The Indigo Spell Chapter Five

I LEFT SHORTLY THEREAFTER with the Alchemists and didn't expect to see Adrian for a little while. He was staying on with the other Moroi a couple more days in Pennsylvania, so there was no chance of a repeat flight together. My trip back to California was quiet and uneventful, though my mind raced with all the developments of the last couple of days. Between Ms. Terwilliger's cryptic warning and my new lead on Marcus, I had plenty to occupy me. A text message from Eddie greeted me when I hailed a cab at the Palm Springs airport: We're eating at Marquee's. Wanna join us? A follow-up message soon came: You can drive us back. I directed the driver to take me to a suburb on the far edge of the city rather than Amberwood's home in Vista Azul. I was hungry, seeing as there'd been no dinner served on the plane in coach, and besides, I wanted my car back in my own hands. When I arrived at the restaurant, I found Eddie and Angeline sitting on one side of a booth with Jill on the other. Immediately, I knew why they'd chosen to eat so far from our school. Being away meant Eddie and Angeline could go out as a couple. Back at Amberwood, everyone thought we were related. Eddie, Jill, and I passed ourselves off as siblings, while Angeline was our cousin. Eddie and Angeline had recently started dating, so they'd had to hide their relationship from our classmates to avoid raising suspicions. We already seemed to attract enough attention as it was. Angeline was cuddled up in Eddie's arm. Even he looked like he was having a good time, which was nice to see. He took his responsibilities so seriously and was often so tense that it seemed as though it wouldn't take much to make him snap in two. Angeline – though uncouth, unpredictable, and often inappropriate – had proven remarkably good for him. That didn't make him any less diligent in his guardian duties, of course. Things were a little different on the opposite side of the table. Jill looked miserable, slumped into the seat with her arms crossed. Her light brown hair hung forward, covering part of her face. After ill-fated romances with a guy who wanted to become a Strigoi and with Eddie's human roommate, Jill had come to realize that Eddie might very well be the guy for her. It was fitting, too, because for a long time, he'd harbored a secret crush on her, fiercely dedicated to her in the way a knight served his liege lady. He'd never believed he was worthy of Jill, and without any signs of her affection, he'd turned to Angeline – just when Jill had come around and wanted him. At times, it seemed like some sort of Shakespearean comedy . . . until I looked at Jill's face. Then I'd feel conflicted because I knew if Eddie returned her affection, Angeline would be the one with that sad, sad expression. It was kind of a mess and made me glad to be free of any romantic entanglements. â€Å"Sydney!† Jill beamed when she saw me, brushing her hair away. Maybe it was because she needed the distraction, or maybe it was because Adrian's new attitude toward me had lifted some of her moodiness. Regardless, I welcomed a return to the old friendliness in her rather than the brooding and accusing looks she'd harbored since I rejected him. â€Å"Hey, guys.† I slid into the booth beside her. Immediately, I opened up my cell phone's picture album and handed it to her since I knew she'd want to know about the wedding right away. Despite all the intrigue that had gone down there, I had managed to take some pictures without the other Alchemists noticing. Even if she'd seen some of it through Adrian's eyes, Jill would still want to examine everything in detail. She sighed with happiness as she scanned the pictures. â€Å"Look at Sonya. She's so pretty.† Angeline and Eddie leaned across the table to get a look. â€Å"Oh. And there's Rose and Lissa. They look great too.† There was an odd note in Jill's voice as she spoke. She was friends with Rose, but her half sister was still a bit of an enigma. Jill and Lissa hadn't even known they were sisters until recently, and the volatile political environment had forced Lissa to behave more as a queen than a sister toward Jill. It was a difficult relationship for both of them. â€Å"Did you have a fun time?† Eddie asked me. I considered my answer for several moments. â€Å"I had an interesting time. There's still a lot of tension between the Alchemists and your people, so some of it was a little weird.† â€Å"At least Adrian was there. Must have been nice to have someone you know,† said Angeline, in well-meaning ignorance. She pointed to a picture I'd taken of the reception hall. My intent had been to get a full shot of the venue for Jill, but Adrian had happened to walk into the shot, posed and perfect like some handsome spokesmodel hosting the event. â€Å"Always so pretty.† Angeline shook her head in disapproval. â€Å"Everyone there is. I guess that means there weren't any celebratory wrestling matches?† It was a sign of Angeline's progress that she'd deduced that so quickly. Her people, the Keepers, lived in the wilds of West Virginia, and their openness to romance between vampires, dhampirs, and humans was only one of their more bizarre customs. Friendly fights broke out often, and Angeline had had to learn that such behaviors weren't acceptable out here in mainstream America. â€Å"Not while I was there,† I said. â€Å"But hey, maybe something went down after I left.† That brought grins to Jill's and Eddie's faces and a hopeful look to Angeline's. A waitress came by, and I ordered Diet Coke and a salad. Maybe I'd loosened up in my tight calorie counting, but I swore I could still taste the sugar from all the wedding cake I'd eaten after the spell. Angeline tightened her hold on Eddie's arm and smiled up at him. â€Å"If you ever get to see my home, you can fight my brother Josh to show that you're worthy of me.† I had to swallow a laugh. I'd seen the Keepers' community and knew she was absolutely serious. I worked to keep a straight face. â€Å"Aren't you breaking a lot of rules by being together without that having happened yet?† Angeline nodded, looking a little glum. â€Å"My mom would be so scandalized if she knew. But I guess this is a unique situation.† Eddie smiled indulgently at her. I think sometimes he thought we were exaggerating about the Keepers. He was going to be in for a shock if he ever did visit them. â€Å"Maybe I can fight a bunch of your relatives to make up for it,† he said. â€Å"You might have to,† she said, not realizing he was joking. It was hardly romantic banter, but Jill looked decidedly uncomfortable discussing their relationship. She turned to me, very obviously trying not to look at them. â€Å"Sydney, what are we going to do about Christmas?† I shrugged, unsure what she was asking. â€Å"The usual, I guess. Give presents. Sing songs. Have Yuletide duels.† Angeline lit up at that. Jill rolled her eyes. â€Å"No, I mean, we're going to be on winter break in a few weeks. Is there any way . . . is there any way we can go home?† There was a plaintive note in her voice, and even Eddie and Angeline broke their mutual admiration to stare at me. I shifted under their scrutiny. Angeline wasn't as concerned about visiting the Keepers, but I knew Eddie and Jill missed their friends and family. I wished I could give them the answer they wanted to hear. â€Å"I'm sorry,† I said. â€Å"You'll be staying at Clarence's for break. We can't risk . . . well, you know.† I didn't need to emphasize the need for Jill's safety. We were all familiar with that refrain. Ian's comment about how fragile the throne was drove home the importance of what we did. Jill's face fell. Even Eddie looked disappointed. â€Å"I figured,† she said. â€Å"I just hoped . . . that is, I miss my mom so much.† â€Å"We can probably get a message to her,† I said gently. I knew that was no substitute for the real thing. I was able to make occasional phone calls to my own mom, and hearing her voice was a million times better than any email could be. I even got to talk to my older sister, Carly sometimes, which always cheered me up since she was so bright and funny. My younger sister, Zoe . . . well, she was a different story. She wouldn't take my calls. She'd nearly been initiated into the Alchemists – to take on this mission, in fact – when I'd stolen it from her. I'd done it to protect her from committing to the Alchemists so young, but she'd seen it as an insult. Looking at Jill's sad face, I felt my heart clench. She had been through so much. Her new royal status. Targeted by assassins. Fitting in to a human school. Her disastrous and deadly romances. And now enduring Eddie and Angeline. She handled it all with remarkable strength, always resolutely going through with what she had to do even if she didn't want to do it. Lissa was praised for being such an exemplary queen, but there was a regality and strength to Jill as well that many underestimated. Glancing up, I caught a spark in Eddie's eyes as he too seemed to recognize and admire that about her. After dinner, I took them back to Amberwood and was pleased to see that my car was in perfect shape. I drove a brown Subaru named Latte, and Eddie was the only other person I trusted behind the wheel. I dropped him off at the boys' dorm and then took Angeline and Jill back to ours. As we were walking in the door, I caught sight of Mrs. Santos, a teacher I knew by reputation. â€Å"You guys go ahead,† I told Jill and Angeline. â€Å"I'll see you tomorrow.† They left, and I walked across the lobby, waiting patiently for Mrs. Santos to finish a discussion with our dorm matron, Mrs. Weathers. When Mrs. Santos started to turn around and leave, I caught her attention. â€Å"Mrs. Santos? I'm Sydney Melrose. I wondered if I could – â€Å" â€Å"Oh, yes,† she said. â€Å"I know who you are, dear. Ms. Terwilliger raves about you all the time at our department meetings.† Mrs. Santos was a kindly-looking woman with silver and black hair. Rumor had it she'd be retiring soon. I flushed a little at the praise. â€Å"Thank you, ma'am.† She and Ms. Terwilliger were both history teachers, though Mrs. Santos's focus was on American history, not world. â€Å"Do you have a minute? I wanted to ask you something.† â€Å"Of course.† We stepped off to the side of the lobby, out of the incoming and outgoing dorm traffic. â€Å"You know a lot about local history, right? Southern California?† Mrs. Santos nodded. â€Å"I was born and raised here.† â€Å"I'm interested in nontraditional architecture in the Los Angeles area,† I told her, the lie rolling easily off my lips. I'd thought about this in advance. â€Å"That is, non-Southwest styles. Do you know any neighborhoods like that? I'd heard there were some Victorian ones.† She brightened. â€Å"Oh, yes. Absolutely. Fascinating subject. Victorian, Cape Cod, Colonial . . . there are all sorts. I don't have all the information on me, but I could email you when I get home tonight. There are several I know off the top of my head, and I know a historian who could help you with others.† â€Å"That'd be great, ma'am. Thank you so much.† â€Å"Always happy to help a star pupil.† She winked as she started to walk away. â€Å"Maybe next semester you'll do an independent study with me. Provided you can tear yourself away from Ms. Terwilliger.† â€Å"I'll keep it in mind,† I said. As soon as she was gone, I texted Ms. Terwilliger. Mrs. Santos is going to tell me about historical neighborhoods. The response came quickly: Excellent. Come over right now. I scowled as I typed back: I just got here. Haven't even been in my room. To which she replied: Then you can get here that much faster. Maybe that was true, but I still took the time to put my suitcase back in my room and change out of my travel clothes. Ms. Terwilliger lived pretty close to the school and looked as though she'd been pacing in circles when I arrived at her house. â€Å"Finally,† she said. I glanced at the time. â€Å"It's only been fifteen minutes.† She shook her head and again wore the same grim expression she'd had out in the desert. â€Å"Even that might be too much. Follow me.† Ms. Terwilliger's home was a little bungalow that could have doubled as a New Age store or possibly a cat shelter. The level of clutter set my teeth on edge. Spell books, incense, statues, crystals, and all sorts of other magical items sat in piles in all rooms of the house. Only her workshop, the room she led me to, was neat and orderly – even to levels I approved of. Everything was clean and organized, to the point of being labeled and alphabetized. A large worktable sat in the center of the room, completely cleared off, save for a stunning necklace I'd never seen before. The chain was made of intricate gold loops, and the pendant was a deep red cabochon stone in a lacy gold setting. â€Å"Garnet?† I asked. â€Å"Very good,† she said, lifting the necklace. The candlelight in the room seemed to make every part of it glitter. â€Å"It's lovely,† I said. She held it out to me. â€Å"It's for you.† I stepped back uneasily. â€Å"For . . . me? I . . . I mean, thank you, but I can't accept a gift like that.† â€Å"It's not a gift,† she said. â€Å"It's a necessity. One that might save your life. Take it and put it on.† I refused to touch it. â€Å"It's magical, isn't it?† â€Å"Yes,† she said. â€Å"And don't give me that look. It's no different from any of the charms you've made for yourself.† â€Å"Except that anything you'd make . . .† I swallowed as I stared into the depths of that bloodred jewel. â€Å"It's going to be a lot more powerful than anything I can create.† â€Å"That's exactly the point. Now here.† She thrust it so close to me that it nearly swung out and hit me in the face. Steeling myself, I reached out and took it from her. Nothing happened. No smoke or sparks. No searing pain. Seeing her expectant look, I fastened it around my neck, letting the garnet lie next to my cross. She sighed, her relief nearly palpable. â€Å"Just as I'd hoped.† â€Å"What?† I asked. Even if I sensed nothing special about it, the garnet felt heavy around my neck. â€Å"It's masking your magical ability,† she said. â€Å"No one who meets you should be able to tell that you're a magic user.† â€Å"I'm not a magic user,† I reminded her sharply. â€Å"I'm an Alchemist.† A small flicker of a smile played over her lips. â€Å"Of course you are – one who uses magic. And to a particularly powerful person, that would be obvious. Magic leaves a mark on your blood that permeates your whole body.† â€Å"What?† I couldn't have been more shocked if she'd said I'd just contracted a deadly disease. â€Å"You never told me that before!† â€Å"It wasn't important,† she said with a small shrug. â€Å"Until now. I need you hidden. Do not take that off. Ever.† I put my hands on my hips. â€Å"Ma'am, I don't understand.† â€Å"All will be revealed in time – â€Å" â€Å"No,† I said. At that moment, I could have been talking to Stanton or any of the countless others who'd used me and fed me pieces of information throughout my life. â€Å"It will be revealed now. If you've gotten me into something dangerous, then you either need to get me out of it or tell me how to.† Ms. Terwilliger stared at me for several quiet moments. A gray tabby cat rubbed up against my legs, ruining the seriousness of the moment. â€Å"You're right,† she said at last. â€Å"I do owe you an explanation. Have a seat.† I sat down on one of the stools by the table, and she sat opposite me. She clasped her hands together in front of her and seemed to be having a hard time gathering her thoughts. I had to force myself to stay calm and patient. Otherwise, the panic that had been gnawing at me since the desert would completely consume me. â€Å"You remember that woman you saw in the picture?† she asked at last. â€Å"Your sister.† Ms. Terwilliger nodded. â€Å"Veronica. She's ten years older than me and looks half my age, as you could undoubtedly tell. Now, it isn't difficult to create an illusion. If I wanted to appear young and beautiful, I could – emphasis on appear. But Veronica? She's actually managed to make her body young and vibrant. It's an advanced, insidious kind of magic. You can't defy age like that without making some sacrifices.† She frowned, and my heart pounded. Creating youth made all my Alchemist sensibilities reel. It was nearly as bad as Strigoi immortality, maybe worse if she was talking about a human doing it. That kind of twisted magic had no place in this world. Her next words drove home the wrongness of it all. â€Å"Or, in her case, sacrificing others.† Sacrifice. The very word seemed to poison the air. She stood up and walked over to a shelf, producing a newspaper clipping. Wordlessly, she handed it to me. It was a recent article, from three days ago, talking about a nineteen-year-old UCLA student who'd been found comatose in her dorm room. No one knew what had caused it, and the girl was hospitalized with no indication of when or if she'd wake up. â€Å"What is this?† I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer. I inspected the article more closely, especially the picture it contained. At first, I wondered why the paper would show a sleeping old woman. Then, reading the fine print, I learned that the coma victim also displayed some unexplained physical symptoms: gray-streaked hair and dry, cracked skin. Doctors were currently investigating rare diseases. I cringed, unable to believe what I saw. She was hideous, and I couldn't look at her for very long. And just like that, I suddenly understood. Veronica wasn't sacrificing victims with knives and stone altars. She was conducting some kind of perverse magic on these girls that bent the rules of nature, putting them in this hideous state. My stomach twisted, and I gripped the table for support. â€Å"This girl was one of Veronica's victims,† confirmed Ms. Terwilliger. â€Å"That's how she maintains her youth and beauty – by taking it from others. When I read this, I thought – almost hoped – some other magic user was doing it. Not that I'd wish this on anyone. Your scrying spell confirmed she was in the area, however, which means it's my responsibility to deal with her.† I dared a look down at the article again and felt that nausea well up again. The girl was nineteen. What would it be like to have the life sucked out of you at so young an age? Maybe the coma was a blessing. And how corrupt and twisted would you have to be to do that to someone? I didn't know how exactly Ms. Terwilliger would â€Å"deal with† her sister and wasn't sure I wanted to find out. And yet, if Veronica really was doing things like this to innocents, then yes, someone like Ms. Terwilliger needed to stop her. A magical attack of this magnitude was one of the most terrible things I could imagine. It brought back all my ingrained fears about the wrongness of magic. How could I justify using it when it was capable of such horror? Old Alchemist lessons came back to me: Part of what makes the Moroi particularly dangerous is their ability to work magic. No one should be able to twist the world in that way It's wrong and can easily run out of control. I tuned back into the present. â€Å"How do I fit into this, ma'am? I already figured out where she is. Why am I in danger?† â€Å"Sydney,† Mrs. Terwilliger said, looking at me strangely. â€Å"There are few young women out there with your abilities. Along with youth and beauty, she intends to suck someone's magic away and use it to make herself that much more powerful. You, my dear, would be the ultimate coup for her.† â€Å"She's like Strigoi,† I murmured, unable to repress a shiver. Although those undead vampires could feast on anyone, they preferred Moroi because they had magic in their blood. Drinking Moroi blood made Strigoi more powerful, and a chilling thought suddenly hit me. â€Å"Practically a human vampire.† â€Å"Something like that,† Ms. Terwilliger agreed. â€Å"This amulet should hide your power, even from someone as strong as her. She shouldn't be able to find you.† A calico cat jumped up on the table, and I ran a hand over her sleek fur, taking comfort in the small contact. â€Å"The fact that you keep saying ‘should' makes me a little nervous. Why would she even come looking in Palm Springs? Does she know about me yet?† â€Å"No. But she knows I'm here, and she may check on me once in a while – so I need to hide you in case she does. I'm in a bind, however, because I need to find her but can't actively do the hunting. If she finds out I'm investigating, she'll know that I know she's here. I can't alert her. If I have the element of surprise on my side, I'm more likely to stop her.† She frowned. â€Å"I'm honestly surprised she would come so close to me in California at all. Regardless, I need to keep a low profile until it's time to strike.† Ms. Terwilliger looked at me meaningfully, and I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach as I began to put together what she was saying. â€Å"You want me to hunt her.† â€Å"It's not hunting so much as gathering some data. You're the only one I can trust to do this. She and I can sense each other if we're close, no matter how much we try to hide our magic. I know this is going to sound shocking, but I actually think it'd be best if you hunted her – even if you're the one she's after. You're one of the few I can trust completely and you're resourceful enough to pull something like this off.† â€Å"But I'd be putting myself out there. You just said I'd be a big catch for her.† The twists and turns here were mindboggling. â€Å"Yes. Which is why I gave you the amulet. She won't sense your magic, and if you're cautious in your investigation, she should have no reason to notice you.† I still wasn't following the logic here. â€Å"But why me? You have a coven. If you can't do it yourself, then there must be someone else – a stronger witch – who can do it.† â€Å"Two reasons,† she said. â€Å"One is that you have excellent investigative skills – more so than others older than you. You're intelligent and resourceful. The other reason . . . well, if another witch goes after her, she might very well kill Veronica.† â€Å"Would that be such a bad thing?† I didn't like violence and killing by any means, but this might be a case where it was justified, if it could save other lives. â€Å"You said you were going to ‘take care of her.'† â€Å"If I have no choice . . . if I must kill her, then I will.† She looked dejected, and I had a moment of empathy. I loved my two sisters. What would I do if I was ever in a deadly conflict with one of them? Of course, it was hard to imagine Zoe or Carly committing this kind of atrocity. â€Å"However, there are other ways of neutralizing and subduing a magic user. If there's any way – any way at all – I can do that, I will. My coven sisters won't feel that way, which is why I need your help.† â€Å"I can't.† I pushed the stool back and stood up, nearly stepping on a cat in the process. â€Å"There must be some other way you can do this. You know I'm already bogged down in supernatural affairs.† I actually couldn't bring myself to admit the real reason I wanted to dodge this. It was about more than just risking my life. So far, all my magical interactions had been with Ms. Terwilliger. If I signed on for this, I would be plunging into the world of witches, something I'd sworn I would never do. Ms. Terwilliger tapped the article, and her voice was quiet when she spoke. â€Å"Could you let this happen to other girls, knowing there's a way you could stop it? I've never heard of any of her victims waking up. The way this spell works, Veronica needs to renew it every few years, and it requires five victims within one month. She did this once before, and it caught me off guard. This time, we have warning. Four more people could suffer this fate. Do you want that?† There it was. She'd called me on the other part that had been nagging me because she knew me too well. I couldn't let innocents suffer, not even if it meant risking myself or facing the fears that haunted me. If I could stop this, I had to. No one deserved the fate of that girl in the paper. â€Å"Of course not.† â€Å"And let's not forget that you could soon be one of her victims.† I touched the garnet. â€Å"You said I'm hidden.† â€Å"You are, for now. And I hope against all hope you'll stay that way.† I'd never seen her so grim before, and it was hard to watch. I was used to her prattling, bumbling, no-nonsense nature. â€Å"But here's something I've never told you about how magic users sense each other.† Something I'd learned over the years: it was never a good thing when people said, â€Å"Here's something I never told you. . . .† I braced myself. â€Å"Untrained magic users have a particular feel that's unique from the more experienced,† she explained. â€Å"There's a oh, wild-ness about the magic that surrounds you. It's easy for advanced witches to sense. My coven keeps track of novice magic users, but those are tightly guarded secrets. Veronica won't have access to those names, but there are spells she can use that can pick up on some of that untamed magic if it's near her. It's how she probably found this poor girl.† Ms. Terwilliger nodded toward the article. The idea of me having some â€Å"wild† magical aura was as shocking as her saying I had magic in my blood. â€Å"When she absorbs a victim,† Ms. Terwilliger continued, â€Å"she gets a burst of that wildness. It fades quickly, but when she possesses it, it can briefly enhance her ability to scry for another untrained victim. The more victims she takes, the stronger that ability will grow. There's a chance,† Ms. Terwilliger said gravely, â€Å"that it could be enough to break apart the garnet. I don't know.† She spread out her hands. â€Å"So you're saying . . . with each victim she attacks, the chance that she'll find me increases.† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"All right. I'll help you hunt for her.† I shoved all my fears and doubts aside. The stakes were too high. My life, the other girls . . . Veronica had to be stopped for all our sakes. Someone like her couldn't be allowed to go on like this. â€Å"There's more,† added Ms. Terwilliger. Really? â€Å"More than hunting an evil witch who wants to drain me of my life and power?† â€Å"If we can stop Veronica from finding less powerful victims, we can save their lives and limit her ability to find you.† She produced a small velvet bag and emptied it out onto the table. Several small agate circles fell out. â€Å"These are charms that have some ability to mask magic. Not as strong as the garnet – that would take too long. But they're a quick fix that might save some of these other girls' lives.† I knew where this was going. â€Å"And you want me to deliver them.† â€Å"I'm sorry. I know I'm giving you some very difficult tasks here.† This was getting worse and worse. â€Å"Difficult? That's an understatement. And putting aside the fact that you want me to find a woman who could suck my life away there's also the very small detail that the Alchemists would flip out if they knew I was involved with any of this.† Ms. Terwilliger didn't answer right away. She just watched me. A black cat jumped up beside her and joined in the staring. Its yellow-eyed gaze seemed to say Do the right thing. â€Å"Where do I start?† I asked finally. â€Å"Finding that neighborhood is part of it, right?† â€Å"Yes. And I'll tell you where to find her potential victims, if you'll do the legwork of warning them. My coven keeps track of them. They'll be girls very much like you, ones with power who refuse to train and have no mentor to look after them. Once we have a clear fix on Veronica herself . . .† Ms. Terwilliger's eyes hardened. â€Å"Well, then. That's when I'll step in.† Once more, I wondered if I really wanted to know what that entailed. A moment later, she added, â€Å"Oh, and I thought it would be a good idea to obscure your appearance as well.† I brightened. I couldn't explain it, but somehow, that made me feel immensely better. â€Å"There are a lot of spells for that, right?† I'd seen a number of them in my studies. Even if I had to use magic, it was better to at least look different. â€Å"Yes. . . .† She drummed her fingers against the table. â€Å"But the amulet might not be able to hide you wearing an ‘active' spell, which would then defeat the whole purpose. What I was actually hoping was that your ‘brother' Adrian might be able to help.† My legs felt weak, and I sat back down. â€Å"Why on earth should Adrian be involved in this?† â€Å"Well, he seems like he'd do anything for you.† I eyed her, wondering if there was a double meaning in that. Her gaze was far away, her thoughts turned inward. She'd meant her words honestly. â€Å"Veronica wouldn't be able to detect vampire magic. His power . . . that spirit element he was telling me about . . . it can confuse the mind, right? Affect what others can see?† â€Å"Yes. . . .† She focused on me again, nodding in satisfaction. â€Å"If he could accompany you, help muddle whoever meets you . . . well, that would offer an extra level of protection.† I still didn't know what all I'd be doing to hunt Ms. Terwilliger's sister, but it sounded like, at the very least, there'd be a drive to Los Angeles in my future. Me, trapped in another small space with Adrian while he continued with that infuriating â€Å"loving from afar.† I was so caught up in the emotional turmoil that idea caused that it took me a moment to realize the larger issue I was letting myself get sucked into. â€Å"Do you realize what you're asking?† I said quietly. I touched the garnet again. â€Å"To be a part of this, you're asking me to expose myself to both human magic and vampire magic. Everything I try to avoid.† Ms. Terwilliger snorted, and for the first time tonight, I saw a return of her usual amused attitude. â€Å"Unless I'm mistaken, you've been exposing yourself to both kinds of magic for some time now. So, it can't go against your beliefs that much.† She paused meaningfully. â€Å"If anything, it seems like it goes against the Alchemists' beliefs.† â€Å"The Alchemists' beliefs are my beliefs,† I said quickly. She arched an eyebrow. â€Å"Are they? I would hope your beliefs would be your beliefs.† I'd never thought about it that way before, but I suddenly hoped desperately that her words were true.

Lolo

Tutorial (Week 2) ISYS224 Answer the following questions: 1 List four examples of database systems. 2 Discuss each of the following terms: Data, Database, Database Management System, Data Independence, Security, Integrity and Views. 3 Describe the approach taken to the handling of data in the early file-based systems. Discuss the disadvantages of this approach. 4 Describe the main characteristics of the database approach and contrast it with the file-based approach. 5 Discuss the roles of the following personnel in the database environment: Data Administrator Database Administrator Logical Database Designer Physical Database Designer Application Developer End-Users 6 Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of database management systems. 7 Discuss the concept of data independence and explain its importance in a database environment. 8 To address the issue of data independence, the ANSI-SPARC three-level architecture was proposed. Compare and contrast the three levels of this model. 9 What is a data model? Discuss the main types of data models. 0 Describe the types of facility you would expect to be provided in a multi-user DBMS. 11 Of the facilities described in your answer to Question 10, which ones do you think would not be needed in a standalone PC DBMS? Provide justification for your answer. 12 Consider a two-dimensional integer array of size m? n that is to be used in your favourite programming language. Using this array as an example, illustrate the difference (a) between the three levelsof data abstraction, and (b) between a schem a and an instance.

Observation of the Toddler Environment Essay

Upon entering the toddler environment, the first thing that I noticed was the classroom atmosphere, which was calm and yet full of educational opportunities for a variety of students. The shelves and materials were organized in sequential order, the shelves were exposed so that materials were easily accessed. If the parents came into the classroom they would be able to see every material their child may be working with. The shelves were also not cluttered but materials were spread out so they could be seen and accessed easily by the toddler. The morning program started with a circle time where the children were asked by the teacher to greet each other, they sang the welcome song and then talked about the weather. I noticed that the children were encouraged to speak during this time and to sit on a cushion, every child participated in the song. In the area of self-direction, I observed that some of the older children were quite independent when it came to choosing their own work. One child in particular who I believe is the oldest one in the class worked on all of her activities very carefully and quietly, and would sometimes â€Å"experiment† with the material while remaining careful and respectful of the material. Another child was painting and she decided to put her hands inside the cup, and once stirred the colored water with the paint brush to see what would to happen. This type of experimentation showed her natural curiosity. A few of the very young ones were quite â€Å"busy† and would often walk through the classroom talking or touching other children’s work, while the others are just observing their friends doing the activities. I also noticed that some children would get upset easily when others touched their materials, while the others would allow their peers to work with them. The older children tended to want to help their younger peers with their work; some of them would go talk to or check on their younger friends to see if they were okay,  or just simply ask them if they would like to work together. Most of the students were drawn to Practical Life materials, Sensorial materials, and Nature table at the time I observed. I didn’t see a lot of interaction with the Language and Number work during my observation. During the course of the morning the children had group snack time where they were encouraged to eat their snack by themselves and to tidy up their plates and cups when they were finished. They then washed their hands and started to dress to go outside. A lot of focus was directed towards independence and some children were able to put their shoes on by themselves and then wanted to help younger children to put on coats and shoes. Outdoor recess was largely unstructured playtime; the teachers blew bubbles and threw balls for the children and encouraged them to play with each other. The teachers worked calmly and quietly within the classroom environment and they were allowing the children to choose their own activities. The head teacher acted mainly as a facilitator and when she was showing a material she was not interrupted by the other teachers or any children. She was doing individual presentations with hand gestures and non-verbally. She used the 3 period lesson and also took the child to the shelf to choose the activity and then back to the shelf to show them were to place it upon finishing. She worked with a child while the assistant teachers were helping supervise the classroom or were â€Å"directing† some of the children to find activities. On one occasion, one of the children was working on an activity and a younger child took away some of his materials. The first child became very upset and started screaming so the assistant teacher approached him and calmly told him use his words to say â€Å"No, Thank you† to the other child. Second child returned the materials and the assistant teacher asked him if he would like to choose one of his favourite activities on one of the shelves from the Practical Life. This approach seemed to satisfy both of the students involved and was solved within a reasonable amount of time. Regarding the physical environment, I observed that all the materials are scaled to the toddler children’s size and their abilities, allowing them to explore and be engaged with any activity of their choice, thus encouraging them to work freely and independently. This encouragement of independence  created by an accessible environment helped the students with their independence and confident behaviour. I observed that the children were very enthusiastic about the materials and I felt they were appealing and attractive. I very much enjoyed observing in the Montessori Toddler environment and seeing the certain behaviours that are unique to toddlers and other behaviours that are similar to the younger Casa students I have worked with in the past. Some of the things I enjoyed observing were the interactions between older and younger students and the developmental differences that they exhibited when they were moving around the classroom environment and making their work choices. It was very interesting to observe the teachers interactions with the children and the dynamic in the classroom. The room was not silent but seemed a social environment and children appeared very happy.

St.Paul's and St.Peter's Baroque Styles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

St.Paul's and St.Peter's Baroque Styles - Essay Example It is worth noting the significance of the two church buildings: St.Peter’s Basilica is the seat of the papacy, while St. Paul’s Cathedral is the Anglican’s biggest cathedral and one of the most recognizable sights in the City of London (Murray, 1970). As such, St.Peter’s Basilica reflects the Roman Catholic aspirations while St. Paul’s Cathedral is a manifestation of the Protestants’ authority. Brigg and Martin (1967) explain that in the 17th Century the Roman Catholic church fought off the encroachment by protestant reformation; The society of Jesus(Jesuits), making it their duty to defend the ways of the church against what they considered to be protestant attacks. In order to fully highlight the variations in Baroque style across Europe and with St. Paul’s and St.Peter’s as the case-studies, it is imperative to identify the design constants and unique features that identified Baroque Art and Architecture. Both Zirpolo (2008 ) and Summerson (1964) found that Baroque Architecture manifested the following salient features: (1) Use of undulating motifs in interior and exterior spaces - even columns was designed to undulate. (2) Distinctive use of vaults arches and buttresses - Churches were characterized with vaulted ceilings. (3) Flamboyant use of sculptures, statues and paintings in spaces. (4) A faà §ade characterized by a prominent dome, and an interior marked with a grand nave, and (5) Stylish exploitation of the play of light in interior spaces. It is these distinctive features. that the author will use as parameters to gauge the regional variations in the architecture of both St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Paul’s Cathedral. However, both churches have their own unique elements that might not be present in the other. For instance, St.Peter has a unique Baldachin below the dome. A major cause

Review the impact of Belbin's team roles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Review the impact of Belbin's team roles - Essay Example In the healthcare setup, teams have various functions and they play a pivotal role in the success of that given organisation. As such, this essay seeks to critically analyse the impact of Belbin’s team roles on the following areas: conflict management, leadership styles and decision making with reference to the attached case study. The essay will start by explaining the meaning of teamwork as well as outlining Belbin’s team roles and how they can be applied to the given case study in relation to different areas mentioned above. Different approaches to team roles Basically, a team is a group of people that has been formed to work together in common, cooperative action towards the achievement of an outcome and for the benefit of the group rather than for individual benefit (Schultz, 2005). The goal of teamwork is synergy whereby the sum of the individual efforts in the team is greater than the sum of the individual inputs. Thus, teams have different needs, and members sho uld be selected for a team on the basis of their personalities, skills and preferences (Robbins, 2003). Effective teams match people to various roles and these refer to patterns of behaviour attributed to a team member in a specific position in the team. Roles play a part in task building and relationship building towards the attainment of the set organisational goals. Dr R Meredith Belbin, a world renowned guru on team building identified eight distinct roles that people in teams play and it can be noted that people can and often do assume more than one of these roles (Henry & Stevens, 1990). Different roles that people play in teams include the following: chairman, plant, resource investigator, shaper, monitor/evaluator, company worker, team worker and completer/finisher. These different roles are going to be used in relation to the given case study in the discussion below. Situation analysis In the given case study, it can be noted that it involves inter professional working and focuses on the potential difficulties in achieving effective working relationships between practitioners from different professions with regards to a family that is negatively impacted by the abuse of drugs. Mary Brown has a habit of abusing drugs as well as alcohol and George Smith, the boyfriend is also a drug addict. The children, Joe, Lucy and Tom also have very bad behaviour as a result of their background as well as abuse of the drugs. In other words, this calls for concerted efforts by practitioners from different professions in order to meaningfully assist this family. The professionals involved in this case are Mark, the drug counselor, Ann, the social worker, Iva, the police, Iknowa the teacher and Imean the welfare officer. However, it appears that there is no mutual understanding among these professionals about the appropriate action that can be taken in order to effectively assist this family given that communication is not very effective. As such, this discussion is go ing to focus on the impact of Belbin’s team roles with regards to the case involving health and social care. Conflict management In any given organisation, it can be noted that conflict is regarded as a natural phenomenon, which is inevitable though it can be solved depending on the

Data Warehouse, Data Mart and Business Intelligence Essay

Data Warehouse, Data Mart and Business Intelligence - Essay Example Data Warehouses, Data Marts and Databases A data warehouse refers to a data storage location used to secure, archive, and analyze data. It comprises of many integrated databases in an organization. Data stored in a data warehouse must be easily accessible to facilitate the daily operations of an organization. There are several types of data ware houses. There are offline operational data warehouses where data is copied from real time data networks and stored offline. Offline data warehouses store integrated data that is frequently updated and can be easily accessed. Real-time data warehouses are updated whenever new data comes in, for example in point of sale systems. Integrated data warehouses can be accessed by other systems (Jensen, Pedersen, and Thomsen, 2010). Data marts refer to smaller data warehouses covering a specific department or subject. They differ from data warehouses in that they are less complex, and are easier to develop and maintain. Data warehouses also focus on many subject areas and collect their data from various sources while data marts deal with one subject and collect data from few sources. There are dependent and independent data marts. Dependent data marts source their data from a functional central data warehouse while independent data marts get data from external sources. A data mart can be a small division of a data warehouse (Jensen, Pedersen, and Thomsen, 2010).... Databases contain records of data that can be easily accessed. While databases are designed to record and store data, data warehouses are designed to respond to critical business queries. All data warehouses are databases but few databases can be considered to be data warehouses. Databases are usually online transaction processing systems for recording transactions while data warehouses are online analytical processing systems for querying and analyzing data (Jensen, Pedersen, and Thomsen, 2010). Data Warehouse Architectures and Tools Data warehouses are developed using several steps including data collection, data cleansing, data aggregation, and analysis and presentation. Data collection involves identifying the suitable data for the warehouse and where it can be sourced from. In data cleansing and transformation, the collected data is restructured to make it usable for reporting, querying, and analysis. Data aggregation and analysis involves the use of query tools to transfer data from the central data warehouse and processing it to produce the required results. Presentation involves giving end results to the users in form of text, charts or tables (Barry, 2003). There are various data warehouse architectures varying from one organization to another depending on their data. These architectures include independent data marts, hub-and-spoke, federated, centralized data warehouse and data mart bus architecture that has linked dimensional data marts. Independent data marts architecture involves developing autonomous marts with different data definitions, measures and dimensions. Data bus mart with linked dimensional data marts architecture is designed to meet the needs of a specific business process. It involves the development of one

International business context Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

International business context - Essay Example Most significantly is the fact that mergers have resultant benefits and accrued demerits. As a result, there have been diverse arguments for and against the policy of mergers in the international business. Over the years, the growth of mergers continues to fall. In fact, in 2011 and 2012, there were few mergers, with only four deals hitting the $20 billion mark in 2012. The pro-mergers argue that those global level mega-mergers are inevitable as part of the cycle of consolidation and concentration in globalizing industries where firms seek to gain advantage and accelerate their presence (Deans, Kroeger, & Zeisel 2002, p.1-3). On the other hand, the anti-mergers argue that business leaders should embrace innovativeness and desist from mergers in approaching international business Ghemawat & Ghadar (2000). Indeed, according to AT Kearney, in a span of 25 years, all industries in the globe will consolidate in four stages that include the opening phase, the accumulation, focus, and allia nce stage (Deans, Kroeger, & Zeisel 2002, p.1-2). He notes that the four stages are distinct and derive unique results. He argues that industries follow a similar consolidation pattern although some industries may spend more time in certain stages than others may. Moreover, he states that all industries encounter similar challenges at respective stages. Additionally he argues that the size, location, and type of business does not matter in consolidation but endgames stage matters. An industry starts at a low level of concentration and increases its merger and acquisition activity until it reaches saturation. At this point, alliances form. From the article, we can derive that companies follow a uniform consolidation pattern and consolidation allows companies to get bigger (Deans, Kroeger, & Zeisel 2002, p.1-3). More so, merger decline upon reaching concentration and result to alliances. As such, when companies understand the patterns that mergers follow, and appreciate that their com panies stand on the consolidation curve, then they can initiate successful mergers. Actually, A.T. Kearney’s theory predicts that then dominant players in the industry will gain 60-70% of global market revenues in a merger endgame. This demonstrates the escalating free movement of resources, people, and information over the few years (Deans, Kroeger, & Zeisel 2002, p.1-3). Most importantly, it is worth noting that mergers bear significant benefits to international business despite the process having reasonable risks. As such, the benefits of any merger rely heavily on the marketing strategy in application and therefore not all mergers are successful. Notably, a successful merger that combines two or more companies’ leads to expansion of services and products offered as well as customer base and market shares. Ideally, when companies combine in a buyout strategy, they relevantly share resources and expand their market presence locally and internationally. More so, the m arket expansion and consolidation of resources cuts down operation and business costs (Periasamy 2009, p.11). For example, when a local company mergers with an international company the local company gains international market presence through the networks established by its partner. Indeed, most companies lack international networks and thus to gain international market presence a merger is relevant. More so, the establishment of a merger enables a

Objectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Objectives - Essay Example In other situations, some resources may be available but does not factor into consideration nature of hand washing requirements. The objective is addressing leadership requirements in which the management is supposed to provide these resources. Awareness and knowledge by the health care providers –Health care providers may lack the knowledge on how to tackle hygiene related issues. For example, some health providers do not wash their hands after transferring patients between departments/wards (Takahashi & Turale, 2010). In addressing this issue, policy should be formulated and implemented that informs the health care providers on importance of properly washing their hands after accomplishing health related requirement. Encouragement on hands washing rather than wearing gloves –it is appropriate to determine whether it is necessary in any situation for health care providers to wear gloves (Takahashi & Turale, 2010). It constitutes practice inquiry whereby the research tries to quantify when and necessity of wearing gloves vs. when not supposed to wear the

Children Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Children Rights - Essay Example The participation of children in the Convention on the Rights of the Child can effectively reinforce the implementation of CRC as such participation ensures that the voice of the children is heard all over the world. This international treaty recognizes the human rights of children and the CRC is best maintained when the children are able to express their views in matters that affect them. The CRC is essentially based on right of humans to survive and develop in the world and the governments are supposed to ensure the maximum possibility for the survival and development of the children. Child participation is perhaps the most effective means to ensure the rights of the children, although it is greatly challenging endeavor to make certain that children are able to take part in the conservation of the CRC. There are several factors that affect child participation in the CRC such as the traditional perceptions of childhood etc. However, the convention has given significant provision for the participation of children realizing that child participation in the CRC is essential for its effective implementation. â€Å"The convention sets forth basic standards for the treatment, protection, and participation of children in society and makes a claim for children’s equality with other children and with adults, even as it acknowledges that childhood is uniquely valuable in its own right. The Convention thus embodies claims for a mixture of protective, welfare, moral, and political rights, encapsulated by what has been termed the three p's of children's rights: provision, protection, and participation." (Hobbs, McKechnie, and Lavalette, 1999, p 37). Therefore, the participation of children in the Convention on the Rights of the Child has an essential role in the effective reinforcement of the CRC

Between 1820 and 1860 there were a few fundamental differences between the economies of the North and South Essay Example for Free

Between 1820 and 1860 there were a few fundamental differences between the economies of the North and South Essay ?Between 1820 and 1860 there were a few fundamental differences between the economies of the North and South. How far do you agree? Between 1820 and 1860 there were problems in America that resulted in the civil war in 1861, the economy affected the North and South during the civil war, and some major differences helped win the civil war. However this does not mean that the economy had many fundamental differences. For example the methods of earning money were different, but overall both earned roughly the same amount of money. Firstly, the main difference was that the North relied much more on money from industry and manufacturing, as they had more connections with foreign countries, and more factories were built. In the North in 1860 there were 74,000 factories producing two thirds, of goods for America. Whereas in the South there were only 2 major factors: Textiles factory in South Carolina and an Iron works in Virginia set up in 1840. Although they had fewer factories, the Iron works was vital, as it supplied the North with weaponry during the Civil war. In 1850 the South only produced 10% of the nations manufactured output. However the South did lack the industrialisation because their agricultural methods were so effective they had no need for change. The South was also very traditional and disliked change, whereas seven out of eight immigrants had chosen to settle in the North, and they had seen new ideas in other places in Europe so were welcome to change. This is shown by the South’s labour force being reduced from 82% to 81% over 60 years, on the other hand, the North’s labour force was reduced from 68% to 40% over the 60 years. This is however not a reflection on the North rapidly reducing agriculturally, because they still relied on agriculture, and a lot of the North was still rural. Around the urban areas, the population was increasing as towns and cities were developing swiftly. As the North had smaller but still prosperous farmers known as yeomen, they did not earn as much money through agriculture, because they did not have many or any slaves at all, so they could not produce the high quantities that the south did. Farmers that had lots of land were called plantation owners; there were many more plantations in the south, and when the cotton gin was created in 1793, there was a boom in cotton, and the benefit of having slaves increased. This made Southern plantation owners invest their capital in the Slaves, because they produced so much cotton, which was very lucrative. 55% of slaves worked in cotton which shows how much money was made out of it. The South needed to transport their goods to the North so that it could be transported abroad, but there was a lack of transport in South, as they only had 35% of the train tracks, which affected them in the Civil war. This meant it was fairly expensive to transport the cotton, but they still received a good amount of money if they lived near a train track. When the cotton arrived in the North the Lowell factory system meant the manufacturing of it was very cheap, which meant the North earnt a large margin on it. Although the danger of the South investing all their money in Slaves was that when slavery got banned, they lost a lot of money, which was partly why they were so keen to keep slavery. However only one quarter of the population owned a slave, as they were expensive (in 1860 they were $1800 which was double the price in 1820). The Norths economy was based on free labour whereas the Souths was based on slave labour, which meant that the Norths economy was more stimulated by the presence of workers with money who could buy products, which would make money for the company, which in turn would increase wages or hire more workers. The Souths economy was largely devoid of this benefit. Essentially, the economy in the South was weaker and only based on a few important exports (cotton, tobacco, and sugar). This made the South less diversified, as they focused their sales on cotton. Another difference is tariffs; in 1828 congress passes a controversial high protective tax. This majorly benefitted the North as they were the main distributors. However the South were very worried about this because they believed that if they stopped buying the expensive foreign goods, then foreign countries would stop buying their goods, as they would have tax on them too. This affected the economy until the tax was promised to be reduced after the law in 1833. In contrast the North and South didn’t have many fundamental differences. They both created a lot of money, and were not lacking at all, the only difference was the method in which was used to make the money. The economic diversification was similar too, as 10% of Northerners owned 68% of the wealth, and the wealth was dominated by the plantation owners, called oligarchies, as there were few free-soilers. 12% of the plantation owners owned half the slaves. This shows that there were few farmers, but the big plantations owned many slaves. Even though the North seems to be more industrial, the South also made efforts to modernise industrially, but they just lacked because of the closed opinions of the southerners. Also not many people in the North and the South owned slaves, it was more of a rare thing, and the main owners, owned a large amount of slaves. However there was a larger need for slaves in the South, because there was cheap labour force from Europe settling in the North which meant slaves were more expensive so were not deemed as important. Overall I think there were many differences between the North and South between 1820 and 1860. Some affected the outcome of the Civil war such as the transport boom, and the industrialisation in the North, but a fundamental point is that numerically they have equal amounts of income; there were just different methods to earning the money. However the differences were major; the amount of industrialisation, and amount of agriculture, the manufactured output, and the need for slaves, was all very different for the North and South. The main similarity was the economic diversification.

The Importance Of Photosynthesis

The Importance Of Photosynthesis To understand the importance of photosynthesis, research is conducted to help determine which wavelength of light and light intensity the chloroplast would generate the fastest photosynthetic reaction rate of photosynthesis. In plants, photosynthesis takes place in the chloroplast. The chloroplast absorbs the light energy to convert to chemical energy such as ATP AND NADPH. Photosynthesis is the process of converting carbon dioxide to organic compounds, such as simple sugar, using the energy from sunlight (Smith, A.L.). The chemical reaction equation of photosynthesis is as followed: 6 C02 + 6 H20 + Light Energy → C6H1206 + 6 02 There are a number of limiting factors on the rate of reaction for photosynthesis. However, the purpose for this lab experiment is to measure the light intensity and the wavelength. Light is a form of energy known as electromagnetic energy, also called the electromagnetic radiation (Campbell 190).The most important segment of the visible light is the narrow band range from 380 nm to 750 nm (Campbell 190). Pigments are substance that absorbs the visible light; however, it may be also reflected or transmitted. Different pigments absorb light of different wavelengths (Campbell 190). Light emits a wavelength, the distance between the crest of electromagnetic waves, is inversely related to the amount of the energy: the shorter the wavelength, the greater the energy of each photon of that light (Campbell 190). Chloroplast contains pigment chlorophyll that absorbs the light energy from the sunlight and drive synthesis of organic molecules (Campbell 186). In addition, plants also use other p igment, such as carotenes and xanthophyll, to absorb different wavelength of the light. Chlorophyll absorbs violent-blue and red light while transmitting and reflecting green light, which gives leaf its color. Violent-blue and red light are the most effective color of the light spectrum to conduct photosynthesis, whereas green light is the least effective color (Campbell 192). Photosynthesis starts when the chlorophyll molecules are excited by the absorption of light. The chlorophyll molecules are organized along with other small organic molecules and proteins into photosystem (Campbell 193). The photosystem are composed of a protein complex called a reaction-center complex that is surrounded by several light-harvesting complexes, which contain various pigments that are embedded to the protein. In Photosystem II, light travels through the chloroplast and strikes a pigment molecule in the light harvesting complex. This excites the electron to a higher energy level and fall back down to ground state. As the electron falls back down to its ground state, it stimulate a nearby pigment until this process reaches the reaction center called the P680, a pair of chlorophyll ÃŽ ± molecules in the Photosystem II reaction -center complex. The electron is then transfer to the primary electron-acceptor. As the P680 loses its electron, it is replace by the enzyme catalyze s the splitting of water molecules into two hydrogen ions and  ½ of oxygen in the thylakoids space. The oxygen atom immediately combines with another oxygen atom, forming O2, which was generated from the splitting of another water molecule. The excited electron from the primary electron-acceptor in PS II passes through the electron transport chain to the chlorophyll ÃŽ ± molecules, which is called P700, located in PS I. In the meantime, light energy travels through the light harvesting complex into the P700, which excited the electron, transferring the electron to PS I primary electron-acceptor. These electrons are passed on through electron acceptors that donate the electron to NADP+. The energy release drive the transfer of electron in an oxidation-reduction mechanism in which NADP+ is reduced to NADPH. Involving a redox reaction, oxidation is the loss of electrons from a substance, whereas reduction is the addition of electrons to a substance. The excess of energy from the oxid ation-reduction process provides energy for the synthesis of ATP, which generates a proton gradient across the chloroplast membrane that is used in chemiosmosis. Overall, the light reactions are steps of photosynthesis to convert light energy to chemical energy, such as ATP and NADPH, in order to produce pieces of sugar in the Calvin cycle. In this study, we first separate and identify pigments within plants cells by a process called chromatography. We will also study how several factors quantitatively affect the rate of photosynthesis. The factor that was tested includes the light intensity and wavelength. Thus, we can determine the effectiveness of the different pigments to absorb light to different wavelength and light intensities. The hypotheses are formed as follows: H1: Violent-blue and red light would have a faster photosynthetic rate compared to green light. H2: Light intensity is directly correlated with rate of photosynthesis. H3: Carbon dioxide is directly proportional to the amount of carbon present in the atmosphere. Materials and methods Chromatography is to separate and identify pigment within the plant cell which spinach leaves was use to conduct this experiment. Using a paper chromatography of 14 cm wide by 16cm tall, a pencil line of 2 cm is drawn from the bottom edge of the paper. Then apply the plant extract along the line to within 1 cm of each edge. Allowing the extract to dry each time, this process is repeated 10 times or more to ensure the pigment are on the chromatography. The paper chromatography is stapled into a cylinder at the bare edges and place into chromatography jar that contain a 15 ml solvent of petroleum ether-acetone. The chromatography jar is set under a vented-hood with the jar covered. This will allow the atmosphere inside to be saturated with the solvent. The solvent will move up the paper chromatography and carry the pigments along. Each pigment will move at different rate along the paper. The discrete pigment band will be formed from the front, which is the leading edge of the solvent, to the origin where the pigments were added to the paper. To determine the distance of each discrete pigment band, Rf ratio is used. The Rf is the ratio of the distance a band travels to the distance the front traveled (lab manual). The Rf equation is as follow: After the pigments are separated, each band will be pooled with other group and eluted into 10 cc of acetone. The unknown pigments from the each band are placed in a cuvette and place in a spectrophotometer. Four cuvettes were obtained and label as band 1, 2, 3, and 4. A spectrophotometer is used to measure the percent of each wavelength of light absorbed by the pigment (Campbell 190). Each band is measure at specific wavelength ranging from 400 nm to 680 nm. Thus, each of the bands is identify according to its pigment by comparing its wavelength to the known standard wavelength. To determine at which wavelength of light and at which light intensity the chloroplast would generate the fastest photosynthetic reaction rate of photosynthesis, the floating leaf disk assay is use for this experiment. The wavelength of red, green, and blue light is test to determine the rate of photosynthesis. In addition, the effect of light intensity is determined by the distance of light (white) from the leaves. For each trail, a 0.2% of 300 ml sodium bicarbonate solution (baking soda) is use as an alternate dissolved source of carbon dioxide for photosynthesis by using 1/8 of a teaspoon of baking in a 300 ml of water (lab manual). Then a hole-punch is use to cut out 10 or more uniform leaf disks (avoid major veins). The air space of the leaf disks is infiltrates with the sodium bicarbonate solution, which the solution will cause the leaf disk to sink due to its increase in density. Infiltration of the leaf disks with sodium bicarbonate is as followed: Remove the plunger and place the leaf disk into the syringe barrel. Replace the plunger and slowly push air out while being careful not to crush the leaf. With a small volume of sodium bicarbonate solution into the syringe. Tap syringe to suspend the leaf disks in the solution. While holding a finger over the syringe opening, draw back the plunger to create a vacuum for 10 seconds. In addition, swirl the leaf disks to suspend them in the solution. This procedure may be repeated 2-3 times in order to get the leaf disk to sink. After the leaf disks sink, pour the disk and the solution into a clear cup or beaker. A constant volume of bicarbonate solution is added and should be the same depth for each trail. Place the cup or beaker under the light source and start the timer. Each minute is to record the number of floating disk. In addition, dislodge any disks stuck against the sides of the cup by swirling the disks. Continue until all of the leaf disks are floating. In addition, the presence of CO2 is measured.

And Learning English With The Help Of Computers Education Essay

And Learning English With The Help Of Computers Education Essay This study attempts to explore and analyse the role of computers in the process of teaching and learning English in an Argentinean private school of English. The main aim is to investigate and understand the use of computers in the classroom and to discover whether they contribute to foster the process of learning English. The different teaching situations are examined as well as the activities carried out in the classroom and the students and teachers roles. The environments in which students learn and the ways in which people work and live are constantly being transformed by existing and emerging technologies. Hence, technological changes appears to influence everyone in society and challenge the traditional process of teaching and learning, as well as the way in which education is managed. The emergence of the radio, television, tape players and videos became important resources for teachers to support their lessons and the same occurred in the seventies and eighties when personal computers reached the markets. It seems to be useful to carry out this research in order to find the advantages that technology, especially computers, offers to education considering two groups of learners from two different school of English in Olavarrà ­a, which is a city in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Many theories have been presented by various researches and there is still controversy among this topic. Thus, delving into such important aspects is essential to be experimented in order to formulate our own conclusions. This paper will be aimed at gathering meaningful findings which may help teachers in general to start considering the use of computers and the Internet in the different classrooms. (change or accommodate) Warschauer (1996) suggests that technology turned out to be an essential tool in education as it provides students with valuable connections with teachers, other schools and pupils, as well as a wide network of professionals around the globe. Nowadays, these significant technologies are used in education in order to improve it and make students take full advantage of them. Nevertheless, fostering the use of computers seems to be complex issue to be implemented in Argentineans classrooms due to the lack of resources. As a result, few schools have the possibility to take advantage of the available technology and teachers tend to avoid this new tool. The purpose of this work is to show whether the use of computers and the Internet stimulates students to learn a foreign language and help them to develop the different macro skills efficiently. Expectations are directed towards the activities that learners are able to do with technology that they would not be able to do without it. The findings of this research will bring valuable foundations to reflect upon the advantages of introducing computer assisted language learning (CALL) in the process of teaching and learning a foreign language. Literature review The roles of computers in the classroom The integration of computers in education has been discussed widely and much attention has been devoted to their role in the classrooms. The first implementation of computers in education was around the 1960s but their use was very limited. From that time onwards, the developments of computers grew and the role it has in education nowadays is that of an instructional tool for delivering information that can stimulate teaching and learning. Computer assisted language learning (CALL) is becoming a relevant area and might help teachers to motivate students to learn through technology. Bergel and Gonzà ¡lez (2009) states that web-based tools might cater for real life communicative needs, and they allow students to become more autonomous and to interact with other learners, teachers and society in general. It has also been stated that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ certain types of learners may be better suited to some CALL materials than other students (Chapelle Jamieson, 1986, p. 27). The authors assured that students who are not field independent, for example, show a significant preference for using CALL. There are three stages of Computer assisted language learning identifiable in recent years. According to Warschauer (1996), there exists three phases of CALL: Behaviouristic: is based on behaviourist learning theory, and it focuses on repetitive language drills. In this stage, the computer is viewed as a tutor acting as a medium for sending instructions and materials to students. Communicative: The second phase of CALL emerged in the !970s and 1980s when the communicative approach to the teaching of a foreign language was in vogue. This stage emerged when educators felt that the drilling approach did not allow enough authentic communication. The computer is used for skill practice, but there no drilling techniques are used. There is more learner choice, control and interaction. Now, the emphasis is on learning as a creative process of discovery, expression and development. In this case, the purpose of the CALL activity is not so much to have students discover the right answer, but rather to stimulate students discussion, writing, or critical thinking (Warschauer, 1996, p. 3). Integrative: it focuses on a social o socio-cognitive view of learning. The use of language in a more authentic context is emphasised, which encourages students to construct meaning using computers. This phase is based on two important technological developments: multimedia and the Internet. Multimedia technology, brings many advantages and it can only be found in a computer. What makes multimedia even more powerful is that it also entails hypermedia. That means that the multimedia resources are all linked together and that learners can navigate their own path simply by pointing and clicking a mouse (Warschauer, 1996, p. 4). The Internet with the Web 2.0 offers all users the possibility to create, upload and edit texts, besides other interactive tools. Learners can create and exchange information freely. The development from one stage to another does not mean the rejection of the previous stage. All of them are integrated and complement to each other. At present, CALL is in vogue and many researchers have agreed on the advantages it gives to learn a foreign language. It is noticeable that CALL might give the possibility to learn a language as it can be a tutor which offers language drills or skill practice; a stimulus for discussion and interaction; or a tool for writing and research. With the advent of the Internet, it can also be a medium of global communication and a source of limitless authentic materials (Warschauer, 1996, p. 7). As said by Garret (1991), computers can serve a variety of uses for language teaching but the use of the computer does not constitute a method but a medium in which a variety of methods, approaches, and pedagogical philosophies may be implemented (p. 75). Teachers appear to be the ones who are responsible for introducing new technological methods to their classes and guide students towards a better learning. Computers as teaching and learning tools Reading and vocabulary: using computers in the classroom for reading, which include articles taken from the Internet, might support the development of reading skills among students. Kasper (2000) states that these reading materials which are taken from the Internet supply a variety of modern, authentic texts if compared to materials sourced from textbooks. As some researchers have conducted various studies on the use of technology in foreign language teaching, there is one empirical study which showed that two dissimilar group of students were given the same language activity, but in different modes: in the traditional pen-and-paper format and using computers. After the activity, Bruce Levin (1997) were able to identify the different degrees of motivation towards both tasks arguing that computer-assisted version of the activity was found more highly motivating and beneficial for the group of learners which were observed. The skill of writing, for example, is at present the subject of a considerable amount of research. Mills (1996) affirms that writing is mainly a social act concerned first and foremost with cognition and always associated to context. In general, writing seems to be a solitary act in which students generally fulfil an assignment either at home or at school to be handed in to their teachers. The social aspects of writing are diminished when there is a restriction on the social space where readers and writers come together (Mills, 1996, p. 2). Thus, using the tools that the internet is offering might help to abridge the distance between writers and readers. Communication with native speakers allows learners to practise specific skills such as discussing, asking for clarification, negotiating meaning, persuading others, clarifying different aspects, asking for information, etcetera. Warschauer and Meskill (2000) state that Computer based discussion which takes place outside the classroom increases students opportunities to communicate in another forum, affording both general language practice and practice in writing (p. 8). According to Larson (1999), the transactional nature of the Internet and the pedagogical relevance of state-of-the-art web-based interactive technologies make web-based instruction a viable vehicle for foreign language education. There could more research done in this area to further investigate the option of using the Internet to facilitate foreign language learning and thus, main findings will serve as sharing research-based knowledge which will enrich the different investigations that have been done so far. Bergel and Gonzà ¡lez (Ibid.) argues that word-processors, blogs, wikis and emails among others seem to contribute to the learning of a foreign language and increase students motivation promoting contact with authentic language. Computers ought to be integrated in the school environment as it has become an increasingly important feature of the learning situation for students in general, as well as a significant element to the teaching of a foreign language and that is the reason why teachers should find a way to introduce it in the teaching-learning situation The invention of the printing press has transformed the intellectual life of the world and has improved the learning conditions. By the same token, computers have done a similar work nowadays for, with the click of a mouse, we are able to see what is taking place in the world. Therefore, Larson (Ibid.) claims that it is extremely significant to consider these opportunities that technology offers to the educational system taking account of the students level that is the most suitable in each situation. In the present study, the advantages of using technology for learning a foreign language will be discussed, trying to demonstrate such advantages upon a group of learners. What role does the instructor (teacher) play in this aspect, and how important is the instructors presence? What is the technologys effect on the learning of the foreign language and skills? Do students enjoy the experience and feel motivated? Do students perceive that they improved their skill or performance in learning with the help of technology? The answers to these questions will be examined in the present research.

Genetic Ownership :: Genes Science DNA Essays

Genetic Ownership In the past century, advancements in science and technology have allowed man to further investigate his origin. Science has demonstrated all living things are made up of cells and cells contain genetic material. Scientists soon will be able to take genetic material from one party and create their traits in another. In doing so, individuals, scientists, and society will be faced with new challenges as to the ownership rights of genetic material. The following will examine ethical issues of genetic ownership by looking at current and future applications of technology and the ethical challenges they provoke. In 1978 the science of reproduction exploded into public consciousness with the birth of Louise Brown, the first baby born as a product of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). Today using IVF, a couple with fertility problems can give their own genetic material in the form of sperm and eggs to a clinic, combine them to create embryos, and insert the embryos into a mother’s womb. Society accepts an individuals right to provide their own genetic material to an IVF clinic and create children. Today IVF is a multibillion-dollar, international business providing healthy children to caring parents. In 1997 another explosion of public consciousness occurred when the Roslin Institute announced they had successfully cloned a sheep named Dolly. Dolly was not the product of sperm and eggs, rather she was an exact clone of her "donor parent". The embryo of Dolly was created from genetic material of a donor "parent" and implanted into a surrogate mother. Dolly and her "donor parent" currently live as the property of the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, UK. As owner of sheep, Roslin possessed the right to collect genetic material, perform research, and eventually produce a cloned animal. Today this right of ownership is currently accepted by society. In the future, individuals may have the right to use their genetic material to reproduce vital organs to be used as transplants for diseased, deformed, or damaged body parts. This process is called therapeutic cloning. Science has demonstrated all living things are made up of cells and all cells contain genetic material. At the core of all genetic material is a primary component of life, DNA. Simply put, DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) instructs cells how to divide and grow into the living things we see every day. Every human possesses unique DNA. No two persons DNA is exactly alike with the exception of identical twins.

NIKEs Labour Troubles Essay -- Nike Sweatshops Outsourcing Labor Essa

NIKE's Labour Troubles Nike publicizes itself as one of the leading industries in corporate responsibility. However, they do not comply with several human rights obligations overseas in countries like Thailand, Pakistan, China, Vietnam and Indonesia. In these countries, production facilities called sweatshops have been running for almost 35 years employing workers as young as 13 years of age. The conditions of these factories are adverse to say the least and deprive workers of the moral human rights they should be entitled to. Sweatshops are unethical, immoral and demonstrate Nike’s ignorance towards their social responsibilities abroad. Within these facilities, workers endure stressfully long days under undesirable conditions, often with no breaks and very little pay. While this is going on overseas, sponsored athletes are being paid million dollar salaries here in North America. Although Nike’s reputation has been foiled through the tabloids regarding this issue, they have been making a sub stantial effort to â€Å"clean up† production messes in the East. Nike, as many other companies do, facilitates production in other countries to help grow sales in those particular regions. The main difference between Nike and some of the other companies is that other companies do not support the exploitation of labourers or human rights. Not to suggest that Nike promotes labour exploitation, but they are less strict about these rules than other companies in foreign markets. Impacts on health and safety are a major factor for employees in sweatshops. However, physical and sexual abuse is another serious concern of many of the sweatshop workers. Most of the sweatshops run by Nike contractors are factories located in relatively small spaces to save on real estate costs. They are often soiled with dirt and kept unheated to save on expenses. Broken glass and dangerous equipment is left on the floors causing potential dangers to any people scattered within the factory. Employees are subject to harassment and violent punishments if work is not being comp leted as thoroughly and efficiently as the contractors would like. Workers slave under unfavourable conditions for up to 14-hour days often with no breaks. These employees are paid less than $100 US and work on average over 250 hours per month. "Substandard wages keep factory workers in poverty and force them to work excessi... ... strongly suggest that awareness of sweatshop abuses is turning consumers away from Nike.† (International Nike Mobilization - www.haleokala.com). Nike has been under a great deal of pressure to correct the misdoings that have been done regarding production facilities in the East. As Nike is responsible for these plants, their reputation has been tainted with increasing public debate about ethical matters. While Nike still promotes itself as one of the industry leaders in corporate social responsibility, workers in Asia are still forced to work excessively long hours in substandard environments and are not paid enough to meet the basic needs for themselves or their families. They are faced to a life of poverty and are unfortunate subjects to harassment and violent threats if they make any attempt to form unions or tell journalists about labour abuses in their factories. Phil Knight’s speech regarding Nike’s steps to improving human rights in Asian countries was a step in the right direction for Nike, but it would have been much more effective had Nike fully followed through with these initiatives. Works Cited Campaign For Labour Rights â€Å"International Nike Mobilization†.

Mexican Daily Life Essay

There are a variety of common courtesies that Americans should observe when in Mexico. Some of the important issues of cultural etiquette are described herein. When in Mexico Americans should refrain from calling themselves â€Å"Americans. † Mexicans consider themselves Americans too since the whole continent is called America. Another part of Mexican culture that may be shocking to American’s traveling there is the way machismo is verbalized by male members of Mexican society. Making sexual or derogatory remarks at women is a typical part of the culture and should not be seen as harassment. Wearing a wedding band and mentioning children usually will stop these types of comments. Attempting to speak Spanish even if your Spanish is not good is appreciated. When speaking in English slang and idioms should be avoided. Using broken English does not aid communication and can be seen as offensive. Many Mexicans speak English but many more read English. If possible, a written copy of what you are saying should be provided. Mexicans do not often say no because it is considered impolite. Consequently, it is important that you recognize this and look for other clues as to what the real answer is. If a Mexican says maybe it is a good indicator that the answer is definitely no. Asking for a yes or no response to a specific question repeatedly is tolerated but you must be patient because it will take a while before the real answer comes out. People stand much closer to each other in Mexico. It is considered unfriendly to back up when a Mexican approaches you in conversation. You must be aware of the tone of voice you use when in Mexico. Using a quick pace or a sharp or forceful tone will make you come across unfavorably. Eye contact is not as direct or long as in the United States. Mexicans are status conscientious so what you wear or what you drive makes a clear statement about who you are in society. When attending a social event you should arrive 30 minutes late. Arriving earlier is considered rude. At small parties your host will introduce you. At large parties you may introduce yourself. When dining you should not sit until you are told where to sit and you should not eat until the hostess starts. It is polite to keep both of your hands visible while eating and to leave some food on your plate when finished. Only men are permitted to give toasts. The traditional greetings used in Mexico vary depending on the sex of the participants and the amount of time they have known each other. It is important to greet each member of a group individually. Women will pat each other on the forearm or shoulder as an initial greeting where men use the handshake in situations where they are greeting someone for the first time. Handshakes consist of a gentle grip and a quick sharp shake. After men develop a relationship hugs or back slapping called abrazo replace the handshake. Women will progress to a series of air kisses on the cheek. Air kissing is also the appropriate greeting between a man and a woman who know each other. The first kiss is in the air near the left cheek and the second is in the air near the right cheek. Unmarried women receive an additional kiss as a wish for marriage. Receiving an abrazo or air kiss is an indicator that you have been accepted into the group. These traditional Mexican greeting are indicative of gender characteristics. Females are supposed to act open while men are expected to act closed. Foreigners should politely accept these greetings from Mexicans but should not initiate a move from one greeting to the next. This is especially important for an American man who is greeting a Mexican female. The American man should never initiate the air kisses as it may be interpreted as sexual advance which damages the women’s honor and her partner’s machismo. Women are even expected to initiate a handshake with men. It is important to wait until invited to call a Mexican by his or her first name because of the emphasis on formal hierarchy with in the society. Until then you should use the correct honorific (Senor, Senora, Senorita) and the family name. If you do not know if a woman is married or not you should use Senorita followed by her family name. In oral communications you should use the father’s family name only. In written communications it is appropriate to use the father’s family name first followed by the mother’s family name. A respectful smile is always appropriate during greetings. Saying goodbye in Mexico is very similar to the process used for greetings. The host will walk the guest to the door and the goodbye will be said with the same procedure as the greeting. If you received a handshake, abrazo, arm pay or air kiss upon arrival expect the same upon leaving. Etiquette about who initiates the goodbye is the same as for greetings. It is polite to thank your host for the good time. Gift giving in Mexico is very similar to gift giving traditions in the United States. When invited to a Mexican’s home, it is considered polite to bring a gift of sweets or flowers. White flowers are a good choice because they are viewed by Mexicans as uplifting. Red flowers are not appreciated because they are used when someone is sick. Marigolds should not be given because they symbolize death. Gift wrapping does not carry any special significance. Gifts are opened immediately in the presence of those who gave them. It is appropriate to respond enthusiastically. Gifts are not used very often in Mexican business. However, bringing a small gift from home to a business partner you have worked with before is okay. Another accepted use of gifts in business is to give chocolates to the secretary. Since gifts are not used frequently, giving chocolates to the secretary will usually help future business run smoothly as you will be favored. It is extremely important for American men who are presenting females with gifts at work to state that it is from the wife or family. Presenting a gift to a female from a male may be seen as a sexual advance. Colors have been assigned definitions since the Aztec empire in Mexico. However, the definitions of what each color means has changed a lot since then. In the Aztec empire green was a symbol of royalty, white meant death, yellow was a symbol for food and blue symbolized sacrifice. Today’s definitions for colors are representative of Mexican cultural conventions. Warm deep colors that reflect the landscape are used in decorating. Bright reds and yellows are fiesta colors. Today white symbolizes purity. White items are believed to have the ability to ward off black magic. Red stands for unity and protection. Using a red handkerchief to cover your mouth when passing a house where someone has died or been sick is believed to protect you from illness or death. Yellow is a mourning color. Consequently, marigolds are planted in cemeteries. Dark blue is also a mourning color. When attending a funeral Mexican’s are expected to wear dark blue. Green is a symbol of independence and hope. Humor is understood and appreciated in Mexico. Situational humor as well as â€Å"slap-stick† humor are enjoyed. Humor that demeans someone to advance someone else can only be used in limited contexts to promote machismo and, consequently, should be avoided. Jokes using Mexican stereotypes or dealing with the Alamo and Mexican-American War are not appreciated. Since humor in Mexico involves many social nuances, it may be better to avoid trying to intentionally make jokes. However, if your host makes a joke smiling and laughing are expected. Mexicans typically work a 5. 5 day work week with 8 hour days Monday through Friday from 9-5 o’clock and a half day on Saturday. Mexican law requires that the work week does not surpass 48 hours per week and that lunch hour which is from 3 to 4 o’clock must be paid. However, this schedule varies by the type of business. For example, government workers often work the entire 48 hours in a five day workweek and take off for lunch at 2 o’clock for two hours. Consequently, government workers often work very late into the evening. It is very important to establish a friendship with a Mexican business partner before getting â€Å"down to business. † As a result friendly conversation on home life is often mixed into business conversations as a way to get to know people. Breakfast and lunch are good times to have mixed discussions that can lead to better business. However, Mexicans work to live not live to work so business talk should be left out of social situations unless initiated by the Mexican. Between 8 and 11 million children under the age of 15 are working in Mexico, approximately 20% of the population of children. This number does not include children working on farms. Although it is illegal to employee children under the age of 16, it is still commonly practiced in Mexico because children provide a cheaper source of labor. Many children use fake ID’s to obtain employment because of the financial need of the family. Businesses are not usually punished for illegally employing minors. Alcohol is used regularly in Mexico. The legal drinking age in Mexico is 18. There are responsible drinkers and alcoholics in Mexican society. Approximately 13% of the population has experienced alcohol dependency. Unfortunately incidents of alcoholism are rising. Alcohol is used disproportionatly by men because of Mexican gender roles which promote risky behavior for men and conservative behavior for women. Alcohol is permitted in both business and social settings. In business alcohol is most appropriate during lunch or diner meetings. Mexican leisure activity is similar to that of the United States. Mexicans enjoy television, concerts, movies, picnics, shopping and sports. Soccer is the most popular sport. Businesses that provide picnic tables and soccer fields for use by employees on their lunch hour are viewed very positively by Mexicans. Fiestas, birthdays and traditional holidays are also enjoyed by all members of Mexican society. The types of leisure activities that Mexicans enjoy do not vary for the different income levels. Only the amount of time and money one can invest in these activities varies from one class to another.

Imagining Society: Hegemony in Poetry and Fiction Essay

The concept of hegemony, which asserts that society is ruled by a set of beliefs ingrained within the minds of individuals figures heavily into not only the ideals of society but also the representation of images and ideas. In poetry, we can see it in the references to nature, literature, and common social themes that reach beyond national boundaries to be easily relatable to the masses. In fiction, we can see the same concept in the attitudes and behaviors of characters and their respective communities. The poems â€Å"The Love Song of J.  Alfred Prufrock,† â€Å"A Song on the End of the World,† and â€Å"Odessa† the poets use universally relatable images to invoke imagery and emotion within the characterization of humanity. Kazuo Ishiguro’s Remains of the Day uses a similar notion but rather than representing these ideals through imagery, he exerts the dominance of hegemonic ideals in the behavior and beliefs of an individual character. Each work shows the hegemonic concept in practice, relating the easy acceptance of beliefs and ideals both blatantly as shown in Ishiguro’s story and through a coercion of imagery. They show that Gramsci’s theory applies beyond acceptance of societal norms to the emotional and tangible evidence of the connectedness of perceptions within society. The reading from Kazuo Ishiguro’s Remains of the Day, shows the ability for hegemonic ideals of the upper class to penetrate within an individual’s consciousness in a seemingly unaware manner. For Mr. Stevens, the butler, the silver polish represents a bygone era in his life. This was the height of the society in which he found himself in the periphery. His participation in this ritual, which he describes as significant in an outsider’s view of that particular household, â€Å"no other objects in the house were likely to come under such intimate scrutiny from outsiders as was silver during a meal, and as such, it served as a public index of the house’s standards† (Ishiguro 86). As butler, he was directly tied into the representation of these standards. The question is why this silver, which had no discernable effect on his own personal life carried such weight for him? Quite simply, Mr.  Stevens as part of the mechanism of upper class society had adopted their views as his own. Though the presentation of silver at the dinner table has little to no relevance in a lower or working class home, the ideal of finely polished silver represents a dream of upper class affluence. The influence of this upper class practice on Stevens is evident in the pride he retains in the â€Å"pleasing impact† (86) of the Darlington Hall silver on guests. The only relevance this has on his life, and for that matter the lives of the other butlers in great houses, is a matter of hegemonic assignation. They have inherited this ideal of silver from their employers, given their own servant status it would be unlikely they would adopted this view of silver without the influences of the great houses. Similarly in the poem â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† the images created by Eliot are easily associated within the mind of the reader. He in fact relies on the hegemonic ideal to help the reader associate his imagery with the correct feelings and sensations. The character of the poem, struggles himself against the constraints of such ideals which relate the world around him to concepts he accepts but cannot reconcile. He is playing his part in the larger play of life, â€Å"There will be time, there will be time/ To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;/ There will be time to murder and create† (Eliot 137. ll. 26-28). He is a middle-aged man fighting the depressions of the sameness, the women â€Å"Talking of Michelangelo† (138. ll. 36) but ignoring the living. Prufrock is left in uncertainty between the ideals, which have been ingrained within him by society, and his own desires to break free, â€Å"Do I dare/ disturb the universe? † (138. ll. 45-46). His struggle is accented with Eliot’s imagery of a broken man that is highlighted by references easily discerned and relatable in the ideas and literature of modern society, â€Å"I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;/ Am an attendant lord, one that will do/ To swell a progress, start a scene or two,/advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,/ Deferential, glad to be of use† (139. ll. 111-115). In this reference to Hamlet, Eliot identifies Prufrock as a tragic figure though less so than a hero or villain; Prufrock’s sorrow is of a peripheral kind that never reaches the passion of Hamlet’s excesses or madness. Prufrock’s melancholy is tempered by his knowledge of what he ought to be and what he wants to be, â€Å"Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? / I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. / I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. / I do not think that they will sing to me† (ll. 122-125). He has grown accepting of his role as assigned by society, while Eliot highlights his sadness in the silent songs of the mermaids who even mythical fail to acknowledge or recognize this unremarkable man. His tragedy lies in his anonymity, having absorbed too much of the upper class ideal as part of himself. While the two above readings center in part around a particular class of society, and through that representation show their ideals and the roots of the hegemony within the individual context, Czeslaw Milosz’s poem â€Å"A Song on the End of the World† offers a departure in the lack of specificity to an upper or middle class society. Instead Milosz’s poem relies are universal images of nature, that are easily put into context regardless of class or nationality. By doing this, he is showing the capability to tragedy to reach beyond these boundaries. He juxtaposes the heavy line â€Å"On the day the world ends† (ll. 1) with the natural and everyday details of nature, â€Å"A bee circles a clover†(ll. 2). He is playing off the religious idea of the world ending in great catastrophe. However, in this poem the â€Å"world† is not meant to imply the Earth as a scientific fact to be destroyed by natural or manmade disaster. Instead the â€Å"world† is humanity, an idea of community and the individual that is implied throughout in the singular, though relatable images of a â€Å"drunkard† (ll. 9), a â€Å"yellow-sailed boat† (ll. 11), and a â€Å"violin† (ll. 2) to show both the universal and personal nature of such an event. Milosz’s relies on hegemony to help the reader understand the interconnectedness of life. He uses easily associated and common images to avoid alienating the audience, instead bringing them into the idea of oneness that was behind the 1944 Warsaw uprising against the Nazis. For the Polish of Warsaw, this defeat represented an ending to the world they had known. Ilya Kaminsky’s â€Å"Dancing in Odessa,† like Milosz and Eliot’s poems relies heavily on imagery to bring the reader into the moment. Though her images to do not carry the universal relatability of Milosz’s nature images, the emotional and mental effects of the invasion of the German’s into Odessa. She builds the first part of the poem with imagery to evoke a sense of freedom, which contrasts sharply with the restrictions of the German invaders. Where once the family had lived â€Å"north of the future† (Kaminky 12. ll. 1) and the invaders reveal this removal from the future as a removal from the damages of reality that are encroaching on this community. The danger that arise smother this future and the people live in the past, even before they are so roughly brought to the present, â€Å"my mother danced, she filled the past/ with peaches, casseroles† (ll. 9-10). Her retelling of the story, is meant to evoke memory buried within the individual. The imagery is such as to show the dreamlike quality of the past seen through the brutal truth of the future. Unlike Eliot and Milosz’s poems she does not rely solely on cultural markers such as Shakespeare or Michaelangelo nor does her nature carry the same universality of the images of nature. However, the day-to-day life as imagined by Kaminsky allows for an understanding that plays on emotion and historical allusions. More separate than the other writers from the hegemonic ideal, the emotions evoked by displacement are meant to strike at the basic human core. Her search for understanding is not so unlike the other poets’ expression of reality and the altering effects of the human mind on this reality. Any longer in literature language and imagery overlap with history to provide a core understanding that branches barriers of class, nationality, and culture. An understanding of the world is gleaned through these works by the use of the relatable and hegemony of the ideals which dominate the context of their subjects. In both Kaminsky and Milosz’s poems we can easily see and understand the references to the Nazi dominance of World War II and the loss of hope. For Eliot’s Prufrock, so influenced by the ideals of society, the loss of hope is highlighted by his inability to move beyond his melancholy and the life role assigned to him. He has become and will remain what is expected of him. Assigned to a particular class, carrying all of its restrictions and belief within his actions, Prufrock is stunted by his inactivity against this structure. Similarly, Mr. Stevens has taken on the role of butler and absorbed not only the ideals of his status but also those of his employers. In mindset, he is upper class in his equal obsession with silver as a marker of status but in reality he remains a servant without status. The hegemonic concept is apt in the looking at the relationship between language and perception, allowing writers and poets to impart imagery and feeling through easily relatable conclusions. We do not doubt the sadness of Prufrock or the hopelessness that accompanied the Nazi occupation of Warsaw or the subsequent crackdown on the rise the rebellion, nor can we deny the sadness, which accompanies remembering in Kaminsky’s poem. We do not doubt them because we can relate, we can accept these images as representative of the beliefs and ideals of the society to which we are also a part.