Dunkin Donuts

44577001079500 Women's Campus College of Business Administration BUS351 International Business Course TERM 172 GROUP PROJECT: FINAL DRAFTDUNKIN DONUTS Working in the Quick Service restaurants industry gave Dunkin' Donuts a huge challenge to face globally, when entering new markets using one mode of entry, â€Å"the Franchising†, it meant establishing a local base for a global business, and great opportunities exist in the Saudi Market, yet great challenges to prove ability of continuing business. For 31 years, Shahia Food Limited was the franchisee global DD selected to represent the brand in the Kingdom, it applied a localized industry by promoting Saudi terms related to the brand, and was massively supported by the government to keep satisfying the Saudi taste, through its 200 shops across the Saudi land. KeywordsDunkin' Donuts, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, franchising, franchisee, joint venture, entry modes, entry determinants, 2030 vision. IntroductionRecently, Saudi Arabia has been the spotlight of the investments internationally. According to 2030's vision, Saudi is attracting new investors every year. The market in Saudi is attractive and has significant attributes. In order to satisfy the Saudi taste and Saudi consumption trends, the company must meet what Saudi clients want, which will ensure an international success in the heart of the global world. Dunkin' Donuts is considered one of the top ten companies worldwide, with more than 12,000 branches in all over the world. Dunkin' Donuts is managed through maintaining a strong position in all its targeted markets, by using the modes of the entrance and proper strategies with an experience of nearly hundred years of offering baked goods and drinks. Overview of the IndustryQuick service restaurant (QSR) industry was established in 1921, which offers previously prepared food immediately to the on-the-go consumers that were defined as a new type of restaurants. Donuts were created in 1847, and it has been developed to be combined with a variety of flavors through years and associated with hot drinks, to please the American taste with sugary products. The size of the market globally is predicted by more than 3 Trillion Dollars, due to the massive number of workforce around the world, fixed assets spread worldwide, and size of activities practiced. The market of QSR maintains a small industry in it, for baked goods and coffee, maintains multiple international brands that operate in this field, and this industry is approximated in more than 1 Trillion Dollars annually, and the market is divided primarily between 4 brands as follows: Company BackgroundIn 1948, William Rosenberg initiated his first shop for coffee and doughnuts, the â€Å"Open Kettle†, which was based on a 40% of revenues, William was able to reach from his food in-plants outlets and food trucks, which was the impending trend of fast food, introduced to the world. In 1950 William Rosenberg chose Dunkin' Donuts as a new name of â€Å"Open Kettle†, to be the first Dunkin' Donuts shop in Quincy, Massachusetts, USA, the shop offered 52 flavors, and William was able to open 6 more Dunkin' Donuts shops during its first five years constructing a chain. In 1960 the International Franchising Association (IFA), was originated to franchise the brand globally and locally. At the moment, Dunkin' Donuts is based in Canton; Massachusetts, USA, Dunkin' Donuts is part of the Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. family of companies.So far, Dunkin' Donuts was able to achieve success, which maintains more than 11,300 shops in 44 countries (8,500 in the 41 US states, and 3,200 worldwide), offering everyday a stop for baked goods and coffee, setting the brand as a market leader globally.In 1971, William was diagnosed with lungs cancer, he passed the business to other Dunkin' Donuts leaders. An English businessman, Nigel Travis is the current CEO for Dunkin' Donuts, who has been running Dunkin' Donuts since 2009. Dunkin' Donuts founder:William Rosenberg (1916-2002) was American entrepreneur who was the founder of Dunkin' Donuts. Rosenberg attended a public school. Because of financial problems Rosenberg was forced to leave his school in the eighth grade to support his family. At the age of fourteen, Rosenberg worked as a delivery boy for Simco. At the age of twenty-one, Rosenberg raised from delivery boy to national sales manager, supervising the production, cold storage, shipping, and manufacturing. In 1948, the Open Kettle was started by Rosenberg which is a coffee and doughnuts shop. Later, Rosenberg renamed it to Dunkin Donuts. Dunkin Donuts was popular offering fifty-two types of doughnuts over six stores. In 2001, Rosenberg published a book which is â€Å"Time to Make the Donuts: The Founder of Dunkin Donuts†. William Rosenberg's vision is kept until today under the name â€Å"the philosophy of Dunkin' Donuts†: â€Å"Make and serve the freshest, most delicious coffee and donuts quickly and courteously in modern, well-merchandised stores.†Regarding Dunkin' Donuts values, Dunkin' Donuts attains twelve values applied perfectly to franchise owners, and they are as follows:Honesty  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ The truth is always the major key to success.Transparency  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ sharing thoughts fluency. Respect  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Give individuals their nobility and win others' regard.Fairness  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Do what is right even if it is hard to do.Humility  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ helping less fortunate individuals. It is about the team and the society as a whole.Responsibility- Be accountable for the outcome whether the situation is good or bad. Integrity  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Character indicates when no individual is looking.In 1990, Allied Lyons the owner of Baskin Robbins purchased Dunkin' Donuts that was renamed to Dunkin' Brands in 2004. Dunkin' Donuts reached the first rank in customer loyalty of coffee category by Brand Keys for 10 years successively.Dunkin' Donuts's major competitors worldwide: Starbucks: Starbucks is obviously the leader of all Competitors of Dunkin' Donuts. It competes with Dunkin' Donuts by offering a variety of baked food and drinks in a relaxed atmosphere. McDonald's: McDonald's is one of the main fast food chains in the industry and one of the top Competitors of Dunkin' Donuts. Offering a variety of food items and drinks at low prices with quick service.Krispy Kreme: Krispy Kreme offers doughnuts and coffee, which means the toughest competition with Dunkin' Donuts.Dunkin' Donuts's major competitors in Saudi Arabia: In Saudi Arabia market, Dunkin' Donuts has a variety of competitors both international competitors and local coffee shops. International competitors are Starbucks, Krispy Kreme and McDonald's. The local coffee shops are Coffee Day, 12cups, Alchemy. As a result, Dunkin' Donuts should adopt and understand the Saudi culture to compete with their competitors. Furthermore, selecting some reasonable areas that most of the locals may not have the capacity to manage the cost because of their limited budgets, Dunkin' Donuts can gain a competitive advantage.Entering to the Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaGlobalization enabled local companies to become international, by giving them accessibility to invest in foreign markets, expanding their sizes, assets net worth, and targeted segments of customers. Also, it gave governments better opportunities for developing communities.Entering KSA as an international business is an easy process, but must be applied with accuracy and professionalism. The competitive investing climate attracts investors to be on this land, and only the most creative innovative could last, since the mid-1970s as of recently.In 1986, Shahia food Limited Company wins the contract of Dunkin' Donuts franchise and was able to introduce the brand Dunkin' Donuts to Saudi Arabia. Dunkin' Donuts is keeping spreading in KSA over thirty-one year. the first branch was established in Al Olaya. Nowadays, the company has more than 200 branches in all Saudi regions, starting from:Riyadh Region (King Khalid Intl Airport, Wadi Laban, Al Muzahimiah, Diriya, and more). Western Region, which includes (Mecca, Jeddah, and Madinah) Eastern Region (Khobar, Dammam, and Jubail)Qassim Region (Buraydah, Badiah, Bakeereya Unayzah, and Zulfi) Saudi employees versus Foreign employees:Dunkin' Donuts employes an acceptable number of Saudis. Its main purpose of having many Saudi employees is because of the policy of its industry, that employing Saudis to easily serve Saudi consumers will help to reach Dunkin' Donuts products. Moreover, Saudi employees can realize their nation consumption habits more than foreign employees. KSA modes to enter Saudi market:There are many modes to enter Saudi market. every type serves organizations, governments, and customers, reaching their objectives. Methods can be summarized as follows:Exporting: a country (exporter) sells goods and services and distributes them to another country (importer).Piggybacking: Selling goods services to local businesses, but they market the vendor globally.Buying a company: is the most expensive method of entering a country, it is about purchasing a local company. Turnkey Projects: Forming a project from the ground, and selling it to local companies to warranty an indirect existence. Contracting: either through licensing, joint ventures, or partnering, it refers to a contractor assists to introduce the brand to the local market. The percentage of involvement the contractor obtains is different from a contract to another.Greenfield Investments: means a project where a firm builds operations in a foreign market beginning from scratch. This mode has a large cost and local lows control it.A number of elements, such as expenses, local laws, necessities, desired quality, and industry will affect the company choices of these modes. Dunkin' Donuts has chosen since 1960 using the franchising model to enter America and worldwide markets, and Dunkin' Donuts used it in KSA too through Shahia Foods Limited that held the franchising method. Dunkin' Donuts KSA has its own vision statement that sequel the overall Dunkin' Donuts vision: â€Å"To be always the desired place for great coffee beverages and delicious complementary donuts & bakery products to enjoy with family and friends† As well as Dunkin' Donuts Mission:†To be the leading provider of the wide range delicious beverages & baked product around the kingdom in a convenient, relaxed, friendly environment, that insures  the highest level of quality product and best value for money. We provide our guest, the elegant service, and unforgettable experience to meet their expectations in every single visit.?†These strategic management tools state that Dunkin' Donuts KSA works under the localization theme, because of Saudi community privacy, that Dunkin' Donuts exists to make its enjoyable moments with delightful pastries and drinks, it is general in food firm to follow the localization theme because of the dependence of the food fields on the local tastes. The localization method is tracked through the Dunkinha and Dunkawy cards terms that support the customer's loyalty, and a customized menu made by Dunkin' Donuts for only Saudi Arabia. Conclusion It is apparent that KSA was for Dunkin' Donuts an important market, that's why it was chose from the beginning to be located in. Saudi's location, the type of consumption trends the society maintains, the support of the government received by international market players, and the encouraging purchasing power obtained by the Saudi people all these and other considerations, were the reason why 31 Dunkin' Donuts existed in KSA. The unique mode which is franchising is used by the company worldwide, this method was used due to the nature of the industry maintained by Dunkin' Donuts, which is QSR, that means it is a must to have the food on demand, this point cannot be done by other types of entry, it should be done through actual existence, and to reduce cost and time of studying national taste and its trends. To represent the company in the kingdom Dunkin' Donuts preferred to have a national local franchisee. The choice of this franchise was distinctive, due to the 31 years position of ruling the QSR in backed food and drinks industry in KSA, accomplished by Shahia, where the total market share reached is 49% of total market, compared to 29% for Starbucks and 22% for MacDonald's'. Discussion Questions and Answers:Why choose Saudi Arabia? Dunkin' Donuts is considered as the quick service restaurant industry., it is situated in Canton, Massachusetts, USA, it chose to invest in KSA because of its high concentration on building up the company's points of interest by existing in Saudi Arabia the heart of the world, which means rising the abroad experience. Moreover, it strongly supports the fact of investing where it can be focused on expanding resources, inattentive of having power. However, having the ownership flexibility, and publicizing risk.How the investment in Saudi Arabia? The comprehensive advantage of investment in KSA is known as stable. There is no need to concern about the nationalizing of the international businesses because of the encouragement practiced by the Saudi government towards foreign investors and the supporting for liberal ownership in the Saudi market. How do political ; global policies affect your business?The high rate of return, and the taxation system, for foreign investors in KSA, were factors of attracting the international business. The kingdom of Saudi has many advantages for foreign investors which are the highest digits for GDP in the region, controlled inflation rate, the size of the Saudi market, and finally the size and support given for the infrastructure. These great advantages are not only to attract Dunkin' Donuts to Saudi Arabia but all types of investors.Entering KSA as an international business is considered an easy process?Entering KSA as an international business is an easy process, but must be applied with accuracy and professionalism.What were the difficulties you faced to enter the Saudi market? Studying and analyzing the Saudi customer needs, was one of the greatest work done by Dunkin' Donuts KSA. One of its studies stated that employing Saudi Staff, and practicing the Saudization, will give the Saudi clients a more pleasant and stratified experience. SWOT Analysis:Strengths:The industry's most fundamental point of strength that makes it worth to persist the business through the past years is â€Å"the time-saving rule†, which means the industry reaches what regular restaurants can't offer, all these restaurants guarantee fast processes and quick purchase of food. Weaknesses:Staff who work in low conditions, with low wages, are considered from the weaknesses this industry face, which gave it a bad reputation among people worldwide. Opportunities:Due to globalization every year there are new markets added to the demand forces as a huge opportunity to the industry. Threats:Consumer demand for healthier food is increasing the threat in this industry, which will keep these restaurants under the consumer satisfaction indexes pressure. Appendix Interview questions ; answersWho are your national ; global competitors? Our competitors are other businesses operating in the same industry as we are. Which are: Krispy Kreme, McDonald's and the main competitor is Starbucks.Does Dunkin' Donuts buy from other countries or make the products?No, the raw material comes from America and Dunkin' Donuts produces the products in Saudi.How is your marketing methods different here in Saudi Arabia to other countries?Marketing methods are different in each country because of cultural differences. In Saudi Arabia, Dunkin' Donuts understands and respects the culture and religion of the region by following the regulations and guidelines for advertising the company.What is the entry mode that Dunkin' Donuts use (Franchising, licensing, joint venturing, exporting, turnkey projects or wholly owned subsidiary?Licensing with Franchising, as a combined mode used by the company worldwide.How do political ; global policies affect your business? It impacts Dunkin' Donuts by having many barriers to entry in different countries. Each country has its own policies that Dunkin' Donuts needs to follow in order to operate the business there. These days, Saudi is becoming more strictly by developing new regulations regarding operating businesses. In strategic positioning, does your business choose differentiation or low-cost methods for their products in order to create value for Dunkin' Donuts products?No, Dunkin' Donuts likes to keep up with the standards in order to offer high-quality products to the customers. After the value-added tax, Dunkin' Donuts just added one riyal to all products and make more offers to attract customers.Do you have different methods of choosing your employees here from other countries?Dunkin' Donuts likes to follow the government requirements regarding the Saudilization. As well as to have non-Saudi employees as a percentage of the staff, but to be able to speak English and Arabic as well. The interviewee information: Name: Gilhesh Paul Position: Area Supervisor. Phone number: 0560-213-910 Email: [email  protected] ReferencesDunkin' Donuts. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2017, from http://www.dunkinbrands.com/about/donutsG. (2017, December 07).Dunkin' Donuts franchise. Retrieved December 10, 2017, from http://worldfranchise.eu/franchise/dunkin-donutsMarket Entry Strategies. (n.d.).Retrieved December 11, 2017, from http://www.tradestart.ca/market-entry-strategiesNigel Travis. (n.d.).Retrieved December 10, 2017, from https://news.dunkindonuts.com/about/leadership/nigel-travisSaudi Arabia – Market Opportunities Saudi Arabia – Market Opportunities. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2017, from https://www.export.gov/article?id=Saudi-Arabia-Market-Opportunities(n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2017, from http://www.dunkindonuts.sa/English/Dunkawy/Pages/default.aspx12,000Global Locations And Still Growing. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2017, from http://www.dunkinfranchising.com/franchisee/en.html Dunkin Donuts What are the stages in a product life cycle? What are the marketing implications of each stage? From my studies it has been provine that the product life cycle is a great marketing concept that focus on the revenues from the sales of a product. The product life cycle is drawn like a bell curve. The life cycle is divided into four stages they are introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Introduction-It takes time of a new product to begin selling in volume. There may be manufacturing or logistics issues to contend with. The marketplace may be unfamiliar with th product and creating awareness takes time. Consequently product sales show a slow growth during the introduction phase. Growth- The growth space is characterized by a rapid increase in sales volume. This is created by increased product demand when customers are buying. Manufacturing and logistics issues are likely resolved and the market is far more aware of the product. Maturity-The maturity phase is established by sales volumes leveling off. At this point competition is strong and margins may begin to suffer. Signs of getting to this stage are that competitors may start advertising more strongly or using other promotional means to increase sales. Decline-Is when a product sales begin to decrease and it is at this point that some serious marketing decisions need to be made. It is sometimes possible to extend the life of a product by changing some of its product attributes, repositioning it or by packaging it with other products. Dunkin Donuts What are the stages in a product life cycle? What are the marketing implications of each stage? From my studies it has been provine that the product life cycle is a great marketing concept that focus on the revenues from the sales of a product. The product life cycle is drawn like a bell curve. The life cycle is divided into four stages they are introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Introduction-It takes time of a new product to begin selling in volume. There may be manufacturing or logistics issues to contend with. The marketplace may be unfamiliar with th product and creating awareness takes time. Consequently product sales show a slow growth during the introduction phase. Growth- The growth space is characterized by a rapid increase in sales volume. This is created by increased product demand when customers are buying. Manufacturing and logistics issues are likely resolved and the market is far more aware of the product. Maturity-The maturity phase is established by sales volumes leveling off. At this point competition is strong and margins may begin to suffer. Signs of getting to this stage are that competitors may start advertising more strongly or using other promotional means to increase sales. Decline-Is when a product sales begin to decrease and it is at this point that some serious marketing decisions need to be made. It is sometimes possible to extend the life of a product by changing some of its product attributes, repositioning it or by packaging it with other products.

A380 Globalisation Essay

Describe how the A380 is both the product of and a contributor to globalization. An Airbus is the name of an Airline Company. This company makes a particular plane called the A380. The A380 is a is a four-engined, double-decked airplane made by Airbus. It is the world’s biggest passenger airplane, bigger than a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet. But, it is not the biggest airplane in the world because the Antonov An-225 is the biggest in the world.The Airbus A380 can carry up to 850 passengers (but it usually carries about 525), and weighs over 550 tonnes. It has four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines or four Engine Alliance GP7000 engines. The companies General Electric and Pratt & Whitney make alliance engines. The A380 is a product of globalization because engineers have produced different parts of the aircraft in different parts of the world. Lots of the Aircrafts parts have been made in so many different countries and shipped back to the place where it was to be fully made. France, German y, Spain and the United Kingdom all helped making these planes with the materials and parts they send. This makes it a product of globalization because it has been and affected different parts of the world. As of July there are 138 Airbus A380 planes. The A380 is a contributor to globalization because it helps carry people across the globe to a huge amount of different countries. The A380 is very special, mainly because of its size. It is a double decker plane, and it is the world’s biggest passenger airplane. The A380 mainly uses these airlines: Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Lufthansa. These airlines can basically get you around the world. I think that the A380 is good for globalisation because it connects lots lf different countries together as a transport and helps people get to their destination. The A380 is a major contributor to globalisation and helps people to travel, it is a big thing in globalisation and I think that its a great way to travel.

A Comparison of Person Centred and Existential Therapies

A Comparison of Person Centred and Existential Therapies Although person centred and existential therapies are both humanistic in their approaches both these therapies have many differences as well as similarities in the use of the therapy towards their clients. Yalom agrees with Rogers in that it is the therapeutic relationship that heals. However Yalom helps his clients from a philosophical stance in dealing with their problems. Furthermore this is where existentialism differs from Rogers’s person centred therapy Jones, R. (2006). This essay will compare and contrast person centred and existential therapeutic approaches to therapy. Whereas the person centred approach regards the individual as the authority on their own experience (Mulhauser, G. 2010). In contrast the existential approach views the client as having continual change and transformations throughout their experiences. However the person centred approach provides three core conditions that the client finds useful to aid them in their growth and therapeutic change these are according to Rogers as cited in Jones, R. (2006), the first is unconditional positive regard where Roger regards as the trust the therapist puts in the clients ability to constructive change. Furthermore Roger believed that as well as this trust placed in the client; that the therapists also have their own struggle in that the therapist must be mindful of the client’s ability to attain constructive self-direction if that respect is part of their personality. This then makes a critical feature of Rogers therapeutic approach and the relationship in which the client is valued, and respected as a worthy person (Jones, R. 2006). Empathic understanding is the next core condition Rogers as cited in Jones, R. (2006) suggests it is a empathic understanding the therapist shows in understanding and accepting the client’s point of view. Furthermore in understanding the clients’ thoughts as well as their feelings the therapist shows understanding it can also shows the c lient point view is important and accepted. However when Roger talks about the third condition congruence he is saying that the client does not need to â€Å"guess what the therapist is really like† (Mulhauser, G. 2010) however the therapist must be in touch with their feelings whilst still have awareness of these feelings which the therapist can communicate if appropriate (Rogers, 1962: 417) as cited in Jones, R. (2006). Which does not mean the therapist can come out with every feeling but must also try to avoid turning it from person centred to therapist centred; with therapists sharing their feelings this can be seen as strengthening the relationship between the therapist and client by being expressed genuinely. Furthermore these three conditions are what Rogers had confidence in that the client was able to use to develop their own identity, which resulted in the client experience of therapeutic change. Existential therapy on the other hand according to Mulhauser, G. (2010 ) is about â€Å"facilitating the client’s own encounter and, to work alongside them in the job of exploring and understanding their values, assumptions and ideals†. The therapist is concerned mostly with the client (Mulhauser, G. 2010). The same can be said of person centred approach is very similar by working with the clients own experiences to help them explore and understand their values, assumptions, and ideals. Furthermore this is where both therapies have similarities in that both types of therapies try not to impose their own bias or judgements during therapy or on the client (Mulhauser, G. 2010); this then helps the client to† figure out and expand on their perspective†, the main objective in helping the client to live life well. The clients own assessments of their own experiences and according to Mulhauser, G. (2010) â€Å"attributions of value may be replaced by creations partly or even entirely due to the pressures felt from other people†. Which Mulhauser, G.(2010) says that the â€Å"individual displaces personal judgements and meanings with those of others†. This may cause Psychological disturbances which can occur when the person’s self-concept clashes with their other experiences. Furthermore according to Mulhuser, G. (2010) the existential approach shows the same similarities with the clients capacity in making â€Å"well- informed choices about their own life and the attitude towards it†, this however highlights the need for the therapist to† remain in control of their own personal and professional assumptions†. He also goes on to suggest that whereas the existential approach is completely symmetric in giving emphasis to self-awareness. In contrast the person centred approach is considered asymmetric in the client self-awareness (Mulhauser, G. 2010). Furthermore he suggests that the existential idea works along similar to the person centred approach in that the† two of u s, you and me†, are responsible for the coming to grips with the vagaries of life, meaning, and even death† this is where the therapist should concentrate on the client and not themselves. Mulhauser, G. (2010) also says the same about the person centred approach in that the â€Å"two of us, you and me† are involved in different accomplishments, here the therapist reassures the client that they are there for them and to accept the client with unconditioned positive regard and to show congruently on them and not themselves (Mulhauser, G. 2010). On the other hand the existential approach wants to understand what it means to be human and what conflicts people face.

Research Report on Major Coffee Houses in the United Kingdom Paper

Report on Major Coffee Houses in the United Kingdom - Research Paper Example Major players such as Starbuck have started opening outlets at every nook and corner of the country to gain popularity and pose threats to its competitors. The competition has become so deadly with more and more entrants joined the market and started their innovative style in product and service. However, recent research findings show that "after a prolonged period of consistent year-on-year growth, much of the coffee shops market is now entering a phase of consolidation, as consumers and operators alike hunker down in reaction to the current economic recession" (Coffee Shops - Current and new strategies for success). Moreover, the trend in the market has also changed from conventional outlet to pubs and fast food especially among youth. At this juncture, this research paper explores the status of the coffee industry in the United Kingdom by means of a variety of methods such as PESTLE Analysis. The study covers the PESTLE analysis of four major players in the coffee industry of the country. The coffee houses selected for the present study are Starbucks, Caffe Nero, Costa Coffee, and Coffee Republic. The study begins with the preparation of a perceptual positioning map and its relevance. The study covers those coffee shops where coffee is a major item of sales and majority of the consumers visit the shops to consume branded coffee because of their loyalty to the brands. The research is not confined to a particular type of coffee. Instead, it includes different types of coffee products such as cappuccino, latte, mocha. For the purpose of the research coffee shops include venues such as individual stores, kiosks and concessions. It is also to be noticed that the research does not cover other coffee establishments such as in-, tea shops, store cafes or traditional cafes, restaurants, and sandwich shops. The study takes a sample survey among 30 coffee consumers of various brands. It seeks to explore that how the consumers of various coffee products rate their brand s and what motivate them to buy their brands. A Brief Account of the Profile of Selected Companies Starbucks Established in the year 1980 by Howard Schultz, Starbucks is a large coffee retailer conglomerate having around 11000 cafes spread across 40 countries around the globe. The main reason for the company's success has been its focus on quality and highest beverage processing standards including selection of the best coffee ingredients. The raw materials that go into making the coffee are extracted from the best Arabica coffee beans and there are no mixtures or additives.

Ethical Perspectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Tesla and Alternating Current Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Tesla and Alternating Current - Term Paper Example Nikola Tesla arrived in the United States in 1884 as a great admirer of Thomas Edison and eventually found employment to redesign dynamos intended to generate direct current electricity for Edison's company. Very early on, however, Tesla became convinced that alternating current was superior to the means that Edison was spending his time trying to perfect. Edison's response was that Tesla was wasting his time and talent because he considered alternating current to be far too dangerous for public consumption, especially in comparison to direct current. Edison tried to convince Tesla that the danger inherent in alternating current had to do with the potential for high voltage wires to come loose and act almost as a lightning strike, killing a person on impact. After spending several months working long hours for Edison, Tesla eventually made the decision to strike out on his own in search of financial backing to continue developing alternating current. ... The primary backer of Tesla was George Westinghouse. Westinghouse was fascinating with Tesla's ideas and even more fascinated with the idea of actually buying exclusive rights to Tesla's patents. With one million of Westinghouse's dollars pumped into his research, Tesla was ready to reveal the potential of alternating current. The Chicago World's Fair of 1893 gave Tesla his opportunity to prove to the world the superiority of his theories. Every single exhibit using electricity on display at the World's Fair was generated with alternating current. The path to Tesla's revelation of how much better alternating current was than direct current was not easy since Thomas Edison put was willing to put 98% of his perspiration not into any aspiration to improve direct current but rather into inhumane experiments designed to frighten the public away from Tesla's work. Edison's attempts to discredit the validity of alternating current included the public execution of a variety of elephants (Silverberg 239). Despite repeated attempts by Edison to convince the public that alternating current was dangerous, it was the fact that Tesla was right and Edison was wrong about the superiority of alternating current over direct current that allowed Tesla to pull off that rarest of accomplishments: besting Thomas Edison. The real turning point in the war of the currents took place at the honeymoon capital of America, Niagara Falls. Using Tesla's alternating current system, Westinghouse was awarded the contrast to generate power at Niagara Falls. Tesla faced considered opposition and doubt as to his system's ability to generate the amount of

Globalization in its earliest stages Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Globalization in its earliest stages - Assignment Example the Mongols, the European engagement with the Americas, the relevance of the sack of Constantinople and Aztecs, the link between trade, culture, contact and conquest and the link between Marco and Columbus. The Mongols is an ethno-linguistic group found in Northern and Central Asia that was conquered in the thirteenth century. This conquest is regarded as one of the deadliest conflicts in the history of humanity. It led to the creation of the Mongols Empire that covered the larger part of Eastern Europe and Asia, and impacted many societies globally. For example, the trade routes and exchange of new technologies, ideas and goods affected the way societies lived. The fear of Mongol conflict changed the manner the society lived.   Moreover, the information and ideas exchanged during the Mongol invasion was instrumental in the enlightenment and advancement of numerous societies.  Gunn suggests that the Mongolian invasions of Eurasia enabled globalization to spread through the peoples thus providing the last period of cultural exchange before the modern period (8). Early civilizations witnessed as a result of this conquest included the inception of calendar making, observational astronomy, higher skilled mathematics, use of bronze cannon and coal mining. Without globalization, these ideas may never have come easily to Europeans.   As a result, the Mongols’ conquest was a significant contribution to early globalization. The Sack of Constantinople in 1204 destroyed sections of the Byzantine Empire headquarters as the city was conquered by Venetian and Western European Crusaders. This conquest led to the introduction of new cultures, technology and ideas which contributed to globalization of societies. The Aztec Empire, on the other hand, located in North America; modern-day southern Mexico, was well-known for being religiously united in every boundary of the empire (9). However, it was conquered in 1520 by Cortez thus resulting in the exchange of religions between

Law Assignment on Tribunals Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Law on Tribunals - Assignment Example In absence of tribunals, disputes among nations would possibly descend into war, economic and human suffering and unsustainable exploitation of global shared resources. Lastly, non-compliance by member countries, non-membership by important countries and a lack of sufficient power to impose resolutions are demerits of tribunals. Introduction Tribunals have gained prominence in the contemporary world ever since the Nuremberg trials for war crimes following World War II. According to Posner and Yoo (2004), a tribunal is a panel of individuals given the responsibility of resolving a dispute between or among states based on international law. Tribunals offer third party dispute resolution or international adjudication, and have different levels on a dependency continuum ranging from the more dependent arbitrator to the less dependent court. Tribunals have been seen as an acceptable way to deal with international disputes, as seen by the pressure on the UN (United Nations) to set up an ad hoc international criminal tribunal (Schabas, 2006). This momentum towards establishing tribunals informs enquiry into the topic, especially given their potential to solve state-state disputes and prevent escalation possibly averting world-scale warfare. The current study investigates the importance of tribunals among two or more nations and the influence of cultural differences on international tribunals, the possible consequences of absence of tribunals and the demerits of the tribunal system. 1. The Importance of Tribunals among Two or More Nations Tribunals occupy an important position in international law and inter-state dispute resolution due to a number of reasons. First, disputes between or among nations are complex in nature and may rapidly escalate into damaged relations, proving difficult to repair. Such disputes are also of a large scale, with the capacity to result in socio-economic and political distress of the citizenry of the involved nations. Darby (2005) provides case examples of some of the inter-country disputes that have occurred in history. The disputes range from disagreements among European nations for the partitioning of Africa for colonization, complex trade disputes and conflicts over boundaries, waterways and international waters. In such cases, the nature and implications of the disputes add significance. For instance, the disputes entail vested political and economic interests and considerations on historical relations among two or more nations. In terms of consequences, warfare, human suffering and disruption of trade may ensue if interventions are unavailable. Inter-state tribunals offer a highly acceptable way out of such complex situations and avert the undesirable consequences that may ensue. The importance of tribunals in settling such disputes also lies in their nature: unlike ordinary courts of adjudication, tribunals do not suppress the voluntary element while making the involuntary element of case submission predominant (Darby, 2005). The tribunal system balances adjudicative and arbitrative roles unlike ordinary courts of law, making it suitable for the complexities of international disputes. This makes tribunals acceptable and averts or repairs any damages in inter-state relations. Tribunals are also sufficiently flexible to cater for different situations. For instance, interstate tribunals provide control to the states, which are unitary

Discuss the social, political and econoic conditions of the 1950s Essay

Discuss the social, political and econoic conditions of the 1950s which lead to the social upheaval of the 1960s - Essay Example eal legislation, which created programs for employment and housing.1 Harry Truman, who followed Roosevelt’s presidency, continued Roosevelt’s New Deal initiatives with â€Å". . . a full employment bill, a higher minimum wage, national housing legislation, an extension of Social Security, and a new public works program, and the establishment of a permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission.†2 Truman introduced to Congress a twenty-one point program, but only two of his proposals passed the conservative Congress.3 However, after the 1948 election, with a liberal Congress in place, â€Å"Liberalism was vindicated,†4 Many of Truman’s twenty-one points were passed, and Truman called for Congress to pass an increase in the Federal Income Tax of $4 billion dollars to pay for it.5 By the time the 1950 New Year rolled in, America was experiencing an economic forward plunge. There would perhaps never be better times for Americans than the economic and pol itical abundance of the 1950s. During the 1950s, there was a housing boom,6 along with a baby boom,7 and America settled into an atmosphere of post-war comfort and focusing on the task of working and raising families. It was, too, during these years where middle class America experienced abundance and growth, that the cultural, political, economic and social disparities between blacks and whites in America began emerging as dark cloud over America. It seemed that Americans were pursuing the American dream, and that all was Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best.8 When Eisenhower was elected president in 1953, there was a loud and clear Black voice speaking up in America, and though it was not strong enough to swing the election in favor of Democrats, Black America had aligned itself with the Democratic platform.9 Seventy-three percent of the Black vote went to the Democratic candidate that voting year.10 Although there would be much unrest in the American south as a result of an emerging Black identity

It Happened On The Way To War Paper Essay Example for Free

It Happened On The Way To War Paper Essay It Happened On The Way To War is a book by Rye Barcott. This book talks about a marine who dreams of making a difference in the world. We read about his life, feeling as if we were a part of it. Three values that he clearly shows in this book are balance, leadership and Inspiration. Somebody once said that in order to succeed in life, you have to have a balance between your personal life and your professional life. Rye Barcott not only shows us the importance of having a balance, but he also shows us how hard it is to find that balance. While he was a part of the Marines, he was expected to transition easily from the combat mode to peace keeping mode. He thought that he will be able to separate the founder of Carolina for Kibera(CFK) from the marine that he was meant to be and vice versa. However as he started his journey, he soon realized how difficult finding balance actually is. After he came back from Kibera and started bootcamp. Rye noticed a difference in his performance. His said that for the first time in his life, he was in the bottom half of the class. â€Å" It’s like a dual culture shock† (90 Barcott, Rye) thats what is what his mother said that he was going through. This was the first time, we see Rye struggling to keep his personal and professional life separate. As time went by he was able to over come the cultural shock, however once he was an official marine. he was presented with a new challenge. He had to look at children that he was trying to improve the lives off, as potential suspects. As a marine he had to check kids that looked innocent for bombs and weapons and then then as a founder of CFK he had to go and help them. In my leadership class, I have been taught that in order to be a good leader you need to do 5 things. You have to model the way, inspire a shared vision, encourage the heart, challenge the process and enable others to act. In the book, Rye demonstrates most if not all of these 5 qualities. He modeled the way, by showing people that you don’t need to be rich in order to make a difference in the world, you just need dedication and a good group of people who are willing to work with you. When Rye met Salim, he decided to take take Salim’s vision of Kibera and make it his own. He inspired a shared a vision, Salim told Rye his dream about Kibera’s future and how he is currently trying to achieve it, however he probably did not expect Rye to actually support the dream or even come back to Kibera. However Rye shocked him by not only coming back to Kibera, but also by working with him to achieve his goal. Tabitha’s meeting with Rye is a great example of how Rye encouraged the heart.He had just met Tabitha and she was asking him to trust her and help her. There was no guarantee that Tabitha would succeed, but Rye supported her and helped her achieve her dream. Challenging the Process requires you to stand up and stand out of the crowd. There are many books published about a person and the amount of good her or she does in the world. However the reason that Rye’s story is different from others is because Rye is a marine. People are attracted to this book, because on the front cover the caption reads â€Å"A Marines Path To Peace† Which is very unique. When people think about the Marines, they think of war not peace. There aren’t many books about a marine that fights a war in the day, and runs a non-profit organization by night. The work that Rye does in his book, things like organizing soccer tournaments and trash clean ups, enables others to act. In order for the kids to play the sports, they have to help the community by cleaning up the trash. It taught the kids positive feedback. They did something good for others and in return they got something good out of it. This practice motivated the people of Kibera to act! This wasn’t the only way he enabled other to act, he was able to convince his friend Nate to help others and modeled the way for him. Inspiration is a huge deal in Rye’s life. He would have not achieved some much in his life, if he wasnt inspired by the people he met in his life. Tabitha and Salim showed him that even though they have faced many hardships, it is still possible to achieve your dreams as long as you work hard with passion and integrity. His teachers/professors at UNC helped him tremendously. When him and his friends weren’t able to get many funds, it was his professors that helped him get through, and motivated him and gave him guidance that eventually got him the funds that he needed. Not only did they guide him, but they helped him with his project. Professor Peacock and Kohn who he met in his freshman year helped him with his thesis in grad school and taught him how to run an effective non-profit organization. Even when he was a kid, his father’s marine friends were mentors for him. â€Å"My good fortune started when I was a bot.† (110, Barcott, Rye) They guided him and helped him realize his future plan. They guided him because they knew that he would in return be an inspiration and guide others in the future. Which is exactly what he did. He became an inspiration for the kids of Kibera. Rye Barcott’s journey in this book, wasn’t an easy one. The three values that he demonstrated in this book, balance, leadership and inspiration made him very unique. When he first started his journey, he did not have all three values, however as he grew as a person, he developed these values and tried to perfect them. Work Cited †¢ Barcott, Rye. Carolina For Kibera. N.p., n.d. Web. . †¢ Barcott, Rye. It Happend on the Way to War. USA: Bloomsbury, 2011. Print.

Employee Retention and Interviewing Essay Example for Free

Employee Retention and Interviewing Essay When Southwest Airlines wants to hire employees, they tend to have 142,000 applicants. They obviously want to choose the person who will suit their organizational culture the best. To achieve this objective they need to ask the right questions when interviewing the applicants. These questions should be such that they provide a clear picture as to which applicant will be best for the job and the organization as a whole. You can use behavioral-based job interview questions to help you select superior candidates. Ask interview questions that help you identify whether the candidate has the behaviors, skills, and experience needed for the job you are filling. (Top job interview questions to help you select the Best, Susan M. Heathfield) Before starting the interview the interviewer should describe the essential functions of the job and ask the interviewee if he can perform those functions with or without accommodations. (http://www. alllaw. com/articles/employment/article13. asp) The first competency question should be related to the ability to recruit and interview applicants, ‘how often during your last job did you need to interview applicants and describe a situation in which the first impression of the applicant could have altered your judgment. ’ Through this question the interviewer may get an idea of the prejudices the person might or might not hold. Southwest Airlines need to make sure that their employees do not discriminate against certain races and are able to handle all sorts of situations hands on. The second question is related to the employee’s ability to perform reference checks on potential employees. ‘When a former employer was not willing to provide information about a potential employee, how did you handle the situation and perform the necessary reference check? ’ this question will help the Airlines figure out if the employee is responsible enough to go through the necessary procedure or would overlook some things and carry on. The third question is about the employee’s ability to plan and conduct regularly scheduled organizational orientation programs. Tell me about an incidence where last minute changes were made in the orientation plan, these changes were not known to you. How did you cope with these lat minute changes? ’ this question will help identify the employee’s capabilities in a chaotic situation. For airlines these situations are quite common and such a characteristic will be beneficial for the organization. The fourth question is connected with the employee’s ability to prepare and explain HR policies and procedures. ‘Tell me about a situation where there was a revision in the company policy and the employees did not take the change well. What did you do? This will help the employer or interviewer for Southwest Airlines find out the opinion of the employee about some policies and procedures that may be adopted by the company or already exist within the company. The fifth question is about the employee’s ability to develop and maintain up-to-date job descriptions. ‘How many job descriptions have you developed in your time as an employee here at Southwest and what were some of the major difficulties you faced while carrying out your work? ’ this question will help understand if the employee will be able to assess the applicant’s capabilities and send him to the department that suits him best. The sixth question for the employee should be based on his ability to administer a compensation program and monitor salary increase recommendations to ensure compliance with merit increase guidelines. The question here will be, ‘what is your view on performance appraisals, are they necessary or not, do they motivate employees to do better on the job? ’ This question will help understand what the employee’s are expecting and what benefits they want for the jobs they perform on a weekly or daily basis. By asking these questions from the existing employees, the top management at Southwest Airlines will know the sort of employees who will be screened out from the 142,000 applicants. The number of employees they actually need is 4000, thus the company needs to be careful as to who they hire and retain. By interviewing the interviewers beforehand the organization is making sure they hire the right people. Also, when your interview questions ask the applicant to tell you about behaviors and actions she has actually demonstrated in the past, your selection process will improve.

Adaptive User Interface Framework: Android Mobile Platform

Adaptive User Interface Framework: Android Mobile Platform Mr. Tulip Das Abstract—Adapting a graphical interface (GUI) to a range of resources with completely different capabilities is exciting topic of mobile computer. The user interface created for an application ought to modification its layout and parts to the user need and changes for every user. We propose a framework for mobile applications to form the user interfaces adaptable for user. This identifies an appropriate expertise level to a user by learning his/her history of interaction. Dynamic App Shortcut is to be provided on Mobile Devices serving to user to swipe the screen many times to search out the required app. The prediction model utilizes multiple options together with recency, frequency, duration, time distribution and app sequence launch. Keywords—HCI in Mobile; AI and expert systems; Adaptive user interface framework; k-means algorithm; dynamic shortcuts; mobile app usage; personalization.) I. Introduction An adaptive user interface (also known as AUI) is a user interface (UI) which adapts, that is changes, its layout and elements to the needs of the user or context and is similarly alterable by each user. These mutually reciprocal qualities of both adapting and being adaptable are, in a true AUI, also innate to elements that comprise the interfaces components; portions of the interface might adapt to and affect other portions of the interface. The user adaptation is often a negotiated process, as an adaptive user interfaces designers ignore where user interface components ought to go while affording a means by which both the designers and the user can determine their placement, often (though not always) in a semi-automated, if not fully automated manner. An AUI is primarily created based on the features of the system, and the knowledge levels of the users that will utilize it. Figure 1: Adaptive Graphical User Interface The advantages of an adaptive user interface are found within its ability to conform to a user’s needs. The properties of an AUI allow showing only relevant information based on the current user. This creates less confusion for less experienced users and provides ease of access throughout a system. Depending on the task, we can increase the stability of a system. An adaptive user interface can be implemented in various ways. These implementations can differ between the amount of information available to certain users, or how users utilize the application. Adaptive presentation: The goal behind adaptive presentation is to display certain information based on the current user. This may mean that users with only basic knowledge of a system will only be shown minimal information. Conversely, a user with advanced knowledge will have access to more detailed information and capabilities. A way that the AUI can achieve this differentiation could be to hide information to be presented based on the users experience level. Another possibility is to control the amount of links to relevant sources on the page. Adaptive navigation: Adaptive navigation intends to guide a user to their specific goal within the system by altering the way the system is navigated based on certain factors of the user. These factors can include the user’s expertise level with the system/subject, the current goal within the system, and other relevant factors. Examples of adaptive navigation can be achieved in many ways, similar to adaptive presentation. These can include examples such as providing links to help achieve a user’s specific goal, giving reference on a page to where a user is, or altering the resources available to the user. II. MOTIVATION In the last few years, an ecosystem of devices and heterogeneous services has emerged with a huge variety of capacities and characteristics. These new devices, along with applications and services, must be used to enhance the quality of life, making the users daily activities easier, as well as increasing their personal autonomy. User interfaces in mobile applications are complex since they need to provide sufficient features to variety of users in a restricted space where a small number of components are available. When user acquires expertise in the system they expect user interfaces which satisfy their unique needs. Therefore, user interfaces in mobile applications should be adapted to different users. Since this problem exists in various applications a general solution is required to make user interfaces adaptive using user context history. Figure 2: Different Mobile Devices In this sense, there is a clear need for creating interfaces that adapt themselves taking into account characteristics of the user, context, application and device. One of the aspects to consider when adapting interfaces is the set of preferences of the user. When using different applications or devices, each user has different preferences, mainly related to their limitations. III. Problem Statement Using mobile and its application is a personalized experience. Each user has different preferences, mainly related to their limitations. Hence it is quite essential to account characteristics of the user, context, application and device while designing a Graphical User Interface for mobile platform. It is quite difficult to manage when there are many applications (apps) installed on a mobile device, the simple task of launching an app could become inconvenient, as the user may need to swipe the screen several times to and the desired app. Hence an adaptive user interface solution for mobile devices, which uses dynamic shortcuts to facilitate app launching is needed. In this context, personalization of applications, i.e. applications that adapt themselves to users capacities and limitations is essential. IV. Problem Modeling A. Overview Rather than providing adaptive user interfaces for a specific mobile application, it is more valuable if it would be a common solution to make any UI adaptive. So it is encouraged to provide a framework which can give a common solution which can be used by all developers to create applications which provide adaptive user interfaces. This framework provides Adaptive User Interfaces based on users experience level. The experience levels are classified by Inference Engine which is explained in the subsection Inference Engine. The system will learn the user experience level based on user actions performed on each component of the application with the algorithm. Figure 2: Concept of Adaptive User Interface Figure 3: Module diagram for the system with Adaptive User Interface B. Components of Solution The proposed adaptive user interface is mainly focused on hiding group of unwanted components for corresponding experience level of user on that application. The framework consists of three main phases such as 1. Data preprocessing step 2. Learning step 3. Execution and rendering step Data preprocessing step 1. Location Data: One of the factors to adapt the UI is the location of the user. This is based on the premise that the type of applications a user is expected to access when at home is different from the type of applications accessed when the user is at work. The location is determined by means of the GPS sensor on the mobile device. 2. Device Data: Output of other sensors on the device including the ambient light sensor (to infer whether the user is indoors or outdoors), accelerometer and gyroscope (to say if the user is stationary or moving) can also be used to derive additional contextual information in order to better predict the users chosen application and modify the UI appropriately. 3. App usage Data: Logs of the past application usage, the frequency at which the particular app was accessed and the user actions and interactions while using the app can act as another source of contextual information. 4. Time Data: The type of applications accessed on weekdays might be different from the applications accessed on a weekend or on holidays. Similarly, in the morning the user may access different apps than the ones they do at night. A logging service running in the device would have to log the types of apps accessed at specific times of day or day or the week, and use it to make the appropriate UI modifications. C. Learning step The main purpose of inference engine is to collect the data provided by the data-preprocessing module and provide an experience level of the user according to the current user context. To infer the experience level of the user, the inference engine should behave as an intelligent system which should be trained by data related to user experience level and user interactions between the applications. Figure 4: A High level architecture of adaptive user interface framework Execution and rendering step K-means clustering engine is capable of setting the number of clusters needed. When the number of clusters is set, the engine can cluster the dataset when the squared error becomes minimized. This will give each clusters center points as output. Once the cluster centers are found these cluster centers will be delivered to user type selector. User type selector will appoint each experience level to each center sent by K-means clustering engine. Currently we have manually appointed the experience level for identified centers using natural knowledge. As mentioned earlier who masters the system can suggest these levels for each cluster values. Current user context data will be feed into the User type selector and user type selector will infer a suitable experience level which is closest. This final output will be delivered to the execution and rendering step. D. Implementation In order to practically show the behavior of the framework a proof of concept (POC) application will be developed. A simple application which can be used as an online ticket reservation system for aircrafts will be developed as the application. This application was developed in Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) and JavaScript. Android platform has given enough features and Application Programming Interfaces (API) to create an Android application using HTML and JavaScript. Android web application can be created by converting a HTML page to an Android web application using WebView class. Currently there are many third party frameworks and plug-ins are available to convert HTML and JavaScript pages to Android application. This application will be connected to adaptive UI framework using a component called UIhooks. UIhooks are some methods which can be used by the developer during the application development. For example these methods can be used when some events are fired on UI components. When UIhooks are called they are developed in a way to measure the user actions performed on corresponding UI component and store them. For example when a UIhook method is called on a button on click event, the Uihooks is implemented to measure how many time the button was clicked and what is the recent time it was used. If UIhook method is called on a textbox on submit event the Uihook can inspect and store the value submitted and the count of submit action performed. This application is sent to a user study to collect training data. This is elaborated more in User study section. The collected data were organized and feed to inference engine as the training dataset. Inference engine learned the data as elaborated b efore and gave the suitable experience level. Once the experience level is feed to the rendering engine it finds the related rendering logics inside the UI clusters. For example if the experience level is provided as intermediate it checks for the corresponding rendering logics and UI clusters. If it is said as If user Type is intermediate render cluster2 it will build a new UI using what is mentioned in cluster2. Then it renders it to the user. When the user is provided with new adaptive UI a question will be provided to the user asking whether they are satisfied with the new UI or they want to go back to the earlier stage. This is to measure their satisfactory level and the accuracy of the algorithm predictions. V. Mathematical Modeling Let s (be a main set of) ≠¡ {SDB, LDB, C, A, S, MR, AO} where, SDB is the copy of the server database. This database is responsible for storing user information related to cloud interactions. LDB is a set of local database that a user owns. It consists of data tables having data items related to the products and their sales transactions. C is a set of all clients using the server database and mining services from the server. And (c1 , c2 , c3, cn) à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ C. A is a set of algorithms applied on the input data to get mining results. S is the server component of the system. The server is responsible for registering, authenticating and providing associations to the end user. MR is a set of mining rules that are applied on the input dataset provided by the client from his LDB. And (mr1 , mr2 , mr3, mrn) à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ MR AO is a set of associations that are extracted from the input and a form the output of the system. Functionalities : SDB = RegisterUser(uid, password, fullname, address, country, contact, email); password = SHA1(input_password); U = AuthenticateUser(uid, password, SDB); LDB1 = ManageProducts(pid, product name, cost); LDB2 = ManageBilling(transactions, items); LDB = LDB1 + LDB2 ED(Encoded data) = EncodeTransactions(LDB2, EncodingAlgorithm(EA)); UPLOAD(ED); AO = Apply Mining(ED); Results = Decode(Download(AO)) VI. Results Expected Figure 5: Dynamic Shortcuts Figure 6: Adaptive UI VII. Conclusion The aim of our study was to propose a high level architecture for a framework to provide adaptive user interface for mobile applications. This framework includes data preprocessing step, learning step and execution and rendering step to deliver a  suitable user interface. The learning is done by an intelligent system which is unsupervised and trained using user context data. This delivers k number of experience levels by clustering the collected data set using K-means and ANN algorithm. It will also allow dynamic shortcuts to facilitate app launching. Some other options to enhance the proposed dynamic shortcuts solution such as gesture based control will also be explored in the future. VIII. References Aztiria, A. ; Castillejo, E. ; Almeida, A. ; Lopez-de-Ipia, D.Adapting User Interfaces Based on User Preferences and Habits, Intelligent Environments (IE), 2014 International Conference on DOI: 10.1109/IE.2014.9 Publication Year: 2014 , Page(s): 9 – 15 Nivethika, M. ; Vithiya, I. ; Anntharshika, S. ; Deegalla, S.Personalized and adaptive user interface framework for mobile application, Advances in Computing, Communications and Informatics (ICACCI), 2013 International Conference on DOI: 10.1109/ICACCI.2013.6637474, Publication Year: 2013 , Page(s): 1913- 1918 Jain, R. ; Bose, J. ; Arif, T. Contextual adaptive user interface for Android devices, India Conference (INDICON), 2013 Annual IEEE DOI: 10.1109/INDCON.2013.6726014 Publication Year: 2013 , Page(s): 1- 5 Ye Xu et al. Preference, Context and Communities: A Multi-faceted approach to Predicting Smartphone App Usage Patterns, In the 17th International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC 2013). Zurich, Switzerland. Mejia-Figueroa, A. ; Juarez-Ramirez, R. Towards a User Model for the Design of Adaptive Interfaces for Autistic Users, Computer Software and Applications Conference Workshops (COMPSACW), 2014 IEEE 38th International DOI: 10.1109/COMPSACW.2014.47 Publication Year: 2014 , Page(s): 264 – 269 Leichtenstern, K. ; Andre, E. User-Centred Development of Mobile Interfaces to a Pervasive Computing Environment, Advances in Computer-Human Interaction, 2008 First International Conference on DOI: 10.1109/ACHI.2008.10 Publication Year: 2008 , Page(s): 114 – 119 Chang Tan, Qi Liu, Enhong Chen, Hui Xiong. `Prediction for Mobile Application Usage Patterns. Nokia Mobile Data Challenge Workshop 2012. Matthias Bhmer, Antonio Krger. A Study on Icon Arrangement by Smartphone Users. In Proc. ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Paris 2013, France N. Andrew, Clustering with the K-Means Algorithm, video tutorialJ.S. Augusto, transcript writter, June 2012. T. D. Bie, T. T. Maia and A. P. Braga, Machine Learning with Labeled and Unlabeled Data, European Syumposium on Arti_cial Neural Networks- Advances in Computational Intelligence and Learning, Bruges, 2009. Y. Fukazawa, M. Hara, M. Onogi, H. Ueno, Automatic mobile menu customization based on user operation history, 11th International Conference on HCI with Mobile Devices and Services. J. Brooke, SUS: a quick and dirty usability scale. In P. W. Jordan, B. Thomas, B. A. Weerdmeester, A. L. McClelland (Eds.), Usability Evaluation in Industry (S. 189 -194). London: Taylor and Francis,1996.

The Jersey Shore’s Mad Fame Essay -- Television Reality TV

It is evident that MTV’s The Jersey Shore is playing on the television when one hears the pervasive lyrics of the opening credits. The song, Get Crazy by LMFAO, portrays exactly what the show stands for, stupidity. A verse of the song states, â€Å"I got the goose alright ok, I'm feelin’ loose alright ok, she love the beat alright ok, we love them D's†. The â€Å"D’s† stated in the song refer to the size of a woman’s breasts. The song continues to discuss matters such as drinking, partying at clubs, women as â€Å"whores,† and the continued reference to women’s breasts. The opening song of a show usually invites the viewer in and presents a general concept of what a specific show is about. The Jersey Shore, a show mostly known because of its infamous characters, presents a different perspective on life, as the show follows eight young adults and their life of partying, drinking, sex, and idiotic views on life. Their carelessnes s has influenced viewers, especially the younger population, to follow their footsteps and live carefree lives by turning to alcohol, parties, and sex as escapes. Not only do they embarrass the younger population (mostly ages 17-27), but degrade women as well by portraying them to be â€Å"easy† and by being judged exclusively by their looks. These issues do have a solution though. One way my peers and I can address this problem is by not encouraging the ratings of these shows by not watching them and rather doing something productive with our time. Since these shows are generally watched by young adults and intended for them as well, another way my peers and I can address this problem is by requesting media companies to produce real shows with real people instead of shows that portray shocking views of young adults. Issues pr... ...n as a Model for Social Network Site Behavior." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 54.3 (2010): 508- 525. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 8 Nov. 2010. This study, also conducted by the Journal of Broadcasting, focuses on the effects reality based television programs have on the social networking behavior of people, primarily younger viewers. The study dedicates one section to how the behavior of a particular age group correlates directly with the type of reality shows they watch. Reality television programs, according to the study, portray nonprofessional actors as ordinary and regular people. People therefore confuse the behavior of these â€Å"actors† as normal and ordinary behavior. Behavior shown in the Jersey Shore can be easily misinterpreted as behavior of ordinary people and can induce people to do the same.

Critical Review of Article on Financial Statements Essay example -- Ac

A Critical Review of Georgiou, G. (2010) â€Å"The IASB standard-setting process: Participation and perceptions of financial statement users†, British Accounting Review, 42 (2), pp.103-118. Dr George Georgiou is a senior lecturer in Accountancy and the director of the MSc International Accounting & Finance course at the Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham. He has the following qualifications: BA, MAcc, PhD & CPA. Georgiou is also a PhD supervisor in his research interest topics which lie in accounting regulation, accounting theory, government accounting and market-based accounting. (University of Birmingham, 2010). As stated by Bruce (2010), financial statement users are often described as the primary users of financial statements. Yet, few financial statement users have the time or the preference to get involved in the IASB standard setting process. Georgiou's article sets out to show the gap in the literature of the involvement of financial statement users and the amount of control they have in the accounting standard-setting process. The author states that it is important to financial statement users to believe that their perception and participation is vital in the standard setting process. Introduction Georgiou puts forward an argument for financial statement users in that their involvement is material and frequently accounting standard-setters give an explanation for the approval of their standards by appealing to the interest of financial statement users. The author verifies the importance of the problem area by referencing Young (2003), who also puts their argument across in support of financial statement users. Young (2003) expresses that financial statement users are used in a nutshell to prov... ...or outreach. Available: http://www.ifrs.org/News/Features/Spotlight+on+investor+outreach.htm. Last accessed 9 November 2010. Duff, A, Ferguson, J & Gilmore, K. (2007). Issues concerning the employment and employability of disabled people in UK accounting firms: An analysis of the views of human resources managers as employment gatekeepers. The British Accounting Review, 39(1), 15-38. Sutton, T. G. (1984). Lobbying of accounting standard-setting bodies in the U.K. and the U.S.A: a downsian analysis. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 9(1), 81–95. University of Birmingham. (2010). Profile: Dr George Georgiou. Available: http://www.business.bham.ac.uk/staff/georgioug.shtml. Last accessed 5 Dec 2010. Young, J. J. (2003). Constructing, persuading and silencing: the rhetoric of accounting standards. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 28(6), 621–638.

BCG Growth Share Matrix :: essays research papers

Dublin Institute of Technology MSc COMPUTING SCIENCE (Information Technology for Strategic Management) BCG Growth Share Matrix Research Assignment No. 2 The BCG Growth-Share Matrix The BCG Growth-Share Matrix is a portfolio planning model that was developed by Bruce Henderson of the Boston Consulting Group in the early 1970's. It is based on the observation that organisations business units can be classified into four categories based on combinations of market growth and market share relative to the largest competitor. Market growth serves as a proxy for industry attractiveness, and relative market share serves as a proxy for competitive advantage. The growth-share matrix thus maps the business unit positions within these two important determinants of profitability. Growth Share Matrix (http://www.netmba.com/strategy/matrix/bcg/) This framework assumes that an increase in relative market share will result in an increase in the generation of cash. This assumption often is true because of the experience curve; increased relative market share implies that the firm is moving forward on the experience curve relative to its competitors, thus developing a cost advantage. A second assumption is that a growing market requires investment in assets to increase capacity and therefore results in the consumption of cash. Thus the position of a business on the growth-share matrix provides an indication of its cash generation and its cash consumption. Henderson reasoned that the cash required by rapidly growing business units could be obtained from the firm's other business units that were at a more mature stage and generating significant cash. By investing to become the market share leader in a rapidly growing market, the business unit could move along the experience curve and develop a cost advantage. From this reasoning, the BCG Growth-Share Matrix was born. The four categories are: o  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dogs. Dogs have low market share and a low growth rate and thus neither generate nor consume a large amount of cash. However, dogs are cash traps because of the money tied up in a business that has little potential. Such businesses are candidates for divestiture. o  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Question marks. Question marks are growing rapidly and consume large amounts of cash, but because they have low market shares they do not generate much cash. A question mark has the potential to gain market share and become a star, and eventually a cash cow when the market growth slows. If the question mark does not succeed in becoming the market leader, then after perhaps years of cash consumption it will degenerate into a dog when the market growth declines.

Shadow Kiss Chapter 27

Twenty-seven NONE OF THE OTHERS appeared to have noticed our absence. More guardians, as promised, had shown up, and we now had almost fifty. It was a veritable army, and much as with the Strigoi, the numbers were unprecedented, aside from old European legends of great epic battles between our races. We had more guardians on campus, but some had to stay behind to protect the school. A lot of my classmates had been drafted for that duty, but about ten or so (including me) were accompanying the others to the cave. An hour before departure, we met again to go over the plan. There was a large chamber near the far side of the cave, and it made the most sense for the Strigoi to be there so they could head out right away once night came. We were going to attack from both ends. Fifteen guardians would go in from each side, accompanied by three Moroi each. Ten guardians would remain at each entrance to hold back any escaping Strigoi. I was assigned to watch the entrance on the far side. Dimitri and my mother were part of the groups actually going inside. I wished desperately that I could have been with them, but I knew I was lucky to be along at all. And on a mission like this, every job was important. Our little army set out, moving at a brisk pace to cover the five miles. We figured that it would take a little over an hour, and there would still be enough daylight for the fight and return trip. No Strigoi would be stationed outside on guard duty, so we could reach the caves undetected. Once our people were inside, however, it was almost a given that the Strigoi's superior hearing would immediately alert them to the attack. There was little conversation as we approached. No one felt like chatting, and most talk was of a logistical nature. I walked with the novices, but every once in a while, I'd glance over and meet Dimitri's eyes. I felt like there was an invisible bond between us now, so thick and intense that it was a wonder everyone couldn't see it. His face was battle-serious, but I saw the smile in his eyes. Our group split when we reached the closest entrance to the cave. Dimitri and my mother were going in here, and as I gave them one last glance, my feelings had little to do with my earlier romantic interlude. Everything I felt was worry, worry I'd never see them again. I had to remind myself that they were tough – two of the best guardians out there. If anyone would come out of this, it was them. I was the one who needed to be careful, and as we walked the half-mile around the mountain's base, I carefully placed my emotions in a small compartment in the back of my mind. They'd have to stay there until this was over. I was in battle mode now and couldn't let my feelings distract me. When we were almost to our entrance, I caught a silvery flash out of the corner of my eye. I'd been keeping the assorted ghostly images that lived outside of the wards away, but this was one I wanted to see. Glancing over, I saw Mason. He stood there, saying nothing, wearing his perpetually sad expression. He still seemed unusually pale to me. As our group passed by, he held up one hand, as a farewell or benediction, I didn't know. At the cave's entrance, our group split up. Alberta and Stan were leading the group in. They stood poised at the entrance, waiting for the exact time they'd agreed upon with the other group. Ms. Carmack, my magic teacher, was among the Moroi going in with them. She looked nervous but determined. The moment came, and the adults disappeared. The rest of us stood there, lined up in a ring around the cave. Gray clouds hung in the sky. The sun had begun its descent, but we still had awhile. â€Å"This is going to be easy,† murmured Meredith, one of three other girls in the senior class. She spoke uncertainly, more to herself than to me, I think. â€Å"A slam dunk. They'll take out the Strigoi before any of them realize it. We won't have to do anything.† I hoped she was right. I was ready to fight, but if I didn't have to, it'd mean everything had gone as planned. We waited. There was nothing else to do. Every minute felt like an eternity. Then we heard it: the sounds of fighting. Muffled cries and grunts. A few screams. All of us tensed, bodies so rigid we nearly snapped. Emil was our leader on this, and he stood closest to entrance, stake in hand and sweat forming on his brow as he peered into the darkness, ready for any sign of a Strigoi. A few minutes into it, we heard the sound of footsteps running toward us. Our stakes were ready. Emil and another guardian drew closer to the entrance, ready to jump in and kill the fleeing Strigoi. But it wasn't a Strigoi who came out. It was Abby Badica. She was scraped up and dirty, but otherwise, she was alive. Her face was frantic and streaked with tears. At first, she screamed when she saw all of us. Then she realized who we were and collapsed into the arms of the first person she could get to – Meredith. Meredith looked surprised, but she gave Abby a hug of reassurance. â€Å"It's okay,† Meredith said. â€Å"Everything's okay. You're in the sun.† Gently, Meredith unwrapped Abby and led her to a nearby tree. Abby sat at its base, burying her face in her hands. Meredith returned to her position. I wanted to comfort Abby. I think we all did, but it would have to wait. A minute later, another Moroi came out. It was Mr. Ellsworth, the teacher I'd had in fifth grade. He too looked worn, and his neck showed puncture marks. The Strigoi had used him for feeding but hadn't killed him yet. Nonetheless, despite what horrors he must have faced, Mr. Ellsworth was calm, his eyes alert and watchful. He recognized the situation and immediately stepped out of our circle. â€Å"What's going on in there?† asked Emil, his eyes on the cave. Some of the guardians had earpieces, but I imagined in the midst of battle, it was hard to report back. â€Å"It's a mess,† said Mr. Ellsworth. â€Å"But we're getting away – in both directions. It's hard to tell who's fighting who, but the Strigoi are distracted. And someone†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He frowned. â€Å"I saw someone using fire on the Strigoi.† None of us answered. It was too complex to get into right now. He seemed to realize that and withdrew to sit near a still-sobbing Abby. Two more Moroi and a dhampir I didn't know soon joined Abby and Mr. Ellsworth. Each time someone came out, I prayed that it would be Eddie. We had five victims so far, and I had to assume that others were escaping at the entrance closest to the school. Several minutes passed, though, and no one else came out. My shirt was drenched, soaked through with sweat. I had to shift my hold on the stake every once in a while. My grip was so tight that my fingers were locking up. Suddenly, I saw Emil flinch. I realized he was getting a message through his earpiece. His face showed intense concentration, and then he murmured something back. Looking up at us, he pointed at three novices. â€Å"You – take them back to the school.† He gestured at the refugees, and then turned toward three of the adult guardians. â€Å"Go in. Most of the prisoners have gotten out, but our people are trapped. There's a stalemate.† The guardians moved in without hesitation, and a few moments later, the novices and their charges took off. That left four of us, two adults – Emil and Stephen – and two novices, me and Shane. The tension around us was so thick, we could barely breathe. No one else was coming out. No more reports were being made. Emil glanced up and looked alarmed. I followed his gaze. More time had passed than I realized. The sun was significantly lower. Emil suddenly flinched again as another message came through. He looked at all of us, his face troubled. â€Å"We need more in there to cover the escape on the other end. It doesn't sound like we've lost many. They're just still having trouble with the retreat.† Many, he'd said. Not any. That meant we'd lost at least one person. I felt cold all over. â€Å"Stephen, you go in,† said Emil. He hesitated, and I could read his dilemma like a book. He wanted to go in too, but as the leader for this side, he was supposed to stay stationed here until the last possible moment. He was on the verge of disobeying those orders, I realized. He was considering going in with Stephen and leaving Shane and me out here. Yet, at the same time, he couldn't bring himself to leave two novices here alone, should something unexpected happen. Emil exhaled, and he looked us over. â€Å"Rose, go with him.† I didn't waste a moment. Following Stephen, I slipped into the cave, and immediately, that nauseous feeling rolled over me. It had been cold outside, but it was colder still as we moved deeper. It was also darker. Our eyes could handle a fair amount of it, but it soon became too much. He flipped on a small light attached to his jacket. â€Å"I wish I could tell you what to do, but I don't know what we'll find,† he told me. â€Å"Be ready for anything.† The darkness in front of us began to fade. The sounds grew louder. We picked up the pace, glancing in all directions. Suddenly, we found ourselves in the large chamber shown on the map. A fire burned in one corner – one the Strigoi had made, not anything magical – that was providing the light. Looking around, I immediately saw what had happened. Part of the wall had fallen in, creating a pile of stones. No one had been crushed under it, but it had almost entirely blocked the opening to the other side of the cave. I didn't know if magic had caused it, or if the fighting had. Maybe it had been a coincidence. Whatever the reason, seven guardians – including Dimitri and Alberta – were trapped now by ten Strigoi. No Moroi fire users had been caught on this side, but the flashes of light coming through the opening in the cave-in showed me that they were still fighting on the other side. I saw bodies lying on the floor. Two were Strigoi, but I couldn't make out the others. The problem was obvious. Getting through the opening would require someone practically crawling. It would put the person in a vulnerable position. This meant these Strigoi needed to be taken out before the guardians could make their escape. Stephen and I were going to help even the odds. We came up from behind the Strigoi, but three of them sensed us somehow and turned toward us. Two jumped Stephen, and the other came at me. Instantly, I kicked into battle mode. All the rage and frustration poured out through me. The cave made for close fighting quarters, but I was still able to evade him. In fact, the close space was to my advantage because the Strigoi, with his larger size, had trouble ducking and dodging. I stayed out of his reach mostly, though he did grab hold of me long enough to slam me against the wall. I didn't even feel it. I just kept moving, going on the offensive. I eluded his next attack, got in some blows of my own, and, with my small size, managed to slip down and stake him before his next hit. I pulled out the blade in one smooth motion and went to help Stephen. He'd taken out one of his attackers, and between us, we finished the last one. That left seven Strigoi now. No, six. The trapped guardians – who were having difficulty in their pinned position – had killed another. Stephen and I jerked the Strigoi closest to us out of the circle. He was a strong one – very old, very powerful – and even with the two of us, he was hard to take down. At last, we did. With the Strigoi numbers reduced, the other guardians were having an easier time getting to the rest. They started freeing themselves from their trapped position, and their numbers alone were now an aid. When the Strigoi count was down to two, Alberta yelled at us to start escaping. Our alignment in the room had changed. We were now the ones surrounding the last two Strigoi. This left the path clear for three of the guardians to escape via the way I'd come in. Stephen, meanwhile, crawled through the hole to the other side. Dimitri staked one of the two Strigoi. One left. Stephen stuck his head back in and shouted something to Alberta that I couldn't quite make out. She yelled something back without looking at him. She, Dimitri, and two others were closing in on the last Strigoi. â€Å"Rose,† yelled Stephen, beckoning. Follow orders. That's what we did. I left the fray, scrambling through the hole more easily than he had, thanks to my smaller size. Another guardian immediately followed after me. No one was on this side of cave-in. The fight had either ended or moved on. Bodies showed that things had been intense, however. I saw more Strigoi, as well as a familiar face: Yuri. I hastily looked away toward Stephen, who was helping another guardian through. Alberta came next. â€Å"They're dead,† she called. â€Å"It sounds like there are a few more blocking the retreat down here. Let's finish this before the sun comes up.† Dimitri came last of all through the gap. He and I exchanged brief, relieved glances, and then we were on the move. This was the long part of the tunnel, and we hurried down it, anxious to get our remaining people out. At first, we encountered nothing, and then flashes of light indicated a fight up ahead. Ms. Carmack and my mother were fighting three Strigoi. My group closed in, and in seconds, the Strigoi were down. â€Å"That's it for this group,† my mother gasped out. I was grateful to see her alive too. â€Å"But I think there are more here than we thought. I think they left some behind when they went to attack the school. The rest of our people – that survived – have already made it out.† â€Å"There are other branches in the cave,† said Alberta. â€Å"Strigoi could be hiding in there.† My mother agreed. â€Å"They could be. Some know they're overwhelmed and are just going to wait us out and escape later. Others may come after us.† â€Å"What do we do?† asked Stephen. â€Å"Finish them off? Or retreat?† We turned to Alberta. She made a quick decision. â€Å"We retreat. We got as many as we could, and the sun is dropping. We need to get back behind the wards.† We took off, so close to victory, fueled by the disappearing light. Dimitri was beside me as we moved. â€Å"Did Eddie get out?† I hadn't seen his body, but I hadn't been paying much attention either. â€Å"Yes,† said Dimitri, breathing ragged. God only knew how many Strigoi he'd fought today. â€Å"We had to practically force him out. He wanted to fight.† That sounded like Eddie. â€Å"I remember this curve,† my mother said as we rounded a corner. â€Å"It's not much farther. We should see light soon.† Thus far, we were only guided by the jacket lights. I felt the nausea only a split second before they attacked. At a T intersection, seven Strigoi jumped us. They'd let the earlier party escape, but they'd been lying in wait for us, three on one side and four on the other. One guardian, Alan, never saw it coming. A Strigoi grabbed him and snapped Alan's neck so quickly that it looked effortless. It probably was. It was such a mirror to what had happened to Mason that I nearly came to a standstill. Instead, I doubled back, ready to get into the fray. But we were in a narrow part of the tunnel, and not all of us could get through to the Strigoi. I was stuck in the back. Ms. Carmack was beside me, and she had enough visibility to light up a couple of the Strigoi, making it easier for those guardians in the fight to stake them. Alberta caught a glimpse of me and a couple other guardians. â€Å"Start retreating!† she yelled. None of us wanted to leave, but there wasn't much we could do. I saw one guardian fall, and my heart lurched. I hadn't known him, but it didn't matter. In seconds my mother was on the Strigoi attacker, driving her stake through his heart. Then I lost sight of the fight as I rounded another corner with the three guardians with me. Farther down the corridor, I saw faint purplish light. The exit. Faces of other guardians peered in at us. We'd made it. But where were the others? We ran to the exit, emerging into the air. My group clustered by the opening, anxious to see what had happened. The sun, I was dismayed to see, was nearly gone. The nausea hadn't left me, which meant Strigoi were still alive. Moments later, my mother's party came tearing down the hall. By the numbers, one more had gone down. But they were so close. Everyone around me tensed up. So close. So, so close. But not close enough. Three Strigoi lay in wait in one of the alcoves. We'd passed them, but they'd let us go by. It all happened so fast; no one could have reacted in time. One of the Strigoi grabbed Celeste, his mouth and fangs going for her cheek. I heard a strangled scream and saw blood everywhere. One of the Strigoi went for Ms. Carmack, but my mother jerked her away and shoved her forward toward us. The third Strigoi grabbed Dimitri. In all the time I'd known him, I'd never seen Dimitri falter. He was always faster, always stronger than everyone else. Not this time. This Strigoi had caught him by surprise, and that slight edge was all it had taken. I stared. It was the blond Strigoi. The one who had spoken to me in the battle. He grabbed Dimitri and pulled him to the ground. They grappled, strength against strength, and then I saw those fangs sink into Dimitri's neck. The red eyes flicked up and made contact with my own. I heard another scream – this time, it was my own. My mother started to double back toward the fallen, but then five more Strigoi appeared. It was chaos. I couldn't see Dimitri anymore; I couldn't see what had happened to him. Indecision flashed over my mother's features as she tried to decide to flee or fight, and then, regret all over her face, she kept running toward us and the exit. Meanwhile, I was trying to run back inside, but someone was stopping me. It was Stan. â€Å"What are you doing, Rose? More are coming.† Didn't he understand? Dimitri was in there. I had to get Dimitri. My mother and Alberta burst out, dragging Ms. Carmack. A group of Strigoi were after them, skidding to a halt just on the edge of the waning light. I was still fighting Stan. He didn't need the help, but my mother grasped a hold of me and tugged me away. â€Å"Rose, we have to get out of here!† â€Å"He's in there!† I screamed, straining as hard as I could. How could I have killed Strigoi and not been able to break free from these two? â€Å"Dimitri's in there! We have to go back for him! We can't leave him!† I was rambling, hysterical, shouting at them all that we had to go rescue Dimitri. My mother shook me hard and leaned close so there were only a couple inches between us. â€Å"He is dead, Rose! We can't go back in there. The sun will be down in fifteen minutes, and they are waiting for us. We're going to be in the dark before we can get back to the wards. We need every second we can get – it still may not be enough.† I could see the Strigoi gathered at the entrance, their red eyes gleaming with anticipation. They completely filled the opening, ten I believed. Maybe more. My mother was right. With their speed, even our fifteen-minute lead might not be enough. And yet, I still couldn't take a step. I couldn't stop staring at the cave, back where Dimitri was, back where half of my soul was. He couldn't be dead. If he was, then surely I would be dead too. My mother slapped me, the pain snapping me out of my daze. â€Å"Run!† she yelled at me. â€Å"He is dead! You are not going to join him!† I saw the panic in her own face, panic over me – her daughter – getting killed. I remembered Dimitri saying he'd rather die than see me dead. And if I stood there stupidly, letting the Strigoi get me, I'd fail both of them. â€Å"Run!† she cried again. Tears streaming down my face, I ran.