Enduring Value †Othello Essay

Shakespeare’s masterpiece Othello has remained relevant beyond its original context not merely because of its universal themes of love and betrayal, but rather, due to its textual integrity, and the enduring value which is enhanced through the exploration of such issues, as marginalisation and the psychology of villainy. Shakespeare’s portrayal of Othello as being an outsider, and being â€Å"othered† by the Venetian society due to his different race, reflects traditional Elizabethan values and ethics regarding racial prejudice and inequality. These recurring issues, of social intolerance and racial bias are prevalent concerns in our modern society. Shakespeare’s expresses the nature of villainy through his antagonist, Iago, as he explores issues of betrayal and deceit. These issues, revolving around Othello’s passion, struggle and vulnerability, as an outsider, are representative of the human condition, hence making it pivotal, of why â€Å"Othell o† has remained relevant in a different context. Shakespeare positions us to view the marginalisation and dehumanisation of Othello, from various perspectives, initially through physical features, the notion of racial contempt is conveyed via Rodrigo’s, â€Å"Thick Lips†, Iago’s â€Å"Old Black Ram†, and Brabantio’s â€Å"fall in love with what she fear’d to look on†. This vilification, based on physical appearance reinforces traditional Elizabethan views, and to an extent, views held by groups in society today. Though, Othello’s physical appearance was just one factor. Othello was named â€Å"devil† by Iago, from a spiritual perspective, stereotyping those of African descent who were associated with witchcraft, this metaphor reinforces stereotypical racism, causing the reader to question, what has initiated such hatred from Iago to Othello, this allows the reader to a connect on an emotional level with Othello, as it generates empathy. Furthermore the readers perspecti ve of Othello is conflicted due to other members of Venetian society, â€Å"your son in law is far more fair than black†, this binary opposition from the Duke, contrasts between black and white, and their symbolic values. Othello’s â€Å"blackness† is associated with impurity and inhuman values, exemplified via â€Å"making the beast with two backs†, dehumanising Othello, and reinforcing how the Venetian society has ostracised him. Ostracism, based on spiritual backgrounds and physical appearance, is common even in a modern context, as bullying and racism is a common flaw in our society. Though, it is through these experiences, the reader can further empathise and have a better understanding of Othello’s character, and his emotions. Shakespeare also challenges us to consider Othello’s cultural background, through his foreign and exotic tales that Othello retells to members of Venetian society, this is exemplified through, â€Å"Tis true, there’s magic in the web of it†, this is not merely foreign to the Venetians, who were predominantly Religious Christians and did not believe in such black magic and witchcraft, but this was also seen as a waste of time , and an insignificant matter, as Desdemona instantly replies with, â€Å"I pray, talk me of Cassio†, followed by, â€Å"You’ll never meet a more sufficient man†. This repetition is implied to reinforce Desdemona’s lack of knowledge, as this is clearly making Othello enraged, but furthermore it expresses the carefree and uninterested approach Desdemona is taking in regards to Othello’s spiritual story of how he gained that handkerchief. Shakespeare, though, gives Othello a significantly high role in their Venetian society, positioning him as a General in the army, though Othello is granted a superior position, he would still be in a lower hierarchy, as the Venetian society could not overlook his outer â€Å"blackness†, reinforced through â€Å"you’ll have your nephew neigh to you†, this animalistic and sexual imagery, conveys to the reader, no matter how successful Othello becomes, the Venetian society will always regard him as less of a human. This dehumanisation is mainly the cause of the opportunistic antagonist, Iago. Shakespeare positions us to view Iago as a Machiavellian character, conveyed through the recurring issue of betrayal as Othello is blinded by his â€Å"loyalty†, this is exemplified through â€Å"A man he is of honesty and trust†, stated by Othello as he willingly accepts Iago. Shakespeare’s characterisation of Iago advances the readers hatred towards the cunning villain, as his soliloquies emphasise his devious nature, â€Å"the moor is of a free and open nature†¦ and will as tenderly be led by the nose as asses are† this animalistic imagery communicates Iago’s lack of respect towards Othello, reflecting the nature of evil. This concept of the nature of evil is explored by F.R Leavis as he describes Othello as â€Å"overly aware of his nobility†, expressing Leavis’ distaste towards Othello. Furthermore, the motivation behind Iago’s evil is unknown, though Shakespeare positions us to see Iago as an opportunist through, â€Å"it is the green eyed monster which doth mock†, personifying jealousy to manipulate the emotions of the gullible Othello. Overall, Shakespeare’s deeply enthralling text â€Å"Othello†, has remained relevant beyond its original context, to suit a more modern audience, due to the text’s enduring values and textual integrity, enhanced through the common issue of marginalisation which is evident in both Elizabethan and 21st Century context.

Comparison/Contrast Essay

Comparison/Contrast Essay Although both Clarice Lispector's â€Å"The Smallest Woman in the World† and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's â€Å"The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World† are magic realist stories showing the extreme sizes of two people, the stories depict differently how a society can react to a certain type of person. Through scenery and physical description, the authors show that different types of people can be loved or hated by a society. Marquez's text starts off with children seeing a large being in the water.The children think â€Å"it was an enemy ship† which can prove that the large size of a person can be very intimidating at first. Opposite to Marquez's text, in Lispector's text, the smallest woman is greeted with friendliness, she was immediately named by the French explorer. This can prove that the small size of the woman can be seen as less intimidating than a larger person. However, in both stories, the characters are suddenly treated differen tly once they have been displayed to a larger crowd.Once the seaweed is removed from the drowned man, the children start to play with the man and are less afraid of him. Also once the woman of the village see the man, they seem to fall madly in love with him. They treat him almost like a god. In contrast, in Lispector's text the people that read the article about the smallest woman in the world, they seem to dislike the idea of her size. The townspeople want her to be their slave or their toy. I think that the difference in size can be seen in both a literal and figurative sense.Literally the large size of the man is what the woman see as a physical appeal to them while the small size of the woman is seen more a â€Å"creepy† or â€Å"strange† aspect of her appearance. However, I also believe that the size of the characters is used as symbolism. For example, we can see that the large size of the man could represent authority and power and this may be why the men of the village feel intimidated my him. It could also show that he is powerful or strong. The woman's small size could be seen as weak or young.It also can be compared to a lack of importance or lack of influence. In the story we see that even the kids don't seem to respect her. The characters race also has a role on the societies views. For example, they describe the woman as being a â€Å"as black as a monkey†, describing how she may be animal-like or treated as a beast. They see her as a primitive being. The fact that she is black may also be why some of the people in France don't seem to respect her. Throughout history black people have been oppressed which is a theme the author added in.In Marquez's text, the fact that the woman named the man as if they knew him, indicates that he was most likely of the same race as them. This is a fact that should be considered in why they feel a close bond with him. The authors also use setting to explain how the magical characters are treat ed. We can see that the man found from the ocean was treated better than the woman who was found in a dangerous part of an African forest. The woman of the town describe Esteban as † most peaceful †¦ man on earth† in which we can find similarities with how we describe the sea.Many people think of the sea to also be peaceful or serene, which is where the drowned man came from. On the contrary, the woman was treated in a negative fashion which could be partially because of where she came from. The woman came from â€Å"the depths of †¦ a jungle†. This can be seen as a dark and mysterious place which may insinuate why the people that read about her seem afraid or dislike her. Another difference between settings in the story is that in Marquez's text, the town where the people discover the man seems to be a small village which isn't the fact in Lispector's text, which is the country of France.Perhaps the authors were trying to show that people that grow up i n bigger towns have more of a biased view on the outside world while people that grow up in smaller cities are more open minded, which would explain the different views on the characters in the story. In conclusion, Lispector's â€Å"The Smallest Woman in the World† and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's â€Å"The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World† show how magic realist text are used to push the boundaries of fiction while explaining worldly views. Although both story depicts a magical character's life, they show through physical description and setting that people can be treated differently.

Blood Promise Chapter Fifteen

â€Å"Just like that?† I asked in disbelief. His lips quirked into a smile. â€Å"Rolan knows who I am. He knows who works for me. Once Pavel makes my†¦ ah, wishes known, that will be the end of it.† I shivered, knowing Abe spoke the truth. Considering what a smartass I’d been to Abe this whole time, it really was a wonder I hadn’t had my feet set in cement and been tossed into the ocean. â€Å"So why aren’t you forcefully dragging me out of here?† â€Å"I never like to make anyone do anything they don’t want to. Even Rolan. It’s much easier if people simply see reason and do what I ask them to, without the use of force.† â€Å"And by ? ®see reason,’ you mean, ? ®blackmail,'† I said, thinking of what I’d just agreed to. â€Å"We made a trade,† he said. â€Å"That’s all. Don’t forget your end of the bargain. You promised to leave here, and you don’t seem like the type to go back on your word.† â€Å"I don’t.† â€Å"Rose!† Viktoria suddenly appeared at the door. Wow, that was fast. Pavel was calmly dragging her by her arm. Her hair was mussed, and a dress strap was slipping from her shoulder. Her face was a mixture of incredulity and anger. â€Å"What did you do? That guy came and told Rolan to get out of here and never see me again! And then†¦ Rolan agreed. He just left.† I found it slightly funny that Viktoria immediately blamed me for this. True, I was responsible, but Abe was standing right there. It wasn’t a secret who his employees were. Nonetheless, I defended my actions. â€Å"He was using you,† I said. There were tears in Viktoria’s brown eyes. â€Å"He loves me.† â€Å"If he loves you, then why did he hit on me as soon as your back was turned?† â€Å"He did not!† â€Å"He’s the one who got Sonya pregnant.† Even in the alley’s dim lighting, I saw her face pale. â€Å"That’s a lie.† I threw up my hands. â€Å"Why would I make that up? He wanted to make plans with me as soon as you were out of town!† â€Å"If he did,† she said, voice shaking, â€Å"it was because you led him on.† I gaped. Beside me, Abe listened quietly, a smug look on his face. He was so self-satisfied and probably thought he was being proven right. I wanted to punch him, but Viktoria was my concern. â€Å"How can you think that? I’m your friend!† I told her. â€Å"If you were my friend, you wouldn’t be acting like this. You wouldn’t try to stand in my way. You act like you loved my brother, but there’s no way you could have-no way you really understand love!† Didn’t understand love? Was she crazy? If she only knew what I’d sacrificed for Dimitri, what I’d done to be where I was now†¦ all for love. She was the one who couldn’t understand. Love wasn’t a fling in a back room at a party. It was something you lived and died for. My emotions surged, that darkness welling up within me that made me want to lash out in return for her horrible accusation. It was only through the strongest of efforts that I remembered she was already hurting, that she only said the things she did because she was confused and upset. â€Å"Viktoria, I do understand, and I’m sorry. I’m only doing this because you’re my friend. I care about you.† â€Å"You aren’t my friend,† she hissed. â€Å"You aren’t part of this family. You don’t understand anything about us or how we live! I wish you’d never come here.† She turned and stormed away, pushing back inside through the long line of partygoers. My heart ached as I watched her. I turned to Abe. â€Å"She’s going to go try to find him.† He still wore that damnably knowing expression. â€Å"It won’t matter. He’ll have nothing to do with her anymore. Not if he values that pretty face of his.† I was worried for Viktoria but kind of had a feeling Abe was right about Rolan. Rolan would no longer be an issue. As for Viktoria’s next guy†¦ well, that was a worry for another day. â€Å"Fine. Then we’re done here. Do not follow me anymore,† I growled. â€Å"Keep your promise to leave Baia, and I won’t have to.† I narrowed my eyes. â€Å"I told you: I always keep my promises.† And as I hurried back to the Belikov house, I suddenly wondered if that was true. The blowout with Abe and Viktoria was like cold water on my face. What was I doing here? To a certain extent, Abe had been right†¦ I had been deluding myself, pretending Dimitri’s family was my own in order to soothe my grief over him. But they weren’t. This wasn’t home. The Academy wasn’t my home either, not anymore. The only thing I had left was my promise-my promise to Dimitri. The promise I’d somehow lost sight of since coming here. Some of the Belikov family was in bed when I got home, but others were still in the living room. I slipped upstairs to my room, waiting anxiously for Viktoria to get home. A half hour later, I heard footsteps on the stairs and the sound of her door closing. I knocked gently on it. â€Å"Viktoria,† I said in a loud whisper. â€Å"It’s me. Please talk to me.† â€Å"No!† came the response. â€Å"I don’t ever want to talk to you again.† â€Å"Viktoria-â€Å" â€Å"Go away!† â€Å"I’m just worried about you.† â€Å"You aren’t my brother! You aren’t even my sister. You have no place here!† Ouch. Her voice was muffled by the door, but I didn’t want to risk a fight in the hall and let the others hear. Going to my room, my heart breaking, I stopped and stood in front of the mirror. It was then that I knew she was right. Even Abe was right. Baia wasn’t my place. In a flash, my meager belongings were packed, but I hesitated before going downstairs. Viktoria’s closed door stared at me, and I had to fight the urge to knock again. If I did, it would only trigger another fight. Or, maybe even worse, she would forgive me-and then I would want to stay forever, lost in the comfort of Dimitri’s family and their simple life. Taking a deep breath, I headed downstairs and walked out the front door. I wanted to tell the others goodbye but worried the same thing would happen, that I’d look at their faces and change my mind. I needed to go, I realized. I was angry at both Viktoria and Abe. Their words had hurt me, but there’d been truth in them. This wasn’t my world. I had other things to do with my life. And I had a lot of promises to keep. When I was about eight blocks away, I slowed down, not because I was tired but because I wasn’t sure where I was going. Leaving that house had been the biggest step. I sank down on the curb in front of a neighbor’s silent, dark yard. I wanted to cry without knowing why. I wanted my old life back. I wanted Dimitri and Lissa. Oh, God, I wanted them. But Dimitri was gone, and the only way I’d see him was if I truly set out to kill him. And as for Lissa†¦ she was more or less gone to me too. Even if I survived this, I didn’t think she could forgive me. Sitting there, feeling lost and alone, I tried reaching out to her one more time. I knew it was foolish, considering what I’d seen before, but I had to try one more time. I had to know if I really could have my old place back there. I slipped inside her mind instantly, my runaway emotions making the transition easy. She was on a private jet. If Jill had been stunned by meeting St. Vladimir’s A-list students, going on a trip with them made her downright comatose. She stared at everything wide-eyed and barely said a word during the whole flight to the Royal Court . When Avery offered her a glass of champagne, Jill could barely stammer out, â€Å"N-no thanks.† After that, the others seemed to forget about her and got carried away by their own conversation. Lissa noticed Jill’s uneasiness but didn’t do much to remedy it. That was a shock. The Lissa I had known would have gone out of her way to make Jill comfortable and be included. Fortunately, the younger girl seemed perfectly entertained by watching the others’ antics. I also took comfort in knowing Jill would be okay once she met up with Mia. Lissa had sent word ahead to Mia to come pick up Jill when they landed, seeing as Lissa and the others had to attend to one of Tatiana’s functions right away. Mia had said she’d take Jill under her wing for the weekend and show her some of the innovative things she’d learned to do with her water magic. Lissa was glad for this, happy she wouldn’t be babysitting a freshman all weekend. Even if Jill was totally off of Lissa’s radar, one person wasn’t: Avery’s brother Reed. Their father had decided it would be a good idea for Reed to go with them, and seeing as Mr.-excuse me-Headmaster Lazar had played a key role in working with Tatiana to arrange this trip, there was little argument. Avery had rolled her eyes and spoken to Lissa about it covertly, just before boarding. â€Å"We’re all riding your reputation,† Avery said. â€Å"Part of the reason Dad let me come was because you’re in good with the queen, and he wants it to rub off on me. He’s then hoping I’ll get in good with her, and then that’ll rub off on Reed-and the rest of the family.† Lissa tried not to over think the logic too much. Mostly, she was bothered because Reed Lazar was still as unpleasant as he’d been the first day they met. He wasn’t really mean or anything; it just made her uncomfortable being around him. Really, he was the polar opposite of Avery. Whereas she was animated and could always strike up conversation, he stayed tight-lipped and spoke only when spoken to. Lissa couldn’t really tell if it was shyness or disdain. When Lissa had tried asking him if he was excited to go to Court, Reed had simply shrugged. â€Å"Whatever. I don’t care.† His tone had been almost hostile, like he resented her for asking, so she’d given up all other attempts at conversation. The only person, other than his sister, that Lissa saw Reed ever speak to was Avery’s guardian Simon. He had also come along. When the flight landed, Mia was as good as her word. She waved enthusiastically when Lissa stepped off the plane, her blond curls whipping around in the wind. Lissa grinned back, and they gave each other quick half-hugs, something that never failed to amuse me given their former enemy status. Lissa made introductions for those who needed them as an escort of guardians led them away from the landing strip and toward the inner portion of Court. Mia welcomed Jill so warmly that the younger girl’s uneasiness faded, and excitement glowed in her green eyes. Smiling fondly, Mia glanced away from Jill and over to Lissa. â€Å"Where’s Rose?† Silence fell, followed by uncomfortable glances. â€Å"What?† demanded Mia. â€Å"What did I say?† â€Å"Rose is gone,† said Lissa. â€Å"Sorry†¦ I thought you knew. She dropped out and left after the attack because there were some things†¦ some personal things†¦ she needed to take care of.† Lissa feared Mia would ask about the personal things. Only a few people knew about my search for Dimitri, and Lissa wanted to keep it that way. Most thought I’d just disappeared from post-battle trauma. Mia’s next question completely shocked Lissa. â€Å"Why didn’t you go with her?† â€Å"What?† Lissa stammered. â€Å"Why would I do that? Rose dropped out. No way am I going to.† â€Å"Yeah, I suppose.† Mia turned speculative. â€Å"You guys are just so close-even without the bond. I assumed you’d follow each other to the ends of the earth and figure out the details later.† Mia’s own life had gone through so much upheaval that she took that kind of thing in stride. That weird, fluctuating anger I’d been feeling pop up in Lissa every so often suddenly reared its head and turned on Mia. â€Å"Yeah, well, if we were so close, then it seems like she wouldn’t have left in the first place. She’s the selfish one, not me.† The words stung me and clearly shocked Mia. Mia had a temper of her own, but she sat on it and simply held up her hands in an apologetic way. She really had changed. â€Å"Sorry. Wasn’t trying to accuse you of anything.† Lissa said nothing else. Since my departure, she’d beat herself up about a lot of things. She’d gone over and over things she could have done for me before or after the attack, things that might have made me stay. But it had never occurred to her to go with me, and the revelation hit her like a smack to the face. Mia’s words made her feel guilty and angry all at the same time-and she wasn’t sure who she was the maddest at: me or herself. â€Å"I know what you’re thinking,† said Adrian a few minutes later, once Mia had led Jill away and promised to meet up later. â€Å"What, you read minds now?† asked Lissa. â€Å"Don’t have to. It’s written all over your face. And Rose never would have let you go with her, so stop agonizing over it.† They entered the royal guest housing, which was just as lush and opulent as it had been when I’d stayed there. â€Å"You don’t know that. I could have talked her into it.† â€Å"No,† said Adrian sharply. â€Å"You couldn’t have. I’m serious-don’t give yourself one more thing to be depressed about.† â€Å"Hey, who said I’m depressed? Like I said, she abandoned me.† Adrian was surprised. Since my departure, Lissa had been more sad than anything. She’d occasionally been angry at my decision, but neither Adrian nor I had seen such vehemence from her. Dark feelings boiled within her heart. â€Å"I thought you understood,† said Adrian, with a small, puzzled frown. â€Å"I thought you said you’d-â€Å" Avery suddenly interrupted, giving Adrian a sharp look. â€Å"Hey, hey. Leave her alone, okay? We’ll see you at the reception.† They were at a point where the groups had to split, girls going to one part of the lodging and guys to the other. Adrian looked like he wanted to say more, but instead he nodded and headed off with Reed and a couple of guardians. Avery put a gentle arm around Lissa as she glared at Adrian’s retreating figure. â€Å"You okay?† Avery’s normally laughing face was filled with concern. It startled Lissa in the same way Adrian’s moments of seriousness always startled me. â€Å"I guess. I don’t know.† â€Å"Don’t beat yourself up over what you could have or should have done. The past is gone. Move on to the future.† Lissa’s heart was still heavy, her mood blacker than it had been in quite a while. She managed a tight smile. â€Å"I think that’s the wisest thing you’ve ever said.† â€Å"I know! Can you believe it? Do you think it’ll impress Adrian?† They dissolved into laughter, yet despite her cheery exterior, Lissa was still struck by Mia’s offhand comments. They plagued Lissa in a way she hadn’t thought possible. What really bothered her the most wasn’t the thought that if she’d come with me, she could have kept me out of trouble. No. Her biggest issue was that she hadn’t thought of coming with me in the first place. I was her best friend. As far as she was concerned, that should have been her immediate reaction to my departure. It hadn’t been, and now Lissa was racked with even more guilt than usual. The guilt was all-consuming, and she would occasionally transform it to anger to ease the pain. It didn’t help much. Her mood didn’t improve as the evening progressed, either. Not long after the group’s arrival, the queen hosted a small reception for the most elite of all visitors who had come to the Court. Lissa was quickly discovering that the queen always seemed to be hosting some party or another. At one point in her life, Lissa would have considered that fun. She no longer did, at least not when it came to these kinds of parties. But keeping her dark feelings locked up, Lissa stayed good at playing the role of nice royal girl. The queen seemed happy that Lissa had a â€Å"suitable† royal friend and was equally pleased when Lissa impressed other royals and dignitaries she was introduced to. At one point, though, Lissa’s resolve nearly faltered. â€Å"Before you leave,† said Tatiana, â€Å"we should see about your guardians.† She and Lissa stood together with a group of admirers and hangers-on who were keeping respectful distances. Lissa had been staring vacantly at the bubbles in her untouched champagne and looked up with a start. â€Å"Guardians, your majesty?† â€Å"Well, there’s no delicate way to put this, but now, for better or for worse, you’re without any protection.† The queen paused respectfully. â€Å"Belikov was a good man.† My name naturally didn’t come to her lips. I might as well have never existed. She’d never liked me, particularly since she thought I was going to run off with Adrian. As it was, Lissa had noticed Tatiana watching with some consideration while Avery and Adrian flirted. It was hard to say if the queen disapproved. Her partying aside, Avery seemed a model girl-save that Tatiana had wanted Lissa and Adrian to eventually get together. â€Å"I don’t need any protection right now,† said Lissa politely, her heart clenching. â€Å"No, but you’ll be out of school soon enough. We think we’ve found some excellent candidates for you. One of them’s a woman-a lucky find.† â€Å"Janine Hathaway offered to be my guardian,† said Lissa suddenly. I hadn’t known that, but as she spoke, I read the story in her mind. My mom had approached her not long after I left. I was a little shocked. My mom was very loyal to her current assignment. This would have been a big move for her. â€Å"Janine Hathaway?† Tatiana’s eyebrows rose nearly to her hairline. â€Å"I’m sure she has other commitments. No, we’ve got much better choices. This young lady’s only a few years older than you.† A better choice than Janine Hathaway? Not likely. Before Dimitri, my mother had been the gold standard by which I measured all badassedness. Tatiana’s â€Å"young lady† was undoubtedly someone under the queen’s control-and more importantly, not a Hathaway. The queen didn’t like my mom any more than she liked me. Once, when Tatiana had been bitching me out for something, she’d made a reference to a man my mother had been involved with-someone whom I suspected might be my father, a guy named Ibrahim. The funny thing was, the queen had almost sounded like she had once had an interest in the guy too, and I had to wonder if that was part of her dislike for my family. Lissa put on a tight, polite smile for the queen and thanked her for the consideration. Lissa and I both understood what was going on. This was Tatiana’s game. Everyone was part of her plan, and there was no way to go against her. For a brief moment, Lissa had that strange thought again, of something Victor Dashkov had once said to her. Aside from his crazy killing and kidnapping schemes, Victor had also wanted to start a revolution among the Moroi. He thought the power distribution was off-something Lissa occasionally believed too-and that it was wielded unfairly by those with too much control. The moment was gone almost as soon as it came. Victor Dashkov was a crazy villain whose ideas deserved no acknowledgment. Then, as soon as courtesy allowed, Lissa excused herself from the queen and headed across the room, feeling like she was going to explode with grief and anger. She nearly ran into Avery as she did. â€Å"God,† said Avery. â€Å"Do you think Reed could embarrass me any more? Two people have tried to make conversation with him, and he keeps scaring them off. He actually just told Robin Badica to shut up. I mean, yeah, she was going on and on, but still. That is not cool.† Avery’s dramatic look of exasperation faded as she took in Lissa’s face. â€Å"Hey, what’s wrong?† Lissa glanced at Tatiana and then turned back to Avery, taking comfort in her friend’s blue-gray eyes. â€Å"I need to get out of here.† Lissa took a deep, calming breath. â€Å"Remember all that good stuff you said you knew about? When is that going to happen?† Avery smiled. â€Å"As soon as you want.† I returned to myself, sitting there on the curb. My emotions were still going crazy, and my eyes were fighting off tears. My earlier doubts were confirmed: Lissa didn’t need me anymore†¦ and yet, I still had that feeling that there was something odd going on that I couldn’t quite put a finger on. I supposed her guilt over Mia’s comment or spirit side effects could be affecting her, but still†¦ she wasn’t the same Lissa. Footsteps on the pavement made me look up. Of all the people who might have found me, I would have expected Abe or maybe Viktoria. But it wasn’t. It was Yeva. The old woman stood there, a shawl draped over her narrow shoulders, and her sharp, cunning eyes looking down at me disapprovingly. I sighed. â€Å"What happened? Did a house fall on your sister?† I asked. Maybe there was a benefit to our language barrier. She pursed her lips. â€Å"You can’t stay here any longer,† she said. My mouth dropped open. â€Å"You†¦ you speak English?† She snorted. â€Å"Of course.† I shot up. â€Å"All this time you’ve been pretending not to? You’ve been making Paul play translator?† â€Å"It’s easier,† she said simply. â€Å"You avoid a lot of annoying conversation when you don’t speak the language. And I’ve found that Americans make the most annoying conversation of all.† I was still aghast. â€Å"You don’t even know me! But from the first day, you’ve been giving me hell. Why? Why do you hate me?† â€Å"I don’t hate you. But I am disappointed.† â€Å"Disappointed? How?† â€Å"I dreamed you would come.† â€Å"I heard that. You dream a lot?† â€Å"Sometimes,† she said. The moonlight glinted in her eyes, enhancing her otherworldly appearance. A chill ran down my spine. â€Å"Sometimes my dreams are true. Sometimes not. I dreamed Dimka was dead, but I didn’t want to believe it, not until I had proof. You were my proof.† â€Å"And that’s why you were disappointed?† Yeva drew the shawl more tightly around her. â€Å"No. In my dreams, you shone. You burned like a star, and I saw you as a warrior, someone who could do great deeds. Instead? You’ve sat around and moped. You’ve done nothing. You haven’t done what you came to do.† I studied her, wondering if she really knew what she was talking about. â€Å"And what is that exactly?† â€Å"You know what it is. I dreamed that, too.† I waited for more. When it didn’t come, I laughed. â€Å"Nice vague answer. You’re as bad as any scam fortune-teller.† Even in the darkness, I could see the anger kindle in her eyes. â€Å"You’ve come to search for Dimka. To try to kill him. You must find him.† â€Å"What do you mean ? ®try’?† I didn’t want to believe her, didn’t want to believe she might actually know my future. Nonetheless, I found myself getting hooked in. â€Å"Have you seen what happens? Do I kill him?† â€Å"I can’t see everything.† â€Å"Oh. Fantastic.† â€Å"I only saw that you must find him.† â€Å"But that’s all you’ve got? I already knew that!† â€Å"It’s what I saw.† I groaned. â€Å"Damn it, I don’t have time for these cryptic clues. If you can’t help me, then don’t say anything.† She stayed quiet. I slung my bag over my shoulder. â€Å"Fine. I’m leaving then.† And like that, I knew where I would go. â€Å"Tell the others†¦ well, tell them thank you for everything. And that I’m sorry.† â€Å"You’re doing the right thing,† she said. â€Å"This isn’t where you should be.† â€Å"So I’ve heard,† I muttered, walking away. I wondered if she’d say anything else: chastise me, curse me, give me more mysterious words of â€Å"wisdom.† But she stayed silent, and I didn’t look back. I had no home, not here and not in America. The only thing left for me was to do what I’d come to do. I had told Abe I kept my promises. I would. I’d leave Baia like I told him. And I’d kill Dimitri, as I’d promised myself I would. I knew where to go now. The address had never left my mind: 83 Kasakova. I didn’t know where it was, but once I reached the town’s center, I found a guy walking down the street who gave me directions. The address was close by, only about a mile, and I headed out at a brisk pace. When I reached the house, I was glad to see that the lights were still on. Even as pissed off and raging as I was, I didn’t want to wake anyone up. I also didn’t want to speak to Nikolai and was relieved when Denis opened the door. His expression was all astonishment when he saw me. Despite his bold words back at the church earlier, I don’t think he’d really believed I’d join him and the other unpromised ones. He was speechless, so I did the talking. â€Å"I changed my mind. I’m coming with you.† I took a deep breath, bracing myself for what came next. I’d promised Abe I’d leave Baia-but I hadn’t promised to return to the U.S. â€Å"Take me to Novosibirsk.† Blood Promise Chapter Fifteen â€Å"Just like that?† I asked in disbelief. His lips quirked into a smile. â€Å"Rolan knows who I am. He knows who works for me. Once Pavel makes my†¦ ah, wishes known, that will be the end of it.† I shivered, knowing Abe spoke the truth. Considering what a smartass I’d been to Abe this whole time, it really was a wonder I hadn’t had my feet set in cement and been tossed into the ocean. â€Å"So why aren’t you forcefully dragging me out of here?† â€Å"I never like to make anyone do anything they don’t want to. Even Rolan. It’s much easier if people simply see reason and do what I ask them to, without the use of force.† â€Å"And by ? ®see reason,’ you mean, ? ®blackmail,'† I said, thinking of what I’d just agreed to. â€Å"We made a trade,† he said. â€Å"That’s all. Don’t forget your end of the bargain. You promised to leave here, and you don’t seem like the type to go back on your word.† â€Å"I don’t.† â€Å"Rose!† Viktoria suddenly appeared at the door. Wow, that was fast. Pavel was calmly dragging her by her arm. Her hair was mussed, and a dress strap was slipping from her shoulder. Her face was a mixture of incredulity and anger. â€Å"What did you do? That guy came and told Rolan to get out of here and never see me again! And then†¦ Rolan agreed. He just left.† I found it slightly funny that Viktoria immediately blamed me for this. True, I was responsible, but Abe was standing right there. It wasn’t a secret who his employees were. Nonetheless, I defended my actions. â€Å"He was using you,† I said. There were tears in Viktoria’s brown eyes. â€Å"He loves me.† â€Å"If he loves you, then why did he hit on me as soon as your back was turned?† â€Å"He did not!† â€Å"He’s the one who got Sonya pregnant.† Even in the alley’s dim lighting, I saw her face pale. â€Å"That’s a lie.† I threw up my hands. â€Å"Why would I make that up? He wanted to make plans with me as soon as you were out of town!† â€Å"If he did,† she said, voice shaking, â€Å"it was because you led him on.† I gaped. Beside me, Abe listened quietly, a smug look on his face. He was so self-satisfied and probably thought he was being proven right. I wanted to punch him, but Viktoria was my concern. â€Å"How can you think that? I’m your friend!† I told her. â€Å"If you were my friend, you wouldn’t be acting like this. You wouldn’t try to stand in my way. You act like you loved my brother, but there’s no way you could have-no way you really understand love!† Didn’t understand love? Was she crazy? If she only knew what I’d sacrificed for Dimitri, what I’d done to be where I was now†¦ all for love. She was the one who couldn’t understand. Love wasn’t a fling in a back room at a party. It was something you lived and died for. My emotions surged, that darkness welling up within me that made me want to lash out in return for her horrible accusation. It was only through the strongest of efforts that I remembered she was already hurting, that she only said the things she did because she was confused and upset. â€Å"Viktoria, I do understand, and I’m sorry. I’m only doing this because you’re my friend. I care about you.† â€Å"You aren’t my friend,† she hissed. â€Å"You aren’t part of this family. You don’t understand anything about us or how we live! I wish you’d never come here.† She turned and stormed away, pushing back inside through the long line of partygoers. My heart ached as I watched her. I turned to Abe. â€Å"She’s going to go try to find him.† He still wore that damnably knowing expression. â€Å"It won’t matter. He’ll have nothing to do with her anymore. Not if he values that pretty face of his.† I was worried for Viktoria but kind of had a feeling Abe was right about Rolan. Rolan would no longer be an issue. As for Viktoria’s next guy†¦ well, that was a worry for another day. â€Å"Fine. Then we’re done here. Do not follow me anymore,† I growled. â€Å"Keep your promise to leave Baia, and I won’t have to.† I narrowed my eyes. â€Å"I told you: I always keep my promises.† And as I hurried back to the Belikov house, I suddenly wondered if that was true. The blowout with Abe and Viktoria was like cold water on my face. What was I doing here? To a certain extent, Abe had been right†¦ I had been deluding myself, pretending Dimitri’s family was my own in order to soothe my grief over him. But they weren’t. This wasn’t home. The Academy wasn’t my home either, not anymore. The only thing I had left was my promise-my promise to Dimitri. The promise I’d somehow lost sight of since coming here. Some of the Belikov family was in bed when I got home, but others were still in the living room. I slipped upstairs to my room, waiting anxiously for Viktoria to get home. A half hour later, I heard footsteps on the stairs and the sound of her door closing. I knocked gently on it. â€Å"Viktoria,† I said in a loud whisper. â€Å"It’s me. Please talk to me.† â€Å"No!† came the response. â€Å"I don’t ever want to talk to you again.† â€Å"Viktoria-â€Å" â€Å"Go away!† â€Å"I’m just worried about you.† â€Å"You aren’t my brother! You aren’t even my sister. You have no place here!† Ouch. Her voice was muffled by the door, but I didn’t want to risk a fight in the hall and let the others hear. Going to my room, my heart breaking, I stopped and stood in front of the mirror. It was then that I knew she was right. Even Abe was right. Baia wasn’t my place. In a flash, my meager belongings were packed, but I hesitated before going downstairs. Viktoria’s closed door stared at me, and I had to fight the urge to knock again. If I did, it would only trigger another fight. Or, maybe even worse, she would forgive me-and then I would want to stay forever, lost in the comfort of Dimitri’s family and their simple life. Taking a deep breath, I headed downstairs and walked out the front door. I wanted to tell the others goodbye but worried the same thing would happen, that I’d look at their faces and change my mind. I needed to go, I realized. I was angry at both Viktoria and Abe. Their words had hurt me, but there’d been truth in them. This wasn’t my world. I had other things to do with my life. And I had a lot of promises to keep. When I was about eight blocks away, I slowed down, not because I was tired but because I wasn’t sure where I was going. Leaving that house had been the biggest step. I sank down on the curb in front of a neighbor’s silent, dark yard. I wanted to cry without knowing why. I wanted my old life back. I wanted Dimitri and Lissa. Oh, God, I wanted them. But Dimitri was gone, and the only way I’d see him was if I truly set out to kill him. And as for Lissa†¦ she was more or less gone to me too. Even if I survived this, I didn’t think she could forgive me. Sitting there, feeling lost and alone, I tried reaching out to her one more time. I knew it was foolish, considering what I’d seen before, but I had to try one more time. I had to know if I really could have my old place back there. I slipped inside her mind instantly, my runaway emotions making the transition easy. She was on a private jet. If Jill had been stunned by meeting St. Vladimir’s A-list students, going on a trip with them made her downright comatose. She stared at everything wide-eyed and barely said a word during the whole flight to the Royal Court . When Avery offered her a glass of champagne, Jill could barely stammer out, â€Å"N-no thanks.† After that, the others seemed to forget about her and got carried away by their own conversation. Lissa noticed Jill’s uneasiness but didn’t do much to remedy it. That was a shock. The Lissa I had known would have gone out of her way to make Jill comfortable and be included. Fortunately, the younger girl seemed perfectly entertained by watching the others’ antics. I also took comfort in knowing Jill would be okay once she met up with Mia. Lissa had sent word ahead to Mia to come pick up Jill when they landed, seeing as Lissa and the others had to attend to one of Tatiana’s functions right away. Mia had said she’d take Jill under her wing for the weekend and show her some of the innovative things she’d learned to do with her water magic. Lissa was glad for this, happy she wouldn’t be babysitting a freshman all weekend. Even if Jill was totally off of Lissa’s radar, one person wasn’t: Avery’s brother Reed. Their father had decided it would be a good idea for Reed to go with them, and seeing as Mr.-excuse me-Headmaster Lazar had played a key role in working with Tatiana to arrange this trip, there was little argument. Avery had rolled her eyes and spoken to Lissa about it covertly, just before boarding. â€Å"We’re all riding your reputation,† Avery said. â€Å"Part of the reason Dad let me come was because you’re in good with the queen, and he wants it to rub off on me. He’s then hoping I’ll get in good with her, and then that’ll rub off on Reed-and the rest of the family.† Lissa tried not to over think the logic too much. Mostly, she was bothered because Reed Lazar was still as unpleasant as he’d been the first day they met. He wasn’t really mean or anything; it just made her uncomfortable being around him. Really, he was the polar opposite of Avery. Whereas she was animated and could always strike up conversation, he stayed tight-lipped and spoke only when spoken to. Lissa couldn’t really tell if it was shyness or disdain. When Lissa had tried asking him if he was excited to go to Court, Reed had simply shrugged. â€Å"Whatever. I don’t care.† His tone had been almost hostile, like he resented her for asking, so she’d given up all other attempts at conversation. The only person, other than his sister, that Lissa saw Reed ever speak to was Avery’s guardian Simon. He had also come along. When the flight landed, Mia was as good as her word. She waved enthusiastically when Lissa stepped off the plane, her blond curls whipping around in the wind. Lissa grinned back, and they gave each other quick half-hugs, something that never failed to amuse me given their former enemy status. Lissa made introductions for those who needed them as an escort of guardians led them away from the landing strip and toward the inner portion of Court. Mia welcomed Jill so warmly that the younger girl’s uneasiness faded, and excitement glowed in her green eyes. Smiling fondly, Mia glanced away from Jill and over to Lissa. â€Å"Where’s Rose?† Silence fell, followed by uncomfortable glances. â€Å"What?† demanded Mia. â€Å"What did I say?† â€Å"Rose is gone,† said Lissa. â€Å"Sorry†¦ I thought you knew. She dropped out and left after the attack because there were some things†¦ some personal things†¦ she needed to take care of.† Lissa feared Mia would ask about the personal things. Only a few people knew about my search for Dimitri, and Lissa wanted to keep it that way. Most thought I’d just disappeared from post-battle trauma. Mia’s next question completely shocked Lissa. â€Å"Why didn’t you go with her?† â€Å"What?† Lissa stammered. â€Å"Why would I do that? Rose dropped out. No way am I going to.† â€Å"Yeah, I suppose.† Mia turned speculative. â€Å"You guys are just so close-even without the bond. I assumed you’d follow each other to the ends of the earth and figure out the details later.† Mia’s own life had gone through so much upheaval that she took that kind of thing in stride. That weird, fluctuating anger I’d been feeling pop up in Lissa every so often suddenly reared its head and turned on Mia. â€Å"Yeah, well, if we were so close, then it seems like she wouldn’t have left in the first place. She’s the selfish one, not me.† The words stung me and clearly shocked Mia. Mia had a temper of her own, but she sat on it and simply held up her hands in an apologetic way. She really had changed. â€Å"Sorry. Wasn’t trying to accuse you of anything.† Lissa said nothing else. Since my departure, she’d beat herself up about a lot of things. She’d gone over and over things she could have done for me before or after the attack, things that might have made me stay. But it had never occurred to her to go with me, and the revelation hit her like a smack to the face. Mia’s words made her feel guilty and angry all at the same time-and she wasn’t sure who she was the maddest at: me or herself. â€Å"I know what you’re thinking,† said Adrian a few minutes later, once Mia had led Jill away and promised to meet up later. â€Å"What, you read minds now?† asked Lissa. â€Å"Don’t have to. It’s written all over your face. And Rose never would have let you go with her, so stop agonizing over it.† They entered the royal guest housing, which was just as lush and opulent as it had been when I’d stayed there. â€Å"You don’t know that. I could have talked her into it.† â€Å"No,† said Adrian sharply. â€Å"You couldn’t have. I’m serious-don’t give yourself one more thing to be depressed about.† â€Å"Hey, who said I’m depressed? Like I said, she abandoned me.† Adrian was surprised. Since my departure, Lissa had been more sad than anything. She’d occasionally been angry at my decision, but neither Adrian nor I had seen such vehemence from her. Dark feelings boiled within her heart. â€Å"I thought you understood,† said Adrian, with a small, puzzled frown. â€Å"I thought you said you’d-â€Å" Avery suddenly interrupted, giving Adrian a sharp look. â€Å"Hey, hey. Leave her alone, okay? We’ll see you at the reception.† They were at a point where the groups had to split, girls going to one part of the lodging and guys to the other. Adrian looked like he wanted to say more, but instead he nodded and headed off with Reed and a couple of guardians. Avery put a gentle arm around Lissa as she glared at Adrian’s retreating figure. â€Å"You okay?† Avery’s normally laughing face was filled with concern. It startled Lissa in the same way Adrian’s moments of seriousness always startled me. â€Å"I guess. I don’t know.† â€Å"Don’t beat yourself up over what you could have or should have done. The past is gone. Move on to the future.† Lissa’s heart was still heavy, her mood blacker than it had been in quite a while. She managed a tight smile. â€Å"I think that’s the wisest thing you’ve ever said.† â€Å"I know! Can you believe it? Do you think it’ll impress Adrian?† They dissolved into laughter, yet despite her cheery exterior, Lissa was still struck by Mia’s offhand comments. They plagued Lissa in a way she hadn’t thought possible. What really bothered her the most wasn’t the thought that if she’d come with me, she could have kept me out of trouble. No. Her biggest issue was that she hadn’t thought of coming with me in the first place. I was her best friend. As far as she was concerned, that should have been her immediate reaction to my departure. It hadn’t been, and now Lissa was racked with even more guilt than usual. The guilt was all-consuming, and she would occasionally transform it to anger to ease the pain. It didn’t help much. Her mood didn’t improve as the evening progressed, either. Not long after the group’s arrival, the queen hosted a small reception for the most elite of all visitors who had come to the Court. Lissa was quickly discovering that the queen always seemed to be hosting some party or another. At one point in her life, Lissa would have considered that fun. She no longer did, at least not when it came to these kinds of parties. But keeping her dark feelings locked up, Lissa stayed good at playing the role of nice royal girl. The queen seemed happy that Lissa had a â€Å"suitable† royal friend and was equally pleased when Lissa impressed other royals and dignitaries she was introduced to. At one point, though, Lissa’s resolve nearly faltered. â€Å"Before you leave,† said Tatiana, â€Å"we should see about your guardians.† She and Lissa stood together with a group of admirers and hangers-on who were keeping respectful distances. Lissa had been staring vacantly at the bubbles in her untouched champagne and looked up with a start. â€Å"Guardians, your majesty?† â€Å"Well, there’s no delicate way to put this, but now, for better or for worse, you’re without any protection.† The queen paused respectfully. â€Å"Belikov was a good man.† My name naturally didn’t come to her lips. I might as well have never existed. She’d never liked me, particularly since she thought I was going to run off with Adrian. As it was, Lissa had noticed Tatiana watching with some consideration while Avery and Adrian flirted. It was hard to say if the queen disapproved. Her partying aside, Avery seemed a model girl-save that Tatiana had wanted Lissa and Adrian to eventually get together. â€Å"I don’t need any protection right now,† said Lissa politely, her heart clenching. â€Å"No, but you’ll be out of school soon enough. We think we’ve found some excellent candidates for you. One of them’s a woman-a lucky find.† â€Å"Janine Hathaway offered to be my guardian,† said Lissa suddenly. I hadn’t known that, but as she spoke, I read the story in her mind. My mom had approached her not long after I left. I was a little shocked. My mom was very loyal to her current assignment. This would have been a big move for her. â€Å"Janine Hathaway?† Tatiana’s eyebrows rose nearly to her hairline. â€Å"I’m sure she has other commitments. No, we’ve got much better choices. This young lady’s only a few years older than you.† A better choice than Janine Hathaway? Not likely. Before Dimitri, my mother had been the gold standard by which I measured all badassedness. Tatiana’s â€Å"young lady† was undoubtedly someone under the queen’s control-and more importantly, not a Hathaway. The queen didn’t like my mom any more than she liked me. Once, when Tatiana had been bitching me out for something, she’d made a reference to a man my mother had been involved with-someone whom I suspected might be my father, a guy named Ibrahim. The funny thing was, the queen had almost sounded like she had once had an interest in the guy too, and I had to wonder if that was part of her dislike for my family. Lissa put on a tight, polite smile for the queen and thanked her for the consideration. Lissa and I both understood what was going on. This was Tatiana’s game. Everyone was part of her plan, and there was no way to go against her. For a brief moment, Lissa had that strange thought again, of something Victor Dashkov had once said to her. Aside from his crazy killing and kidnapping schemes, Victor had also wanted to start a revolution among the Moroi. He thought the power distribution was off-something Lissa occasionally believed too-and that it was wielded unfairly by those with too much control. The moment was gone almost as soon as it came. Victor Dashkov was a crazy villain whose ideas deserved no acknowledgment. Then, as soon as courtesy allowed, Lissa excused herself from the queen and headed across the room, feeling like she was going to explode with grief and anger. She nearly ran into Avery as she did. â€Å"God,† said Avery. â€Å"Do you think Reed could embarrass me any more? Two people have tried to make conversation with him, and he keeps scaring them off. He actually just told Robin Badica to shut up. I mean, yeah, she was going on and on, but still. That is not cool.† Avery’s dramatic look of exasperation faded as she took in Lissa’s face. â€Å"Hey, what’s wrong?† Lissa glanced at Tatiana and then turned back to Avery, taking comfort in her friend’s blue-gray eyes. â€Å"I need to get out of here.† Lissa took a deep, calming breath. â€Å"Remember all that good stuff you said you knew about? When is that going to happen?† Avery smiled. â€Å"As soon as you want.† I returned to myself, sitting there on the curb. My emotions were still going crazy, and my eyes were fighting off tears. My earlier doubts were confirmed: Lissa didn’t need me anymore†¦ and yet, I still had that feeling that there was something odd going on that I couldn’t quite put a finger on. I supposed her guilt over Mia’s comment or spirit side effects could be affecting her, but still†¦ she wasn’t the same Lissa. Footsteps on the pavement made me look up. Of all the people who might have found me, I would have expected Abe or maybe Viktoria. But it wasn’t. It was Yeva. The old woman stood there, a shawl draped over her narrow shoulders, and her sharp, cunning eyes looking down at me disapprovingly. I sighed. â€Å"What happened? Did a house fall on your sister?† I asked. Maybe there was a benefit to our language barrier. She pursed her lips. â€Å"You can’t stay here any longer,† she said. My mouth dropped open. â€Å"You†¦ you speak English?† She snorted. â€Å"Of course.† I shot up. â€Å"All this time you’ve been pretending not to? You’ve been making Paul play translator?† â€Å"It’s easier,† she said simply. â€Å"You avoid a lot of annoying conversation when you don’t speak the language. And I’ve found that Americans make the most annoying conversation of all.† I was still aghast. â€Å"You don’t even know me! But from the first day, you’ve been giving me hell. Why? Why do you hate me?† â€Å"I don’t hate you. But I am disappointed.† â€Å"Disappointed? How?† â€Å"I dreamed you would come.† â€Å"I heard that. You dream a lot?† â€Å"Sometimes,† she said. The moonlight glinted in her eyes, enhancing her otherworldly appearance. A chill ran down my spine. â€Å"Sometimes my dreams are true. Sometimes not. I dreamed Dimka was dead, but I didn’t want to believe it, not until I had proof. You were my proof.† â€Å"And that’s why you were disappointed?† Yeva drew the shawl more tightly around her. â€Å"No. In my dreams, you shone. You burned like a star, and I saw you as a warrior, someone who could do great deeds. Instead? You’ve sat around and moped. You’ve done nothing. You haven’t done what you came to do.† I studied her, wondering if she really knew what she was talking about. â€Å"And what is that exactly?† â€Å"You know what it is. I dreamed that, too.† I waited for more. When it didn’t come, I laughed. â€Å"Nice vague answer. You’re as bad as any scam fortune-teller.† Even in the darkness, I could see the anger kindle in her eyes. â€Å"You’ve come to search for Dimka. To try to kill him. You must find him.† â€Å"What do you mean ? ®try’?† I didn’t want to believe her, didn’t want to believe she might actually know my future. Nonetheless, I found myself getting hooked in. â€Å"Have you seen what happens? Do I kill him?† â€Å"I can’t see everything.† â€Å"Oh. Fantastic.† â€Å"I only saw that you must find him.† â€Å"But that’s all you’ve got? I already knew that!† â€Å"It’s what I saw.† I groaned. â€Å"Damn it, I don’t have time for these cryptic clues. If you can’t help me, then don’t say anything.† She stayed quiet. I slung my bag over my shoulder. â€Å"Fine. I’m leaving then.† And like that, I knew where I would go. â€Å"Tell the others†¦ well, tell them thank you for everything. And that I’m sorry.† â€Å"You’re doing the right thing,† she said. â€Å"This isn’t where you should be.† â€Å"So I’ve heard,† I muttered, walking away. I wondered if she’d say anything else: chastise me, curse me, give me more mysterious words of â€Å"wisdom.† But she stayed silent, and I didn’t look back. I had no home, not here and not in America. The only thing left for me was to do what I’d come to do. I had told Abe I kept my promises. I would. I’d leave Baia like I told him. And I’d kill Dimitri, as I’d promised myself I would. I knew where to go now. The address had never left my mind: 83 Kasakova. I didn’t know where it was, but once I reached the town’s center, I found a guy walking down the street who gave me directions. The address was close by, only about a mile, and I headed out at a brisk pace. When I reached the house, I was glad to see that the lights were still on. Even as pissed off and raging as I was, I didn’t want to wake anyone up. I also didn’t want to speak to Nikolai and was relieved when Denis opened the door. His expression was all astonishment when he saw me. Despite his bold words back at the church earlier, I don’t think he’d really believed I’d join him and the other unpromised ones. He was speechless, so I did the talking. â€Å"I changed my mind. I’m coming with you.† I took a deep breath, bracing myself for what came next. I’d promised Abe I’d leave Baia-but I hadn’t promised to return to the U.S. â€Å"Take me to Novosibirsk.†

Can Foreign Speakers Help The Irish Language Survive Essay

Can Foreign Speakers Help The Irish Language Survive - Essay Example However, the author of this article could have elaborated on the use of the Internet to learn languages, as this may lead to the rise of slang, which may further complicate language development. This article has much strength in that it is based on analysis from typical examples of individuals chipping in various points. Nevertheless, it leaves a loophole for various an array of interpretations due to the author’s failure to state his aim for writing it.Assessment of the ArticleFrom my assessment, this material may be very resourceful in my future career on analyzing the rise and loss of various languages. For instance, the use of digital techniques such as internet and Facebook to facilitate the learning of a particular language as mentioned in this article may ease my future research. This article is a clear analysis of the current problem of language loss among the contemporary generation who feels that using native language is a primitivism. Besides, it is an encouragement to learners on the need to preserve languages for future identifications. It is, therefore, one of the best as far as anthropological research is concerned.Lingua Globa: How English Became 'Globish' by Robert McCrumSummary of the ArticleMcCrum, the author of this article, explains the various ways in which the English language developed and spread to the entire world. He asserts that English never developed from one language group, but rather a contribution of various languages such as Celtic and Anglo-Saxon words.

Personalized Medicine Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personalized Medicine - Research Paper Example With the simple blood test, disorders related to genes are detected. This was revealed in the study by Holtzman and Shapiro (1998) where there was a significant reduction in the birth of thalassaemia among high risk in Cyprus, Sardinia and in the Mediterranean regions. Through prenatal diagnosis, couples are given the option for selective termination of pregnancy believed to carry genetic abnormalities. The study also found out that screening tests are helpful in determining other health problems such as sickle cell anemia, phenylketonuria, thyroid carcinoma, and multiple endocrine neoplasias that may arise as a result of defective gene combinations. Not only that physical abnormality could be limited but also the psychological sequels as a result of discrimination are also prevented. With these breakthroughs in genetic science, personalized medicine emerged in an effort to dissect the many combinations of genes to optimize preventative measures of patients to reduce the number of in cidences. The technology employed in modern genetics also laid the foundation to experts behind the personalized medicine to include a more complex study such as cytogenetics, cancer genetics, and cell biology in providing patients with individualized treatment. The individualized therapeutic care is based on the concept that patients do not respond to the same selected medication. The study of the patient’s protein including the genetic and metabolic profiling helps in stratifying the disease. which is helpful in proper medication and dosage. In addition, modern genetic technology provided personalized medicine with the basics of going in depth studies of complex diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases. This way, personalized medicine serves as the extension of traditional approach in understanding and treating disease. Benefits of personalized medicine Personalized medicine has varied benefits not only to individuals at risk of possible genetic health problems but also to medical practitioners and to the pharmaceutical companies as well. Individuals at risks can request diagnostic test directly from pharmaceutical companies for certain diseases without seeking the authorization of the physician. Companies such as 23ndMe Incorporated, decodeMe, and Navigenics provide services on genome profiling to consumers. The service offered by these companies provides the public convenience and accessibility to the test for diagnosis. Furthermore, it promotes diagnostic awareness to the public in general (Haga, 2009). However, the same study warns that the non interference of a physician might lead to miscommunication leading to psychosocial harm and impacts life decision such as unnecessary family

Unfair Terms in the Contracts and Exclusion of Liabilities Essay

Unfair Terms in the Contracts and Exclusion of Liabilities - Essay Example This may be due to the lack of a precise definition of the term ‘reasonableness’ under the provisions of the Act, the lack of which   that gave enormous freedom to the courts to decide on the reasonableness depending on the particular circumstances of the individual cases. Moreover the courts distinguished between the business transactions and the goods or services supplied to the consumers to decide on the reasonableness of the cases which enhanced the complexity of the issues arising from the operations of the Act. But it is certain that the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 considers the invalidation of the limitations and exclusions of the liabilities arising out of the operation of the standard written terms of business in case they are found to be unfair or unreasonable. This would leave the contractors facing an unlimited liability with respect to any issues arising during the course of construction process with the developers or the employers as the case may be. T he Court of Appeal has recognized the reasonableness of the claim for exclusion of the liability of an IT supplier in the case of Watford Electronics v Sanderson. In this case Lord Justice Chadwick observed that â€Å"where experienced businessmen representing substantial companies of equal bargaining power negotiate an agreement, they should be taken to be the best judges of the commercial fairness of that agreement. The court should in these circumstances be slow to intervene to substitute its own judgment.†Ã‚   Thus the decision of the Court of Appeal had acted.

The contemporary issues in India Research Paper - 1

The contemporary issues in India - Research Paper Example The country is suffering from the problem of corruption and this is restricting the human development efforts in the country. Human trafficking is also an issue that is tarnishing the reputation of the country and many people are being trafficked from India into other countries. The increasing population of India is also a major problem the country is facing. All these issues will be discussed in great detail in the essay. Corruption, human trafficking, and increasing population are the three issues that will be discussed in the essay. Corruption is one of the most major issues India is facing today. Many institutions of the country like politics, bureaucracy, and law enforcement institutions all are suffering from the deadly disease of corruption (Express India, p.1). India became an independent state in 1947, before then it was a British colony. In more than half of a century the institutions of the country have not developed enough and this is why the problem of corruption exists in the country. The lack of infrastructure in the country may also be responsible for corruption because people working for the civil services know that they will not be caught while taking bribes. This lack of fear of conviction is one of the major reasons of growth of corruption in India. India is facing corruption problems at the grass root level. It is not just the institutional level of corruption that is haunting India. Lower level civil employees have developed a habit of taking bribes from the ordinary citizens. It is common for very small restaurant owners to pay bribes even to stay open for longer hours (Burke, p.1). This level of prevalence of corruption is extremely dangerous because eradicating it becomes impossible. Top level corruption can be controlled by changing the management of the country through effective leadership but lower level of corruption means that the

Exercise can reduce the risk of various health problems Essay

Exercise can reduce the risk of various health problems - Essay Example According to CDC (2015), prevalence of obesity among adult citizens of USA is more than 34.9%, which represents more than 78.6 million victims. High blood pressure (hypertension) develops due to imbalanced Basal Metabolic Index (BMI) that exerts pressure on the heart and blood vessels. The imbalanced BMI exerts pressures and subsequently narrow the blood vessels that force the heart to generate excessive pressures to pump blood all over the body. CDC reports that the disease affects more than 67 million adults, which translates to over 31% of the American adult population (CDC, 2014). Chronic Kidney Disease compromises the ability of the kidney to perform its functions effectively. Diabetes, heart diseases, high blood pressure and overweight among other lifestyle diseases can cause CKD. Currently, the prevalence of CKD among American adults stands at 13.2% but projected to increase to 16.7% by 2030 (National Kidney Foundation, 2015). The three diseases have similar and related causes, so, physical activities prescribed to treat can also work to treat all. For adult patients suffering the diseases, a nurse can prescribe resistance, flexibility and endurance exercise (Rippe, 2013). Endurance exercise can last to about 60 minutes daily and intensity vary from 5-6 to 7-8 on a scale of 0-10. The exercise involves any activity that does not impose excessive orthopedic stress like walking, aquatic exercise ad stationary cycle exercise. Resistance activity can at a frequency of not less than 2days per week. Intensity measured on a scale of 0-10 can vary from 5-6 and 7-8. For flexibility exercise, a nurse can recommend a frequency of at least 2 days per week at an intensity of 5-6 on a scale of 0-10. The exercise involves any activity relating to stretches of major muscles (Rippe, 2013). A nurse can ensure cooperation of patients to the prescriptions by requesting for support of friends and families of the patients. A nu rse can also agree with patients

Intergovernmental Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Intergovernmental Management - Research Paper Example Collaboration is a deliberative process, which involves the participation and debating of issues by everyone, including the public, who have a stake in the outcomes too. However, collaboration needs consensus to be reached between the stakeholders and the public. Networks are also vital in collaborations. Reaching a consensus is easy, but translating the consensus into results is the hard part. The networks are responsible for guiding and supporting implementation, as well as supporting the management responses. Margerum integrates the seven Cs into the collaboration process. First communication, which is sharing of information, is essential. This could be one-way or two-way. However, a two-way communication is most appropriate for collaboration, as it is more interactive. Consultation between government or non-governmental organizations and the people offers a significant exchange of information and gives an opportunity for feedback from the public. In addition, conflict resolution in collaboration begins with communication, which must be effective. Conflict resolution may be formal or informal. Consensus building involves stages that lead to a mutual agreement between the involved parties. Cooperation makes the parties work independently toward one goal. Finally, coordination makes the parties work collectively toward one common goal (Margerum, 2011). On the other hand, Norris-Tirrell and Clay in their collaboration model, define collaboration as a way of addressing problems affecting the public through the sharing of information and knowledge among different parties to result in positive change. Before getting into collaboration, it is important for the parties to be prepared to work outside the boundaries of their organizations or departments. In addition, Norris-Tirrell and Clay present collaboration as a continuum and argue that collaboration

Leadership Management with Organizational Diversity Essay Example for Free

Leadership Management with Organizational Diversity Essay In today’s global market and corporate economy, the importance of understanding the power of cultural diversification within the workplace is very important. The ability to interchange and collaborate on set goals and objectives facilitates the process of attaining such goals at high performance level. With the influx of several cultures into the corporate world, it is important for managers to analyze, learn, adapt, and exemplify how a diverse work system must function. In post modern time, the organizational behavior behind getting a task done was generally focused on the individual critical thinking working method, but with increasing competency in the market, the need to accept the team process of completing a task has become evident. Transitioning from the standard individual workplace and into a diverse one is difficult especially on societies with a hardship in adaptability and those with a strong traditional belief. The acceptance of diversity is something that must me learned and understood taking into consideration ones surroundings and behavior influences. As a child, a person’s understanding on what culture similarities and differences are solely depends on his/hers family, friends, peers, literature, media, and etc. Learning to embrace diversity is hard but not impossible; in every society there are always difficulties in accepting other groups of people that don’t comply with the existent group’s way of life, and this is when the ability to accept and embrace play a role. Having the knowledge on how to perceive situations and surroundings is ones defensive mechanism that allows a person to know what to do in a certain situation. When faced with the unexpected, this knowledge based perception becomes what is known as bias. According to a research article, â€Å"Our biases serve as filtering lenses that allow us to make sense of new information and experiences based on what we already know (Nadler, 1997). This bias can sometimes be of positive nature giving an individual the ability to adapt and tell right from wrong, but sometimes bias can also form a negative perception of people based on sole belief crating ignorance, prejudice, and/or stereotype. Development of accepting diversity in a workplace is sometimes difficult and takes time to adapt since everyone comes from different backgrounds. This is something that cannot be acquired or pressured on people in short notices or time constraints, such as development classes or short group sessions. Management in a work environment must use techniques of group encouragement and cooperative training to allow everyone to understand and exemplify each other’s strengths and abilities. Examples of such techniques can be: * Developing an atmosphere that is safe for all employees to ask for help. People should not be viewed as weak if they ask for help. This is what helps to build great teams — joining weakness with strengths to get the goal accomplished. * Actively seeking information from people from a variety of backgrounds and cultures. Also, including everyone on the problem solving and decision making process. * Including people who different than you in informal gatherings such as lunch, coffee breaks, and spur of the moment meetings. * Creating a team spirit where every member feels a part of (Nadler, 1997). Human Resource Development (HRD) is the process in which the department of human resource is recognizing certain qualities and attributes individuals possess when handling new entrants in hiring or promoting. Having the ability to recognize what abilities individuals have, better allocates certain individuals with others to form a high performance team. By working jointly to train and collaborate with supervisors and management will assist in better teaching individuals the correct way of completing a task or job process. The development of what is known as â€Å"soft skills† such as diversity, communications, and social networking skills will promote a better work system and decrease employee turnover. The key is to promote job likeness and positive attitude with employees for a positive organizational result. Along with a focused human resource development initiative, organizations must understand the importance of the internal and external factors that make up the entire success. Internally, organizations must take into consideration the behavioral influence its people incorporate into every day operations in regards to its long term gains. What influences the behavior of these individuals is the type of culture the organization has. Culture is defined as, â€Å"the aggregate of beliefs, norms, attitude, values, assumptions, and ways of doing things that is shared by members of an organization and taught to new members† (2010, p. 370). This definition of culture best describes how an organization is built and how it functions on everyday operations led by individuals with a strategy of positive leading. According to authors Lussier and Achua, â€Å"all organizations have a culture, whether they acknowledge it or not. Every organization has a culture, distinguished by its own beliefs and approaches to problem solving and decision making. An organization’s culture is manifested in the values, norms, and expectations that leaders preach and practice, in its employee’s attitudes and behavior, in ethical standards and policies†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (2010, p. 370). The importance of leaders to understand the type of culture that his/her organization has is important to continue a process of strong work ethics, team effort, and skill development. In leadership studies, there is a power of culture that defines how well an organization can create and internal unity of its people, and also how well it adapts to its external environment in areas of sustainability and consumer/competitive preferences. The cultural power of internal unity generally describes how management supports the organization’s vision, mission, goals, and strategy. Having a strong internal normative order can change the workforce into a creative one where individuals come together to share and develop new innovative ideas that will benefit the entire organization. It is important that management encourages its employees in a positive way by using motivational and identification tools, to increase individual desire and interest in his/her job to increase performance while also taking into consideration each and every single employee. While it is important to motivate employees to like their job, having rules and certain guidelines also promotes social control by setting certain requirement to maintain a safe and secure working environment. The external adaptation of cultural power describes the impact of outside influences such as consumer preferences towards the organizations product, or environmental awareness that must be taken into thought to reduce its negative impact on sustainability. Example of an organization who takes into consideration an external analysis is Southwest Airlines who ranks the highest in competitiveness within its market, taking into account the importance of customer preferences in keeping affordable price levels, consumer loyalty through programs of frequent flyer, and employee needs in both financial and health needs. Table 1.1 displays the total rating amount Southwest Airlines received against its competitors American and United Airlines. Along with a strong power of culture within an organization or group, the ability to acquire certain characteristics of performance to increase production or service is important. There are two types of performance ratings in organizational culture; one is a high performance mark that identifies an optimum group of individuals working together towards a similar goal or objective and one with a low performance mark indicating a lack of agreement with individuals with a strong concern for self-interest different from the general census. Low-performing organizations have four major characteristics of poor quality; these include insular thinking, resistance to change, politicized internal environment, and unhealthy promotions. Examples of organizations with an insular method of thinking are those with upper level management who believe and dictate what decisions to make based on their own knowledge and concern. This type of business strategy is ineffective since cooperative group decision making is not used, causing a decline in operational performance. Managers who always think their right, demotes interest and desire for individuals to work. This thinking method is evident in businesses where upper level management does not receive or disregards information channeled through operational levels of production. The organizations that are resistant to any changes in strategies or techniques are generally those that have continuously followed set guidelines and norms for long periods of time. This type of continuous and repetitive process categorizes this performance culture as low. Having the same type of methods of completing a work process makes the job more concerned with keeping one’s position rather than expanding and seeking innovations. Businesses that follow this type of performance rank low since adaptability with external changes becomes difficult causing a negative impact to organizational success. Similarly, a highly internal politicized organization suffers from the lack of culture and team sharing when it comes to decision and critical thinking. Powerful leaders or executives tend to make the decisions and instruct followers on what to do next; followers simply agree to avoid reprimand or disapproval. Last, the use of negligent promotions from management places unskilled personnel in top level positions where strategic thinking is required. Having someone in the decision making spot without having the sufficient amount of knowledge or training, jeopardizes the entire operation and success of the overall organizational purpose. The opposite of a low-performing culture in an organization is one who is highly recognized for team development and value sharing within all levels of operations and management. An organization with a highly valued purpose and mission is usually accepted by its followers who share its similar views and thoughts. High performance organizations tend to also encourage communication between management and employees to sustain a strong culture to assure everyone is on the same path following the same values. A direct description of a standard high performing cultural organization is described as, â€Å"a culture of discipline-where everyone is responsible to the values of the company, to its standards, and to the purposes it serves† (2010, p. 375). The characteristics that identify a strong performing culture is one with reinforcement tools, intensely oriented people, oriented results, and a major emphasis on achievement and excellence. Examples of such reinforcement tools include the use of slogans and ceremonies, in which the organization shares its values with its employees. Having such a tool makes much feasible the entry of new employees by directly displaying the core values and meaning. By being people oriented the organization exemplifies the importance of being a democratic business rather than an autocratic one where a single management official makes all the decisions. Individuals, who work in organizations where they are treated with respect and acknowledged for their contribution, tend to become more committed and hold their positions for longer periods of time. Setting goal markers and rewarding individuals based on total outcome versus the set marker improves individual desire to continue working at their best attainable performance or better. It is determined that what influences an organization’s culture is the impact that the external environment has on the overall behavior of employees or followers. There are four distinct types of cultures that have been developed taking into account the organizational strategic focus along with the external turbulence. A competitive culture is one that represents a leader that encourages and values a highly competitive work network (2010, p. 385), in this kind of organizational environment the need to always be on top of the market is intense. Being competitive is a must to avoid falling back in face of competitors that may produce similar products and drive one’s profitability down. Leaders in upper level management tend to create certain goal marks to promote his or her employees to work harder in return for profit gains and revenue increases; this type of working environment allows everyone to challenge themselves against the skills of others. Companies that exemplify competitiveness in the market include Pepsi Co. and Coca-Cola, Wing-House and Hooter’s, Dominoes’ and Papa John’s, etc. These companies are constantly monitoring each other in order to sustain greater performance than the other. Cooperative culture is when an organization represents a leadership belief in strong, mutually reinforcing exchanges and linkages between employees and departments (2010, p. 384). This type of organization tends to allows for employees to take on the task of decision making and developing ideas that can be advantageous to the overall performance. Management encourages relationship building between co-workers in order to increase skill and knowledge sharing in hopes of creating innovations. In today’s market with the constant change of diverse work groups, this type of cultural development is highly regarded and implemented. The adaptive culture is one that represents a belief in active monitoring of the external environment for emerging opportunities and threats (2010, p. 384). Organizations that lean on becoming adaptive are the ones that bare risks in changing and implementing their procedures based on what the external environment is doing. Acknowledging the changes in consumer preferences and taking the time to research and engage in changing the overall method of operation is an example of an adaptive culture. Last, the bureaucratic culture is formed when a leader values order, stability, status and efficiency (2010, p. 385). In contrast to the adaptive culture, the bureaucratic culture is structured to follow a set form of guidelines and policies. This kind of culture will strive to maintain stability within its operations without any consideration to changes or innovations. What keeps these organizations operational is stability and repetitiveness; however, with constant changing external factors such as economic welfare and global sustainability, many organizations have to divert from this path and become one who encourages flexibility and change. Having a diverse culture in an organization is difficult especially when differences in making decisions and completing task vary from person to person. According to a global research program intended to describe the dimensions and framework of cultural differences, it describes sets of values different individuals appreciate varying from one region of the world to another. One behavioral factor is individualism within oneself, this is defined as a psychological state in which people see themselves first as individuals and believe their own interest and values are primary. This kind of individual does not promote collaborative thinking or relationship building at the workplace, while it still may be present, the percentage is low. Nations that hold high individualistic organizations are those that promote individual achievement; everyone has the ability to strive towards something for themselves. Countries such as The Unites States, Great Britain, and Canada represent a majority of individualism in organizations. The opposite is collectivism; this kind of organizational behavior describes a collective and team effort workplace, where everyone is responsible for a groups success. Organizations that are considered collective form group work sessions and team goals that encourage everyone to help each other out. In the case of failure, the loss is distributed among everyone; nobody is left to themselves. Nations that revolve around a collective environment include Greece, Japan, and Mexico. Another dimension in global culture is the level of masculinity and femininity within the organization. This type of influence does not necessarily have to do with gender or percentage of upper level management of different gender. Having a high level of masculinity generally describes the behavioral tendencies of being assertive and competitive. The exact definition of masculinity is a culture that emphasizes on assertiveness and a competitive drive form money and material objects (2010, p. 392). What this states is that organizations that have a masculine tendency are those that strive to be the best; the organization must compete against others and win. Having a drive for money and material objects describes the need to accomplish a goal or purpose to receive valuable results. Studies indicate that nations that display such masculinity in business and organizations are Japan and Italy. On the other side of the spectrum, femininity is described as a culture that emphasizes developing and nurturing personal relationships and a high quality of life (2010, p. 392). This kind of influence in organizations tends to focus majorly on the best interest of others, rather than being competitive. These organizations have more concern on providing quality to the market, offering emotional along with physical well being. Nations that are considered to preserve feministic views are Sweden and Denmark. Organizational diversity is mainly considered as a type of culture that must be embraced in order to utilize the most of human resource which provide new insights to developing and promoting a consumer product that may be demanded. Embracing diversity is advantageous to organizations by opening new doors to marketing strategies that retain longer relationships with consumers. Having different view on product development allows for flexibility and the sharing of ideas. It also has a tendency to retain talent within the organization; this is true since many individuals view diversity in a workplace as a plus and comfort zone where they can express themselves. Members who feel comfortable in their workplace working alongside others who may have similar thoughts or cultural preferences will most likely stay longer. Absenteeism on site would decrease tremendously and the amount of resignation would also decrease with long-term members due to diversity encouragement. This is cost beneficial since high turnover of employees imposes costs to the organization, and having long term members increase job satisfaction which results in better quality and overall gains. The support of diversity also allows for members to interact with one another to form innovative methods of working forming cost saving and even better output products. However, with the positive outcomes of embracing diversity there are several negative downsides if not assessed or managed correctly. Having a very diverse culture may pose a chance or competitiveness or unwillingness to work from employees. Some may view the presence of another person from a completely different background as offensive or threat. It is important to acknowledge what members do and how to assess everybody’s differences and values. Communication can sometimes be blocked due to lack of communication skills, and differences of perception. The sender of a message may want to say something, but due to differences in culture, the receiver may decode the entire message incorrectly. It is important for leader to train employees on how to communicate messages and understand the appropriate language and expressions that can be used in the professional organizational environment. While achieving organizational diversity, leaders are constantly challenged with obstacles that make it difficult for them to organize a group of people with different backgrounds. It may not be impossible but may sometimes pose risks of having conflict within the workplace. One of these obstacles are individuals who are prejudice against others; prejudice is the tendency to form an adverse opinion without just cause about people who are different from the mainstream in terms of their gender, race, ethnicity, or any other definable characteristics (2010, p. 398). Examples of prejudice occurrences in an organization can be the standard image or perception that management or production work is strictly a male’s job. Traditionally many women are pushed away from receiving equal rights as men in the workplace, but are now evolving into the new images of corporate management. There has been a drastic change in the amount of women in the workplace due to the external environment cha nging the way society lives. Another example of prejudice is discriminating against another person based on their ethnicity or cultural background. Many organizations are fighting against having levels of privileges and opportunities solely for a single group of people. The development of social-cultural group awareness and support associations from organizations has made available several opportunities for all types of peoples. A great example of an organization striving towards equality is Southwest Airlines personal websites created to promote and support several group of people of different race, sex, religion, and culture. This demonstrates that their corporate image stands behind their mission of providing everyone the same privileges and rights as everyone else. Having an understanding of organizational behavior and cultural makeup will enable managers to become better leaders. By analyzing the several characteristic each person within the organization holds will allow for managers to know how to confront that person’s needs and work with them to increase job satisfaction and performance. References Lussier, R. N., Achua, C. F. (2010). Leadership Behavior and Motivation. In R. N. Lussier, C. F. Achua, Leadership (pp. 70-101). Mason: South-Western Cengage Learning. Nadler, L. (1997, August 13). Leadership and Developing Diversity. Retrieved February 13, 2012, from Big Dog Little Dog s Performance Juxtaposition: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/diverse.html

Microprocessor Based Instrumentation System

Microprocessor Based Instrumentation System I. Introduction There are various applications of microprocessor which makes our life easy and simple. Various instruments which we are using in our day to day life includes the role of microprocessors, which is fairly called as Microprocessor Based Instrumentation. On the basis of its processing and intelligence microprocessor are base for the operation of various instruments. Here is the description of some devices or instruments which uses microprocessors. Even the most common purpose equipments which are in our use such as toothbrush, thermometer etc. Placing an embedded microprocessor system into a product makes the product smart. It can then be programmed to do things that are too difficult or expensive using conventional technologies such as logic, or time switches, and so on. Link such a smart product to the Internet and it can do even more. For example, products can be programmed to do self-diagnostic checks and to report back to the manufacturer. Not only does this provide the potential to collect data that can be used to improve products, it can also allow for the manufacturer to inform the user of potential problems, so that action can be taken. This opens up possibilities for improved customer service as well as new services. Basically, embedded microprocessors enable firms to compete on product and service innovation, by adding product and service features that customers value. II. ATMOSPHERIC ION COUNTER An atmospheric ion counter was modified and fabricated to measure the atmospheric ions. The bias voltage of ion counter was adjusted using microprocessor and stepper motor. With the adjustment of bias voltage and flow rate of air the instrument, the instrument is capable of measuring ions of all the three categories i.e. small ions, intermediate ions and large ions. III. Energy Efficient Sterilization for Surgical Instrument A microprocessor based radio frequency operated induction heated sterilization plant is proposed in this article. In this plant heat is directly generated in surgical stainless steel Instruments by means of eddy current flow. With the adjustment of pulse width modulation (PWM) controlled technique, the controlled heat is generated as per the medical norms. By controlling pulse width it can reach at level of temperature upto 240 degree centigrade. This is sufficient to sterilize the hospital equipment. The depth of heat penetration by induction heating process will depend upon the frequency generation. The relation is inversely proportional with the frequency. For sterilization process, surface area of the instrument must be heated through water boiling in existing process. A new generation induction heated sterilization plant is proposed for the dry surface heating in place of conventional a few parallel stainless steel plates may be added with the surgical instruments under water to achieve the same objective. In this proposed scheme, there is no heat conduction loss in between source of heat and object (operational instruments). It offers an unique prize as there is no shock hazard during handling of boiled stainless steel surgical instruments. Microprocessor control is introduced for selecting slow or quick heat rate. Microprocessor assembly level language gives flexibility to design the heat rate change with respect of time without rearranging the hardware circuitry. Also it control the temperature through a transducer with the help of closed loop control. IV. Portable 4-Channel Gamma Ray Spectrometer It is compact, rugged, lightweight spectrometer and comprises of a 8085 microprocessor, standard peripherals and a scintillation detector of size 1.75† x 2†. It is used for insitu measurement of gross counts, and radioelement concentrations of uranium (U), thorium (Th), and potassium (K) with LCD alpha numeric display. The device is indigenously designed and fabricated. V. Borehole Logging System Microprocessor-based gamma-ray spectral logging with scintillation detector to trace the analog profiles of total, K, U and Th channels with corresponding depth. This system is being tested in the field in different areas for its performance. VI. Microprocessor Based Bulk Ore Analyser It contains 6 scintillation detectors to compute the grade of the ore in % eU3O8 carried in 25-ton dumper from mine. It was designed and fabricated for UCIL. VII. Wind Speed Instrumentation System This system is a basic system to measure the wind parameters like wind speed for wind speed, a visual indication of wind speed is obtained by dc generator to dc voltmeter with appropriate calibrated scale. The scale needs to be arranged such that the pointer indicates a speed of 1milepersecond when the generator stalled and voltage is zero. Then any speeds above 1 mile / second will be correctly displayed if the scale is calibrated according to given graph of frequency verses output voltages. Our circuit design works with a accuracy of 1 mile / second and best suited for examining heights between 30 and 100 m Both wind parameters are measured using microprocessor based instrumentation system. By pressing a respective key respective parameters can be measured for which interrupt service routine is used. VIII. Other Instruments Portable audio-visual scintillometer. Carborne gamma survey system (microprocessor-based) for total, K, U and Th. Light weight mine face scanner with beta-sensitive Geiger Muller (GM) tubes. FUTURE ADVANCEMENT No doubt, In this era everything is modernized, everything is operated under the computer i.e. microprocessors. From toothbrush to missiles everything is operated with microprocessor control. It is supposed that in near future the cars will be fully automated and can be operated under microcontroller applications. Cars will be parked itself, will be driven automatically, itself control its speed according to traffic and many more. Microprocessor are increasingly playing a major role in modern society. The invisible ones, used for controlling and monitoring machine tools, cars, aircraft, consumer electronics and other equipment are the most numerous. They are gradually changing the relationship we have with these devices. It is interesting to show that this is a market-pull rather than a technology-push phenomenon. The design of new chips thus represents a continuous challenge for the engineers and technologists striving to give the market the products it requires, and which are generally planned a long time before they actually appear. Monolithic microprocessor are overtaking all kinds of computers. Minicomputer lines were absorbed during the 80s, main-frame lines during the 90s and probably super-computers by the beginning of the next century. During this extraordinary evolution, these devices have used all the technical innovations which had been conceived for the previous generations of computers. The futur e of these devices is very challenging. To keep the evolutionary rate of computing power and binary code compatibility, completely new execution techniques will need to be invented, eventually leading to the break-down of the physical quantum barrier around 2010. Reference: http74.125.153.132searchq=cache%3Au4bwY1eptUsJ%3Awww.che.iitm.ac.in%2F~arbala%2Fissues%2Fissue23-1%2FSadhu.pdf+instruments+using+microprocessorhl=engl=in http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/3782/1/IJRSP%2035(1)%2042-46 http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache%3Ap-hlNH0zDmwJ%3Adli.iiit.ac.in%2Fijcai%2FIJCAI-81-VOL-2%2FPDF%2F053.pdf+instruments+using+microprocessorhl=engl=in