The Process of Leadership and Potential of the Organisation Essay - 3

The Process of Leadership and Potential of the Organisation - Essay Example According to Hall et al. (2013), the role of a manager in the workplace is leadership. Because of globalization and liberalization, competition in the market is getting intensified as time goes on. Traditional management and leadership principles may not be effective at present since the needs of the organization and that of the employees are changing constantly. It should be noted that the ultimate success of an organization rests in the hands of the employees since employees are responsible for the mobilization of organizational resources. It is the duty of the leader to address the needs of all the employees properly to lead the organization towards success. Modern organizations are functioning cross-culturally and these organizations are keen on keeping a diverse workforce. The needs of diverse employees could be different. No two individuals are alike; therefore it would be difficult for a leader to use same management style to motivate two different employees. Same way, it woul d be difficult for a leader to implement same management strategies in different industries since the requirements of different industries could be different. In short, the process of leadership is not homogenous in all contexts.At present these companies are struggling for existence because of the leadership failures in their organizations. It would be difficult for modern organizations to stay competitive without processes like innovation, change management and knowledge management etc like modern management principles. Leadership is responsible to implement these things in organizations. The introduction of Apple Inc.’s innovative touchscreen phone (iPhone) at the beginning of 2000 has changed the complexion of the high tech market. Samsung has immediately followed the footsteps of Apple Inc. while others failed to adapt to the situations properly. At present Samsung is competing for the neck to neck with Apple Inc in the high tech industries whereas others struggling for survival. The problems in the leadership approach were the major reasons for failures in Nokia like companies. Leadership Approach According to Herbert Henkel, chairman, and CEO of Ingersoll Rand, the ability of a leader to question the â€Å"halo effect† determines the success and failure of the organization which he leads (Carey et al., 2009). For example, in 80’s and 90’s Apple Computers was struggling for survival. The competition from arch-rival Microsoft was immense for Apple. Steve Job, the former CEO of Apple Computers decided to make some changes in Apple’s business strategies. Instead of concentrating more on computer and OS market, he decided to concentrate more on consumer electronics market. As a result of that, he was able to introduce a series of innovative products such as iPhone, iPad, iPod, etc at the beginning of 2000.  

How Obtaining My Degree Essay Example for Free

How Obtaining My Degree Essay Deciding to go continue my education and further learning is one of the best decisions I’ve made only because it’s what will benefit my future living, financially and mentally as well. We all have an idea of what we want in life, but we end up doing the opposite and resulting in being miserable. A person like me, a black man, is pretty lucky to have come this far 39 years without going to prison. With a degree, I would be more knowledgeable and socially accepted. I haven’t always chosen the right friends. Luckily, I haven’t been in any trouble. Although college is a privilege but I see it more as a necessity in life in order to expand my horizons and life’s possibilities. Attending school will teach me useful tips I’ll use for the rest of my life, whether its time management, not procrastinating with anything and pushing myself to the highest possible limit. Earning a degree will change my life, and my child’s life in many ways. A degree would help us in this economic downturn. I have been working as a hairdresser for over 10 years now, and while it pays the bills, there is no room to go on vacation. There are no emergency funds set aside. Our economy may be getting better; however I do not believe I can get a head. I will continue skating by, or worse, an emergency may happen and I will not have the funds to cover it. A degree would give me pride in myself. I’ve always wanted to go to college, however I could never find the right time. A degree would help me accomplish a better life for myself, and my daughter. It will also set a huge example for my child. You never want your children to experience your downfalls. People want the best for their children. I believe my daughter will be more inclined to go to college if I were to graduate and earn my degree. She has seen the jobs I’ve had in the past, the trials, tribulations, financial hardships, stress, the many times we’ve had to move, and she can compare it to how stable we can live once I’ve earned a successful living because of Higher Education. I would like to study Business Administration with an emphasis on human resources management I love the training aspects and seeing people up to win at there job with proper training and instruction My profession in business would make my daughter and immediate family so proud of me. Not one person in my immediate family went to college. I would love to make new history, and set a new trend within my family. At the end of the day college is not something to not take seriously; it requires dedication, patience, social skills, etc. College is something provided for adults of all ages that offer the opportunity to become a more advanced educated citizen. It’s something with great value and credibility in the real world when it comes to seeking for a salary paid job, with any college experience comes an automatic gain especially if completed and exited with a degree. At the end of the day college is not for everyone to attend is what I have always been told, but I now know that it is for me!

Event planning evaluation: The Chingay Parade

Event planning evaluation: The Chingay Parade Event Introduction Background We would like to do a detailed report that based on our findings on event planning and event evaluation process of an event. The event we have chosen is Chingay Parade. The Chingay Parade was firstly introduced in Johor Bahru in 2006 and it is a street parade event also a part of the celebration of Chinese New Year. The parade stretches go as far as 15km throughout the city of Johor Bahru, about 145 groups usually lasts from mid-afternoon to after midnight with an organized row of lion dances, interesting performances including dancing, singing, decorated parade floats and so on. First, we would like to explain why the event is called ‘chingay’. Chingay has two characters; Chin and Gay is the Min Nan dialect (including Teochew) for the Art of Decorating. The deities as Chingay Parade have rarely reffered to Johor Bahru residents as annual parade. This name is mostly used by the non-Chinese speaking public; probably due to the non-religious fancy parades in Penang and later in Singapore. Although the decorated floats and painted Chinese folk-characters are part and parcel of this annual parade, the main theme actually is the procession of the Five Deities from the five main dialect-groups of Johor Bahru. Thus for a Johor Bahru resident, especially the Chinese-educated, this annual parade is always pronounced ‘You-Shen’, which meaning the Parade of the Gods in Mandarin, rather than Chingay. As the historical of Chingay Johor Bahru, the Chingay Parade has been held for more than 100 years. It is celebrated on the 21st day in the first month of the Chinese Moon-related calendar and the event attracts thousands of people every year also as part of the Moon-related New Year celebration and as a predictor of peace and richness for the coming year for the town. Besides, Chingay started as a birthday celebration of Chinese gods, whose statues were taken out of temples and paraded around the city. In the belief that they will then provide plenty blessings to the people. Johors Chingay has heavy religious importance, where all parades begin at the Old Chinese Temple in Jalan Trus (Johor Bahru). Chingay procession was held in celebration with the birthdays of the Chinese deities or the procession of the Goddess of Mercy (Guanyin). It was held to worship and enjoy with the deity. Today, the JB Old Temple has five main deities for the five main dialect-groups: ‘Yuan Tian Shang Di’ or ‘Tua Lau Ya’ for the Teochews, ‘Hong Xian Da Di’ for the Hokkiens, ‘Gan Tian Da Di’ for the Hakkas, ‘Hua Guang Da Di’ for the Cantonese and ‘Zhao Da Yuan Shuai’ for the Hainanese. On the 21st day at about 7 in the evening is the grand parade, all the devotees and those with designated tee-shirts of the respective associations will then enter the Deities’ Depot to lift their respective deities for the night parade. This will be accompanied by troupes of opera characters, musical bands, lion-dancers, dragon dancers, decorated floats, stilt-walkers, big-headed dolls, giant flags and many other groups to entertain the town-folks who by then will line along the entire route eagerly awaiting the deities to pass. The order of the procession is always predetermined. The first deity to lead the parade will be Zhao Da Yuan Shuai of the Hainanese clan, followed by Hua Guang Da Di of the Cantonese clan, then Gan Tian Da Di of the Hakka clan, Hong Xian Da Di of the Hokkien clan nd the last to round up the back is the main deity Yuan Tian Shang Di of the Teochew clan. Event Planning (Definition) In general, event planning is the process of managing a project such as a meeting, convention, birthday party, exhibition, conference and so on. Event planning includes money-planning, beginning and building on timelines, selecting and reserving the event sites, buying permits, planning food, coordinating transportation, developing a theme, arranging for activities, selecting speakers and keynotes, arranging for equipment and facilities, managing risk, and developing backup plans. As event planner, event planning means consists of coordinating every detail of meetings and conventions, from the speakers and meeting location to arranging for printed materials and visual equipment. Besides, Event planning begins with figuring out the goal that the sponsoring organization wants to accomplish. Planners choose speakers, entertainment, and content, and arrange the program to present the organizations information in the most effective way. In addition to that, event planning is the energizing art of planning people and activities in order to create a show that creates memories of a lifetime. Designing and producing an event, whether its a meeting, related to big business event, fund-raiser, tradeshow or any other event, is in many ways almost the same as directing a live stage performance. Event Planning (Important) Event planning can help event planner to know what is the contribution should be and how to achieve event purpose. It is an important point to make sure that the event will be successful. It also can help planner to identify their event goals clearly and make planner decide clearly and concretely what the event need to do and can affect the social that organization wants. Event planning also can help planner make sure that understand their goal and what they need to do to reach event goal by involving target consumer in the event planning process. It can make planners all work in a goal-oriented way more than in a loose way where planner just respond to issues and cries with not clear event goals as well. Besides, event planning can helps planner to accountable for what they do. It is a consequential point, event planning can help planner or organization decide what is the best to use resources including hired people, equipment, time and other, so that will help planner and organization most significant contribution to achieving their purpose. Last but not least, event planning important in lays the basis for event organization to asses and evaluate their achievements effectively. Event Evaluation (Definition) In general, event evaluation is analysis of the efficiency and efficacy of such events using a range of empirical methods. Event evaluation measures investigate impact at all levels. In apart from that, event evaluation is the process of critically observing, measuring and monitoring the implementation of an event in order to evaluate its results (Bowdin, 2008). Event Evaluation (Important) Event evaluation, as well as event planning cycle, it can help event organization and event planner to identify how they can improve and correct what they are achieving, event organization and planners also can take action to build on successes event and repeating failures in next time event. Besides, effective event evaluation process enables event organization and event planner to use what they learned from their experience to improve what they are achieving in the event. In addition to that, event evaluation is necessary to make event planner and team-mate more efficiency and effectively before the next time you organize an event. It is all about finding the mistakes and learning from them. In apart from that, evaluating help event planner gets feedback from attendees and participants, discovering the best and worst bits of an event to know if the event achieved its original aims, or how it could be improved for the next event. Moreover, evaluating shows volunteers and staff the value of their work and the impact of the event on the community. Some funders may require evaluations to be conducted, to show value for money as well. Event Planning Process Objective, visitor, place Chingay is a cultural Chinese New Year festival, so that the visitor of the event will be Chinese. Location of the Chingay Event held in Johor. Through history, after World War II, this activity spread to the south of Peninsular Malaysia unconsciously, that is Johor Bahru. Johor Bahru Chingay is commonly known as â€Å"Chinese New Year celebration part 2†. There are a folk saying on Johor Bahru people that â€Å"Chinese New Year never come to end if no celebrate Johor Bahru Chingay†. In addition, since the Chinese living in Johor majority. This annual event is inextricably linked to the Old Temple at Jalan Trus.to organizes Johor Bahru Chingay Celebration with five Chinese dialect groups also called as Parade of Deities. Based on the size of the number, this event plan in outdoor so that can accommodate more participants. Time, date, content The Chingay is conducted in the first lunar month from 18th to 22nd (5days). And which consecutive 3 days from 19th to 21st are running with the main activities. In the morning, when the gong decorated with sacred flag bearer of the team will be deemed to walk and jingle of the gong in the entire parade route, this represents to â€Å"wash the way† before the festivities begin. On the first day on 17 February 2014, here is a light up ceremony at Xing Gong. It is a provisional places that deities choose. It can provide more spacious place to believers to pray. For the second and the third day, there is a street cleansing and mounting of deities on holy sedans followed by a small drum music parade and deities leaving the Old Temple carried on holy sedans. The location is from Johor Old Temple to palace. Thereby completing the centuries Chingay for three consecutive days of Overture. On the fourth day, activity held in the evening at 7pm. It is a busy streets walk of Johor Bahru from Xing Gong and walk around the Xing Gong. The distance of the line is about 8 kilometer. The town-folks are accompanied by decorated floats, lion-dancers, troupes of opera characters and so on. Lastly, 22nd February is the day of deities return to their Divine abodes, after this Johor Bahru resident will feel that they had finished their New Year. Promotion+ Sponsorship All the source of communication have been use. The organizer, Tiong Hua associations started to promote Chingay. As Chingay is an on-going parade, it has its own website. Besides this they also create a Facebook page welcoming for people to join. In the page, they listed out all details and the history of Chingay. For those who have questions, they also willing to give answers and the information will be update on time. In the other hand, the organizer promote the event through newspaper. Meanwhile, there will be banners and posters at anywhere in Johor. In addition, There also have media conference helped them publicise. For people who may not be able to see any information on others way, TV stations are another alternative for people to get Chingay information. Chingay is a recurrent activities, so not too much publicity, people will get to know about it. Based on the relationship between people, word of mouth also became a tool of mass media. In this event, people who participatin g were dressed in several different styles and different signs of T-shirt which are provided by the supplier that are Carlsberg, Tiger and Country Garden Danga Bay. Thus, the vendors can use this event to advertise their products. Accessibility Due to the wide range of activities involved, the number of participants more, even at night parade, it is easily lead to the accidents. In order to avoid the occurrence of such outside bruised and protect the safety of participants, the organizer had invite the medical staff to assist. The organizer also prepared a resting place for the participants. Event Evaluation Chingay parade event is a successful event in Johor Bahru, Malaysia due to it has a lot of foreign and Chinese people will join in this festival event every year. In this festival event, it affect a lot of benefits impacts as well as the cost. In benefits, social and cultural impacts in this event including broaden people’s horizons because it has the festive atmosphere with stilt walkers, lion and dragon dances, acrobats, and dozens of decorated floats taking to the streets amidst the clashing of cymbals and beating of gongs and drums in this event. In this current issue, planner also try advantage a lot of new technology element inside this event so it will attract teenager joining this event. Another benefits in social and cultural impacts are revitalising traditions. Due to this event is a traditional festival event, it can promote our traditional culture inheritance to next generation as well. In addition to that, this event can increase Malaysian pride as well because have a lot of foreign know this event and it can let foreign know about our traditional culture. The positive political impacts in this festival event are this event can let our social cohesion. This event purpose is unity ‘Teochew’, ‘Hokkien’, ‘Cantonese’, ‘Hakka’ and ‘Hainan’ all of these Chinese people during 19th century. In this current, also can let other race people know about Chinese religion so it will increase Malaysian cohesion in the country, because everyone will respect different race religion. This event also will attract foreign tourists come to join in. It can increases tourists visit or travel in Malaysia so that we can earn and increase a lot of foreign money. On the contrary, this festival event also bring negative impacts in environmental which make a lot of environmental damage and pollution in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Due to the reason which people are going for a 15km around Johor Bahru, the participants will throw rubbish at the street and make noise. Besides, it will disturb residents around the city until midnight and this event increase traffic jam as well. In the political negative impacts, event organizer cannot calculate their budget in this event. Their budget come from donation and find a lot of sponsorship. If the year has financial crisis, they will get the donation less than last year and let the event lead to failure because they need a lot of money to be the cash float. Last but not least, it has a political negative impacts which are lack of accountability. Event organizer cannot predict the accountable of the amount of people who will join in the event and will make event organizer easily loss control of the event. Recommendation Evaluations often make recommendations about how a program can be improved, how the risk of program failure can be reduced or whether a program should continue. Based on the environmental negative impacts as environmental damage and noise disturbance, we can increase participant awareness about the knowledge of 3Rs which including reduce, reuse and recycle and everyone has responsibility to make sure the environment is clean. As traffic jam problem, we can encourage participant to achieve a sharing car plan with others or taking the public bus instead of taking private car. Chingay Johor Bahru can solve the noise disturbance problem by considering to plan the event not ended until mid-night for next year. Furthermore, due to the political negative impacts which are lack of accountability, the event organizer can do a survey form on social media first, understanding total how many people will participate the event before organizing and planning the event. Last but not least, the event organizer should planning the financial report first before finding a sponsorship to record how much they need to spent to control their budget. REFERENCE LIST What is event planning? Available from: http://institute-of-event-management.com/what-is-event-planning> Event planning. Available from:http://www.etu.org.za/toolbox/docs/building/webplan1.html> Johor Bahru Chingay. Available from:http://johorkaki.blogspot.com/2014/02/johor-bahru-chingay-2104-johor-kaki.html> Johor Bahru Chingay. Available from:http://festivalsandevent.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-joyful-celebration-chingay-parade-2012.html> Look on the Bright Side | Bartleby, the Scrivener Look on the Bright Side | Bartleby, the Scrivener The world is full of all sorts of different people. The differences are really what keeps the world revolving because of all the different ideas that comes from these people. But even though the world if full of all different types of people it isnt until you look closer that everyone is actually a lot more similar than one could image. Two stories that were a part of our English 202 class, Look on the Bright Side and Bartleby, the Scrivener look completely different from the titles. But as we learned about these stories we found out that the authors of these two stories happened to write about similar things even though the stories were punished in different centuries. The quote Dont judge a book by its cover is true because this paper shows that the similarities seem to out-weigh the differences. Dagoberto Gilb had been raised in a broken home and had attended college but could never hold down a white-collar job. Since Gilb could not keep a job he had worked odd jobs as a skilled carpenter and decided to keep a journal about his experiences. The language that was used in Look on the Bright Side was simple and conversational like. Gilb explained his thoughts in a way that one to comprehend and actually find something in common with (Charters 451). Actually some of the conversation in the book was similar to some of the conversation my parents would have at their home. Bartleby, the Scrivener was the longer of the two stories. It was about a man who owned his own business and was looking for a new employee. He ended up having troubles with his new employee, Bartleby, and had to figure out how to deal with the situation. The narrator had to attempt several different strategies to try to get Bartleby to leave and/or quit but nothing seemed to work. The story Bartleby, the Scrivener was written by Herman Melville who had never attending college and actually grew up working on a whaling ship. He had written several short stories about his experience on the boat and actually said that a whale shit was my Yale College and my Harvard(Charters 877). Melville had chosen to write this story because he was trying something new with his writings; his previous writings had failed. The language that Melville chose to use was sophisticated and educated and the sentences were longer, almost to the point of run-ons of the narrators thoughts. This story was defiantly a little bit harder to get through reading and some of the parts had to be read twice to fully understand. Even though these two stories have differences there are a few similarities that can be found within them. For instances both stories deal with someone trying to find a job, details about different characters that the narrators come into contact with and characters that the story has in common. The following will describe the similarities of each story. Looking for work seemed to be an issue in each story. In Look on the Bright Side the narrator was the one looking for job to support his family. The economy was bad and the narrator had been laid off from work because his job had gone bankrupt. The narrator made the mistake of not trying to find a job right away because he had been laid off before. He thought that he was taking advantage of having a break from work and going on vacation with his family, but that was obviously not the right decision at that time because at the end of the story he was still out of work. In Bartleby, the Scrivener the narrator was looking for help in his office. The narrator was already a successful scrivener and had already employed a few men that he had been working with him for years. I feel that the narrator made his mistake in the story when he went about finding office help the way he did. Instead of the narrator setting up interviews for the position and placing the most appropriate candidate he placed an ad in the paper and waited for a reply. Bartleby showed up at the narrators office one day for the job and the narrator continued to ask him a few questions about the job. Even though the narrator was hesitant about hiring Bartleby because he seemed shy he thought he would give Bartleby a chance. In most situations I dont think that the employer would hire someone that they werent too sure about. Great detail mentioned in both stories about the people that each narrator had come into contact with became the second biggest similarity. In Look on the Bright Side the narrator seemed to give greater detail about the people who were not directly involved in his life and less detail of the ones who were. First there was Mrs. Kevovian, who was the narrators landlord. He described her as being ignorant, nasty, and hard to communicate with(Gilb 452). The narrator described her to be this way because he has mixed feeling about her trying to raise the rent. The next person was the lawyer, Mr. Villalobos, who the narrator described in a way of being a fake Yassir Arafat. The narrator wasnt to sure about the lawyer because he thought that the lawyer was helping the wrong side. The main two people that were described in great detail were a bum across the street from the library and a man named John. The bum was introduced as being loud and then his physical character was described. He look ed like Einstein with a great, long beard and had hair like a wise man(Gilb 459) and his clothes were a mess as if he had not had a chance to shower in years. John was sketchier and talked nervously and jerked without pausing. He opened up to the narrator without hesitation; it was as if he was just happy to have someone to talk to. In Bartleby, the Scrivener the narrator gave great detail about his employees such as what they wore, how they looked, and even what their personality was like at different times of the day. The narrator had worked with his three employees for many years, he knew everything about them. He even knew what mood each employee was going to be in at what time of the day. This story went into even greater detail about each person that the narrator had come into contact with; it was if nothing about a character was missed. It seemed as if the author of the story wanted the reader to really get a feel for the people that were in the story and then he eased into the main point of the entire story. Lastly, I feel like I found each story had a little bit of craziness within it. The craziness that appeared in Look on the Bright Sides was towards the end when the narrator was outside of the library and John had came and sat by him who reminded the narrator of a hippie and then there were the bums across the street who were either rolling on the ground or yelling at the top of their lungs. In Bartleby, the Scrivener, Bartleby seemed to be the crazy one to an extent. He came into the job giving a loyal feeling to the narrator and he worked as hard as he could. Then Bartleby began to move into the office while continuing to work hard. The employer asked Bartleby nicely to leave the office after his work shift many times but Bartleby never ended up leaving; he had even found a key for the office and acted as if it was his home in a way. By the end of the story it took the law enforcement to remove Bartleby because a new employer had taken over the building and he still refused to leav e. Bartleby had only wanted to do what he wanted to do and it did not matter who was asking him for help or a favor he would either not responded or say I would prefer not to. I dont understand why anyone would want to stay in the office that they were working at, it almost made me wonder if Bartleby had done this with previous jobs. In each story the men went about dealing with their experiences in a different way. With the narrator in Look on the Bright Side he tried to stay positive as much as he could, he was always looking on the bright side. He knew that he had to find a job, but also knew that there was not any work out there, but heavily relayed on the business agents who kept telling him that work was going to break anytime. He also had to deal with the fact that his landlord wanted to raise the rent of their home, but he could not afford it nor did he think that the house was even worth that rent. He decided to go on vacation with his family and get in a little bit of trouble for trying to smuggle some rum and narcotics. At the end of the story he ended up going to court and winning, but in the he still lost the house and had to move his family out. I think that he should have tried to find a job right away, but of course he did not know that the economy was going to turn for the worst. The narrator in Bartleby, the Scrivener seemed to be more of a push over when it came to dealing with is problem with his new employee Bartleby, who did not want to do everything that was required for the job and then ultimately would not leave the office even after being told that he was fired. The narrator was always coming up with excuses for why Bartleby would act the way he did and would sometimes feel sorry for him. But then there were other times such as when Bartleby would say I would prefer not to that the narrator would get fed up with him and want to fire him. The narrator struggled with this issue of what to do with Bartleby through the whole story. He had tried everything from at first giving him the benefit of the doubt, then to bribing him, asking him to leave, and finally he moved his entire office closer down town. It seemed that whatever his plan of action was, he just could not rid himself of Bartleby. In the end he finally came to realization that Bartleby had gro wn into his life, and now that he was in jail, because the new employers of the office building that the narrator had sold could not get rid of him, he was going to visit with him as much as possible and find out who this interesting character named Bartleby really was. With both of these stories there was a different perspective of how to handle situations. In Look at the Bright Side the narrator really did try and look at the bright side of problem that he had ran into. As for Bartleby, the Scrivener the narrator pushed his issues off dealing with Bartleby and made excuses for him until he could no longer handle it. The narrator was pushovers by letting Bartleby get away with everything in the beginning. Even though the stories dealt with two different issues they were still similar. There was great detail about each person that the narrators came into contact with, from what they looked like to what their personality was like. Both of these stories were great life lessons and should be kept in the back of everyones mind when they run into these situations in life. One, you cannot always be a push over because you are going to lose in the end and two, you should always try and stay positive and focus on the real things in life such as family and f riends, not just money. Work Citied Charters, Ann. Dagoberto Gilb. 8th. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 451. Print. Charters, Ann. Herman Melville. 8th. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin, 2011. 877. Print. Gilb, Dagoberto. Look on the Bright Side. 452-460. Print. Melville, Herman. Bartleby, the Scrivener. 878-904. Print.

Hydrogen Fusion is the Future Source of Energy Essay -- Energy Power G

Hydrogen Fusion, the Future Source of Energy Abstract The world is currently in an energy crisis with no end in sight. Many technologies can help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and have the possibility of ending the energy crisis. Hydrogen fusion holds great promise with its no pollution energy output. If more energy can be created than is used to start the fusion process, the energy crisis might become a thing of the past. Over half of the energy used now comes from fossil fuels, which is around 2.77*10^14 KJ in 2003. ITER, which is under construction right now in France, will have the possibility of releasing 500 MW of energy as an output. By developing methods that reduce the energy needed to start the fusion process, hydrogen fusion might end our need to use fossil fuels. Introduction Humanity has faced many crises in the past few millennia. From the Black Plague of Medieval Times to World War II in the 1940’s, humans have always had some form of large-scale problem to deal with. Now in our modern times, we as humans are facing one of the toughest: the energy crisis. This dilemma will have the greatest involvement of human minds to figure out a possible solution. The majority of all the energy produced in the world comes from fossil fuels. In these strange times, humans are now looking for new viable sources of energy to replace the highly depleted fossil fuels. One of the newer possibilities that can be used as a new form of energy is hydrogen fusion. One of the earliest experiments in this technology was in the late 1960’s with the development of the Tokamak. The Tokamak was a Soviet-built magnetic confinement device developed by Igor Tamm and Andrei Sakharov. The shape of the Hydrogen Fusio... ...al Total Primary Energy Consumption (Demand) Information. 25 July 2005. Retrieved 3 August 2005 from http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/contents.html ITER. 3 August 2005. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 3 August 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER JET. 27 July 2005. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 31 July 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_European_Torus Nave, C.R. Hyper Physics. Retrieved July 21, 2005. From Georgia State University Department of Physics and Astronomy Website: http://hyperphysics.phyastr. gsu.edu/hbase/nucene/fusion.html Tokamak. 27 July 2005. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 31 July 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokamak WEC Scenario A3 jpg. 20 July 2005. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 31 July 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:WEC_Scenario_A3.jpg

The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Twenty-Six

â€Å"Are you sure you don't want us to cal your parents, miss?† The campus security officer's voice was gruff but kind, and his eyes were worried. For a second, Meredith let herself picture having the kind of parents he must be imagining: ones who would swoop in to rescue their daughter, wrap her up and take her home until the horrible images of her friend's death faded. Her parents would just tel her to get on with the job. Tel her that any other reaction was a failure. If she let herself be weak, more people would die. More so because Samantha had been a hunter, from a family of hunters, like Meredith. Meredith knew exactly what her father would have said if she had cal ed him. â€Å"Let this be a lesson to you. You are never safe.† â€Å"I'l be okay,† she told the security guard. â€Å"My roommates are upstairs.† He let her go, watching her climb the stairs with a distressed expression. â€Å"Don't worry, miss,† he cal ed. â€Å"The police wil get this guy.† Meredith bit back her first reply, which was that he seemed to be putting a lot of faith in a police force that had yet to find any clues as to the whereabouts of the missing people or to solve Christopher's murder. He was only trying to comfort her. She nodded to him and gave a little wave. She hadn't been any more successful than the police, not even with Samantha's help. She hadn't been trying hard enough, had been too distracted by the new place, the new people. Why now? Meredith wondered suddenly. It hadn't occurred to her before, but this was the first death, attack, or disappearance that took place in a dorm room instead of out on the quad or paths of the campus. Whatever this was, it came after Samantha specifical y. Meredith remembered the dark figure she chased away after it attacked a girl, a girl who said she didn't remember anything. Meredith recal ed the flash of pale hair as the figure turned away. Did Samantha die because they got too close to the kil er? Her parents were right. No one was ever safe. She needed to work harder, needed to get on with the job and fol ow up on every lead. Upstairs, Bonnie's bed was empty. Elena looked up from where she was lying, curled up on her bed. Part of Meredith noted that Elena's face was wet with tears and knew that usual y she would have dropped everything to comfort her friend, but now she had to focus on finding Samantha's kil er. Meredith crossed to her own closet, opened it, and pul ed out a heavy black satchel and the case for her hunter's stave. â€Å"Where's Bonnie?† she asked, tossing the satchel onto her bed and unbuckling it. â€Å"She left before I got up,† Elena answered, her voice shaky. â€Å"I think she had a study group this morning. Meredith, what's going on?† Meredith flipped the satchel open and began to pul out her knives and throwing stars. â€Å"What's going on?† Elena asked again, more insistently, her eyes wide. â€Å"Samantha's dead,† Meredith said, testing the edge of a knife against her thumb. â€Å"She was murdered in her bed by whatever's been stalking this campus, and we need to stop it.† The knife could be sharper – Meredith had been letting her weapons maintenance slide – and she dug in the bag for a whetstone. â€Å"What?† Elena said. â€Å"Oh, no, oh, Meredith, I'm so sorry.† Tears began to run down her face again, and Meredith looked over at her, holding out the bag with the stave in it. â€Å"There's a smal black box in my desk with little bottles of different poison extracts inside it,† she said. â€Å"Wolfsbane, vervain, snake venoms. We don't know what we're dealing with exactly, so you'd better fil the hypodermics with a variety of things. Be careful,† she added. Elena's mouth dropped open, and then, after a few seconds, she closed it firmly and nodded, wiping her cheeks with the backs of her hands. Meredith knew that her message – mourn later, act now – had been received and that Elena, as always, would work with her. Elena put the stave on her bed and found the box of poisons in Meredith's desk. Meredith watched as Elena figured out how to fil the tiny hypodermics inset in the ironwood of the stave, her steady fingers pul ing them out and working them cautiously open. Once she was sure Elena knew what she was doing, Meredith went back to sharpening her knife. â€Å"They must have come after Samantha on purpose. She wasn't a chance victim,† Meredith said, her eyes on the knife as she drew it rhythmical y against the whetstone. â€Å"I think we need to assume that whoever this is knows we're hunting him, and that therefore we're in danger.† She shuddered, remembering her friend's body. â€Å"Samantha's death was brutal.† â€Å"A car tried to run me and Damon down last night,† Elena said. â€Å"We had been trying to investigate something weird in the library, but I don't know if that's why. I couldn't get a look at the driver.† Meredith paused in her knife sharpening. â€Å"I told you that Samantha and I chased away someone attacking a girl on campus,† she said thoughtful y, â€Å"but I didn't tel you one thing, because I wasn't sure. I'm stil not sure.† She told Elena about her impressions of the black-clad figure, including the momentary impression of paleness below the hoodie, of almost white hair. Elena frowned, her fingers faltering on the staff. â€Å"Zander?† she asked. They both looked at Bonnie's unmade bed. â€Å"She real y likes him,† Meredith said slowly. â€Å"Wouldn't she know if there was something wrong with him? You know†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She made a vague gesture around her head, trying to indicate Bonnie's history of visions. â€Å"We can't count on that,† Elena said, frowning. â€Å"And she doesn't remember the things she sees. I don't think he's right for Bonnie,† she continued. â€Å"He's so – I mean, he's good-looking, and friendly, but he seems off somehow, doesn't he? And his friends are jerks. I know it's a long way from having terrible friends to being dangerous enough to do something like this, but I don't trust him.† â€Å"Can you ask Stefan to watch him?† Meredith asked. â€Å"I know you're taking a break from dating, but this is important, and a vampire would be the best one to keep an eye on him.† Stefan looked so sad the other night, she thought distantly. Why shouldn't Elena cal him? Life was short. She felt the blade of the knife against her thumb again. Better. Putting the sharpened knife down, she reached for another. Elena wasn't answering, and Meredith looked up to see her staring hard at the stave, her mouth trembling. â€Å"I – Stefan isn't talking to me,† she said in a little burst. â€Å"I don't think – I don't know if he'd help us.† She closed her mouth firmly, clearly not wanting to talk about it. â€Å"Oh,† Meredith said. It was hard to imagine Stefan not doing what Elena wanted, but it was also clear that Elena didn't want to ask him. â€Å"Should I cal Damon?† she suggested reluctantly. The older vampire was a pain, and she didn't real y trust him, but he was certainly good at being sneaky. Elena sucked in a breath and then nodded briskly, her mouth set. â€Å"No, I'l cal him,† she said. â€Å"I'l ask Damon to investigate Zander.† Meredith sighed and leaned back against the wal , letting the knife drop onto her bed. Suddenly, she was terribly tired. Waiting for Samantha in the gym that morning seemed like a mil ion years ago, but it stil wasn't even lunchtime. She and Elena both looked at Bonnie's bed again. â€Å"We have to talk to her about Zander, don't we?† Elena asked quietly. â€Å"We have to ask her whether he was with her al last night. And we have to warn her.† Meredith nodded and closed her eyes, letting her head rest against the coolness of the wal , then opened them again. Tired as she was, she knew the images of Samantha's death would come back to her if she let herself pause for even a moment. She didn't have time to rest, not while the kil er was out there. â€Å"She's not going to be happy about it.†

Comparing Blue Remembered Hills with High School Musical 2

In this essay I'm going to compare two total different plays that are set in a different period of time. I'm going to compare my scripted piece called â€Å"Blue Remembered Hills† written by Dennis Potter and set in the year of 1979 which I preformed for my drama exam and can be seen as a comedy and a tragedy play. The other play I'm going to compare it to is called â€Å"High School Musical 2† directed by Kenny Ortega and set in the year 2007 and can be seen as a comedy and romantic. The play â€Å"Blue Remembered Hills† is about a group of seven year olds playing in the Forest of Dean during a summer afternoon called ‘Willie' , ‘Peter', ‘John', ‘Raymond', ‘Angela', ‘Audrey' and ‘Donald' whilst parts of the ‘Second World War' were happening. This play shows how victimisation and stereotypical views occur even in young children, and ends abruptly when the character of ‘Donald' is burned to death due to an outcome of the other children's actions. However, the most striking feature of this play is that though the characters were young children they were played by adult actors and actresses. The play starts and the first character we are introduced to is Willie eating an apple and pretending to be a pilot a war plane, when pretends he's parachuting from a tree. Once done after arguing over an apple, in which a way Peter acts how a hard bully should be, they gradually spot a squirrel and chase it. Meanwhile in a nearby farm we are introduced to Donald who is playing with Angela and Audrey. We notice and learn how vulnerable Donald is as she suffers some teasing from Audrey and Angela after their fantasy game of mummies and daddies. I'm going to compare this with â€Å"High School Musical 2† which is about a group of teenagers called ‘Troy', ‘Gabriella', ‘Sharpay', ‘Ryan', ‘Chad' and ‘Taylor' who attend East High Wildcats as they think about their plans over summer break from school. Sharpay and Ryan (who are brother and sister) are planning as usual to spend their summer vacation holiday at their families ‘Lava Springs Country Club'. Whilst Troy tried to get a job and gets most of the East High students employed at the country club. Only for Sharpay being the mean girl she is, trying to get the manager ‘Mr. Fulton' to fire them. Throughout the play we begin to see songs being sang from the students at East High, including ‘What Time is it', ‘Everyday' and ‘All for One' which is the last song we hear. With both plays being set from a total different time period, these plays are completely different along with the characters. Sharpay can be compared to Angela who likes to think she is in charge of everything and everyone. They both think of themselves as if they are the â€Å"top dogs† around their friends and like to control people and what says must definitely go. Although the character Gabriella is some sort of a laid back girl who is in between Troy and Sharpay, with Sharpay trying to take Troy off her and can be similar to Audrey from ‘Blue Remembered Hills ‘. But Gabriella and Sharpay are not friends and never really talk to each other unlike Audrey and Angela. ‘Blue Remembered Hills' and ‘High School Musical 2' are not alike in anyway, as their are songs being sung by the characters and there is nothing like that in ‘Blue Remembered Hills'. The times these plays were aired were very different in addition to the society. High School Musical 2†² with it being American were long out of the war and now that America is suppose to be one of the richest countries in the world, there were no great depression, everyone was wealthy and that America had everything going for itself. But as we look at ‘Blue Remembered Hills' it's a lot different. As this was set in England with children living in the English country-open-side who were evacuees from the ‘Second World War' so times were hard when living at this current time period. There were shortage of money income of jobs; children were ‘dragged' up instead of being brought up the correct way only wearing nothing but dirty and stinky rags. Also another problems was shortage of money so young children were unable to have fun with toys etc. Young children had to find environment child-friendly things to make with such as twigs for pretend guns. Although, with the amount of soldiers were getting injured from the war, healthcare at this current time was quite minimal, due to government spending the money to help the wounded and injured from the war. But in the time ‘High School Musical 2' was set, just one year ago, healthcare was fantastic for every American citizens and provided to comfort the patients life-style whilst in hospital. The story about ‘High School Musical 2' is all about a group of teenagers who go off to do summer jobs at Sharpay's & Ryan's country club and Troy forget he used to be whilst his girlfriend, Gabriella and best friend, Chad and others out of the group said he's changed and not the lad he used to be. But by the end of the play, it seems Troy has realised where is priorities are laid and becomes him old self with all the group coming together as one, with the most unexpected character, Sharpay, by Troy taking Sharpay's hand whilst doing a sound called ‘Everyday' and taking her up on stage with the rest of the East High and you could see there were a connection of love and friendship. However, there are a lot of songs used throughout the story with significant characters almost singing a song that shows their feelings and emotions. Compared to ‘Blue Remembered Hills' where that this is all about a group of kids, once again that can be compared with ‘High School Musical 2', but in this case they are older actors playing young youth children during the near-end ‘Second World War'. But by the end of the play â€Å"the killing of the squirrel from Angela and Audrey baiting of the character of Donald have just been rehearsals for a much more horrific persecution at the end of the play†. Donald Duck eventually dies. So ‘Blue Remembered Hills' compared to ‘High School Musical 2' have both finished in a completely different way. As ‘Blue Remembered Hills' never ended in the way with love and friendship and songs unlike ‘High School Musical 2'. ‘High School Musical 2†² is indeed a musical performance, in some sense it can be seen as a comedy and romantic as stated before. The characters have a tendency to lose themselves and become someone they're not. But when we look at' Blue Remembered Hills' this is very different due to the fact of the timing when the ‘Second World War' took place and the characters aren't teenagers, their children. Also ‘High School Musical 2' was originally written for Disney, but because it was such a franchise it was turned into a play, as ‘Blue Remembered Hills' was just written for television. These both plays are very diverse and dissimilar from each other.