Saturday, December 28, 2019

Significance Of The Resurrection Of Jesus - 1511 Words

According to the New Testament, what is the significance of the resurrection of Jesus? Student No. D Essay Title: What is the Significance of the Resurrection of Jesus? In this task, I will investigate a range of academic literature to answer the essay question ‘What is the Significance of the Resurrection of Jesus?’ and the influence it has on the Christian life. As Christians Easter Sunday is the day that we celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Marcus, Borg and Wright (2009) discuss Jesus in terms of a pre-and post-Easter Christ. The post-Easter was what he became after his death. The author is of the view that Jesus followers continue to experience the post- Easter Jesus as â€Å"an experiential reality, not simply and article of†¦show more content†¦Warnock (2010) says that the resurrection of Jesus was a powerfully divine event in creation’s history and how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. (p13) Warnock (2010) says that the resurrection is still changing lives today, it changes us as Christians from being spiritually dead to being alive to God again and it offers us forgiveness and freedom. It also offers us hope beyond the grave. It changes fear into love and despair into joy when we follow Jesus. Footnote 1 â€Å"it changes fear into love, despair into joy.† Footnote 2 â€Å"the king of all Israel is the God who rules all things. Easter Sunday is very significant to in the resurrection of Christ. At Easter time, we celebrate the rising for Jesus from the grave. This shows the importance of the resurrection which is about Jesus post-death experiences and when he became Lord. The resurrection is important because it was the day that God rose his Son from the dead. NT Wright - the meaning of Jesus According to Wright (1999). The resurrection of Christ was very significant. The author writes to say that the post Jesus resurrection saw a huge rise in Christianity and many Christians experienced Jesus after his death. Jesus rose from the grave and left an empty tomb. Wright (2003) says it does not matter what happened to the corpse of Jesus it is irrelevant to the truth of Easter is it is about the resurrection. The significance here is that the resurrection developed the Christian faith. MyShow MoreRelatedSignificance Of Resurrection And The Created World1321 Words   |  6 PagesTH501X2 Basic Christian Doctrine Brian Edgar Significance of Resurrection to the Created World Requirement #4 April 24, 2015 Christie M. Berty Around the world, every spring, in many different types of celebrations, millions of people acknowledge that around twenty centuries ago Jesus Christ was raised from the dead; commonly known as â€Å"Easter.† Easter is a celebration of the significance of the resurrection of Jesus and it has significance for the created world. The origin of the wordRead MoreA Meal With Jesus Christ Essay1601 Words   |  7 PagesA Meal with Jesus Twelve disciples were hand selected to spend 3 years with Jesus. They learned from a man who brought then a renewed spirit, taught them a new way of life, and who demonstrated what it looked like to be a perfect being. Then, one night while sitting around the dinner table, Jesus prophesized his own death and resurrection, and called out the disciple that would betray him. Knowing that the end was near, Jesus gave his disciples bread as a symbol of his body and wine as his bloodRead MoreLewis Used Arthurian Tales And Mythology To Make His Novels1051 Words   |  5 Pagesthrough the fantasy and myth, demonstrated Biblical concepts through his works. Aslan, the lion, one of the main characters in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, sacrifices himself for a traitor which represents the Biblestory of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Aslan is king by right of the entirety of Narnia, omnipotent, righteous, worshiped by his followers, and hated by his enemies. In the story, Edmund betrays Aslan and his siblings, Peter, Susan, and Lucy and joins the White Witch, the mainRead MoreSignificance Of Christ s Resurrection Essay1630 Words   |  7 Pages Upon discussing about the importance and significance of Christ’s resurrection, there will be a few different, major aspects that this research paper will cover. The resurrection touches many different area of studies. Those who consider this event to be true (doesn’t have to just be Christian only) will have to agree that it’s a historical landmark; a phenomenal, miraculous event that cannot be too easy to explain. On the theological aspect, which all Christians should be take into considerationRead MoreThe Resurrection Of Jesus Was A Literal, Historical Event1282 Words   |  6 Pageslife and death. Questions such as ‘What is there after death?’ and ‘Do I have a purpose on this planet?’ have plagued countless people. When looking at the statement in question,  "It is not necessary for Christian faith to believe that the resurrection of Jesus was a literal, historical event.†, one must remember that in the minds of Christians, not only is it a comfort that there is something after death, but also an answer to both of the previous questions; yes, there is life after death and; yesRead MoreEssay Jesus: Religous Myth1196 Words   |  5 Pages Jesus resurrection is one of the greatest religious myths in world civilization. The stories of his resurrection was are told in the Bible, and also passed down from generation to generation. The resurrection happened after Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross, and his body was placed in the tomb. Joseph of Arimathea had Jesus Christ’s body placed in his own tomb. Jesus never made tomb a permanent resting spot though. On the third dayRead MoreThe Empty Tomb753 Words   |  4 PagesThe Gospel writer’s varying depictions of the events at Jesus’ tomb demonstrate a mixture of history, theology, and artistry. Each writer interprets and reframes the Resurrection event in a way that is appropriate for their overall theology; they do so through description of the people and events who were there, as well as by using characteristic themes and diction consistent with their larger narrative. Matthew’s Gospel account of the empty tomb contains a unique event—an earthquake. As the womenRead MoreThomas Langford s Central Doctrines Of The Christian Faith960 Words   |  4 Pages In the Old Testament, God s kingdom is portrayed as a place where the Lord rules over all. Many of the prophets talked of a time where peace and justice under God would never end (Isaiah 2:4, Daniel 7:14, Zechariah 14:9). In the New Testament, Jesus talked frequently about the kingdom in ways that show it is here now, partially here, or has not come at all yet. While Wesley anticipated a soon return of Christ to claim his Kingdom, he stressed, like Paul, that there was no need to be sitting aroundRead MoreGospel And Gospel Of John1127 Words   |  5 PagesGospel’s Analysis In the faith of Christianity, their are four distinct disciples of gospel accounts. Each of the four gospels has its own unique contribution to shaping a precise picture of Jesus. Scholars have contributed a great deal to the understanding of the circumstances of their writing, along with the intentions of their authors. Their are two groups to which the gospels are separated by. The synoptic gospels and the gospel of John. Their are critical differences between these two groupsRead MoreComplexities Directly Related to the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ1033 Words   |  4 Pagesdirectly related to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The majority of these pertain not only to the reason for his crucifixion but also for popular interpretation of this act and the significance attributed to it. Jesus taught and did much that was contrary to both Jewish and Roman conceptions of law and religion. Many of his transgressions were also directly related to the nature of his death and the signifi cance it would later on take. Both Romans and Jews sought Jesus death because he was ecclesiastically

Friday, December 20, 2019

Deregulation And Lack Of Supervision - 983 Words

Additionally, reasons for most of the major crises were deregulation and lack of supervision. Until recently, such complex products like derivatives were unsupervised as they were not directly connected to the deposits. A change in regulation is one of the problems which arises for structured products. For example decision of government to decrease use of non-standardised or opaquely priced financial products. The aim of such action is to attract attention of structured products users to the need of covering externalities placed by such instruments. Moreover, crises are considered to be consequences of several negative economic indicators, however this is not correct for the 2007 crisis, which happened during the period of high and stable growth rate and low inflation. Due to a strong connection between financial markets, the crisis spread fast globally. This showed that even well-developed economic system can experience damageable drops. As a countermeasure, in developed countries, governments set their monetary policies to stimulate industrial output and recover financial markets. 4.2. Structured Products are to Blame Structured products are blamed for playing important role in the 2007 crisis. The securitisation process changed the way banks operate as the originate-to-hold model replaced by the fee driven originate-to-distribute model. New operating model helped banks reduce maturity mismatch for assets and liabilities. However, such products are not transparentShow MoreRelatedThe Act Of Texas And The Sunset Advisory Commission ( Sac )1586 Words   |  7 Pages(Gaebler 6). This would mean that RTs along with 18 other programs would not have to hold a state license to practice their craft (Sunset 52). Deregulation may sound like a good idea on paper, however in practice, it is anything but. The potential negative outcomes in the form of patient harm and possible death would far outweigh any benefit. Deregulation of respiratory therapists in Texas began in the government as a proposal, was fought against by those who say the potential danger in the ideaRead MoreThe Bubble Economy. The Direct Caus e Of The Japanese Banking834 Words   |  4 PagesDuring 1980s, sustained economic growth and low inflation rate were the main characteristics of macroeconomic environment in Japan. This condition caused the upward growth expectations of asset prices, uncontrolled credit expansion and financial deregulation. At the same period, the United States has a substantial increase in the current account deficit and a sharp increase in the foreign trade deficit. In order to depreciate the U.S. dollar by intervening in currency markets, five countries includingRead MoreGlobalizations Impact on Government Business Relations1845 Words   |  7 Pageshighlighted: firstly, the area in which there will be a trade diversion between Asia and Australia will be in the clothing, textile and automobile industry. Secondly, overall exports would fall. And lastly, interest rates in Asia would fall because of their lack of diversion. The Federal Trade Agreement by the Government of Australia will enhance freer trade and enhance total trade. USA will become a trading partner and Asias retaliation will have no negative impact on the real GDP of USA and AustraliaRead MoreThe Term Global Financial Crisis (Gfc) Refers To The Financial1745 Words   |  7 Pagesan international banking crisis, which then developed into a global economic crisis, The Great Recession (Williams, 2010). This essay will conclude that that due to private sector financial management, government regulations and legislation and deregulation were at the root cause of the crisis and give explanations surrounding this criteria. To gain a detailed understanding of the Global Financial Crisis it is essential to examine the preliminary factors surrounding it. The tipping point that directlyRead MoreImpact of Financial Regulations3015 Words   |  12 Pagesneeds of their national economies during the 1970’s and 1980’s due to changes in global market conditions. NEED FOR DEREGULATION/REFORMS Excessive controls and regulation in general were increasingly viewed as inappropriate for the efficient allocation of resources and smooth functioning of an economic system. A consensus was reached among academics and policy makers alike that deregulation was essential to enable financial institutions to adjust more flexibly to the rapidly changing market environmentRead MoreProblems, Solutions and Prospects for the Development and Progress of the Banking Industry in Nigeria1209 Words   |  5 Pages system has undergone remarkable changes over the years, in terms of the number of institutions, ownership structure, as well as depth and breadth of operations. These changes have been influenced largely by challenges posed by deregulation of the financial sector, globalization of operations, technological innovations and adoption of supervisory and prudential requirements that conform to international standards. It is widely believed that savings and investment must go hand in handRead MoreDeregulation Created the Subprime Mortgage Crisis1373 Words   |  6 PagesDeregulation Created the Subprime Mortgage Crisis The mid-1990s saw an economic revival. What incited this activity was a technology boom like no other. It created a new era of electronics and computing. There were cell phones, desktop and laptop computers, the Internet, electronic games, flat panel TVs and major advances in business software and efficiencies. The housing industry was a big benefactor of this new economy. Home prices began to rise again by 1996. The rate of home ownership duringRead MoreEnron : A Look At Ethics994 Words   |  4 Pagescompanies, Houston Natural Gas and Inner North. Under the supervision of chief executive officer, Kenneth Lay, Enron profited tremendously from the deregulation of the natural gas industry, which gained them substantial credibility on Wall Street (Watkins). In an attempt to achieve further growth, began investing billions of dollars in foreign projects and trading ventures (History.com Staff). Also, a team of executives was hired under the supervision of Jeff Skilling to speculate the market (Watkins).Read MoreCode Of Conduct Through Their Own Behavior1408 Words   |  6 Pagesand standards apply to a variety of financial and non-financial areas (Yurtoglu, 2012). Due to the heavy technological progress, liberalization and the opening up of financial markets, trade liberalization, and other structural reforms price deregulation and the removal of restrictions on products and ownership, the allocation within and across countries of capital among competing purposes has become more complex, as has monitoring of the use of capital. These factors have been known to make goodRead MoreTrade Securities Outside Of The Formal Exchange Systems1594 Words   |  7 Pagestheir regulation and supervision. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Reserve, and state banking authorities handle this role for state chartered banks. The Office of Thrift Supervision oversees thrift institutions such as savings and loan associations. While all of these government created agencies have a hand in ensuring the stability of the financial system, the Federal Reserve is primarily responsible for the system’s oversight and management (â€Å"Banking supe rvision,† 2016). The Fed

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Improve And Test The Usability Of Goodreads - Linkedin And Bandcamp

Question: Discuss about the Process To Improve And Test The Usability Of Goodreads, Linkedin And Bandcamp. Answer: Introduction The purpose of the study is to gather user information and experience regarding three websites, Goodreads, Linkedin and Bandcamp and in the process to improve and test the usability of these three websites. After a brief interview process, answers will be thoroughly assessed as to infer how the overall performance of the website can be enhanced. With the tool called usability engineering. Following the interviewing session a designer can evaluated and improve the website in an efficient manner by comprehending the user. The project will be responsible for focusing on how well the websites have their influences on the user and how it can be made more popular amongst the users. List of Interview Questions: bandcamp.com- 1) How does the user normally discover and listen to music? 2) Under which circumstances do they choose to purchase music? 3) Does the user engage with the musicians they listen to in any way? Goodreads.com How many books does the user typically read? What formats do they use for reading? How do they discover or choose new books to read? How do they engage with other people regarding books? Linkedin.com Has the user looked for jobs before? If so, how? If not, how would they look for a job? What information does the user want to know to decide on the relevance of a job? What support does the user want in applying for a job? Brief description of the usability test performed Usability testing emphasizes on the flaws and drawbacks of websites in order to improve its functioning and operations. There were a number of tasks stated previously in order to attain information from the users regarding the stated websites. Bandcamp is a website about singers and artists, striving to integrate music into everyday life and culture. The tasks associated with Bandcamp are searching for the track LOL in order to find out in-depth information about the task, for instance the copyright information. The above stated task will be significant to analyse users interaction with the website, the scenario will help the users to engage themselves with the website in a flawless manner. The task for Goodreads and Linkedin will assess the same from the users. The most effective and information seeking tasks are those assigned to Goodreads as it requires the user to write a review on one of the books they have read from Goodreads and suggest how helpful the site will be to the auth ors. The task gives the user a context or scenario for understanding and consequently improves the interaction level of the user with the website. The task poses an open-ended situation for the user to explore and write about the website. The next most information-seeking task is of Linkedin as the amount of time needed to asses and proceed with the task is significantly minimum. The task will able to find out a number of issues like whether the cost of online job posting is posing as a major hindrance to the users of Linkedin. It also includes a group interaction process whereby the test will bring to the forefront the users experience, issues since online job posting has become the backbone of attaining talented employees for the recruiters and vice-versa. The task will ensure to what degree the website is pleasant and advantageous to use. It will focus on each and every user and their unique preferences and expectations regarding Linkedin. Summary of the information Questions User A on B User B on C User C on User A Q1. Q1. User A has reported to read 5 books each month. Q1. In case of Bandcamp.com, we got to know that in todays generation, users or music lovers generally access to their favorite music from online portals because of the versatility of music available there Q1. Yes, they have looked for jobs before. With Linkedin we came to know that users have used online interface to look for jobs befitting their education and experience. They find online job portal very informative in a well- listed manner. Q2. Q2. In case of Goodreads, we came to know the advantage of online book reading and its popularity amongst readers of wide age range and occupation. Q2. Purchase of music usually is very rare, especially when it came to gifting near ones Q2. From online portals they can access a number of information like details of company, employee ratings, remuneration, and availability of similar jobs in different cities and the pre-requisites of the job position before proceeding with applications. The user want the support of a filtered job search from online portals so that they can look through and apply to jobs from their domain of expertise Q3. Q3. Users discovers new books in Goodreads based on readers rating and reviews, suggestions from Goodreads based on users most read authors and genres and obtaining suggestions from friends who are similar users of Goodreads. The recommendation engine generates a list of books that are hardly heard of with fascinating descriptions to intrigue the readers Q3. The users engage with the musicians with the help of tags and this further creates an opportunity for the fans to discover new artists and music belonging from that genre. Q3. The availability of relevant jobs in their own city or other cities where they would prefer to move into could also be useful to the users. Q4. Q4. The readers engage amongst themselves with Goodreads community interaction and book recommendation options. Task User A on B (GOODREADS) User B on C (BANDCAMP) User C on User A (LINKEDIN) Where does the user look for the commands or information? Goodreads Bandcamp.com Linkedin.com What errors does the user make, if any, when attempting to complete the tasks? The user committed wrong rhetorical analysis of the book. Confusing the book with another book was also frequent. The uploaded image file was corrupted. Repeated errors were made in comprehending certain technical aspects of UX designer job. Mistakes in calculating and analyzing job costs. How long does the user take to complete the tasks, and any subtasks? 1 hour 25 minutes 30 minutes What positive or negative emotions does the user express while completing the tasks? Negative-Biased opinions. Positive- amazement to come across a number of books. Negative- Nothing notable Positive- Excitement to explore more artists and genres. Negative- Lack of participation while working as a team. Positive- Eager to What notable comments are made by the user while thinking aloud? The easy navigation and availability of books sped up the process of completing the task. In-depth artist information prompted a quick emotional attachment with the songs. There is a stark variety of people with vast number of job preferences accessing Linkedin. Additional Task Goodreads Bandcamp Linkedin 1. Create a community and discuss book genre, interesting points and social contexts approached, to be viewed by public. Identify your favorite genre and collect more information on the singers of that genre. Mass messaging to survey individual users experience and expectations after using Linkedin. Dimension of Usability Effective: the websites are useful to the users because of the convenient and easy user-friendly interface. With Bandcamp, users effectively came across music and songs from the favorite genres or genres closed to being their favorite. Goodreads and Linkedin were also effective in showcasing or making the users aware of products of their liking. The books and types of jobs that Linkedin produced in front of the users were both relatable and useful for them. Efficient: Efficiency depends on the amount of time the websites are taking along with the accuracy of results that they are being able to produce. The users found it easy to navigate through the websites and the results were structured in an organized manner with relevant information grouped together for users. The same is especially true with Goodreads where the users came across interesting books from different genres without hassles. Engaging: some users found Linkedin and its contents structured in a haphazard manner. Many users found it rather creative and presented in a curiously professional way. The number of parameters for job search also perplexed some of its users. With Bandcamp and Goodreads were vary systematic with easy book recommendation options and genre enumerated in alphabetical manner. The same is applicable for Bandcamp with a clear view of interviews in a neat e professional manner. Error Tolerant: the three websites are well-reputed amongst users for providing error free content and important details to be accessed by users. Easy to Learn: users have been using these three websites because of their informative manner. Linkedin especially provides with an easy apply feature explaining in lucid language the operations and features. Goodreads and Bandcamp provides with colorful illustrations to make the products more appealing and relatable to the audience. Conclusion Linkedin is accessed by millions of people unrestricted by geographical boundaries with lesser number of problems like repeat your password and the like. However, many users have complained about the lack of relevancy in job searches and different pages use different button styles which tend to become a bit deviating and problematic. Gopdreads on the other hand is very illustrative following a simple page format. With Bandcamp, it uses bright color combination, creation of multiple number of lucidly written blogs and coverage to influence album sales accelerating its growth and profit level. According to data, users had greater accessibility to music and artists owing to Bandcamps strategic usage of tags and visual aid to work on the music tracks popularity. Limitations of the study and recommendations Communicational problems amongst the different users completing the tasks therefore delaying the process. Is not adequate enough for a thorough market research and opinions depend from person to person thereby making the process of preparing a statistical graph erroneous for websites like Bandcamp. Is not dependable for carrying out long-term plans or deducting definite conclusions like which one is the best-selling album as in the case of Bandcamp and therefore developing strategic marketing plans. The above method is only useful for designing short-term innovative ideas. Recommendations Making it less scenario-based and more data-oriented. Vague recommendations should be avoided by providing screenshots and thereby working on the illustration section to generate more audiences for this kind of study. Bandcamp can make use of image map to improve accessibility of users. Justification of recommendations and synchronize it with the business goals and technical constraints. For instance, in case of Bandcamp a community based research should be conducted in order to come up with more varieties of music. This would be an effective way for Bandcamp for promoting music and consequently website. Reflection: The process helps a business to identify and know in-depth about the choices and psychological pattern of different customers and align the services and products accordingly. The cost-effectiveness of the test further makes it wildly desirable and a comprehensive way to assess the importance and significance of e-commerce and design ways to improve the same. The results will encourage the designers of websites to come up with better options to improve their service and can keep the usability report away from public gaze. The concept is to create a realistic scenario to assess the usability of a product, in this case, the three different websites goodreads, Bancamp and Linkedin. It would be of considerable help to Bandcamp for branding and improving the quality of content, music, that the website has. It ensures that quality and versatility is consistently met.

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Auditing and Accounting Issues Responsebility of Accountant

Question: Describe about the Auditing and Accounting Issues for Responsebility of Accountant. Answer: Part A: Audit Planning Preliminary judgment of materiality Materiality refers to the incorrect or missing information in the financial statements of a company which imposes significant impact on the decision making of the users. It is the key concept in accounting as because it helps auditors and accountants to decide which figures requires separate reporting (Berk and DeMarzo, 2007). The trial balance of Bobs Bikes shows the opening and closing balance of all the transactions from the year 2014 to 2016. The difference in the opening and closing balance of the accounts shows that there is incorrect information in the trial balance. The incorrect information means that the value of the company has increased or decreased during a period of time. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the accountant and auditor to analyze the financial statements and determining missing or incorrect information (Elliott and Elliott, 2008). The differences in the accounts in the trial balance are as follows: Trial balance Particulars Jul 1 2015 April 30, 2016 July 1, 2014 June 30, 2015 Differences Debit Credit Debit Credit Accounts receivable 124,320 112,000 -12320 Sales 201,515 187,450 -14065 Inventory 189,000 175,000 -14000 Depreciation 28,916 15,590 -13326 Wages 46,816 53,000 6184 The account receivable, sales, inventory, depreciation and wages account shows differences in their opening balance and closing balance indicting materiality in the accounts (Hillier, 2010). The values of account receivable, sales, inventory and depreciation has been overstated and the value of wages has been understated. Analytical review The trial balance is the account report that is shown at the end of financial year and listing end balance of each account. Trial balance ensures that all the debit amounts equal to the credit amounts that mean that there are no unbalanced entries in the journal. The trail balance of Bobs bikes shows all the debit and credit accounts that matches at the end of the report (Holton, 2012). The auditors uses the trial balance while conducting an audit and transferring the accounts into the accounting software. However, even if the debit and credit balance matches at the end of the trial balance report, it does not mean that there are no errors or omission in the listed account in the trial balance. The trial balance of Bobs bikes shows incorrect information and misrepresentation of the value of the company. Many accounts in the trial balance show incorrect value in the opening and closing financial income year (Keown, Martin and Petty, 2008). Trial balance is a report that is collected f rom the accounting records. The process of correcting any errors or omission in the trial balance as well as making adjustments in the trial balance is referred to as unadjusted trial balance. Five accounts selected and rationales The materiality has been found in the trial balance. The accounts that have been misrepresented are account receivable, sales, inventory, depreciation and wages account in the trial balance. The increase or decrease in the value affects the total value of the company. The account receivable has been overstated which means that the company has not received debt amount from the debtors (Moles, 2011). The inventory account has been overstated which means that the inventory has increased. The depreciation value has also been overstated showing high value. The wages has been understated showing that less wage has been paid by the company. The sales has been overstated which shows that the sales of the company has increased over the period. Part B: Sample selection Explanation/demonstration of sampling technique The primary aim and objective of the auditing is considered to secure the compliance with the clients works standards and thus helps to evaluate the overall financial performance of the company for the given fiscal year which eventually lead to the maximization of the profit (Saxena et al., 2010). Random Sampling Technique The random sampling technique in auditing is used by the auditor to select data without replacement. Once the account has been selected to test it is removed from population and it would not be subjected to the re selection (Shapiro, 2006). The random sampling technique can be used by the auditor in two ways: random number tables or computer programs. Systematic sampling technique Systematic Sampling technique enables the auditor to select sample data in such a way that there are uniform intervals between the sample items. In this sampling technique every Nth account is selected with random start (Spiceland, Sepe and Nelson, 2011). Haphazard sampling technique Haphazard sampling technique is the non statistical technique that is used by the auditor to stimulate the sampling while testing the status of errors of the accounting population. The findings shows that the properties of the haphazard samples substantially differ from those of the random sampling (Stittle and Wearing, 2008). The haphazard sampling technique can be used for substantive testing. It is an procedure to examine the financial report of the company and evaluating the errors in the document. Benefits of selected sampling technique Befnefits of Hapazrd approach The auditor should adopt random sampling technique while selecting the items. The benefits of haphazard sampling technique are that it needs minimum knowledge for the study and selection of the item. It is free from errors and suitable for the data analysis that includes use of the inferential statistics (Tripathi, 2008). The method is easy to use and simple as well as easy to assess the errors in the sample. It helps the auditor to select the data and analyze it appropriately to get the results. It will help the auditor to get better result from the sampling. It also allows the auditor to prevent the bias work and making the work easy. The random sampling technique provides a simple way to the auditor to select the data and make observations as well as depends on the limitation of the research and type of data (Wolf, 2008). Therefore, it allows the auditor to select items in a random in order to get appropriate results. The sales account has been determine and evaluated with the hel p of Haphazard approach. Drawbacks of random sampling technique The simple random samplings has some limitation as because it is expensive to use, time consuming and also difficult to organize. It requires complete list of data and depends on the study. The auditor may get confuse while using the random sampling. Therefore, it shows biased results that is not appropriate (Keown, Martin and Petty, 2008). Drawbacks of systematic sampling technique The systematic sampling technique assumes that the population size is available reasonably approximated. The auditors have to research to study the size of the data in the given area. The population needs to show the natural degree of the randomness along with the chosen metric (Holton, 2012). There is high risk of manipulation of data with the systematic sampling as because the auditor might be able to construct the system in order to increase the likelihood to achieve the targeted outcome. Part C: Considerations in substantive testing and collecting audit evidence300 In substantive audit approach auditor focus to verify each and every bit of information of the transaction on his own without depending on the information provided by the management. To provide non manipulative financial information to the investor and other key users of the financial statement is considered to be the primary reason for adopting a predominantly substantive approach in part b (Moles, 2011). Occurrence as it is signifies the first selecting an item for testing from the financial journal or ledgers and then analyzing the underlying primary source document. Tracing and vouching both are considered to be important as both are referred as the occurrence and completeness. Tracing signifies the selection of accounting transaction and then it leads to the journal or ledger. The direction of testing in this scenario is from the primary source document to the journal or ledgers and thus tests whether the overall transaction which occurred is recorded in the accounting records (Saxena et al., 2010). On the other hand vouching starts with the selection of the item for the testing purpose from the accounting journal or ledgers which further carry with analyzing the underlying source document. Therefore it is considered that vouching is providing more evidence that the item consist in the accounting journal or ledges have occurred. Business risk approach which is also known as the risk based approach Business risk approach is considered to be one the most prevalent approach based nowadays by the audit firm to complete the audit assignments. For example International auditing standards focus on understanding the entity and its marketing and financial environment including internal control system to understand the risk of material misstatement at the financial statement and assertion levels (Shapiro, 2006). No, as it will reflect negative value in financial ratios. Yes, as substantive report is zero reliance on the internal control. External auditor information is required before projecting outcome to the entire account balance. To decrease the detection risk which eventually helps to accomplish the expected level of audit risk which provide the assurance of the validity and propriety of the transaction to identify the monetary misstatement (Spiceland, Sepe and Nelson, 2011). Monetary misstatement is considered to be the primary reason to carry out part year trail balance. References Berk, J. and DeMarzo, P. (2007).Corporate finance. Boston: Pearson Addison Wesley. Elliott, B. and Elliott, J. (2008).Financial accounting and reporting. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Hillier, D. (2010).Corporate finance. London: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Holton, R. (2012).Global finance. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Keown, A., Martin, J. and Petty, J. (2008).Foundations of finance. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall. Moles, P. (2011).Corporate finance. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Saxena, R., Srinivas, K., Rai, U. and Rai, S. (2010).Auditing. Mumbai [India]: Himalaya Pub. House. Shapiro, A. (2006).Multinational financial management. New York: J. Wiley Sons. Spiceland, J., Sepe, J. and Nelson, M. (2011).Intermediate accounting. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Stittle, J. and Wearing, B. (2008).Financial accounting. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications. Tripathi, M. (2008).Auditing and finance management. New Delhi: Navyug Publishers and Distributors. Wolf, M. (2008).Fixing global finance. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Lost Generation Essays - English-language Films, The Sun Also Rises

Lost Generation Lost Generation Ernest Hemingway is a renowned American author of the Twentieth century who centers his novels around personal experiences and affections. He is one of the authors named "The Lost Generation." He could not cope with post-war America, and therefore he introduced a new type of character in writing called the "code hero". Hemingway is known to focus his novels around code heroes who struggle with the mixture of their tragic faults and the surrounding environment. Traits of a typical Hemingway Code Hero are a love of good times, stimulating surroundings, and strict moral rules, including honesty. The Code Hero always exhibits some form of a physical wound that serves as his tragic flaw and the weakness of his character. In Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises Jake Barnes is the character who maintains the typical Code Hero qualities; while Robert Cohn provides the antithesis of a Code Hero. Jake Barnes, the narrator and main character of The Sun Also Rises, is left impotent by an ambiguous accident during World War I. Jake's wound is the first of many code hero traits that he features. This physical wound, however, transcends into an emotional one by preventing Jake from ever consummating his love with Lady Brett Ashley. Emotional suffering can take its toll on the Code Hero as it did with Jake Barnes. Despite the deep love between Jake and Lady Brett, Jake is forced to keep the relationship strictly platonic and stand watch as different men float in and out of Lady Ashley's life and bed. No one other than Jake and Brett themselves ever learn the complexity of their relationship because Jake's hopeless love for Brett and the agony it entails are restricted to scenes known to themselves alone. Therefore, Jake suffers in silence because he has learned to trust and rely only upon himself, which is conducive to the Hemingway Code as well. Jake is an American who travels to Europe to satiate his appetite for exotic landscapes and to escape his pain. Jake tries to live his life to the fullest with drinking, partying, and sporting with friends. With these pastimes, Jake hopes to hide from his fault and get on with the life he has been made to suffer. Watching and participating in sports help accentuate the Code Hero's masculinity and provide the sense of pride Jake has lost. This gain of pride is essential in the Hemingway Code. Jake attends fishing trips with friends, he visits Pamplona, Spain to witness the running of the bulls, and he acts as a mediator between arguing friends. These characteristics reveal his strong character built of courage and grace. Jake, as with any Code Hero, is a man of action who spends more time achieving goals than talking about them. Jake's friend, Robert Cohn violates everything a Hemingway Code Hero represents. He is rich, gifted, and skillful and is ready to discuss his emotions in detail. Robert refuses to admit defeat when Brett rejects him repeatedly. Unlike Jake, when Cohn is hurt, he insists on complaining to everyone instead of suffering in silence. Cohn does nothing to assert his masculinity, either. He allows people, especially women to ridicule him and knock down his self esteem. Cohn obviously can not stand up for himself and does not take action when he should. Consequently, Robert has no self control. When a matador sleeps with Brett, whom Cohn is in love with, he takes out his jealousy by beating him repeatedly. Although a man of action, Jake, the quintessential Hemingway Hero, knows when to control himself, Robert Cohn does not. On the whole, Jake Barnes strictly adheres to the qualities of the typical Hemingway Code Hero. He relies solely on himself, utilizes his assets, enjoys bullfights and other honorable activities. He is an individual of action and speaks not of what he believes; rather he just does what he believes to be right subtlety without any fanfare. Jake has lived with disappointment and frustration all his life, yet he overcomes it and uses the lesson to his advantage. On the other hand, Robert Cohn, who has had the easy life is the perpetual loser. He allows people to walk all over him and continually feels sorry for himself. Robert Cohn is the false knight, who, in theory should be the victorious protagonist but will always turn out to be a shallow person who lives on the fringes of life. In the end, the person who does not possess the Code Hero qualities can never discover himself, and therefore never truly be happy.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

health bullying essay

health bullying essay health bullying essay Briana Cole 9/28/14 Health Bullying is a distinctive pattern of deliberately harming and humiliating others. Jamie was a person that was bullied for being a homosexual. He brought his story to court by taking his middle and high school principal and assistant principal to court to justify his 14th amendment, the right to equal protection by discriminating against him based on his gender or sexual orientation. Jamie was one of many that was being bullied and was petrified to go to school each day. This film was focused on a young boy names Jamie Nabozny who was targeted of physical violence and degrading acts by his classmates. When Jamie turned to school administration for help, they told him he should expect to be bullied if he was going to be gay. Jamie reached his turning point he wanted a change and he wanted people to care and take charge. This film was necessary to address the issue of bullying to exercise the fact that it could’ve gotten farther as in suicide. It teaches you to be aware and it s hows that school administrators have a personal responsibility to protect students from harassment. Jamie wanted the school district and the school administration to suffer just like he did and he wanted to do it as a change for others who went through or are going through the same fear. In Jamie’s story not a lot of people were on his side like some teachers and other people outside. The bystanders that Jamie was being encountered by were some of his teachers, the assistant principal and the principal. They turned him down and told him that it was because he was a homosexual and they couldn’t do anything about it. Jamie’s final days in high school was torture from getting beat up so bad that he had to get surgery, physical abuse and constant harassment Jamie decided to drop

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Customer Service Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Customer Service - Research Paper Example From this paper it is clear that  managements of these agencies are often turning to human resource training and technology to deliver services fast and competently to achieve satisfactions for all queries, complaints or inquiries. Customers have been accustomed to attention from the private sector, and they now want the same from their government agencies. Government agencies have adopted standards of measuring citizens’ satisfaction in responding to their needs through electronic or manual reviews.This study highlights that there has been a shift in the management systems from an emphasis on product quality to Total Quality Management for customer satisfaction.   This change focuses on continual improvement of organization’s output. Quality of outputs in this case very much includes all products and services and the processes that are involved in the production of the products or services. The shift is intended for the sole purpose of meeting, if not surpassing cu stomer expectations. Customer service provision requires the co-operation of all levels of management within the organization.  Most organizations in the world today are registered with different standardization agencies locally or internationally such as The International Customer Service Institute (TICSI) or the International Standard Organization ISO 900 series.  The ‘Soft’ aspect of total quality management focuses on the principles that guide organizations.... The shift is intended for the sole purpose of meeting, if not surpassing customer expectations. Customer service provision requires the co-operation of all levels of management within the organization. Achievement of excellent customer service is guided by tools and principles. The tools are the so-called ‘hard’ aspects of customer service. They include the analyzing systems of an organization’s performance using a wide array of analysis tools and the presentation of these in a way that all the stakeholders using the information can understand that when recommendations are applied, it would lead to better results. Display of organizations’ performance could be represented in various ways including tabulation, graphs, polygons and charts. Statistical analysis of results is a common method used to evaluate performance of output through, mean, mode, probability analysis, critical path analysis and variance and correlation analysis. When these tools are used, q uantitative data is displayed to help in controlling the output be it products or services. Most organizations in the world today are registered with different standardization agencies locally or internationally such as The International Customer Service Institute (TICSI) or the International Standard Organization ISO 900 series. These set up standards of different kinds that aim at improving excellence in customer service by having a policy that focuses on quality improvement. Results from statistical analysis should be checked against these standards, and the necessary areas of improvement are identified. The ‘Soft’ aspect of total quality management focuses on the principles that guide organizations. Emphasis is put in

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Oil and gas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Oil and gas - Essay Example The employee’s team will be enticed through the promises of better hours, bonuses and the additional perks. This will ensure that the employees are always motivated and thus they will not leave the company for better payment. Zz company will also prevent the live company from outweighing them by ensuring that they will not handle the main areas of their concern.zz company will handle themarketing,geographical,exploration and production by offering the competitive salary to employees,encouranging growth, open channel of communication, promoting balance,moltivating and engaging employees. The zz employees will not leave their job for the better salary because the company will ensure the personal career growth of all the employees. The company will offer a career advancement opportunity for all the employees through guiding them and placing them in their areas of specialization. This will help the employee to understand that they are much appreciated and it will even attract the employees from the live company to come and be employed by the zz company. The open channels of communication will encourage the employees in the zz company and they will feel more involved in the operations of the zz company. The zz company will develop a good communication channels and network between the employees and the decision makers which will make the employees to feel that they have a big role in the company. This will ensure that the employees are much connected with the management and it will build the credibility and trust between the employees and the company. The zz company will motivate and engage all the employees in the company’s affairs and they will be able to realize that their effort in t he company are realized. This will build a strong relationship which will ensure that the live company does not take advantage of

Monday, November 18, 2019

Research methodologies-------the reason of the talent flows from a Essay

Research methodologies-------the reason of the talent flows from a state owned bank to a private bank - Essay Example The services offered by the bank includes retail banking, corporate banking, foreign currency transaction, consumer credit, Great Wall debit and credit card services, investment banking, fund management and clearing and settlement (Bank of China, n.d.; Bloomberg, 2013a; Bloomberg, 2013b; The Financial Times Ltd., 2013). The other bank which is considered in the study is CMBC. CMBC was established in the year 1996 in Beijing. It is non-state owned enterprise and was founded in strict compliance with the regulations and rules lead down by the commercial banking law and the company law (CMBC, n.d.). The bank conducts commercial banking business by providing loan, deposits, issues financial bonds, discounts, settlements, government bond trading and underwriting, bank guarantee, letter of credit and other financial services (Bloomberg, 2013c; Bloomberg, 2013d). The study is conducted on the employees and the human resource manager of the two organizations in order to gain a clear understa nding regarding the selection and the rewards policies and how these are related to the talent flow from the state owned banks to the private owned banks. 4.1 Employees of Bank of China This section briefs about the responses of the employees of Bank of China regarding the study. ... nts came to know about the vacancy from an advertisement given in the newspaper and rest that is 5 percent of the respondents was selected through campus recruitment. On asking the employees of Bank of China regarding how did they apply and when did they get call; they said that after going through the details of the position and the eligibility criteria mentioned in the notice, they need to fill up the application form available on the website of the bank and send it to the human resource department of the bank via e-mail as mentioned in the notice. About 50 percent of the respondents received a call from the bank after three months of sending the application; whereas almost 30 percent and 20 percent of the respondents got a call after 60 and 75 days respectively. When the question regarding how many rounds of interview did the candidate faced was asked the employees of Bank of China, about 100 percent of the respondents replied that they faced only one round of interview. However, they stated that there is one round for lower and lower middle level of recruitment but in case of higher level the number of interview ranges from 2 to 3. The interview is only conducted after the candidates have successfully passed the written examination. When the employees were asked whether they think that the selection procedure that the organization follows is an appropriate way to judge the potential of the candidate, they said that the selection procedures included resume screening, written examination and interview; after the candidate qualifies these steps then background investigation and physical examination are conducted. About 60 percent of the respondents feel that the selection procedure used by the organization in an appropriate way to judge the potential of a candidate.

Friday, November 15, 2019

SWOT Analysis Social Work

SWOT Analysis Social Work Life is a learning process and this involves a lot of interactions and interpretations to evaluate one and evolve as a better person. The observations made by the superiors, colleagues and self have enabled me to identify my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Below is a brief discussion on the same. (S)trengths Strengths just do not mean the obvious job skills one has. It means the resources a person has, to tackle a situation. These could be things like knowledge gained through a hobby, ideas absorbed from sports, family background, and sense of humor and much more. Developing a list of a persons strengths is a time killing process as inherent skills may not be recognized as strengths until specific situation brings them on action. Similarly, strengths in dealing with a situation may not be so when a person faces other issues. My strengths are best derived while at work. I could identify my strengths, whenever a task was assigned to me. My immediate response would be to step forward and ask the requester for his / her objective behind this task and his / her expectations out of this particular task. This has always helped me enhance my ability to focus on structuring my tasks and giving optimized output. This reminds me of a past instance at my work place where, there was difference of opinion emerging within the team, under the supervision of a colleague of mine who was nominated as the Acting Team Lead (ATL) of the month. ATL was a concept brought in to enable the team with team leading experience. The differences emerging had led the team into a cold war. This is a situation that no supervisor or any superior would desire his/her team to be in which might cripple the performance and relationship of the team. When this started to be visible, I was asked by my General Manger to handle the team until the issues were resolved. This task was critical for me, as this responsibility was given to me by my GM. He set his expectation and told why he chose me and I had to live up to his expectations. Since I had been with the team for more than two years, I was confident that I would be able to crack the puzzle. I had to be cautious in approaching the team. A wrong move or decision could turn things around for the worst. Hence, I decided to break ice by meeting every individual of the team to get a better perspective of the issue. This way, I was able to analysis the core issue and come up with a resolution to resolve the particular issue. I initiated a fish on table activity for the team, where everyone from the team was allowed to speak their mind out and discuss their issues. This activity helped them understand each other and sort their differences. Post this activity, the bonding of the team was further strengthened. There was a visible change amongst the members of the teams approach toward tackling any issue. They wouldnt wait for a third person to come and resolve their issues; rather they started walking up to each other and sort the issues themselves. With this particular incident, I was able to identify my strengths. When my GM looked up to me to handle the situation, it showed his faith and confidence in my problem solving techniques. A one to one session with my GM made me realize that I possessed a greater level of patience. I realized some of my strengths through this particular incident, which were my approachability, decision making, ability to negotiate and solve problem. (W)eaknesses ÂÂ  It may be very easy to identify a persons weakness, but it takes far more objectivity. For example, showing sympathy on a persons problem is a very good human characteristic, but if it exceeds, it may cause problems in leading a team. As in the case of STRENGTHS, it is important to be aware of all your weaknesses while dealing with an issue and also to know which weaknesses could be related to a particular situation. Some of my weaknesses that I would like to work towards is to improve my area of expertise i.e. my knowledge on MS office applications. This was necessary for me to understand and put to ease the complexities involved in my work. I also would like to bring about improvement in attaining best possible control over my emotions, to incorporate the skills attained to improve my social networking and to put to best possible use, my creativity. The main culprit to be blamed for this absolutely is the lack of time. Due to which, I am most of the time unable enhance my knowledge as mentioned above. Once, I planned to dig to the roots of my weakness, and approached my supervisor to give me a feedback. Thats when I realized that I couldnt say No when I had to say it. Let me quote an incident which is fresh in memory. One fact that was brought to my notice during a feedback session was, I had the habit of going out of my way to help others even when I was piled up with so much of work for the day. I would land up myself doing the extra work not oblivious of the fact that if I took even a smallest of extra work, I would miss my deadlines. This began to affect my regular deliverables. Knowing the fact that an adjoin on work would affect my regular deliverables, neither did I say No nor did I seek help. Though I had an opportunity to say no or to get the time lines extended, I did not do so. Instead I ended up extending my shift. After this feedback from my superior, I knew I had to change myself by working towards this issue to overcome this particular weakness of mine. (O)pportunities It is important to examine a problem in its entirety and also to identify the opportunities that may exist in it. A simple example is that of a production manager who has to lay off workers in order to reduce the production due to a fall in demand for the product of the company which he works. This is a problem. However, if he is updated of the happenings of his industry and the economy, he can use this problem as an opportunity to optimize the operations and prepare for product enhancements for the future which the market will require at that point of time. Similarly, I believe that my strengths could be my gateway for opportunities. I consider every challenge that I come across as an opportunity to learn. This would enable me to tackle different situations, undauntedly. I always try to learn from my own mistakes, as well as from others mistakes too. This has helped me narrow down my mistakes and even to correct the mistakes which I have already done. To me, approaching people to understand their requirements and providing them with the desired output is one of the strengths. According to me, this is a quality which can be put to use for the advantage of the others as well me. This trend not only creates a great visibility but also enables me to understand things better and look at things from a wider perspective and from different angles. This reminds me of an instance where in all the managers from different departments were asked by the SDL (Service Delivery Lead) to work on analyzing the attrition trend for their respective spans. The SDL also informed the managers that they could approach me for any kind of help with regard to data or for any details required for the analysis. At this moment I realized that I was noticed by my SDL and my capability to work efficiently was made transparent, by him to others. I also realized my way of working turned my strength into an opportunity of getting to know more people from the hierarchy, to widen my network and provide me the opportunity to work with all LOBs (Line of Business). (T)hreats ÂÂ  Every circumstance has its own threats. The one who faces it has to recognize it and gather his strengths to tackle those. Similarly, threats are easy to identify. But differentiating the impossible and the unlikely among them may be a difficult task. The unlikely is the one that often turns around to make you mad. It is the unexpected threats which could be the greatest danger than the obvious ones. Knowing the fact that the unexpected may suddenly occur and a pre-existing knowledge of ones strengths allow for most effective response to these situations. According to me, everything is a threat My strengths, weaknesses and opportunities My way of approaching people to understand their requirements creates visibility, which my competitors could find threatening and try to persuade others to go against me. This is a potential threat that I experience. I recall an instance when I was recognized for my hard work and dedication in many occasions. I was rewarded point and vouchers as gift as an appreciation for my hard work. My competitors started envying me for getting recognized. They started stretching their shifts and began to work on weekends as well to gain attention. For which they succeeded to some extent. When I noticed their behavior and actions, I realized that I had become a threat to them and that was a threat for me. In another instance, I had to take calls of our clients. Since I had no experience in taking calls, I found it difficult to understand their accent. This was a threat as the other were either well trained or had prior experience in taking call before they joined. Knowing the client and understanding them was the most important part of our job. Since I lacked such an understanding with the client, I was given the least importance when it came to attending client calls. Emotions are one of the weaknesses that can be exposing me to a threat of being misused. As I very easily get carried away emotionally, people could take advantage of me and get me to do things for their selfish motives. STAGE 2 Improvement Plan It is important for one to identify his/her strengths and opportunities, and work towards enhancing them at the same time; it becomes equally important to work towards improving the same to overcome threats and weakness. One of the strengths if feel is important and would add value or become an added advantage is to gain my supervisors reliability / confidence in me. As an individual, I was successful enough in gain my supervisors and co-workers confidence on any kind of work given to me. However at a supervisor level it was still verified. This could be due to the importance of the report or data or else it could be that I couldnt gain his/her complete confidence. I had to work on this and had to overcome by improvising an improvement plan or a strategy and reach the point of confidence where my supervisor would give me complete authority to send report without he / she cross checking. I intend to approach my supervisor and talk to him about the same. ask him to observe my work for a week and only once he is confident in me would send the reports directly to the concern departments or people. To achieve this I plan to adopt a strategic way of doing my work. This can be achieved by looking into each and every details of the given task, identifying the areas of modifications or areas which have some scope of improvement or areas of interest of the requestor and the purpose of the report. This way I would be working towards perfecting my skills, understanding the requestors requirements, improving on visualizing the minute details and gaining confidence of my supervisor to be confident in me. I also had work towards improving my knowledge on MS Excel. Due to my limitation on MS Excel knowledge, most of the time, I depend on the experts for complex formulas which had become one of the core areas of improvement. Improving the knowledge on Excel would widen my areas or expertise, help me improve or modify complex formulas and enable me to create new templates to ease the work for everyone. If I excelled on this, it would enable me to perform critical and complex tasks. Hence I intend to overcome this weakness of mine by attending some classroom trainings or online trainings on MS Excel and by reaching out the experts. I also intend to seek for help from my supervisor to help me understand complex formulas. The second weakness I thing I would like to improve is to say No when required. As I feel, I might offend a person by saying No or might give an impression that I am not willing or I do not possess the ability to perform that particular task. One way to do so is by gathering courage to say No, by sympathizing myself and not allowing others to take advantage. A sincere effort would help me overcome this challenge. Probably by saying No in different way rather than being curt. Probably addressing the same to my supervisor or by delegating / sharing the work with my colleagues would help me solve this problem. As mentioned above, my threats, my hard work and recognitions for the same could become a threat. This could lead to a bad relationship or unhealthy competition within the team. I would try to overcome the same by changing my approach to such situations. By getting others from the team involved in all my activities and cross training everyone on each others work can ease the pressure off. This approach wouldnt be a strategy to overtake others but a step or opportunity to work together as a team for good. This way both parties would get an opportunity to improve their skill and thoughts; and plan better for the best results. The lack of experience in taking calls as mentioned earlier was one of the most important drawbacks in my career. As this could set me back or leave me behind when it come to my assessments or performance review and would become a road block in my career growth. Hence I decided to approach my superiors and colleagues to help me over come on the same. At the same time I decided to side barge with my colleagues to learn how to take client calls and speed up my learning curve. This way would be back on track for the race and wouldnt allow this weakness to affect my performance or growth. STAGE 3 Summary of progress When I implemented the plan to improve my SWOT, I began to realize that my quality of work had improved. I was more confident in terms of structuring my daily activities related to work. I knew exactly how I had to achieve my goals. When I joined the team I lacked confidence in attending client calls. I did not want this deficiency to set me back or leave me behind in the race. As planned I addressed this issue to my supervisor. He then advised me to enroll myself for a voice and accent training. As I enrolled myself to the advised training I realized that it would take longer time than expected to learn. Hence I decided to attend the training every day and post that came to the work place and side barged with my colleagues to understand and learn quickly. This strategic move helped me finish my voice and accent training in two weeks which normally takes six to seven weeks. Post this training I was back on track to compete at power with the other team members. Post my training on voice and accent I start with my plan to gain confidence of my supervisor, I realized that this actually was working out. I approached my supervisor to seek for his help in observing my work, he was happy to do so. He in fact began giving me feedbacks regularly and gave me tips on how to overcome certain issues. And soon I got an opportunity to prove myself this was when my supervisor had to take his personal time off. This was an opportunity that helped supervisor gain confidence on me. I also received rewards from my GM for taking care of my supervisors work in his absence. This particular incident helped me to take more responsibilities and relieved my supervisor of his regular jobs allowing him to take new jobs from his supervisor. Because of this action plan it helped my supervisor and me to move ahead take up additional roles and responsibilities. During my improvisation of improvement plan, I had enrolled myself for class room trainings and online trainings on MS Excel. This was one of the tips by my supervisor to me. Since my supervisor was also good at MS Excel, I approached him for help when ever required. He helped me to read and understand complex formulas and worked with me in creating few. This way I began to gain confidence in myself and was able develop my own templates to make our jobs easier. As I began to improve on my MS Excel knowledge, I was being observed by everyone around me and was ask to help them in creating templates for their reports. Looking at my knowledge on Excel my supervisor appointed me to set test papers on MS Excel for interviews and was asked to train the team as well on the same. This was one of the important milestones I had achieved. As started to improve and began to receive rewards for my hard work, I was getting piled up with work. It so happened that the expectations were rising and I couldnt do anything about it to stop it. I had reached a point where I was only accepting more and more work, and could not put a stop to it. My health began to deteriorate, as I began to stretch my shift, pushed myself to complete the assigned tasks. My co-works realized this and advised me not to accept anything and everything. When I approached my supervisor to address him of the issue, he said that he knew about the pressure I was in but could not do much about as the profile demanded for it. He then told that he would look into the issue and look for an alternative. He then decided to appoint an additional person to help me. But it was a lengthy procedure to appoint a person to assist me, as it would take at least a month to appoint one. Hence I decided to delegate some of my work to my colleagues who were well equipped wit h the tools I used. As I began to get my work done by colleagues, my supervisor observed this and appointed one of my colleagues to help me. A process of appointing that took at least a month now was reduced to two weeks. This approach in fact led to more opportunity within the team and helped everyone get cross trained so as to work as a team to ease the pressure off. This way I was getting everyone in the team involved in different activities and shared my work. This approach was eliminating possibilities of threat in the team. The team no more felt threatened by anyone, as everybody was receiving an opportunity to learn, explore and expand their area of knowledge. I was a no more a war but a healthy competition, a race to learn more and not to pull down one another. There were rewards and recognitions delegated for the most helpful person of the team, knowledge priest award, most improved person award and the best performer award. The objective of these award titles was to create more opportunities, enhance skills, direct most of the people in the team towards a healthy competition and most importantly to work as a team to achieve organizational goals. STAGE 4 Future plan After the completion of my SWOT analysis, I was able to identify my SWOT in the initial stage of assessment, planned to improve by setting some milestones in the second stage and implemented the action plan to see the outcome of the same in the third stage. Post the successful implementation it is time for me to work on future plans to further improve my SWOTs. My future plans are to: Organize a forum where the best practices can be shared and implemented and look for new opportunities or scope for developing new strategies. I look forward to implement this in all the places where I would work. This would help the people around and me to work together towards creating a better place to learn and work. This forum can also be termed as Focus Group. As mentioned above, this group would concentrate on people development. Further it would focus on improvising corrective action plans, new idea generation in terms of reducing cost and time for a cost effective high performance and fun activities for stress busting in the work place. Organize an observation forum to identify the successful and potential areas of improvement. The forum would allow every individual to share their experiences. If a strategy they implement is successful, then, the forum would discuss how it can be utilized by others and how it can be improved and if the strategy fails, then this forum would look at what went wrong and how can it be corrected. We would then be able to list down all the dos and donts. Also look for new and innovative ideas to enhance our skills and work. The observation forums will observe all the implementations and give out a general feedback or individual feedback on the implementation methods. This forum would help to avoid or correct mistakes committed.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde and a Selection of Sherlock

In this essay the representation of the city will be explored in the writing style of the Fin de sià ¨cle. This essay will investigate The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde and a selection of Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Both books represent the city differently in some aspects, and in others, share similarities. Point one: dirty Dorian Gray is set in the late 19th century, in the middle of the decadent artistic movement, meaning Dorian would have been a fictitious contemporary of Wilde. Although the Victorian period was plagued with conservative views , Wilde has used Dorian to express the double standards those of the city’s elite indulge. Dorian sees between both ends of the social scales. But despite Dorian disapproving/disgusted he still visits the ‘narrow and gloomy’(Wilde,182) streets of the east end. As Richard Elman agrees ‘between these two worlds, no decent or comfortable middle classes , no quite family life, no dormitory sections in wildes vision of the big city’(p51). Dorian seems ignorant to the plight of people around him less fortunate. He uses this depressing environment as escapism, despite being inescapable to the poor people who live in the area whom opium dens, prostitution and filth are a reality. (Elman,154) P2-Sherlock Holmes-copper beeches) An alternative view of being able to disguise is that it is hard to realise that Holmes is one of these disguised people too. Holmes is a rational man in his work, but outside of that he is a drug addict, who ‘stores his tobacco in eccentric places like the toe of a Persian slipper’ (19th Century suspense, 93).In a city of thousands, Sherlock can easily flit in and out of society. Holmes is aware that vast amounts of crime happens everywh... ...ood, which means allot of things, are overlooked. The city environment allows him to seem as if he is a functioning like any other member of decent society. As this essay has shown, both texts use a variety of methods to show the opinions of the time and author. Wilde uses his character to portray the double standards and decadence of the age. While Doyle similarity uses Sherlock and Watson as moral compasses. Although on the face of it both Dorian and Sherlock seem polar opposites, they do share similarities; the city is seen as a corruptible force by the authors. Some people fight this, like Holmes and Watson, but others cannot or will not as in Dorians case. In the end, the city changes its inhabitants whether they like it or not. Works Cited http://www.angelfire.com/ok5/perceivers/images/Scandal.pdf http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1661/1661-h/1661-h.htm#1

Sunday, November 10, 2019

The Twilight Saga 2: New Moon Chapter 14 FAMILY

I COWERED INTO JACOB'S SIDE, MY EYES SCANNING the forest for the other werewolves. When they appeared, striding out from between the trees, they weren't what I was expecting. I'd gotten the image of the wolves stuck in my head. These were just four really big half-naked boys. Again, they reminded me of brothers, quadruplets. Something about the way they moved almost in synchronization to stand across the road from us, the way they all had the same long, round muscles under the same red-brown skin, the same cropped black hair, and the way their expressions altered at exactly the same moment. They started out curious and cautious. When they saw me there, half-hidden beside Jacob, they all became furious in the same second. Sam was still the biggest, though Jacob was getting close to catching up with him. Sam didn't really count as a boy. His face was oldernot in the sense of lines or signs of aging, but in the matunry, the patience of his expression. â€Å"What have you done, Jacob?† he demanded. One of the others, one I didn't recognizeJared or Paulthrust past Sam and spoke before Jacob could defend himself. â€Å"Why can't you just follow the rules, Jacob?† he yelled, throwing his arms in the air. â€Å"What the hell are you thinking? Is she more important than everythingthan the whole tribe? Than the people getting killed?† â€Å"She can help,† Jacob said quietly. â€Å"Help!† the angry boy shouted. His arms begin to quiver. â€Å"Oh, that's likely! I'm sure the leech-lover is just dying to help us out!† â€Å"Don't talk about her like that!† Jacob shouted back, stung by the boy's criticism. A shudder rippled through the other boy, along his shoulders and down his spine. â€Å"Paul! Relax!† Sam commanded. Paul shook his head back and forth, not in defiance, but as though he were trying to concentrate. â€Å"Jeez, Paul,† one of the other boysprobably Jaredmuttered. â€Å"Get a grip.† Paul twisted his head toward Jared, his lips curling back in irritation. Then he shifted his glare in my direction. Jacob took a step to put himself in front of me. That did it. â€Å"Right, protect her!† Paul roared in outrage. Another shudder, a convulsion, heaved through his body. He threw his head back, a real growl tearing from between his teeth. â€Å"Paul!† Sam and Jacob shouted together. Paul seemed to fall forward, vibrating violently. Halfway to the ground, there was a loud ripping noise, and the boy exploded. Dark silver fur blew out from the boy, coalescing into a shape more than five-times his sizea massive, crouched shape, ready to spring. The wolf's muzzle wrinkled back over his teeth, and another growl rolled through his colossal chest. His dark, enraged eyes focused on me. In the same second, Jacob was running across the road straight for the monster. â€Å"Jacob!† I screamed. Mid-stride, a long tremor shivered down Jacob's spine. He leaped forward, diving headfirst into the empty air. With another sharp tearing sound, Jacob exploded, too. He burst out of his skinshreds of black and white cloth blasted up into the air. It happened so quickly that if I'd blinked, I'd have missed the entire transformation. One second it was Jacob diving into the air, and then it was the gigantic, russet brown wolfso enormous that I couldn't make sense of its mass somehow fitting inside Jacobcharging the crouched silver beast. Jacob met the other werewolf's attack head-on. Their angry snarls echoed like thunder off the trees. The black and white scrapsthe remains of Jacob's clothesfluttered to the ground where he'd disappeared. â€Å"Jacob!† I screamed again, staggering forward. â€Å"Stay where you are, Bella,† Sam ordered. It was hard to hear him over the roar of the fighting wolves. They were snapping and tearing at each other, their sharp teeth flashing toward each other's throats. The Jacob-wolf seemed to have the upper handhe was visibly bigger than the other wolf, and it looked like le was stronger, too. He rammed his shoulder against the gray wolf again and again, knocking him back toward the trees. â€Å"Take her to Emily's,† Sam shouted toward the other boys, who were watching the conflict with rapt expressions. Jacob had successfully shoved the gray wolf off the road, and they were disappearing into the forest, though the sound of their snarls was still loud. Sam ran after them, kicking off his shoes on the way. As he darted into the trees, he was quivering from head to toe. The growling and snapping was fading into the distance. Suddenly, the sound cut off and it was very quiet on the road. One of the boys started laughing. I turned to stare at himmy wide eyes felt frozen, like I couldn't even blink them. The boy seemed to be laughing at my expression. â€Å"Well, there's something you don't see every day,† he snickered. His face was vaguely familiarthinner than the others Embry Call. â€Å"I do,† the other boy, Jared, grumbled. â€Å"Every single day.† â€Å"Aw, Paul doesn't lose his temper every day,† Embry disagreed, still grinning. â€Å"Maybe two out of three.† Jared stopped to pick something white up off the ground. He held it up toward Embry; it dangled in limp strips from his hand. â€Å"Totally shredded,† Jared said. â€Å"Billy said this was the last pair he could affordguess Jacob's going barefoot now.† â€Å"This one survived,† Embry said, holding up a white sneaker. â€Å"Jake can hop,† he added with a laugh. Jared started collecting various pieces of fabric from the dirt. â€Å"Get Sam's shoes, will you? All the rest of this is headed for the trash.† Embry grabbed the shoes and then jogged into the trees where Sam had disappeared. He was back in a few seconds with a pair of cut-off jeans draped over his arm. Jared gathered the torn remnants of Jacob's and Paul's clothes and wadded them into a ball. Suddenly, he seemed to remember me. He looked at me carefully, assessing. â€Å"Hey, you're not going to faint or puke or anything?† he demanded. â€Å"I don't think so,† I gasped. â€Å"You don't look so good. Maybe you should sit down.† â€Å"Okay,† I mumbled. For the second time in one morning, I put my head between my knees. â€Å"Jake should have warned us,† Embry complained. â€Å"He shouldn't have brought his girlfriend into this. What did he expect?† â€Å"Well, the wolf's out of the bag now.† Embry sighed. â€Å"Way to go, Jake.† I raised my head to glare at the two boys who seemed to be taking this all so lightly. â€Å"Aren't you worried about them at all?† I demanded. Embry blinked once in surprise â€Å"Worried? Why?† â€Å"They could hurt each other!† Embry and Jared guffawed. â€Å"I hope Paul gets a mouthful of him,† Jared said. â€Å"Teach him a lesson.† I blanched. â€Å"Yeah, right!† Embry disagreed. â€Å"Did you see Jake? Even Sam couldn't have phased on the fly like that. He saw Paul losing it, and it took him, what, half a second to attack? The boy's got a gift.† â€Å"Paul's been fighting longer. I'll bet you ten bucks he leaves a mark.† â€Å"You're on. Jake's a natural. Paul doesn't have a prayer.† They shook hands, grinning. I tried to comfort myself with their lack of concern, but I couldn't drive the brutal image of the fighting werewolves from my head. My stomach churned, sore and empty, my head ached with worry. â€Å"Let's go see Emily. You know she'll have food waiting.† Embry looked down at me. â€Å"Mind giving us a ride?† â€Å"No problem,† I choked. Jared raised one eyebrow. â€Å"Maybe you'd better drive, Embry. She still looks like she might hurl.† â€Å"Good idea. Where are the keys?† Embry asked me. â€Å"Ignition.† Embry opened the passenger-side door. â€Å"In you go,† he said cheerfully, hauling me up from the ground with one hand and stuffing me into my seat. He appraised the available space. â€Å"You'll have to ride in the back,† he told Jared. â€Å"That's fine. I got a weak stomach. I don't want to be in there when she blows.† â€Å"I bet she's tougher than that. She runs with vampires.† â€Å"Five bucks?† Jared asked. â€Å"Done. I feel guilty, taking your money like this.† Embry got in and started the engine while Jared leapt agilely into the bed. As soon as his door was closed, Embry muttered to me, â€Å"Don't throw up, okay? I've only got a ten, and if Paul got his teeth into Jacob† â€Å"Okay,† I whispered. Embry drove us back toward the village. â€Å"Hey, how did Jake get around the injunction anyway?† â€Å"The what?† â€Å"Er, the order. You know, to not spill the beans. How did he tell you about this?† â€Å"Oh, that,† I said, remembering Jacob trying to choke out the truth to me last night. â€Å"He didn't. I guessed right.† Embry pursed his lips, looking surprised. â€Å"Hmm. S'pose that would work.† â€Å"Where are we going?† I asked. â€Å"Emily's house. She's Sam's girlfriend no, fiancee, now, I guess. They'll meet us back there after Sam gives it to them for what just happened. And after Paul and Jake scrounge up some new clothes, if Paul even has any left.† â€Å"Does Emily know about ?† â€Å"Yeah. And hey, don't stare at her. That bugs Sam.† I frowned at him. â€Å"Why would I stare?† Embry looked uncomfortable. â€Å"Like you saw just now, hanging out around werewolves has its risks.† He changed the subject quickly. â€Å"Hey, are you okay about the whole thing with the black-haired bloodsucker in the meadow? It didn't look like he was a friend of yours, but. .† Embry shrugged. â€Å"No, he wasn't my friend.† â€Å"That's good. We didn't want to start anything, break the treaty, you know.† â€Å"Oh, yeah, Jake told me about the treaty once, a long time ago. Why would killing Laurent break the treaty?† â€Å"Laurent,† he repeated, snorting, like he was amused the vampire had had a name. â€Å"Well, we were technically on Cullen turf. We're not allowed to attack any of them, the Cullens, at least, off our landunless they break the treaty first. We didn't know if the black-haired one was a relative of theirs or something. Looked like you knew him.† â€Å"How would they go about breaking the treaty?† â€Å"If they bite a human. Jake wasn't so keen on the idea of letting it go that far.† â€Å"Oh. Um, thanks. I'm glad you didn't wait.† â€Å"Our pleasure.† He sounded like he meant that in a literal sense. Embry drove past the easternmost house on the highway before turning off onto a narrow dirt road. â€Å"Your truck is slow,† he noted. â€Å"Sorry.† At the end of the lane was a tiny house that had once been gray. There was only one narrow window beside the weathered blue door, but the window box under it was filled with bright orange and yellow marigolds, giving the whole place a cheerful look. Embry opened the truck door and inhaled. â€Å"Mmm, Emily's cooking.† Jared jumped out of the back of the truck and headed for the door, but Embry stopped him with one hand on his chest. He looked at me meaningfully, and cleared his throat. â€Å"I don't have my wallet on me,† Jared said. â€Å"That's okay. I won't forget.† They climbed up the one step and entered the house without knocking. I followed timidly after them. The front room, like Billy's house, was mostly kitchen. A young woman with satiny copper skin and long, straight, crow-black hair was standing at the counter by the sink, popping big muffins out of a tin and placing them on a paper plate. For one second, I thought the reason Embry had told me not to stare was because the girl was so beautiful. And then she asked â€Å"You guys hungry?† in a melodic voice, and she turned to face us full on, a smile on half of her face. The right side of her face was scarred from hairline to chin by three thick, red lines, livid in color though they were long healed. One line pulled down the corner of her dark, almond-shaped right eye, another twisted the right side of her mouth into a permanent grimace. Thankful for Embry's warning, I quickly turned my eyes to the muffins in her hands. They smelled wonderfullike fresh blueberries. â€Å"Oh,† Emily said, surprised. â€Å"Who's this?† I looked up, trying to focus on the left half of her face. â€Å"Bella Swan,† Jared told her, shrugging. Apparently, I'd been a topic of conversation before. â€Å"Who else?† â€Å"Leave it to Jacob to find a way around,† Emily murmured. She stared at me, and neither half of her once-beautiful face was friendly. â€Å"So, you're the vampire girl.† I stiffened. â€Å"Yes. Are you the wolf girl?† She laughed, as did Embry and Jared. The left half of her face warmed. â€Å"I guess I am.† She turned to Jared. â€Å"Where's Sam?† â€Å"Bella, er, surprised Paul this morning.† Emily rolled her good eye. â€Å"Ah, Paul,† she sighed. â€Å"Do you think they'll be long? I was just about to start the eggs.† â€Å"Don't worry,† Embry told her. â€Å"If they're late, we won't let anything go to waste.† Emily chuckled, and then opened the refrigerator. â€Å"No doubt,† she agreed. â€Å"Bella, are you hungry? Go ahead and help yourself to a muffin.† â€Å"Thanks.† I took one from the plate and started nibbling around the edges. It was delicious, and it felt good in my tender stomach. Embry picked up his third and shoved it into his mouth whole. â€Å"Save some for your brothers,† Emily chastised him, hitting him on the head with a wooden spoon. The word surprised me, but the others thought nothing of it. â€Å"Pig,† Jared commented. I leaned against the counter and watched the three of them banter like a family. Emily's kitchen was a friendly place, bright with white cupboards and pale wooden floorboards. On the little round table, a cracked blue-and-white china pitcher was overflowing with wildflowers. Embry and Jared seemed entirely at ease here. Emily was mixing a humongous batch of eggs, several dozen, in a big yellow bowl. She had the sleeves of her lavender shirt pushed up, and I could see that the scars extended all the way down her arm to the back of her right hand. Hanging out with werewolves truly did have its risks, just as Embry had said. The front door opened, and Sam stepped through. â€Å"Emily,† he said, and so much love saturated his voice that I felt embarrassed, intrusive, as I watched him cross the room in one stride and take her face in his wide hands. He leaned down and kissed the dark scars on her right cheek before he kissed her lips. â€Å"Hey, none of that,† Jared complained. â€Å"I'm eating.† â€Å"Then shut up and eat,† Sam suggested, kissing Emily's ruined mouth again. â€Å"Ugh,† Embry groaned. This was worse than any romantic movie; this was so real that it sang out loud with joy and life and true love. I put my muffin down and folded my arms across my empty chest. I stared at the flowers, trying to ignore the utter peace of their moment, and the wretched throbbing of my wounds. I was grateful for the distraction when Jacob and Paul came through the door, and then shocked when I saw that they were laughing. While I watched, Paul punched Jacob on the shoulder and Jacob went for a kidney jab in return. They laughed again. They both appeared to be in one piece. Jacob scanned the room, his eyes stopping when he found me leaning, awkward and out of place, against the counter in the far corner of the kitchen. â€Å"Hey, Bells,† he greeted me cheerfully. He grabbed two muffins as he passed the table and came to stand beside me. â€Å"Sorry about before,† he muttered under his breath. â€Å"How are you holding up.'† â€Å"Don't worry, I'm okay. Good muffins.† I picked mine back up and started nibbhrg again. My chest felt better as soon as Jacob was beside me. â€Å"Oh, man!† Jared wailed, interrupting us. I looked up, and he and Embry were examining a fading pink line on Paul's forearm. Embry was grinning, exultant. â€Å"Fifteen dollars,† he crowed. â€Å"Did you do that?† I whispered to Jacob, remembering the bet. â€Å"I barely touched him. He'll be perfect by sundown.† â€Å"By sundown?† I looked at the line on Paul's arm. Odd, but it looked weeks old. â€Å"Wolf thing,† Jacob whispered. I nodded, trying to not look weirded out. â€Å"You okay?† I asked him under my breath. â€Å"Not a scratch on me.† His expression was smug. â€Å"Hey, guys,† Sam said in a loud voice, interrupting all the conversations going on in the small room. Emily was at the stove, scraping the egg mixture around a big skillet, but Sam still had one hand touching the small of her back, an unconscious gesture. â€Å"Jacob has information for us.† Paul looked unsurprised. Jacob must have explained this to him and Sam already. Or they'd just heard his thoughts. â€Å"I know what the redhead wants.† Jacob directed his words toward Jared and Embry. â€Å"That's what I was trying to tell you before.† He kicked the leg of the chair Paul had settled into. â€Å"And?† Jared asked. Jacob's face got serious. â€Å"She is trying to avenge her mateonly it wasn't the black-haired leech we killed. The Cullens got her mate last year, and she's after Bella now.† This wasn't news to me, but I still shivered. Jared, Embry, and Emily stared at me with open-mouthed surprise. â€Å"She's just a girl,† Embry protested. â€Å"I didn't say it made sense. But that's why the bloodsucker's been trying to get past us. She's been heading for Forks.† They continued to stare at me, mouths still hanging open, for a long moment. I ducked my head. â€Å"Excellent,† Jared finally said, a smile beginning to pull up the corners of his mouth. â€Å"We've got bait.† With stunning speed, Jacob yanked a can opener from the counter and launched it at Jared's head. Jared's hand flicked up faster than I would have thought possible, and he snagged the tool just before it hit his face. â€Å"Bellais not bait.† â€Å"You know what I mean,† Jared said, unabashed. â€Å"So we'll be changing oar patterns,† Sam said, ignoring their squabble. â€Å"We'll try leaving a few holes, and see if she falls for it. We'll have to split up, and I don't like that. But if she's really after Bella, she probably won't try to take advantage of our divided numbers.† â€Å"Quit's got to be close to joining us,† Embry murmured. â€Å"Then we'll be able to split evenly.† Everyone looked down. I glanced at Jacob's face, and it was hopeless, like it had been yesterday afternoon, outside his house. No matter how comfortable they seemed to be with their fate, here in this happy kitchen, none of these werewolves wanted the same fate for their friend. â€Å"Well, we won't count on that,† Sam said in a low voice, and then continued at his regular volume. â€Å"Paul, Jared, and Embry will take the outer perimeter, and Jacob and I will take the inner. We'll collapse in when we've got her trapped.† I noticed that Emily didn't particularly like that Sam would be in the smaller grouping. Her worry had me glancing up at Jacob, worrying, too. Sam caught my eye. â€Å"Jacob thinks it would be best if you spent as much time as possible here in La Push. She won't know where to find you so easily, just in case.† â€Å"What about Charlie?† I demanded. â€Å"March Madness is still going,† Jacob said. â€Å"I think Billy and Harry can manage to keep Charlie down here when he's not at work.† â€Å"Wait,† Sam said, holding one hand up. His glance flickered to Emily and then back to me. â€Å"That's what Jacob thinks is best, but you need to decide for yourself. You should weigh the risks of both options very seriously. You saw this morning how easily things can get dangerous here, how quickly they get out of hand. If you choose to stay with us, I can't make any guarantees about your safety.† â€Å"I won't hurt her,† Jacob mumbled, looking down. Sam acted as if he hadn't heard him speak. â€Å"If there was somewhere else you felt safe† I bit my lip. Where could I go that wouldn't put someone else in danger? I recoiled again from the idea of bringing Renee into thispulling her into the circle of the target I wore â€Å"I don't want to lead Victoria anywhere else,† I whispered. Sam nodded. â€Å"That's true. It's better to have her here, where we can end this.† I flinched. I didn't want Jacob or any of the rest of them trying to end Victoria. I glanced at Jake's face; it was relaxed, almost the same as I remembered it from before the onset of the wolf thing, and utterly unconcerned by the idea of hunting vampires. â€Å"You'll be careful, right?† I asked, an audible lump in my throat. The boys burst into loud hoots of amusement. Everyone laughed at meexcept Emily. She met my eyes, and I could suddenly see the symmetry underlying her deformity. Her face was still beautiful, and alive with a concern even more fierce than mine. I had to look away, before the love behind that concern could start me aching again. â€Å"Food's ready,† she announced then, and the strategic conversation was history. The guys hurried to surround the tablewhich looked tiny and in danger of being crushed by themand devoured the buffet-sized pan of eggs Emily placed in their midst in record time. Emily ate leaning against the counter like meavoiding the bedlam at the tableand watched them with affectionate eyes. Her expression clearly stated that this was her family. All in all, it wasn't exactly what I'd been expecting from a pack of werewolves. I spent the day in La Push, the majority of it in Billy's house. He left a message on Charlie's phone and at the station, and Charlie showed up around dinnertime with two pizzas. It was good he brought two larges; Jacob ate one all by himself. I saw Charlie eyeing the two of us suspiciously all night, especially the much-changed Jacob. He asked about the hair; Jacob shrugged and told him it was just more convenient. I knew that as soon as Charlie and I were headed home, Jacob would take offoff to run around as a wolf, as he had done intermittently through the entire day. He and his brothers of sorts kept up a constant watch, looking for some sign of Victoria's return. But since they'd chased her away from the hot springs last nightchased her halfway to Canada, according to Jacobshe'd yet to make another foray. I had no hope at all that she might just give up. I didn't have that kind of luck. Jacob walked me to my truck after dinner and lingered by the window, waiting for Charlie to drive away first. â€Å"Don't be afraid tonight,† Jacob said, while Charlie pretended to be having trouble with his seat belt. â€Å"We'll be out there, watching.† â€Å"I won't worry about myself,† I promised. â€Å"You're silly. Hunting vampires is fun. It's the best part of this whole mess.† I shook my head. â€Å"If I'm silly, then you're dangerously unbalanced.† He chuckled. â€Å"Get some rest, Bella, honey. You look exhausted.† â€Å"I'lltry.† Charlie honked his horn impatiently. â€Å"See you tomorrow,† Jacob said. â€Å"Come down first thing.† â€Å"Iwill.† Charlie followed me home. I paid scant attention to the lights in my rearview mirror. Instead, I wondered where Sam and Jared and Embry and Paul were, out running in the night. I wondered if Jacob had joined them yet. When we got home, I hurried for the stairs, but Charlie was right behind me. â€Å"What's going on, Bella?† he demanded before I could escape. â€Å"I thought Jacob was part of a gang and you two were fighting.† â€Å"We made up.† â€Å"And the gang?† â€Å"I don't knowwho can understand teenage boys? They're a mystery. But I met Sam Uley and his fiancee, Emily. The seemed pretty nice to me.† I shrugged. â€Å"Must have all been a misunderstanding.† His face changed. â€Å"I hadn't heard that he and Emily had made it official. That's nice. Poor girl.† â€Å"Do you know what happened to her?† â€Å"Mauled by a bear, up north, during salmon spawning seasonhorrible accident It was more than a year ago now. I heard Sam was really messed up over it.† â€Å"That's horrible,† I echoed. More than a year ago. I'd bet that meant it had happened when there was just one werewolf in La Push. I shuddered at the thought of how Sam must have felt every time he looked at Emily's face. That night, I lay awake for a long time trying to sort through the day. I worked my way backward through dinner with Billy, Jacob, and C harlie, to the long afternoon in the Blacks' house, waiting anxiously to hear something from Jacob, to Emily's kitchen, to the horror of the werewolf fight, to talking with Jacob on the beach. I thought about what Jacob had said early this morning, about hypocrisy. I thought about that for a long time. I didn't like to think that I was a hypocrite, only what was the point of lying to myself? I curled into a tight ball. No, Edward wasn't a killer. Even in his darker past, he'd never been a murderer of innocents, at least. But what if he had been? What if, during the time I that I'd known him, he'd been just like any other vampire? What if people had been disappearing from the woods, just like now? Would that have kept me away from him? I shook my head sadly. Love is irrational, I reminded myself. The more you loved someone, the less sense anything made. I rolled over and tried to think of something elseand I thought of Jacob and his brothers, out running in the darkness. I fell asleep imagining the wolves, invisible in the night, guarding me from danger. When I dreamed, I stood in the forest again, but I didn't wander. I was holding Emily's scarred hand as we faced into the shadows and waited anxiously for our werewolves to come home.