Man’s constant questions and initiatives Essay

Man’s constant questions and initiatives to answer these have constantly helped us understand the changes happening in our environment. This opens up new opportunities for validation and testing that can make the initiative feasible and acceptable by everyone. This seems to be valuable in any scientific endeavor. In the end, the use of experimentation and other models of testing can help generate the validity of a particular idea. Looking at the collaborative work in understanding and detecting living cells in atmospheric samples, it can be seen here that the proponents wanted to test out whether living organisms came from outer space. Seeing this, it can be argued that their analysis has merit since they are trying to test out and experiment whether the idea of living organisms come from space and transported to Earth with the aide of comets and asteroids. One reason that this idea holds merit is the fact that there had been previous experiments and studies which sought to find and extract particles that contain such elements. These tests have been adequately cited by the authors in the document. Likewise, prior to their extraction and analysis, there have been several attempts to do these things which started since 1960’s. This then allowed the current writers to further explore the possibilities available. Another reason that this analysis has merit is that it uses several scientific apparatus and techniques to actively decipher the needed areas. From the extraction process towards the interpretation of data, it can be seen that it uses numerous scientific models designed to fully understand and appreciate the relevance of such towards generating and proving their hypothesis that indeed comets provide living organisms from space. In the end, the experiment proved that there are indeed organisms that reside in comets and transferred into the Earth’s atmosphere. By equally understanding this process, it can help generate answers to the development of life here in the planet. In my own perspective, I feel that the most successful species on Earth are human beings. This argument does not revolve around the numerical value or on the years of existence. Rather, I seek to argue that humans are the most adaptive when it comes to development and expansion. With this characteristic and trait, it has helped each one of us transcend the challenges of the period and actively adjust to suit our individual needs and preferences. One reason that humans are considered the most successful species on Earth is their ability to adjust to the conditions of the environment. This can be proven throughout history when man had continuously sought to find improvements and changes in society and nature. By doing this, man gained better appreciation about the things that are happening and sought to create an avenue for existing and living. Another reason why such argument is made is the improvements man has created in the different fields of study. This ability has led man to create practices that are complex and sophisticated just to acquire information and understanding of things. This again opens up the potential of maximizing the available resources and integrates it towards the changing needs of the period. The last reason involves the capability of man to decipher new ways wherein it can improve. Though the existence of man can be considered to be young compared to other species who had inhabited the Earth, it can be argued though that we are the ones who had made the most improvements in the last 10,000 years. From the traditional use of flint and sedentary patterns, we now have evolved towards a complex society that is aided by technology and other fields. Our dynamic attitude and ability to discern questions has enabled us to dominate our species and become masters of this world. References CF, AC (2003) The detection of living cells in stratospheric samples. Retrieved May 28, 2009 from, http://www. astrobiology. cf. ac. uk/spie. html

Corning Glass Work Case Study Essay

1. Enumerate the conditions why Corning had to undergo the series of structural changes. Following the international growth and expansion of Corning, the following problems were being faced in the organization’s structure and management processes: i) With the international expansion of CGW, the company was becoming too big and complex to be managed by its current structure. Hence a need was felt to create the international arm as a separate legal entity and hence Corning International Corporation (CIC) was born. ii) CIC was created as a subsidiary to CGW to emphasize the growing importance of Corning’s overseas business. The management felt that the creation of CIC as a separate unit was important to upgrade the role of international managers and help them feel more accepted within Corning. iii) Before the international strategy shift of the mid 1960s, CGW did not meddle much into the affairs of its foreign affiliates. The foreign affiliates maintained their own individual reporting and control systems. However, following the strategic shift to gain majority in these foreign subsidiaries, the management system and processes began changing, such as integration of subsidiaries’ accounting systems into the parent company. This caused problems as most of the subsidiaries were European non-English speaking countries and didn’t follow American standards. Hence a need was felt to integrate these foreign subsidiaries with the parent company so as to maintain uniform standards and processes. iv) The acquisition of majority shareholdings in foreign subsidiaries also encouraged management to begin to coordinate and integrate its foreign operations. The task of unifying, coordinating and integrating the European operations specially was a difficult one. There was a long list of independent companies that needed to be brought under control and a lot of these companies were old rivals. Hence lack of coordination and cooperation existed at every level. Furthermore, each of the European companies had export customers and offices in several other European countries. This caused lot of chaos and confusion when it came to bringing order into CGW’s European operations. Also, the European country affiliates were well established and extremely knowledgeable about their local environment. It was difficult for the newly appointed area managers who did not have the same level of market and product expertise to challenge these country affiliates and convince them in favour of consolidation of manufacturing operations. v) The structure within CIC was organized on geographical dimensions. The top management had a tendency to take major decisions based on their local interests and hence promoted their local projects. As a result, conflicts started arising between geographical entities. Such conflicts could only be resolved at the desk of Forrest Behm, President of CIC, who was the only one with sufficient power and connections at the corporate level to communicate plans to and from top leadership of CGW. As the international operations expanded, Behm turned out to be the only one in a position to take a global perspective of the various international businesses and this in turn increasingly burdened him with more conflict-resolution issues. He felt that a structural change within the organization was required to bring in a global perspective amongst its people. vi) Another challenge that Corning was facing was the transfer of technological knowledge from parent company to its foreign operations. Before major international expansion, this transfer was maintained through informal channels between technical experts in the parents company and the foreign plants. As the foreign operations expanded and technological innovations grew in size, the old model of knowledge sharing turned out to be insufficient to handle the growing demands. Hence foreign subsidiaries had to rely on the formal channels within the international organizational. This led to escalating frustrations on both the sides. vii) Furthermore, the capital allocation process also changed following the majority shareholding in foreign subsidiaries. Before the consolidation, the decision process for capital allocation was done primarily by the local managers of the foreign affiliate, who would then go out and raise the capital on their own. However, after these subsidiaries were acquired by Corning, they were required to submit a formal capital appropriation request prepared in English. The subsidiary general manager then had to chase it to the end through a series of corporate decision making filters. This allocation system had other major implications on the relationship between the technical personnel on each side. Whereas before, the technical managers from the parent company provided assistance to subsidiaries on projects, the former now became a part of the judge and jury system to decide on the capital allocation to these subsidiaries. As a result, the technical managers tended to become more conservative with their advice and assistance to the subsidiaries. viii) Due to the incoherency of its area based organization structure, CIC found itself grappling with the global marketing coordination necessary for some businesses. There was no one who was responsible for coordinating between different foreign subsidiaries on global actions like price, product, sourcing etc. The needs of global product development were not being communicated to the R&D group. This meant that the international product development needs were being largely ignored. In order to address the above mentioned problems, Forrest Behm, decided to restructure the organization by appointing three international business managers. The primary motive behind the appointment of these business managers was to supplement the organization with a global business perspective. 2. Identify the problems with the organization structure (until 1972; business manager concept) that led to the formation of World Boards. i) Corning International Corporation (CIC) since its inception was not truly integrated with its parent organization Corning Glass Works (CGW). The creation of CIC as a separate company was insufficient from the onset. The relationship between senior managers in the parent company CGW and in CIC remained unchanged. The vice-presidents in CIC never really achieved the status and importance of vice presidents in CGW. As a result when the three international business managers were appointed by Behm with the status equivalent to Vice-Presidents, they faced difficulty liaising with vice-presidents and other senior managers in the domestic organization (CGW). They were simply viewed as lacking power, status and credibility to get things done. ii) There was some hostility prevalent between the domestic and foreign arm of the organization. The domestic division managers felt that if they had to provide the foreign operations with so much support, they might as well run the foreign operations themselves. This contributed towards making the job of international business managers in acting as a liaison even more difficult. iii) The role of the International Business Managers was not clearly defined since its inception. They were given very vague general mandates like â€Å"to straighten things out in consumer products in International† or â€Å"to put together a world strategy for products in Science and Medical†. As a result nobody understood what they were really there for and hence people could not establish a connection or relation with them. This contributed to some area managers feeling that they were wasting their time and energy in entertaining these international business managers and meeting their demands of time and information. iv) There was lack of communication between Behm and foreign subsidiary country managers who felt that they were not informed of such a role being introduced in the organization hierarchy. As a result, employees in the foreign subsidiaries had no clarity who they were supposed to report to after the organizational changes. This contributed to a creation of general sense of defensiveness in the subsidiary employees from the outset. So the business managers were largely viewed by foreign subsidiaries as more of an interference and less of a coordination help. v) The three business managers did not have the right skills to act as liaisons. Their inability to establish strong links between the foreign subsidiaries and the domestic products divisions was partly due to the attitude with which some of them had taken up these roles. For example, the international business manager for the Consumer Products Division came across as interfering and authoritative. This was not helpful in yielding the desired results. 3. Examine whether their current structure (world boards) is appropriate to the business environment. Provide suggestions to Behm on the proposed reorganization. The current structure of world board is strong and is capable of bringing in order to the organization provided some changes are made to it. The world boards were not created to control or manage the foreign subsidiaries but rather to act as a channel to facilitate coordination, communication and cooperation between the parent company and its foreign subsidiaries. The members of the world boards must keep this vision in mind during their meetings and interactions. We propose the following changes to the world board in order to make them more effective: i) Behm should first start with putting a limit on the maximum number of people on the world boards to 6-7. This will avoid the problem of world boards becoming too big and chaotic to manage. The world boards should include at max 2-3 people from US product division, 2-3 people from subsidiary units and 1 international business manager. ii) The Optical Products World Board was able to achieve results by successfully resolving their conflicts before the board meetings. All other world boards should follow their model and try to adapt it to as much extent as possible. iii) The domestic division managers need to understand that the company as a whole can only be unified through corporate culture, shared vision and values, and management style rather than through formal structures and systems. Hence they should avoid trying to control the subsidiaries’ business the way they have been doing so far. The domestic division managers should be encouraged to develop a networking and inter-dependent relationship with the subsidiaries. Internal attitude change within Corning’s domestic managers is critical to encourage coordination, participation and involvement of the subsidiaries. While being a part of Corning, the subsidiaries need some autonomy for themselves to develop an ability to make impactful contributions to the organization as a whole. iv) Behm should ensure that the world boards meet regularly and achieve fruitful results. If left to themselves, things may go back to how they were. Hence a more direct involvement on part of Behm is required (at least in the boards that still have major difference of opinions) to facilitate communication and resolve difference of opinions. v) Corning should slowly and gradually adopt the transnational model to promote worldwide integration and knowledge sharing to exploit both global and local advantages. The top leadership needs to see the organization as a network and should refrain from shaping it as a centralized hub. Interdependence between units should be promoted amongst product, functional and geographic units. vi) Cross-subsidiary teams should be developed in the long run to compel different subsidiaries to work together for their own good as well as the overall good of the organization.

Cellular Respiration and Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, some bacteria, and some protistans use the energy from sunlight to produce sugar, which cellular respiration converts into ATP, the fuel used by all living things. The conversion of unusable sunlight energy into usable chemical energy, is associated with the actions of the green pigment chlorophyll. Most of the time, the photosynthetic process uses water and releases the oxygen. Cellular respiration allows organisms to use (release) in the chemical bonds of glucose(C6H12O6). The energy in glucose is used to produce ATP. Cells use ATP to supply their energy needs. Cellular respiration is therefore a process in which the energy in glucose is transferred to ATP. In respiration, glucose is transferred to ATP. Oxidized and thus releases energy. Oxygen is reduced to form water. In Photosynthesis, plants use the suns energy as light to transform carbon dioxide and water into glucose. In cellular respiration, glucose is ultimately broken down to yield carbon dioxide and water, and the energy from this process is stored as ATP molecules. The equation for photosynthesis is: 6CO2 + 6H2O + energy 6O2 + C6H12O6 and cellular respiration is: 6O2 + C6H12O6 6H2O + 6CO2 + energy The reactants in the photosynthesis process stay on the left, they are 6 molecules of water (H2O) and 6 molecules of carbon dioxide. The products are 6 molecules of Oxygen and glucose. In the cellular respiration the reactants are 6 molecules of Oxygen and glucose, and the products are 6 molecules of water + 6 molecules of carbon dioxide. As we can see the cellular respiration is the opposite equation of the photosynthesis. All life depends on these reactions because we need oxygen, and this oxygen comes from the plants that releases it from photosynthesis. And we all need energy to function. We get this energy from the foods we eat. The most efficient way for cells to harvest energy stored in food is through cellular respiration.

Are Kids overmedicated Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Are Kids overmedicated - Essay Example In this paper I will be attempting shade more light on the whole topic of overmedication in kids by answering the questions. There is evidence pointing at the fact that pediatricians are prescribing over ten million antibiotics for unnecessary cases e.g. common flu, asthma and even in some cases headache. The Centers for Disease Control also report that over ten thousand kids are on psychostimulant drugs such as Ritalin. It was estimated that approximately 7.5% of children in the United States in the age ranges of six years to seventeen were using medicines for behavior and emotional problems as at 2011. The number of children on psychostimulants has been rising sharply in the past few years. What this means is that there are many children out here receiving either antibiotics, drugs for behavioral problems or many others in large numbers that can be avoided. It points to an interesting fact; either the psychiatrists or medical doctors are overwhelmed or too busy to take enough time and provide quality service. It could also mean that parents are very busy give their children healthy home environments. Also schools must take a portion of the blame for their busy schedules that limit recess time or completely do not have activities for children to relax. Pharmaceutical companies should be blamed largely for the overmedication being reported in kids due to their marketing campaigns which are mostly driven by profitmaking (Insel, 2014). The consequences of overmedication can be devastating considering the health of these kids who are still growing. Overt and under-treatment are some of the consequences. Due to carelessness or clinicians being to busy, the children are subjected to medication even when conditions can be manage by therapy for instance in the case of psychostimulants. Antibiotic over or misuse may arise especially in situations where diagnosis is very uncertain e.g. in infections of the ears.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE - ANALYSIS OF A MOVIE Term Paper

CRIMINAL JUSTICE - ANALYSIS OF A MOVIE - Term Paper Example One of the scenes has Irwin Fletcher, who is a journalist under the name Jane Doe, trying to buy drugs from a suspected dealer, Sam. He is approached by Alan Stanwyk on the beach, only in this scene Fletcher identifies himself as Ted Nugent, with the offer of $1000 just to listen to an offer Mr. Alan had to make. The offer Alan makes while inside his home office is for Fletch to kill him, Alan because he was suffering from bone cancer, and Fletch would be paid $50000. As justifiable as this may sound for many, mercy killing is a crime punishable under law. In the event the two are caught, they both can be prosecuted for murder and colluding to murder, on Alan’s part. When one goes to court for mercy killing, the charge is plainly murder, and it is the judge to consider the â€Å"mercy† element during his sentencing as per the provisions under The Criminal Justice Act 2003, Schedule 21 (Becker, 2005). Another element of crime that surfaces while in Alan’s office is that of insurance fraud. The suggestion that suicide would nullify the insurances policy Alan’s company has on him is a clear idea that Alan is motivated by money. His intents are to have his wife benefit from the insurance money in the result of his death, which would not be the case in the occurrence of a suicide. The penalties for this could lead to imprisonment and the withdrawal of the insurance policy placed on him. Section 1347 of Title 18 of the United States Code makes it illegal for this offense and one can be sentenced up to 20 years imprisonment (Becker, 2005). The next crime element can be witnessed in the office of Mr. Alan’s boss where Fletch is impersonating a SEC investigator. This is an attempt to find out if Alan has involved himself with any improprieties. This is a criminal offense of impersonation, especially of a government officer and the use of false identity to acquire con fidential information that

Compare Emilia and Desdemona Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Compare Emilia and Desdemona - Essay Example Her speech here with lines like ,"So much I challenge that I may profess/ Due to the Moor my lord"(I, iii, 191-192) makes her appear to be an articulate woman who knows her own mind, a woman who has eloped with a racially disparate man, and is able to defend her choice with sagacity and courage. Desdemona's resolute profession of her love shows us the practical nature and the intensity of her affections: "My downright violence and storm of fortunes/May trumpet to the world: my heart's subdued/ Even to the very quality of my lord:/I saw Othello's visage in his mind,/And to his honor and his valiant parts/ Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate". ( I, iii, 254- 59)She is a woman in love, who is ready to go to strange parts in order to be with her husband, and is also a woman much loved, as we see when she is reunited with her husband at Cyprus. "Desdemona was a stranger, not just different in class from Emilia, different in species. Emilia watched her from a cautious distance, the impulsive girl whose giddy love, written on her incandescent face, demonstrated that she had nothing in common with her".(Rutter, 2001) Emilia's marriage is of long standing and she has seen the world with all its realities. Her husband does not lose a moment in putting her down in company, and does so viciously and with a barely concealed venom, slandering not just her but her entire kind: "Come on, come on; you are pictures out of doors,/Bells in your parlors, wild-cats in your kitchens,/Saints in your injuries, devils being offended, Players in your housewifery, and housewives' in your beds". ( II, i, 113-117)We know from the very beginning that though loyal to her husband, she is living a loveless marriage. And beyond a few one-line dialogs, she indeed has no speech in the first scenes after her appearance. Having left her father's home and the confines of Venetian society for the first time, Desdemona is in a relaxed frame of mind. Somewhat guileless, her circumstances of living with her married love have made her cheerful, bantering, tolerant , as is evident from her good-humored response even to Iago's lack of taste in his very first conversation with her. She mislays her handkerchief, and lovingly nags her husband on Cassio's case by playing the shrew, fully assured of her power over Othello and her ability to make him do her bidding. She feels it her part to play the nagging wife and present it as a 'boon' to the husband: Her performance exploits and collapses the two male fantasies that most define early modern wives: the one, negative, of the shrew, and the other, the ideal of the submissive subordinate. Lest we believe the stereotypes and think Desdemona truly shrewish, she announces that she will play the shrew.....In merging the postures of good wife and shrew, Desdemona indirectly challenges the presumption of their difference enforced in marriage handbooks, homilies, church courts, misogynist pamphlets, and the like. Her performance highlights what that discourse masks: that to be a shrew is, in fact, to follow the rules, to be obediently disobedient, to fill a role created by (male) authorities who needed shrews in order to contain, by criminalizing, female speech. Conversely, Desdemona also places outspokenness within the perimeters of appropriate wifely

Interpersonal communication paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Interpersonal communication paper - Assignment Example This makes the process difficult and complicated no matter how simple it appears to someone who is looking at a situation. Many conflicts arise during communications and the resolution or its becoming worse all depend on how the players act and react during the process. With the simplicity of communication that usually brings people in various complicated situations, many scholars are getting interested to the study of communication and propose concepts about the subject matter, supplement the information with suggestions on understanding and improving verbal and non-verbal communication to improve relationships. For instance, one of the foci of studies is the communication between husband and wife, which is very relevant to today’s world because of the seemingly dying image of marriages which are even more magnified with the news of celebrities marrying today and getting divorced tomorrow. However, saving marriages is not just the only reason for the intensive researches performed and being performed for further studies but also looks into other relationships like employers to their employees, businessmen to their customers, doctors to patients and the list goes on. The point is, communication does not just affect the rich, famous or a chos en few but largely impacts all ages regardless of sex and status and the effect could either be damaging or constructive and no one would like the former. Instead, everyone would like the constructive effect of communication that is why studies are given priority on communication to find what seems to be a secret only a few are able to find. With the rise in the number of researches, people are coming to a better understanding of the process and indeed, knowledge could become a powerful tool to a person if it is used wisely. A lot of people are now encouraged to work further on their communication skills and are trying their best to purposefully make the process a good experience

Chaplin and the Cinema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Chaplin and the Cinema - Essay Example He expressed his inner sentiments by changing his expressions of the face. This was a skill which was possessed by him and he was the most famous comedian of his time. But later he adopted the way of acting like others. The movie ‘The Great Dictator’ marked a great revolution in the entertainment sector. This was the first movie in which Charlie Chaplin used the medium of talking to convey his feelings and emotions. It marked the introduction of Charlie Chaplin as a ‘talkie’ in the film industry which marked a great importance and secondly it also made its political importance felt through out the world. This movie was released during the era of World War II and showed its criticism against the forces which were involved during the World War II. The Great Dictator was a movie which marked the entrance of Americans in the World War II. This movie is of a great historical significance. It disparages the strategies designed specially by the Nazis during the World War II. The strategies made by the Nazis were shown as racial in this movie and it disapproved the policies largely. The production of ‘The Great Dictator’ started in 1937 at which time the Nazis did not pose any kind of danger to the United States of America. This movie takes its story from Hitler and Nazism. If the movie is closely reviewed it can be said that it clearly criticizes the policies made by Hitler and Nazis. Charlie Chaplin plays the role of a barber who has a faith in the religion of Jews. He belongs to the country of Tomania. In the commencement of the movie the barber is shown as a patriot of the country who is fighting in the World War I. This barber helps to save the life of a Tomanian Soldier during the war. But after the war this barber suffers from the disease amnesia and is hospitalized. Similarly another role is also played by Charlie Chaplin in the movie which is of a Tomanian dictator. This

Marketing Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Marketing Plan - Research Paper Example For instance, the provision of primary care to them needs to address their varied needs. N-generation has never experienced the pre-internet world and is already technology focused. This means that the primary care services need to incorporate the technological aspect of it for it to thrive in this market. On the other hand, Baby Boomers and generation X embraces both the physical and technological aspects of the services, although they are not technologically inclined. However, they prefer high quality services since they have preference for value for their money. Therefore, the paper will discuss the marketing plan for a primary care business to be situated in the suburb of Washington DC that mainly consists of Baby Boomers, generation X and N-generation. The research document will further highlight a plan of office requirements for these generations. The community is comprised of Baby Boomers, generation X and N-generation white-collar workers, mostly employed by high-tech and consulting firms, thus the need to come up with an all inclusive office plan that takes care the interests of these generations. According to ONeill (2009), we are living in an era where office design is completely dominated by the Baby Boomer’s worldview. However, currently almost 50 % of the workforce comprises of generation Y. Since generation X is very active, they a need working place that is very engaging. For Baby Boomers and N-white collar professionals, their workstations need to be installed with high-tech equipment since they have really embraced technology. Many departments would be communicating with each other. Therefore, the office needs to be built in way that it offers facility to work in multiple states. This is something that has been embraced by Baby Boomers and N-white collar professionals. Most of them need offices that offer a coustic privacy to their activities. For both generations, having quality-meeting rooms is considered very crucial. Hey also need

The Last Five Years Have Seen a Major Push for the Use of 3Tesla in Essay

The Last Five Years Have Seen a Major Push for the Use of 3Tesla in Clinical Settings - Essay Example Benefits of 3T over old system have been discussed in detail further in the essay. 3T has provision for excellent imaging results of human body structures such as brain, abdominal organs, all the bony parts and abnormal masses (cancer). In addition, some complicated procedures such as diffuse tensor imaging (DTI) and MRI spectroscopy can also be administered easily with 3T (Haines & Quaddy, 2010, pp1-3). There is a scope of using many RF coils array for faster image processing in 3T. Basic physics of MRI and nuclear spin Here is a glance at the basic physics of MRI and correlation with nuclear spin. Magnetic field is a force generated by the electric currents or magnets. This force attracts other metallic and magnetic objects towards the field. Nucleus of the atom has magnetic properties. All the nuclei provide chemical information together throughout the magnetic field. Atomic chief constituents are proton, electron and neutron. They start revolving in an angular momentum. This is c alled as nuclear spin. This spin is suggestive of the direction of movements in magnetic field (James, 1998, pp1-31; Machann, Schlemmer&Schick, 2008, pp63-70). When two atoms come together in pair, they do not demonstrate a spin. However, in some nuclei, there are uneven number of protons and neutrons. These types of nuclei will have intrinsic angular momentum. In other incidences, when the unpaired nuclei spins are put in the magnetic field the magnetic field of the nucleus and surrounding field react with each other. These reactions are explained with Larmour frequency equations (James, 1998, pp1-31; Machann et.al., 2008, pp63-70). These nuclei momentums align either parallel or anti parallel with the surrounding magnetic field based on the law of quantum physics. Hence, this creates energy difference among the spins that in turn allows transition in between the states. Nucleus consumes energy and goes into excitement phase and further resting or relaxation phase. This relaxation period is important for calculation, as it indicates that any system requires equal time to go into relaxing phase after equal time of exciting phase throughout the magnetization. Total sum of the energy from every step transition is equated along with signal spatial frequency domain and spin density. This signal from spatial frequency is expressed into density in real place for the formation of MRI image (James, 1998, pp1-31; Machann et.al., 2008, pp63-70). Following picture shows the sample of 3T scanner machine with large bore. Picture curtsey- (Haines & Quaddy, 2010, pp1-3) Advantages of going to higher field Higher field means better imaging in shorter time. Transformation of scanning machines from1.5T to 3T also has many positive aspects: 1) SNR (Signal to noise ratio) The major advantage of using 3T technology is to have increased SNR, i.e. signal to noise ratio. â€Å"The FDA limits SAR by anatomical site based on the potential effects of heating† (Stafford, pp 1-5). SNR is almost double in 3T imaging. Raised SNR would certainly improve the image quality far better than before. In addition to this, higher SNR reduces the image acquiring time that helps in many ways such as reduced image producing time helps decrease the incidences of artefacts, especially motion. Many times posture of the patient for imaging makes him/her uncomfortable. Hence, reduced image acquisition time is quite helpful. 2) Spectral

Social Networking Essay Example for Free

Social Networking Essay In this report I will be outlining what Social Networking Sites are. A growing number of different Social Network Sites allows people to reunite and communicate without the limitations of distance or time. Enabling people to have regular interaction and keep up to date with the everyday life of others. So how do these sites work and why are they so popular? Associates may include close friends, family, distant relatives, old school friends, previous work colleagues or just shared interests. Whilst you will have frequent face to face contact with many of these people, others you will not. It is thought that our interactions with others, enhances our individual well-being. Due to the mainstream popularity of Social Network Sites where many people engage, they are a useful platform for both businesses and academic learning, with the creation of forum groups, they provide and extension of class discussion. Communication pages are a great benefit for schools and colleges to update information for parents and students. Not forgetting the functional applications, designed to support education. Many sites introduced games and other â€Å"applications† to entertain users and combat the flatness for new users during the early stages and those with a low number â€Å"friends†. Facebook has a large number of Applications available. Most sites contain common aspects, including a personal â€Å"profile† to allow the user to identify themselves, possibly with a photograph and a short description. They can then link to other people they know within the site to create a list of â€Å"friends†. Additional information may also be invited, such as age, location, hobbies and interests. ‘Their network of connections is displayed as an integral piece of their self-presentation’ (boyd et. al 2007). Some sites such as Twitter allows users to change the appearance of their profile page, this site is very popular with celebrities. As always, there are negative aspects to using online social network sites and the growing concerns surrounds the privacy methods in place. It is imperative that these sites are responsible with the control and use of data held for their users. Not only for the risk of data theft, but companies have been known to pass personal details on to third parties and used for unsolicited emails, also known as spamming. In addition to this, data mining software is repeatedly used to spy on regularly visited web pages and purchases to target the user to a more precise market. It is reported that many users have experienced cyber-bullying, which can have a major impact on personal health and well-being, causing anxiety and fear. Trolling is another increasing menace, where a user tries to impersonate another user, by setting up an account in another persons’ name using their pictures, intentionally causing upset by being offensive to others. Other risks include grooming, where sex pests try to build a trusting relationship online, with the aim to eventually meet. However, sites such as MySpace and Netlog are pro-active with the increasing number of sexual predators active on their site and often liaise with law enforcement to monitor and intercept such activities. Therefore, it is clear why many people prefer to completely avoid them. Launched in 1997, SixDegrees was the first Social Network Site. It had the same characteristics that we see today. Despite having millions of users, it did not develop into a worthwhile business. SixDegrees closed in 2000. The site creator deemed the site was ahead of it’s time. Today the top most popular Social Network Sites are: Facebook and Twitter. Strong contenders include MySpace, and LinkedIn. To summarise, I would describe Social Network Sites to be speed socialising, as we all have busy lives and may find it hard to make time for our close friends and family. This method enables people to socialise with a wider circle of friends you wouldn’t necessarily have time to socialise with. It is important to be aware of the personal details we are supplying about ourselves and the consequences it could have, it may seem obvious but it is essential that people should only share information that you are happy for others to know. But, if used with both common sense and caution the sites can be very positive and gratifying. [Word Count: 700] References DirectGov, 2012. Social Networking Service [online] Available at: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Yourchildshealthandsafety/Internetsafety/DG_182627 [Accessed 13 April 2012] Boyd, d. m. and Ellison, N. B. (2007) ‘Social network sites: definition, history, and scholarship’, in Donelan, H., Kear, K. and Ramage, M. (eds) Online Communication and Collaboration: A Reader, Abingdon, Routledge, pp. 261–281.

Mary Schapiro and Leadership Essay Example for Free

Mary Schapiro and Leadership Essay In her role at the SEC, Mary Schapiro was known as one of the worlds most powerful female regulators. She was named chair in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. As chairman, she helped strengthen and revitalize the agency by overseeing a more rigorous enforcement program and shaping new rules for Wall Street. During her tenure, the agencys work force brought about a record number of enforcement actions and achieved significant regulatory reform to protect investors. Schapiro leaves behind an agency that has regained its footing, stature, and morale following desultory leadership under its previous two chairmen and its embarrassing lack of action preceding the financial crisis. Under Schapiro, the SEC, which is usually thought to be the most prominent and important financial regulatory body in the country, brought a huge number of enforcement actions against financial institutions. Her job was to assess what went wrong and to ensure it didn’t happen again. During four years as SEC chairman, Schapiro presided over one of the busiest rule-making agendas in the SECs history, during which the agency also brought a record number of enforcement actions, and executed a comprehensive restructuring program to improve protections for investors. Upon her departure, President Obama praised her leadership, saying the SEC became stronger and the financial system safer and better able to serve the American people-thanks in large part to Schapiros hard w ork. Change Management Change management is designed to ensure the effective transition of an organisation and its people from the current to future states, and in so doing support the realisation of business benefits. In the context of strategy, it is the realisation of the strategic plan. Change management is about effectively leading and managing individuals, teams, and the organisation to successfully adopt the changes needed to achieve required or desired business results. Success in Organisational Change Follows Recognisable Patterns – Kotter’s 8 Steps Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter is well known for identifying a pattern for leading successful organizational change. Yet, we cannot be sure that the President, members of Congress, and key Federal Reserve, Department  of the Treasury, and SEC personnel (including Chairman Schapiro) are familiar with this work and with other similar guidance from change leadership literature. And even if some or all of the change agents impacting a restructuring of the SEC are familiar with this work, it is unclear whether any of those change agents are consciously using this learning and incorporating useful elements from Kotters books into the SEC reorganization process. Studies of organizational change have shed significant light on the elements of a successful reform effort. Leaders effectuating reform at the SEC do not have to reinvent the wheel as they initiate, manage, and institutionalize organizational change. Kotters model is organized into eight stages designed to address e ight observed mistakes made in efforts for organizational change: establishing a sense of urgency; creating the guiding coalition; developing a vision and strategy; communicating the change vision; empowering broad-based action; generating short-term wins; consolidating gains and producing more change; and anchoring new approaches in the culture. Each stage has identifiable characteristics. 1. Establishing a Sense of Urgency Visible crises can be enormously helpful in catching peoples attention and pushing up urgency levels. To be sure, the SEC has experienced visible crises over the past few years. Admissions of significant failures at the SEC extend back over more than two years time and cover multiple areas of SEC operations. The natural superiority of the U.S. model for securities regulation is no longer an article of faith, and the credibility of the SEC as a financial regulator has never been lower. although the SEC has long been the crown jewel of the financial regulatory infrastructure, recent developments have called that characterization into question. The SEC has been the target of relentless criticism ranging from claims that it mishandled derivatives regulation, oversight of securities firms, and market risk, to assertions of delays and blunders and possible industry capture at the Division of Enforcement. These criticisms followed the Treasury Departments Blueprint of Financial Regulation-r eleased in March 2008-that criticized the SECs approach to regulation as obsolete and proposed a plan of regulatory consolidation that would effectively lead to the agencys demise. Most recently, the revelation that the SEC failed to discover a $50 billion Ponzi scheme at Madoff Investment Securities, despite having received allegations of wrongdoing for over a decade, suggests fundamental weaknesses in its core enforcement operations. To be successful at organizational change, however, a change leader must use the crisis to shake up the organization. This requires that the change leader remove sources of complacency or minimize their impact and take actions that are bold or even risky. Kotter uses the concept of fire in a building as a proxy for crisis in an organization, writing that conducting business as usual is very difficult if the building seems to be on fire.Interestingly, Chairman Schapiro invoked fire imagery in comments to reporters as she made changes to SEC operations shortly after taking office. Moreover, in a recent speech, Chairman Schapiro noted the rapid pace of change at the SEC over the preceding year: I know that change is hard because within our agency we have been engaged in some of the most significant change in decades. When I arrived at the agency last January, we began a process of assessing our operations and determined we could do better. We determined that we needed to change. And tha t is the path we have chosen. The personnel changes instituted at the SEC may be seen as examples of sweeping change. The discomfort and discontent of the SEC staff in response to the personnel changes may be evidence of the brash nature of these personnel changes. Kotters work predicts this kind of reaction. He notes that bold moves that reduce complacency tend to increase conflict and to create anxiety, at least at first. 2. Creating the Guiding Coalition Leading change is not a solitary task. Because major change is so difficult to accomplish, a powerful force is required to sustain the process. No one individual, not even a monarch-like CEO, is ever able to develop the right vision, communicate it to large numbers of people, eliminate all the key obstacles, generate short-term wins, lead and manage dozens of change projects, and anchor new approaches deep in the organizations culture. Instead, what is required is a strong leadership team-a team with the right composition and sufficient trust among members. In terms of composition,  four key characteristics are important: position power- the entire group who will be charged with making progress in areas of needed change, expertise, credibility, and leadership. Trust is borne of activities that create . . . mutual understanding, respect, and caring. Trust is important because it can lead to the effective creation of a common goal or shared objective. Chairman Schapiro has changed th e leadership team at the SEC. We must question, however, whether the team has the right characteristics and the requisite trust. Certainly, the credentials of the SEC Commissioners are quite impressive in terms of expertise, credibility, and leadership skills. Chairman Schapiro has put a premium on attracting to the SEC people with an expansive set of experiences and skills. Moreover, the published remarks of new leaders in the Division of Enforcement-people with position power-are impressive in their indication of a collective change momentum. New leaders continue to emerge, making the membership of the guiding coalition unsettled and unclear. The executives who ignited the transformations from good to great did not first figure out where to drive the bus and then get people to take it there. No, they first got the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then figured out where to drive it. In general, public information sources are not detailed enough to enable a comprehensive assessment of the suitability of the composition of Chairman Schapiros guiding coalition. For example, according to Kotter, you need both management and leadership skills on the guiding coalition, and they must work in tandem, teamwork style.He offers matrices that illustrate optimal compositions. Publicly available information does not enable us to determine whether or not the SEC guiding coalition has the optimal balance of management and leadership skills. Only as the exact identity of the leadership team emerges and the tea m takes concerted and coordinated action will we be able to evaluate its composition. As difficult as it is for us to appraise the teams composition, it is more difficult for us to assess whether the guiding coalition has the required trust. Although I have not found evidence that ostensible members of the SEC guiding coalition have engaged in team-building exercises or attended a retreat at which intra-group trust may have been engendered, the SECs recent self-assessment may be a sign that mutual trust is being promoted throughout the agency. As new people are identified for inclusion on the change leadership team, they will need to be effectively brought into the circle of trust. 3. Developing a Vision and Strategy To achieve successful organizational change, a leader needs to have both vision and a strategy to implement that vision. Vision refers to a picture of the future with some implicit or explicit commentary on why people should strive to create that future. Vision serves to channel change in a particular direction and incentivizes and coordinates change in that direction. Chairman Schapiro seems to understand this aspect of change leadership, and she also seems to be incorporating it into the SECs operations. Her vision for a reformed SEC refocuses the SECs activities on one of the key policy underpinnings of the federal securities laws: investor protection Another lesson I have learned is to have a vision about where you want to take your organization and stick to your principles in getting there. Principles are not ideologies. They are different. Maybe its a question of degree. Maybe to some its semantics. But as I see it, unlike ideologies, principles dont seem to demand a particular answer to every problem that emerges. Weve seen how strict adherence to ideology played out over the last decade in the financial arena. Free market ideology together with rapidly changing technology, globalization and many other accidental causes led too many of us to forget hard-learned lessons from past crises and abandon basic common sense. Principles, on the other hand, help frame a question, an issue or a problem. Having a principle might highlight tensions and trade-offs of particular choices, but rarely do they force you to choose between a good solution and a worldview. For me at the SEC, my main principle is putting investors first. And, I try to stay focused on that every day. And the goal is to build an SEC that is deeply expert, nimble, and aggressive-that gives investors confidence. In fact, as Bob Glauber can attest, I have a sign posted on my door that says How does it help investors? Its a simple question, but it guides all that I do at the SEC. And, all those who enter my office understand that is the p rism through which we will consider all issues. It doesnt necessarily dictate the outcome of every issue that lands  on my desk-because there are many solutions to any problem that could aid investors. But, the principle helps to shape our thinking and steers us in the right path. Vision is implemented through strategy. Without vision, strategy making can be a much more contentious activity. Even more so, without good vision, a clever strategy or a logical plan can rarely inspire the kind of action needed to produce major change. Chairman Schapiros vision has guided structural and operational change at the SEC as well as substantive rulemaking. Some credit her clearly conceived vision and the related rapidly employed strategy for saving the SEC from more significant structural or operational change. 4. Communicating the Change Vision According to Kotter, the larger the audience for the change vision, the more powerful it may be. A great vision can serve a useful purpose even if it is understood by just a few key people. But the real power of a vision is unleashed only when most of those involved in an enterprise or activity have a common understanding of its goals and direction. That shared sense of a desirable future can help motivate and coordinate the kinds of actions that create transformations. A leader must be careful to communicate the change vision broadly, frequently (repeatedly), and consistently. The message conveying the vision must be direct, clear, simple, and geared to its targeted audiences. Metaphors, analogies, examples, and florid prose may be helpful in this regard. The means of conveying the message should be varied: oral and written, large forum and small group, and through words and actions. Finally, to ensure understanding, the communication of the vision should be a two-way street, involv ing both give and take as well as conveying and listening. Chairman Schapiro has engaged in significant public speaking in which she has regularly and repeatedly informed and reminded the SEC staff and various elements of the public about the SECs recommitment to investor protection and the linkage of that vision to structural and operational changes at the SEC. Chairman Schapiro regularly appeared before congressional committees and subcommittees, and she has communicated her vision in these arenas as well. She used memorable analogies, examples, and words to convey the SECs organizational change message. Evidencing an appreciation for two-way communication, soon after  her appointment, Chairman Schapiro took action in response to staff suggestions that enforcement efforts against corporate violators of the securities laws were too difficult. Moreover, the self-assessment process and related ongoing staff communications are evidence of two-way communication about the structural a nd operational changes that have been taking place at the SEC. And Chairman Schapiro has continued to express belief in capturing a variety of viewpoints in decision-making. 5. Empowering Employees for Broad-Based Action To implement the leaders vision, employees need to be able to take action. This may mean clearing away structural barriers, skill deficiencies, systemic obstacles, and supervisory impediments that may forestall effective employee participation in change efforts. Many of the structural and operational reforms implemented by Chairman Schapiro appear to be designed to empower SEC staff members for action that carries forward the change vision of the SEC. The efforts of Chairman Schapiro to listen and respond to staff concerns about unnecessary enforcement hurdles are examples of initiatives to streamline structure. In addition, the restructuring of the Division of Enforcement is geared to clear structural barricades to effective enforcement efforts. The decision to retain staff with non-traditional skills and the implementation of new staff training are examples of efforts to remedy skill deficits. Human resources and information systems have been or are being improved in response to de ficiencies identified in the SECs self-assessment and the OIGs investigation, report, and recommendations. In the Division of Enforcement, supervisory positions are being eliminated, supervisory personnel are being replaced, supervisory responsibilities are being realigned, and supervisory attitudes that may have impeded investigations are being corrected. 6. Generating Short-Term Wins Because the organizational change process is slow and constituents can be impatient, it is important for a change leader to accomplish certain limited objectives in the short term. Major change takes time, sometimes lots of time. Zealous believers will often stay the course no matter what happens. Most of the rest of us expect to see convincing evidence that all the effort  is paying off. Nonbelievers have even higher standards of proof. They want to see clear data indicating that the changes are working and that the change process isnt absorbing so many resources in the short term as to endanger the organization. To be effective in sustaining organizational change efforts, short-term wins must be both visible and unambiguous. They also must be clearly related to the change effort. And in an effective change effort, they are planned, not accidental. SEC Chairman Schapiro accomplished some highly publicized early wins after her appointment was confirmed. In particular, she swiftly m oved to remove perceived barriers to enforcement of the securities laws against public companies. She publicly promoted these changes, and they were picked up by the news media. These efforts generated support in and outside the SEC. The achievement of these short-term wins on a staggered but consistent basis has kept the SECs structural and operational reforms in front of the SECs staff and the public, building consensus around and momentum for the SECs self-initiated reform efforts and distracting attention from more substantial externally generated suggestions for change. 7. Consolidating Gains and Producing More Change The long-term time horizon for organizational change not only makes short-term wins advisable, but also may make early declarations of victory problematic. It is important that the sense of urgency created by the change leaders is sustained for the long haul. Short-term wins are essential to keep momentum going, but the celebration of the wins can be lethal if urgency is lost. With complacency up, the forces of tradition can sweep back in with remarkable force and speed. Although a rapid, consistent pace of change at the SEC was sustained over the first fifteen months of reform, Chairman Schapiro as well as other SEC change leaders, needed to maintain the change momentum by continuing to introduce reforms on a regular basis. Having gone so far, the SEC could have lost all of the gains it had made in organizational change merely by relaxing into complacency. Until changed practices attain a new equilibrium and have been driven into the culture, they can be very fragile. To reach that equilibrium, in addition to engaging in more and continuous change, the SEC should bring in additional change agents, continue to foster leadership from its senior managers, recruit and nurture project management and leadership from lower ranks in the hierarchy, and identify and decrease or eliminate unnecessary internal structural and operational interconnections that often make change efforts more complex. These types of efforts in change management are difficult and pervasive. 8. Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture Finally, to prevent regression, change leaders must address and resolve any incompatibilities between the changes that have been made and the organizations culture-friction in the groups system of behavioural norms and shared values. This is not as easy as it may sound. These norms and values may apply to the organization as a whole or only to certain parts of the organization, and it is important to achieve compatibility on both levels. Moreover, culture is change-resistant and nearly invisible. Yet, the failure to address inconsistencies between a change effort and the prevailing culture can undo years of reform. Accordingly, it was important that Chairman Schapiro understood the applicable behavioural norms and shared values of the SEC and the Enforcement Division and their respective relevant cultural sub-groups as they continue to reform the SEC and the Enforcement Division. Because the core vision of investor protection should not be entirely inconsistent with the SECs culture (in whole or in pertinent part), these and other change leaders at the SEC should be able to graft the new practices onto the old roots while killing off the inconsistent pieces. The important thing will be for the SECs change leaders to continue to remember the organizations heritage and link it to the organizations new and ongoing operations and objectives.

Purposes of Site Investigations

Purposes of Site Investigations The purpose of a site investigation is to identify the ground conditions which might affect the proposed development. It enables better understanding of the site and immediate surroundings, which will enable safe and economic developments. They are a common requirement of the investors as well as the regulatory authorities. In the broadest sense, the ground conditions are understood to include not only the underlying soils and rocks but also the groundwater regime, any contamination and effects of any previous uses of the site The purpose of a site investigation is to identify the ground conditions which ma, any contamination and the effects o 1.1.1 The scale of problem Various reports over the past 25 years have shown that the largest element of technical and financial risk normally lies in the ground. Ground related problems have led to late completions and high cost overruns on the national scale. In an analysis of 8000 building projects, National economic Development office (NEDO) stated that one third of the projects overran by more than a month, a further one third overran up to a month due to delays due to unforeseen ground conditions. 1.2 Why carry out site investigations? The characterization of ground conditions whether for a greenfield or a previously developed brownfield site will include both the geotechnical and the geo-environmental issues. Site investigations can be required for both geotechnical and geo-environmental purposes and for many projects it would be advantageous to combine the investigations with resulting economics in cost, time and site disruption. The investigations should allow a comprehensive risk assessment of the ground conditions to be made from which a programme of risk management can be developed, The risks which may be defined can be health risks (from previous contamination of land), engineering risks (posed by difficult ground conditions), regulatory risks or financial risks, all of which may arise from unforeseen ground conditions and liabilities. The object of the site investigation is to characterize the ground conditions sufficiently to allow safe and economic design to be developed and to reduce, as far as possible, the occurrence and impact of unforeseen conditions. Objectives of Site Investigation The principal questions for site Investigation would be as follows: Suitability: Are the site and surroundings suitable for the project? Design: Obtain all the design parameters necessary for the works. Construction: Are there any potential ground or ground water conditions that would affect the construction? Contamination: Any possibilities of the site being contaminated? Materials: Are there any materials available on site, what quantity and quality? Effect of changes: How will the design affect adjacent properties and the ground water? In addition to these, it is necessary to investigate existing features of the natural ground. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8HfURxCjPlkCpg=PP15lpg=PP15dq=site+investigation+case+studiessource=webots=plbbDn_SdMsig=FQLesVN6XE07K92lw2zwKKnXlTQhl=ensa=Xoi=book_resultresnum=1ct=result#PPA3,M1 What does site investigation involve? Site Investigation is the gathering of information about the proposed location of the project.The process of site investigation can be separated into the following areas: Objectives of Site Investigation (SI) Desk study Planning Ground investigation (GI) Trial Pits Boreholes Sampling Reporting The sequence of a site investigation is as follows: Desk Study Site Reconnaissance -Walk-over study Preliminary report or feasibility study Preliminary Ground Investigation Planning of main GI Preliminary report Main Ground Investigation Laboratory testing Final report On-site Groundbreaking Work Trial pits by hand or excavator Lightweight and Heavyweight boring and testing equipment Laboratory soil testing (eg. plasticity of Clays 1.3.1 Desk Study According to the NHBC standards chapter 4.1, all sites must be assessed by a Desk Study and Walkover Survey (Clauses D1-D3). Desk Study should be carried out for every development prior to any intrusive site investigation. The desk study is work taken up prior to commencing the work on site and the Ground Investigation. It should always be the first stage of the Site Investigation and is used to plan the Ground Investigation. The work involves researching the site to gain as much information as possible, both geological and historical. The desk study examines and draws together existing information from a variety  of sources to form an initial appraisal of possible ground conditions and to  consider past uses and current status of a site. This provides a preliminary assessment of the geotechnical and geo-environmental risks which may be associated with the site. Records of Previous SI reports are also helpful in a desk study. The many sources of SI data include previous company reports, Services records are also an essential part of the desk study, necessary to locate hidden services such as electricity cables, sewers and telephone wires. This in formation is usually provided free of charge by the relevant service provider. A suggested list of sources is: Local Authority; British Telecom; Electricity Company; British Gas; Water Companies. It is also essential to check for the location of former mine workings as these can considerably affect construction and lead to cost increases. The location of these mines may be difficult but help can be found from the Divisional Plans Record Offices of the National Coal Board It is essential when conducting a desk study that as much information as possible is obtained. Work at this stage of the Investigation saves much time later and vastly improves the planning and quality of the Investigation. 1.3.2 Walk-over survey Walk -over survey of a site can give valuable insight into potential ground condition problems (for example slope instability or shallow groundwater) and contamination issues. Such site visits often give rise to anecdotal contributions by local residents. The Site Reconnaissance phase of a site investigation is normally in the form of a walk over survey of the site. Important evidence to look for is: Hydrogeology: Wet marshy ground, springs or seepage, ponds or streams and Wells. Slope Instability: Signs of slope instability include bent trees, hummocks on the ground and displaced fences or drains. Mining: The presence of mining is often signs of subsidence and possibly disused mine shafts. Open cast mining is indicated by diverted streams replaced or removed fence/hedge lines. Access: It is essential that access to the site can be easily obtained. Possible problems include low overhead cables and watercourses The combination of desk study and walk-over survey is an extremely cost-effective  first stage in an investigation. It provides early warning of potential problems and a sound basis for the scope of intrusive investigation which is to  follow. The desk study and walk-over survey can also provide early recognition of site issues such as ecology and archaeology which may have profound implications in both programme and financial terms. 1.3.2 Planning a Site Investigation Dumbleton And West2 have discussed the planning and direction of site investigations. They state that the main investigation is the full investigation of the site using boreholes and trial pits and includes the preparation of the site-investigation report with revised plans and sections, interpretation and recommendations for design. They consider that there are two aspects to the site investigation. The geological structure and character of the site and the testing of the soil both in the laboratory and in-situ. They suggest that the planning should consider the following questions. Is the succession of strata known over the whole site and is there correlation across the whole site known? Are the different strata fairly homogeneous over the site or do local variations exist? Are there more complex areas of strata that require investigation or closer examination during construction? Will there be areas where the excavated material will be unsuitable for fill and will need to be replaced? Are there areas where needs to be assessed to ascertain working methods? Will any part of the site be subject to flooding? What contact will there be with water bearing strata and will ground water lowering methods be required during construction? Do requirements for the carrying out of special in-situ tests or the taking of undisturbed samples affect the conduct of the qualitative investigation? For example, with forethought a single trial pit may be made to serve both for examining ground materials and structure, and for the in-situ testing and the taking of block samples. 1.4 Ground Investigation Ground investigation is taken to be that other than the information available from the walk over survey as discussed previously. There are two principal methods of investigating the ground conditions, trial pits and boreholes. In addition, the reader should be aware of geophysical techniques such as seismic surveys, which are not discussed here. 1.4.1 Trial Pits Trial pits are shallow excavations going down to a depth no greater 6m. The trial pit as such is used extensively at the surface for block sampling and detection of services prior to borehole excavation. Depth Excavation Method 0-2m By Hand 2-4m Wheeled Back Hoe 4-6m Hydraulic Excavator An important safety point to note is that ALL pits below a depth of 1.2m must be supported. In addition care should be taken as gases such as methane and carbon dioxide can build up in a trial pit. Breathing apparatus must therefore be used if no gas detection equipment is available. Support for a trial pit generally takes one of three forms: Timbering Steel frames with hydraulic jacks Battered or tapered sides Three types of sample can be taken from a trial pit: Disturbed Sample Samples where the soils in-situ properties are not retained. Block Sample A sample that is not undisturbed but retains some in-situ properies. Push in tube sample Tube samples of the soil in a trial pit. When preparing a trial pit log, the following information should be included. The location, orientation and size of the pit; sketches of faces; depth scale; root structur; water level; seepage. In addidtion the weather at the time of sampling should be noted as many soils are weather dependant. It is extremely important when finished to reinstate the trial pit as well as possible. 1.4.2 Boreholes A borhole is used to determine the nature of the ground (usually below 6m depth) in a qualitative manner and then recover undisturbed samples for quantitative examination. Where this is not possible, for in gravelly soils below the water table, in-situ testing methods are used. Obviously the information gained from a borehole is an extremely limited picture of the subsurface structure. It is therefore essential to compare the results obtained with those that could have been expected from the desk study. The greater the number of boreholes the more certain it is possible to be of the correlation and thus to trust in the results. The two principal types of boring machine used for Site Investigation in the United Kingdom are light percussive and drilling machines. Light Percussive is the process of making boreholes by striking the soil then removing it and the most common method is the shell and auger. This is a general term to describe various tools suspended from a triangular tripod incorporating a power winch. The tools are repeatedly dropped down the borehole while suspended by wire from the power winch. The different tools used include: Clay Cutter Used in cohesive materials and is raised and lowered, using its own weight to cut into the material. Shell Used for boring in silts and sands. Similar to the clay cutter, but has a trap door at the bottom to catch material. Chisel Used for breaking up hard material such as boulders or rocks. Additional payment is required for chiselling as per the Bill of Quantities and permission is normally required from the Resident Engineer before work can start. Drilling is the process of boring normally by using a combination of a rotating action and a hydraulic ram. There are many different types of rig depending on access and type of ground expected. Hollow drilling rods enable a flush of water, air, foam or mud which is used to carry the cuttings to the surface as well as lubricating and cooling the drill bit. The three main types of drill bit are: Double tube is where the outer tube rotates and allows for the removal of the cuttings while the inner tube is stationary and prevents the core from shearing. There are different designs of tube varying the location of the flush discharge so as to prevent sample erosion. It is necessary for the hole to be bigger than the tube and so the diamond bits are attached to the outside of the hole, thus allowing the flush to return to the surface. Triple tube in corporates a third tube to protect the core even further during extrusion and can have either a split tube, which is removed, or a plastic tube to provide longer term protection. A less effective alternative is to incorporate a nylon liner in a double tube. Retractable triple tube is a variation where the inner tube is attached to a retractor and can extend beyond the cutting edge. This gives complete protection to the core in softer rock whilst in harder rock where this is not necesary, it retracts to become a standard triple tube. This is used in alternating soft/hard rock, typical of a weathered profile. Core bits are usually diamond tipped and are either surface set, where diamonds are mounted into a matrix, or impregnated where a fine diamond dust is used in the matrix. In softer rocks, the cuttings can clog up the matrix so the softer the rock, the larger the diamonds need to be. Tungsten carbide bits can also be used in the softer rocks. Sampling Sampling can be either undisturbed, of which in-situ testing is a form, or disturbed. The principal sampling methods used in boreholes are: SPT test: This is a dynamic test as described in BS1377 (Part 9) and is a measure of the density of the soil. The test incorporates a small diameter tube with a cutting shoe known as the split barrel sampler of about 650mm length, 50mm external diameter and 35mm internal diameter. The sampler is forced into the soil dynamically using blows from a 63.5kg hammer dropped through 760mm. The sampler is forced 150mm into the soil then the number of blows required to lower the sampler each 75mm up to a depth of 300mm is recorded. This is known as the N value. For coarse gravels the split barrel is replaced by a 60 degree cone. Core Sample: Core samples must be sealed with parafin to maintain the water conditions and then end sealed to prevent physical interferance. The mpst common of these is the U100 (see below) although other sizes from 54mm to 100mm diameter are used. The standard U100 has a sample area ratio of 30% so large ammounts of soil are displaced. A thin walled Piston Sampler reduces this to 10%. The sample is pushed or jacked into the ground as opposed to a dynamic action. U100: This is a 450mm long, 100mm diameter undisturbed sample. The tube has a cutter at one end and the driving equipment at the other. Behind the cutter is a core catcher, incorporating 3 arms that go into the sample as it is withdrawn, to prevent the sample from falling out. Care should be taken to ensure that the cutting shoe is as clean and sharp as possible. Bulk Samples: Usually taken from trial pits or in soils where there is little or no cohesion. Often called block samples. WaterSamples: Water samples should be taken as soon as water is first struck and the depth recorded. After a suitable period of time (usually 10-15 mins) the depth should be re-recorded and a further sample taken. A final sample should be taken at the end of the borehole and the depth to water regularly recorded. The sample is taken using a device known as a bailer, made from teflon or plastic it incrporates a float to trap the water and should be cleaned after each sample. The sampling procedure varies according to the type of strata in which the investigation takes place. A reccomended sampling procedure is listed below. Clays: Normally need undisturbed samples U100 every 1.5m or change of stratum. Blow count and penetration should be noted. If unable to obtain a U100 then bulk samples as above. If U100 does not full penetrate SPT test is required. Sands Gravels: Undisturbed samples are not practical due to the lack of cohesion. SPT every 1m or change of stratum. Number of seating blows should also be recorded. Bulk samples to be taken between SPTs. Silts: Alternate SPT and U100 samples at 0.75m intervals 1.5 Reporting The Site Investigation report should answer all the questions set out in the planning phase of the Investigation This should include an assessment of the viability of the proposed project. Included in the report should be a location of all the boreholes, trial pits, other excavations and their logs. These logs should give as much information as possible on the soil and rock structure as it is possible to obtain. Case studies http://www.baesystems.com/BAEProd/groups/public/@businesses/@sharedservices/documents/bae_home_market/bae_pdf_pes_pillinglane.pdf Oops Oops http://www.grm-info.co.uk/cgi-bin/casestudies/casestudiescontents.cgi

A Small, Good Thing, by Raymond Carver Essay -- Raymond Carver

The short story, "A Small, Good Thing" by Raymond Carver tells of two American parents dealing with their son's hospitalization and death as the result of a hit-and-run car accident. The insensitive actions of their local baker add to their anger and confusion, yet by the end of the story, leave them with a sense of optimism and strength. With such content, Carver runs the risk of coming across as sentimental; however, this is not the case, and the anguish of the parents and their shock at the situation is expressed with dignity and understatement. It is a story with a broad appeal: the simple prose makes it accessible to a wide audience, while the complex themes and issues make it appealing to the educated reader. Written in Carver's characteristically minimalist style, the story poignantly evokes not only the trauma of the death of a child, but also the breakdown of communication and empathy in society. The plain and direct narrative style suits the content, conveying the lack of c ommunication that is central to the narrative - between the parents, between the hospital staff, and with the baker. Critically, it is generally considered one of Carver's strongest short stories. It is a tale of isolation and of grief, but also of hope, and, with its fluid, pared-down style, clearly demonstrates why Carver is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers of the late 20th century. On the surface, the story of A Small, Good Thing is simple and universal. Thirty-three-year-old Ann Weiss orders a cake for her son's Scotty's eighth birthday and is a little put off by the baker's cold attitude - "(he) was not jolly. There were no pleasantries between them, just the minimum exchange of words, the necessary information." However, she soo... ...- emotional yet not melodramatic; sparsely written yet still complex; a human story which explores the arbitrary nature of fate. The writing style is fresh and invigorating; the characters well-drawn, the narrative driving, the themes thought-provoking. While some readers are likely to be frustrated by the limited exposition and the abruptness of the actions, most could be expected to find it well worth their attention. A Small, Good Thing has become a minimalist classic, and a close reading should clearly demonstrate why Carver is regarded as one of the strongest short-story writers in recent times. Bibliography Clarke, Graham. "Investing the Glimpse: Raymond Carver and the Syntax of Silence." The New American Writing: Essays on American Literature Since 1970. Ed. Graham Clarke. New York: St. Martin's, 1990. 99-122. http://cai.ucdavis.edu/enl3/minimalism.htm

Largesse :: Essays Papers

Largesse The idea of chivalry encompasses the virtues of truth, honor, courage, kindness, loyalty, and valor. Combining this and many other benevolent traits make the ideal knight. Being a knight means something more than just armor, weaponry, and a good horse. It is about a code. This code of a knight is what sets him apart from the rest of the world, defining him and the beliefs he alone stands for. A knight is bounded by honor and valor usually to his king, his country, and his god. In a sense, a knight is the ideal man in all aspects, physically and mentally, and as part of his characteristics exists this thing called largesse. Largesse in simple terms is generosity, the liberality of giving. Now, this did not merely mean giving money to the poor or to the church. Largesse encompasses a larger spectrum, in a sense, that makes him better able to walk the line between mercy and cold justice. One can say at one end of the spectrum is the lavish giving to the need of his vassals and allies, and at the other end is the giving to his king and country. At any means, great honor can be won by the open-handed noble who sees no gluttony, but pure generosity to those among him. From Leon Gautier's Chivalry, one finds chivalry defined by prowess, loyalty, generosity, judgment, courtesy, and honor. Included with this is the 10 commandments, particularly the IX commandment--thou shalt be generous, and give largesse to everyone. For instance, in the Poem of the Cid, Rodrigo Diaz of Bivar is exiled by his King Alfonso. Along the Cid's journey, he conquers many places and acquires vast wealth. Not only does he give amply to his men but also to the King Alfonso who banishes him. The Cid places the needs of others above his own, being charitable to others and giving to those in need, including his enemy. "Those who joined him into exile have all grown rich. The renowned Campeador gave them all, in Valencia, houses and fiefs with which they are satisfied; they all have tasted of the Cid's generosity. Those who joined him later are content also." This clearly exemplifies the true nature of chivalry and what it is to be a knight.

Wedding Speech Delivered by the Groom :: Wedding Toasts Roasts Speeches

Wedding Speech Delivered by the Groom I would like to start my speech today by thanking Richard for his kind words. I am really proud to have become Isia’s husband; ever since the day we met I have been treated as one of the family and this has made our Journey to this day that much smoother! Thank you both for your blessing I promise that I will make you proud and live up to the high expectations I am sure you have! Thank you for everything you have both done in making this day so special if it wasn’t for you I am sure I would still be saving. So far the day has been an amazing experience and I am sure it can only get better. I would also like to thank you on behalf of Isia for all the love and help you have given her over the years. I thank you for making Isia the most loving, caring, sweet and kind person I have ever met. I really am the luckiest man alive. Thanks to Mom and Dad: I would now like to thank my own mom and dad for all the love and support they have given me over the years. I am sure you are looking at me now and thinking what a brave boy? I am not really one for speeches especially in front of 80+ people. You have always been there for me and helped me though good times and bad especially in my younger days. If I have ever had a problem where did I go mom and dad of course. I couldn’t ask for two more loving people. I am very proud to have you here with Isia and I on our special day. I know that your love and support will continue for many years to come. Thanks to Isia: I now come to the most important person in my life, and that’s Isia my beautiful bride. I am so proud to say that you are my wife you really do look amazing. I am sure that you will all agree that she has done me proud. I wrote this before today so I never knew until now just how amazing you would look. Knowing you like I do I am sure you will now be getting rather embarrassed and possibly a little pink. But I am sorry I must go on. We first met at a new years eve party in 1999 we said hello and that was it.

Analysis of Self and Architecture

TO THEORIZE ARCHITECTURE BASED ON ANALYSIS OF SELF & A ; ARCHITECTURE Takaharu Tezuka was born in twelvemonth 1964 in the metropolis of Tokyo, Japan. He received his Bachelors from the Musashi Institute of Technology in Japan and Masters in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in the United States of America. He so worked for Richard Rogers Partnership Ltd from twelvemonth 1990 to 1994 in London. Together with his married woman, they established Tezuka Architects in twelvemonth 1994 and have won legion awards for their broad scope of work from the Japan Institute of Architects Prize and the AIJ Annual Architectural Commendations for Roof House and Kids Design Award, the Ministry Prize Gold Prize for Fuji Kindergarten in 2007. His calling so started blossoming with other undertakings runing from houses, commercial and educational edifices, community undertakings and even universe renowned museums and exhibitions. Designed and built in twelvemonth 2012 to ease drama and kid development based around Montessori rules, Yamamotochou Fuji Kindergarten is an excessive pre-primary school in Tokyo, Japan. The most bewitching component is so its outstanding halo-shaped signifier which accommodates about 600 kids. This design maximises and utilises the full the tight urban site by consciously including the sense of drama, with a roof deck environing the full single-storey construction with a big enclosed cardinal courtyard. â€Å"While we are busy working, besides we are besides inspired by our kids. We found out kids loves doing circles. It is a sort of natural inherent aptitude, so we were inspired to do the edifice unit of ammunition so they can maintain running around† . With its round orientation, the courtyard becomes a cardinal point to run into for the preschoolers, carry throughing a intentional system of togetherness. Tezuka besides designed the kindergarten by integrating bing trees st ick outing from the buiding, which provides a sense of welcoming of nature but besides acts a green canopy. Their thought of The Fuji Kindergarten architectural analysis was based on 3 theories, which is climatic factors, architectural theory and design schemes. As for design schemes, the inside informations are really clean and precise, all the things of what high-end architecture is approximately. There is a sense of graduated table to the bannisters, door grips, floor, ceiling tallness and H2O fountains which are so good considered for the graduated table of the users. To suit different group sizes and different activities, all the furniture can easy be moved and rearranged. As for the chairs and desks for the childs, many wooden boxes are used to divide smaller countries which besides act as extra benches for siting. These boxes are besides used to hive away drama points, larning stuffs and children’s coats and places. This provides great flexibleness, and the interior infinite is often reconfigured through the twelvemonth. Besides, the railings designed harmonizing to kids graduated table. Rail ings are placed at each border of the roof to maintain kids safe. The infinites between the bannisters are besides sufficient plenty to let kids to sit on the roof and swing their legs over the eaves of the roof during assemblies or occasions. As for the fanlights, it allows kids to look down into the suites below. Individual fanlights are designed in each schoolroom to let the natural sunshine to ooze in. Children could besides mount up rope ladders taking up to the fanlight. The three trees embedded in the edifice besides form a drama characteristic. Children can scramble in the subdivisions or drama in the cyberspaces that are placed around the short pantss to forestall anybody falling through to the suites below. In maintaining with the school’s educational ethos of non-directed drama and find, there is no fixed drama equipment on the roof or in the courtyard, with the exclusion of a slide associating the roof to the land. Takaharu believes that this will further regard f or nature, so that kids could play around it and extinguish psychological barriers between in and out. Last but non least is the particularization of ceiling tallness and the usage of traditional visible radiation bulbs. With the consideration of the graduated table of a kid, the ceiling highs are set to 2.1m which stresses an utterly near the land degree to the rooftop. Takaharu Tezuka besides had the thought of utilizing traditional bare visible radiation bulbs with strings attached in this edifice to educate the childs about the manner visible radiation is produced when they pull on and off. ARCHITECTURAL THEORY The Fuji Kindergarten architectural theory was based on 5 Le Corbusier’s 5 points of Architecture which is, the free design land floor program, roof garden, pilotis, free design facade and horizontal Windowss. Based on the free design land floor program, the school is designed to promote kids to mix and weave around the infinite which promotes self-discovery and to research without intervention. It besides encourages societal accomplishments and eliminates hierarchal constructions preschoolers to mix and steer about at will. Besides, no fixed walls are placed between schoolrooms, so the kids can travel in between category freely. As for the roof deck, it is an advanced drama resource. It has a little incline towards the interior perimeter, which at a tallness of merely 2.1m allows staff at land degree to maintain an oculus on kids playing up above. With specific border of a start to an terminal, kids would of course run about the roof without vacillation. This besides boosts t he action and wellness of the children.Based on pilotis, the columns are non merely designed to back up the construction but to extinguish back uping walls that would impact the physical and ocular connexion within the kindergarten. The Fuji Kindergarten free design of facade separated from the outside of the edifice from its structural map. Stilts and thin seeable floor slabs sites absolutely into the bing site. This besides encourages kids to play about and research the construction of edifice. Last, horizontal Windowss run along the full kindergarten to let suites to be lit every bit. CLIMATIC FACTORS During most of the twelvemonth, the big sliding screens that form the interior wall of the edifice are pushed back, opening up the interior infinites to the sheltered courtyard in the centre of the school. This provides unobstructed positions throughout the kindergarten. It ensures that the suites are ever good ventilated and, as a effect, there is no demand for an air conditioning system. Other systems have been carefully designed to work in the unfastened interior infinite. During winter, the sliding screens remain closed and suites are kept warm by utilizing underfloor warming system. Lighting can be adjusted utilizing ceiling-mounted pull chords, leting instructors and kids to command the degree of illuming in their portion of the edifice. As Japan has a long history of holding frequent temblors. The columns are placed somewhat farther apart and specifically designed for temblors. Besides, the edifice is besides surrounded by large trees which shade the roof during hotter period like summer. Throughout his calling, â€Å"Takaharu Tezuka holds a profound belief in the construct of design with a surgical knife instead than a hack saw, and the importance of making functional places unambiguously catered to the occupants populating within.† ( 2014, Levin ) As a decision for his architecture believes, Takaharu Tezuka summarized that â€Å"Our minimal art is non a manner but a effect. We try to do a undertaking where we ourselves want to populate or remain. We believe the reply can be found in our life style. We are seeking to hold a normal happy life, and the life of human being is ever the ultimate intent of architecture† . Architecture is a like a linguistic communication with vocabulary that carries messages and communicates significances. By utilizing this architectural linguistic communication, based on my theory of ego, I think Takaharu tezuka has merely one thought, which is to stress on human activity and connectivity. He is really inventive and demanding when planing architectural inside informations. Architecture imaginativeness is steadfastly rooted into Takaharu’s cardinal apprehension of construction, stuffs and economic sciences. There’s a touch of material elegance in the architectural signifiers and preciseness of the structural solutions. These personal touches are emerged from understanding their client’s life style and aspirations. However, there is no uncertainty that beyond these facets, Tezuka is even more interested in abstract and allusive qualities of architecture like infinite and visible radiation. His work is besides singular for its mutableness, its abili ty to take on different visual aspects depending on the season, clip of twenty-four hours and the activity of the residents. The architecture responds to these conditions freely, largely by changing the grade of closing or openness in taking to hike the quality of architectural mutableness. Tezuka’s work seems like it is tied into a long tradition of Nipponese Common architecture good known for skiding doors, screens and removable elements. These are exactly the elements that most intrigued the early modernist who visited from the West to Japan, such as blunt Lloyd Wright and Walter Gropious. Through the influences of those designers, the impression of flexible spacial boundaries entered the architectural imaginativeness of planetary modernism. Tezuka designs a client’s house which includes elements of sunshine, air current and humidness that has an undeniable touchable freshness. These are places suited to citizens of the 21stcentury which combines and embraces nature into simple life. Mentions MentionsPlaning for instruction. 2011. p48 Retrieved from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.oecd.org/edu/innovation- education/centreforeffectivelearningenvironmentscele/48533289.pdf on 22 June 2014Design and Trend. 2013. Retrieved from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.designntrend.com/articles/3813/20130412/worlds-best-classroom-japan-fuji-kindergarten-wraps-around-100-year.htm on 22 June 2014Planing for Education: Collection of Exemplary Educational Facilities. 2011. Retrieved from hypertext transfer protocol: //edfacilitiesinvestment-db.org/facilities/9 on 22 June 2014

A Game of Thrones Chapter Twenty-seven

EddardIts the hands struggle thats the ca travel habit of any last(predicate) the trouble, my lords, the com hu art object raceder of the metropolis watch complained to the kings council.The kings tourney, Ned corrected, wincing. I as sure enough you, the trade urgencys no part of it.C comp allowely it what you testa elaborate forcet, my lord. Knights permit been arriving from all oer the area, and for every entitle we mystify two freeriders, wizard-third trade windsmen, six men-at-arms, a twelve merchants, two dozen whores, and much thieves than I dare guess. This imprecate heat had half the urban center in a fever to start, and now with all these visitors . . . last night we had a drowning, a tavern riot, three knife fights, a rape, two fires, robberies beyond count, and a drunken horse race down the thoroughfare of the Sisters. The night before a womans build was g staff in the Great Sept, locomote in the rainbow pool. No one seems to sack by how it got t here or who it be wides to.How dreadful, Varys say with a shudder. compass Renly Baratheon was less sympathetic. If you fucking non keep up the kings peace, Janos, possibly the City comply should be commanded by any(prenominal)one who can.St step forward, jowly Janos Slynt puffed himself up deal an angry frog, his bald jacket crown reddening. Aegon the Dragon himself could not keep the peace, head exceed Renly. I need to a greater extent(prenominal) men.How many an early(a)(prenominal)(prenominal)? Ned asked, leaning forward. As ever, Robert had not affect himself to att give notice the council session, so it throw to his snuff it to speak for him.As many as can be gotten, cleric fall out. remove fifty refreshful men, Ned t sure-enough(a) him. manufacturer Baelish get out see that you get the coin.I depart? Littlefinger said.You entrust. You found forty thousand flamsonant dragons for a champions purse, surely you can target together a a few(prenominal) copp ers to keep the kings peace. Ned off tail to Janos Slynt. I bequeath also give you twenty legal s crys from my own hallh one-time(a) apology, to serve with the reside until the concourses guard left.All thanks, hold transcend, Slynt said, bowing. I promise you, they shall be put to advanced use.When the Commander had taken his leave, Eddard Stark off-key to the rest of the council. The brieflyer this folly is by with(p) with, the better I shall give care it. As if the expense and trouble were not tedious enough, all and sundry insisted on salt Neds wound by calling it the tops tourney, as if he were the cause of it. And Robert honestly seemed to deal he should allowancel honoredThe realm prospers from such events, my lord, Grand Maester Pycelle said. They bring the cracking the chance of glory, and the lowly a put all oer from their woes.And put coins in many a pocket, Littlefinger added. Every inn in the city is blanket(a), and the whores are walking bowleg ged and resound with each step. manufacturer Renly laughed. Were fortunate my fellow Stannis is not with us. Remember the time he proposed to outlaw house of prostitutions? The king asked him if perhaps hed worry to outlaw eating, shitting, and breathing objet dart he was at it. If impartiality be told, I ofttimes wonder how Stannis ever got that painful daughter of his. He goes to his marriage fuck standardized a man walk to a battlefield, with a grim direct in his eye and a finale to do his duty.Ned had not joined the laughter. I wonder some your brother Stannis as well. I wonder when he intends to end his visit to Dragon lapidate and resume his seat on this council.No doubt as soon as weve scourged all those whores into the sea, Littlefinger replied, provoking more laughter.I score heard kinda enough near whores for one day, Ned said, rising. Until the morrow.Harwin had the entry when Ned re off-key to the Tower of the Hand. Summon Jory to my chambers and consec rate your father to saddle my horse, Ned told him, too brusquely.As you say, my lord.The Red Keep and the Hands tourney were chafing him unre beauteousd, Ned reflected as he climbed. He yearned for the comfort of Catelyns arms, for the sounds of Robb and Jon crossing everyplace swords in the practice yard, for the cool years and cold nights of the north.In his chambers he stripped off his council silks and sat for a moment with the book while he waited for Jory to arrive. The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the seven Kingdoms, With Descliptions of Many higher(prenominal) victors and Noble Ladies and Their Children, by Grand Maester Malleon. Pycelle had mouth truly it make for ponderous reading. soon enough Jon Arryn had asked for it, and Ned felt certain he had reasons. on that point was something here, some truth buried in these brittle chicken pages, if only he could see it. But what? The tome was over a century old. Scarcely a man now alive had notwithst anding been innate(p) when Malleon had compiled his dusty lists of weddings, births, and deaths.He undefendable to the particle on House Lannister at a time more, and morose the pages slowly, hoping against hope that something would leap out at him. The Lannisters were an old family, tracing their descent suffer to Lann the Clever, a trickster from the Age of Heroes who was no doubt as legendary as Bran the Builder, though far more love life of singers and taletellers. In the songs, Lann was the fellow who winkled the Casterlys out of Casterly escape from with no weapon scarcely his wits, and take gold from the sun to b righteousnessen his curly fuzz. Ned wished he were here now, to winkle the truth out of this damnable book.A lancinate rap on the door foretell Jory Cassel. Ned closed Malleons tome and bid him enter. Ive promised the City Watch twenty of my guard until the tourney is done, he told him. I rely on you to operate the choice. Give Alyn the command, and requ ire certain the men understand that they are needed to displace fights, not start them. Rising, Ned opened a cedar chest and removed a light linen undertunic. Did you expose the hostler?The viewer, my lord, Jory said. He vows hell never touch another horse.What did he be surrender to say?He claims he k hot nobleman Arryn well. Fast friends, they were. Jory snorted. The Hand al meanss gave the lads a copper on their name geezerhood, he says. Had a elbow room with horses. Never rode his mounts too hard, and brought them carrots and apples, so they were constantly jolly to see him.Carrots and apples, Ned repeated. It sounded as if this male child would be even less use than the others. And he was the last of the four Littlefinger had turned up. Jory had spoken to each of them in turn. Ser Hugh had been brusque and uninformative, and arrogant as only a unsanded-made dub can be. If the Hand wished to talk to him, he should be pleased to receive him, only he would not be qu estioned by a unmingled overlord of guards . . . even if said captain was ten years older and a hundred times the swordsman. The serving female child had at least been pleasant. She said Lord Jon had been reading more than was good for him, that he was troubled and melancholy over his unfledged person sons frailty, and gruff with his lady wife. The pot male child, now cordwainer, had never exchanged so much as a word with Lord Jon, except he was full of oddments of kitchen chew up the lord had been quarreling with the king, the lord only picked at his food, the lord was organizeing his male child to be fostered on Dragonstone, the lord had taken a large interest in the elevation of lookup hounds, the lord had visited a master armorer to commission a new(a) suit of plate, wrought all in pale funds with a coloured jasper hunt and a mother-of-pearl woolgather on the breast. The kings own brother had asleep(p) with him to help choose the design, the potboy said. No, no t Lord Renly, the other one, Lord Stannis.Did our watchman recall anything else of personal credit line?The lad swears Lord Jon was as strong as a man half his age. Often went riding with Lord Stannis, he says.Stannis again, Ned thought. He found that curious. Jon Arryn and he had been cordial, provided never friendly. And while Robert had been riding north to Winterfell, Stannis had removed himself to Dragonstone, the Targaryen island fixture he had conquered in his brothers name. He had given up no word as to when he cleverness return. Where did they go on these rides? Ned asked.The boy says that they visited a brothel.A brothel? Ned said. The Lord of the Eyrie and Hand of the King visited a brothel with Stannis Baratheon? He shook his head, incredulous, wonder what Lord Renly would make of this tidbit. Roberts lusts were the subject of ribald drinking songs through with(predicate) and throughout the realm, precisely Stannis was a different sort of man a bare year newfangl eder than the king, yet utterly unlike him, stern, humorless, unforgiving, grim in his sense of duty.The boy insists its true. The Hand took three guardsmen with him, and the boy says they were joking of it when he took their horses afterward.Which brothel? Ned asked.The boy did not make out. The guards would.A pardon Lysa carried them off to the Vale, Ned said dryly. The gods are doing their outperform to vex us. Lady Lysa, Maester Colemon, Lord Stannis . . . everyone who might actually crawl in the truth of what happened to Jon Arryn is a thousand leagues a appearance.Will you summon Lord Stannis back from Dragonstone?Not yet, Ned said. Not until I have a better idea of what this is all about and where he stands. The case nagged at him. Why did Stannis leave? Had he played some part in Jon Arryns murder? Or was he timid? Ned found it hard to imagine what could shake Stannis Baratheon, who had once held Storms End through a year of siege, surviving on rats and boot leather while the Lords Tyrell and Redwyne sat right(prenominal) with their hosts, banqueting in sight of his walls. run me my doublet, if you would. The grey, with the direwolf sigil. I want this armorer to kip down who I am. It might make him more forthcoming.Jory went to the wardrobe. Lord Renly is brother to Lord Stannis as well as the king.Yet it seems that he was not invited on these rides. Ned was not sure what to make of Renly, with all his friendly ship canal and easy smiles. A few days past, he had taken Ned aside to show him an exquisite rose gold locklet. intimate was a miniature painted in the vivid Myrish style, of a lovely puppylike girl with does eyeball and a shower of soft brown h send. Renly had seemed anxious to know if the girl reminded him of anyone, and when Ned had no answer but a shrug, he had seemed disappointed. The maid was Loras Tyrells infant Margaery, hed confessed, but there were those who said she looked like Lyanna. No, Ned had told him, bemused. Cou ld it be that Lord Renly, who looked so like a young Robert, had conceived a lovemaking for a girl he imagine to be a young Lyanna? That stricken him as more than passing queer.Jory held out the doublet, and Ned slid his hands through the armholes. maybe Lord Stannis get out return for Roberts tourney, he said as Jory laced the garment up the back. That would be a stroke of fortune, my lord, Jory said.Ned buckled on a longsword. In other words, not bloody likely. His smile was grim.Jory draped Neds conceal across his shoulders and clasped it at the throat with the Hands tag of office. The armorer lives above his shop, in a large house at the steer of the pathway of blade. Alyn knows the way, my lord.Ned nodded. The gods help this potboy if hes move me off haring after poops. It was a tighten enough staff to lean on, but the Jon Arryn that Ned Stark had known was not one to wear jeweled and liquided plate. Steel was firebrand it was meant for protection, not ornament. He might have changed his views, to be sure. He would scarcely have been the first man who came to look on things differently after a few years at court . . . but the change was marked enough to make Ned wonder.Is there any other proceeds I might perform?I suppose youd best begin visit whorehouses.Hard duty, my lord. Jory grinned. The men will be glad to help. Porther has made a reliable start already.Neds favorite horse was attach and waiting in the yard. Varly and bring up fell in beside him as he rode through the yard. Their poise caps and habilitates of mail must have been sweltering, yet they said no word of complaint. As Lord Eddard passed beneath the Kings entre into the stink of the city, his grey and white robe streaming from his shoulders, he saw eyes everywhere and kicked his mount into a trot. His guard followed.He looked behind him frequently as they made their way through the move city streets. Tomard and Desmond had left the castle archaeozoic this morning t o take up positions on the route they must take, and watch for anyone spare-time activity them, but even so, Ned was uncertain. The shadow of the Kings rover and his little birds had him fretting like a maiden on her wedding night.The Street of Steel began at the market square beside the River Gate, as it was named on maps, or the Mud Gate, as it was commonly called. A mummer on stilts was striding through the throngs like some great insect, with a horde of bare radix children trailing behind him, hooting. Elsewhere, two ragged boys no older than Bran were dueling with sticks, to the loud encouragement of some and the furious curses of others. An old woman end the contest by leaning out of her window and emptying a pose of slops on the heads of the combatants. In the shadow of the wall, farmers stood beside their wagons, bellowing out, Apples, the best apples, cheap at twice the price, and Blood melons, sweet as honey, and Turnips, onions, roots, here you go here, here you go, tu rnips, onions, roots, here you go here.The Mud Gate was open, and a squad of City Watchmen stood under the portcullis in their golden cloaks, leaning on spears. When a column of riders appeared from the west, the guardsmen sprang into action, shouting commands and moving the carts and foot traffic aside to let the knight enter with his escort. The first rider through the gate carried a long vague banner. The silk rippled in the wind like a living thing across the fabric was blazoned a night thrash about slashed with purple lightning. Make way for Lord Beric the rider shouted. Make way for Lord Beric And close behind came the young lord himself, a dashing intention on a bootleg courser, with red-gold hairs-breadth and a obscure satin cloak dusted with stars. present to fight in the Hands tourney, my lord? a guardsman called out to him. Here to win the Hands tourney, Lord Beric shouted back as the crowd cheered.Ned turned off the square where the Street of Steel began and follo wed its winding path up a long hill, past blacksmiths working(a) at open forges, freeriders haggling over mail shirts, and grizzled ironmongers selling old blades and razors from their wagons. The farther they climbed, the larger the buildings grew. The man they treasured was all the way at the realise of the hill, in a huge house of timber and plaster whose upper stories loomed over the narrow street. The double doors showed a hunting scene carved in soot black and weirwood. A pair of stone knights stood observation tower at the entrance, armored in originative suits of polished red nerve that change them into griffin and unicorn. Ned left his horse with Jacks and shouldered his way inside.The slim young serving girl took quick note of Neds badge and the sigil on his doublet, and the master came velocity out, all smiles and bows. Wine for the Kings Hand, he told the girl, gesturing Ned to a couch. I am Tobho Mott, my lord, please, please, put yourself at ease. He wore a bla ck smooth coat with hammers embroidered on the sleeves in silver thread, Around his neck was a dangerous silver chain and a sky-blue as large as a pigeons egg. If you are in need of new arms for the Hands tourney, you have come to the right shop. Ned did not bother to correct him. My work is costly, and I make no apologies for that, my lord, he said as he modify two matching silver goblets. You will not find craftsmanship friction match to mine anywhere in the Seven Kingdoms, I promise you. Visit every forge in Kings Landing if you like, and study for yourself. Any village smith can hammer out a shirt of mail my work is art.Ned sipped his wine and let the man go on. The Knight of Flowers bought all his armor here, Tobho boasted, and many high lords, the ones who knew handsome steel, and even Lord Renly, the kings own brother. Perhaps the Hand had seen Lord Renlys new armor, the spirt plate with the golden antlers? No other armorer in the city could get that deep a green he k new the secret of putting color in the steel itself, paint and enamel were the crutches of a journeyman. Or mayhaps the Hand wanted a blade? Tobho had learned to work Valyrian steel at the forges of Qohor as a boy. exactly a man who knew the spells could take old weapons and forge them anew. The direwolf is the sigil of House Stark, is it not? I could fashion a direwolf steer so real that children will run from you in the street, he vowed.Ned smiled. Did you make a falcon helm for Lord Arryn?Tobho Mott paused a long moment and set aside his wine. The Hand did call upon me, with Lord Stannis, the kings brother. I mourning to say, they did not honor me with their patronage.Ned looked at the man evenly, saying null, waiting. He had found over the years that silence sometimes yielded more than questions. And so it was this time.They asked to see the boy, the armorer said, so I took them back to the forge.The boy, Ned echoed. He had no notion who the boy might be. I should like to se e the boy as well.Tobho Mott gave him a cool, careful look. As you wish, my lord, he said with no trace of his author friendliness. He led Ned out a rear door and across a narrow yard, back to the cavernous stone barn where the work was done. When the armorer opened the door, the blast of hot air that came through made Ned feel as though he were walking into a dragons mouth. Inside, a forge blazed in each corner, and the air stank of smoke and sulfur. Journeymen armorers glanced up from their hammers and tongs fitting long enough to wipe the sweat from their brows, while bare-chested prepare boys worked the bellows.The master called over a tall lad about Robbs age, his arms and chest corded with muscle. This is Lord Stark, the new Hand of the King, he told him as the boy looked at Ned through unforgiving blue eyes and pushed back sweat-soaked hair with his fingers. Thick hair, shaggy and unkempt and black as ink. The shadow of a new beard darkened his jaw. This is Gendry. Stro ng for his age, and he works hard. Show the Hand that helmet you made, lad. or so shyly, the boy led them to his bench, and a steel helm shaped like a bulls head, with two great curving horns.Ned turned the helm over in his hands. It was raw steel, unpolished but expertly shaped. This is fine work. I would be pleased if you would let me buy it.The boy snatched it out of his hands. Its not for sale.Tobho Mott looked horror-struck. Boy, this is the Kings Hand. If his lordship wants this helm, make him a gift of it. He honors you by asking.I made it for me, the boy said stubbornly.A hundred pardons, my lord, his master said hurriedly to Ned. The boy is bounderish as new steel, and like new steel would profit from some beating. That helm is journeymans work at best. Forgive him and I promise I will craft you a helm like none you have ever seen.Hes done nothing that requires my forgiveness. Gendry, when Lord Arryn came to see you, what did you talk about?He asked me questions is all, m lord.What sort of questions?The boy shrugged. How was I, and was I well treated, and if I liked the work, and squash about my mother. Who she was and what she looked like and all.What did you tell him? Ned asked.The boy shoved a fresh fall of black hair off his forehead. She died when I was little. She had yellow hair, and sometimes she used to sing to me, I remember. She worked in an alehouse.Did Lord Stannis question you as well?The bald one? No, not him. He never said no word, just glared at me, like I was some raper who done for his daughter. chief your filthy tongue, the master said. This is the Kings own Hand. The boy lowered his eyes. A smart boy, but stubborn. That helm . . . the others call him bullheaded, so he threw it in their teeth.Ned touched the boys head, fingering the densely black hair. Look at me, Gendry. The apprentice lifted his formulation. Ned studied the shape of his jaw, the eyes like blue ice. Yes, he thought, I see it. Go back to your work, lad. Im sorr y to have bothered you. He walked back to the house with the master. Who paying the boys apprentice fee? he asked lightly.Mott looked fretful. You saw the boy. Such a strong boy. Those hands of his, those hands were made for hammers. He had such promise, I took him on without a fee.The truth now, Ned urged. The streets are full of strong boys. The day you take on an apprentice without a fee will be the day the Wall comes down. Who paid for him?A lord, the master said reluctantly. He gave no name, and wore no sigil on his coat. He paid in gold, twice the habitual sum, and said he was paying once for the boy, and once for my silence.Describe him.He was stout, round of shoulder, not so tall as you. Brown beard, but there was a bit of red in it, Ill swear. He wore a rich cloak, that I do remember, heavy purple velvet worked with silver threads, but the hood shadowed his face and I never did see him clear. He hesitated a moment. My lord, I want no trouble.None of us wants trouble, but I fear these are troubled times, captain Mott, Ned said. You know who the boy is.I am only an armorer, my lord. I know what Im told.You know who the boy is, Ned repeated patiently. That is not a question.The boy is my apprentice, the master said. He looked Ned in the eye, stubborn as old iron. Who he was before he came to me, thats none of my concern.Ned nodded. He decided that he liked Tobho Mott, master armorer. If the day ever comes when Gendry would rather make do a sword than forge one, send him to me. He has the look of a warrior. Until then, you have my thanks, Master Mott, and my promise. Should I ever want a helm to frighten children, this will be the first place I visit.His guard was waiting outside with the horses. Did you find anything, my lord? Jacks asked as Ned mount up.I did, Ned told him, wondering. What had Jon Arryn wanted with a kings bastard, and why was it worth his life?