Variables Essay Example for Free

Variables Essay Problem recognition, info search, evaluation, purchase, post purchase role of marketing in these: 1. Geographic: dividing market into different geographical units Groups: nations, regions, states, municipalities, cities, neighbourhoods Eg customizing hotels and rooms to suit the location (beach vs city). 2. Demographic: dividing the market into groups based on demographic variables *consumer needs, wants and usage rates often vary closely with demographic variables Groups: age and life-cycle stage, gender, income, family size, income, occupation, education, religion, nationality Eg different products and appeals to different target:; gender for clothes; income for luxury goods. 3. Psychographic: dividing the market into groups based on social class, lifestyle or personality characteristics Groups: socioeconomic status, lifestyle, psychological/ personality traits, values Eg socioeconomic status has strong effect on preferences in cars, clothing, home furnishings, leisure activities, reading habits. 4. Behavioural: divide market into groups based on consumers’ knowledge of, attitude towards, uses for and responses to a product Groups: purchase occasions, benefits sought, user status, usage rate, loyalty status, buyer-readiness, attitude towards product Eg knowledge of product that affects the attitude towards it, way they use it, their responses to it  Markets consist of buyers, and buyers differ in one or more ways. They may differ in their wants, resources, locations, buying attitudes and buying practices.† (Kotler et al. 2007, pg.345) List and describe in detail the four major variables used for segmenting markets. For each of the four major variables list and describe three groups within that variable. Provide examples of your choice to illustrate your answer.

Organization Theory For General Motors

Organization Theory For General Motors Organization theory is a sociology branch that focuses on the structure, systems and processes within an organization. Organization theory is thus applied by firms and states the activities and goals of that firm. General Motors Company was established in 1908 in Michigan by William Durant. By then it was a parent company for Buick. Later that year, it acquired two motor track companies i.e. the Reliance motor company which was based in Owosso, Michigan and Pontiacs Rapid motor company. However, General Motors Company came to be the market leader in Motor industry in the early 1980s.It started with employing 349,000 employees and had 150 assembly plants. Currently, General Motors produce tracks and cars in over 34 countries worldwide. It sells the vehicles through such brands as Cadillac, Buick, GMS, Chevrolet, Holden, GM Daewoo, Wuling and Vauxhall. The United States is the largest national market for General Motors. Other markets include the China, England, Germany.Russia, Canada and Brazil. Daewoo Auto and Technology Company of South Korea is the main shareholder of General Motors. It has power training and purchasing collaborations with Isuzu motors Ltd and Suzuki Motor corp of Japan. The genuine General Motors accessories and parts are normally sold under GM Goodwrench, GM performance, ACDelco brands and GM brands with the assistance of parts operations and GM service. The GM transmissions and engines are sold via GM power train (Frederick, 1995). General Motors Organizational Structure With regards to its organizational structure, General Motors have transformed form a traditional model to a modern one. The change in the organizational model has had an impact as far as the customers and the local communities of General Motors are concerned. The traditional General Motors Organizational model consisted of a hierarchy with executive or the president on top, then senior managers or vice presidents. Followed by managers and finally the employees. The jobs were usually grouped into departments. The General motors were composed of various independent automakers and each automaker operated differently and competed with each other. The transformation of the organization model saw General motors unified and centralized whereby several individuals work towards achieving a common goal. The corporation is now run in a streamlined manner and the several departments have been abolished (The University of Virginia, 1993). Multinational Company With operations in 34 countries all over the globe, General Motors is a multinational company. Multinational companies refer to those organizations which have operations in many countries. The ability of the General motors to operate in many countries is enhanced by globalization. This entails an ongoing process through which societies, regional economies and culture become integrated as a result of execution and globe network communications. This is usually driven through the combination of technological, political, economic and biological factors. Organization design Managers at General Motors have encompassed the application of the organization design. They have created processes, roles and reporting relationships in order to match the organizations form very closely. It is through the organization design that the company is able to improve probability that members collective efforts will be successful. The General Motors Company have been designed in a beauracratic manner whereby responsibility and authority have been arranged hierachically.This has enabled specialization and grouping of people who performs similar or related tasks in clusters. The bureaucracy in the General Motors have enhanced logic, rationally and most important, the efficiency. It has also had some demerits as far as rigidity and inflexibility are concerned e.g. slow decision making process e.t.c. (Salmon, 1989). Divisional Structure The General Motors Company uses divisional structure. Each organizational function is grouped into divisions. A division which is within the divisional structure usually has all the necessary information and resources within it. The General Motors can thus make a distinction based on geographical aspects e.g. the Russian division and the United Kingdom division and also on its products such as SUVs and another one for subcompact cars with each division having its own engineering, sales and marketing departments. This organizational structure have its own demerits which includes difficulty in product integration i.e. each GM divisional manager concentrates on delivering his or her products and fails to focus on integration and also the employees usually feel a bit affiliated towards their department only and they lacks sense of being a part of the organization. Divisional structure also inhibits the career growth of specialists as technical people may feel alienated from their colleag ues in other divisions and also may lack some exposure to major developments taking place in the organization (Cook, Woollacott, 1995). Organizational Culture The strategic leaders in the General Motors should are vested with the responsibility of creating the organizational characteristics that encourage and reward collective effort. The organizational culture is the most fundamental characteristic as it enables the organization to cope well with its environment. For General Motors to survive individuals must be integrated into a whole and also the organization must adapt effectively to the environment in which it is operating (Lung, 2003). GM External environment General Moors just like many other organizations does not operate in a vacuum. The organization has to be conscious about what happens outside its factory and office walls. These factors that occur outside the business boundaries are known as the external environment. They usually influence the organizations main functions, objectives and strategies. The main factors include the competition i.e. the extent to which other firms competes with the General Motors automobiles. The main competitors of the General Motors ifs the Ford Company. Ford was established in the 1920s by Henry Ford. It has been struggling to overtake General Motors Company using such strategies as lowering prices. Despite these, General Motors have been the market leader due to its variety and good management. To effectively deal with the competition threat from Ford and other automobile makers such as Toyota, the management should aim at improving the quality of the products so as to add the value to their customer s. The company also needs not to flounder in the accounting practices such as derivatives and pensions which have brought huge costs in the General Motors. To improve its management, the General Motors Company has been reshuffling its executives over the years (Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation, 1994). The other factors that affect the General motors are; social i.e. how the consumer and communities at large behave with reference to the companys products. The other external factor is legal i.e. the manner in which the legislation affects the organization e.g. the change of the laws regarding employees working hours. Economic is the other external factor which affects an organization. This relates to such issues as taxation, interest rates, government spending, global economical factors and general demand. The other external factor that affects the business is the technology. For instance, the General Motors have to move with the current trends in the motor industry as far as its production processes and product innovation are concerned. Others are ethics i.e. the morality aspect of doing a business (Bordenave, 2003). The Stakeholders approach The General Motors should adopt the stakeholders approach in which case all its stakeholders will be able to know well how the business is being operated. Stakeholders are those people that have an interest in an organization and are affected by the companys omission or commission of its duties. The managers are required to decide on which views from the stakeholders are necessary to listen. The General Motors Company is currently undergoing through some significant transformations as it strives to become more competitive and so there could be several key things that the company could be involved with without the know-how of the companys management. In an aim of maintaining its competitive status, it is important to enquire from some of its more insightful people who may be experts in the industry about the things that should be done by the GM management so as to make the organization healthier, stronger and a more competitive one. To achieve this, the managers can adopt stakeholders approach which believes that the managers in any organization should consider the views from all the companys stakeholders and not relying only on the owners views. This inturn enables the stakeholders to have active interest as far as the business welfare is concerned. Some of the stakeholder approach and the potential benefits that can be achieved by business include offering the customers excellent after sale services and also good value products so as to create customer loyalty, social corporate responsibilities such as providing the locals with sports facilities so s to create good relations with them which may inturn help to increase sales.Also,a company should provide the workforce with good wages so that the employees can feel motivated and perform their duties enthusiastically and effectively( Rothstein,2005). To stay healthier and stronger, the General Motors needs to keep away from its historical tendencies of being in its comfort zone and regarding itself as the greatest. It should focus on achieving and sustained the momentum so as to bring change and improvements.It needs to borrow a leaf from Toyota which is away ahead of GM (Coetzee, 2001). The General Motors needs to innovate and be ahead of regulation i.e. it should take the opportunity and re-establish itself as a leader in Enviromental technology and avoid being regarded as resistant towards progress on emissions and fuel efficiency. This will enable the company to overtake Honda and Toyota which is deemed as leaders as far as this area is concerned (Greenberg Baron, 1995).

A Comparative Study on Open Source ASIC Tools

A Comparative Study on Open Source ASIC Tools Abstract: Most analog and digital electronic circuit designs can be realized at different levels from the transistor to architecture level. As the complexity of Very Large Scale Integrated Circuits (VLSI) design process leads to the usage of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools for design and optimization. Manual design of integrated circuits up to layout is much more complicated and time consuming process, also lack of efficiency in the fabricated chip. So that Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools are widely used in ASIC design. CAD tools provide the common path to simplify the IC design process. But the commercial tools are very much expensive and not able to use as an individual. For that purpose open source EDA tools are used for study of an IC design. In this research, it mainly concentrates on available open source and freeware EDA tools with its usage on IC design and development process are presented and evaluated. This research also gives a fundamental idea on how the open source EDA tools have helped the researchers and students to learn and fabricate their own Integrated circuits. Introduction: Electronics systems are take part a crucial role in every human life. Electronic systems ranging from Integrated Circuits (ICs) to PCB (Printed Circuit Boards) are developed and produced by CAD tools. CAD tools are the collection of rules, algorithms, different methodologies and tools which automate the design, testing and verification of electronic devices. There are many commercial CAD tools are available, which are the industry standard and they are very expensive to bought such licenses. For academic and small scale industries usage of those tools are limited due to the cost. So the alternatives are Free and Open-Source Software EDA tools are the only effective way for students and teachers to learn and implement their ideas by modifying the source code. There are lot of open source and freeware tools are available for analog and digital circuit design. But the problems behind those softwares are integration of multiple tools for a complete design; installation procedure, operating systems, etc. are the various factors. From the above said considerations the tools such as Qflow and Magic from open circuit design tools, Electric from static free software, alliance, LASI, toped, microwind are considered for this research. Open Circuit Design Tools: Alliance: Alliance is a VLSI tool having numerous of tools integrated together with portable libraries. It contains VHDL compiler and simulator, synthesis, auto place and route tools. For digital design a complete set of portable CMOS libraries are provided [1]. Alliance is developed and maintained by ASIM department of LIP6 laboratory at Pierre Marie Curie University, France. Alliance is free and open source software initially developed for teaching VLSI design. Its binaries, source code and cells libraries are distributed under the GNU General Public License. Alliance tool has been used in many research projects. One is Superscalar 128-bit Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) microprocessor [2] was designed by alliance CAD system and IEEE Gigabit HSL Router. The main features of Alliance includes, it supports the standard VLSI description formats like SPICE, EDIF, VHDL, CIF and GDSII. It has built in design and simulation tools. It is easy to learn and use, also convenient to get the resources online. It includes logical synthesis tool which supports VHDL synthesis. The Alliance design flow includes design, synthesis and simulation along with optimization by using different kind of tools. The Alliance tools are independent, interact with each other and has more than 150 documented standard cells and six custom optimized generators [3], also it does not require a high performance workstation like Cadence; however, it is designed for UNIX based platform. Electric: Electric VLSI Design System is a high performance open source EDA tool that provides complete aids in designing the IC layout. It is a sophisticated system which can handle a range of fabrication CMOS technologies. It has many generic analysis and synthesis tools which automates the design process. It integrates the schematic editor, circuit simulator, schematic driven layout generator, layout editor, layout verification and parasitic extraction. The major advantage to Electric VLSI Design System is that, it allows swapping between the designs data with other standard EDA tools in the industry. It supports most popular formats such as EDIF, VHDL, GDS, LEF/DEF, etc. Initially, the Electric VLSI design system was written in C language in 1982 by Steven Rubin [4] at the Fairchild A.I. Laboratory in Palo Alto, California. Later it was ported to Java acquired by Oracle. Irrespective of all other CAD tools Electric had a combination of graphics, connectivity, and accurate geometry for IC design. The Electric design system has a huge database which is built on network structure, primarily to implement connectivity. The network has nodes and arcs [6], which are components in the circuit and connecting wires respectively. These network nodes and arcs have their own geometric data, for a correct representation of the circuit. Electric has an expansive database and can store a large number of structures, design rules are incorporated. The Electric VLSI system provides many features such as: Integrity Schematic, Layout and the supporting packages are integrated in one file. No node extraction Electric provides geometry connectivity information. So there is no need to extract nodes separately Geometry errors simpler design process powerful editing with LVS check

Physics of Sea Ice :: physice ice sea

Sea ice is frozen sea water. Salt ions in the water complicate the growth of ice crystals, and makes sea ice much more dynamic than freshwater ice. Sea ice covers nearly 7% of the Earth's surface, has a huge effect on global climate, and is one of the largest, single biomes on Earth. Ice is the solid, crystalline form of water, which solidifies at 0Â ºC. Roughly 9 polymorphs of ice are defined, only one, however, occurs naturally on Earth. This common form of ice is known as ice 1h, and its lattice displays six-fold rotational symmetry. The incorporation of sea salt or other ions in the crystal lattice of ice faces both size and charge restrictions, thus the salt and water do not form solid solution. This means that as the ice grows, the ions are rejected and most of them are returned to the water. Some, however, are retained within the ice matrix as liquid inclusions; creating a network of channels through with this brine travels. The network of channels and associated brine inclusions greatly contribute to what makes sea ice different from freshwater ice. These inclusions change the deformational, thermal, and optical properties of ice; making sea ice unique in several different ways. Growth of Sea Ice * The latent heat of freezing, or the enthalpy of freezing, for the phase transition from water to ice is 334J/g for pure water and just slightly lower for sea water. * The energy (heat) released from the freezing layer of water is conducted through the ice and released into the atmosphere. * The thermal properties of the ice and snow cover, as well as the energy balance at the top and bottom of the growing ice sheet determine the rate at which heat can be pushed out. * For an ice surface that is in thermal equilibrium with the atmosphere, conservation of energy mandates that the heat must flux in and out of the ice . * This can be expressed mathematically, and using calculus techniques the thickness to which an ice sheet can grow can be predicted for given surface temperature conditions. Motion * Sea ice does not float freely on the polar oceans , but rather is moved around, tossed about, and deformed as a result of several forces which act on the ice pack.

Athletes Essay -- Sports, High Salary

How much money does the average person really need to be able to eat three times a day, have a roof over their head, send their children to school and have a car? All this could be done on an income between $30,000 and $40,000 easily. But somehow it was decided that people who labour harder than most, city workers, janitors and factory workers, would be paid less than someone who sits behind a desk all day or someone who plays a game for a living. Today athletes are the highest paid people in the country, with the exception of Donald Trump and his toupee. It is ridiculous to believe that someone is really worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and all they have to do is play a sport that millions of people would play for free if given the chance. Therefore, I strongly believe that professional athletes are overpaid due to several reasons. Schingle stated that personal athletes get paid what the market will bear (2008). If attendance at sporting events were to decrease, or advertising dollars were to dry up, they would start getting paid less (Schingle 2008). Since professional sports are a form of entertainment, Schingle said that in America, people pay for their entertainers dearly (2008). Moreover, Schingle compared sports with other field which is Hollywood where he stated that actors are also overpaid in their industry (2008). Bate stressed that most people are jealous that they keep complaining about athlete’s pays (2008). Some people claimed that they pay the athlete’s wages through the ticket money but they did not realize that the endless demand for the tickets and the thirst for the game is what created the high wages (Bate 2008). An athlete has to sacrifice a lot to reach the top of his profession which is being a pr... ... in Africa who are dying from hunger (2008). On top of that, the money can be used for other beneficial things such as increase the salary of doctors, engineers, low paid factory workers working 12 hours a day and make this world a better place to live in (Wadhwa 2008). Lastly, Wadhwa stressed that athletes entertain us but they do not save lives or make this world a better place to live, like doctors and other workers who spend the whole life time just earning enough to survive (Wadhwa 2008). In conclusion, the reason that the athletes are overpaid because of the market demand is not acceptable because the individual’s greed, the owner’s greed and the fact that sports are only for entertainment make it clear that athletes are overpaid for no beneficial reasons. The government should control the flow of money and use it for the development of the country.

Last Sacrifice Chapter Twenty-five

WE COULD ALREADY HEAR footsteps thundering through the house and knew we were seconds from the army downstairs heading up to the second floor. The three of us backed away, and to my surprise, it was Sydney who reacted first. â€Å"Get out. I'll distract them.' Her distracting them would probably just mean momentarily blocking their way until they pushed her aside, but those extra seconds could make a huge difference. Still, I couldn't stand the thought of abandoning her. Dimitri had no such reservations, particularly when we heard feet on the stairs. â€Å"Come on!' he shouted, grabbing hold of my arm. We raced down the hall to the farthest bedroom, Victor and Robert's. Just before we entered, I yelled back to Sydney, â€Å"Get Jill to Court!' I don't know if she heard because by the sounds of it, the guardians had reached her. Dimitri immediately opened the room's one large window and looked at me knowingly. As always, we needed no vocal communication. He jumped out first, no doubt wanting to take the full brunt of whatever danger waited below. I immediately followed. I dropped onto the first floor's roof, slid down it, and then made the longer drop to the ground. Dimitri caught my arm, steadying my landing–but not before one of my ankles twisted slightly in on itself. It was the same one that had taken the brunt of the fall outside Donovan's, and I winced as pain shot through me, pain I then promptly ignored. Dark figures moved toward us, emerging from evening shadows and hidden spots around the backyard. Of course. Guardians wouldn't just come busting down a door. They'd also have the place staked out. With our natural rhythm, Dimitri and I fought back-to-back against our attackers. Like usual, it was hard to incapacitate our foes without killing them. Hard, but necessary if we could manage it. I didn't want to kill my own people, people who were just doing their job to apprehend fugitives. The long dress didn't do me any favors either. My legs kept getting caught in the fabric. â€Å"The others will be out any minute,' Dimitri grunted, slamming a guardian to the ground. â€Å"We need to move–there. That gate.' I couldn't respond but followed his lead as we made our way to a door in the fence while still defending ourselves. We'd just taken out the backyard squad when more spilled from the house. We slipped through the gate, emerging onto a quiet side road flanking the Mastrano house, and ran. It soon became clear, however, that I couldn't keep up with Dimitri. My mind could ignore the pain, but my body couldn't make my injured ankle work properly. Without missing a beat, Dimitri slid his arm around me, helping me run and take the weight off the ankle. We turned off the road, cutting through yards that would make it more difficult–but not impossible–for them to track us. â€Å"We can't outrun them,' I said. â€Å"I'm slowing us down. You need to–‘ â€Å"Do not say leave you,' he interrupted. â€Å"We're doing this together.' Snick, snick. A flowerpot near us suddenly exploded into a pile of dirt and clay. â€Å"They're shooting at us,' I said incredulously. â€Å"They're actually shooting at us!' With so much hand-to-hand training, I always felt like guns were cheating. But when it came to hunting down a queen-killing murderer and her accomplice? Honor wasn't the issue. Results were. Another bullet zinged by, dangerously close. â€Å"With a silencer,' said Dimitri. â€Å"Even so, they'll be cautious. They don't want the neighborhood thinking it's under attack. We need cover. Fast.' We might've been literally dodging bullets, but my ankle wouldn't last much longer. He made another sharp turn, completely immersing us in suburban backyards. I couldn't look behind us, but I heard shouting voices that let me know we weren't free yet. â€Å"There,' said Dimitri. Ahead of us was a dark house with a large glass patio reminiscent of Sonya's. The glass door was open, though a screen blocked the way inside. Dimitri tugged on its latch. Locked. But a screen was hardly a deterrent for us. Poor, trusting family. He took out his stake and slashed a long, vertical line that we hastily slipped through. Immediately, he jerked me to the side, out of view. He put a finger to his lips, holding me close to his body, shattering me in his warmth. Seconds later, we saw guardians coming through and searching the yards. Some kept moving on in case we'd run farther. Others lingered, investigating places that made good hiding spots as the evening grew darker and darker. I glanced at the screen. The cut had been clean, not an obvious hole, but it was still something our pursuers might notice. Sensing this as well, Dimitri carefully moved off into the living room, doing his best to avoid windows and keep out of sight. We cut through to the kitchen and found a door leading to the garage. In the garage was a red Ford Mustang. â€Å"Two car family,' he murmured. â€Å"I was hoping for that.' â€Å"Or they're out for a walk and about to come home when they notice a SWAT team in their neighborhood,' I whispered. â€Å"The guardians won't let themselves be seen.' We began searching for obvious key locations. At last, I found a set hanging on the side of a cupboard and scooped them up. â€Å"Got â€Å"em,' I said. Since I had the keys, I think Dimitri actually would have let me jump into the driver's seat. Thanks to my right ankle, however, I had to toss him the keys. The universe had a sick sense of humor. â€Å"Will they spot us in this?' I asked, as Dimitri opened the garage door and backed out. â€Å"It's, uh, a bit flashier than our usual stolen car profile.' It was also awesome. Sydney, car geek that she was, would have loved it. I bit my lip, still guilty that we'd left her behind. I tried to push the thought out of my head for now. â€Å"It is,' agreed Dimitri. â€Å"But other cars will be driving down the street. Some guardians will still be searching the yards, and some will be guarding the Mastranos. They don't have infinite numbers. They can't watch everything at once, though they'll certainly try.' I held my breath anyway as we drove out of the subdivision. Twice, I thought I spotted stealthy figures by the side of the road, but Dimitri was right: they couldn't check every car in a busy suburban neighborhood. The darkness also obscured our faces. Dimitri remembered the way we'd driven in because a few turns later, we were merging onto the freeway. I knew he had no destination in mind, except foraway. With no obvious indications that we'd been followed, I shifted my body and stretched out my throbbing leg. My chest had that light, nebulous feeling you got when too much adrenaline was pumping through you. â€Å"They turned us in, didn't they?' I asked. â€Å"Victor and Robert called us in and then took off. I should have kept watch.' â€Å"I don't know,' Dimitri said. â€Å"It's possible. I saw them just before I talked to you, and everything seemed fine. They wanted to go with us to find Jill, but they knew it was only a matter of time before we turned them over to the authorities. I'm not surprised they came up with an escape plan. They could have used the feeding as a distraction to call the guardians and get rid of us.' â€Å"Crap.' I sighed and pushed my hair back, wishing I had a ponytail holder. â€Å"We should've gotten rid of them when we had the chance. What'll happen now?' Dimitri was silent for a few seconds. â€Å"The Mastranos will be questioned †¦ extensively. Well, all of them will, really. They'll lock Sonya up for investigation, like me, and Sydney will be shipped back to the Alchemists.' â€Å"And what will they do to her?' â€Å"I don't know. But I'm guessing her helping vampire fugitives won't go over well with her superiors.' â€Å"Crap,' I repeated. Everything had fallen apart. â€Å"And what are we going to do?' â€Å"Put some distance between us and those guardians. Hide somewhere. Wrap up your ankle.' I gave him a sidelong look. â€Å"Wow. You've got everything planned out.' â€Å"Not really,' he said, a small frown on his face. â€Å"That's the easy stuff. What happens after that is going to be the hard part.' My heart sank. He was right. Provided the Mastranos weren't indicted by Moroi authorities for helping criminals, Emily now had no one forcing her to acknowledge Jill's heritage. If Sydney was being hauled back to her own people–well. She couldn't help either. I was going to have to tell someone else, I realized. The next time I made contact with Adrian, I'd have to divulge the truth so that my friends could do something about Jill. We couldn't sit on this secret any longer. Dimitri took the next exit, and I tuned back into the world. â€Å"Hotel?' I asked. â€Å"Not quite,' he said. We were in a busy, commercial area, not far from Ann Arbor, I thought. One of the Detroit suburbs. Restaurants and stores lined the road, and he turned us toward a twenty-four-hour superstore that promised to carry â€Å"everything.' He parked and opened his door. â€Å"Stay here.' â€Å"But–‘ Dimitri looked meaningfully at me, and I glanced down. I'd come away from our fight more scuffed up than I realized, and the dress had torn. My ragged appearance would attract attention, as would my limping. I nodded, and he left. I spent the time turning over our problems, cursing myself for not having found a way to turn in the brothers once Robert had restored Sonya. I'd been bracing myself for betrayal in the form of some magical attack. I hadn't expected something as simple as a call to the guardians. Dimitri, ever the efficient shopper, returned soon with two large bags and something slung over his shoulder. He tossed it all in the backseat, and I peered back curiously. â€Å"What's that?' It was long and cylindrical, covered in canvas. â€Å"A tent.' â€Å"Why are we–‘ I groaned. â€Å"No hotel, huh?' â€Å"We'll be harder to find at a campground. The car will especially be harder to find. We can't get rid of it quite yet, not with your foot.' â€Å"Those poor people,' I said. â€Å"I hope their car insurance covers theft.' Back on the freeway, we soon left the urban sprawl, and it wasn't long before we saw advertisements for campgrounds and RV parks. Dimitri pulled over at a place called Peaceful Pines. He negotiated with the man working in the office and produced a number of crisp bills. That was another reason we couldn't get a hotel, I realized. Most required credit cards, and Sydney had had all those (in fake names, of course). We were living off cash now. The clerk gave us directions along a gravel road that led to a spot on the opposite end of the campground. The place was busy with vacationing families, but no one paid much attention to us. Dimitri made sure to park as close to a cluster of trees as possible, in order to obscure the car and its plates. Despite my protests, he wouldn't let me help with the tent. He claimed he could do it faster without me and that I should stay off my feet. I started to argue until he began assembling the tent. My jaw dropped a little as I watched how quickly he put it together. He didn't even need the directions. It had to be some kind of record. The tent was small and sturdy, giving us both room to sit and lie, though he had to hunch just a little when we were sitting. Once inside, I got to see the rest of his purchases. A lot of it was first aid. There was also a flashlight he propped up, a kind of makeshift lamp. â€Å"Let me see the ankle,' he ordered. I stretched out my leg, and he pushed my dress's skirt up to my knee, fingers light against my skin. I shivered as a sense of deja vu swept me. It seemed to be happening to me a lot lately. I thought back to all the times he had helped me with other injuries. We could have been right back in St. Vladimir's gym. He gently tested the ankle's mobility and did a little poking and prodding. His fingers never ceased to amaze me. They could break a man's neck, bandage a wound, and slide sensually across bare skin. â€Å"I don't think it's broken,' he said at last. He lifted his hands, and I noticed how warm I'd been while he touched me. â€Å"Just sprained.' â€Å"That kind of thing happens when you keep jumping off roofs,' I said. Jokes were my old standby to hide discomfort. â€Å"You know, we never practiced that in our training.' He smiled and took out bandaging material, wrapping the ankle until it was supported and stabilized. After that, he produced– â€Å"A bag of frozen peas?' Dimitri shrugged and rested the bag on my ankle. The coolness instantly made me feel better. â€Å"Easier than buying a full bag of ice.' â€Å"You're pretty resourceful, Belikov. What else do you have stashed away?' The rest of the bags' contents turned out to be blankets and some food. I gave him a big grin when I saw he'd gotten me sour cream potato chips and a bar of chocolate. I loved that he remembered such little details about me. My smile faded when another problem quickly popped up. â€Å"You didn't buy any clothes, did you?' â€Å"Clothes?' he asked, like it was a foreign word. I gestured to my torn dress. â€Å"I can't wear this for long. What am I going to do? Make a toga out of a blanket? You're such a guy, never thinking of this stuff.' â€Å"I was thinking of injury and survival. Fresh clothing's a luxury, not a necessity.' â€Å"Not even your duster?' I asked slyly. Dimitri froze for a moment and then swore. He'd had no need to wear his coat indoors at the Mastranos'–honestly, he didn't need to outside either–and had left it there in the ensuing fight. â€Å"Don't worry, comrade,' I teased. â€Å"Plenty more where that came from.' He spread blankets over the tent's floor and laid back on them. There was a look of woe on his face that was almost comical. Raids, bullets, criminals †¦ no problem. A missing duster? Crisis. â€Å"We'll get you another one,' I said. â€Å"You know, once we find Jill, clear my name, and save the world.' â€Å"Just those things, huh?' he asked, making both of us laugh. But when I stretched myself out beside him, both our faces sobered. â€Å"What are we going to do?' I asked. Tonight's most popular question. â€Å"Sleep,' he said, clicking off the flashlight. â€Å"Tomorrow we'll get a hold of Abe or Tasha or †¦ someone. We'll let them handle it and get Jill where she needs to be.' I was surprised how small my voice sounded when I spoke. â€Å"I feel like we failed. I was so happy back there. I thought we'd done the impossible, but it was for nothing. All this work for nothing.' â€Å"Nothing?' he asked in astonishment. â€Å"What we did †¦ this is huge. You found Lissa's sister. Another Dragomir. I don't think you still really understand the weight of that. We had almost nothing to go on, yet you pushed forward and made it happen.' â€Å"And I lost Victor Dashkov. Again.' â€Å"Well, the thing about him is that he doesn't stay hidden for long. He's one of those people who always has to be in control. He'll have to make a move eventually and when he does–we'll get him.' The smile returned to my lips, though I knew he couldn't see it. â€Å"And I thought I was the optimistic one here.' â€Å"It's contagious,' he replied. Then, to my surprise, his hand found mine in the dark. He laced our fingers together. â€Å"You did good, Roza. Very good. Now sleep.' We touched in no other way, but his hand held all the warmth in the world. This was hardly a perfect moment, like in the library, but our familiar connection and the understanding between us burned brighter than ever, and it felt good. Right. Natural. I didn't want to sleep. I just wanted to stay there and savor being with him. It wasn't cheating, I decided, thinking of Adrian. It was just enjoying this closeness. Still, sleep was essential. We worked out a schedule where each of us took shifts. He would stay awake now while I rested, and I had a feeling if I didn't sleep, he wouldn't either when the shift change came. I closed my eyes, and it wasn't my heart I had to slow down this time. It was my mind, the hamster wheel that went nowhere trying to figure out what to do next. Just get Jill to Court. Just get Jill to Court. That was all that mattered. We'd contact someone who could reach Jill. Dimitri and I would lie low, everything would soon fix itself†¦. â€Å"Thank God.' I spun around, not even realizing I'd fallen into a spirit dream. I was back in Sonya's garden with all its sunshine and color, and she sat back in a chair, looking expectant. â€Å"I was afraid you'd be up all night, watching your back,' she continued. â€Å"I would if I had my choice,' I replied, strolling over to her. She wasn't quite whom I'd expected to see in my dreams, but at least I'd made contact with the outside world. I wore the black-and-white dress here, but unlike reality, it was clean and intact. â€Å"Dimitri thinks we're in a secure location–though he's awake, of course.' â€Å"Of course.' There was a glimmer of amusement in her eyes, but it was brief. â€Å"Where are you?' I asked. â€Å"Did the guardians put you in holding?' â€Å"They didn't get me,' she said smugly. â€Å"You were their priority, and a little compulsion made sure they didn't see me. I took off †¦ I hated to leave Emily, though.' I empathized but was too excited at Sonya's escape. Good news, finally. â€Å"But you can get Jill to Court. You're free.' Sonya looked at me as those I'd just spoken French. â€Å"I can't get to Jill.' I frowned. â€Å"Is she under that much security?' â€Å"Rose,' said Sonya. â€Å"Jill isn't with the guardians at all. Victor and Robert took her.'

Violence in the Workplace Essay

Workplace violence includes threatening behaviors, verbal abuse and physical assault. In any given week about 20 workers are murdered in the United States (Bruce& Nowlin, 2011). This can include the harming of an employee or client/customer of an organization by another employee, client/customer, or member of the general public. Many internal and external factors, including socioeconomic conditions, problems related to drug and alcohol abuse, layoffs, dictatorial workplaces, stress over job security, and domestic problems, are leading causes of workplace violence. Organizations have to deal with human productivity and economic costs from incidents of workplace violence. For example, employees and customers or clients can be seriously injured or killed. In addition, a loss of productivity generally occurs during the incident because the business may be closed or on reduced hours pending investigation and employees may fear that another incident could occur within days or months. Some employees also may quit as a result of fear of another incident or dissatisfaction with the employer for failing to prevent or properly respond to the incident. Physical injuries or emotional difficulties that result from the violent incident may cause increases in workers’ compensation claims. Organizations with policies on workplace violence are more likely to implement practices that can reduce the potential for workplace violence. The managers in these organizations indicated that counseling for potentially violent employees, investigating unfairness in the workplace, disciplining/arresting people responsible for violent acts, mandating fair treatment for terminated employees, using mediation to resolve disputes that have the potential for becoming violent, and intervening in problems between employees were part of their workplace violence policies. These elements are further evidence that organizations that initiate formal policies for workplace violence are more likely to consider ways to be proactive, rather than reactive. Organizations must take steps to ensure that employees feel safe and secure. While organizations are unable to anticipate all situations, basic preventive measures can deter some violence in the workplace. While every employee with the potential for workplace violence cannot be pre-identified at the point of hire, organizations should have a variety of pre-employment assessments in place to ensure selection of individuals whose credentials, work experience, personality, and life experiences appropriately correspond to organizational needs and values. At the pre-incident strategy stage, the organization should create a zero tolerance policy. The organization should document all forms of aggression that have occurred against people and property associated with their organization. Employees should be encouraged to report incidents of which they are aware. Furthermore, for a second strategy, pre-employment screening should include psychological testing, background checks to validate an applicant’s resume, reference checking, employment history verification, or even integrity interviewing. Training should include interpersonal communication, conflict resolution techniques and hostage survival skills to ensure that employees are prepared for any violence that should occur in the workplace.