Tuesday, August 25, 2020

The Language of The Neuromancer Essay examples -- Neuromancer Essays

The Language of The Neuromancerâ Â As per A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, formalistic methodology speaks to a methodology with technique, with a history, with professionals and with certain depreciators (73). At the point when all the words, phrases, representations, pictures, and images and inspected as far as one another and of the entire, any artistic content worth our endeavors will show its own inner rationale (75). Nonetheless, idiosyncrasy of language use stays one of the most predominant parts of the formalistic methodology in writing. Â The sky over the port was the shade of TV tuned into a dead channel (3). Â Opening the novel with the utilization of such extreme language, the creator sets a climate for a charming and unpredictable continuing plot. Utilizing strange language that begins with rock solid phrasing and odd coding, to names of spots that have questionable and equivocal significance, to characters' names that Gibson utilizes in his cyberpunk novel, the writer opens the peruser to various nationalities and words got from unknown dialects that relate to occasions of the cutting edge world. Gibson discusses the Russian military prosthesis, the East European steel teeth of Ratz's, the Chinese nerve grafting, the Japanese Sarariman or the English slang for suit, the Australian roaring, the French flechettes, the Jamaican Rustafarian culture, the Turkish settings, which continues in an on-going blend of wording. This idea prompts the recognition that consolidation and interrelation of blended and assorted societies using various dialects speaks to a fortification for the making of th e whole world as one major cosmopolitan culture. Â Depicting... ...ce, and 'mancer' represents a performer and sentiment. However, Neuromancer may be Gibson's unimportant hypothesis about Case's quality as a PC programmer who upsets the social request by tossing infection programs into society, in this manner causing disarray on the planet. In any case, utilizing the neuromancer as a quip, the creator could be implying the Sorcerer in Goethe's Faust, which implies a performer managing in fiendish spirits and passing. Obviously, eccentricity and the utilization of dreamlike language decide the vanity and disclosure of the novel's plot. Notwithstanding, considering about the eventual fate of sci-fi and cyberpunk writing, it is plausible that people won't be equipped for decoding the language without the utilization of extra assistance sources. Or maybe, sci-fi's inclination of turning into an incomprehensible riddle of words increments regularly. Â

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Sales Emails Theyre Not About Selling (Really!) - The Writers For Hire

Deals EMAILS: THEYRE NOT ABOUT SELLING (REALLY!) Need to improve the active clicking factor on your business messages? Quit making a decent attempt. Indeed, theres somewhat more to it than that however the primary concern is, in the event that you need to ensure that your business messages dont end up in the spam envelope, you have to ensure that youre not broadcasting an inappropriate vibe with an excessively salesy email (considers show that individuals get progressively on edge and uneasy the more you attempt to offer to them). Your most logical option, as indicated by Flint McGlaughlin of MECLABS is to keep the tone supportive and no-pressure think client support instead of deals. A couple of different components that might be harming your active clicking factor? Obscure titles; messages that resemble presentation pages, as opposed to messages; sections that are excessively long (or excessively short!); and poor structure decisions, for example, the feared white-content on-a-dark foundation look (And truly, individuals despite everything do that. Despite the fact that they shouldnt.) To get familiar with making an amazing deals email, watch this free MECLABS copywriting facility. Its around 30 minutes in length and absolutely justified, despite all the trouble. The live scrutinizes are super-useful.

Friday, July 31, 2020

I Will Upload The Case Studies Example

I Will Upload The Case Studies Example I Will Upload The Case Studies â€" Essay Example > Health and Social carePhysical careChronic diarrhea or frequent runny or watery bowel movement results from gastrointestinal infections (GI) caused by bacteria, viruses or parasites and these varies with regions and hygienic status of the residents; those that last for more than three days are sign of medical condition. There is need for Mr. Dale to seek the attention of medical professionals immediately (Hanauer Marteau, 2001, p. 67-79). It is important for the patient to drink a lot of water to prevent dehydration due to excess water that he has lost or for good health whether as a first aid or treatment. After a through laboratory assessment, the patient was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis which is a complication of an inflammatory bowel disease or a disease of the intestine which bearing the characteristics of open sores or ulcers in the colon (Dodi Spencer, 2006 p. 156-164). Apart from adhering to the medication prescribed by the doctor, the patient needs to consider a go od diet or healthy lifestyle which consists plenty of fresh vegetables, fiber and lots of water or other health fluids helps the system of Mr. Dale to digest more easily and absorption of more nutrients to replace the ones lost. Moderate exercise should be considered for example, a little walk with the help of Physiotherapist may boost the digestive system and prevent the development of thromboembolic complications like venous thrombosis but if it is not possible the patients should have a bed rest to conserve the little enough remaining in the body (Walker-Smith, Hamilton Walker, 2001 p. 245-251). Mostly chronic diarrhea is treated with the injection against viruses like rotavirus and enter-viruses, and other microorganisms like bacteria which causes gastrointestinal infections. However, the complication of ulcerative colitis mostly combines the medicinal administration and surgery. At minor stages, the medications are administered to induce remissions, maintenance of remission, minimize the side effects of the treatment, improvement of the quality of life of the infected by reducing the severity of the accompanying complications and minimize the risks of complications of chronic illnesses like cancer (Doherty, 2010 p. 135-137). The preferred medications include: 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA and mesalazine) and immunomodulators to reduce intestinal inflammation. There are no medicines to completely ill the Ulcerative colitis so when the symptoms get to the severe stages a surgery is conducted to remove the infected large intestines (colectomy) (Warner Barto, 2009 p. 87-89). The problem at hand is loss of nutrients and fluid through vomiting and diarrhea or anorexia. For nursing care, Total Parental Nutrition should be considered to directly injecting nutritional formulas which contains necessary nutrients like glucose amino acids, salts, vitamins and lipids without going through the ordinary eating and digestive processes. Intravenous therapy is conside red in case the symptoms of the disorder are complicated that the patient is not able to get food through other routes. If total parental nutrition or total nutrient admixture is considered the health professionals should be keen to observe the flow of fluid which is used to give in nutrients in the body as well as checking the changes in the body weight. The nurses should be keen to monitor the pattern of intake and output of the fluid as well and the changes in eth weight of the patient. In case of severe symptoms or much pain medicines like morphine should be administered to relief the pain (Farraye, 2010 p. 156-167).

Friday, May 22, 2020

The Life Of Frederick Douglass And Harriet Jacobs Essay

The stories of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs, slaves in the United States, as well as Olaudah Equiano, who spent time as a slave in North America, attest to the deeply embedded tradition of slavery in North American society. Slavery grew and was maintained through the dehumanization of the slaves, which was carried out through negligence and psychological and physical abuse. This allowed slave owners to exercise complete control over their slaves, extending to the objectification and rape of female slaves. Although the economic benefits of slavery served as a large factor for the continuation of the institution, a larger factor was the integration of the institution of slavery into American society. The narratives detailed the shift of slave owners from viewing slavery as a necessary evil to a positive good and social normality. Slavery became so ingrained in American society that slave owners used any justification necessary in order to retain their slaves, leading to the de humanization of slaves and beginning a vicious, oppressive cycle that would continue for years to come in American society and accounting for slavery’s durability. American slavery grew and expanded as a direct result of the dehumanization of slaves, which created a culture of abuse and fear, allowing one population to become subservient to another and accounting for the durability of slavery. In order to grow and retain the institution of slavery in North America, slave owners dehumanizedShow MoreRelatedThe Life Of Frederick Douglass And Harriet Ann Jacobs904 Words   |  4 PagesFrederick Douglass and Harriet Ann Jacobs There are those in America who believe that it is time we move past the deep complex feelings towards the cultural repercussions of slavery. Much like the modern-day, Germans feel in their association with the murders and tragedies after World War II, many Americans – especially white American – want to feel an understandable disassociation from the white Americans who propagated slavery. Thus calling this unbearable reminder of the past â€Å"white guilt†Read MoreThe Life Of Frederick Douglass And Harriet Jacobs1951 Words   |  8 Pagesthe lives of Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs were more different than similar when they were slaves. The differences between their lives mostly come from being opposite genders, as the man deals with more physical and mental afflictions, whereas the woman suffers physical and social afflictions. Fredrick Douglass was born in Maryland, but never told his birthday, as was the case with most slaves. In fact, they were not to ask their age or they would be punished (Douglass, 17). Also, just as mostRead MoreThe Life Of A Slave Girl By Frederick Douglass And Harriet Jacobs1208 Words   |  5 PagesFrederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs are both prominent influential authors of the Reform Era. Both writers, who spring forth from similar backgrounds and unimaginable situations, place a spotlight on the peculiar circumstances that surrounded the lives of the African American slaves. After reading and analyzing both Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass; readers discover the horrifying truths that belong to the past in connection to slavery.Read MoreThe Life Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs And Frederick Douglass1618 Words   |  7 Pagesslaves such as Harriet Jacobs’s and Frederick Douglass’s. Jacobs’s â₠¬Å"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl† and Douglass’s â€Å"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass† both illustrate great examples of the obstacles and barriers that slaves had to overcome. The protagonists in both stories, Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass, are obviously not your everyday comic book superheroes who has their own hidden identities, rather, they are just ordinary commoners who are also facing real-life struggles likeRead MoreComparative Evaluation in Slave Life: Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass2566 Words   |  11 PagesThis paper is a comparative evaluation I did between the autobiographical experiences of two former slaves, Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, were both written during the same time period (the former in 1861, the latter in1856). These two books are compelling works of African Amer ican Literature. They are depressing but at the same time hopeful, discouraging butRead MoreThe Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave And Harriet Jacobs s Incidents994 Words   |  4 PagesDouglass’s Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, an American Slave and Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl are two famous examples in which the writers demonstrate their perspective as slaves and dangerous, agonizing life. Nevertheless, there are also many dissimilarities between these narratives, including gender based treatments, main character’s first steps towards freedom, and main character’s personality. According to their narratives, Douglass and Jacobs were subjected to diverseRead MoreA Comparison Of Writings By Harriet Jacobs And Frederick Douglass1718 Words   |  7 PagesA Comparison of Writings by Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass In this paper I will compare the writings of Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass. I will touch on their genre, purpose, content, and style. Both authors were born into slavery. Both escaped to freedom and fought to bring an end to slavery, each in their own way. Both Jacobs and Douglass have a different purpose for their writings. Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass were both slaves that wrote about their strugglesRead MoreThe Life Of Frederick Douglass And The Life Of A Slave Girl1475 Words   |  6 PagesJamiya Brooks Comparative Paper November 18, 2014 The Life of Frederick Douglass the Life of a Slave Girl The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and The Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl are both nineteenth-century narratives about Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs’s experiences born into slavery and as escaped slaves. The concept of gender makes each narrative have distinct perspectives’ of their version of what they endure during slavery and how it shapes their freedom. EvenRead MoreFrederick Douglass Vs. Harriet Jacobs987 Words   |  4 PagesFrederick Douglass v. Harriet Jacobs â€Å"We are not Americans; we are Africans who happen to be in America. We were kidnapped and brought here against out will from Africa. We did not land on Plymouth rock--that rock landed on us (â€Å"Malcolm X†).† Slavery began when Americans brought Africans to Virginia in 1619 to complete any field work that plantation owners did not want to do themselves (History.com Staff). Slavery lasted in America for 246 years and even after, African Americans were still treatedRead MoreCompare/Contrast Douglass and Jacobs1607 Words   |  7 PagesSlave; A Compare and Contrast Essay of Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass. The experiences, memories and treatment in any situation are viewed upon differently between a man and a woman. Obvious in the case of slavery, the two sexes were treated differently and so therefore their recollections of such events were-different. In the following short essay, we look closely at the perspective of the female slave, Harriet Jacobs in â€Å"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl†, and respectfully compared

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Effective Return On Tax Saving Mutual Fund Schemes Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 11 Words: 3152 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? Savings are the tool used by a person or an organization that abstains from present consumption for a future use. Investment is an activity that engaged by people who have savings with the aim of achieving additional income or growth in values. It may be defined as a commitment of funds made in the expectation of some positive rate of return. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Effective Return On Tax Saving Mutual Fund Schemes Finance Essay" essay for you Create order Investors may have different aim for investing their money such as capital appreciation, regular return, safety, proud of holdings, additional return and tax benefits. They may expect to get back the money along with interest at a future date or the purpose may be the price appreciation on their investment or they may invest their money to get regular income from their investment, many investors consider other promised benefits like retirement benefit, accident coverage, etc., They seek the investment area where they can get maximum return and minimum risk. Some investors ready to face risk to have maximum returns. Safety of funds and regular payment in the mode of interest is expected by everyone. This can be possible only on bank deposit/ postal saving. Comparatively the returns of bank deposits are low than the investment in securities market. Among all other available investment, investor looks into the tax relief. They invest to have tax relaxation on their income for that they seeks better investment avenue which gives tax relief on their income. Even though they invested to have tax relief they expect return on the investment. Thus, this paper aims to compare the return on the investment in bank and tax saving mutual fund schemes with effective interest rate too. This study will helps to investors to evaluate their portfolio. Savings are the tool used by a person or an organization that abstains from present consumption for a future use. Investment is an activity that engaged by people who have savings with the aim of achieving additional income or growth in values. It may be defined as a commitment of funds made in the expectation of some positive rate of return.1 Investors may have different aim for investing their money such as capital appreciation, regular return, safety, proud of holdings, additional return and tax benefits. They may expect to get back the money along with interest at a future date or the purpose may be the price appreciation on their investment or they may invest their money to get regular income from their investment, many investors consider other promised benefits like retirement benefit, accident coverage, etc., They seek the investment area where they can get maximum return and minimum risk. Some investors ready to face risk to have maximum returns. Generally individual investor expects security on their investment. Safety of funds and regular payment in the mode of interest is expected by everyone. This can be possible only on bank deposit/ postal saving. Comparatively the returns of bank deposits are low than the investment in securities market. Among all other available investment, investor looks into the tax relief. They invest to have tax relaxation on their income for that they seeks better investment avenue which gives tax relief on their income. Even though they invested to have tax relief they expect return on the investment. Thus, this paper aims to compare the return on the investment in bank and tax saving mutual fund schemes with effective interest rate too. The dividend declared tax saving mutual fund schemes which are launched during the year 2000-05 have been selected for the purpose of study. This study will helps to investors to evaluate their portfolio. INVESTMENT PATTERN There are various investment plans available in the financial market to help investors to choose better suitable area to make their investment. Blue chip shares Growth share Income share Cyclical share Speculative share Equity Shares Financial Assets Treasury Bill Commercial purpose Certificate of Deposits Money Markets Investments Mutual fund Schemes 1. Equity shares 2. Debt Schemes 3. Balanced Schemes Real Estate 1. Agriculture Land 2. Semi Urban Land 3. Time share in a Holiday Resort Non Marketable Financial Assets 1. Bank Deposits 2. Post office Deposits 3. Co-Operative Deposits 4. Public Provident Fund Deposits Bonds 1. Government Securities 2. GOI Relief Bonds 3. Govt. Agency Securities 4. PSU Bonds 5. Debenture of Private Sector Companies 6. Preference schemes Endownment Assurance Policy Money Back Policy Whole Life Policy Premium Back Term Assurance Policy LIC Policies Financial Assets Gold Silver Precious Stones Art Objects Money Markets Investments Financial Derivatives Options Futures Figure 1 Various Investment Avenues[1] The objective of an investor comprised into three namely safety of investment, liquidity position and return on their invested money. The return on investment may further be classified into capital gain and the rate of return on investment as interest or dividend. Figure 1 shows all investment options presently available to the investors. Table 1 Summary Evaluation of Various Investment Avenues Investment options Return Risk liquidity Marketability Tax shelter Convenience Return yield Capital Appreciation Equity shares Low High High Fairly High Section 80C benefit High Non-Convertible Debentures High Negligible Low Average Nil High Equity Schemes Low High High High Section 80C benefit Very high Term Deposits Under Tax benefit scheme Moderate Nil Negligible High Section 80C benefit Very high Public Provident fund Nil High Nil Average Section 80C benefit Very high Life Insurance Policies Nil Moderate Nil Average Section 80C benefit Very high Residential House Moderate Moderate Negligible Low Section 80C High Fair Gold and Silver Nil Moderate Average Average Nil Average Every investor wants to get maximum economic advantage from their investment. Investment avenues are based upon the rate of return, risk and uncertainty, capital appreciation, marketability, tax advantage and convenience of investment. Table 1 gives clear picture which helps the investors to take their investment decisions on various financial market instruments. This paper seeks to have result for, Do the bank deposit returns and tax saving mutual fund schemes return vary? To find out the result for the above questions the returns of dividend declared tax saving mutual fund schemes launched during the year 2000 to 2005 have been selected and the study period was selected from 2006-07 to 2009-10 up to February 2010. TOOLS USED FOR ANALYSIS To examine the Performance of selected tax saving mutual fund schemes and bank return, various tools are being used. Rate of return, Standard deviation, Dividend yield ratio has been selected to examine the performance of selected tax saving mutual fund schemes and Future value, Effective interest rate is taken to analyze the bank returns. Net Asset Value (NAV) is a term used to describe the value of an entitys assets less the value of its liabilities. Higher the rate of return shows the better the performance of the fund. It can be computed as Ri = NAV i1 NAV i0 * 100% NAVi0 Where, i is the number of funds Ri is the rate of return of portfolio i NAV i1 is the net asset value of funds at current evaluation period NAVi0 is the net asset value of funds at previous evaluation period. Standard Deviation of fund measures the volatility level of return rates. The volatility level also describes the risk level. Usually, for higher rates of return the risk level will also become higher. Hence, the study includes standard deviation as the measure of risk level. It can be computed as ÃÆ' Ãƒâ€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢i = ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ £m j=1(Rij-R)2 m-1 ÃÆ' Ãƒâ€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢i = standard deviation for portfolio i Rij = Rate of return for portfolio i on jth month R = Average return rates of m months. m = Time period Future value can also be used to calculate the future value of the deposits in a bank. Money has time value. The amount deposited in a bank will be increased with relation to the time. It can be calculated as Future Value = p(1 + k)n Where, k is the rate of interest n is the number of years p is the amount deposited Dividend yield is a financial ratio which shows how much a company pays out in dividends each year relative to its share price. Dividend is one form of return that the investor can get on their investment. In the absence of any capital gain, the dividend yield is the return on investment for a stock. It can be calculated as Dividend yield = Annual Dividends per share Price per share Effective interest rate is also called as effective annual interest rate. It is the annual interest rate that accounts for the effect of compounding. It can be calculated as Effective interest rate = (1+R/P) p-1 Where, R is the nominal rate P is the number of compounding periods. AN ANALYSIS OF TAX SAVING MUTUAL FUND SCHEMES Performance of the fund determines the interest of investors. Investors generally does not compare all the schemes and distribute their funds. But they want positive NPV on their investment. By comparing returns of various avenues the investor can know the better investment area. When a company trades their funds, the performance of the funds determines the capital appreciation of the funds. The fund appreciation increases the share trades and the investors actively involved in the purchase and selling of shares. The following tables Table 2a, Table 2b, Table 2c and Table 2d shows the NAV return of selected tax saving mutual fund schemes during the year 2006-07 to 2009-10 till February. Table 2a Net asset Value of Tax saving mutual Fund schemes    2006-07 ( 1 APR 2006 TO 31 MAR 2007) Company Name APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR DBS Chola Tax saver fund 5.05 -3.91 -17.16 2.53 9.06 6.84 5.35 6.34 1.15 2.94 -8.46 -9.86 HDFC long term advantage fund 4.75 -1.77 -16.32 1.74 6.12 7.09 4.36 3.95 0.84 56.84 -2.00 -18.35 Ing tax saving fund -16.86 -0.82 -23.98 -0.46 9.23 8.36 5.24 6.74 3.57 5.93 -1.50 -13.92 Kotak tax saver 9.01 -0.54 -23.14 -0.36 7.67 5.60 5.35 9.05 3.36 5.52 -4.72 -22.38 Principal personal tax saver 42.18 73.37 -22.89 -0.21 7.20 4.38 8.81 8.58 2.00 7.15 0.65 -8.74 Reliance tax saver fund 6.05 -1.32 -21.49 0.22 0.14 -7.35 -2.26 20.51 2.64 10.21 11.92 -15.49 Source : https://www.amfiindia.com/NavHistoryReport_Frm.aspx Table 2a Net asset Value of Tax saving mutual Fund schemes 2007-08 ( 1 APR 2007 TO 31 MAR 2008) Company Name APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR DBS Chola Tax saver fund 5.14 6.02 0.99 5.13 4.58 0.00 0.00 0.00 19.11 -5.96 -12.37 -10.69 HDFC long term advantage fund 2.15 6.62 4.23 4.87 -2.12 6.12 10.61 6.01 2.60 -3.74 -11.38 -18.98 Ing tax saving fund -17.94 6.97 3.51 4.53 -5.37 5.97 3.54 9.20 6.31 -4.30 -16.19 -11.87 Kotak tax saver 5.55 7.25 4.75 5.98 -4.18 5.48 9.02 6.84 10.44 -0.28 -27.95 -19.56 Principal personal tax saver 5.87 9.26 4.44 11.17 -1.49 8.08 5.91 3.57 9.12 -5.85 -11.53 -25.99 Reliance tax saver fund 2.52 5.23 2.19 7.83 -3.56 8.77 6.57 -1.21 8.57 -6.23 -12.26 -12.77 Source : https://www.amfiindia.com/NavHistoryReport_Frm.aspx Table 2a Net asset Value of Tax saving mutual Fund scheme s 2008-09 ( 1 APR 2008 TO 31 MAR 2009) Company Name APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR DBS Chola Tax saver fund 3.43 4.46 -10.23 -0.54 -5.61 -12.19 -22.52 -10.59 0.60 -1.05 -4.93 -2.42 HDFC long term advantage fund -2.59 0.48 -9.89 -6.68 8.82 -1.21 -20.34 -13.22 -0.78 -0.08 -3.43 -15.02 Ing tax saving fund 3.19 3.95 -9.90 -11.18 10.26 -6.93 -32.39 -11.71 -4.61 0.21 -3.75 -2.96 Kotak tax saver 0.09 4.61 -12.72 -10.64 7.30 -6.15 -25.03 -9.57 0.38 -1.64 -3.52 -3.31 Principal personal tax saver -29.55 3.33 -10.92 -9.33 8.14 -6.49 -28.00 -12.19 -2.79 -0.22 -2.85 -2.89 Reliance tax saver fund 1.07 3.28 -10.62 -8.11 6.62 -3.38 -17.19 -8.24 -1.05 1.34 -4.04 -2.41 Source : https://www.amfiindia.com/NavHistoryReport_Frm.aspx Table 2a Net asset Value of Tax saving mutual Fund schemes 2009-10 ( 1 APR 2009 TO 31 MAR 2010) Company Name APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB DBS Chola Tax saver fund 24.76 22.78 15.88 -0.98 6.65 6.74 4.18 -0.38 4.00 2.49 -6.09 HDFC long term advantage fund 15.05 20.02 13.19 3.02 6.97 6.72 5.62 3.39 -36.70 2.59 -9.00 Ing tax saving fund 20.96 18.44 17.72 0.31 7.00 7.87 3.25 -0.09 5.26 3.73 -4.65 Kotak tax saver 16.18 18.95 16.34 -0.95 6.73 5.86 3.72 -1.13 3.98 2.18 -5.71 Principal personal tax saver -5.69 17.25 22.21 2.00 1.74 9.91 4.80 -0.11 1.01 1.68 -4.29 Reliance tax saver fund 17.18 16.26 15.27 0.40 5.72 -6.69 5.08 6.44 -1.44 4.64 -4.29Source : https://www.amfiindia.com/NavHistoryReport_Frm.aspx NAV return of selected tax saving mutual fund schemes moves in a similar direction during the study period from 2006-07 to 2009-10 up to February 2010. NAV return of all the schemes shows negative return in the month of June 2006, March 2007, and January 2008 to March 2008, June 2008 to November 2008, February 2009 and March 2009. No scheme falls in a pattern which helps to determine their return. During the year 2008-09 all the schemes produced maximum negative return. Whereas, during the year 2009-10, till October 2009 there were no negative return in all the schemes. It also has been noted that there was a fluctuation in all the month during the period of study. STANDARD DEVIATION Standard deviation has been used to measure the volatility selected tax saving mutual fund schemes. The volatility also denotes the risk level. Usually, there will be high risk for high returns. Hence, the standard deviation included to measure the risk level. The following table shows the risk level of selected funds. Table 3 Volatility of the Funds Company Name Standard Deviation DBS Chola Tax saver fund 2.444124 HDFC long term advantage fund 42.56922 ING tax saving fund 3.452677 Kotak tax saver 3.323016 Principal personal tax saver 100.9975 Reliance tax saver fund 2.398889 It can be noted from Table 3 that the fund volatility is very high principal personal tax saver and low in Reliance tax saver fund. From Table 4 it can be understood highest dividend given by principal personal tax saver and Reliance tax saver fund provides lowest dividend. Hence it can be stated that there is a relation between the risk and return. RETURNS IN THE FORM OF DIVIDEND Dividend is one form of return that the investors can get on their investment. Not all the company declared their dividends in all the years in a study period from 2006-07 to 2009-2010 up to February 2010. Table 4 shows the dividends declared by the various Asset Management Companies. Most of the companies declared their dividends in the year 2006-07. Table 4 Dividends Declaration S.No NAME OF THE COMPANY Rs. Per Unit 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 DBS Chola Tax saver fund 1 HDFC long term advantage fund 6 6 3.5 ING tax saving fund 4 Kotak tax saver 3 3.5 Principal personal tax saver 82 Reliance tax saver fund 1 1 1.5 Source: www.moneycontrol.com, Date 26.03.2010 Principal Personal tax saver declared (maximum) Rs.82/unit dividend in the year 2007-08. DBS chola and Reliance tax saver fund declared (minimum) Rs.1/unit dividend in the year 2006-07. Table 5 shows the dividends returns of the selected tax saving mutual fund schemes. Table 5 Dividends Yield Returns Company Name Inception Year 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 DBS Chola Tax saver fund 2005 0.08 HDFC long term advantage fund 2000 0.13 0.09 0.08 ING tax saving fund 2004 0.26 Kotak tax saver 2005 0.24 0.25 Principal personal tax saver 2002 1.16 Reliance tax saver fund 2005 0.08 0.08 It can be noted from Table 5, that highest return on dividend given by Principal personal tax saver in the year 2007-08. It also can be noted that principal personal tax saver not declared any dividend during the year 2006-07. HDFC declared Rs. 6/unit in the year 2006-07 and 2007-08. No company have declared the dividend in the year 2008-09 except HDFC long term advantage fund and Reliance Tax Saver fund. FUTURE VALUE Always money has time value. A rupee today is more valuable than a rupee a year. Money deposited today has future value after certain period. Hence future value of money calculated to know the value of investment. Table 6 shows the interest rate announced by RBI during the year 2006-07 to 2008-09. Table 6 Interest Rates Year 1 Years 1-3 Years Above 3 Years 2006-07 9% 9.75% 9.75% 2007-08 10.5% 11% 11% 2008-09 7% 8% 8.25% Source: RBI Annual reports It can be noted that the interest rate has been reduced to 7% in the year 2008-09. Table 7 Future Values of Deposits Year 1 Years 1-3 Years Above 3 Years 2006-07 1.09 1.32 1.59 2007-08 1.11 1.37 1.69 2008-09 1.07 1.26 1.49 Source: RBI Annual reports Table-7 shows the annually compounded interest returns. The rupee value of Rs 1000 in the year 2008-09 is increased to Rs. 1260 in the year 2012-13 at the rate of interest of 8%. EFFECTIVE RATE OF INTEREST Effective rate is the interest rate on financial product restated from the nominal interest rate as an interest rate with annual compound interest. Effective interest rate differs from calculating nominal rate. The nominal rate is calculated as multiply the number of periods with the interest. Table 8 Effective Interest Rate Year 1-3 Years 3-5 Years Above 5 Years 2006-07 9.0 10.1 10.1 2007-08 10.5 11.4 11.5 2008-09 7.0 8.2 8.5 Source: RBI annual reports Table-8 shows the effective interest rate. It can be revealed that the return is high for three years and above. The effective interest rate will be 10.1% where the nominal rate of interest is 9.75%. Table 9 Return on Investment in Bank Deposit (With Effective interest Rate Tool) Principal Interest Effective Interest Rate+ Principal 1000 10.1 Rs. 1303/- The Table-9 shows return on investment on Bank deposit. An investor deposited Rs.1000 with 8% interest the depositor gets Rs.1,303 with effective interest rate. Table 10 Return of Tax saving Mutual Fund Schemes Schemes 3 years dividend return alone NAV as on February 2010 No. Of Units on 2006 Unit value as on February 2010 Total Return (Dividend + Unit Value) DBS Chola Tax saver fund 80.23 13.163 80 1053 1133.3 HDFC long term advantage fund 356.25 34.453 23 792.42 1148.7 Ing tax saving fund 242.09 12.223 61 745.6 987.69 Kotak tax saver 484.06 9.657 74 714.62 1198.7 Principal personal tax saver 702.41 69.302 15 1039.5 1741.9 Reliance tax saver fund 256.83 13.701 73 1000.2 1257 The Table 10 shows the return of selected tax saving mutual fund schemes during the year 2006-07 to 2009-10 till February 2010. It can be noted from the table, the return of all the tax saving mutual fund schemes are lower than bank returns except Principal personal tax saver. All the tax saving mutual fund schemes NAV less than its purchase value on April 2006. If the investor made investment of Rs. 1000 on a bank, the investor may get Rs. 1,303 with interest and if they invested in tax saving mutual fund schemes they get less then Rs. 1,303. If they invested in DBS chola tax saver fund they may get only Rs. 1,133 and Rs. 987.69 if they invested in ING tax saver fund on February 2010. Security market is highly volatile, prediction on this market in not possible. It can be accepted through this study. There is no pattern on the NAV return. Many factors like global economy position, natural calamities, political change, etc., affects the return of security market Investment in Bank i s highly secured in all the period. CONCLUSION People invest money into known sources and they are not aware of pros and cons of the investment avenues in-depth and technically. They accept what the promoter / company or the agent says. By comparing the deposits/investments in bank and securities market, it can be noticed that the return from security market is high and it is volatile and there is no guarantee for the return. Those who wants high return, by taking high risk they can invest into securities market. Present scenario of the financial market is the securities market is in negative and there is no capital appreciation in the form of NAV returns. All sample schemes NAV goes into negative and only few company declared their lowest dividends. At present the bank return are high than the returns from securities market. Thus, generally people choose tax saving schemes to have minimum benefit from their investment. But there is no regulatory to provide guarantee on these schemes. It is necessary to create regulatory framewor k to safeguard the individual investors. The authority of mutual funds SEBI and AMFI involve into this area and may take necessary steps to protect the investors in the form of Regular return and Capital appreciation.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Effectiveness of Advertisement based on Consumers Attitudes Free Essays

The success of a business does not rely only on the quality of products or services that the company offers to the market. Even though the company provides the best product or service that the customer may avail, the success of the marketers will still be based on how the company executes their marketing plans. Apparently, the strategic plans do not refer merely to the supply chain management and marketing mix. We will write a custom essay sample on Effectiveness of Advertisement based on Consumers Attitudes or any similar topic only for you Order Now The marketers need to consider the possible impact of the products, advertisements, and competitors in penetrating the market. Since the marketplace is a wide area where the marketers, customers, and even competitors meet, it is necessary for the marketers to understand the important factors that may help the product to stay and grow in the market. Consumers’ Attitude There are many reasons why people purchase the products in the market. Basically, they buy products because those are part of their needs while some purchase the products for luxury alone. Regardless of the reasons of the consumers in buying the product, the target of the marketers is always to create awareness and sell the products to the target markets. The marketers should always remember that people buy a certain product to satisfy the needs which could be another complicated term for the company who would like to penetrate the market. There are three factors that may affect the behavior of the consumers in buying the product, the internal, the external, and the marketing. Internal factors refer to the knowledge, attitude, and perceptions of the consumers toward the product, personality and lifestyle of the buyer, and roles and involvement of the customers to the purchase. On the other hand, the external factors include the culture, situation, and groups where the consumers belong. Lastly, the marketing mix also plays very important part in the decision making of the customers. The last factor refers to the quality of product and service, affordability of price, and effectiveness of the promotion to the target market. One of the most challenging parts of being a marketer is understanding the reasons of the consumers in preferring and buying the product in the store shelf. Consumer behavior refers to the disposal or use of the products and the study of how these products are purchased. Consumers purchase a certain product because of many factors which should be taken into consideration. The knowledge and strong understanding about the factors that affect the decision making of the consumers would help the marketers to reach the anticipated level of success. Apparently, the factors that affect the consumers are extremely complex making the marketers think of new concepts in order to persuade different kinds of people in different locations to buy only one brand of product in the market. The psychological influences in consumers’ behavior can easily be recognized; however, the activities that should be done by the marketers sometimes lack the ability to persuade the customers to purchase the product.   Motivation is the psychological concept that could help the marketers to improve the plan for developing and promoting the product in the marketplace. How to cite Effectiveness of Advertisement based on Consumers Attitudes, Papers

Friday, March 20, 2020

The Winter War

The Winter War The Winter War was fought between Finland and the Soviet Union. Soviet forces began the war on November 30, 1939, and it was concluded on March 12, 1940, with the Peace of Moscow. Causes of the War Following the Soviet invasion of Poland in the fall of 1939, they turned their attention north to Finland. In November the Soviet Union demanded that the Finns move the border back 25km from Leningrad and grant them a 30-year lease on the Hanko Peninsula for construction of a naval base. In exchange, the Soviets offered a large tract of the Karelian wilderness. Termed as exchanging two pounds of dirt for one pound of gold by the Finns, the offer was flatly refused. Not to be denied, the Soviets began massing approximately 1 million men along the Finnish border. On November 26, 1939, the Soviets faked the Finnish shelling of the Russian town of Mainila. In the aftermath of the shelling, they demanded that the Finns apologize and withdraw their forces 25km from the border. Denying responsibility, the Finns refused. Four days later, 450,000 Soviet troops crossed the border. They were met by the small Finnish army which initially numbered only 180,000. The Finns were badly outnumbered in all areas during the conflict with the Soviets also possessing superiority in armor (6,541 to 30) and aircraft (3,800 to 130). Course of the War Led by Marshal Carl Gustav Mannerheim, Finnish forces manned the Mannerheim Line across the Karelian Isthmus. Anchored on the Gulf of Finland and Lake Lagoda, this fortified line saw some of the heaviest fighting of the conflict. To the north Finnish troops moved to intercept the invaders. Soviet forces were overseen by the skilled Marshal Kirill Meretskov but suffered heavily at lower command levels from Josef Stalins purges of the Red Army in 1937. Advancing, the Soviets had not anticipated meeting heavy resistance and lacked winter supplies and equipment. Generally attacking in regimental strength, the Soviets in their dark uniforms presented easy targets for Finnish machine gunners and snipers. One Finn, Corporal Simo Hyh, recorded over 500 kills as a sniper. Utilizing local knowledge, white camouflage, and skis, Finnish troops were able to inflict staggering casualties on the Soviets. Their preferred method was the use of motti tactics which called for fast-moving light infantry to swiftly encircle and destroy isolated enemy units. As the Finns lacked armor, they developed specialized infantry tactics for dealing with Soviet tanks. Utilizing four-man teams, the Finns would jam the tracks of enemy tanks with a log to stop it and then use Molotov Cocktails to detonate its fuel tank. Over 2,000 Soviet tanks were destroyed using this method. After effectively halting the Soviets during December, the Finns won a stunning victory on the Raate Road near Suomussalmi in early January 1940. Isolating the Soviet 44th Infantry Division (25,000 men), the Finnish 9th Division, under Colonel Hjalmar Siilasvuo, was able to break the enemy column into small pockets that were then destroyed. Over 17,500 were killed in exchange for around 250 Finns. The Tide Turns Angered by Meretskovs failure to break the Mannerheim Line or achieve success elsewhere, Stalin replaced him with Marshall Semyon Timoshenko on January 7. Building up Soviet forces, Timonshenko launched a massive offensive on February 1, attacking the Mannerheim Line and around Hatjalahti and Muolaa Lake. For five days the Finns beat back the Soviets inflicting horrifying casualties. On the sixth, Timonshenko began assaults in West Karelia which met a similar fate. On February 11, the Soviets finally achieved success when they penetrated the Mannerheim Line in several places. With his armys ammunition supply nearly exhausted, Mannerheim withdrew his men to new defensive positions on the 14th. Some hope did arrive when the Allies, then fighting World War II, offered to send 135,000 men to aid the Finns. The catch in the Allies offer was that they requested that their men be allowed to cross Norway and Sweden to reach Finland. This would have allowed them to occupy the Swedish iron ore fields that were supplying Nazi Germany. Upon hearing of the plan Adolf Hitler stated that should Allied troops enter Sweden, Germany would invade. The Peace Treaty The situation continued to worsen through February with the Finns falling back towards Viipuri on the 26th. On March 2, the Allies officially requested transit rights from Norway and Sweden. Under threat from Germany, both countries denied the request. Also, Sweden continued to refuse to intervene directly in the conflict. With all hope of substantial outside assistance lost and the Soviets on the outskirts of Viipuri, Finland dispatched a party to Moscow on March 6 to begin peace negotiations. Finland had been under pressure from both Sweden and Germany for nearly a month to seek an end to the conflict, as neither nation wished to see a Soviet takeover. After several days of talks, a treaty was completed on March 12 which ended the fighting. By the terms of the Peace of Moscow, Finland ceded all of Finnish Karelia, part of Salla, the Kalastajansaarento Peninsula, four small islands in the Baltic, and was forced to grant a lease of the Hanko Peninsula. Included in the ceded areas was Finlands second-largest city (Viipuri), most of its industrialized territory, and 12 percent of its population. Those living in the affected areas were permitted to move to Finland or remain and become Soviet citizens. The Winter War proved a costly victory for the Soviets. In the fighting, they lost approximately 126,875 dead or missing, 264,908 wounded, and 5,600 captured. In addition, they lost around 2,268 tanks and armored cars. Casualties for the Finns numbered around 26,662 dead and 39,886 wounded. The Soviets poor performance in the Winter War led Hitler to believe that Stalins military could be quickly defeated if attacked. He attempted to put this to the test when German forces launched Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The Finns renewed their conflict with the Soviets in June 1941, with their forces operating in conjunction with, but not allied to, the Germans. Selected Sources: Battles of the Winter WarTelegrams from the Winter War

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

The Baby Boom and the Future of the Economy

The Baby Boom and the Future of the Economy Whats going to happen to the economy as all the baby boomers get older and retire? Its a great question that would need an entire book to properly answer. Fortunately, many books have been written on the relationship between the baby boom and the economy. Two good ones from the Canadian perspective are Boom, Bust Echo by Foot and Stoffman, and 2020: Rules for the New Age by Garth Turner. The Ratio Between Working People and Retired People Turner explains that the big changes will be due to the fact that the ratio between the number of working people to the number of retired people will change dramatically over the next few decades: When most boomers were in their teens, there were six Canadians like them, under the age of 20, for every person over 65. Today there are about three young people for every senior. By 2020, the ratio will be even more frightening. This will have profound consequences on our entire society. (80) Demographic changes will have a major impact on the ratio of retirees to workers; the ratio of the number of people ages 65 and over to the number ages 20 to 64 is expected to grow from about 20% in 1997 to 41% in 2050. (83) Examples of Expected Economic Impact These demographic changes will have both macroeconomic as well as microeconomic impacts. With so few people of working age, we can expect that wages will rise as employers fight to retain the small pool of labor available. This also implies that unemployment should be fairly low. But simultaneously taxes will also have to be quite high to pay for all the services that seniors require such as government pensions and Medicare. Older citizens tend to invest differently than younger ones, as older investors tend to buy less risky assets like bonds and sell riskier ones such as stocks. Do not be surprised to find that the price of bonds rises (causing their yields to fall) and the price of stocks to fall. There will be millions of smaller changes as well. The demand for soccer fields should fall as there are relatively fewer people will the demand for golf courses should rise. The demand for large suburban homes should fall as seniors move into one story condos and later to old-age homes. If youre investing in real estate, it will be important to consider the change in demographics when youre considering what to buy.

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Knowledge Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Knowledge Management - Assignment Example The two dimensions of knowledge capture strategy are tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge deals with unconscious internalized knowledge that person is not aware of. Explicit knowledge refers to conscious knowledge the person can use to communicate with others; it is prà ©cised and can be formally articulated (Orsoc, 2003). The employees that are going to retire have different profiles. The first employee is highly outgoing, has good verbal communication skills. The second employee is shy and likes structure work settings. His teamwork abilities and skills are low. The person is efficient and has other good qualities that have helped the organizations over the years. His strength lies in explicit knowledge. The obstacle I anticipate with the second employee is that he might be unwilling to participate in any type of voluntary knowledge transfer program. For a knowledge capture strategy to be effective the participants must be motivated. A way to motivate employee o ne is by offering the person a compensation bonus of 25% the base salary. The employee would spend 10 hours a week of his 40 hour shift implementing knowledge capture strategies with the staff. The first employee is a person that is tailored made for knowledge capture strategies. The employees’ strength can be used to create a program that implements multiple strategies. This employee should be retained to increase the firm’s employee customer retention. The proposal is for a three year part time knowledge transfer program. As the leader of the knowledge capture program employee B can used varies knowledge capture strategies simultaneously. Two of them are cross project learning and mentor-protà ©gà © relationships. The employee would participate in five project teams in all their meetings as a silent observer. He would then provide them with feedback at the beginning of the next meeting. Another of his role is to serve as consultant for the five project teams. The

Monday, February 3, 2020

What actions might be taken by the government of (one country) to Essay

What actions might be taken by the government of (one country) to reduce and limit price fluctuations of coffee - Essay Example If the price of any product fluctuates highly then the government can limit the fluctuation through minimum and maximum prices, also referred to as price flooring and price ceiling respectively (Dineshbakshi, 2015). The government can set a maximum price which must be below the equilibrium price of coffee in order to be effective and disallow trading above that price level (Dineshbakshi, 2015). As, the price is below the equilibrium it will lead to excess demand and eventually lead to a shortage. In such cases there will also be some consumers who will be willing to buy coffee at a higher price than the price set by the government and this will lead to black markets being created (Dineshbakshi, 2015). The situation cannot be left this way and let the economic situation of the country worsen, thus further actions are required by the government (Dineshbakshi, 2015). Government may take total control of supplying these goods or even producing goods itself (Dineshbakshi, 2015). But the problem may remain as people may not sell all their stock of coffee and black markets may still remain. On the other hand if the government takes control of the production in its hand, it will be accompanied with may management and other technical issues. The government can also help in eliminating this black market and the shortage in the market by supplying coffee from its own stocks (Dineshbakshi, 2015). All these steps by the government will lead to the supply curve shifting rightwards, achieving equilibrium and eliminating shortage (Dineshbakshi, 2015). On the other hand, if the government sets a minimum price which must be above the equilibrium price in order to be effective and ban trading lower than that price level; it may also help in reducing price fluctuations (Dineshbakshi, 2015). As the price is set above the equilibrium price it will lead to higher supply and lower demand leading to a surplus of coffee in the market (Dineshbakshi, 2015). Surplus can also be catered

Saturday, January 25, 2020

Study of Recurrent UTI among Mothers in the Philippines

Study of Recurrent UTI among Mothers in the Philippines INTRODUCTION Background of Study Millions suffer, only a few understand. In Barangay Ula, Recurrent UTI is one of the leading causes of morbidity among 40 households with a prevalence of 82.5% in which a bulk of 57% comprises of mothers. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most prevailing infectious diseases with a substantial financial burden on society. An estimated 13,000 deaths annually are attributed to UTIs. The magnitude of the problem worldwide is becoming very apparent.Globally, there are an estimated 150 million urinary tract infections per annum. Nearly 20% of women who have UTI will have another, and 30% of those will have yet another, but of the last group, 80% will have recurrences. In the Philippines, UTI continues to be among the top five reasons for consultations in health facilities nationwide. It is one of the ten leading causes of morbidity in all ages with a rate of 127.84 per 100,000 population. Recurrence of UTI among these mothers is greatly affected by behaviors. In this regard, the study would like to focus on the UTI-related behaviors of mothers, in Barangay Ula, diagnosed with recurrent urinary tract infection. Review of Related Literature According to Al-badr and colleague (2013), urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common clinical bacterial infections in women, accounting for almost 25% of all infections. Around 50–60% of women will develop UTIs in their lifetimes wherein Escherichia coliis the most common organism in all patient groups, but Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Proteus,and other organisms are more common in patients with certain risk factors for complicated urinary tract infections (Kodner and Gupton, 2010). Hooton and Gupta (2013) defined recurrent urinary tract infection as ≠¥2 infections in six months or ≠¥3 infections in one year. Most recurrences are thought to represent reinfection rather than relapse, although occasionally a persistent focus can produce relapsing infection. Recurrent uncomplicated urinary tract infection is a common presentation to urologists and family doctors. A survey data suggest that 1 in 3 women will have had a diagnosed and treated UTI by age 24 and more than half will be affected in their lifetime. In a 6-month study of college-aged women, 27% of these UTIs were found to recur once and 3% a second time (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3202002/). Many women suffer from frequent UTIs. About 20 percent of young women with a first UTI will have a recurrent infection. With each UTI, the risk that a woman will continue having recurrent UTIs increases.Some women have three or more UTIs a year. However, very few women will have frequent infections throughout their lives. More typically, a woman will have a period of 1 or 2 years with frequent infections, after which recurring infections cease (http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/utiadult/). In a study of college women with their first UTI, 27 percent experienced at least one culture-confirmed recurrence within the six months following the initial infection and 2.7 percent had a second recurrence during this same time period. When the first infection is caused by Escherichia coli, women appear to be more likely to develop a second UTI within six months than those with a first UTI due to another organism. In a Finnish study of women ages 17 to 82 who had E. coli cystitis, 44 percent had a recurrence within one year(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3202002/). A number of factors also appear to increase the risk of recurrent UTIs such as biological or genetic factors, behavioural risk factors and even the pelvic anatomy (http://www.uptodate.com/contents/recurrent-urinary-tract-infection-in-women). In symptomatic women, predictors of recurrent UTIs include symptoms following intercourse, signs or symptoms of pyelonephritis, and prompt resolution of symptoms with antibiotics. Nocturia and persistence of symptoms between UTI episodes are strong negative predictors for recurrent infection (http://www.aafp.org/afp/2010/0915/p638.html). According to Hooton and Gupta (2014), sexual intercourse, diaphragm-spermicide use, and a history of recurrent UTI are strong and independent risk factors for UTI. Even spermicide-coated condom use results in an increased risk of UTI. However, risk factors specific for recurrent UTI have received relatively less attention. In one large case-control study of women with and without a history of recurrent UTI, the frequency of sexual intercourse was the strongest risk factor for recurrent UTI in a multivariate analysis. Other risk factors identified were: 1) Spermicide use during the past year; 2) Having a new sex partner during the past year; 3) Having a first UTI at or before 15 years of age; and 4) Having a mother with a history of UTIs. Sexual activity can move microbes from the bowel or vaginal cavity to the urethral opening. If these microbes have special characteristics that allow them to live in the urinary tract, it is harder for the body to remove them quickly enough to prevent infection. Following sexual intercourse, most women have a significant number of bacteria in their urine, but the body normally clears them within 24 hours. However, some forms of birth control increase the risk of UTI. In some women, certain spermicides may irritate the skin, increasing the risk of bacteria invading surrounding tissues. Using a diaphragm may slow urinary flow and allow bacteria to multiply. Condom use is also associated with increased risk of UTIs, possibly because of the increased trauma that occurs to the vagina during sexual activity. Using spermicides with diaphragms and condoms can increase risk even further (http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/utiadult/). According to Wilkinson and Treas (2010), perinneal care is part of routine hygiene care. When washing the perineum, it must be from front to back to prevent contaminating the urethra with any fecal material left in the anus. Fecal particles left on skin can cause skin breakdown due to enzyme activity, and may increase the risk of a urinary tract infection because of the presence of E. coli in the feces. During menstruation, it is important to change sanitary pads, tampons or menstrual cups regularly. The standard time for a sanitary pad is once every six hours, while for a tampon is once every two hours. Sanitary napkins are made of cotton wool and gel. When an individual bleed into one, most of the blood gets soaked in, but at a certain point the pad gets saturated and may leak. Another consideration is that menstrual blood – once it has left the body – gets contaminated with the body’s innate organisms. When these organisms remain in a warm and moist place for a long time they tend to multiply and can lead to conditions like urinary tract infection, vaginal infections and skin rashes. Therefore changing is essential (http://health.india.com/diseases-conditions/hygiene-during-menstrual-periods-10-things-you-should-know/). General Objective At the end of the study, we will be able to describe the UTI- related behavior of mothers in Barangay Ula, Tugbok, Davao City who were diagnosed with Recurrent UTI from 2009 to 2013 in terms of personal hygiene, sexual activity and birth control method. Specific Objectives To determine the personal hygiene practices of mothers base on the following parameters: Handwashing Perineal care Type of underwear used Usage and changing of panty liners Changing of sanitary pad during menstruation To determine the sexual activity of these mothers To determine the birth control methods used by mothers Significance of the Study This study will provide a reference point on the personal hygiene practices of mothers regarding UTI. The data gathered will be used as a guide in forming future program strategies in decreasing the prevalence of Recurrent UTI in the area. The results of the study will also serve as an insight on the following parties: Barangay health care providers (doctors, nurses and midwives) to provide and disseminate proper information to BHWs and mothers about the behavioural risk factors that can cause recurrence of UTI; Barangay health workers (BHWs) as the most accessible source of information, they should be equipped with the proper and adequate information regarding the behavioural risk factors causing UTI; Mothers to assess whether their personal hygiene practices are correct. This will also, in a way, equip mothers and correct any malpractices they have. There are indeed many cases of recurrent UTI which were not prevented because the mothers have poor personal hygiene practices. Mothers should therefore be properly equipped with adequate understanding of the personal hygiene practices that can be of great importance in the prevention of UTI. Hence, this knowledge can lead to the resolution of this problem. Definition of Terms Behavioural Risk Factors – the elements that predisposes the mothers in having recurrent UTI. Recurrent UTI – Recurrent Urinary Tract Infection; the reinfection involving the urinary tract including the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra. Mother – a person who has been pregnant and has already given birth regardless of her marital status. Personal Hygiene Practices – set of actions performed to care for one’s health Perineal Care an everyday hygienic practice of washing the perineum Chapter 2 Methodology Research Design Descriptive research was used in this study. The study aims to determine the Behavioural Risk Factors of Mothers diagnosed with Recurrent UTI in Purok 6, Barangay Ula, Tugbok District, Davao City. Locale of the Study The study will be conducted in Purok 6, Barangay Ula, Tugbok District, Davao City. Unit Analysis The subject of this study is a Mother diagnosed with Recurrent UTI residing in Purok 6, Barangay Ula, Tugbok District, Davao City. Sampling A total enumeration of 40 mothers will be included in the study. Variables and Measures Data Collection Procedure The testing in this study is focused on the behavioural risk factors of mothers diagnosed with Recurrent UTI, through the scheduled interview of all Mothers in Purok 6, Barangay Ula, Tugbok District, Davao City. Treatment of Data The data was analyzed using the summary statistics like means and frequency distribution. Ethical Consideration We will provide each participant with informed consent forms. Confidentiality of participants’ information and answers will be of our paramount consideration. Chapter 3 Results This section shows the results of the study. The respondents were the 40 mothers of Purok 6, Barangay Ula, Tugbok District, Davao City. Table 1. The Frequency Distribution of 40 Mothers According to Diagnosed Cases of Recurrent UTI Table 2. The Frequency Distribution of 40 Mothers According to Behavioural Risk Factors Chapter 4 Discussion Limitation of the Study The study was limited to all mothers residing in Purok 6, Barangay Ula, Tugbok, Davao City. This was limited on a scheduled interview with the participants. Diagnosed Cases of Recurrent UTI The results showed that 33 mothers were diagnosed with Recurrent UTI while 7 of them were not diagnosed at all with the infection. Behavioural Risk Factors The results showed that all of the mothers were practicing handwashing before and after doing perinneal care. It also showed that a total enumeration of 40 mothers was washing their perineum everyday in which almost all of them were doing it about 1 to times a day. They knew that it is really important to maintain cleanliness within one’s self. About 24 of the mothers were using water and soap in washing their perineum, 11 mothers were using feminine wash while 5 of the mothers were only using water for perinneal care. Out of the 40 mothers doing perinneal care, 19 were washing their perineum from front to back and the remaining 21 mothers were doing it from back to front. The type of underwear used by 28 mothers was made of cotton while 8 of them used spandex and 4 used silk underwear. 22 mothers interviewed were using panty liners in which 19 of them changes their panty liners once to thrice in a day. Of all mothers, 27 were still having their monthly menstrual period while 13 of them were already menopausal. Among the mothers who were still having menstruation, 18 of them were changing their pads at least 1 to 3 times a day, 8 mothers change 4 to 6 times in a day while only 1 mother changes her pad at least 7 times in a day. There were 29 mothers who were sexually active who all had only 1 sexual partner. 26 of which were doing perinneal washing before sexual intercourse while 28 of the sexually active mothers were doing perinneal care after sexual intercourse and 26 of the said mothers were urinating before and after sexual intercourse. No mother was with catheters at the time of interview. This means that catheter is not the cause of the recurrence of UTI among the 40 mothers in the Purok. Birth control methods were used by only 18 mothers wherein 12 of them did not want to have a baby anymore while the remaining 6 were not yet ready to have a baby. The rest of the 22 mothers were not using any birth control methods because 18 of them were already menopausal and 4 of them were said to be pro-life. On the other hand, out of the 12 mothers who used family planning, 8 mothers used condoms. With these results, it revealed that many of the mothers who were diagnosed with recurrent UTI were having personal hygiene malpractices such as washing their perineum from back to front wherein it moves bacteria from the anus close to the urethra. Another was how often they change their panty liners as well as their sanitary pads in a day as the pads get contaminated with the bodies’ innate organisms. When this happens, organisms will multiply in such warm and moist environment leading to urinary tract infections. Chapter 5 Summary of Results, Conclusion and Recommendations Summary Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most prevailing infectious diseases with a substantial financial burden on society. Globally, there are an estimated 150 million urinary tract infections per annum. Nearly 20% of women who have UTI will have another, and 30% of those will have yet another, but of the last group, 80% will have recurrences. In the Philippines, UTI is one of the ten leading causes of morbidity in all ages with a rate of 127.84 per 100,000 population. In Purok 6, Barangay Ula, Recurrent UTI is one of the leading causes of morbidity among 40 households with a prevalence of 82.5%. A bulk of 57% comprises of mothers. The results showed that 33 mothers were diagnosed with Recurrent UTI while 7 of them were not diagnosed at all with the infection. The results showed that all of the mothers were practicing handwashing before and after doing perinneal care. It also showed that a total enumeration of 40 mothers was washing their perineum everyday in which almost all of them were doing it about 1 to times a day. About 24 of the mothers were using water and soap in washing their perineum. The type of underwear used by 28 mothers was made of cotton. 22 mothers interviewed were using panty liners in which 19 of them changes their panty liners once to thrice in a day. Among the mothers who were still having menstruation, 18 of them were changing their pads at least 1 to 3 times a day, 8 mothers change 4 to 6 times in a day while only 1 mother changes her pad at least 7 times in a day. 26 out of 29 sexually active mothers were doing perinneal washing before sexual intercourse while 28 of the sexually active mothers were doing perinneal care after sexual intercourse and 26 of the said mothers were urinating before and after sexual intercourse. On the other hand, out of the 12 mothers who used family planning, 8 of them used condoms. With these results, it only revealed that many mothers who were diagnosed with recurrent UTI were having personal hygiene malpractices. Conclusions At the end of the study, we were able to determine the personal hygiene practices of mothers base on handwashing, perineal care, type of underwear used, usage and changing of panty liners, and changing of sanitary pad during menstruation. We were also able to determine the sexual activity of mothers associated with the prevalence of Recurrent UTI. Lastly, we were able to determine the birth control methods used by mothers that predispose them to recurrent UTI such as the use of condoms and IUDs. Recommendations To the City Health Office: conduct lectures and seminars on Recurrent UTI To the Barangay Officials: provide support on the programs on Recurrent UTI To the BHWs: attend lectures and workshops regarding Recurrent UTI

Friday, January 17, 2020

Spirit Bound Chapter Seven

â€Å"NOT WITH YOUR TEETH,† I added hastily. â€Å"Throw yourself at me. Swing your shackles. Whatever you can do.† Victor Dashkov was not a stupid man. Others might have hesitated or asked more questions. He did not. He might not know exactly what was going on, but he sensed that this was a shot at freedom. Possibly the only one he'd ever get. He was someone who had spent a large part of his life masterminding complicated plots, so he was a pro at slipping right into them. Holding his hands up as much as he could manage, he lunged at me, making a good show of trying to choke me with the chain between his cuffs. As he did, I gave a bloodcurdling shriek. In an instant, the guardians were there to stop this crazy prisoner who was senselessly attacking a poor girl. But as they reached to subdue him, I leapt up and attacked them. Even if they'd expected me to be dangerous–and they hadn't–I had so much surprise on them that they had no time to react. I almost felt bad at how unfair it was to them. I punched the first hard enough that he lost his grip on Victor and flew backward, hitting the wall near Lissa as she frantically compelled Northwood to stay calm and not call anyone in the midst of this chaos. The other guardian had slightly more time to react, but he was still slow in letting go of Victor and turning on me. I used the opening and got a punch in, forcing the two of us into a grappling match. He was big and formidable, and once he deemed me a threat, he didn't hold back. A blow to my shoulder sent shooting pain through my arm, and I responded with a swift knee in his stomach. Meanwhile, his counterpart was on his feet heading toward us. I had to end this fast, not only for my own sake but also because they would undoubtedly call for backup if given a moment's chance. I grabbed the one closest to me and pushed him as hard as I could into a wall–headfirst. He staggered, dazed, and I did it again, just as his partner reached me. That first guardian slumped to the ground, unconscious. I hated doing that, but part of my training had been learning to differentiate between incapacitating and killing. He should only have a headache. I hoped. The other guardian was very much on the offensive, however, and he and I circled each other, getting in some shots and dodging others. â€Å"I can't knock him out!† I called to Lissa. â€Å"We need him. Compel him.† Her response came through the bond. She could compel two people at the same time, but it took a lot of strength. We weren't out of this yet, and she couldn't risk burning herself out so soon. Frustration replaced fear within her. â€Å"Northwood, go to sleep,† she barked. â€Å"Right there. On your desk. You're exhausted and will sleep for hours.† Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Northwood slump, his head hitting the desk with a thump. Everyone who worked here would have a concussion by the time we were through. I threw myself at the guardian then, using my full weight to get him within Lissa's line of sight. She pushed her way into our fight. He glanced at her in surprise, and that was all she needed. â€Å"Stop!† He didn't respond as quickly as Northwood, but he did hesitate. This guy was more resistant. â€Å"Stop fighting!† she repeated more forcefully, intensifying her will. Strong or not, he couldn't stand against that much spirit. His arms fell to his sides, and he stopped wrestling me. I stepped back to catch my breath, straightening my wig back into place. â€Å"Holding this one's going to be hard,† Lissa told me. â€Å"Hard as in five minutes or five hours?† â€Å"Somewhere in the middle.† â€Å"Then let's move. Get Victor's key from him.† She demanded the guardian give her the key for the shackles. He told us the other guardian had it. Sure enough, I frisked the unconscious body–he was breathing steadily, thank God–and retrieved the key. Now I turned my full attention on Victor. Once the fight had started, he'd stepped out of the way and simply observed quietly while all sorts of new possibilities undoubtedly formed in his twisted mind. I approached and put on my â€Å"scary face† as I held up the key. â€Å"I'm going to unlock your cuffs now,† I told him, in a voice both sweet and menacing. â€Å"You're going to do exactly what we tell you to do. You're not going to run, start a fight, or in any way interfere with our plans.† â€Å"Oh? Are you using compulsion nowadays too, Rose?† he asked dryly. â€Å"I don't need it.† I unlocked the shackles. â€Å"I can render you unconscious as easily as that guy and drag you out. Makes no difference to me.† The heavy cuffs and chains fell to the floor. That sly, smug look stayed on his face, but his hands gently touched each wrist. I noticed then that there were welts and bruises on them. Those shackles weren't meant for comfort, but I refused to feel sorry for him. He glanced back up at us. â€Å"How charming,† he mused. â€Å"Out of all the people who would attempt to rescue me, I never would have expected you two†¦ and yet, in retrospect, you're probably the most capable.† â€Å"We don't need your running commentary, Hannibal,† I snapped. â€Å"And don't use the word rescue. It makes it sound like you're some wrongfully imprisoned hero.† He arched an eyebrow, like he believed that might indeed be the case. Instead of disputing me, he nodded toward Bradley, who had actually slept through the fight. In his drugged state, Lissa's compulsion had been more than enough to knock him out. â€Å"Give him to me,† said Victor. â€Å"What?† I exclaimed. â€Å"We don't have time for this!† â€Å"And I have no strength for whatever you have in mind,† hissed Victor. That pleasant and all-knowing mask vanished, replaced by one vicious and desperate. â€Å"Imprisonment involves more than bars, Rose. They starve us of food and blood, trying to keep us weak. Walking here is the only exercise I get, and that's effort enough. Unless you really do plan on dragging me out of here, give me blood!† Lissa interrupted any response I could make. â€Å"Be fast.† I stared at her in astonishment. I'd been about to deny Victor, but through the bond I felt an odd mix of feelings from her. Compassion and†¦ understanding. Oh, she still hated him, absolutely. But she also knew what it was like to live on limited blood. Mercifully, Victor was fast. His mouth was at the human's neck practically before Lissa finished speaking. Dazed or no, feeling teeth in his neck was enough to wake Bradley up. He woke with a start, his face soon moving into the delight feeders took from vampire endorphins. A short burst of blood was all Victor would need, but when Bradley's eyes started to go wide in surprise, I realized Victor was taking more than a quick drink. I leapt forward and jerked Victor away from the scattered feeder. â€Å"What the hell are you doing?† I demanded, shaking Victor hard. It was something I'd wanted to do for a long time. â€Å"Did you think you could drain him and become Strigoi right in front of us?† â€Å"Hardly,† said Victor, wincing at the grip I had on him. â€Å"That's not what he was doing,† said Lissa. â€Å"He just lost control for a second.† His bloodlust satisfied, Victor's smooth demeanor had returned. â€Å"Ah, Vasilisa. Always so understanding.† â€Å"Don't make any assumptions,† she growled. I shot glares at both of them. â€Å"We have to go. Now.† I turned to the compelled guardian. â€Å"Take us to the room where they monitor all security footage.† He didn't respond to me, and with a sigh, I looked expectantly at Lissa. She repeated my question, and he immediately began to leave the room. My adrenaline was running high from the fight, and I was anxious to finish all of this and get us out of here. Through the bond, I sensed her nervousness. She might have defended Victor's need for blood, but as we walked, she kept as far away from him as possible. The stark realization of who he was and what we were doing was creeping up on her. I wished I could comfort her, but there was no time. We followed the guardian–Lissa asked his name; it was Giovanni–through more halls and security checkpoints. The route he led us on went around the prison's edge, not through the cells. I held my breath almost the entire time, terrified we'd run into someone. Too many other factors were working against us; we didn't need that too. Our luck held, though, and we ran into no one–again probably a result of doing this near the end of the night and not passing through a high-security zone. Lissa and Mia had gotten the Court guardian to erase the security footage there too, but I hadn't witnessed it. Now, when Giovanni led us into the prison's surveillance room, I couldn't help a small gasp. Monitors covered the walls, and consoles with complex buttons and switches sat in front of them. Computer-covered desks were everywhere. I felt like this room had the power to blast off into space. Everything in the prison was in view: each cell, several halls, and even the warden's office, where Eddie sat making small talk with Theo. Two other guardians were in here, and I wondered if they'd seen us in the halls. But no–they were too fixated on something else: a camera that had been turned to face a blank wall. It was the one I'd adjusted in the feeding room. They were leaning toward it, and one of them was saying how they should call someone to check down there. Then they both looked up and noticed us. â€Å"Help her subdue them,† Lissa ordered Giovanni. Again, there was hesitation. We would have been better off with a â€Å"helper† with a weaker will, but Lissa had had no idea when she chose him. Like before, he eventually sprang into action. Also like before, surprise went a long way in subduing these two guardians. I was a stranger–immediately raising their guard–but still appeared as human. Giovanni was their coworker; they didn't expect an attack from him. That didn't make them easy to take down, though. Having backup went a long way, and Giovanni was good at his job. We rendered one guardian unconscious pretty quickly, Giovanni using a choke hold to briefly cut off the guy's air until he collapsed. The other guard kept his distance from us, and I noticed his eyes continually shifting toward one of the walls. It had a fire extinguisher, a light switch, and a round silver button. â€Å"That's an alarm!† exclaimed Victor, just as the guardian lunged for it. Giovanni and I tackled him at the same time, stopping the guy just before his hand could brush the button and send a legion of guards down on us. A blow to the head knocked this guardian out too. With each person I took out in this prison break, a knot of guilt and nausea twisted tighter and tighter in my stomach. Guardians were the good guys, and I couldn't help but keep thinking I was fighting on the side of evil. Now that we were left to ourselves, Lissa knew the next step. â€Å"Giovanni, disable all the cameras and erase the last hour's worth of footage.† There was a greater hesitation on his part this time. Getting him to fight his friends had required a lot of forceful compulsion on her part. She was keeping her control but growing weary, and it was only going to get harder making him obey our commands. â€Å"Do it,† growled Victor, coming to stand beside Lissa. She flinched at his proximity, but as his gaze joined hers, Giovanni complied with the order and began flipping switches on the consoles. Victor couldn't match Lissa's power by a long shot, but his small burst of compulsion had strengthened hers. One by one, the monitors went black, and then Giovanni typed in a few commands on the computer that stored digital footage from the cameras. Red error lights were flashing on the consoles, but there was no one here now to fix them. â€Å"Even if he erases it, there are those who might be able to recover it from the hard drive,† noted Victor. â€Å"It's a chance we'll have to take,† I said irritably. â€Å"Reprogramming or whatever isn't really in my skill set.† Victor rolled his eyes. â€Å"Perhaps, but destruction certainly is.† It took me a moment to get what he meant, but then it clicked. With a sigh, I grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall and beat the computer to a pulp until it was nothing more than a pile of plastic and metal fragments. Lissa winced at each blow and kept glancing at the door. â€Å"I hope that's soundproof,† she muttered. â€Å"It looks sturdy,† I said confidently. â€Å"And now it's time to go.† Lissa ordered Giovanni to return us to the warden's office at the front of the prison. He complied, leading us back through the maze we'd gone through earlier. His codes and security card got us through each checkpoint. â€Å"I don't suppose you can compel Theo into letting us walk out?† I asked Lissa. Her mouth was set in a grim line. She shook her head. â€Å"I don't even know how much longer I can hold Giovanni. I've never used someone as a puppet before.† â€Å"It's okay,† I said, trying to reassure both of us. â€Å"We're almost done with this.† But we were going to have another fight on our hands. After beating up half the Strigoi in Russia, I still felt good about my own strength, but that guilty feeling wouldn't leave me. And if we ran into a dozen guardians, even my strength wasn't going to hold. I'd lost my bearings from the blueprint, but it turned out that Giovanni's route back to the main office was taking us through a block of cells after all. Another sign read overhead WARNING–NOW ENTERING PRISONER AREA (PSYCHIATRIC). â€Å"Psychiatric?† I asked in surprise. â€Å"Of course,† murmured Victor. â€Å"Where else do you think they send prisoners with mental problems?† â€Å"To hospitals,† I responded, holding back a joke about all criminals having mental problems. â€Å"Well, that's not always–â€Å" â€Å"Stop!† Lissa interrupted him and came to an abrupt halt before the door. The rest of us nearly walked into her. She jerked away, taking several steps back. â€Å"What's wrong?† I asked. She turned to Giovanni. â€Å"Find another way to the office.† â€Å"This is the fastest way,† he argued. Lissa slowly shook her head. â€Å"I don't care. Find another, one where we won't run into others.† He frowned, but her compulsion held. He abruptly turned, and we scurried to keep up. â€Å"What's wrong?† I repeated. Lissa's mind was too tangled for me to pull out her reasoning. She grimaced. â€Å"I felt spirit auras behind there.† â€Å"What? How many?† â€Å"At least two. I don't know if they sensed me or not.† If not for Giovanni's clip and the urgency pressing on us, I would have come to a stop. â€Å"Spirit users†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Lissa had looked so long and hard for others like her. Who'd have thought we'd find them here? Actually†¦ maybe we should have expected this. We knew spirit users danced with insanity. Why wouldn't they end up in a place like this? And considering the trouble we'd gone through to learn about the prison, it was no wonder these spirit users had remained hidden. I doubted anyone working here even knew what they were. Lissa and I exchanged brief glances. I knew how badly she wanted to investigate this, but now wasn't the time. Victor already looked too interested in what we'd said, so Lissa's next words were in my head: I'm pretty sure any spirit users would see through my charms. We can't risk our real descriptions being discovered–even if they came from people who are allegedly crazy. I nodded my understanding, pushing aside curiosity and even regret. We'd have to check into this another time–say, like, the next time we decided to break into a maximum-security prison. We finally reached Theo's office without further incident, though my heart pounded furiously the entire way as my brain kept telling me, Go! Go! Go! Theo and Eddie were chatting Court politics when our group entered. Eddie immediately leapt up and went for Theo, recognizing it was time to go. He had Theo in a choke hold as efficiently as Giovanni had managed earlier, and I was glad someone else was doing this dirty work besides me. Unfortunately, Theo managed a good yelp before passing out and falling to the ground. Immediately, the two guardians who had escorted us in earlier charged the office. Eddie and I jumped into the fray, and Lissa and Victor got Giovanni in on it too. To make things more difficult, just after we subdued one of the guardians, Giovanni broke out of the compulsion and began fighting against us. Worse, he ran to the wall where I discovered–too late–there was another silver alarm button. He slammed his fist against it, and a piercing wail filled the air. â€Å"Shit!† I yelled. Lissa's skills weren't in physical fighting, and Victor wasn't much better. It was all on me and Eddie to finish these last two–and we had to do it fast. The second of the escort guardians went down, and then it was just us and Giovanni. He got a good hit in on me–one that knocked my head against the wall. It wasn't good enough to make me pass out, but the world spun and black and white spots danced before my eyes. It froze me up for a moment, but then Eddie was on him, and Giovanni was soon no longer a threat. Eddie took my arm to steady me, and then the four of us immediately ran out of the room. I glanced back at the unconscious bodies, again hating myself for it. There was no time for guilt, though. We had to get out. Now. Every guardian in this prison would be here in less than a minute. Our group ran to the front doors, only to discover them locked from the inside. Eddie swore and told us to wait. He ran back to Theo's office and returned with one of the security cards that Giovanni had often swiped at the doors. Sure enough, this one let us out, and we made a mad dash for the rental car. We piled in, and I was glad Victor kept up with all of us and made none of his annoying comments. Eddie stepped on the gas and headed back toward the way we'd come in. I sat beside him in the front. â€Å"I guarantee the gate guy's going to know about the alarm,† I warned. Our original hope had been to simply leave and tell him there'd been a paperwork mix-up after all. â€Å"Yup,† Eddie agreed, face hard. Sure enough, the guardian stepped out of his gatehouse, arms waving. â€Å"Is that a gun?† I exclaimed. â€Å"I'm not stopping to find out.† Eddie pushed hard on the gas, and when the guardian realized we were coming through regardless, he jumped out of the way. We crashed through the wooden arm that blocked the road, leaving it a mess of splinters. â€Å"Bud's gonna keep our deposit,† I said. Behind us, I heard the sounds of gunshots. Eddie swore again, but as we sped away, the shots grew fainter, and soon, we were out of range. He exhaled. â€Å"If those had hit our tires or windows, we'd have had a lot more to worry about than a deposit.† â€Å"They're going to send people after us,† said Victor from the backseat. Once again, Lissa had moved as far from him as she could. â€Å"Trucks are probably leaving right now.† â€Å"You don't think we guessed that?† I snapped. I knew he was trying to be helpful, but he was the last person I wanted to hear from at the moment. Even as I spoke, I peered back and saw the dark shapes of two vehicles speeding down the road after us. They were gaining quickly, leaving no question that the SUVs would soon catch up to our little compact car. I looked at our GPS. â€Å"We need to turn soon,† I warned Eddie, not that he needed my advice. We'd mapped out an escape route beforehand, one that took lots and lots of twisty turns on these remote back roads. Fortunately, there were a lot of them. Eddie made a hard left and then almost an immediate right. Still, the pursuing vehicles stayed with us in the rearview mirror. It wasn't until a few turns later that the road behind us stayed clear. Tense silence filled the car as we waited for the guardians to catch up. They didn't. We'd made too many confusing turns, but it took nearly ten minutes for me to accept that we might have actually pulled this off. â€Å"I think we lost them,† said Eddie, the wonder in his voice matching my feelings. His face was still lined with worry, his hands gripping the wheel hard. â€Å"We won't lose them until we clear Fairbanks,† I said. â€Å"I'm sure they'll search it, and it's not that big.† â€Å"Where are we going?† asked Victor. â€Å"If I'm allowed to ask.† I squirmed around in my seat so that I could look him in the eye. â€Å"That's what you're going to tell us. As hard as it is to believe, we didn't do all that just because we missed your pleasant company.† â€Å"That is hard to believe.† I narrowed my eyes. â€Å"We want to find your brother. Robert Doru.† I had the satisfaction of momentarily catching Victor off guard. Then his sly look returned. â€Å"Of course. This is a follow-up to Abe Mazur's request, isn't it? I should have known he wouldn't take no for an answer. Of course, I never would have guessed you were in league with him.† Victor apparently didn't know I was actually in the familial league with Abe, and I wasn't about to enlighten him. â€Å"Irrelevant,† I said coldly. â€Å"Now, you're going to take us to Robert. Where is he?† â€Å"You forget, Rose,† mused Victor. â€Å"You aren't the one with compulsion here.† â€Å"No, but I am the one who can tie you up by the side of the road and make an anonymous call back to the prison with your whereabouts.† â€Å"How do I know you won't get what you want from me and then turn me back in anyway?† he asked. â€Å"I have no reason to trust you.† â€Å"You're right. I sure as hell wouldn't trust me. But if things work out, there's a chance we might let you go afterward.† No, there really wasn't. â€Å"Is this something you want to gamble on? You'll never get another opportunity like this, and you know it.† Victor had no witty quip for that. Score another one for me. â€Å"So,† I continued, â€Å"are you going to take us to him or not?† Thoughts I couldn't read churned behind his eyes. No doubt he was scheming about how he could work this to his advantage, probably figuring out how to escape us before we even reached Robert. It was what I would have done. â€Å"Las Vegas,† Victor said at last. â€Å"We need to go to Las Vegas.†

Thursday, January 9, 2020

How Has Classical Music Changed the World - 1724 Words

HOW HAS CLASSICAL MUSIC CHANGED THE WORLD How has classical music changed the world we live in? The world we live in has changed but Classical music has remained the same. Classical music isn’t really prevalent in today’s society. Classical music doesn’t appeal to this generation. Classical music is more appreciated by older generations. Classical Music is not as popular today as it used to be. It has been around for hundreds of years and it is the oldest type of music out there. Classical music is very complex in nature. Classical music has grown distant from the culture we live in. The rest of the world changed but classical music has remained the same. Classical music hasn’t kept up with the world, so the world has been leaving it†¦show more content†¦Listening to classical music stimulates the creative pathways in the human brain. Classical music has been found to reduce tension and enhance brain power and specific types of intelligence su ch as verbal ability and spatial-temporal reasoning. Because of this, Classical music has been found to be extremely beneficial for pregnant women. Studies have shown that babies listening to classical music in the womb could benefit the baby by raising their intelligence and mental development. Not only is classical music a calming method for both mother and child, the music can help to prepare an unborn infants ears and brain for the outside world. Mothers can play the classical music for their baby by placing earphones around her belly. This theory of letting babies listen to the classical music by classical music genius Mozart in the womb became known as the â€Å"The Mozart Theory.† During the 1990s, several research papers and popular books wrote about â€Å"The Mozart Theory,† which came to be called the â€Å"Mozart Effect†: an observed temporary, small elevation of scores on certain tests as a result of listening to Mozarts music. The Mozart effect h as been the subject of much research in recent years, after it was found that listening to Mozart’s music may increase specific types of intelligence. The approach has been popularized in a book by Don Campbell, and is based on an experiment suggesting that listening to Mozart temporarilyShow MoreRelatedSimilarities Between Music And Classical Music921 Words   |  4 Pagesfrom the Classical Era. Classical music originated in Ancient Egypt but as time went by in became less popular. 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Best it boosted the economy, increase technology, creates a foundation