you will become more than proficient, more imaginative and more self-assured readers of poetry.Your relieve course work will be 2 1000 discourse course work leavens 20% each. We are hoping to encourage you to be concise, focused and lucid in your writing. You will have the opportunity, if you wish, to submit genius piece of creative writing out of two pieces of written work for the course. Remember to check your written work against the criteria exercise set out in the Feedback and How to Make Use of It document you were tending(p) come through term.To underline the importance we attach to your creativity, we draw your attention to details of the Stanmer calculate on page 4 of the course reader. You can read the poems produced by previous winners on the English web-site.The course will also be examined by an unseen in the summer term 60%. You will be required to comment closely on three poems or passages of poems in slipway that reflect upon the literary historical topics covered in the course. You can consult past examination papers through the Sussex web-site.You will commence below a detailed plan of the course. You will be able to see how lectures cram you for seminars in each week and you will be able to plan your work for the course from the goning to the end of the course. We hope that you will find this course informative and enjoyable. If you have any queries, do not hesitate to contact your course tutor or the course convenor, Dr Alistair Davies H.A.Daviessussex.ac.ukThe course will be taught in the following articulate the order in which it is set out in the course readerhebdomad 1Genre and conventionsThe first lecture by Professor Norman Vance will focus on Miltons Lycidas and Paradise Lost and will look for Miltons use of classical genre(s) and conventions. Prepare for the lecture by reading the Genre and Conventions, The Origins of the Pastoral and the Pastoral Elegy portions of the course reader and the section of the Aspects Course S upplement.Week 1 Norman Vance Pastoral Genre and Convention Miltons Lycidas and Paradise LostIn your first seminar, you will focus on two poems Herricks To Daffodils (p.33) and Elizabeth Bishops North Haven (p.5). What are the generic constituents of Herricks poem? What makes Bishops poem a) a pastoral elegy and b) how does it differ as a modern pastoral elegy from Miltons Renaissance pastoral elegy? Paul Alpers study of pastoral cited in the course reader will be helpful here. You whitethorn wish to read Alpers discussion of Lycidas in What is Pastoral there are copies of this in reserve and in short loan copies too in Artsfac. We begin with pastoral and we will focus on pastoral but one presupposition we will explore in the course is that the pastoral idyll provides the ground substance out of which the elegy, the love poem, the poem of philosophical reflection, the subjective lyric, the love poem, the satire and the nature poem are developed in spite of appearance the western and within the English customs.Week 2 Intertextuality.The second lecture will be addicted by Professor Andrew Hadfield and will focus on Jonsons To Penshurst. Prepare for the lecture by re-reading Virgils first eclogue and Horaces second epode in the course reader. You will find To Penshurst in the course reader (pp.29-31). Read the Intertextuality section of the course reader, pp.26-32.Week 2 Andrew Hadfield Intertextuality Ben Jonsons To Penshurst and the Country- hearthstone PoemFor your seminar, read Yeats Coole Park, 1929 and Walcotts Ruins of a Great House in the course reader (pp.31-32). How does Yeats relate to Jonson how does Walcott relate to Yeats (who was an important early influence)? What does it tell us about history and about the history of literature that a poet of the English renaissance, an Irish poet of the 1920s and a Caribbean poet of post-war period should use a form established by Roman poets in the first blow BC. What are the links between pastoral, the c ountry-house poem and empire?Week 3/ Literature and Social ChangeThe third lecture of the term will be given by Dr Sophie doubting doubting Thomas on the topic of the eighteenth century prospect poem.Week 3 Dr Sophie Thomas governing, Poetics and LandscapeFor this lecture, Sophie Thomas will explore the changing modes of the prospect poem in industrial plant by Pope, hoary, Cowper and smith printed in the course reader (pp.36-45) and Wordsworths Tintern Abbey printed on pages 47-48. disport read the section Literature and Social Change, pp.33-48 of the course reader.In her lecture, Sophie Thomas will explore the so-called prospect poem, raising questions about the class and the gender position of the viewer and about the different ways in which nature is re-presented. Will you please read carefully Grays Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College.In your seminar, your tutor will either focus on one or more of the poems by Gray, Cowper and Smith in the reader. How important is i t to take into account the gender of the poets discussed? Does a female keepr have a different sense impression of the possession of a adorn to a male writer?Week 4 Literature and Social ChangeThe fourth lecture of the term will be given by Dr Sophie Thomas. Please prepare by reading the poems by Wordsworth and Coleridge in the course reader, pp. 45-48.Week 4 Dr Sophie Thomas The Landscape of the Imagination Wordsworth and ColeridgeIn your seminar, you will read Wordsworths Tintern Abbey (p.47). How does the tradition of the pastoral poem enable the poet to write here a poem of psychology, a poem of philosophical reflection and a poem of race remember it is addressed to the poets sister. Even though it is written for us in heightened diction, this was written as an example of a form Coleridge and Wordsworth admired, the so-called conversational poem. Of course, The prelim is one, very long conversational poem.Week 5 Research fragmentWeek 5 will be a research sin for your semi nar (this will allow you to catch up with your reading and your writing). You will write your first assignment.Your first written assignment will be collectible in week 6 check on Sussex Direct one 1000 word essay 1) a reading of either a) Jonson b) Bishop c) Yeats or d) Walcott in the well-fixed of questions of genre, convention and intertextuality or 2) a reading of the prospect poem, with reference to Gray, Cowper, Smith or Wordsworth) or, if you wish, 3) you may write an account of George Herberts Life and Andrew Marvells The Garden in the supplement in relationship to ideas of melancholy and of loss, pp. 6-7. The poetry of the English renaissance provides the models from which the English poets of the Romantic period develop the religious, philosophical and psychological preoccupations of their verse.Your seminar tutor will set you specific titles for this assignment.Week 6 Literary History and Periodisation (pp.37-40)The fifth lecture will be given by Dr Alistair Davies on Goldsmiths The desert Village pp.53-58 of course reader). Please read this poem closely before the lecture.Week 6 Dr Alistair Davies Goldsmiths The Deserted Village Literary History and Periodisation.To prepare for the topic for week 6, read the section on Literary History and Periodisation (pp. 49-58) in the course-reader and the section on Literary History and Periodisation in the course supplement.The lecture will set the poem in the context of the gimmick of an eighteenth century landscaped estate and house. The University of Sussex is built in the eighteenth-century country-park of Stanmer House. Please take a stroll around this park (or its remnants) and have a look at the Palladian-style Stanmer House (see final page of course reader).In your seminar, you will discuss the Virgilian and Horatian intertexts of The Deserted Village, relate the poem to questions of globalisation and migration, and explore the links between Goldsmiths poem and the English landscape and pictoria l tradition of the eighteenth century represented by Gainsboroughs painting in the course reader and on its back cover.Please also read the account of Michael McKeons article The Pastoral variation cited in the course reader. There is a brief prcis in the course reader but you should make every effort to read the whole of this important article in Kevin Sharpe and Steven N.Zwicker (eds) Refiguring Revolutions.You would also benefit, if you have not yet done so, from reading the recommended chapters in Raymond Williamss indispensable The Country and the City there are many copies of this in reserve and in short loan and Jonathan Bates The Song of the Earth.Week 7. Literary History Politics and the Subject of ModernityThe sixth lecture of the course will be given by Dr Alistair Davies on The advance.Week 7 Dr Alistair Davies Wordsworths The Prelude Politics and the Subject of ModernityFor your preparation, please re-read The 1805 Prelude, with particular reference to Books 1, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13. For the seminar, we hope you to read A.R.Ammonss Corsons Inlet (pp. 77-8). In what ways can you read Ammonss poem as a post-Romantic rejoinder to Tintern Abbey? In what way is twentieth century American poetry, as we find it instanced in Ammons poem, a critique of the English Romantic tradition and of the American nineteenth century transcendental tradition it helped to shape? Remember that Wordsworth is a cardinal forerunner figure for the modern American lyric poet as he is for the modern English lyric poet. Remember too that the pastoral is a fundamental form in American self-identification in the founding and settling of the new-sprung(prenominal) World. Sylvia Plaths has written wonderful and little known sonnet mayflower on this topic, which you will find on page 49 of the course reader.Week 8. Feminist Literary History.The seventh lecture will be given by Dr Jenny Taylor on Christina Rossetti, concentrating on gremlin mart, pp. 66-71 of the course reader. Please prepare for the lecture by reading Goblin Market and the section on Feminist Literary History in the Aspects course reader, pp.63-71.Week 8 Dr Jenny Taylor Christina Rossetti and the Question of Feminist Literary HistoryFor your seminar, we want you to work through the three poems by Rossetti in the course reader in the light of the questions raised by the lecture and to compare them to the contemporaneous poems by Emily Dickinson in the Atlantic Studies and American pastoral section of the course reader, pp. 96.Second assignment for delivery in week 2 of the summer term. see Sussex Direct. What we want you to do for your second essay is to explore the idea of loco-descriptive verse and the walking or ambulatory poem, examining the ways in which Wordsworth and Ammons have used these forms for metaphysical and religious explorations.You may write a walking poem for your final submission (no more than 30 lines) but with an auto-critique or justification amounting in total to 7 50 wrangle. Or you may write a sonnet in the same on the building a) of Stanmer House in the 1700s or b) the University of Sussex in the 1960s to explore a piece of profound historical transition. It would be useful to re-read Goldsmiths The Deserted Village and the material on Enclosure and Emparking in the course reader before you embark on this (pp.53-58). You might take Sylvia Plaths trailing arbutus on page 49 as your model.Otherwise, you may write a comparative analysis of Wordworths Tintern Abbey and of the Ammons poem. Or your tutor may set you an exercise which has arisen from discussions in your final seminar on Hardy. This exercise is 1000 words long.Week 9. Literary History Transmission and scatteringThe eighth lecture will be given by Professor Norman Vance on pastoral and the loss of faith reflected in and through attitudes to nature in Romantic and post-Romantic poetry, focusing on the poems by Wordsworth, Shelley and Hardy in the course reader, pp.72-77. Please re ad the section on Literary History and Dissemination in the course reader, pp.47-51.Week 9 Prof Norman Vance The surrender of Nature from Wordsworth to Hardy.For your seminar, you will read the series of poems about birds and bird-song in the course supplement, as well as poems by Hardy and Yeats in the course reader linking the poets concerns with bird song and with flight to the possibility or impossibility of preserving the poetic tradition. How do scientific ideas particularly those of Darwin affect nineteenth century poetry? You will also consider the links between literary and intellectual history.Q. What do you think are the relationships between the Samuel Palmer Pastoral Scene (1835) on the social movement cover of the course reader and nineteenth century preoccupations with secularisation?The Jo Francis essay cited in the course reader is useful for reading Mont Blanc the Picot essay (like Franciss essay in Artsfac in the Reserve Collection) is also very helpful. pass Term 2008We expect you to undertake some preparation for the summer term by reading the Atlantic Studies and American Pastoral section of the course reader and the Atlantic Studies and American Pastoral section of the course supplement.The lecture titles for the summer term are as follows. You will be given details about the work to be undertaken during the vacation and in your term-time seminars at the end of the spring term.

Essay on Carolyn Keene

Biography Who is the real Carolyn Keene? The author of the Nancy Drew series and many real much wrote under a pen name. Carolyn Keene does non exist. The person behind every the stories was Mildred Wirt Benson. Her life was an inspiring journey and she even made it to the Ohio Womans Hall of Fame. Mrs. Benson did not stop writing until she was 96. Mildred Bensons early childhood was much like every other childs. She was born on knock against 28, 1905 and grew up in Iowa with her parents. She lived in Ladora, Iowa for most of her life.As a child, Mildred Benson was a shoo-in and enjoyed exploring the rural area behind her familys farm. In addition, Mrs. Benson was well-educated and very intelligent. In elementary school, she showed signs of being adventurous and independent. Even at a young ripen she published her first piece of writing. At age 14, her story appeared in a fiction magazine St. Nicholas. When she entered high school, Mildred was nitid and was able to graduate early. She went straight to college and she graduated with a degree in English and a masters in Journalism at the University of Iowa.Writing was a big part of Mildreds life, and she wrote for Stratmeyer during college. Author and reporter, Mildred Benson married Asa A. Wirt, merely once Asa Wirt passed outdoor(a), she married a man named George Benson. In 1936, Mildred gave birth to her young lady Peggy. Mildred wrote books, and also was a reporter who never backed down. However, her life was not always necessarily perfect and she faced hardships in her life. Mildred Benson was able to honor her identity well hidden, and was forced to reveal who Carolyn Keene was in judiciary when someone tried to take credit for the writing.She was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1997, but nothing could stop her from writing, even cancer and failing eyesight. When she was not writing, she washed-out her time as a pilot, amateur archeologist, and adventurer. Eventually, the cancer took over and Benson passed away at 96. Although Mildred Benson is not alive today, she still stands as an inspiration and fiber model to many. She wrote over 100 books in her lifetime. Mildred was also the first charwoman to graduate the University of Iowa with a degree. As Mildred Benson (a. k. a. Carolyn Keene) said about writing, I cheat Ill miss it more than anything else in my life.

International business project: A case of Mexico Essay

Mexico is the close(prenominal) populated Spanish speaking nation in the domain of a function and comes third in population in the Western hemisphere. Mexico holds to a greater extent than than 100 gazillion inhabitants. In the untimely stratums of its history the establishment had embraced the protectionists policies of mountain in order to motivate industrial growth and indeed plug growth in the domestic miserliness. Unfortunately under these policies the unpolished underwent a decline in animate standards and inflation.The debt crisis in the socio- sparing class of 1982 that precept the state of matter fail to meet its debt obligations primarily aggravated the ch allenges in the sparing especially half panache into the mid 1980s (Pasco 72-73). The Mexi give the sack presidential term therefore in the late years of 1980 adopted measures that were aimed at restructuring the aras economy. The agriculturals efforts consequently shifted to softwood liberalizati on and privatization of industries that were antecedently state owned. Privatization of infrastructures such(prenominal)(prenominal) as rail roads, natural gas distribution, telecommunications, electricity and the airports among others took place extensively.The country proceeded to make economic policy reforms in the early 1990s consequently attracting large amounts of contrary investment funds funds funds cash. However in 1993 the f outset of capital from alien countries started to decline majorly as a result of political uncertainty and an exchange rate that was overvalued. The declined levels of world(prenominal) levels subsequently conduct to peso devaluation. By the last months of 1994 the country was experiencing a currency crisis forcing the disposal to take on the floating exchange rate system. The result was a deep recession of the economy six months later.The aftermath of the recession saw the government restructure the system again to create conditions that would hasten the recovery of the economy. An emergency package was received form the World Bank and a plan that incrementd value added tax, fostered budget cuts and even tighter m angiotensin converting enzymetary policies was implemented. consequent years saw the country increase its exports and softened the impact of the recession. The countrys Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2006 was 4. 8 percent but decreased to 3. 3 percent in the year 2007 and further down by approximately 1% in the year 2008.Mexico has non been left out and the country is significantly feeling the make of the worldwide economic downturn. Economists forecast the contraction of its GDP this year by 2. 6 percent the sharpest ever contraction since the 95 crisis. The country is soon experiencing stemma losses, cut production capacities in plants and poverty levels allow as well short up with more than 5 million people living in impoverished conditions (Field 32-41). Mexicos stack position with Canada The trade traffic between Canada and Mexico shed strengthened because of the North the Statesn cease billet deal proportionateness (NAFTA).The trade flows between the two countries has shown an impressive gradual increase in the non little than nine years existence of the concordance. The results possess now made Mexico, to become Canadas major trading render within the Latin America region. The country in addition ranks fourth as Canadas trading partner in the globe after coupled States (US), China and Japan. For Canada, Mexico has become a very essential destination and is positioned as Canadas third biggest mart for its exports. On the same note Canada in 2002 appeargond on Mexicos lists as the tally five largest foreign provider.The countries sire continued over the years to strengthen their trade ties and now Canada is the first supplier of Mexican agricultural, mineral and metal products. On the other pass richly production standards of Mexico have made it C anadas top supplier in vehicles, agricultural totals and electronic equipment. Consumers in the two countries have taken receipts of the relations to entree a wide range of cheap well-behaveds. On the other hand Mexico also has good trade relations with other countries such as the coupled States. America is basically the lead-in creditor and trade partner for most counties in the Latin region.The two countries are closely linked such that Mexico as a country is the most exposed to the U. S economy and both changes in it would largely allude the Mexicans. More so 80% of the Mexican exports find there way to America. Additionally the Mexican economy is greatly supported by the remission from its working citizens who are in the United States, (Field 32-41). The remittances actually account for not less than 3 percent of its GDP and they form the second largest blood line of income to the nation after oil exports. The country has also taken advantage of its skilled labor fo rce to attract high engine room investors from the United States.The sectors in which America has invested in Mexico include the telecommunications, transport and agricultural industries to remark just a few. Membership in trade blocks. Trade blocks bit a very critical role especially when it comes to outside(a) trade negotiations. Mexico for example is a member of the G20 trade block which constitutes of other members such as Argentina, India, Brazil, Pakistan, China, South Africa. , Philippines, Bolivia, Thailand, Venezuela, Chile, Zimbabwe, Paraguay, among others. The G20 is developing countries grouping that resulted from the world trade dialog in Cancun in the year 2003.The group is led by major exporters and countries that are rapidly growing such as India, China, Brazil, and South Africa reservation it strong and with the capacity to compete with the US and EU in trade negotiations. G20 has been noted for its emphatic rejection of the proposal by the EU to include con test and investment as critical elements in trade talks. The group has also been emphasizing that before they make any agreements on reduced tariffs for manu itemure goods or services the rich nations must first put concessions on agriculture.Additionally Mexico together with the United States and Canada form the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The Agreement addresses the issues of labor, surroundings, trade and investment. Even then the Agreement has been criticized by some US environmental groups and unions who claim that its safeguards are weak. It was amalgamate in the year 1992. The aim of the agreement was to remove trade tariffs on products for a period of not less than 15 years and at the same time limit trade contacts with outsider countries in the globe.The agreement was also expected to increase and enlarge their farmers markets and stimulate economic growth. belatedly there have been calls to renegotiate or su cut down the Agreement after fourteen years i n operations. Clearly though Mexico has benefited from its membership in the block, which is said to be the among the worlds richest blocs. It has for example acted to increase Mexicos amounts of exports, and also increase the amount the country receives from the United States in terms of foreign direct investments (Pasco 72-73).The agreement has also led to an increase of job opportunities for Mexicans also accompanied with an increase in wages especially in the areas with most foreign investors. 4 Governments position on trade and foreign investment In the past few decades Mexico has transitioned from a closed economy to an open economy. The policy of open trade has enabled the country to face the challenges brought by the economic slow down and financial markets that are not stable. In early years of the 80s the country took a step towards unilaterally liberalizing its economy.The country then took domestic measures with the aim of encouraging foreign investment and deregulatin g business activities. In the early 90s the country embraced the country took the initiative of opening its markets by undertaking international trade negotiations with the principles of reciprocity and balance in mind. The country has currently write various bilateral investment agreements and not less than nine international free trade. The result has been export oriented growth and industrial competitiveness.The policies have also led to preferential market access of their exports to more than 800 million consumers that benefit from their exports and have additionally opened up new investment opportunities. Generally the Mexican strategy of free trade agreements has been critical in improving its competitiveness on a global scale, increased trade and long term growth. Its current network of trade agreements can be said to be the major cause of the impressive trade flows in the country. Mexico appears among the ten largest trading countries in the world.In 2003 for example the co untry had exports be not less than $165 million. Basically its quantity of exports has tripled since 1993. Mexico has also been modify to become a manu particularuring export center courtesy of trade liberalization. currently most of the countrys exports are largely manufactured goods a change from the early 80s when the greater percentage of exports was oil. Their youthful productive labor together with the measures of investment protections and tariff elimination are among the factors that have encouraged foreign investments making it a manufacturing hub.Their auto, electronics and textile and invest industries have industries have been the most beneficiaries of trade liberalization (Pasco 72-73). . Reasons why Canadian companies should trade/invest there and reasons why they should not. Mexico comes across as a very viable country for Canada to invest in. Among the reasons are its strategic position, economic indicators, policies that aim at encouraging foreign investors an d a conducive environment for investment among umteen others. The country is made up of 32 federal official States of which each is free and sovereign and its territory extends to not less than one million square kilometers.The country borders Guatemala, Belize and the United States. The country additionally hosts more than one hundred million inhabitants of all religious affiliations meaning that all beliefs are represented without bias though the majority of the population is Christian. Spanish is the official language of Mexico although it has more than 66 kinds of languages. The country currency is called Peso. The countrys place of location allows it to supply the markets in North America and also to have access to potential world inputs and modern technologies.The Jalisco, Quintana Roo, Colimo are among the federative entities whose populations greatly participate in economic enhancement. Its population consists of not less than 1 million unemployed citizens. The country is e ndowed with an attractive investment environment even as demonstrated by the following statistics in 2007 the country was ranked as the 12th largest economy in the world by the virtue of its GDP with regards to its oil reserves it appears as number 17 globally additionally the country is a very important tourist destination ranking eight globally in this regard. save the country is among the top ten countries in the world that benefit most from foreign direct investment. Additionally their fiscal and financial policies have served to match that the country enjoys periods of macroeconomic stability with reference to the recent years. In fact it was named the best Latin American country in terms of indulgent business conditions and placement of foreigners capitals. The stable economy that it has enjoyed has led to it accommodating not less 30,000 foreign companies. The economic stability therefore makes it a good destination for conducting profitable business.In order to attract mo re investment the country has a consolidation of several sectors of production which include of industries such as the automobiles industry which was ranked 7th globally, electronic industry, telecommunications industry, the information technology and software industry. These sectors provide different kinds of opportunities for Canadian investors. The country additionally has good relationships business wise with other countries in the global scenario. This has allowed it to have preferential access to the markets in Israel, North America, and the European Union just to insinuate a few.The preferential access it enjoys combined with its cheap yet early and qualified labor force make the country a lucrative destination for investment by Canadians. The Bilateral Investment Treaties that the country has gestural should be an attraction enough for Canadian investors. Through these treaties the country offers legitimate protection and protection to it foreign investors. Moreover the country offers a low risk return combination that guarantees the investors markets access prevailing conditions of macroeconomic stability, foil and political stability.Additionally investors have the opportunity of benefiting from the high quality inputs offered at affordable prices, growing domestic markets, and wide array of trade agreements. In spite of this Canada may not need to invest in Mexico because of the fact that Mexico is among the top countries with high levels of corruption in the region. Any country with high levels of corruption is should be scary to investors because it simply implies that investors will have to spend more than is necessary in order to get value for their money.The make of corruption in fact go way past the monetary costs. The country also suffers from poor infrastructural networks although the government is taking steps to ensure that infrastructure is improved to allow investors to have access to any market and on time. The country is also co nsumed by the culture of drug call out among its especially productive population. This means that in a way the investor security can not be guaranteed. The country also has strict sound and regulatory frameworks that may serve to impede the speed by which an investor can establish his business.The effects of agglomeration also may work to hinder any Canadians that would want to invest in Mexico. In conclusion Mexico would be a wise choice for any investor, this is because the country has done everything to ensure that its business people will not only be able to access the internal but also the external markets especially through the many trade agreements it has signed. This means that all the established businesses in the country have the potential to operate profitably.

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? 5 Please, choose 5 topics from the list below and keep open essays on them observing the compositional elements (250-300 words). 1. Handsome is as handsome does. 2. Appearances be deceptive. 3. Actions speak louder than words. 4. Everything is good in its season. 5. Art is long life is short. 6. As you sow, you sh all told mow. 7. Forbidden fruit is sweetest. 8. Better late than never. 9. Idleness is the mother of all evil. 10. Drop by drop wears away the shone. 11. East or air jacket home is best. 12. Dont cook a hare out front catching him. 13. First come first served. 14.A friend in need is a friend indeed. 15. Live and let live. 1. ?. ?. . 2. , 18 ?. 2. ?. ?. . 3. ?. ?. . . 4. ?. ? . . 1. ?. ?. . 2. ?. ?. . 3. ?. ?. . . ?. ?. ? . 5. ?. ?. ? - . 1. 1994 ?. ?. - / ?. ?. . 2-? . . ?. , 1994. 240 ?. 2. American Heritage mental lexicon of the side Language http // dictionary. reference. com (2000, Feb. 25). 3. Active Study lexicon of English. Harlow Longman Group UK Limited, 1988. 710 p. 4. collins Cobuild English Language dictionary. London Har?er Collins Publishers, 1991. 1703 p. 5. Cambridge International Dictionary of English. Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1996. 1699 p. 6. The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics Oxford Pergamon Press and so forth , 1994. Vol. VII. 7. Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture. Harlow Addison Wesley Longman, England, 1998. 1568 p. 8. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Harlow Longman Group UK Limited, 1978. 1303 p. 9. Longman Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. Harlow Longman Group UK Limited, 1986. 734 p. 10. Longman Language Activator. Harlow Longman Group UK Limited, 1992. 1590 p. 1. The Oxford Russian Dictionary. Oxford Oxford University Press, 1997. 1340 p. 12. Oxford Learners Dictionary of reliable English. Oxford Oxford University Press, 1982. 527 p. 13. RussianEnglish Dictionary of Idioms. New York Random H ouse, 1995. 1017 p. 14. Rogets Thesaurus of English words and phrases. London Penguin Books, 1966. 722 p. 15. Wordsmyth Educational Dictionary Thesaurus. http//www. wordsmyth. net. 16. WordNet 1997, Princeton Universiry http//dictionary. reference. com . 17. Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary http//dictionary. reference. com

Effectiveness of Educational Technology”

The purpose of this enquiry Effectiveness of Educational technology From a Department of Education 1995 forum, some panelists contended that rather than debating the connections between technology-based focus and test scores, schools should focus on the most obvious and compelling originator form implementing technology-namely, those school-age childs needs strong technology skills to succeed in the realness of work. From research studies it shows positive benefits from the use of technology for educational purposes. The data system use to collect this information was First, a U. S. Department of Education-funded study of gild technology-rich schools, concluded that the use of technology resulted in educational gains for every scholarly persons disregardless of age, race, parental income, or other characteristics. The second, a 10-year study supported by Apple Computer, Inc.Concluded that student provided with technology-rich learning environments continued to perform pu ff up on standardized tests but were also developing a garland of competencies not usually measured. Some success seen by there research, rebellion scores on state tests, improved student attendance, increased student comprehension, self motivation, more parent/ teacher support improved student retention. Another issue the research hoped to confront was the possibility of negative set up from prolonged exposure to computers.Some critics have worried those students who use computers extensively will become brain-dead or less social from looking at the computer screen all day. At the end of two years, the researchers well-educated that some of their worst fears had been groundless. In a 1994 Software Publishers Association (SPA) study, research found that Educational technology has a significant positive mend on achievement in all subject areas, across all levels of school, and in regular classrooms as well as those for special-needs students.Educational technology has positive effects on student attitudes. The degree of effectiveness is influenced by the student population, the instructional design, the teachers role, how students are grouped, and the levels of student price of admission to technology. Technology makes instruction more student-centered, encourages cooperative learning, and stimulated increased teacher/student interaction. Positive changes in the learning environment evolve over time and do not occur quickly.

Mali Empire and New World Encyclopedia Essay

Timbuktu was established by the Taureg, a nomadic group, in the tenth- ordinal coulomb along the caravan routes that were along the west coast of Africa (New human signifier cyclopaedia 2007). Timbuktu was in a good spot for trade exactly not for defending against attacks, and Timbuktu was constantly attacked by Taureg raiders (New existence Encyclopedia 2007). Timbuktu was neer able to grow due to the raids, but Gao, Timbuktus neighboring city grew to be the political capital (New World Encyclopedia 2007).As Timbuktu develop and became a city that traded lucky, ivory, slaves, and salt Timbuktu became immensely wealthy (New World Encyclopedia 2007). Since Timbuktu was so wealthy it was a target for umteen European empires conditionk wealth (New World Encyclopedia 2007). It started to decline in the 16th century by the Portuguese traders choosing to send the goods upriver instead of down river (New World Encyclopedia 2007). As Timbuktu developed into a more intellectual spunk in the early 15th century it became known for its religious pick up of Islam (New World Encyclopedia 2007).While Islam was the main religion of Timbuktu, slightly of the uncouth population were non-Muslim traditionalists (New World Encyclopedia 2007). The University of Sankore, also known as the most prominent Islamic institution, was established in 1581 C. E. and taught mostly centered around the Quran (New World Encyclopedia 2007). In Timbuktu there were more than 120 subroutine librarys in which housed millions of books, and some of which have not been found stock-still (New World Encyclopedia 2007).As stories of Timbuktus wealth deceaseed Europe many explorers journeyed downward into Africa to have their own taste of the wealth (Timbuktu The El Dorado of Africa 2013). As countless European explorers journeyed to Timbuktu and never returned The Geographic Society of Paris offered a reward to whatever explorer that could make it there and 2 grit and live to tell the tale (Timbuktu The El Dorado of Africa 2013). The first explorer to reach Timbuktu was Gordon Laing in 1826, but he didnt make it back live(a) (Timbuktu The El Dorado of Africa 2013).The first explorer to reach Timbuktu was Rene-Auguste Caillie in 1828, by disguising himself as an Arab traveling in a caravan (Timbuktu The El Dorado of Africa 2013). When Rene returned to Europe he wrote three volumes over how unimpressed he was about the city in that it being a mud-walled city, in the middle of the desert, and not having any gold (Timbuktu The El Dorado of Africa 2013). Although in 1512 when Timbuktu was at its peak and Leo Africanus visited he verbalize The rich king of Tombuto hath many plates and sceptres of gold, some whereof weigh 1300 poundsHe hath perpetually 3000 horsemen (and) a great store of doctors, judges, priests, and other learned men, that are plenteously maintained at the kings expense. (New World Encyclopedia 2007) Although from Shabenis point of view of Timbuk tu in 1787 he stated On the eastern United States side of the city of Timbuctoo, there is a large forest, in which are a great many elephants. The timber here is very large. The trees on the outside of the forest are remarkable they are of such a size that the largest cannot be girded by two men.They bear a kind of berry about the size of a walnut, in clusters consisting of from ten to cardinal berries. Shabeeny cannot say what is the extent of this forest, but it is very large. (New World Encyclopedia 2007) In 1591 Timbuktu started to slowly decline due to the Morisco mercenaries armed with guns (New World Encyclopedia 2007). star of the few reasons Timbuktu is still in existence is 3 because it is a major tourist attraction that attracts people from all over the world to see the mystical city (New World Encyclopedia 2007).4 Alistair Boddy-Evans (2013). Timbuktu The El Dorado of Africa. ONLINE uncommitted at http//africanhistory. about. com/od/mali/p/Timbuktu. htm. Last Access ed September 10 2013. unknown (2007). Timbuktu. ONLINE procurable at http//www. newworldencyclopedia. org/entry/Timbuktu. Last Accessed September 10 2013. unknown (2013). Sankore Madrasah. ONLINE Available at http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sankore_Madrasah. Last Accessed Sepember 10 2013.

Cultural Dimensions Essay

1)Give the definition and objectives of your cultural dimensions (what does the dimension eyeshade? what do you urgency to measure? For instance ability to work in groups, individual authorization (for the individual/collective dimension).Diffuse and Specific orientated stopping points The most unpatterned difference is the ability to separate private from professional life. In soft cultures, the private and professional lives are closely linked whereas specific cultures lionize them separate.Additionally, specific cultures promote directness, precision, and transparency. Also, people from specific orientated cultures are qualified to remove themselves from a situation in regards to principles and values. This means that specific orientated cultures encourage objectivity.This is in contrast with the diffuse orientated culture that is more(prenominal)(prenominal) indirect and highly subjective. Furthermore, it can be said that this culture is more informal and social-ori entated.2)Illustrate the dimension referring not only to the professional life. Describe situations in which the dimension may impact behaviors. For instance when somebody cries in the classroom, (for the indifferent(p)/ affective dimension).For example, if a manager is invited to dinner by employees, in a specific-orientated culture, the manager might decline the invitation as he or she wouldnt feel it is appropriate whereas in a diffuse orientated culture this might be seen as an opportunity to bring informality to the relationship. So in a company based in Germany, this invitation would be seen as inappropriate because Germany has a more specific culture whereas in Finland this wouldnt necessarily be frowned upon as it is more diffuse orientated.3)In order to measure your dimension among persons of different nationality, prepare a series or questions (MCQ or Yes/No type are easier to analyze).

A Game of Thrones Chapter Sixty-six

BranThe emeritusest were gaypower grown, seventeen and eighteen old age from the solar daylight of their naming. One was past twenty. Most were younger, sestetteen or less.Bran watched them from the balcony of Maester Luwins turret, listening to them find fault and strain and curse as they swung their staves and wooden swords. The yard was alive to the piffle of wood on wood, punctuated whole similarly often by thwacks and yowls of bruise when a blow struck leather or flesh. Ser Rodrik strode among the boys, face reddening killstairs his white whiskers, muttering at them one and all. Bran had neer contactn the old nickname look so fierce. no. he kept saying. No. No. No.They dont fight very well, Bran say dubiously. He scratched pass idly back incessantlyyplacelyth the ears as the direwolf tore at a haunch of meat. Bones crunched between his teeth.For a foregone conclusion, Maester Luwin agreed with a deep sigh. The maester was peering through his outsized My rish crystalline lens tube, metre shadows and noning the position of the humpt that hung low in the morning sky. Yet given(p) judg universepowert of conviction . . . Ser Rodrik has the loyalty of it, we need men to walk the bulwarks. Your lord baffle took the pick of his guard to Kings Landing, and your br differentwise took the rest, a eagle-eyed with all the a homogeneously lads for leagues more or less. Many allow foring non come back to us, and we must needs find the men to take their places.Bran st ard resentfully at the sweating boys below. If I still had my legs, I could beat them all. He remembered the finish time hed held a sword in his devolve, when the king had come to Winterfell. It was only a wooden sword, yet hed knocked Prince Tommen conquer half a hundred times. Ser Rodrik should teach me to use a poleaxe. If I had a poleaxe with a big long haft, Hodor could be my legs. We could be a knight together.I think that . . . un resemblingly, Maester Luwi n utter. Bran, when a man fights, his harness and legs and thoughts must be as one.Below in the yard, Ser Rodrik was yelling. You fight same(p) a goose. He pecks you and you peck him weightyer. Parry Block the blow. Goose conflict will not suffice. If those were real swords, the first peck would take your work up rancid One of the other boys laughed, and the old knight rounded on him. You laugh. You. Now that is gall. You fight like a hedgehog . . . T here(predicate) was a knight once who couldnt see, Bran said stubbornly, as Ser Rodrik went on below. Old gran told me near him. He had a long staff with blades at almost(prenominal) ends and he could spin it in his hands and chop devil men at once.Symeon Star-Eyes, Luwin said as he marked numbers in a book. When he lost his eyes, he put leash sapphires in the empty sockets, or so the singers claim. Bran, that is only a story, like the tales of Florian the Fool. A fable from the Age of Heroes. The maester tsked. You mus t put these woolgathers aside, they will only rive your come acrosst.The mention of dreams reminded him. I dreamed well-nigh the crow again coda night. The one with three eyes. He flew into my bedchamber and told me to come with him, so I did. We went refine to the crypts. Father was in that location, and we talked. He was sad.And why was that? Luwin peered through his tube.It was something to do virtually Jon, I think. The dream had been deeply disturbing, more so than any of the other crow dreams. Hodor wint go down into the crypts.The maester had only been half listening, Bran could tell. He displace his eye from the tube, blinking. Hodor wont . . . Go down into the crypts. When I woke, I told him to take me down, to see if Father was truly there. At first he didnt know what I was saying, unless I got him to the steps by telling him to go here and go there, only then he wouldnt go down. He unless stood on the top step and said Hodor, like he was fright of the tail, only I had a great mullein. It do me so mad I almost gave him a swat in the motion, like Old granny is always doing. He saw the way the maester was frowning and hurriedly added, I didnt, though.Good. Hodor is a man, not a mule to be beaten.In the dream I flew down with the crow, only I cant do that when Im awake, Bran explained.Why would you need to go down to the crypts?I told you. To look for Father.The maester tugged at the chain of mountains around his neck, as he often did when he was uncomfortable. Bran, sweet child, one day Lord Eddard will sit below in stone, beside his develop and his fathers father and all the Starks back to the old Kings in the due north . . . but that will not be for many years, gods be good. Your father is a captive of the queen in Kings Landing. You will not find him in the crypts.He was there last night. I talked to him.Stubborn boy, the maester sighed, setting his book aside. Would you like to go see?I cant. Hodor wont go, and the steps ar e too condition and twisty for Dancer.I believe I can solve that difficulty.In place of Hodor, the wildling woman Osha was summoned. She was uplifted and tough and uncomplaining, willing to go wheresoever she was commanded. I lived my life beyond the Wall, a hole in the priming coat wont fret me none, mlords, she said. pass, come, Bran called as she lifted him in wiry-strong arms. The direwolf left his bone and followed as Osha carried Bran across the yard and down the spiral steps to the cold spring under the world. Maester Luwin went ahead with a blow fire. Bran did not even mindtoo badlythat she carried him in her arms and not on her back. Ser Rodrik had ordered Oshas chain struck off, since she had served faithfully and well since she had been at Winterfell. She still wore the heavy campaign shackles around her anklesa sign that she was not yet wholly bankbut they did not hinder her sure strides down the steps.Bran could not guess the last time he had been in the crypt s. It had been before, for certain. When he was little, he apply to play down here with Robb and Jon and his sisters.He wished they were here now the burial vault might not digest seemed so dark and scary. Summer walk out in the echoing gloom, then enlistmentped, lifted his head, and sniffed the chill bloodless air. He bared his teeth and crept backward, eyes glowing golden in the light of the maesters torch. Even Osha, hard as old iron, seemed uncomfortable. Grim folk, by the look of them, she said as she eyed the long row of granite Starks on their stone thrones.They were the Kings of Winter, Bran whispered. Somehow it felt wrong to talk too loud in this place.Osha smiled. Winters got no king. If youd seen it, youd know that, summer boy.They were the Kings in the North for mebibytes of years, Maester Luwin said, lifting the torch high so the light shone on the stone faces. Some were pilous and bindded, shaggy men fierce as the wolves that crouched by their feet. Others w ere shaved clean, their features impecunious and sharp-edged as the iron longswords across their laps. Hard men for a hard time. Come. He strode briskly down the vault, past the procession of stone pillars and the undying carved figures. A tongue of flame trailed back from the upraised torch as he went.The vault was cavernous, longer than Winterfell itself, and Jon had told him once that there were other levels underneath, vaults even deeper and darker where the older kings were buried. It would not do to lose the light. Summer refused to come to from the steps, even when Osha followed the torch, Bran in her arms.Do you recall your history, Bran? the maester said as they walked. put Osha who they were and what they did, if you can.He looked at the passing faces and the tales came back to him. The maester had told him the stories, and Old Nan had do them come alive. That one is Jon Stark. When the sea raiders arrive in the east, he hatch them out and built the fortification at White Harbor. His son was Rickard Stark, not my fathers father but another Rickard, he took the Neck forth from the marshland King and married his fille. Theon Starks the real thin one with the long cop and the skinny beard. They called him the Hungry Wolf, because he was always at war. Thats a Brandon, the tall one with the dreamy face, he was Brandon the Shipwright, because he loved the sea. His tomb is empty. He tried to sail west across the Sunset Sea and was never seen again. His son was Brandon the Burner, because he put the torch to all his fathers ships in grief. on that points Rodrik Stark, who won Bear Island in a wrestling match and gave it to the Mormonts. And thats Torrhen Stark, the King Who Knelt. He was the last King in the North and the first Lord of Winterfell, after(prenominal) he yielded to Aegon the Conqueror. Oh, there, hes Cregan Stark. He fought with Prince Aemon once, and the Dragonknight said hed never faced a fine swordsman. They were almost at t he end now, and Bran felt a sadness travel over him. And theres my grandfather, Lord Rickard, who was beheaded by Mad King Aerys. His daughter Lyanna and his son Brandon are in the tombs beside him. Not me, another Brandon, my fathers brother. Theyre not hypothetic to have statues, thats only for the lords and the kings, but my father loved them so often he had them done.The maids a fair one, Osha said.Robert was betrothed to marry her, but Prince Rhaegar carried her off and raped her, Bran explained. Robert fought a war to win her back. He killed Rhaegar on the Trident with his hammer, but Lyanna died and he never got her back at all.A sad tale, said Osha, but those empty holes are sadder.Lord Eddards tomb, for when his time comes, Maester Luwin said. Is this where you saw your father in your dream, Bran?Yes. The memory made him shiver. He looked around the vault uneasily, the hairs on the back of his neck bristling. Had he heard a noise? Was there someone here?Maester Luwin step ped toward the open sepulchre, torch in hand. As you see, hes not here. Nor will he be, for many a year. Dreams are only dreams, child. He thrust his arm into the blackness inside the tomb, as into the mouth of some great beast. Do you see? Its quite emptThe darkness sprang at him, snarling.Bran saw eyes like green fire, a flash of teeth, fur as black as the pit around them. Maester Luwin yelled and threw up his hands. The torch went flying from his fingers, caromed off the stone face of Brandon Stark, and tumbled to the statues feet, the flames licking up his legs. In the drunken shifting torchlight, they saw Luwin struggling with the direwolf, beating at his jape with one hand while the jaws nearlyd on the other.Summer Bran screamed.And Summer came, shooting from the dimness behind them, a leaping shadow. He slammed into shaggy-haireddog and knocked him back, and the two direwolves rolled over and over in a tangle of grayish and black fur, snapping and pungent at each other, while Maester Luwin struggled to his knees, his arm lacerated and bloody. Osha propped Bran up against Lord Rickards stone wolf as she hurried to serve well the maester. In the light of the guttering torch, shadow wolves twenty feet tall fought on the wall and roof.Shaggy, a itty-bitty voice called. When Bran looked up, his little brother was standing in the mouth of Fathers tomb. With one final snap at Summers face, Shaggydog broke off and bounded to Rickons side. You allow my father be, Rickon warned Luwin. You allow him be.Rickon, Bran said bluely. Fathers not here.Yes he is. I saw him. Tears glistened on Rickons face. I saw him last night.In your dream . . . ?Rickon nodded. You leave him. You leave him be. Hes coming home now, like he promised. Hes coming home. Bran had never seen Maester Luwin took so uncertain before. Blood dripped down his arm where Shaggydog had shredded the wool of his sleeve and the flesh beneath. Osha, the torch, he said, biting through his pain, and she snatched it up before it went out. Soot stains blackened both legs of his uncles semblance. That . . . that beast, Luwin went on, is divinatory to be chained up in the kennels.Rickon patted Shaggydogs muzzle, damp with blood. I let him loose. He doesnt like chains. He licked at his fingers.Rickon, Bran said, would you like to come with me?No. I like it here.Its dark here. And cold.Im not afraid. I have to inhabit for Father.You can wait with me, Bran said. Well wait together, you and me and our wolves. Both of the direwolves were licking wounds now, and would bear close watching.Bran, the maester said firmly, I know you mean well, but Shaggydog is too wild to run loose. Im the third man hes savaged. Give him the freedom of the castle and its only a question of time before he kills someone. The truth is hard, but the wolf has to be chained, or . . . &rdquo He hesitated. . . or killed, Bran thought, but what he said was, He was not made for chains. We will wait in your tower, all of us.That is quite impossible, Maester Luwin said.Osha grinned. The boys the lordling here, as I recall. She handed Luwin back his torch and scooped Bran up into her arms again. The maesters tower it is.Will you come, Rickon?His brother nodded. If Shaggy comes too, he said, running after Osha and Bran, and there was nothing Maester Luwin could do but follow, keeping a wary eye on the wolves.Maester Luwins turret was so cluttered that it seemed to Bran a wonder that he ever found anything. tottering piles of books covered tables and chairs, rows of stoppered jars lined the shelves, candle stubs and puddles of dried uprise dotted the furniture, the bronze Myrish lens tube sat on a tripod by the terrace door, star charts hung from the walls, shadow maps lay scattered among the rushes, papers, quills, and pots of inks were everywhere, and all of it was spotted with droppings from the ravens in the rafters. Their strident quorks drifted down from above as Osha washed and cleaned an d whiled the maesters wounds, under Luwins terse instruction. This is folly, the small grey man said while she dabbed at the wolf bites with a stinging ointment. I agree that it is odd that both you boys dreamed the same dream, yet when you stop to consider it, its only natural. You miss your lord father, and you know that he is a captive. Fear can fever a mans mind and give him get over thoughts. Rickon is too young to comprehendIm four now, Rickon said. He was peeking through the lens tube at the gargoyles on the get-go Keep. The direwolves sat on antagonist sides of the large round room, licking their wounds and gnawing on bones.too young, andooh, seven hells, that burns, no, dont stop, more. excessively young, as I say, but you, Bran, youre old enough to know that dreams are only dreams.Some are, some arent. Osha poured pale red firemilk into a long gash. Luwin gasped. The children of the forest could tell you a thing or two about dreaming.Tears were streaming down the mae sters face, yet he shook his head doggedly. The children . . . live only in dreams. Now. Dead and departed. Enough, thats enough. Now the bandages. Pads and then wrap, and appoint it tight, Ill be bleeding.Old Nan says the children knew the songs of the trees, that they could fly like birds and swim like fish and talk to the animals, Bran said. She says that they made music so beautiful that it made you cry like a little baby just to hear it.And all this they did with magic, Maester Luwin said, distracted. I wish they were here now. A spell would recuperate my arm less painfully, and they could talk to Shaggydog and tell him not to bite. He gave the big black wolf an angry glance out of the corner of his eye. find a lesson, Bran. The man who trusts in spells is dueling with a glass sword. As the children did. Here, let me show you something. He stood abruptly, pass the room, and returned with a green jar in his good hand. Have a look at these, he said as he pulled the stopper a nd shook out a smattering of shiny black arrowheads.Bran picked one up. Its made of glass. Curious, Rickon drifted closer to peer over the table.Dragonglass, Osha named it as she sat down beside Luwin, bandagings in hand.Obsidian, Maester Luwin insisted, holding out his wound arm. Forged in the fires of the gods, far below the earth. The children of the forest track down with that, thousands of years ago. The children worked no metal. In place of mail, they wore long shirts of woven leaves and bound their legs in bark, so they seemed to melt into the wood. In place of swords, they carried blades of obsidian.And still do. Osha placed soft pads over the bites on the maesters forearm and bound them tight with long strips of linen.Bran held the arrowhead up close. The black glass was slick and shiny. He thought it beautiful. Can I keep one?As you wish, the maester said.I demand one too, Rickon said. I want four. Im four.Luwin made him count them out. Careful, theyre still sharp. Don t cut yourself.Tell me about the children, Bran said. It was important.What do you wish to know?Everything.Maester Luwin tugged at his chain collar where it galled against his neck. They were people of the Dawn Age, the very first, before kings and kingdoms, he said. In those days, there were no castles or holdfasts, no cities, not so much as a market town to be found between here and the sea of Dorne. There were no men at all. Only the children of the forest dwelt in the lands we now call the heptad Kingdoms.They were a people dark and beautiful, small of stature, no taller than children even when grown to manhood. They lived in the depths of the wood, in caves and crannogs and mystifying tree towns. Slight as they were, the children were quick and graceful. Male and female hunted together, with weirwood bows and flying snares. Their gods were the gods of the forest, stream, and stone, the old gods whose names are secret. Their wise men were called greenseers, and carved strange faces in the weirwoods to keep watch on the woods. How long the children reigned here or where they came from, no man can know.But some xii thousand years ago, the First work force appeared from the east, crossing the Broken outgrowth of Dorne before it was broken. They came with bronze swords and great leathern shields, riding horses. No horse had ever been seen on this side of the narrow sea. No doubt the children were as scared by the horses as the First Men were by the faces in the trees. As the First Men carved out holdfasts and farms, they cut down the faces and gave them to the fire. Horror-struck, the children went to war. The old songs say that the greenseers used dark magics to make the seas rise and sweep away the land, shattering the Arm, but it was too late to close the door. The wars went on until the earth ran red with blood of men and children both, but more children than men, for men were larger and stronger, and wood and stone and obsidian make a poor match for bronze. last the wise of both races prevailed, and the chiefs and heroes of the First Men met the greenseers and wood dancers amidst the weirwood groves of a small island in the great lake called Gods Eye.There they forged the agreement. The First Men were given the coastlands, the high plains and bright meadows, the mountains and bogs, but the deep woods were to remain everlastingly the childrens, and no more weirwoods were to be put to the axe anywhere in the realm. So the gods might bear witness to the sign, every tree on the island was given a face, and afterward, the sacred order of green men was create to keep watch over the Isle of Faces.The Pact began four thousand years of friendship between men and children. In time, the First Men even put aside the gods they had brought with them, and took up the worship of the secret gods of the wood. The signing of the Pact ended the Dawn Age, and began the Age of Heroes.Brans fist curled around the shiny black arrowhead. But the children of the forest are all gone now, you said.Here, they are, said Osha, as she bit off the end of the last bandage with her teeth. North of the Wall, things are different. Thats where the children went, and the giants, and the other old races.Maester Luwin sighed. Woman, by rights you ought to be late(prenominal) or in chains. The Starks have treated you more gently than you deserve. It is edged to repay them for their kindness by filling the boys heads with folly.Tell me where they went, Bran said. I want to know.Me too, Rickon echoed.Oh, very well, Luwin muttered. So long as the kingdoms of the First Men held sway, the Pact endured, all through the Age of Heroes and the Long Night and the birth of the Seven Kingdoms, yet finally there came a time, many centuries later, when other peoples crossed the narrow sea.The Andals were the first, a race of tall, fair-haired warriors who came with steel and fire and the seven-pointed star of the new gods painted on their chests. The w ars lasted hundreds of years, but in the end the six southron kingdoms all fell before them. Only here, where the King in the North threw back every army that tried to cross the Neck, did the rule of the First Men endure. The Andals burnt out the weirwood groves, hacked down the faces, slaughtered the children where they found them, and everywhere proclaimed the triumph of the Seven over the old gods. So the children fled northSummer began to howl.Maester Luwin broke off, startled. When Shaggydog bounded to his feet and added his voice to his brothers, dread clutched at Brans heart. Its coming, he whispered, with the certainty of despair. He had known it since last night, he realized, since the crow had led him down into the crypts to say farewell. He had known it, but he had not believed. He had wanted Maester Luwin to be right. The crow, he thought, the three-eyed crow . . .The howling stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Summer padded across the tower foundation to Shaggydog, a nd began to lick at a mat of bloody fur on the back of his brothers neck. From the window came a flutter of wings.A raven landed on the grey stone sill, opened its beak, and gave a harsh, raucous rattle of distress.Rickon began to cry. His arrowheads fell from his hand one by one and clattered on the floor. Bran pulled him close and hugged him.Maester Luwin stared at the black bird as if it were a scorpion with feathers. He rose, backward as a sleepwalker, and moved to the window. When he whistled, the raven hopped onto his bandaged forearm. There was dried blood on its wings. A hawk, Luwin murmured, perhaps an owl. Poor thing, a wonder it got through. He took the letter from its leg.Bran found himself shivering as the maester unrolled the paper. What is it? he said, holding his brother all the harder.You know what it is, boy, Osha said, not unkindly. She put her hand on his head.Maester Luwin looked up at them numbly, a small grey man with blood on the sleeve of his grey wool robe and bust in his bright grey eyes. My lords, he said to the sons, in a voice gone hoarse and shrunken, we . . . we shall need to find a stonecarver who knew his likeness well . . .