Teenage Morality

What is teenage morality? What are the factors that cause teenage morality? Teenage morality is the decrease of moral values of teenagers. These are usually caused by breakdown of families, influence of modern technology and media and also the environment where the teenager belongs. In this research paper, I will discuss that the main reason of less of morality among teenagers is due to breakdown of families. What do you think is the meaning of morality? Morality is the differentiation of actions, intentions or decisions between right or wrong. Thus morality is important to our lives, Morality is first taught at home by our parents when we were still children, but what if are parents are not around? Who will teach us moral values that we needed?. In that case we are having a decrease in the difference between knowing what is right and wrong or good and bad. This is caused by lack of guidance by our parents because of old family structure, marriages become wiped out, not enough time to spend with our families and not going to church. In these days many believed that the weakening of stable marriages is the main reason of moral decline. This is because children learn moral values at their own homes from their parents and thinking that they are the role models. When parents are away from their children, emotionally distant or their parents themselves are immoral then the learning of the moral values of the child is greatly slowed down. -based from http://www. oppapers. com/essays/Moral-DeclIne-In-Society-Is-Due/677931

Challenge ineffective practice in the promotion of the safeguarding Essay

1. Disseminate knowledge based on good practice 2. To involve service users , carers, practitioners , care providers and policy makers in the promoting good practice 3. Enhance the skills and professionalism in social care workers through tailored, targeted and user friendly resources. Before challenge can be made we will need to identify who is at risk of abuse? The vulnerable adult in this context is at risk of abuse ; people with learning disability; older people ; family members and carers. Identifying risks in services. Risk factors associated with abuse can help to point the way for appropriate prevention strategies. For example Institutional abuse has the following factors as indicators: Exogenous-Staff rate and ratio, bed supply. Institutional Environment-Organisation that stifles staff and prevent criticism. Patient Characteristics-very frail, challenging behaviours  staff Characteristics- Stress, negative attitude to work, low esteem and low educational attainment neutralisation of moral concerns leading to residents being seen as objects rather than human beings. Lack of policy awareness. To challenge these abuse we need 1 public awareness 2 Awareness of domestic violence 3 Awareness strategies of other types abuse such as financial abuse 4 Information awareness and advocacy 5 Training and education through development programmes 6 Awareness of the organisation policy and procedures 7 Community links 8 awareness of regulations and legislation 9 Multi- disciplinary and agency collaboration. 10 Empowerment and choice 11 balancing the idea of choice and risk involvement based on decision taken by the service users and carers.

Flexibility and Recruitment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Flexibility and Recruitment - Essay Example 8). To understand the concept of flexibility Atkinson's model of flexibility is very useful and of paramount importance. He explains four kinds of flexibility, which firms may achieve, namely functional flexibility, numerical flexibility, pay flexibility and distancing flexibility. Functional flexibility is identified as a qualitative approach to work, and talks about management's ability to organize and reorganize particular segments of the labor force on a broad variety of tasks in reply to market demand when needed (Sparrow 1998 cited in Teicher & Holland 2006 p. 241-242). The workers are given proper training in a broad number of skills in order to make its achievement certain. The unpredictable nature of consumer demands of the products makes this type of flexibility to continue in the market. And similarly with the changes in consumer demands the technology used by the labor would also have to change making this type of flexibility to come handy for the employers (Mathews 1989 cit ed in Teicher & Holland 2006 p. 242). Numerical flexibility is identified as a quantitative approach to labor consumption. To achieve this type of flexibility the size of labor force is amended to the levels of economic activity at short notes (Atkinson 1984 cited in Teicher & Holland 2006 p. 242). Management has a choice to amend or reorganize its human resources according to the workload rise and fall. Casual, part-time service providers and sub-contractors usually offer this type of flexibility (Morehead et al. 1995; Burgess 1997 cited in Teicher & Holland 2006 p. 242). Distancing is graded as a secondary type of numerical flexibility, which involves the outsourcing of certain activities that may consist of core and non-core activities. The process of associating the non-core processes to the subcontractors is well instituted (for example, cleaning, food preparation and safety) and the improved outsourcing of usual core actions, principally in the human resources part (Herriot 19 98; Fisher et al. 2002 cited in Teicher & Holland 2006 p. 242), helps the diminution of the core or permanent staff. Financial flexibility is a payment structure which is supposedly designed to make the progress of numerical and functional flexibility possible. It allows the market forces to state their pay rates for the external workforce and gives the opportunity of increasing the nature of skills which the core labor has (Teicher & Holland 2006, p. 242). With the increasing demand of flexible workers through out, the hiring process has proved to be very difficult for the Human Resource professionals. Different strategies are being sought by the professionals to overcome the difficulties during the process of recruitment. Temporary workers are hired through the process of either formal or informal recruitment. However nowadays it is being hard for the hr professionals to hire these temporary workers. Formal Recruitment is one form through which hiring is done by these professionals. In this kind of process the nature and the requirements of the jobs are posted over different forms of media inviting the individuals who are deeply interested in the job. Thus an intermediary is selected by the formal recruitment team and this role of intermediary can be played either by the media or an agency (Marsden and Campbell 1990). The date and the location are usually set up by the company who is recruiting and both these factors are kept

People and Organisations Coursework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

People and Organisations Coursework - Essay Example The author presented three arguments. First, the continuously evolving setting promotes flexibility, versatility, the creation of knowledge organisations, and boundaryless career. Second, employees are responding to dying out career traditions by turning their attention toward particular occupation and professional roles. And, third, traditional career norms are weakening because people are continuously adapting and finding new ways to build and strengthen their networks, relationships, and roles. The author concludes that the negative psychological notion related to shifting or different careers is no longer existent today. Nowadays, people are more concerned about or focused on their career assets than their career stability. It is important to emphasise at this point that the extent and expanse of literature the author used is justifiable or appropriate with regard to relevance and application. This method strengthens the reliability of the article. The author employed a suitable method to derive his arguments and look for answers for the questions of the article. Information was gathered using extensive library research and review of secondary sources. No method to gather primary information was carried out. The only weakness of the article is its use of only qualitative methods and fully discarding the value of a mixed method approach, especially in substantiating other studies’ findings about the obsoleteness of career stability, such as the article of Kerr Inkson entitled The Boundaryless Career (2012). Nevertheless, the article contributed much to the understanding of how boundaryless career and project management are connected to each other. The author showed how an individual’s pursuit of career capital contributes to the creation and transfer of knowledge which is highly valuable to project-based industries. Boundaryless career, according to the author, promotes the rise of knowledge workers and knowledge organisations. In a

Identifying the actors in the courthouse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Identifying the actors in the courthouse - Essay Example Prosecutors. The best to describe the role of the Prosecutor in the Courthouse is through the given definition of Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct in Rule 3. (a). It states that, â€Å"The duty of a public prosecutor or other government lawyer is to seek justice, not merely to convict.† To clear from common misconception, prosecutors are not performing the tasks of lawyers. In Berger vs. United States (1935), it was implied that United States Attorney is the one that is regarded as the prosecutor. His sovereignty is to govern impartially. Their main interest is not about winning but to serve justice in the case particularly a criminal case. Defense Lawyers. Defense Lawyers’ specialization is criminal defense. They are the lawyers who are hired to defend the defendants in criminal cases. The necessity of the Defense Lawyer is one of the approaches in order to put balance in the trial system so that sides of both defendant and victim will be served in the court by legal procedure. They are often maligned particularly in prominent criminal cases for defending criminals. (Pollack, 2009) Judges. Judges during court trial interpret the law, and assess the evidence being presented. Judges also have the control on how the court trial will be executed. Most importantly, they are the decision-maker to serve justice in the case. (CSCJA, 2006) Defendants. Defendant is a party who is obliged to answer the complaint of the claimant. Defendants are the ones who are accused of the crime or civil lawsuit before the court. Defendants are the one being tried for a crime that they are accused of. Victims. Victims are the complainant in a case court trial. They are the ones whose rights had violated by certain criminal acts courtesy of the defendants or by the suspect in criminal case. They are the ones who are seeking justice in a case or lawsuit by filing charges against the

SAM 400 UNIT 10 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

SAM 400 UNIT 10 - Essay Example effectiveness, the power of vision, the leadership equation, empowering people, developing others, leadership principles, importance of ethics and finally understanding people (Marry, pp. 1). In my opinion, the areas of leadership that stand out or rather are most important include the leadership equation, the power of vision, leadership principles and performance management. The leadership equation is in line with the leadership style (s) employed by the coach (Manning and Curtis, pp. 16). The effectiveness of a leadership style is evident by the level of a team’s success thus proper styles of leadership ought to be considered. The power of vision is known to predict the future (Manning and Curtis, pp. 56). This area works to outline a general direction towards success. The principles of leadership are important in the sense that they provide a comprehensive framework under which the operations of a particular team are based (Manning and Curtis, pp. 148). Adherence to leadership principles ensures that discipline and order is maintained in a team. Principles ensure that a good ethical environment is maintained. Finally, performance management is very important since the success of a team is based on its performance (Manning and Curtis, pp. 302). It is therefore necessary to evaluate how a team is performing. Good performance should always be upheld. It is the dream of every team to maintain a good record of performance. Poor performance forces the team to reflect on its mistakes with a view to record improved results next time. This reveals how important it is to manage the performance of a

Global Banking Operations and Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Global Banking Operations and Strategy - Essay Example The bank lost its resilience and resistance capabilities (The Telegraph, 2014). Credit was one of the failed segments of RBS. RBS consistently relied on credit trading, which due to high economic crises build up, brought more damage to RBS’s existence. The bank needed to sideline the credit segment, which had lesser opportunity and more market risk (Treanor & Bowers, 2011). The weakness lied in RBS operations, which consistently failed to manage the net returns of the bank. The leakage of cash due to poor banking operations, RBS was unable to stabilize its cash growth (Risk Business International, 2011). RBS always had low capitals in its financial cupboard. The bank due to small capital resource was never able to put hand on major market segments. This made bank rely on small segments such as credit trading or bonds investment, which had more risk and lesser income return (BBC News, 2013). RTT News, 2014. European Markets Decline, RBS Drops On Results. [Online] Viewed at: [Accessed 17 March 2014]. The Telegraph, 2014. RBS report: the main points. [Online] Viewed at: [Accessed 17 March 2014]. Treanor, J. & Bowers, S., 2011. RBS failure caused by multiple poor decisions. [Online] Viewed at: [Accessed 17 March

Mango Medley Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Mango Medley - Essay Example According to Mango Medley’s official website, the business operates between 5:00 P.M. to 12:00A.M weekdays and 12:30 P.M to 12 A.M on weekends. However, it is important to note that the restaurant specializes in Asian cuisine and desserts with much attention in mango delights (Mango Medley). The prices of their dishes vary between $4 and $8 for deserts and $10 to $28 for cuisines. It has been successful in bringing in customers who are keen on their products, and who have less time to socialize during the day but can only find time at late night. Mango Medley has established a standard in the restaurant business in Sun set area owing to the quality of products it serves to its customers through its diverse menu items. The main area of concern of the business is to provide Hong Kong style dessert to local customers living in the surrounding neighborhood especially the young Asian customers, and other customers who may be interested in the cuisines and late night deserts. It purposes to turn the Chinese habitual tradition of gathering around late night to partake their desert into their advantage by opening late into the night. This is not the only target going by the decision to include a diverse menu which takes care of other locals living in the area. Sunset area of San Francisco has a population that has kept on swelling with Asian population more than other races. This explains the reasons why the leadership of the area is being steered by Asians, example being the present mayor. The 2013 estimate report on the census shows that Asians comprises over 33% of the Sun set population translating to over 837,442 people in San Francisco area alone (USCB, 2013,Areavibes & J, 2013). This group’s population is reported to be growing faster relative to other races in the area hence the need to focus on their favorite dish. Other groups are also targeted but not majorly. Chinese especially those coming from Hong Kong, Chengdu or Southern China have a

Existentialist Concepts of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka Essay

Existentialist Concepts of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - Essay Example Due to such dilemma, the family was faced with financial troubles and the aging parents had to find jobs. Gregor formerly provided for all the necessities in the Samsa house and has efficiently done so as a businessman. He rented a modest house for the whole family to stay in and had to work harder in order to maintain the good life that his family was enjoying. He was concerned about the affairs of his parents and sister, thinking about their future, planning even for her sister. He meant to send her sister to the conservatory but with the turn of events, her young sister had to find a job and study at the same time. In addition to her tasks, Gregor’s sister, Grete, placed upon herself to look after the needs of her brother, bringing him his food and cleaning his room everyday. When the family’s savings run out, they thought of giving up the house because they cannot afford it anymore but they cannot leave it for fear about Gregor’s condition. They then found te nants to help pay off the bills and it was during this time that Gregor revealed himself to them. Although it was not the intention of the monster Gregor to show himself to the tenants, he forgot about being considerate when he was drawn by the playing of the violin of her sister. When the tenants found out that there was such a creature near their room, they demanded the Samsa’s that they cannot pay their bills because of the beast. With this, Grete lose control of herself and complained to her parents saying they better get rid of her monster brother. That night, everyone went to their rooms miserable especially Gregor. Early in the morning, the beast breathed his last and his corpse was soon found by the cleaner later. When she made noises commenting on the dead animal, the Samsa’s woke up to see if Gregor was indeed dead. Upon confirmation, they all gathered together in their room and had a small talk. They soon got rid of the tenants and wrote letters of excusal t o the people concerned with their affairs. Mr. Samsa wrote to his employer, the wife to her contractor and the daughter to her principal because they decided to have a break from all their hard labor and their miserable times in their house. The story reflects existentialist concepts of self-awareness. The vivid descriptions and the seemingly unending suspense in the story eventually stirs the readers to question what is really happening in the story which in turn makes one wonder about the significance of the scenes in real life. In the animalistic state of Gregor, he has come to an awareness of what he has become and how his family could turn against him now that he is useless and becoming a great burden to them. This is specially emphasized in the first part of the story when Gregor did not yet know what he had become. The thought that he was still himself who just felt a little queer or sick made him wonder about the reactions of the chief clerk and his parents. The span of time to Gregor’s discovery of his transformation may have taken a long time because he never thought that he was different. However, when he realized his situation, Gregor became considerate enough to his family members, hiding himself whenever the door opens in order not to frighten whoever entered his room. Similarly, the other members of the family gave more meaning to their existence as they sought to help themselves in their dire situation. Grete and her parents seemed satisfied

Global Warming Essay Example for Free

Global Warming Essay The global carbon cycle is one of the most important biogeochemical cycles in nature and should be considered with special emphasis because of constantly increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Basically, the term â€Å"global carbon cycle† describes the movement of all forms of carbon, which is the fourth abundant chemical element in our universe and essential for the structure and/or energy production for every living organism, between the atmosphere, oceans, biosphere and geosphere. Two main parts of the carbon cycle can be distinguished, i. e.the geological carbon cycle (with a turnover time in the range of millions of years), and the biological carbon cycle (which operates at time scales ranging between days and thousands of years). In short, in the geological cycle, processes like weathering and erosion are forming carbonates from atmospheric CO2 and water which are reacting with minerals in the earth’s surface and eventually washed the into the oceans where they settle in sediments. The much faster carbon turnover in the biological cycle includes processes like photosynthesis and respiration, both key phenomena of life. 2. A greenhouse gas is a gas in the atmosphere that allows sunlight enter the atmosphere and reach the earth’s surface, but then prevents a certain portion of the reflected radiation (mainly this is the infrared or â€Å"heat† part of the spectrum) to leave the atmosphere towards open space again. Due to this effect, a â€Å"greenhouse† effect, similar to that wanted and used in agricultural greenhouses to grow plants faster and earlier due to warmer temperatures, develops and gradually heats up the atmosphere. This leads to global warming with all the negative effects discussed in the next paragraph. CO2 is both, a naturally occurring and man-made greenhouse gas, that together with other natural (water vapour, methane and nitrous oxide) and man-made substances (e. g. gases used for aerosols and cooling liquids) is responsible for global warming, the man-made amount of atmospheric CO2 however alarmingly rising. 3. â€Å"Global warming† describes the slight, but constant and gradual elevation of our atmosphere’s temperature, especially realized as a man-made effect within the last decades. Although times of global warming have repeatedly occurred on our planet long before humans could contribute (e. g. ice-age and warming periods), the dramatic increase of man-made atmospheric CO2 due to industrialization, excessive agriculture, and transportation leads, due to the previously described greenhouse effect, to a global rise in temperatures. With growing certainty that rise is understood to be responsible for an increasing occurrence of catastrophic events such as changes in weather (storms and hurricanes, heavy rain and snow, desertification), elevation of sea level (flooding), or melting of glaciers and arctic ice shelves. 4. There are diverse causes of global warming including natural processes such as carbon dioxide exhausting from rotting organic matter, atmospheric water vapour or natural gases like methane. However it is more and more agreed that the recent dramatic increase in global warming is mainly caused by a man-made elevation in atmospheric CO2 by transportation, agriculture and industries. Such elevated concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere and all their negative effects (see above) not only cause global warming by direct influence, but also interact with natural processes, altogether outbalancing the global carbon cycle and destabilizing our climate with unpredictable consequences. 5. The Kyoto Protocol has been signed by the United Nations on Dec. 11th 1997 in Kyoto, Japan with the intention to set measures against progressive climate changes. For the first time in history, the participating nations (until today 136 nations signed and ratified the protocol) agree on threshold levels and the reduction of the production of greenhouse gases within the protocol’s validation period from 2005 until 2012. 5. Unfortunately shaming poor. The United States signed the Kyoto protocol when it was initiated, but (together with Australia) never ratified the agreements. However, Australia started to ratify the agreements in the year 2007 after a change in their government, leaving the USA (who under President G. W. Bush shows no intention to ratify the contract in the near future) back in shame alone†¦ 6. Of course YES! The US considers itself as one of the world’s leading nations. Doubtlessly it is one of the world’s leading industrial nations, which is good for wealth and progress, but also implies a big responsibility, since due to its industry the US is also one of the leading producers of CO2. Thus, the US contributes a major part to the worldwide greenhouse effect and therefore to global warming as well. So why does the US not act responsible in terms of environmental issues? Profit and industrial interests are a strong power worldwide and very often refuse sustainable actions and environmental care, but in contrast to the US the other nations who signed the Kyoto Protocol at least start acting responsible. To my opinion it is a shame for the US to ignore alarming facts and signs of global warming and not even try to show some responsibility for our planet and future generations. So, even if the Kyoto Protocol is certainly not the final solution to growing environmental challenges, it is a beginning and can be the start of a sustainable and more responsible human future. However, to allow that beginning, cooperation and good will of all nations, including the US is essential.

Relationship Between Management And Shareholders Finance Essay

Relationship Between Management And Shareholders Finance Essay A lot of studies have been done in the matters of earnings management. It is because earnings management can be practice in many ways. There are several research done which covered the topic about earnings management and board characteristics(Saleh, et al,2005), board of directors and opportunistic earnings management (Sarkar et al., 2006), earnings manager and long term performance (Ho, et al 2006), earnings management in education (Misiewicz, 2006), earnings management and IPOs (Spohr, 2004) and so forth. Here in this assignment I put an interest on study of earning management and IPOs. Where I already found several related articles which cover the topic from several countries. The countries cover from the articles that I already found are IPOs in Finland, Japan as well as Malaysia. Before I discuss about earnings management in IPOs in depth, I also discuss about the relationship between management and shareholders. Then I discuss about definition of earnings management from different point of views. Beside that I also get to understand of earnings management through the mechanism as well as the loopholes in accounting standards the can caused the earnings management could happen. I also highlight several method of earnings management that familiarly practices. Eventually, I will discuss the issues of earnings management in IPOs that happen in Japan, Finland and Malaysia. LITERATURE REVIEW Relationship between management and shareholders Financial statements can be seen as medium of information between management of particular company and shareholders. Management is considered as workforces to achieve companies objectives. While shareholders represented as capitals supplier which generated the workforces in order to achieve the objective. Typically only public listed company should disclose their annual report to the shareholders or potential shareholder. The benefit gain from to be listed in any stock exchange are for additional funds, not only to finance further expansion and diversification as well as new projects as well as to reduce debts(Rahman and Abdullah, 2005). Beside that public will see the listed company typically have higher profile and greater visibility which confers greater investors confidence and publicity. The relationship between managers and shareholders in the business world cannot be disputable. This relationship is interpreted under Theory Agency (Bukit and Iskandar, 2009). They are very dependent each other, even somehow there exist conflict of interest among these two parties. In example the shareholders put on trust to agency by contributing huge amount of money in terms of paid up capital, so that agency can generate business and obtain profit and increase the firms value as principles return. Meanwhile agency (managers) is dependent to the principles for remunerations and bonuses as compensation (Bukit and Iskandar, 2009). Because of the great pressure from principles (shareholders) towards the high performance of firms values, so agency commonly practice earnings management in order to be sustained in market place (Jayati et. al.,2006). Definition of earning management Various optional opinions obtain from literature regarding earnings management. Bukit and Iskandar (2009) defined the earnings management may involve manipulation of accounting record, intentional omission or intentional misapplication of accounting o accounting principles. While, Mohanram (2003) define earnings management as the intentional misstatement or earnings leading to bottom line numbers that would have different in the absence of any manipulation. The Baralexis, S., 2004 advocates that earnings management is the process of intentionally exploiting or violating the GAAP or the law to present financial statements according to ones interests. The earnings management activities can break the reliability and credibility of management towards the shareholders. Earnings management is intrinsically related to earning quality (Lopes et al,2006). Schipper (1989) define the earnings management as a deliberate intervention of external financial accounting process with the intent of obtaining some private gain. Her argument of definition is based on a observing of accounting numbers as information. Within the opportunities offered by the accounting system, managers could exercise manage earnings by selecting accounting methods within GAAP or by changes in the ways given methods or policy (Ismail and Weetman, 2008). On the other hand, Healy and Wahlen (1999) define earnings management as an activity where manager used their discretion to adjust financial report either to misled stakeholders or for self interest. Earnings management also known as creative accounting or cooked the book may have twofold purposes. First to stop shareholders from withdrawing capital and second, as a means of reporting favorably on stewardship and performance (Devi et al., 2004). Perhaps, the main reason why companies use earnings management is because of the pressure placed upon management to show favorable returns on their investors money. This idea of seeking to please shareholders is reinforced by Agency Theory (Bukit Iskandar, 2009). Theory agency states that individuals seek to maximize their own utility, and act only in the individual best interest (Hooper et. al., 1998). So, acting in the companys best interest, management will manage the earnings to enhance their financial reporting, and therefore protect the basis of their contract (Mathews Perera, 1996). Pressure from management, therefore, may cause accountants and auditors to accept in producing favorable reports to shareholders using earnings manag ement techniques to improve results (Hussey,1996). Earnings management mechanism The practice of earnings management occurs because of the availability of different acceptability accounting accrual choice to be applied for determinant of reporting income. There are several mechanisms of implementing earnings management. First, is what they called as big bath. This type of earnings management is when the company could not reach their target in certain period. Normally companies target is based on previous performance. Then when firms are way below their target, they have an incentive to make things look even worse (Mohanram, 2003). There are several ways to make it worse such as the company will take large reconstructing charges, increase in provision for bad debt, and take other income decreasing accounting decision. This kind of practices are bound under two reasons which is firstly it is highly impossible that any amount of earning management will get them over the target and secondly the cost to make it worse are typically minimal. Therefore, any improvements in performance will perceive that managers are more credible and greater credit for turning around a firm. Some other way of perception regarding big bath is when manager takes over responsibility for a unit there is a motivation to make as much as provision that ensure any losses appear as the responsibility of the previous manager (Amat and Blake et al,1999) Second mechanism is what they called cookie jar accounting. This practice of earning management is when the company relatively to achieve above target, they may again have an incentive to reduce earnings. Typically there is little benefit in going way above a benchmark. Consider a firm which expects to report an EPS of RM3.80 for a given quarter when expectations hover around RM3.00. Especially when economic boom-up. Such a firm may report an EPS of RM3.30, but it still beating expectations. The remaining 50 cents of EPS reduction may come in handy in future quarters when the firm is slightly below targets. By reducing current period income, firms implicitly save some of these excess earnings for the future when they may be more valuable. The mechanism of the earnings management can be illustrated as below: Sources: Mohanram, 2003 Standard board point of view Earning management also be called as creative accounting. Creative accounting enable managers to cook the book and window dress their company by taking advantage of the loopholes in accounting standard. Due to this activity of earning management and thus provide doubtful of information in financial statement, so such information become unreliable. Therefore the users of financial statement will make wrong decision based on manipulated accounting numbers. Unfortunately, GAAP make such a room to accountant to make a manipulation since it allow accountants to use their discretion to make decision which is needed. In addition creative accounting is not against the law, in the hands of less a scrupulous managements, it can be dangerous instrument of deception (Naser, 1993). The common methods used by changing the assumptions for accounting standard. Methods normally applied for manage the earnings The very common method of manage earnings that normally applied by practitioners is as below: Changing the assumptions for accounting standards. For example Change in depreciation policy by extending depreciable lives periodically and justify it on the grounds that the change brings them in line with industry standards. Capitalization of expenses that previously expensed, increasing the extent of capitalization, slowing down amortization of previously capitalized expenses Reducing the provisions for bad debts. This is what people say of accrual discrepancies. Reducing income by taking on large one-time charges. For example restructuring charges. Managing transactions, whereby companies will create last minute sales by sending up a bundle of inventories to the customers by free charge for 3 months (let say) and recorded in a book of account receivables. Earnings managements and IPOs-Evidence from Finland This study had been made by Sphor (2004). His study had been used a sample companies on 56 firms that went public in the years 1994 to 2000 on Helsinki Stock exchange. The author want to prove that there is a presence of earnings management in initial public offerings (IPOs) of Finnish firms. Virtually, there is several studies have documented the presence of earnings management in IPO firm (e.g. Friedlan,1994, Teoh, Welch and Wong, 1998 and Aharony, Lee and Wong, 2000). The reason for such study is in IPO normally the earnings management practice difficult to detect from the income statement and the balance sheet, thus investors would benefit from other information that reveals the probability of earnings management. It is because managers and owners incentives to manage earnings are used to assess the likelihood that earnings management is used before IPO (Spohr, 2004). According to Aharony et al (2000), the earnings management likelihood in Chinese IPO firms varied across industri es and listing location. They suggest the noted differences in opportunistic behavior to be a result of mangers incentive to manage earnings and their possibilities to do it without detected. IPOs are priced by discounting the companys future cash flows and by observing the market values of similar publicly traded companies. At the time of their IPOs issuing companies seem to sell below market rates as their share prices are often underpriced, meaning that their value at the close of day one trading is higher than the initial price of the stock (Ritter, 1991). During the high IPO activity period that ended in year 2000 the initial returns were on average high. The in Finland found, the biggest initial profit was generated by F-Secure whose stock rose on its first trading day on November 5, 1999 from the initial offering price of 7.70 euros to 27.45 euros. The initial underpricing of Initial Public Offerings(IPOs) fits poorly to the long-term return on IPO shares. Ritter (1991) shows that IPO firms on average give poorer three-year returns than other listed firms in comparable sizes and industries. He explains this weak return on IPO shares with timing. Firms time their IPOs to the periods when the market overprices the firm, its industry and IPOs in general. The weak share performance after the IPO can also be explained with earnings management. If the firm before the IPO artificially boosts its value through managing earnings, the market will sooner or later find out the true performance of the company and devalue its shares. Compared to bad accounting or simple randomness, the distinguishing feature of earnings management is the presence of intent. Studies identifying earnings management usually make the assumption that intent is present in the circumstances where the tests are made. In research testing for earnings management in IPO firms it is assumed that it is capital market motivations that drive the firms to earnings management. The aim is to maximize the companys equity value and through this increase the owners wealth and reduce the companys financing costs. The most commonly used method to test for earnings management is the examination of accruals because they are easier to manipulate than cash flows. Abnormal accruals are considered as a sign of earnings management. The major problem in earnings management studies is how to determine if accruals are abnormally high or low. Most models used to estimate the normal level of accruals base their estimations on the firms past accruals or comparable firms accruals. In the literature the normal and abnormal accruals are usually called nondiscretionary and discretionary accruals. In particular, the research based on U.S. data provides strong evidence of discretionary accruals in IPO firms. Additionally, Teoh, Welch and Wong (1998) show that discretionary accruals can be linked to companies long term stock market performance and thus challenge the efficient market hypothesis, as the market fails to account for the manipulation. When they grouped firms by the magnitude of discretionary accruals before the IPO, they found that firms in the quartile with the lowest discretionary accruals (negative) outperformed the market by about 4% over three years, whereas firms in the quartile with the highest discretionary accruals underperformed the market by about 25%. To date there have been at least three studies on earnings management in Finnish IPOs which from Ora (2000), Eriksson (2001) and currently Spohr (2004). First study is to showing that earnings management has been present in Finnish IPOs, Ora (2000) investigates if there is any difference in earnings management behavior between 1980s and 1990s IPOs. Her results indicate that earnings management seems to have vanished in the later period. Applying a total accruals measure Oras tests are affected by the substantial changes in discretionary reserves that Finnish companies could use for managing earnings. These visible forms of earnings management vanished gradually in the 1990s due to the accounting legislation reform. Second study done by Eriksson (2001), whereby the tests for earnings management on a similar sample to this study and uses a financial ratios model called the Beneish M-score. The higher the M-score the higher is the likelihood that earnings management has occurred. Erikssons M-score averages of the sample indicates that no earnings management were present in the financial year closest to the IPO. Finally finding obtain from Spohr (2004), the firms ownership structure and the pre-IPO owners share of ownership decrease in the IPO were used to formed expectations about the likelihood of finding earnings management before the IPO. Earnings management was hypothesized to be present in the entrepreneur owned but not in the institutionally held firms. Furthermore, the probability of earnings management was assumed to be related to how much the entrepreneurs ownership decreased in the IPO. The profitability of the total sample of 56 Finnish IPO firms showed a relatively high level of profitability in the critical period for which earnings management was tested when compared to three periods before and after the critical period. The most significant change in profitability occurred in the entrepreneur firms after the IPO. To answer the question of whether high profitability was only a result of successful timing, earnings management tests were conducted on accruals. The results suppor t the hypothesis that entrepreneurs manage earnings before the IPO. In contrast to expectations, earnings management behavior seemed not be affected by how much of their ownership entrepreneurs gave up in the IPO. In the institutional owned IPO firms, no evidence of upward earnings management before the IPO was found. The limitation of the study is the sample is small. Earnings managements and IPOs under pricing -Evidence from Japan This study had been done by unstated authors in the year 2010. The study is based on the sample of 910 firms that went public in Japanese market between 1995 and 2005. The area of the study is would like to seek whether initial public offerings (IPO) are undervalued or overvalued using comparable firm multiples, (2)whether and how earnings management affects under or overvaluation, and (3) whether and how under /over-valuation and earnings management affects IPO under pricing. The underpricing phenomenon is such of common controversy covered in previous literature on Initial public offering companies over the business world. It is well known when companies go to public, the price at which investment banker sells the stock to investors in generally below the price at which the stocks trades in the secondary market shortly thereafter, resulting in a substantial price jump on the first day o trading. The meaning of IPOs underpricing is does not mean of undervalued (Purnanadam Swaminath an, 2004). The case in Japan the authors had examined whether Japanese IPOs are undervalued or overvalued using comparable firms multiples, similar method as done by Purnanadam and Swaminathan (2004). Then he investigates the relation between under or overvaluation and first-day return (underpricing). Later on, they identified the way of earnings management affects under or overvaluation and underpricing. Lastly the authors found that about 60 to 70% of Japanese IPO firms are undervalued relative to their industry peers, and most of undervalued firms have positive first day return consistent with the asymmetric information models of underpricing. On the other hand, overvalued firms consisting of 30-40 % of IPO firms also earn 7% to 12% higher first day return, and pre-IPO year abnormal accruals and the magnitude of underpricing are positively correlated when firms are overvalued. These findings suggest that IPOs are overvalued more in hot issue periods when investors tend to be optimistic about the future performance of the IPOs, while underwriters undervalue IPO firms in usual market condition. Earnings managements and performance towards IPO companies Issues in Malaysia This IPOs issue on earnings management was revealed by Rahman and Abdullah (2003). They are trying to identify the causes of firms issuing equity produce poor returns to investors in the long run by exploring the potential opportunities for earning management during the period prior to the public listing and its correlation with initial listing and post issues performance. The study covered 187 IPO valid firms identified from Bursa Malaysia Investors digest since January 1989 upward to December 1998. There are various of industries selected including tradings and services, Consumer product, construction, Properties, Infrastructure and Project companies, plantation, industrial product and hotels. The method used in this study is similar with previous study made by Abdul Rahman(2000), Tay (1993) and Ritter (1991), whereby this study is measuring abnormal return using a buy-and-hold returns approach. The Abnormal return are calculated based on the difference between holding period returns of sample IPOs firms and control companies. Further the study focuses on current accrual as the source of earning management. The types of accrual is whether discretionary accrual or non discretionary accrual. This justification is based on the definition of discretionary accrual itself which is those manipulated earnings that are determined at the discretion of management (Dennis and Michel, 1996 and Teoh et al,1998). The example of discretionary accrual the changes in allowance for doubtful account because on managements interest. According to Teoh et al (1998) the discretionary current accrual are actually superior proxy for earnings management. While in contrast the nondiscretionary accrual is the change as a result of managements accounting decisions that are of interest to the firm (Rahman Abdullah, 2005). As stated example, during the economic growth, one would expect accruals such as account receivables and account payable to change as sales increase without earnings management occurring. The most interested in this issue on IPOs is whether the investment activities in such companies will benefit investors who invest in the company. There are several studies whether done in overseas or Malaysia has been shown that IPO is a wealth reducing investment to investors in the long run. The evidence have been seeking in US whereby they found that IPO as poor long run investment for investors (Ritter, 1991; Loughran and Ritter, 1995 and Teoh et al, 1998). Also have been proven this similar issues happen in Malaysia of poor post issue performance (Ku Ismail et al, 1993 and Pok et al, 2000). The result of the study by Rahman and Abdullah (2005), found that IPO in the average have experience significant positive abnormal return relative to the non-IPO firms during the initial period if the measuring taking to consider of offering price to the end of the day listing price. However the IPO firms is obtain significant negative towards share return relative to their control firms during the first, second and third year following their initial listing on Bursa Malaysia. To solve the research question to why firms issuing equity produce poor returns to investors in the long run, the authors found that Malaysia IPO firms manage their earnings upwards in the year prior to public listing on Bursa Malaysia. Furthermore, those IPO firms that manage earnings are not significantly different between industries but are significantly different between the Main and Second board. Subsequently, the result on their study in relation between prior earnings management and post issues share return performance after the initial public listing is no significant relationship. The result sustain with respect to IPO firms with high or low level of earnings management. In addition according to the Rahman and Abdullah (2005) there is no evidence to suggest that the pre offerings earnings management is able to predict the abnormal returns during the initial period and over one to three years following equity offerings. This argument actually had supported from previous literature made by Ku Ismail et al. 1993 and Shivakumar, 2000), whereby they mentioned that the positive abnormal return during the initial period may be due to the underpricing by underwriters and also as a result of asymmetric information among investors during the announcement period. The result of positive share return at the initial period is actually contradicted with the literature from Teoh et al (1998). He argues that the investors are unable to fully understand managerial earnings at the time of equity offerings and ends up a high offer price. The possible reason of negative significant post issue return one to three years after listing may be due to the unfavorable earnings revealed by media, analysts report and financial statement after the offering(Rahman Abdullah 2005). CONCLUSION In a review of earnings management in IPOs literature, Spohr (2004) and Rahman and Abdullah (2005) are identify a range of potential significant incentives to undertake earnings management. It is including contracts written in terms of accounting numbers, capital market expectation and valuation and government actions. Managers of an IPO company probably motivated to manage earnings in the reporting period following the IPO in order to align more closely with the prediction for the period (Ismail Weetman, 2008). In addition, Ismail and Weetman also found that managers also motivated to manage earnings to increase their short term wealth at the expense of the long term value of the firm. According to Rahman and Abdullah (2005), IPO companies have an opportunity in manipulating offering-year discretionary current accrual and non discretionary current accrual. I noticed here there are several opinions regarding the IPOs market return begin with when company went to public upward to three years later. Therefore the investors in particular should concern with any information announced by the firm before attempting to invest. There are some evidence mentioned that the investing in IPO is kind of short term wealth. This could be happen because there is an existence of earnings management in their operation in order to meet the requirement by Securities commission.

capital punishment :: essays research papers

It is unreasonable to think that to take the life of a man who has taken that of another is to show lack of regard for human life. We show, on the contrary, an emphatic regard for it, by the adoption of a rule that he who violates that right in another forfeits it for himself. My agreement with these, the words of philosopher John Stuart Mill, compels me to affirm today’s resolution, that capital punishment is justified. My value premise for the round will be justice, giving each individual his or her due. My value criterion is societal benefit without infringing on individual rights. -I feel it is necessary to observe, before I begin, that while I feel the death penalty is just, it is only just as punishment for certain crimes. However, If I can prove the justice of the death penalty as a punishment for one specific crime, It would affirm the resolution. In this round, I will attempt to prove that the death penalty is a just punishment for first degree, premeditated murder. (Serial murderers) -Contention #1: by murdering another, criminal’s forfeits their right to life. The system of punishment is based on taking away the liberties of convicted criminals. In committing a crime, an individual gives up certain rights, and it is because of this forfeiture of rights that we can impose punishment upon them. The amount of rights forfeited is in some manner proportional to the severity of the crime for which the individual was convicted. If someone commits a minor crime, such as littering, they lose a small amount of right. Therefore it is justified to take from them a small amount of their liberty, possibly economic liberty through a fine. As the severity of the crime increases, the amount of right forfeited increases likewise. In other words, if I kill a woman, I am being unjust because I am doing to her what I would not have her do to me. I am expressing that we are not equals, and that I am her superior. By demonstrating that I have lost my right to life, the government reaffirms that the two of us are in fact equal. By demonstrating that we are equal, the state upholds justice. Immanuel Kant explains the position, arguing: â€Å"If he has committed murder, he must die. Here there is no substitute that will satisfy justice. There is no similarity between life, however wretched it may be, and death, hence no likeness between the crime and the retribution unless death is judicially carried out upon the wrongdoer†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Metaphysics of Moral)

Essay --

In the following paper, I will be examining and comparing Turkey and Spain in order to determine their overall attitude towards immigration. I will first go into depth about the history and background of both Spain and Turkey, specifically in regards to immigration. After that, I will come up with two hypothesis in order to determine whether education and political orientation affect Turks’ and Spains attitudes towards immigration. The first hypothesis lists the relationship between education and attitude towards immigration, while the second provides the relationship between political orientation and attitude towards immigration. Finally, I will use statistical data to either prove or disprove my hypothesis. Research Question: For these two specific countries and our research for them, our research question was â€Å"Does country matter in political orientation and level of education and people’s attitudes towards immigrants?† Literature Review: From our literature review, we learned that attitudes towards immigrants in a society are influenced by the way the population accepts the i... Essay -- In the following paper, I will be examining and comparing Turkey and Spain in order to determine their overall attitude towards immigration. I will first go into depth about the history and background of both Spain and Turkey, specifically in regards to immigration. After that, I will come up with two hypothesis in order to determine whether education and political orientation affect Turks’ and Spains attitudes towards immigration. The first hypothesis lists the relationship between education and attitude towards immigration, while the second provides the relationship between political orientation and attitude towards immigration. Finally, I will use statistical data to either prove or disprove my hypothesis. Research Question: For these two specific countries and our research for them, our research question was â€Å"Does country matter in political orientation and level of education and people’s attitudes towards immigrants?† Literature Review: From our literature review, we learned that attitudes towards immigrants in a society are influenced by the way the population accepts the i...

Comparing the Voodoo5 5500 with NVIDIAâ??s Geforce2 Ultra :: essays research papers fc

This essay will compare Voodoo5 5500 with NVIDIA’s Geforce2 Ultra to determine which accelerator provides the best performance. Both companies’ accelerators share the same goal, to bring the highest visual quality possible. Although both companies share the same goal, their approaches are extremely different. Cost will also be addressed. The following features will be examined: - Dual 3dfx VSA-100 - T-Buffering - Fill Rate - 32-bit Z-Buffer/Stencil - Synchronous dynamic random access memory - 32-bit Color II 3D IMAGING 3D objects are created by connecting two-dimensional polygons. Objects appear to be 3D dimensional because the computer calculates the necessary angles to give the illusion of depth. The computer then assigns a give texture to each object, textures are the covering of the object. Like in the real world, different textures have different properties, like color, luster, opaque, etc. These objects are then displayed on the computer’s monitor. Many 3D objects can be combined to create a 3D environment. A 3D environment is the computers generation of a make believe world. When the camera, the point of view within the 3D world, moves, the computer calculates the height, width, depth and the lighting of every object and adjust them in way that from the perspective of the camera, you appear to be moving within the environment. What is 3D? The first dimension is a line. The second dimension, a plane. This world is described vertically and horizontally. This is what you draw on a piece of paper. The third dimension, our dimension, allows free movement and perception by adding depth. This allows movement in all directions, up, down, left, right, forwards and back. All personal computers come pre-installed with a two-dimensional (2D) graphics board - the hardware that creates the computer screen graphics for flat applications like Microsoft Word and Excel. But, to make 3D images in real-time (or on-the-fly), a computer must make millions of complex mathematical calculations every second. This can make games and 3D graphics applications slow and jerky as the computer gets caught up rendering 3D images in addition to running the program. 3D accelerators solve this problem. When you install a 3D accelerator, the 3D graphics previously rendered by the CPU (your computer's processor) are now rendered by the 3D accelerator. This significantly increases the performance, visual effects, and drastically improves the 3D experience. III VOODOO5 5500 The Voodoo5 5500 is 3Dfx’s latest 3D accelerator.

Several of the poems from Different Cultures seem to be encouraging people to discover their true selves and their place in society

Several of the poems from different cultures seem to be encouraging people to discover their true selves and their place in society. Love after Love, Hurricane hits England and Search for my Tongue are among those poems. These poems written by different poets encourage people to discover their true selves and their place in society by using many techniques such as interesting word and phrase selection (language), thoughtful imagery to convey messages, using descriptions focussing on sounds and using structure to create an effect. Also, the poets use their own cultural experiences to convey their message especially Hurricane hits England and Search for my Tongue. The three poems are all from different cultures and traditions therefore it is important to look at the cultural context of the poems. Love after Love is a poem wrote by Derek Walcott, much of Walcott's work has explored issues of Caribbean cultural identity. He has remarked, ‘The process of poetry is one of excavation and self- discovery'. Hurricane hits England is a poem written by the Caribbean born writer Grace Nichols, who moved to England in the 1970s and now lives in the coast of Sussex. In 1987, the southern coast of England was hit by hurricane winds, these hurricane winds were rarely experienced in England, in the Caribbean, on the other hand, hurricanes are a regular occurrence and had been part of Grace Nichols' childhood. Concerning the 1987 English hurricane, the poet felt that the voices of the old gods were in the wind, specifically within the Sussex, in fact, for the first time she sensed a closeness to the English landscape like never before, and felt that the Caribbean had come to England. She now feels at home both in Guyana and in England. Search for my Tongue is a poem written by Sujata Bhatt. The poet was born in Gujarat, India, where her ‘mother tongue' or native language was Gujarati. Later, her family lived for some years in the United States, where she learnt English although she now lives in Germany. She wrote Search for my Tongue at a time when she was beginning to worry that she might lose her original language. She has always thought of herself as being in Indian who is outside India. Her mother tongue is, for her, an important link to her family and to her childhood. It is the deepest layer of her identity, she has claimed. The poets use language in their poems to encourage people to discover their true selves and their place in society. Love after love is a poem written in the second person, as if the poet is addressing the reader directly' Writing to ‘you' rather than talking about ‘me' gives the impression that the poet is offering advice to everyone. The poem is full of imperative verbs or commands: ‘sit' (lines 6 and 15), ‘Eat' (line 6), ‘give' (line 8), ‘Take' (line 12), ‘Peel' (line 14) and ‘Feast' (line 15). Derek Walcott is encouraging every reader to go through this process of self discovery, to ‘feast' on the opportunities that one's real self can enjoy, and to ‘sit' and feel comfortable with it. Hurricane Hits England varies its style of language, the first stanza is in the third person whereas the second stanza is in the first person when we ‘hear' the woman's voice. There are some contradictions in the poem. For example, the woman says that the wind is both ‘fearful and reassuring' (line 7), and, at first sight, these two words do not seem to make sense together in what could be called a paradox. This contradiction may be demonstrating that the woman, too, is unsure what her feelings are towards the hurricane, her thoughts are also contradictory. The woman asks many questions between lines 13 and 27, in each of these four questions, the poet is trying to make sense of what is happening. The exclamations towards the end help us to understand how the woman is feeling and contribute to the tone of the poem. She becomes excited, even ecstatic, at the power of the storm and the thoughts it arouses within her, ‘O why is my heart unchained? ‘, (line 27). Questions asked in lines 13 to 27 are answered in the final lines, ‘Come to let me know. That the earth is the earth is the earth'. The poet means that she finally feels at home in England, and that wherever you may find yourself on this planet, you will eventually find peace with your place in society. Search for my tongue uses the word ‘tongue' for many different meanings. The poet, Sujata Bhatt, plays with these different meanings. For example, she imagines that knowing two languages is like having ‘two tongues in your mouth' (line 4) and speaks of her original language as being her ‘mother tongue' (line 5). The poem begins colloquially, using everyday language, but then develops to employing striking imagery and language. The poem begins by appearing to answer a question- ‘You ask me what I mean†¦ ‘ (line1). If you are replying to a question someone has posed, you would use natural speech. However, if you really want to get your message across, you should turn the question back on the questioner- ‘I ask you, what would you do†¦ ‘ (line 3). The poet uses ‘shock tactics' or such striking images to do that. It could be said that if the poem says more or less the same thing twice in two languages, then it might just is well be written in only one language. However, the whole point of the poem would then be lost. The same thing being said in two languages is the key, the poet has ‘two tongues' and she doesn't want to loose one of them. Imaginative imagery is used in all three of the poems to encourage people to discover their true selves and their place in society. In Love after Love the poet uses images of feasting throughout the poem. This is because a meal, especially an intimate one between two people, is an important form of social interaction in which people can get to know each other. Therefore it is natural that the dining room scenario is used for getting to know your true self. This is a very happy poem and presents a particularly positive image of the later years in life, portraying them not as a time of loss, but one of fulfilment and recovery. In Search for my tongue the poet uses the imagery of comparing her tongue with a plant as she develops her ideas. She compares it by using an extended metaphor. You can almost imagine the ‘plant', first in decline, then growing again. This image of the plant is successful because it includes contrasts. Some of the imagery is quite startling, for instance, when she imagines that the ‘mother tongue' might ‘rot and die in her mouth' (lines 12 and 13) as the second foreign language takes over. The lost tongue grows back at night when she dreams in Gujarati, like a plant that appears to have died, but then starts to bud and grow strong again, producing beautiful blossoms. Hurricane Hits England is full of natural imagery, mainly because it is about the effect of the wind on the landscape. For example, ‘trees/ falling heavy as whales' (line 23-24) is effective because the huge trees become like floating sea creatures when the torrential rain that accompanies the hurricane makes the land become almost like sea. There is also a lot of symbolism wrapped up in the imagery, ‘Come to break the frozen lake in me' (line 33). This may indicate that the poet has been ‘frozen' by being away from her own country, so that the arrival of the hurricane can help to ‘break the ice' and allow her to live more comfortably in her new home country. The poets use descriptions focussing on sounds to encourage people to discover their true selves and their place in society. In Love after Love repetition is the device used by the poet in this poem as a sound effect. He repeats some words, or variations of them- ‘mirror' (lines 4 and 14), ‘stranger' (line 7 and 9). ‘love'/ ‘loved'/ ‘love-letters' (lines 7/9/12) and ‘life' (lines 10 and 15). This is the poet's way of emphasising the main stages of the self-discovery process. Hurricane Hits England varies the way it sounds, the first stanza is in the third person whereas the second stanza is in the first person when we ‘hear' the woman's voice. All three poems have their own specific structure, the structures of the poems are organised in orders of ideas in the poem and how they develop. In Love after Love the stanza form is irregular, but most lines are loosely iambic. This means that there is one short unstressed syllable followed by one long stressed syllable. Some of the lines are also quite regular tetrameter- for example, lines 8 and 13. The poem is split into four small sized stanzas whereas Search for my tongue is split into three large stanzas. In the first stanza she tells us how hard it is for her to know two languages and how she has neglected the one she feels most belongs to her. In the second stanza she explains these ideas in Gujarati. In the final stanza she then translates her thoughts for us into English, lines 31-39 meaning something similar to lines 17-30, showing that although her ‘mother tongue' (line 38) dies during the day, it ‘grows back' ( line 31) in her dreams at night, becoming strong and producing ‘blossoms' (line 39). Of all these three poems Hurricane Hits England is the largest. The poem is written in eight stanzas of varying lengths. The lines themselves are also of varying lengths. This irregularity helps us to see how unpredictable the hurricane is, and how unpredictable the woman's thoughts are. The first stanza of the poem is in the third person, as the reader is introduced to the woman, but the majority of it is written in the 1st person. Love after Love, Search for my tongue and Hurricane Hits England are three poems from Different Cultures which encourage people to discover their true selves and their place in society. The poets who wrote the poems do this by, the poetic devices they use, significant use of language and imagery and significant use of style and structure. All of these ideas and style are influenced by the poets' cultural backgrounds.

Creative Writing (Story beginnings) Essay

A golden haze encircled the angel’s head and its torso glowed dazzling white against the drab dreary wall behind. â€Å"What’s happe†¦Ã¢â‚¬  she willed her mouth to finish the sentence but it wouldn’t obey so she gave up. She fought too against the uplifting force taking her away from the slightly damp pavement but as every ounce of resistance drained out of her limbs, she went limp and was completely at its mercy. The final thought that crossed her mind before it succumbed to the black cloud that eventually engulfed her was that she recognised this angel. * Elizabeth Anne Johnson – Lizzie to her friends – was a beautiful girl. With endless jet-black locks flowing down her back and striking features, she looked straight off a catwalk. Tonight she was wearing her favourite pale pink mini-dress with manicured nails and dainty heels to match; and with her perfect figure, she was more than able to carry it off. A combination of her stunning looks and the confidence she exuded made every head turn when she walked past – a fact of which she was well aware. Lizzie had spent all night in Brighton’s new trendiest nightspot â€Å"Heaven†. The place was heaving with bodies bouncing to the thundering beats pounding out of the state of the art stereo system. They were puppets dancing to the tune of the headphone-wearing master in the glass booth above. Fluffy white clouds were suspended from the ceiling, in keeping with the paradisiacal theme, and the strobe lighting completed the effect. The drinks were flowing and the atmosphere was electric – just how Lizzie liked it – and as she cast her chocolate-brown eyes around the dance floor a wave of euphoria swept over her. She felt as though she was perched on top of the world. Already tonight, she had received fifteen requests to buy her a drink – a record even by her standards – and had accepted only one. This was one more than usual though. She may have seemed like the happy-go-lucky type but appearances can be deceptive and she was quite the opposite. Lizzie, a seasoned partygoer, was extremely cautious, especially after the letters†¦ Nevertheless, against her better judgement, she was drawn in by the hypnotic charms of this blonde-haired stranger and felt powerless to resist. His eyes were bottomless pools of baby blue and he had a passive, peaceful presence – she trusted him immediately and completely. She began chatting to him and it suddenly dawned on her that she was telling her life story to a total stranger but she pushed the thought out of her mind just as quickly as it had surfaced. Besides with his crisp white shirt, soft voice and wide grin, he seemed harmless enough. Chapter One (2) The sun was playing hide and seek behind the rows of trees as Detective Flynn drove up to the Heaton mansion. He was filled with the giddy excitement of a man about to change his life. He knew how lucky he was to be here and that this case could potentially make or break his career. Flynn was extremely tall and so scrawny one feared he might blow over in a sudden gust of wind. Through the flaming red curtains flopping over his forehead, intense blue eyes peered out inquisitively. As the mansion came into view for the first time he was awestruck. Beyond the wrought iron gates, it stood large and handsome. It was a huge stone structure with countless windows glinting in the afternoon sun and set in acres of sprawling grounds, of which every inch was flawless. The only thing blemishing this perfect watercolour was the black and yellow police tape running the length of the building. The old rusty Ford Escort coughed and spluttered to a halt in the immaculate courtyard and with an almighty heave Flynn managed to force the door open. As he stepped out gravel crunched beneath his feet. He was dressed in a pair of old faded ‘Marks and Sparks’ jeans and looking around, was suddenly painfully aware of how old and faded they really were. He was also regretting the rest of his wardrobe choice. His slightly off-white shirt had a ‘straight out of the laundry basket’ look and his black leather loafers hadn’t seen a dab of polish since†¦well ever. Despite this, John Heaton greeted Flynn with a warm friendly handshake. The two had been at school together and even though their lives had taken extremely different paths, they had remained the best of friends. As he was being introduced to Heaton’s wife Claudia, the detective couldn’t help but notice how much his friend had changed. A nervous and slightly awkward teenager, John Heaton had become a confident self-assured 35 year-old. He now spoke with the eloquence and poise that only a multi-billionaire could. He was dripping with expensive designer labels – a far cry from the washed out tee shirts and baggy jeans of his adolescence. Money oozed out of his every pore. One thing, however, had definitely not changed. Observing the dreamy look that descended upon his face as he gazed at his wife, Flynn could tell his old chum was still a sucker for a pretty girl. And this was one pretty girl! 15 years his junior, actress Claudia Gilbert-Heaton was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty. Yet, as she tentatively extended her perfectly manicured hand to shake his, Detective Flynn took an instant disliking to her. Her broad smile was almost condescending and didn’t reach her eyes, which were icy and distant. â€Å"I’m so pleased to finally meet you,† she said, looking him up and down, staring pointedly at the ink stain on his shirt pocket. The disdainful look in her eyes betrayed her words and he could tell she was quite the opposite. The reason for this, he would soon discover†¦ Chapter One (3) It screamed at me. Its waving arms taunted me as they jerked up and down and the smiley face was more of a sneering face. At that moment all I wanted to do was shatter it into a thousand pieces but it was so far away and my legs were still sound asleep. I picked a rolled up sock up off the floor and with all the energy I could muster, sat up and launched it. It hit its intended destination with satisfying thud and mercifully, the screaming desisted. Putting the bright yellow, â€Å"Little Miss Sunshine† alarm clock so far out of reach had been a pre-emptive strike by mother against my Sunday morning lie-in. Ha, I thought, she’ll have to think of something better than that! I managed the beginnings of a triumphant grin before, exhausted from my exertions, I slumped onto the lumpy mattress and slid back into a peaceful slumber. Ten minutes later I heard the sprightly purposeful pounding that could only be her bounding up the stairs. She burst through the door, wearing her mechanical cheery smile. â€Å"Morning love, sleep well? Why aren’t you up yet, I heard the alarm go off ages ago?†Ã¢â‚¬  she asked, ruffling my unruly brown curls. She then marched over to the window, with unnatural liveliness considering the time and spread the curtains wide. â€Å"Oh Mum, it’s too bright,† I mumbled in complaint, raising an arm to shield my bleary eyes from the light. She ignored me. â€Å"I sometimes think you wouldn’t know an early morning if it came up and bit you on the behind. Now get up, I’m sure you’ve plenty of work to do today and we don’t want you falling behind now do we?† she chirped, practically, it seemed, in unison with the birds outside. â€Å"I need sleep,† I whined, yearning for some pity. It didn’t come. â€Å"You shouldn’t let sleep get in the way of things. Heaven knows I don’t; I can’t. What would happen if I did? Nothing would get done around here – that’s what!† she tutted and continued with renewed vigour, â€Å"Goodness, look at the state of this room! I’m sure you’ve forgotten what colour the carpet is! This is not a positive working environment. How on earth can you get anything done in here?† She asked and without pausing for an answer, delved into the abyss that was my bedroom floor. She began sorting tidying and organising like an unstoppable whirlwind of efficiency, her neat blonde bob bouncing up and down. I merely lounged on the bed and watched on in amazement. Within minutes she had transformed the cluttered chaotic mess into a tidy, orderly bedroom. When she finished, she stood up, brushed some imaginary specks of dirt from her skirt and staring at my sprawled out figure, flashed me the look. Oh no, I groaned inwardly. It was the I-am-so-disappointed-you-didn’t-turn-out-more-like-me look. This look was always followed by a stream of criticisms, of which most, to be fair, were usually quite accurate. I sighed and braced myself for the oncoming tirade. Literary Analysis of Story Beginning (1) When writing my own story opening, I tried to use techniques that would make the reader want to read on. For example, I described the main character’s appearance in detail so that the reader would be able to form a mental picture of her. Just from the first few paragraphs, the reader knows that she is â€Å"a beautiful girl† with â€Å"endless jet black locks† and â€Å"chocolate brown eyes†. The effect of this is to make the reader relate to her with empathy rather than objectivity because they feel they know her. I also tried to show her personality was sweet and kind. Her clothes and shoes are â€Å"powder-pink† and â€Å"dainty†. I also mentioned that she â€Å"seemed like the happy-go-lucky type†. I did this so the reader would like her and be affected by anything that may happen to her. I included her full name â€Å"Elizabeth Anne Johnson† so that the reader would feel like they were getting a complete picture of her. However, for the rest of the opening, I referred to her as Lizzie. This created a bond between the reader and the character because she is â€Å"Lizzie to her friends† so the reader feels like her friend. It is written in the 3rd person narrative so the reader can get a full overview of all the events in the story. The narrative structure deviates. This creates suspense, as there is no development of the action in the first paragraph in the rest of the opening. I purposely created a huge contrast between the eerie and spooky first paragraph and the rest of the opening, which seems like an ordinary night out, by using varying degrees of character and event description. In the first paragraph I did not use any description at all and just used non-specific terms like â€Å"she†. This was to create mystery and apprehension. In sharp contrast to this, I fully described character and events in the rest of the story. I began with telling the reader her full name so they felt they were being formally introduced. I then went on to describe her appearance, clothes what she is doing: â€Å"tonight she was wearing†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"She had spent all night†¦Ã¢â‚¬  because I did none of this in the first paragraph. I did however make some links. For example, in the first paragraph, the words â€Å"angel†, â€Å"uplifting† and â€Å"glowed† are used. In the rest of the opening, the words â€Å"Heaven†, â€Å"fluffy white clouds† and â€Å"euphoria† are used. This is to create a link between the two parts of the story and establish an ongoing theme of heaven and the supernatural. I also used a sense of vulnerability to link the two main characters. With the girl in the first paragraph it is obvious. I used carefully chosen vocabulary. â€Å"She willed her mouth†¦it wouldn’t obey† shows that she isn’t even in control of her own body. â€Å"She fought to against the uplifting force†¦was completely at its mercy†, â€Å"her mind†¦succumbed to the black cloud that eventually engulfed her†. Also the word succumbed is quite passive. However the vulnerability in Lizzie’s character is subtler. At the end, she is â€Å"drawn in† by the stranger and feels â€Å"powerless to resist†. This links Lizzie and the girl but also â€Å"the angel† and â€Å"the stranger† because they hold the power in the respective relationships. I think the links make the reader want to read on because it’s like giving them some pieces of a puzzle. They can see some of the picture so they read on so they can find the rest of it. To create further curiosity, the phrase â€Å"especially after the letters†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is not explained at any point in the opening, forcing the reader to form their own opinion. The fact that she was â€Å"extremely cautious especially after the letters† makes the letters seem sinister and let the reader know they were a cause for concern. I used ellipsis at the end so show it is an unfinished thought and an unanswered question. I carefully chose vocabulary to foreshadow dramatic events. For example, ‘on top of the world’ is a well-known phrase, which means in a position of great happiness or success. However I used the phrase â€Å"perched on top of the world† in my story opening. The word perched suggests instability and precariousness so implies that her happiness may be short lived. I also used the progression of time to create effect. The story begins with the girl trying to speak and then finally collapsing â€Å"†¦she willed her mouth to finish the sentence but it wouldn’t obey†¦succumbed to the black cloud that was threatening to engulf her† and then goes to a lively vibrant scene. I did this so the scene would seem like a flashback or a dream – as we know the main character is unconscious. The strobe lighting in the scene adds to the dream-like quality. I tried to create an image of the setting (the club) being beautiful and pure. I did this by calling it â€Å"heaven† and using description like â€Å"fluffy white clouds†. I then used words like â€Å"heaving with bodies† â€Å"thundering beats† and â€Å"pounding† when describing the people and what they are doing to create a contrast. I did this to imply that clubbing itself is innocent enough but the people make it dangerous. I used alliteration in several places for effect. â€Å"†¦drab dreary wall† emphasises how dull and grey the wall in contrast â€Å"dazzling white† of the angel, to to make it stand out more. In â€Å"bodies all bouncing to the thundering beat†, the ‘b’ sound is repeated to try and mirror the beat of the music. I used the phrases â€Å"bottomless pools of baby blue† and â€Å"passive, peaceful presence† because they are quite soft sounds and I wanted to make the stranger seem calm and therefore contrast with the setting, which is â€Å"electric†. I used a metaphor â€Å"They were puppets dancing to the tune of the headphone-wearing master in the glass booth above† because it emphasises the submissive nature of the clubbers and the idea of a person wielding power over someone else. The issue of power is explored in many different parts of the story. I also used repetition. The word seemed is used at the end the last paragraph. â€Å"She may have seemed like the happy-go-lucky type but appearances can be deceptive and she was quite the opposite† and â€Å"he seemed harmless enough†. This is to suggest that just because the stranger seems harmless he â€Å"may be quite the opposite† and to foreshadow him doing something harmful in the future. I put it in italics both times to add emphasis and draw the reader’s attention to it. In conclusion, I think the techniques I used were effective because there are unanswered questions right at the beginning, which are never answered and this appeals the curiosity of the reader, making them want to read on.

Should Pietermaritzburg Have A Methane Plant Environmental Sciences Essay

The direction and disposal of waste has become an progressively outstanding job in Pietermaritzburg over the last few old ages. There has been an addition in the sum of waste that is disposed of and the direction of Pietermaritzburg ‘s New England Road Landfill Site has been a subject of treatment and argument for the local occupants and those who make usage of the site ‘s installations. My research undertaking revolves around how and if it would be possible to better this site concentrating chiefly on the execution of a Methane works as this is the following measure that landfill sites around the universe have taken in order to do the landfill more efficient and good. This gas to electricity program falls under the Clean Development Mechanism ( CDM ) Undertaking. 1. METHOD OF GAS-TO-ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION Procedure of change overing gas to electricity Landfill gas, LFG, ( dwelling of 50 % Methane ) is produced when the waste in the landfill decomposes and interrupt down under anaerobiotic conditions. The gas is so collected in belowground pipes which are built into the landfill as portion of the Methane works undertaking The gas is so stored This stored gas is illuminated and used to make electricity by powering turbines that turn when as a consequence of steam, from the H2O heated by the gas The excess and unneeded gas is flared in order to extinguish it The electricity can so be sold in order to power residential countries, industrial procedures and even transport systems Figure 1: Landfill gas to electricity procedure. http//www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/landfill/html/ch5.html This development of a methane works is portion of the Gas-to-Electricity undertaking that has been initiated around the universe. It involves capturing the LFG ( Landfill Gas ) that is produced when the waste in the landfill site decomposes and interruptions down. LFG is composed of 50 % Methane which is so extracted and used as a fuel in order to make electricity. The extra gas is flared in order to extinguish it. In order to see the above undertaking, one needs to maintain in head that there are restraints placed upon merely how many accommodations can be made. These restraints require the landfill to subject to the Torahs and ordinances set by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in South Africa. In order to measure this possibility, one needs to compare the New England Road Landfill Site to the others is South Africa that have successfully implemented this undertaking. The chief comparings will take topographic point between the New England Landfill Site and the 3 late implemented Methane workss in Durban, viz. on the Bisasar Road, La Mercy and Mariannhill Sites. 2. LANDFILL CRITERIA In order for a undertaking of this nature to be approved, it needs to be considered by the South African Designated National Authority ( DNA ) harmonizing to ‘Regulations under Section 25 ( 3 ) of the National Environmental Management Act: Constitution of a Designated National Authority for the Clean Development Mechanism ‘ ( GN.R 1478 of 24 December 2004 ) . 2.1 Laws and Regulations A landfill besides has to run into certain standards in order for it to be permitted to run. There are Torahs and ordinances set in topographic point which a landfill site must conform to- and have a license turn outing this- in order to be allowed to run and are as follows: A Landfill Site has a capacity of less than 100A 000 metric tons does NOT necessitate a system whereby the Landfill gas ( LFG ) is captured and managed Monitoring of the concentration of the LFG gas in the dirt. It can non transcend 1 % Adequate and efficient airing systems if the Methane concentration exceeds 5 % The wellness and health of worlds, workss and animate beings can non be compromised 2.2 Waste Management Second, there are the waste direction standards which deal with the purpose and purposes of a landfill: Reduce waste Reuse waste and Recycle waste 2.3 Environmental and Socio-economic Factors Last, there are standards with respects to the existent edifice, geological site and care of the landfill. These are: Environmental factors Economic Impacts Socio-economic factors Looking at the Environmental, Economic and Socio-economic factors, one is able to judge whether or non the New England Road Landfill site can implement and pull off a methane works on it ‘s site. 3. Environmental FACTORS 3.1 Size The size of the landfill plays a large function in the limitations it places on the sum of ‘upgrades ‘ that it can suit. The New England Road Landfill Site is little in graduated table when compared to landfills such as Mariannhill in Durban or Goudkoppies in Johannesburg. New England Road has an consumption of a few hundred dozenss less than the above two listed sites, doing it comparatively little in size. Not merely does the Landfill need to suit the Methane works itself, but it besides needs to hold the capacity to hold the following installed on it in order for the operation to run: Extraction Wellss Gas aggregation grapevines Gas extraction works Flare units LFG Generators Electricity connexion, transformers and overseas telegrams 3.2 Situation New England Road Landfill Site is situated near the N3 Highway doing it easy accessible to those going from anyplace within the metropolis. It is besides, nevertheless, in the suburb of Hayfields and is hence in really close propinquity to a residential country. This limits the extensions that can be added to the site as people live in that country and demand to therefore, as it is stated in the Torahs sing landfills, be considered. When this site is compared with that of the Mariannhill site, 20km from the Durban CBD, and the La Mercy site, 35km North of Durban, one can see that they are in countries which are far from that of residential places and hence are non capable to the restrictions of the size and wellness hazard as that of New England Road ‘s state of affairs. New England Road Pietermaritzburg Golf Club New England Road Landfill Site N3 Highway Figure 2: Size and Positioning of the New England Landfill Site Google Maps: New England Rd Pietermaritzburg: hypertext transfer protocol: //maps.google.co.za/maps? hl=en & A ; tab=wl 3.3 Environmental Impacts on Plant and Animal Life Because of the country that the New England Site is in, there is non that great a menace to the lives of animate beings and workss. It is non similar, in other instances, a wood is cleared in order to let for a landfill site to be developed. The one menace nevertheless, is that the landfill site could, if it encroaches excessively close to the residential country, have an impact of the workss maintained by occupants in their gardens and domestic animate beings. These jobs may originate from hapless air quality, dust and/or acid rain due to the landfill site being within the country. 3.4 Global Warming The induction of a Methane works at a landfill site has great benefits for planetary heating as, by utilizing this as a method of bring forthing electricity, it is considered a ‘green ‘ fuel as it is non impacting the environment in a negative manner. By utilizing a Methane works, one would in fact be profiting the environment as the LFG, if non eliminated, contributes greatly to planetary heating. The Methane is used to bring forth electricity, hence diminishing the demand for huge sums of fossil fuels ( which, when combusted produce emanations that contribute towards planetary heating ) and the unneeded gas is flared so as to non negatively impact the environment and atmosphere. The 3 Durban workss entirely are leting a lessening in South Africa ‘s CO2 emanations by 12A 000 metric tons and cut downing the sum of coal used by 80A 000 metric tons a twelvemonth. 4. ECONOMIC Impact 4.1 Cost of Undertaking There is a high cost involved in edifice and keeping a Methane works. The Durban Methane undertaking, which involved developing these workss at 3 different landfill sites, cost R100 million, which was borrowed from different Bankss and patrons. Part of this cost is non merely for the Methane works itself, but the supernumeraries which are needed in order for this undertaking to run as listed under 3.1 Size. This is a big and clip consuming operation. The New England Road Landfill Management have planned to implement pipes in the site for many old ages now, but no action seems to hold been taken sing this. This is due to the Municipal Finance Management Act rendering the undertaking unviable due to the stamp demands ( Witness Reporter, The Witness Newspaper, Page 11, June 7 2010 ) . 4.2 Net income The net income that would be made from the execution of this undertaking is huge. There would be a big sum of electricity produced from one landfill site, for illustration the three Durban Methane workss produce a combined sum of 10A 000 kWs per twelvemonth. It has been estimated that this will bring forth an income of R4.5million a month due to the gross revenues of the electricity and C credits. It is believed that some of the landfills in South Africa have the possible to bring forth 12 000 megawatts per twelvemonth, cut downing CO2 emanations and assisting to better South Africa ‘s place as one of the biggest Carbon dioxide emitters in the universe, despite being a 3rd universe state. 5. SOCIO-ECONOMIC Factor 5.1 Health Populating in an country near a landfill has had effects such as: Fatigue Concerns Sleepiness Allergies such has hayfever Respiratory jobs such as asthma There have besides been links to low birth weight, birth defects and certain types of malignant neoplastic diseases such as vesica malignant neoplastic disease and leukaemia. These nevertheless have non been proven as yet and are simply tendencies that have been noticed more and more by physicians with patients who live in close propinquity to a landfill site. If a Methane works is implemented, it would intend an addition in the figure of people who make usage of the landfill site on a day-to-day footing. This would hold a direct consequence to the supra listed wellness effects as the dust and emanations produced from vehicles would increase and do the above effects more terrible. 5.2 Aestheticss The value of residential belongings within the locality of a landfill site lessenings. It makes the part less appealing as residential places could be looking upon an unsightly landfill site. There is besides a bad odor due to the decomposing waste which adds another unwanted factor to a residential country. 5.3 Employment and Job Creation The execution of a Methane works would intend an addition in the figure of occupations provided by the landfill site. There would be a demand for more people to pull off and run the site as it would hold many more people doing usage of the site and will therefore necessitate more aid in order to run the works itself. The lone ruin nevertheless, is that most of the prospective employees will hold to hold achieved a certain degree of instruction as they will necessitate to be taught how to run the works, as it is a specialised undertaking. 6. WASTE MANAGEMENT In order to let for the maximal potency of methane production at a landfill site, recycling is indispensable. The bulk of waste merchandises that are reclaimable are non biodegradable and hence do non lend to the production of methane ( and hence do non lend to the sum of LFG produced in the landfill ) . This means that these waste merchandises are simply taking up infinite that should basically be used for waste that will interrupt down in order to bring forth the maximal possible sum of LFG which will guarantee maximal production of electricity ( therefore increasing the net income earned by these gross revenues ) . The chief reclaimable merchandises: Glass Paper Plastics Metallic element Figure 3: Family Waste hypertext transfer protocol: //www.rise.org.au/info/Res/waste/index.html The nutrient and kitchen and green waste produced makes up the bulk of waste in a family. This waste can be recycled by being composted, alternatively of being dumped at a landfill site. The organic affair can besides be composted along with this. The glass, paper, metal and plastic signifier the waste that needs to be recycled. This so leaves really small waste from the family which will come in the landfill site. This will increase the life span of the landfill site and do the production of LFG more effectual as all the unneeded merchandises are no longer in the landfill and so decomposition will go on expeditiously. Figure 4: Graph to demo the sum of waste produced by different states. Self Generated Figure 5: Graph to demo the figure of landfills in different states. Self Generated As can be seen from the above graphs, South Africa does non bring forth excessively much waste when compared to the other states as it is graded 4th. We can see though that China, the highest waste manufacturer, has the lowest figure of landfills. This is because China manages waste really good. They have a rigorous recycling plan in topographic point and do certain that their landfills are utilized expeditiously and efficaciously. They besides do non hold plenty landfill sites to get by with the sum of waste they produce and so one time can see that non all the waste is traveling to their limited landfill sites. Alternatively, they have Methane workss that use the waste in order to bring forth elecrticity hence bettering their waste direction and bring forthing something of usage out of waste. 7. Evaluation One can see that the New England Road Landfill Site can non implement a Methane works. There are excessively many bounds created by the Torahs and ordinances and if one was to implement this undertaking, the license needed in order for the landfill to run would be confiscated as there are excessively many hazards involved. The landfill does non suit the standards involved concerning: 1. Size 2. Situation 3. Cost 4. Health 5. Aestheticss It is hence non feasible to see a Methane works at this landfill site as, besides it non conforming to the Torahs and ordinances if one were in topographic point, it is an unlikely venture because of factors such as the cost involved. 8. Proposal Alternatively of presenting a Methane works to the New England Landfill Site, one can see that the Pietermaritzburg occupants ( and those that utilize the New England Road Landfill Site ) need to set a stricter recycling government into topographic point. There were efforts to get down this undertaking in suburbs such as Athlone, Montrose and Wembley but this inaugural seems to hold lost drift. A recycling program would therefore guarantee an increased life span of the New England Landfill Site ( as it is already limited ) and would intend that money is saved through recycling. In the hereafter, a construct of holding merely the Methane grapevine installed into the New England Site could be considered. This would affect the LFG being collected and stored and so leting it to be transported to a Methane works at a different location so that the gas can so be used to bring forth electricity. Word Count: 2773

Chapter 4 Back to the Burrow

By twelve o'clock the next day, Harry's school trunk was packed with his school things and all his most prized possessions – the Invisibility Cloak he had inherited from his father, the broomstick he had gotten from Sirius, the enchanted map of Hogwarts he had been given by Fred and George Weasley last year. He had emptied his hiding place under the loose floorboard of all food, double-checked every nook and cranny of his bedroom for forgotten spellbooks or quills, and taken down the chart on the wall counting down the days to September the first, on which he liked to cross off the days remaining until his return to Hogwarts. The atmosphere inside number four, Privet Drive was extremely tense. The imminent arrival at their house of an assortment of wizards was making the Dursleys uptight and irritable. Uncle Vernon had looked downright alarmed when Harry informed him that the Weasleys would be arriving at five o'clock the very next day. â€Å"I hope you told them to dress properly, these people,† he snarled at once. â€Å"I've seen the sort of stuff your lot wear. They'd better have the decency to put on normal clothes, that's all.† Harry felt a slight sense of foreboding. He had rarely seen Mr. or Mrs. Weasley wearing anything that the Dursleys would call â€Å"normal.† Their children might don Muggle clothing during the holidays, but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley usually wore long robes in varying states of shabbiness. Harry wasn't bothered about what the neighbors would think, but he was anxious about how rude the Dursleys might be to the Weasleys if they turned up looking like their worst idea of wizards. Uncle Vernon had put on his best suit. To some people, this might have looked like a gesture of welcome, but Harry knew it was because Uncle Vernon wanted to look impressive and intimidating. Dudley, on the other hand, looked somehow diminished. This was not because the diet was at last taking effect, but due to fright. Dudley had emerged from his last encounter with a fully grown wizard with a curly pig's tail poking out of the seat of his trousers, and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had had to pay for its removal at a private hospital in London. It wasn't altogether surprising, therefore, that Dudley kept running his hand nervously over his backside, and walking sideways from room to room, so as not to present the same target to the enemy. Lunch was an almost silent meal. Dudley didn't even protest at the food (cottage cheese and grated celery). Aunt Petunia wasn't, eating anything at all. Her arms were folded, her lips were pursed, and she seemed to be chewing her tongue, as though biting back the furious diatribe she longed to throw at Harry. â€Å"They'll be driving, of course?† Uncle Vernon barked across the table. â€Å"Er,† said Harry. He hadn't thought of that. How were the Weasleys going to pick him up? They didn't have a car anymore; the old Ford Anglia they had once owned was currently running wild in the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts. But Mr. Weasley had borrowed a Ministry of Magic car last year; possibly he would do the same today? â€Å"I think so,† said Harry. Uncle Vernon snorted into his mustache. Normally, Uncle Vernon would have asked what car Mr. Weasley drove; he tended to judge other men by how big and expensive their cars were. But Harry doubted whether Uncle Vernon would have taken to Mr. Weasley even if he drove a Ferrari. Harry spent most of the afternoon in his bedroom; he couldn't stand watching Aunt Petunia peer out through the net curtains every few seconds, as though there had been a warning about an escaped rhinoceros. Finally, at a quarter to five, Harry went back downstairs and into the living room. Aunt Petunia was compulsively straightening cushions. Uncle Vernon was pretending to read the paper, but his tiny eyes were not moving, and Harry was sure he was really listening with all his might for the sound of an approaching car. Dudley was crammed into an armchair, his porky hands beneath him, clamped firmly around his bottom. Harry couldn't take the tension; he left the room and went and sat on the stairs in the hall, his eyes on his watch and his heart pumping fast from excitement and nerves. But five o'clock came and then went. Uncle Vernon, perspiring slightly in his suit, opened the front door, peered up and down the street, then withdrew his head quickly. â€Å"They're late!† he snarled at Harry. â€Å"I know,† said Harry. â€Å"Maybe – er – the traffic's bad, or something.† Ten past five†¦then a quarter past five†¦Harry was starting to feel anxious himself now. At half past, he heard Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia conversing in terse mutters in the living room. â€Å"No consideration at all.† â€Å"We might've had an engagement.† â€Å"Maybe they think they'll get invited to dinner if they're late.† â€Å"Well, they most certainly won't be,† said Uncle Vernon, and Harry heard him stand up and start pacing the living room. â€Å"They'll take the boy and go, there'll be no hanging around. That's if they're coming at all. Probably mistaken the day. I daresay their kind don't set much store by punctuality. Either that or they drive some tin-pot car that's broken d -AAAAAAAARRRRRGH!† Harry jumped up. From the other side of the living room door came the sounds of the three Dursleys scrambling, panic-stricken, across the room. Next moment Dudley came flying into the hall, looking terrified. â€Å"What happened?† said Harry. â€Å"What's the matter?† But Dudley didn't seem able to speak. Hands still clamped over his buttocks, he waddled as fast as he could into the kitchen. Harry hurried into the living room. Loud bangings and scrapings were coming from behind the Dursleys' boarded-up fireplace, which had a fake coal fire plugged in front of it. â€Å"What is it?† gasped Aunt Petunia, who had backed into the wall and was staring, terrified, toward the fire. â€Å"What is it, Vernon?† But they were left in doubt barely a second longer. Voices could be heard from inside the blocked fireplace. â€Å"Ouch! Fred, no – go back, go back, there's been some kind of mistake – tell George not to – OUCH! George, no, there's no room, go back quickly and tell Ron -â€Å" â€Å"Maybe Harry can hear us, Dad – maybe he'll be able to let us out -â€Å" There was a loud hammering of fists on the boards behind the electric fire. â€Å"Harry? Harry, can you hear us?† The Dursleys rounded on Harry like a pair of angry wolverines. â€Å"What is this?† growled Uncle Vernon. â€Å"What's going on?† â€Å"They – they've tried to get here by Floo powder,† said Harry, fighting a mad desire to laugh. â€Å"They can travel by fire – only you've blocked the fireplace – hang on -â€Å" He approached the fireplace and called through the boards. â€Å"Mr. Weasley? Can you hear me?† The hammering stopped. Somebody inside the chimney piece said, â€Å"Shh!† â€Å"Mr. Weasley, it's Harry†¦the fireplace has been blocked up. You won't be able to get through there.† â€Å"Damn!† said Mr. Weasley's voice. â€Å"What on earth did they want to block up the fireplace for?† â€Å"They've got an electric fire,† Harry explained. â€Å"Really?† said Mr. Weasley's voice excitedly. â€Å"Eclectic, you say? With a plug? Gracious, I must see that†¦.Let's think†¦Ouch, Ron!† Ron's voice now joined the others'. â€Å"What are we doing here? Has something gone wrong?† â€Å"Oh no, Ron,† came Fred's voice, very sarcastically. â€Å"No, this is exactly where we wanted to end up.† â€Å"Yeah, we're having the time of our lives here,† said George, whose voice sounded muffled, as though he was squashed against the wall. â€Å"Boys, boys†¦Ã¢â‚¬  said Mr. Weasley vaguely. â€Å"I'm trying to think what to do†¦.Yes†¦only way†¦Stand back, Harry.† Harry retreated to the sofa. Uncle Vernon, however, moved forward. â€Å"Wait a moment!† he bellowed at the fire. â€Å"What exactly are you going to -â€Å" BANG. The electric fire shot across the room as the boarded-up fireplace burst outward, expelling Mr. Weasley, Fred, George, and Ron in a cloud of rubble and loose chippings. Aunt Petunia shrieked and fell backward over the coffee table; Uncle Vernon caught her before she hit the floor, and gaped, speechless, at the Weasleys, all of whom had bright red hair, including Fred and George, who were identical to the last freckle. â€Å"That's better,† panted Mr. Weasley, brushing dust from his long green robes and straightening his glasses. â€Å"Ah – you must be Harry's aunt and uncle!† Tall, thin, and balding, he moved toward Uncle Vernon, his hand outstretched, but Uncle Vernon backed away several paces, dragging Aunt Petunia. Words utterly failed Uncle Vernon. His best suit was covered in white dust, which had settled in his hair and mustache and made him look as though he had just aged thirty years. â€Å"Er – yes – sorry about that,† said Mr. Weasley, lowering his hand and looking over his shoulder at the blasted fireplace. â€Å"It's all my fault. It just didn't occur to me that we wouldn't be able to get out at the other end. I had your fireplace connected to the Floo Network, you see – just for an afternoon, you know, so we could get Harry. Muggle fireplaces aren't supposed to be connected, strictly speaking – but I've got a useful contact at the Floo Regulation Panel and he fixed it for me. I can put it right in a jiffy, though, don't worry. I'll light a fire to send the boys back, and then I can repair your fireplace before I Disapparate.† Harry was ready to bet that the Dursleys hadn't understood a single word of this. They were still gaping at Mr. Weasley, thunderstruck. Aunt Petunia staggered upright again and hid behind Uncle Vernon. â€Å"Hello, Harry!† said Mr. Weasley brightly. â€Å"Got your trunk ready?† â€Å"It's upstairs,† said Harry, grinning back. â€Å"We'll get it,† said Fred at once. Winking at Harry, he and George left the room. They knew where Harry's bedroom was, having once rescued him from it in the dead of night. Harry suspected that Fred and George were hoping for a glimpse of Dudley; they had heard a lot about him from Harry. â€Å"Well,† said Mr. Weasley, swinging his arms slightly, while he tried to find words to break the very nasty silence. â€Å"Very – erm – very nice place you've got here.† As the usually spotless living room was now covered in dust and bits of brick, this remark didn't go down too well with the Dursleys. Uncle Vernon's face purpled once more, and Aunt Petunia started chewing her tongue again. However, they seemed too scared to actually say anything. Mr. Weasley was looking around. He loved everything to do with Muggles. Harry could see him itching to go and examine the television and the video recorder. â€Å"They run off eckeltricity, do they?† he said knowledgeably. â€Å"Ah yes, I can see the plugs. I collect plugs,† he added to Uncle Vernon. â€Å"And batteries. Got a very large collection of batteries. My wife thinks I'm mad, but there you are.† Uncle Vernon clearly thought Mr. Weasley was mad too. He moved ever so slightly to the right, screening Aunt Petunia from view, as though he thought Mr. Weasley might suddenly run at them and attack. Dudley suddenly reappeared in the room. Harry could hear the clunk of his trunk on the stairs, and knew that the sounds had scared Dudley out of the kitchen. Dudley edged along the wall, gazing at Mr. Weasley with terrified eyes, and attempted to conceal himself behind his mother and father. Unfortunately, Uncle Vernon's bulk, while sufficient to hide bony Aunt Petunia, was nowhere near enough to conceal Dudley. â€Å"Ah, this is your cousin, is it, Harry?† said Mr. Weasley, taking another brave stab at making conversation. â€Å"Yep,† said Harry, â€Å"that's Dudley.† He and Ron exchanged glances and then quickly looked away from each other; the temptation to burst out laughing was almost overwhelming. Dudley was still clutching his bottom as though afraid it might fall off. Mr. Weasley, however, seemed genuinely concerned at Dudley's peculiar behavior. Indeed, from the tone of his voice when he next spoke, Harry was quite sure that Mr. Weasley thought Dudley was quite as mad as the Dursleys thought he was, except that Mr. Weasley felt sympathy rather than fear. â€Å"Having a good holiday, Dudley?† he said kindly. Dudley whimpered. Harry saw his hands tighten still harder over his massive backside. Fred and George came back into the room carrying Harry's school trunk. They glanced around as they entered and spotted Dudley. Their faces cracked into identical evil grins. â€Å"Ah, right,† said Mr. Weasley. â€Å"Better get cracking then.† He pushed up the sleeves of his robes and took out his wand. Harry saw the Dursleys draw back against the wall as one. â€Å"Incendio!† said Mr. Weasley, pointing his wand at the hole in the wall behind him. Flames rose at once in the fireplace, crackling merrily as though they had been burning for hours. Mr. Weasley took a small drawstring bag from his pocket, untied it, took a pinch of the powder inside, and threw it onto the flames, which turned emerald green and roared higher than ever. â€Å"Off you go then, Fred,† said Mr. Weasley. â€Å"Coming,† said Fred. â€Å"Oh no – hang on -â€Å" A bag of sweets had spilled out of Fred's pocket and the contents were now rolling in every direction – big, fat toffees in brightly colored wrappers. Fred scrambled around, cramming them back into his pocket, then gave the Dursleys a cheery wave, stepped forward, and walked right into the fire, saying â€Å"the Burrow!† Aunt Petunia gave a little shuddering gasp. There was a whooshing sound, and Fred vanished. â€Å"Right then, George,† said Mr. Weasley, â€Å"you and the trunk.† Harry helped George carry the trunk forward into the flames and turn it onto its end so that he could hold it better. Then, with a second whoosh, George had cried â€Å"the Burrow!† and vanished too. â€Å"Ron, you next,† said Mr. Weasley. â€Å"See you,† said Ron brightly to the Dursleys. He grinned broadly at Harry, then stepped into the fire, shouted â€Å"the Burrow!† and disappeared. Now Harry and Mr. Weasley alone remained. â€Å"Well†¦'bye then,† Harry said to the Dursleys. They didn't say anything at all. Harry moved toward the fire, but just as he reached the edge of the hearth, Mr. Weasley put out a hand and held him back. He was looking at the Dursleys in amazement. â€Å"Harry said good-bye to you,† he said. â€Å"Didn't you hear him?† â€Å"It doesn't matter,† Harry muttered to Mr. Weasley. â€Å"Honestly, I don't care.† Mr. Weasley did not remove his hand from Harry's shoulder. â€Å"You aren't going to see your nephew till next summer,† he said to Uncle Vernon in mild indignation. â€Å"Surely you're going to say good-bye?† Uncle Vernon's face worked furiously. The idea of being taught consideration by a man who had just blasted away half his living room wall seemed to be causing him intense suffering. But Mr. Weasley's wand was still in his hand, and Uncle Vernon's tiny eyes darted to it once, before he said, very resentfully, â€Å"Good-bye, then.† â€Å"See you,† said Harry, putting one foot forward into the green flames, which felt pleasantly like warm breath. At that moment, however, a horrible gagging sound erupted behind him, and Aunt Petunia started to scream. Harry wheeled around. Dudley was no longer standing behind his parents. He was kneeling beside the coffee table, and he was gagging and sputtering on a foot-long, purple, slimy thing that was protruding from his mouth. One bewildered second later, Harry realized that the foot-long thing was Dudley's tongue – and that a brightly colored toffee wrapper lay on the floor before him. Aunt Petunia hurled herself onto the ground beside Dudley, seized the end of his swollen tongue, and attempted to wrench it out of his mouth; unsurprisingly, Dudley yelled and sputtered worse than ever, trying to fight her off. Uncle Vernon was bellowing and waving his arms around, and Mr. Weasley had to shout to make himself heard. â€Å"Not to worry, I can sort him out!† he yelled, advancing on Dudley with his wand outstretched, but Aunt Petunia screamed worse than ever and threw herself on top of Dudley, shielding him from Mr. Weasley. â€Å"No, really!† said Mr. Weasley desperately. â€Å"It's a simple process it was the toffee – my son Fred – real practical joker – but it's only an Engorgement Charm – at least, I think it is – please, I can correct it -â€Å" But far from being reassured, the Dursleys became more panic- stricken; Aunt Petunia was sobbing hysterically, tugging Dudley's tongue as though determined to rip it out; Dudley appeared to be suffocating under the combined pressure of his mother and his tongue; and Uncle Vernon, who had lost control completely, seized a china figure from on top of the sideboard and threw it very hard at Mr. Weasley, who ducked, causing the ornament to shatter in the blasted fireplace. â€Å"Now really!† said Mr. Weasley angrily, brandishing his wand. â€Å"I'm trying to help!† Bellowing like a wounded hippo, Uncle Vernon snatched up another ornament. â€Å"Harry, go! Just go!† Mr. Weasley shouted, his wand on Uncle Vernon. â€Å"I'll sort this out!† Harry didn't want to miss the fun, but Uncle Vernon's second ornament narrowly missed his left ear, and on balance he thought it best to leave the situation to Mr. Weasley. He stepped into the fire, looking over his shoulder as he said â€Å"the Burrow!† His last fleeting glimpse of the living room was of Mr. Weasley blasting a third ornament out of Uncle Vernon's hand with his wand, Aunt Petunia screaming and lying on top of Dudley, and Dudley's tongue lolling around like a great slimy python. But next moment Harry had begun to spin very fast, and the Dursleys' living room was whipped out of sight in a rush of emerald-green flames.