Involving and Engaging Employees Coca

Executive Summary Employees play a major role in the success of a company. They are charged with the responsibility of implementing organisational policies. They also represent the firm’s values and interests. Many businesses, however, fail to acknowledge the role of these stakeholders in their success.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Involving and Engaging Employees: Coca-Cola Great Britain specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More As a result, they fail to exploit their full potential. Employee involvement and engagement is set to change this. Involvement is a process spearheaded by the management with the aim of increasing access to information among workers. It helps to promote trust within an organisation. It also supports informed decision making processes. Employee engagement, on the other hand, is a situation where workers are committed to a firm and its values. They become citizens of the organisation tha t they work for. Employee involvement and engagement are crucial to the success of Coca-Cola Great Britain. As a result, the company has maintained a motivated workforce. Better results can be achieved through the adoption of human resource management practices aimed at increasing flexibility and job design. Introduction Coca-Cola Great Britain is based in the UK (Ignatius 2011). Its headquarters are located in West London. It is a subsidiary of the Coca-Cola Company. The parent firm wholly owns the organisation. It was established with the aim of serving the UK market more efficiently. Like its parent company, it is involved in the manufacture of non-alcoholic beverages (Senker Foy 2012). It also oversees other activities, which include distribution, marketing, and retailing. Coca-Cola Great Britain engages in the preparation of syrup concentrates, which are later sold to bottling plants across the country. The bottlers control specific territories within the region. Coca-Cola rem ains the company’s main brand (Ignatius 2011). Its formula was developed by John Stith in 1886. The formula is a closely guarded secret in the company. It is considered as intellectual property. Subsidiaries, such as Coca-Cola Great Britain, are also required to safeguard the secret on behalf of the parent company. To ensure this, employee loyalty is required. The company has achieved this by promoting employee involvement and engagement.  Coca-Cola Great Britain consists of a team of 110 individuals (Senker Foy 2012). They are involved in the running of seven manufacturing plants spread across the country.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Their main responsibility is to ensure that the existing brands are manufactured in adequate quantities to satisfy the demand in the UK market (Senker Foy 2012). At the same time, they promote the brands in an attempt to increas e its consumption rates. The organisation also seeks to develop new brands. The only way to achieve this is through innovation. A motivated workforce is, therefore, required. Innovation is aimed at increasing efficiency at the point of manufacture, retailing, distribution, and marketing. With over 4650 individuals currently employed in enterprises operated by Coca-Cola Great Britain, there is need to develop effective human resource management (HRM) practices to increase the productivity of the workforce. Problem Statement Employees are important in ensuring the success of their organisations. However, their role is often overlooked. As a result, the management is not keen to develop HRM strategies aimed at addressing issues affecting them. For this reason, their productivity within a firm tends to go down. They lack motivation to work towards the success of their firms. Employees are also mainly excluded when it comes to decision making (Henderson 2011). Managers tend to make decis ions affecting the entire organisation without consultations. The result is that employees lack trust in the firm’s leadership. They are also less motivated to work beyond the terms of their employment contract. They also lose faith in the values upheld by the business (Balantyne 2004).  The only way to avoid this shortcoming is by involving employees more in the day-to-day running of the firm. The management often achieves this by giving the workforce access to more information concerning their organisation. The practice promotes employee engagement. Workers get committed to their firm and its values. At the same time, they develop the will to assist their colleagues. However, many firms are not aware of the importance of putting in place effective HRM practices. As a result, the performance of their employees tends to be dismal. Organisations also fail to acknowledge the importance of flexibility and job design in promoting success. As a result, the work requirements of t heir employees are not satisfied. Consequently, their performance is negatively affected.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Involving and Engaging Employees: Coca-Cola Great Britain specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Research Questions The study focused on the assessment of the impacts of HRM practices on employee involvement and engagement in relation to the performance of Coca-Cola Great Britain. The study also sought to examine the role played by flexibility and job design. The importance of these elements to the company was also assessed. Consequently, the study sought to respond to the following research question: What are the effects of involvement and engagement of employees in the business activities of Coca Cola Great Britain? What are the factors affecting the involvement and engagement of the workforce at Coca Cola Great Britain? What is the future of the engagement and involvement of employees in conte mporary organisations? Human Resource Management Employee involvement is an initiative taken by the management to increase workers’ access to information (Daniels, Davis Shipton 2008). The move is aimed at enhancing their commitment to the firm, its values, and objectives (Holm 2013). It is a form of top down communication within an organisation. Information emanates from the top leadership positions. A number of forums are used to promote employee involvement. For example, managers can hold meetings and briefings where workers are informed of the progress made within their organisation (Balantyne 2004). Newsletters and memos can also be used to pass information. However, there have been concerns that these methods of communication do not give employees a chance to offer prompt feedback. As a result, they feel neglected in the decision making process. Face-to-face communication is recommended to avoid this. In the past, management had a tendency to rely on third parties to pass information to employees (Kiessling Harvey 2006). Such parties included representatives and workers unions. Little information was given to the workers. It was passed only on a ‘need-to-know’ basis. Direct communication, on the other hand, means that no third party is involved in the link between the management and the employees. It is considered to be the most effective strategy. Modern HRM professionals believe when workers know about their business, they become willing and committed to complete their tasks (Marchington Wilkinson 2012). As such, the practice increases productivity. However, there are concerns that increased involvement of employees may translate to more work and stress. For example, they are required to be more involved in decision making (Albrecht 2010). As such, their responsibilities within the firm are increased. An increase in roles induces stress and, eventually, translates to poor performance.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More There are different forms of employee involvement. They range from task participation to financial involvement, downward communication, and upward problem solving (Cox, Zagelmeyer Marchington 2006). Task participation mainly involves job redesigning and enrichment. Redesigning entails restructuring of tasks, roles, and responsibilities associated with a particular job. As a HRM practice, it is aimed at inspiring and motivating employees (Daniels, Davis Shipton 2008). Job enrichment, on the other hand, involves assigning additional responsibilities to workers. It is aimed at motivating persons who are self-driven. It is mostly evident among employees at higher levels within the organisation. Task participation can also be in the form of teamwork. It offers employees a chance to exchange ideas with others. As a result, they gain a better understanding of their organisation and the issues affecting it.  The management can increase employee commitment through financial involvement ( Bratton Good 2012). It involves providing financial incentives to workers in order to motivate them. Profit sharing is one of the most commonly used incentives. Management can directly or indirectly make payments based on the profitability of the firm. The payment is in addition to the regular salaries and bonuses. The companies that are publicly traded often resort to allocation of shares to their workforce. The arrangement is referred to as a share ownership scheme (Boxall Purcell 2012). Through financial involvement, employees are made aware of their organisation’s performance. They also get the opportunity to share the profits made by the firm. As a result, they are more willing to contribute to the success of the business.  Downward communication emanates from people in top management positions (Gruman Saks 2011). A good example is an address from the chief executive officer to junior officers. Most of these communications are aimed at giving employees updates on fu ture plans by the management. As such, they can adequately prepare for any changes that may occur at their place of work. It may also involve passing information on matters affecting production and the delivery of services either directly or indirectly. As such, employees have a clear picture of what is expected of them within their organisation. Their ability to make decisions is also increased. Upward communication is another form of employee involvement. It is aimed at solving problems that arise within a firm (Noe Noe 2012). The management encourages employees to come up with ideas that would help solve these challenges. The leaders also seek to encourage innovation. The reason for this is to ensure that the organisation gains competitive advantage over its rivals through product differentiation (Noe Noe 2012). The management may also organise attitude surveys to establish how much their employees are committed to the objectives of the firm. Staff surveys may also enable the m anagement to learn the areas of HRM that need to be changed. Through problem solving groups, employees are able to provide suggestions that improve the day-to-day running of the organisation. Employee engagement Employee engagement is viewed as commitment to an organisation and its values. The workforce also exhibits willingness to help their colleagues improve their performance (Daniels 2006). It is also commonly referred to as organisational citizenship. It can only be offered to a firm willingly. As such, it cannot be demanded from an individual as one of the terms of the employment contract (Kiessling Harvey 2006). In this case, employees have the ability and the desire to ensure the success of their firm. Their desire and commitment is exhibited through discretionary efforts in the form of such acts as working extra time (Amabile Kramer 2011). Employee engagement also entails willingness to put in intellectual effort to ensure that an organisation performs well. Individuals a lso carry out their tasks with a positive attitude (Armstrong Taylor 2014). They also relate well with others to meet organisational goals and objectives. They also feel lucky to be involved in the activities of the organisation. They tend to take it as an opportunity to enhance their skills. Businesses can achieve employee involvement and engagement by allowing their workers to speak out on matters affecting the business. They feel that their contribution to the firm is valued (Bratton Good 2012). They also get the impression that the employer is transparent with them. As a result, they gain trust in the management and its activities. Employee engagement in many firms is achieved through the involvement of the workforce in decision making. Effective HRM practices require ideas emanating from workers to be taken into consideration. Their contribution should be acknowledged and appreciated by the management (Cummings Worley 2014). Employees should also be able to communicate openl y with the organisation’s leadership without fear of retribution. As a result, they do not feel sidelined when it comes to decision making and formulation of policies (Cummings Worley 2014).  Research shows that employee involvement and engagement at Coca-Cola Great Britain has been as a result of eased relations between the workforce and the management (Torrington et al. 2011). Individuals working for the organisation are encouraged to generate new ideas. The management is also keen to acknowledge the contribution of the employees. It often rewards their commitment, especially through better pay (Little Little 2006). As a result, a culture of innovation has been developed. The ‘Share a Coke’ campaign aimed at promoting the Coca-Cola brand was associated with a lot of success. The success can be attributed to the commitment of employees to the success of their organisation. The commitment is expressed by constantly generating new ideas (Rees French 2010).  There are a number of positive outcomes associated with the HRM practices. To begin with, cases of absenteeism have drastically decreased. The productivity of the employees has also gone up owing to the increased efforts. Error rates have also declined following the development of organisational citizenship (Luthans Peterson 2002). Workers have grown more emotionally attached to their firm. Role of Flexibility and Job Design Litheness is an important quality within any organisation. It is the ability of a firm to adapt to the composition, responsiveness, size, and cost of the human capital required to achieve its goals and objectives (Felstead, Jewson Walters 2003). It is an important HRM goal for any business. Employers and employees view flexibility from different perspectives. In the case of the employer, employee flexibility is all about efficiency (Felstead, Jewson Walters 2003). They feel that the workforce should be able to change its schedule with relative ease to deal w ith emergencies (Rayer Adam-Smith 2009). As such, the organisation is able to deal with emerging issues without outsourcing for human capital. On the other hand, employees view flexibility as the ability to juggle between work and home with ease. The needs of employers and employees in relation to flexibility at the workplace should be balanced to ensure optimum productivity (Lockwood 2007).  At Coca-Cola Great Britain, employee flexibility is viewed as one of the organisational goals. The company respects the rights of the workers (Ignatius 2011). For example, employees are allowed time-off during working hours for ante-natal care. Maternity leaves are also granted. During the time, workers are entitled to pay for a period of 39 weeks as per UK laws. Maternity leaves can extend to one year. Workers at Coca-Cola Great Britain are also given leave to attend to paternal, parental, and adoption issues. Dependants are also allowed time-off to attend to their households (Ignatius 2011 ). Their responsibilities may range from children to parents and spouses. As a result, the organisation’s workforce enjoys a better work-life balance. Employees are able to attend to their responsibilities both at work and at home with relative ease. Besides these instances, it is important for the company to allow persons who have offered more than 26 weeks of continuous service to request for leaves with justified reasons. The move is a legal requirement for all firms operating in the UK. Flexibility at the organisation has helped reduce cases of absenteeism (Felstead et al. 2002). Unpaid leaves are the most effective strategies in ensuring this. Employees are discouraged from missing work unless when it is absolutely necessary. Their morale to work is also boosted. The reason behind this is that they feel the company strives to benefit them. In the process, organisational citizenship is achieved. Job satisfaction among employees is also enhanced. As a result, the rate of e mployee turnover at Coca-Cola Great Britain is generally low. When employees are allowed time-off when need arises, they get to relax and are not fatigued. Upon their return, they become more efficient in their activities and are associated with high levels of productivity. Job design It is an important aspect of HRM practices. It involves putting together a range of tasks and responsibilities to be undertaken by a particular individual within an organisation (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development [CIPD] 2008a). In other terms, it entails specifying the contents of various jobs. The reason for this is to ensure job satisfaction among employees. The potential of workers is also fully utilised (Luthans Peterson 2002). Through job redesigning, organisations can completely engage their workers. More responsibilities mean increased involvement. The reason behind this is that one will be more involved in decision making in the areas of operations entrusted to them. They tend t o develop a sense of responsibility by supporting the day-to-day running of their organisations (Mohr Zoghi 2006). Their effects on the firm are also felt and valued. In the process, they become more engaged and develop organisational citizenship.  Coca-Cola Great Britain is known to use job design to motivate its employees. The company mainly achieves this through task enlargement (CIPD 2008a). The process involves lengthening the work cycle by extending the range of activities and responsibilities within the same level. It involves a combination of many activities (Den 2011). Consequently, one is expected to perform different tasks. Boredom at the place of work is eliminated. Employees are more enthusiastic about their work. Job enrichment can also be used to motivate employees (Pilbeam Corbridge 2010). It is mainly achieved by assigning additional responsibilities to workers. Additional roles often come with a raise in pay (Edwards 2003). As such, employees feel that they are valued in the organisation. Such individuals are motivated to work hard to ensure that their effect is felt throughout the company. Job enrichment is, however, often a reserve of employees occupying higher levels in the organisation (CIPD 2008b). The reason behind this is that they have better knowledge of the company’s operations. Improved results can be achieved at Coca-Cola Great Britain by combining job design with rewards. Conclusion There is no doubt that employee involvement and engagement enhance the success of a company. The two ensure that workers are involved in the day-to-day running of their organisation. Employee involvement means that they are provided with information concerning the business and its objectives. As such, they are empowered to make better decisions. In the process, they are able to promote success. Employee engagement, on its part, involves the development of organisational citizenship. It involves the initiation of emotional attachment to the firm. As such, individuals strive to ensure the continued success of their firm. Improved HRM practices can be developed by promoting job design and flexibility. The two are important sources of employee motivation. They result in increased productivity, which promotes success. Organisations operating in a dynamic market can gain competitive advantage by putting in place effective HRM strategies. Improved employee relations will ensure continued innovation. For this reason, Coca-Cola Great Britain should put in place HRM practices aimed at promoting employee involvement and engagement. Job design and flexibility should also be encouraged. References Albrecht, S 2010, Handbook of employee engagement: perspectives, issues, research and practice, Edward Elgar Publishing, London, UK. Amabile, T Kramer, S 2011, ‘The power of small wins’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 89, no. 5, pp. 71-80. Armstrong, M Taylor, S 2014, Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice, 13th edn, Kogan Page, London, UK. Balantyne, D 2004, ‘Dialogue and its role in the development of relationship specific knowledge’, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 114-123. 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Den, R 2011, Keys to governance: strategic leadership for quality of life, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. Edwards, P 2003, ‘The employment relationship and the field of industrial relations’, Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice, vol. 2, no.1, pp. 1-36. Felstead, A, Jewson, N Walters, S 2003, ‘Managerial control of employees working at home’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 241-264. Felstead, A, Jewson, N, Phizacklea, A, Walters, S. 2002. ‘The option of working at home: another privilege for the favoured few’, New Technology, Work and Employment, vol. 17, no 3, pp. 204-223 Gruman, J Saks, A 2011, ‘Performance management and employee engagement’, Human Resource Management Review, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 123-136. Henderson, I 2011, Human resource managem ent for MBA students, Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, London, UK. Holm, A 2013, Philosophy of science: an introduction for future knowledge workers, Samfundslitteratur, Frederiksberg. 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Mohr, R Zoghi, C 2006, Is job enrichment really enriching?, U.S. Dept. of Labour, U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics, Office of Productivity and Technology, Washington, D.C. Noe, R Noe, R 2012, Human resource management: gaining a competitive advantage, 8th edn, McGraw-Hill Irwin, New York. Pilbeam, S Corbridge, M 2010, People resourcing: contemporary HRM in practice, 4th edn, Prentice Hall, London, UK. Rayer, C Adam-Smith, D 2009, Managing leading people, McGraw Hill, CIPD, London, UK. Rees, G French, R 2010, Leading, managing and developing people, 3rd edn, CIPD, London, UK. Senker, C Foy, D 2012, Coca Cola: the story behind the iconic business, Wayland, London, UK. Torrington, D, Hall, L, Taylor, S, Atkinson, C. 2011. Human resource management, 8th edn, Prentice Ha ll, Essex. This report on Involving and Engaging Employees: Coca-Cola Great Britain was written and submitted by user Caitlyn Q. to help you with your own studies. 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Complete Guide How to Write a Public Administration Term Paper

Complete Guide How to Write a Public Administration Term Paper A term paper is a lengthy essay written by a student on a subject. In your case, you need to deal with Public Administration. Mainly, your term paper will be based on the material studied during a college term. For that reason, it is necessary to make a precise examination of the obtained information and provide its analysis in the final term paper. Remember that it is supposed to be a critical, evaluative, or analytical report that describes a particular issue on the topic from the objective perspective. So be ready to demonstrate your research and analytical skills, critical thinking and original approach to writing a term paper. Our guide on how to write a good public administration term paper can be a useful source of inspiration that you are likely to look for. It helps find some valuable tips at every stage of academic writing. Besides, you will know what to write about on public administration, some essential elements to consider helping you find unique topic ideas and so on. Go on reading this public administration term paper writing guide to the end to become more knowledgeable and confident in writing your own term paper. Public Administration Term Paper and Its Key Principles The basic term paper includes different number of pages from 10 to 15 pages. Usually, a title page, table of content, abstract and reference list aren’t included in the pages of content. As a result, you need minimum 6 pages of typed text that will provide the readers with a comprehensive outline of the selected topic. In other words, write your term paper as if the reader knows nothing about the public administration topic you choose. Your research interest is to explore and analyze some areas related to public administration like economics, history, and politics, international relations, civil society, and so on. Traditionally, a term paper is associated with a research paper as their main concepts seem to be incredibly similar. Nonetheless, it is important to distinguish both types of writing in the following way: A research paper demands a particular academic approach, deep evaluation and investigation of the used materials, and a variety of research methods applied. A term paper is based on the studied material and should be written according to the demands of your professor. These demands allow the readers to check your analytical thinking skills and abilities to collect related information, do a thorough analysis, summarize the main points of a topic, and provide a solution to the discussed issue. Thus, it is necessary to follow the paper requirements of your professor and take into account the general principles of term paper writing. The primary purpose of public administration term paper is to summarize the information obtained during the term and show that you learn the material discussed during classes. In this way, this type of paper is considered to be a universal tool for evaluating student’s proficiency in the topic. To attain high scores in writing a term paper, you need more than just the desire to get a high grade. 3 Factors Influencing Your Final Grade in Term Paper Writing Organization of a term paper. Is it coherent, logical and easy to follow? Originality of content. Are unique ideas used in a term paper? Is a term paper formatted properly according to the required styles (APA, MLA, Harvard)? As you see every point is essential for your academic performance. It’s time to work on a term paper so that it will bring some positive results. Choose a Topic That Really Interests You and Your Readers The first and the most important part of writing a good public administration term paper is a correct choice of a research topic. There are two possible options for this challenging process: You can choose a topic from the list provided by your professor (if there is any available), You can choose the most interesting and captivating topic on your own from a variety of topics on publication administration. While choosing your topic, be specific and pay attention to the unusual and extraordinary topics that haven’t been investigated in detail. Remember that the topic should be useful in the future for potential researchers who will decide to write on the same topic. Besides, it may be developed in the research paper or even a Master’s thesis by yourself. Choose the topic you are really interested in as working on the boring issue will make the term paper writing process incredibly long and unpleasant. In addition, while choosing a topic, take into account that it should not be too broad or too narrow. Focus on one issue every student may face, the limited timeframes. So consider if you are able to complete the necessary paper on a particular topic within the provided deadline and the page limit. Captivating topics are much easier to evaluate and develop, that is why you should follow a set of rules on how to choose a topic and start the most appropriate of them. They are t he following ones: Brainstorm a range of topics that seem to be interesting to you. These can be your personal opinion on various social and political issues, political controversies, different social problems that you would like to discover, and current political or social events. Next, take a sheet of paper and put down all the keywords and word phrases that come to your mind. At the same time, it is necessary to avoid difficult topics that are usually related to suicides, gun control, and abortion; Look through the general background information that is usually available in specialized journals, magazines, and newspapers. Read some general articles on public administration. Based on a broad overview of the topic, you can develop it by extending or narrowing the related issues; Develop your topic on the basis of the thesis statement. It may be a solution to the issue you want to discuss or a purpose of your paper that should be presented in a clear and comprehensive manner. In this way, the topic should tell the readers about the purpose and meaning of your term paper; Our experts have already passed through all these rules for the best choice of a publication administration topic. Consider the list of topics for your public administration term paper below: Impact of Public Administration on the Reformation of the Welfare System; Advantages and Disadvantages of Lights and Sirens in Various Emergency Service Vehicles; The Impact of Community Law Enforcement on Determination of Societies’ View and Opinion of Various Social and Cultural Issues; The Impact of Net Neutrality on the Development of the Adolescents in the United States of America. Pre-Writing Tips Our Writers Follow Before writing a term paper, you need to get prepared for extensive work in advance, both morally and physically. First of all, nothing should distract your attention. Stop thinking of who like your photo on Instagram or Facebook. Switch off all social sites on a computer if you are going to work on it. Secondly, you need to be equipped with all necessary tools of writing a pen or pencil, notebooks, word-processing software (Microsoft Word, Pages or Open Office), grammar and style guides and the other tools that help you write and write non-stop. However, it doesn’t mean that you don’t need to sleep at all until your term paper is finished. So your main task is to plan your time reasonably so that you will have 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Otherwise, you’ll face the adverse effects of poor sleep that many students experience. It mainly reflects on their academic success according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Do not wait until the last minute to st art writing the assignment just because you won’t have an opportunity to get prepared properly for the writing process. In fact, it would be great if you could work on a term paper for several hours each day. Look at how many stages you need to pass through to reach the final one the successful paper submission: Exploring and focusing a topic; Finding and selecting appropriate sources of information; Taking notes on the obtained information; Outlining the main ideas for yourself; Working on every part of a term paper an introduction, body, conclusion; Revising the final term paper. The most important point of prewriting is to understand an assignment given to you. Look through the description of the task and its requirements as all this is the basis of your paper. From the assignment instructions, you are able to determine what kind of paper you need to write and at what approach, what materials are necessary (be it a journal, periodicals, primary and secondary sources, etc.), what format is required and so on. So read your assignment attentively to be sure that you are in the right way towards the success in writing. Additionally, you need to search for the background information in the library or on the web to support your claims with the relevant facts. While searching for the sources, it is important to take into account that you can use only academic sources like books and peer-reviewed articles that contain reliable pieces of information. Take into account that your term paper should be written in a required formatting style (APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard or Turabian). You can check some samples written in one of the formats on the Internet or ask the instructors to show you the samples available to them. The latter must lend more credence to you. Alternatively, you can order a custom written term paper to see a good example of formatting the text. Eventually, take all the collected information and tools to get down to work in a place where no one can interrupt the writing process that is already simplified. The Basic Structure of a Public Administration Term Paper The structure of every academic paper should follow a particular pattern. It allows the writer to develop a well-constructed literary work and provide the readers with all the necessary information logically. Include the following elements: A cover page with a title. It is a page where you put your name, your instructor’s name, course number, and a date of submission; An abstract. You should provide the comprehensive description of your term paper on this page. Yes, it is a separate but not obligatory page that contains keywords and word combinations relevant to your research. This part tells the reader about the major issues discussed in your paper and why it is interesting or important for you to analyze this particular topic; It is a part of the paper that includes the thesis statement and introduces your topic to the readers. Here, you can tell about the public administration issue you want to discuss and provide a number of possible solutions. Despite a great amount of valuable information, keep the introduction short. In percentage terms, it is average out at about 10% of the whole term paper; Body parts. Traditionally, each academic paper should include three or more well-constructed body parts. Each of them is aimed at a particular question or idea. Every paragraph is logically complete and connected by means of transition words. and develop the issue mentioned in the introduction part. A body paragraph should start from a topic sentence, a fact or a piece of evidence to support the idea, an explaining sentence, and a concluding sentence that grabs the information together and leads the reader to a logical conclusion. It is important to remember that the topic sentence introduces the whole paragraph. It may be considered as a mini-thesis that unites the concept between paragraphs and prepare the reader for a new argument of the author. It is essential to avoid discussing bare facts but to provide a personal evaluation of the topic and some independent evaluation of the discussed issue. That is why you can present here some arguments and counterarguments in order to convi nce the audience with your arguments; This is a part of an academic paper where you should summarize all the issues discussed in body paragraphs, provide solutions (if necessary), and restate the thesis statement. You can finish this final part of the paper with an opening question or with the encouragement of the readers to continue their own research on the chosen topic. If your public administration term paper contains the argument, a conclusion part is the last chance to attract the attention of the readers and convince them to support your claims; Reference list. This is the final part of your academic work where you should include all the materials used for writing the term paper. These are the used articles, books, journals, official reports, and internet pages that should be cited in a particular format and include such information as the last name of the author, title, year of publication, and a number of pages; Additional information. Your paper may also include some additional information like different relevant photos, tables, pictures, and graphs; 7 Proofreading Tips That Help You Out The last but not the least is the process of proofreading. This process should not be ignored by the writers as it allows to correct some mistakes made during the writing process. This is a number of tips on how to proofread a term paper effectively: Check the structure of the paper. It should contain a title page, an abstract page (if required), introduction paragraph, three or more body paragraphs with claims of the author supported with facts and pieces of evidence, a conclusion paragraph, a reference page, and additional materials (if necessary); Double check all the facts and pieces of evidence in your public administration term paper. Remember that all of them should be taken from reliable sources; Read the paper one more time aloud. This easy tip will allow you to hear the written text and find out some irrelevant words and phrases. In addition, this approach is helpful to define run-on sentences and various issues that can not be detected when reading silently; Check the paper for plagiarism. It is not acceptable for the academic paper to include the stolen ideas of the other people. For that reason, all the ideas you have found in additional sources should be cited according to the required format. Besides, it is possible to use one of the numerous plagiarism checkers available online and find out whether the paper contains some borrowed ideas or not cited facts and phrases; Check citations. Due to the fact that the paper should be presented in a particular format, the citations in the reference list, as well as in-text citations, should be arranged in the same format. In addition, the sources in the reference list should be arranged in an alphabetical order; Check the paper for some errors in grammar, syntax or punctuation. To make the process faster and easier, it is possible to use a computer search for tracing miswritten pronouns and antecedents. Use computer spelling checkers that are available online. This method allows to save a lot of time and make sure the paper does not contain misspellings; Make sure the format requirements of your term paper are met. Check the margins, font, font size, and line spacing and make sure these elements correspond to the format required by your professor. Following this easy and helpful guide you will be able to think of the appropriate topic, find the additional information, write a well-constructed public administration term paper, and arrange the written material according to the requirements. Good luck!

The Secret Powers of Food Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Secret Powers of Food - Assignment Example If we delve into the root of the issue, we will find out that food plays a huge role in people’s lives and its impacts on their outlooks and beliefs are impressing. To justify this, I have conveyed an interview. My interviewee is Mr. Wilson, the father of my neighbor, he is 47 years old. The man was glad to share his life experience and food story with me. I have come up with some interesting ideas, based on the information given by my interviewee and the book Toast: The Story of a Boy’s Hunger by Nigel Slater. As a result, I strongly believe that food helps people to socialize, to show one’s affection, it evokes memories, shapes one’s lifestyle and attitude to culture. To begin with, food has become an integral part of social life. It may sound like nonsense, but food plays an enormous role in socialization between people. If we think about any occasion which implies gathering of people, we probably will not come up with any example that would not include food. Every celebration, holiday, date and even some official meetings always include some sort of ingestion – lunch, dinner or a pair of cocktails. Possible reasons for it may be that by means of food people interact nonverbally. It brings interlocutors together and helps them to relax and communicate freely. With the help of food a positive atmosphere is created which provides a beneficial outcome of any meeting. Furthermore, we may claim that food is a way of showing one’s love and care. It is through food that every mother shows her children how much she cares about them. I’ve interviewed my neighbor’s father, Mr. Wilson, and he told me what food meant to him and to his family. When he was a child, Mr. Wilson used to live in a city, but his weekends and summer holidays he spent at his granny’s, in the suburbs. There was a little farm there with plenty of fruit and vegetables and some domestic animals, such as chickens, geese and a few pigs. His  grandmother always tried to show her affection to her beloved grandchild by means of food.

In What Ways Are an Organisations Employment Relations Influenced by Essay

In What Ways Are an Organisations Employment Relations Influenced by External Factors - Essay Example It is important to understand in detail how this commitment comes into maturity in the business world. According to Daniels (2006), organisation and its employees should together have one common understanding of their corporate goals and such can be enhanced further by employees’ success or failures and their existing relationship. In short, a good relationship existing between employees and the organisation is a good indicator of corporate success. Thus, an organisation’s ultimate goal is to enhance relationship with its employees or workforce. PESTLE Analysis Political Holman et al. (2005) argued that political processes are highly involved in the employee and management relationship considering that the modern design of working processes involves the modern consideration of conflicting interests between the employee and management. This may complement with the idea of Byton and Turnbull (2004) that there is no common interest between the interdependence of corporate world and the employees. One important implication of this in the real world is the continuing existence of boundaries between employees and the organisation. This boundary is without question being instituted by the differences that lead to conflicting interest among employees and the organisation. The idea of Holman et al (2005) and Byton and Turnbull only suggests that in reality there is conflict of interest between the employee and management and this boils down to the politics involved inside and outside of the corporate world. This means therefore that it is not only at the inside part of the corporate realm there is specific influence when it comes to employment relations but even at the... This report stresses that the current environmental concern is an important issue in employment relations. For instance, many companies which substantially in line with protecting the environment especially on the issue of global warming have substantially equip their employees with basic understanding about the issue. Such is a certain level of employee management that leads to actual employee and management relationship. It is in line with the strengthening of this aspect that will essentially lead to effective implementation of corporate goals. Thus, based on environmental concerns, a car manufacturing company will absolutely increase the understanding of its personnel on the probable issues in line with the environment. After all, the economic activities nowadays are interrelated with the environmental concerns. A the author says there are different attachments that characterise employment relationship such as employee commitment to organisation’s values and acknowledgemen t of both instrumental and calculative motives. This paper makes a concluison that it is clear that employment relation does not originate within the context between the corporate world and employees. In reality, the business environment is an external source of the existing trend in employment relations. In particular, the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental aspects have corresponding impacts in the business world and the concerned employment relations between the employees and management.

Production and operation management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Production and operation management - Essay Example The organization has able to fulfil its demand as a supplier of extractor and exhaust system to the motor racing industry and performance street car sections. The implementation of off-the-shelf system attracted the price sensitive customers. This off-the-shelf system led the organization to produce more standardized exhaust system. However, the developed exhaust system seemed to be slightly inferior comparing to the customized extractors. Few months earlier, the organization was approached by an organization that used to distribute national car parts. The name of the organization is The Performance Shop. From the starting days the organizations has achieved growth significantly, but it was identified that, after achieving impressive growth the profit margin was not up to the expectation level. Presently, the organization is facing several accounting and business operational problems. The objective of the study is to identify and discuss the operational aspects that are affecting Tur bo Exhausts. In order to achieve the objective of the study, the research will conduct a technical analysis on the current production process used by Turbo Exhausts. The study will be continued by the problem identification and specification. Moreover, the study will highlight daily operational issues and identify the broader organizational issues that have been caused by operational problems. ... By the way, here the issues are not basis on sales, but on effectual utilization of the resources, rational and optimum utility of the machineries and meeting the deadlines in supply, overall business profits etc, where the study focuses. The study is based on Production and Operation Management. Production and operations management (POM) can be defined as the management of an organization’s production system that enhance and improve the production and the business operation of an organization. Since the Manufacturing system renovates the inputs into outputs, the procedure of adaptation has become the most crucial activity. The inadequate planning in scheduling the manufacturing programme, unproductive co-ordination and general controlling make a negative impact on the whole systems of manufacturing and its capabilities. As a result, these structures get underutilized and the companies become less effective in order to compete with several successful companies. To ensure effic ient and smooth operation, industrial manufacturing is developed with successful planning, control and implementation. Production Management turns around Five â€Å"M†s, such as Machine, Men/ Women, Methods, Money and Materials. The firm has to renew and authorize the workforce in order to accept the new challenges in the optimization of the manufacturing process by leveraging the greatest combination of Process or Methods. Conversion Process is one of the important processes that optimize the manufacturing and operational process. There are various methods of handling the production process, such as Batch, Job, Group and Flow. The most critical investment for the future is the flexibility and

Packet Scheduling Algorithms Literature

Packet Scheduling Algorithms Literature Abstract- This paper discusses two selected research papers that proposes two different packet scheduling algorithms that focuses on promoting higher throughput and fairness. The two algorithms are Modified Packet Prediction Mechanism algorithm which is a revised version of the current packet prediction mechanism algorithm and the second is prioritized fairness packet Scheduling algorithm. Chapter 1 Introduction Mobile communication has come a long way and has been through multiple generations. Starting from a mere mobile radio telephone used in the old ages to sending text based messages and now fourth generation long term evolution supporting devices which are capable of streaming high bitrate videos, providing us with richer content and more connections at faster rates just from our handy mobile devices. Long term evolution structure adequately utilizes the assets by dynamically scheduling the frequency and the time space of users. And that is possible through long term evolution downlink scheduling which is accountable for the allotment of radio resources mutually throughout mobile devices. Implementing packet scheduling is crucial as it effects the performance by assigning radio resources suitably. 1.1 Problem Statement As the usage of mobile data, online mobile gaming, video streaming and other online applications started to grow, the delivery of packets, data transmission and speed has to be improved. While this is possible through the introduction of long term evolution, the quality and capability to has to be improvised by achieving high throughput connectivity which equates to successful data transmission and also fairness, for improving the distribution of the signal. Implementing a downlink scheduling algorithm is sensitive as if takes into effect the throughput, fairness, rate conditioning and so on. Among them, each has its own perks and features but newly or modified algorithm are being proposed and implemented periodically. As such, the modified packet prediction mechanism algorithm is proposed in order that through simulation has proved to perform better in terms of throughput and fairness. Also submitted is the prioritized fairness packet scheduling algorithm with the improvements in. Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1 Mobile Network During the earlier decades, facilitating limited services like voice call is the main focus in developing mobile networks. Additional services like short message service was introduced by Global System for Mobile Communication. The craving of user in using mobile internet is the main motivation in development of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, Enhanced Data rates for Global System for Mobile Communication Evolution known as EDGE and finally, General Packet Radio Services. In 1980, the first-generation analog cellular technology Advanced Mobile Phone Service in short form known as AMPS were introduced. Advanced Mobile Phone Service uses distinct channels or frequencies for every Frequency Division Multiple Access. Therefore, it cause Advanced Mobile Phone Service required huge bandwidth for a higher number of consumer. Second Generation offers digitally encrypted voice data and effective usage of available bandwidth. Short message service was introduced in this generation as a form of data services. Global System for Mobile Communication cellular technology is the foundation for other basis cellular networks. Base Transceiver station controls the cells in Global System for Mobile communication. Mobile Station is being served by each Global System for Mobile Communication cell while Base Station Controller monitors a number of Base Transceiver station. Global System for Mobile Communication network is categorized into four basic sub system which is Mobile Station, Base Station Subsystem, Core Network and External Network. Mobile Station consist of Security Information Management and terminal equipment. Base Station Subsystem consist Base Transceiver station, and Base Station Controller. Providing radio access and Core Network connection to Mobile Station is the main function of Base Station Subsystem. Core Network consist of Mobile Switching Station, Visitor Location Register, Home Location Register, Authentication Center and Operation and Maintenance Center. Main role of core network is to provide billing, transport functions, mobility management, user database such as user location and information about user and so on. External Network is where user can connect such as Public Switched Telephone Network or any other Global System for Mobile communication network. Circuit switching is used for communication in Global System for Mobile Communication networks. User start to demand for high data rates when mobile evolves. Therefore, General Packet Radio Services was introduced. General Packet Radio Services offers new services like web browsing provides packet switching hence increase data rates up to 114 kilobits per second. Enhanced Data rates for Global System for Mobile Communication Evolution is evolution of Global System for Mobile Communication after General Packet Radio Services where provides data rate up to 384 kilobits per second. Shifting the modulation of Global System for Mobile Communication from GPSK to 8PSK is the reason of this achievement. Technology Modulation Switching Method Access Scheme Data Rate (kbps) Services Global System for Mobile Communication GMSK Circuit Switching TDMA/FDD 9.6 to 14.4 Voice, short message service. General Packet Radio Services GMSK Packet Switching TDMA/FDD 115 Voice, short message service, Web Browsing Enhanced Data rates for Global System for Mobile Communication Evolution GMSK, 8PSK Packet Switching TDMA.FDD 384 Voice, short message service, web Browsing Global System for Mobile Communication overview Third Generation Partnership Project develop and maintain Universal Mobile Telecommunication System. Providing new services with better quality of services, better spectral efficiency and increasing data rates was the main aim in the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System development. Wideband Code Division Multiple Access is used as an access in Universal Mobile Telecommunication System. Bandwidth of 5 megahertz is used for downlink and uplink traffic. Universal Mobile Telecommunication System Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) is the radio access in Universal Mobile Telecommunication System which consist Radio Network Controller (RNC) and many base stations which known as NodeB. Both circuit and packet switching method is supported in Universal Mobile Telecommunication System. Packet switching is mainly for data services like file transfer, web services while circuit switching is for voice traffic. High Speed Downlink Packet Access known as HSDPA and High Speed Uplink Pack et Access in short form known as HSUPA is the evolution of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System. This Evolution focused in reducing latency, increasing system capacity and data rates. High Speed Downlink Packet Access increases downlink data rates up to 14 Mbps while High Speed Uplink Packet Access increases uplink data rates up to 5.76 Mbps. Technology Modulation Data Rates TTI Time Latency ms Advancements Universal Mobile Telecommunication System BPSK 384 kilobits per second downlink 128 kilobits per second uplink 10 ms 150 Scheduling performed by Radio Network Controller High Speed Downlink Packet Access High Speed Uplink Packet Access QPSK,16 QAM, 64 QAM QPSK 14.4 megabits per second in downlink 5.76 megabits per second in uplink 2 ms 2 ms, 10 ms 100 100 AMC,HARQ, Scheduling at NodeB, MIMO HARQ, Scheduling at NodeB Third Generation overview 2.2 Long Term Evolution Introduction The idea of Long Term Evolution was originally developed due to the need of a technology which is possible to support IP based mobile technology hence, through this, providing features same as broadband connection. The difference between third generation and Long Term Evolution is that third generation is supports both packet and circuit switched while long term evolution supports packet switched and IP based services. Long Term Evolution need to have certain requirements in order to fulfill its goals such as able to provide data rates up to 50 megabits per second for uplink and 100 megabits per second for downlink, higher capacity of need to be provided compare to High Speed Downlink Packet Access, supporting multiple frequency bands, operation need to be cost effective and so on. 2.3 Architecture of Long Term Evolution Four main domains are being used in the architecture of Long Term Evolution which is UE (User Equipment), E-UTRAN (Evolved Utran), EPC (Evolved Packet Core Network) and finally, services. A diagram is illustrated below to show how this four domains are being used in LTE architecture. LTEArchitecture 2.3.1 UE (User Equipment) Device that are being used for communication purpose by end user are called user equipment. Each device has a unique identity module called Universal Subscriber Identity Module. The module being used for identification process, authorization and security for radio transmission. Moreover, the user equipment has other functions as well, such as for an instance mobility management, UI (User Interface) between end users, but mainly it provides communication platform and communication link which can be set up, maintained or removed depending on the user need. 2.3.2 E-UTRAN (Evolved Utran) Evolved NodeB also known as eNodeB is the only existing node in Evolved UTRAN. Radio related activities in the LTE system are being performed through a radio base station located within the network through this evolved NodeB. Besides that, a path is created from the User Equipment to Evolved Packet Core Network with the help of evolved NodeB. Through this, data passing can be done within the ratio connection and IP based Evolved Packet Core Network network connections and evolved NodeB becomes a transmission point to various radio protocols pointing towards the User Equipment. After the data is relayed, Evolve Packet Core Network then performs functions such as ciphering and deciphering to the UP data. In details, activities related to managing radio resource including allocation of the resources based upon on prioritization and traffic scheduling depending on the Quality of Service requirements are also one of the responsibility held by evolved NodeB. Besides that, evolved NodeB is also held responsible for the management of mobility which includes activities such as analyzing radio signal measurements performed by the User Equipment and comes up with same measurements as well. Furthermore, evolve NodeB also handles a new users request for a new connection, the evolved NodeB will route the request to mobility management entity using the previous User Equipment that was connected earlier and if there isnt any information regarding the routing then a new mobility management entity will be selected. The User Equipment can only be connected to one evolved NodeB where else the evolved NodeB is expected to support multiple users. The handover process can be only done if an evolved NodeB is connected to its neighbor, which is another evolved NodeB. A User Equipment can be only assigned with one mobility management entity and serving gateway but multiple mobility management entity and serving gateway can be connected a certain evolved Nod eB. 2.3.3 EPC (Evolved Packet Core) Evolved Packet Core uses different kinds of elements to operate. The elements are Mobility Management Entity (MME), Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW), Serving Gateway (S-GW) and Policy and Charging Resource Function (PCRF). Mobility management entity is the core of evolved packet core. A direct connection is established with user equipment through mobility management entity and this connection will become the main control channel for the user equipment and network. There are many activities conducted by the mobility management entity such as, authentication of the user equipment. Authorization is provided by the mobility management entity as the user equipment is being newly registered to a network. Other activities such as tracking the available user equipment in a certain area is considered to be the main function for mobility management entity and so on. Responsibility of a serving gateway is resources management and provide resource requested from mobile management entity and so on. In details, the request comes from user equipment due to modification of bearers and so on. Besides that, information passing is also done through the serving gateway which occurs among packet data network gateway and evolved NodeB. Another element that is being used is packet data network gateway. This element is being used mainly for IP allocation to the user equipment. Moreover, bearer switching is done at this element when the user equipment transferred at one serving gateway to another serving gateway at different area. Lastly, the policy and charging resource function takes the decision regarding service handling according to the quality of service. 2.3.4 Services A variation of services can be done such as operator services and so on. In order to run the services smoothly many sub systems are needed, plus logical nodes as well. 2.4 Long Term Evolution Access Scheme The access schemes are used in long term evolution can be divided into three different types which is orthogonal frequency division multiple access, single carrier frequency division multiple access and finally, multiple input and output. Each of these scheme has a certain functions and responsibility to follow. 2.4.1 OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Accesses) This scheme is used in downlink in the long term evolution. This scheme was originally modified from Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing. The difference between the modified version and original version is that, orthogonal frequency division multiple accesses allows multiple users by allocating subcarriers dynamically to a variety of users while in the original version, a signal will be divided into a number of band channels which are orthogonal to one and another and consist of different frequencies. Orthogonal frequency division multiple access is used for many reasons, one of it is compatibility. This scheme is compatible with many kind of recently developed antennas and receivers. Moreover, efficiency is another reason this scheme is chosen. Efficiency in handling many bandwidths, performance including spectral can be achieved through this scheme. Originally, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing was created in the 1950s but was not popular back then due to greatest number of systems were running on analog technology during that time which made the implementation of this scheme hard and less effective. As the era grew, the use of these scheme has increased as it was much more affordable and implementable as well for the end user due to growth of digital technologies. 2.4.2 SC-FDMA (Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access) As mentioned above, the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing is only being used for downlink in long term evolution where else for uplink the Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access will be used. This is because of multiple carrier which is being utilized in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing leading it to be less efficient especially when it comes to power consumption as power will be a serious issue in mobile devices. This problem can be avoided by the use of Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access for the uplink process. Advantages of this scheme is that it will be much more robust in contrast to multi path and hence, a low peak ranging to average is being provided. 2.4.3 MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Out) The Multiple Input Multiple Out scheme can be implemented in both downlink and uplink in long term evolution. A high data rate can be accomplished by using both Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access and Multiple Input Multiple Out as diverse subcarriers will be cast-off. Furthermore, spatial multiplexing meaning that the use of many antennas for transferring diverse data streams and signal processing on the data streams leading to an increase in the data rate is also being done in this scheme. Besides that, even additional functionality such as transmit diversity meaning that relaying the equal signals but originated from different antennas and finally, beam forming as well can be performed in this scheme. 2.5 PRB (Physical Resource Block) According to the base station scheduler, a resource block will be dispersed to the user equipment. This portion is to be considered as the smallest allocation. Moreover, depending on the bandwidth and number of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access symbols, resource grid will be created in the downlink transmission. A sole subcarrier will be symbolized in each box of the grid and called as resource element and hence automatically representing a symbol. Not only will the user data be stored in the resource grid but also reference signal as well. Resource Block Resource block which is subtypes of a resource element in Long Term Evolution network. A resource block consists many channels and different types of data flows are transferred in Long Term Evolution network. The Long Term Evolution network does not have any standard scheduling method. There are different types of method is exists in scheduling but it based on the researcher. One of the command method that been used in scheduling mechanism in Long Term Evaluation is Dynamic scheduling that used for providing Quality of service and efficiency. Dynamic scheduling is used in downlink scheduling. The purpose of the dynamic scheduling is to control the channel of some of the sign indicated. Evolved NodeB is taken the main role in downlink scheduling. As mention earlier the function has been explaining in additionally Evolved NodeB is one of the import factor for performing scheduling. Evolved NodeB is performing scheduling mechanism in Long Term Evolution network for downlink scheduling mechanism and it managed resource block in the resource elements. Nowadays many users are forwarded toward to the technology so that there were required Quality of Service to the specific application its main reason why scheduling is needed. In Long Term Evolution network have a combination of multiple single cells is connected. The user interaction is connected to the Evolved NodeB with single cell but user equipment is contained N number of members. During the process of uplink scheduling, some packet or data may be lost, one of the reason is a delay in the parameter. The delay queue packet is grouped into a single logical channel and downlink scheduling of evolved NodeB is also holding buffer. In the downlink scheduling, each buffer is related to the user equipment and the user equipment is connected to the evolved NodeB. The evolved NodeB has broadcast the specific data traffic of loaded queue. The main reason of scheduling is to increase the performance of throughput and fairness. And reduce packet loss. Scheduling algorithms for evolved NodeB is not standardized but it based on the used Quality of Service of a user; network provider or service provider is analysis the problem and identify new algorithms and solve the user problem. There different type of scheduling method exists in downlink scheduling. Although there are many algorithms had been discovered in the past yet fair scheduling and opportunistic scheduling is widely been used. Firstly, the Fair Scheduling scheme is one of the algorithm that been used for downlink scheduling it can give least data rate to every user and reduced the inertness. Fair Scheduling scheme is used in real time application for example video conference and voice over IP. Fair Scheduling scheme is functioned as least required information rate all the more successfully. Most of the scheduling algorithms are based on these key factor. Secondly Opportunistic Scheduling schema is another scheduling scheme is commonly been used in LTE networks. The Opportunistic Scheduling schema is explained that due to multiple users multiple users scattered around different location number of channel each user gets may vary. Users can experiences better productivity to correct setting of frequency and time. Multi-user can cause the problem to mobile radio channel because different user come from the various environment and they connected with each other. By utilizing multi-client differing qualities system, this radio channel trademark can be used for giving better information rates. The network provider must choose better dynamic scheduling which is included in downlink scheduling. By using the best dynamic scheduling the user can experience better performance in throughput based on the channel it can be done based on the specific spectrum. Therefore, Opportunistic Scheduling schema also have some drawbacks. The Opportunistic Scheduling scheme is not able to provide the better quality of service to the user and subsequently providing poor performance on fairness to the client. This is the reason why the multiple users are cannot transmit the data to their specific client and also another reason is their channels is not good enough. 2.6 Quality of Services in LTE As years pass by the demand for mobile usage has grown exponentially the people now are capable doing a wonderful thing through their smartphone. The advancement of technology has opened up many new applications and uses. This is the reason why people is demanding quality of service to the network provider. The Quality of Service two also deals with real time application such as voice over IP. Then it also deals with the large scale of the networks. In the long term Evaluation network channel is the mediator for the user equipment and evolved NodeB. In the Long Term Evolution network, there has logical barrier connection between two endpoints. During the data transmission between the user equipment and packet data network gateway has virtual have Transmission Control Protocol connection-oriented connection. During the data transmission between the two endpoint data link layer is involved in transporting the Quality of Services to the user. The Quality of Services can be divided into multiple traits which are bit rate, delay, and reliability. Different type of barrier is producing different kind of result for Quality of Services such as these two types of radio channel, for an example using Lee and Ali, where Lee is capable of enduring a larger packet loss and very low latency but Ali do not care regarding the low latency and hence, he is willing to receive the low latency. This example requires the two radio channel and each radio channel is configured with some packet loss and low latency based on the Quality of Service as requested by the user. There are two types of barrier in the Quality of Services in Long Term Evolution network. What is the minimum guaranteed bit rate barrier and non-guaranteed bit rate barrier? Minimum guaranteed bit rate barrier is real time application and it uses least number of information rate that should be ensured. An example of minimum guaranteed bit rate barrier is that the voice over IP, videoconference, stream gaming, streaming video and video call. Non-guaranteed bit rate barrier are used in application but it does not require specific type of bit rate. For the non-guaranteed bit rate is not specific so the bandwidth has to be set for the networks. An example for the non-guaranteed bit rate is file transfer, games and web searching, which is also known as a non-real-time application. The Quality of Services of a class identifier is represented each of the mobile network barriers which analysis by a Quality of Service characteristics. The Quality of Service of Class Identifier is possible to be divided into a standardized factor which is delay, loss rate and priority. The Quality of Service of the Channel Quality Indicator is divided into 9 Quality of Service of Class Identifier characteristics. Below the table shows the Quality of Service of Class Identifier characteristic with the attributes shown. 2.7 Radio Resource Management Therefore, in the Long Term Evolution network, architecture consist of only one node that is evolved NodeB which is intermediate between the user and the main network. Radio resource management is performing is the function on evolved NodeB. Radio resource management performing First In First Out queue method for packet scheduling. Radio resource management also interacts with downlink scheduling for packet delivery. However, the radio resource management is work with Channel Quality Indicator, transmission time travel and media access control address. 2.8 Scheduling mechanism in LTE In the Long Term Evolution network, multiple user interactions are the main function. Then, Long Term Evolution network data and packet are transferred among multiple users based on the user requirement and Quality of Service. In additionally, downlink scheduling is used metric for transmitting the data and packet. Metric is the method of calculation which priority for the resource block. The calculation is based on the data flow and the resource allocation. 2.8.1 Round robin scheduling Round Robin scheduling is mainly based on time quota. Each process is handled and entertained fairly. Round robin algorithm does not rely on the priority of each task. Round Robin algorithm is easier to implement, simpler to handler and starvation free. Each task is given a time quantum. Each process or task is terminated once the allocated time quantum expires. Round robin produces maximum minimum fairness. If the size of each packet of data equally distributes, then packet that queued longer in the waiting queue is given priority. This is not applicable for data in different sizes. Implementation of round robin algorithm results in poor throughput. This is because round robin algorithm do not consider the Channel Quality Indicator. This causes the performance of throughput drop significantly as its the quantity of bits need to be delivered is not rely with the instantaneous downlink signal to noise ratio. Round Robin is one of the mostly used algorithm in packet scheduling in most systems. Round Robin Scheduling Flow Chart 2.8.2 Best Channel Quality Indicator From the name itself we knew that this algorithm chooses the Best Channel Quality Indicator. This algorithm is primarily used to allocate resource blocks with the good radio link environments to the user. Resource block that been appointed by the algorithm comes with the highest Channel Quality Indicator in the resource block compared to other blocks. The Channel Quality Indicator will be transmitted to base station. Base station will perform the Best channel Quality Indicator. Base station will transmits the reference downlink pilot (signal) to the terminal. These downlink pilot will be utilized by the user equipment for the calculation of the Channel Quality Indicator. The higher the value of Channel Quality Indicator, the Best Channel Quality Indicator it is. The Channel Quality Indicator is a 5 bit information which ranges from 0 to 30. Terminals that located far off from the base station most unlikely will be scheduled. The Channel Quality Indicator depends on the terminals distance. The nearer it is, the higher the Channel Quality Indicator. Since this Best Channel Quality Indicator chooses the nearest terminals, it causes starvation for the other users. When comes to the throughput, the Best Channel Quality algorithm performs well. Its performance in term of fairness is really poor. Best Channel Quality Indicators Flow Chart 2.8.3 Proportional Fair Scheduling Proportional Fair is one of the famous algorithm used in scheduling mechanism. Proportional fair scheduling produces high fairness and throughput. User with the maximum priority is given the resources after the calculation of channel condition. User with fewer priority is followed then after the first one. The main focus of the Proportional Fair scheduling algorithm is to support the non-real time services in Code Division Multiple Access High Data Rate. If the scheduler allocates higher number of resources for a particular user rather than channel quality, then the Proportional Fair scheduling mechanism will be affected. Each data flow is given scheduling priority which is indirectly proportional with the estimated resource allocation. This results in maximum cell throughput and satisfactory fairness. When come to freeness, Proportional Fairness scheduling works better than Best Channel Quality Indicator and Round Robin. Although Proportional Fairness is better, yet it still not abl e to complete due to some expectations. For example, if the user become nearer to the evolve NodeB from a long distance, the sound to noise ratio will be increasing gradually (signal shadowing is ignored). Thus, the users original sound to noise ratio will always will be above the average rate. There is possibilities where user can be frequently scheduled. If the user moves farther than the evolve NodeB, then the sound to noise ratio will be lesser than average. It may causes the user to starve. 2.8.4 Modified Largest Weighted Delay First Largest Weighted Delay First algorithm is proposed packets with error rate and different delays Largest Weighted Delay First algorithm

Analysis of The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros Essay

After having read the novel â€Å"The House on Mango Street† by Sandra Cisneros I will now concentrate on the background of the novel that moved Sandra Cisneros to write it by investigating the novel with special regard to its different dimensions. 1. The Novel 1.1 Summary The novel â€Å"The House on Mango Street† is written by Sandra Cineros. It deals with family, neighbourhood and dreams of a young Mexican girl, Esperanza Cordero growing up in Chicago. The novel begins when the Corderos move into a new house on Mango Street in the Latino section of Chicago. The fact that it is the first house they have ever owned, make them proud. But when Esperanza sees it, she is disappointed by the red, dilapidated house. It is not the one their parents told them nor Esperanza dreamt of. Esperanza is not just dissatisfied with her home, but she is also ashamed of her appearance and of her name, which is always mispronunced, and sounds if the syllables were made of tin and if they were a punishment for the ears. Esperanza was named after her great-grandmother, who was forced to marry and sentenced to a life full of sadness. But Esperanza swears that she will not have the same destiny like her great-grandmother. Esperanza longs for a name that fits to her, that expresses her identity: â€Å"Zeze the X† (Cisneros, p.11). In time, she notices how joyful and harsh reality can be in life. Her first friendship is just a brief one because Cathy’s familiy soon moves away because of the neighbourhood, that becomes more inhabited by lower-class, people like Esperanza’s family. By contributing five dollars for a bike, Esperanza is included in the circle of friends of two younger sisters. By Lucy and Rachel, Esperanza is introduced in the wonders of growing up by talking about clouds, hips and parading around Mango Street in high-heeled shoes. By the older kids, Esperanza can observe the hardships young people are confronted with in rough neighbourhoods: Louie’s car theft, the death of a boy by an accident Marin gets to know, and Marin’s desperate attempt to find a husband she can escape from this place. All these things open Esperanza’s eyes and show her the limited chances which are offered and she had in such a neighbourhood. Alicia, on the other hand, is an exemple for the less who leave nothing to his fate, but take the initiative. Despite her father’s view, she goes... ...v. ed., 1970) Keller, Jà ¼rg P., The American Dream Gone Astray. (Berne: Peter Lang, European Academic Publishers, 1995) Savin, Ada, â€Å"Mexican-American Literature† in: New Immigrant Literatures in the United States. (London: Alpana Sharma Knippling, 1996) Simone, Roberta, The Immigrant Esperience in American Fiction. (Boston: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1995) Web sources: http://www2.cwrl.utexas.edu/sheila/314s96/students/mitch/mach.htm, 2000, 19.Mar.2001 http://twu.edu/www/twu/library/zumwalt.html, Mar. 2001, 24.Feb.2001 http://voices.cla.umn.edu/authors/SandraCisneros.html, Mar. 2001, 24.Feb.2001-03-22 http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/4/0,5716,121244+1+111233,00.html, 27.Feb.2001 http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/0/0,5716,115530+1+108719,00.html, 03.Mar.2001 http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=home, Jan.1998, 17.Mar.2001 http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=machismo, Jan.1998, 19.Mar.2001 http://www.hausaufgabe.de/cgi-bin/data/fetch.pl?id=1469&ids=1469+1188, Nov.2000, 03.Mar.2001 http://www.nclr.org/about/nclrfaq.html, 1999, 03.Mar.2001 http://www.students.depaul.edu/~mrodrig/history.html, 09.Mar.2001

You Suck: A Love Story Chapter 8

Chapter Eight She Walks in Beauty Jody moved down Columbus Avenue with long, runway-model strides, feeling the windblown fog brush by her like the chill ghosts of rejected suitors. What she could never teach Tommy, what she could never really share with him, was what it felt like to move from being a victim – afraid of attack, the shadow around the corner, the footsteps behind – to being the hunter. It wasn't the stalking or the rush of taking down prey – Tommy would understand that. It was walking down a dark street, late at night, knowing that you were the most powerful creature there, that there was absolutely nothing, no one, that could fuck with you. Until she had been changed and had stalked the city as a vampire, she never realized that virtually every moment she had been there as a woman, she had been a little bit afraid. A man would never understand. That was the reason for the dress and the shoes – not to attract a minion, but to throw her sexuality out there on display, dare som e underevolved male to make the mistake of seeing her as a victim. Truth be told, although it had come down to confrontation only once, and then she'd been wearing a baggy sweatshirt and jeans, Jody enjoyed kicking ass. She also enjoyed – every bit as much – just knowing that she could. It was her secret. Without fear, the City was a great sensual carnival. There was no danger in anything she experienced, no anxiety. Red was red, yellow didn't mean caution, smoke didn't mean fire, and the mumbling of the four Chinese guys standing by their car just around the corner was just the click and twang of empty swinging dick talk. She could hear their hearts speed up when they saw her, could smell sweat and garlic and gun oil coming off them. She'd learned the smell of fear and imminent violence, too, of sexual arousal and surrender, although she'd have been hard-pressed to describe any of that. It was just there. Like color. You know†¦ Try to describe blue. Without mentioning blue. See? There weren't a lot of people out on the street at this time of night, but there were a few, spread up the length of Columbus: barhoppers, late diners just wrapping it up, college boys heading down to the strip clubs on Broadway, the exodus from Cobb's Comedy Club up the street, people giddy and so into the rhythm of laughing that they found one another and everything they saw hilarious – all of them vibrant, wearing auras of healthy pink life, trailing heat and perfume and cigarette smoke and gas held through long dinners. Witnesses. The Chinese guys weren't harmless, by any means, but she didn't think they'd attack her, and she felt a twinge of regret. One of them, the one with the gun, yelled something at her in Cantonese – something sleazy and insulting, she could tell by the tone. She spun as she walked, smiled her biggest red carpet smile, and without breaking stride, said, â€Å"Hey, nano-dick, go fuck yourself!† There was a lot of bluster and shuffle, the smart one, the one with fear coming off him, held his friend Nano-dick back, thus saving his life. She must be a cop, or just crazy. Something's wrong. They clustered around their tricked-out Honda and huffed out great breaths of testosterone and frustration. Jody grinned, and detoured up a side street, away from traffic. â€Å"My night,† she said to herself. â€Å"Mine.† Now off the main drag, she saw only a single old man shuffling ahead of her. His life aura looked like a burned-out bulb, a spot of dark gray around him. He walked stooped over, with a dogged determination, as if he knew that if he stopped, he would never start again. From what she could tell, he never would. He wore baggy, wide-wale corduroys that made the sound of rodents nesting when he walked. A wisp of breeze off the Bay brought Jody the acrid smell of failing organs, of stale tobacco, of despair, of a deep, rotting sickness, and she felt the elation leave her. She slipped comfortably into the new slot the night had made for her, like tumblers of a lock slipping into place. She made sure that she made enough noise so that he could hear her approaching, and when she was beside him, he paused, his feet still moving in tiny steps that turned him to the side, as if his motor was idling. â€Å"Hi,† she said. He smiled. â€Å"My, you are a lovely girl. Would you walk with me?† â€Å"Sure.† They walked a few steps together before he said, â€Å"I'm dying, you know.† â€Å"Yeah, I kind of figured,† Jody said. â€Å"I'm just walking. Thinking, and walking. Mostly walking.† â€Å"Nice night for it.† â€Å"A little cold, but I don't feel it. I got a whole pocketful of painkillers. You want one?† â€Å"No, I'm good. Thanks.† â€Å"I ran out of things to think about.† â€Å"Just in time.† â€Å"I wondered if I'd get to kiss a pretty girl once before the end. I think that would be all I'd want.† â€Å"What's your name?† â€Å"James. James O'Mally.† â€Å"James. My name is Jody. I'm pleased to meet you.† She stopped and offered her hand to shake. â€Å"The pleasure is all mine, I assure you,† said James, bowing as best he could. She took his face in her hands, and steadied him, then kissed him on the lips, softly and for a long time, and when she pulled away they were both smiling. â€Å"That was lovely,† James O'Mally said. â€Å"Yes it was,† Jody said. â€Å"I suppose I'm finished now,† James said. â€Å"Thank you.† â€Å"The pleasure was all mine,† Jody said. â€Å"I assure you.† Then she put her arms around his slight frame, and held him, one hand cradling the back of his head like an infant, and he only trembled a little when she drank. A little later, she bundled his clothes together under her arm, and hooked his old wing tips on two fingers. The dust that had been James O'Mally was spread in a powdery-gray pile on the sidewalk, like a negative shadow, a bleached spot. She brushed it flat with her palm, and wrote, Nice kiss, James, with her fingernail. As she walked away, an hourglass trickle of James trailed out of his clothes behind her and was carried off on the chill bay breeze. The guy working the door of the Glas Kat looked like a raven had exploded on his head, his hair plastered out in a chaos of black spikes. The music coming from inside sounded like robots fucking. And complaining about it. In rhythmic monotone. European robots. Tommy was a little intimidated. ‘Sploded raven-head guy had better fangs than he did, was paler, and had seventeen silver rings in his lips. (Tommy had counted.) â€Å"Bet it's hard to whistle with those in, huh?† Tommy asked. â€Å"Ten dollars,† said ‘Sploded. Tommy gave him the money. He checked Tommy's ID and stamped his wrist with a red slash. Just then a group of Japanese girls dressed like tragic Victorian baby dolls breezed by behind Tommy, waving their wrist slashes like they'd just returned from a joyful suicide party instead of smoking cloves on the street. They, too, looked more like vampires than Tommy did. He shrugged and entered the club. Everyone, it appeared, looked more like a vampire than he did. He'd bought some black jeans and a black leather jacket at the Levi's store while Jody was off finding something hideous for her mother for Christmas, but evidently he should have been looking for some black lipstick and something cobalt- or fuchsia-colored to weave into his hair. And in retrospect, the flannel shirt may have been a mistake. He looked like he'd shown up at the sacrificial mass of the damned ready to fix the dishwasher. The music changed to an ethereal female chorus of Celtic nonsense. With a techno beat. And robots complaining. Grumpy robots. He tried to listen around it, the way Jody had taught him. With all the black light, strobes, and black clothing, his newly heightened senses were overloading. He tried to focus on people's faces, their life auras, look through the haze of heat, hairspray, and patchouli for the girl he'd met at Walgreens. Tommy had felt alone in a crowd before, even inferior to everyone in a crowd, but now he felt, well, different. It wasn't just the clothes and the makeup, it was the humanity. He wasn't part of it. Heightened senses or not, he felt like he had his nose pressed against the window, looking in. The problem was, it was the window of a donut shop. â€Å"Hey!† Someone grabbed his arm and he wheeled around so quickly that the girl nearly tumbled over backwards, startled. â€Å"Fuck! Dude.† â€Å"Hi,† Tommy said. â€Å"Wow.† Thinking, Ah, jelly donut. It was the girl from Walgreens. She was nearly a foot shorter than he, and a little skinny. Tonight she'd gone with the waifish look, wearing striped stockings with holes ripped in them and a shiny red PVC miniskirt. She'd traded in her Lord Byron shirt for a tank top, black, of course, with dripping red letters that read got blood? and fishnet gloves that went halfway up her biceps. Her makeup was sad-clown marionette: black tears drawn streaming down either side of her face. She crooked her finger to get him to bend down so she could shout into his ear over the music. â€Å"My name's Abby Normal.† Tommy spoke into her ear; she smelled of hairspray and what was that? Raspberry? â€Å"My name is Flood,† he said. â€Å"C. Thomas Flood.† It was his pen name. The C didn't really stand for anything, he just liked the sound of it. â€Å"Call me Flood,† he added. Tommy was a stupid name for a vampire, but Flood – ah, Flood – there was disaster and power there, and a hint of mystery, he thought. Abby smiled like a cat in a tuna cannery. â€Å"Flood,† she said. â€Å"Flood.† She was trying it on, it seemed to Tommy. He imagined that she'd have a black vinyl binder at school and she'd soon be writing Mrs. Flood surrounded by a heart with an arrow through it on the cover in her own blood. He'd never seen a girl so obviously attracted to him, and he realized that he had no experience in dealing with it. For a moment he flashed on the three vampire brides of Dracula who try to seduce Jonathan Harker in Stoker's classic novel. (He'd been studying all the vampire fiction he could get his hands on since meeting Jody, since it didn't appear that anyone had written a good how-to book on vampirism.) Could he really deal with three luscious vampire brides? Would he have to bring them a kid in a sack the way Dracula does in the book? How many kids a week would it take to keep them happy? And where did you get kid sacks? And although he hadn't discussed it with Jody, he was pretty sure she was not going to be happy sharing him with two other luscious vampire brides, even if he brought her sacks and sacks full of kids. They'd need a bigger apartment. One with a washer and dryer in the building, because there'd be a lot of bloodstained lingerie to be washed. Vampire logistics were a nightmare. You should get a castle and a staff when you got your fangs. How was he going to do all of this? â€Å"This sucks,† Tommy finally said, overwhelmed by the enormity of his responsibilities. Abby looked startled, then a little hurt. â€Å"Sorry,† she said. â€Å"You want to get out of here?† â€Å"Oh, no, I didn't mean – I mean, uh, yes. Let us go.† â€Å"Do you still need to get your heroin?† â€Å"What? No, that matter is taken care of.† â€Å"You know, Byron and Shelley did opiates,† Abby said. â€Å"Laudanum. It was like cough syrup.† Then, for no reason that he could think of, Tommy said, â€Å"Those scamps, they loved to get wrecked and read ghost stories from the German.† â€Å"That is so fucking cool,† Abby said, grabbing his arm and hugging his biceps like it was her newest, bestest friend. She started pulling him toward the door. â€Å"What about your friend?† Tommy said. â€Å"Oh, someone made a comment about his cape being gray when we first got here, so he went home to redye all of his blacks.† â€Å"Of course,† Tommy said, thinking, What the fuck? Out on the sidewalk, Abby said, â€Å"I suppose we need to find somewhere private.† â€Å"We do?† â€Å"So you can take me,† Abby said, stretching her neck to the side, looking more like a stringless marionette than ever. Tommy had no idea what to do. How did she know? Everyone in that club would have scored higher on the â€Å"are you a vampire?† test than he would. There needed to be a book, and this sort of thing needed to be in it. Should he deny it? Should he just get on with it? What was he going to tell Jody when she woke up next to the skinny marionette girl? He hadn't really understood women when he was a normal, human guy, when it seemed that all you had to do was pretend that you didn't want to have sex with them until they would have sex with you, but being a vampire added a whole new aspect to things. Was he supposed to conceal that he was a vampire and a dork! He used to read the articles in Cosmo to get some clue to the female psyche, and so he deferred to advice he'd read in an article entitled â€Å"Think He's Just Pretending to Like You So You'll Have Sex with Him? Try a Coffee Date.† â€Å"How 'bout I buy you a cup of coffee instead,† he said. â€Å"We can talk.† â€Å"It's because I have small boobs, isn't it?† Abby said, going into a very practiced pout. â€Å"Of course not.† Tommy smiled in a way he thought would be charming, mature, and reassuring. â€Å"Coffee won't help that.† As Jody pushed the bundle of clothes into the storm sewer, a silver cigarette case slid out of the jacket pocket onto the pavement. She reached for it and felt a light shock – no, that wasn't it. It was a warmth that moved up her arm. She kicked the clothes into the opening and stood under the streetlight, turning the silver case in her hands. It had his name engraved on it. She couldn't keep it, like she had the folding money from his pockets, but she couldn't throw it away either. Something wouldn't let her. She heard a buzz, like an angry insect, and looked up to see a neon  «Open » sign flickering above a shop called Asher's Secondhand. That was it. That's where the cigarette case had to go. She owed it to James. After all, he'd given her everything, or at least everything he'd had left. She quick-stepped across the street and into the shop. The owner was working the counter at the back by himself. A thin guy in his early thirties, with a look of pleasant confusion not unlike the one she'd first noticed on Tommy's face. Normally, this guy would be prime minion material, or at least based on her minion recruitment of the past he would, except apparently, he was dead. Or at least not alive like most people. He had no life aura around him. No healthy pink glow, no crusty brown or gray corona of illness. Nothing. The only time she'd ever seen this before was with Elijah, the old vampire. The shopkeeper looked up and she smiled. He smiled back. She moved to the counter. While he tried not to stare at her cleavage, she looked more closely for some life aura. There was heat, or at least there appeared to be some heat coming off him. â€Å"Hi,† said the shopkeeper. â€Å"Can I help you?† â€Å"I found this,† she said, holding up the cigarette case. â€Å"I was in the neighborhood and something made me think that this belonged here.† She set the case down on the counter. How could he have no life aura? What the hell was he? â€Å"Touch me,† she said. She held out her hand to him. â€Å"Huh?† He seemed a little frightened at first, but he took her hand, then quickly let go. He was warm. â€Å"Then you're not one of us?† But he wasn't one of them either. â€Å"Us? What do you mean us?† He touched the cigarette case and she could tell that this was exactly why she had brought it here. It was supposed to be here. Whatever part of James O'Mally had been left in that cigarette case had led her here. And this thin, confused-looking guy was supposed to have it. He took what was left of people all the time. It's what he did. Jody felt some of the confidence she'd felt earlier draining away. Maybe the night wasn't hers after all. Jody backed away a step. â€Å"No. You don't just take the weak and the sick, do you? You take anyone.† â€Å"Take? What do you mean, take?† He was furiously trying to push the cigarette case back to her across the counter. He didn't know. He was like she was when she'd awakened that first night as a vampire and had no idea what she had become. â€Å"You don't even know, do you?† â€Å"Know what?† He picked up the cigarette case again. â€Å"Wait a second, can you see this thing glowing?† â€Å"No glow. It just felt like it belonged here.† This poor guy, he didn't even know. â€Å"What's your name?† She asked. â€Å"Charlie Asher. This is Asher's.† â€Å"Well Charlie, you seem like a nice guy, and I don't know exactly what you are, and it doesn't seem like you know. You don't, do you?† He blushed. Jody could see his face flush with heat. â€Å"I've been going through some changes lately.† Jody nodded. He really would have been perfect as a minion – if he hadn't been some bizarre supernatural creature. She'd just gotten used to the idea of vampires being real, and it took some serious blood drinking to drive that reality home, and now there were other – other – things? Still, Jody felt bad for him, â€Å"Okay,† she said. â€Å"I know what it's like, uh, to find yourself thrown into a situation where forces beyond your control are changing you into someone, something you don't have an owner's manual for. I understand what it is to not know. But someone, somewhere, does know. Someone can tell you what's going on.† And hopefully they aren't just fucking with you, she wanted to add, but thought better of it. â€Å"What are you talking about?† he asked. â€Å"You make people die, don't you Charlie?† She didn't know why she said it, but as soon as she said it, she knew it was true. Like when all her other senses had been dialed to eleven, she could sense something new, like noise on the line, and it was telling her this. â€Å"But how do you – ?† â€Å"Because it's what I do,† Jody said. â€Å"Not like you, but it's what I do. Find them, Charlie. Backtrack and find whoever was there when your world changed.† She shouldn't have said that, she knew it as she was saying it. She'd just handed him an item that had been owned by someone she'd taken not twenty minutes ago. But even as regret for passing out incriminating evidence hit her, she also realized that she had left Tommy out there to wave in the wind just like this guy. Even if it was only for a few hours, Tommy had no idea how to go about being a vampire – truth be told, he hadn't really been that good at being a human. He was just a doofy guy from Indiana and she'd abandoned him to the merciless city. She turned and ran out of the shop. â€Å"Cocoa?† Tommy said. â€Å"You look cold.† He'd given her his jacket out on the street. He's so gallant, Abby thought. He probably wants me to drink cocoa to get my blood sugar up before he sucks the life from my veins. Abby had lived much of her life waiting for something extraordinary to happen. No matter where she had been, there was a world somewhere that was more interesting. She'd progressed from wanting to live in a fantastic, kawaii-cute plastic world of Hello Kitty, to being a Day-Glo, Manga lollipop space girl in platform sneakers, and then just a couple of years ago she had moved into the dark gothic world of pseudo vampires, suicidal poets, and romantic disappointment. It was a dark, seductive world where you got to sleep really late on the weekends. She'd been true to her dark nature, too, trying to maintain an aspect of exhausted mopeyness while channeling any enthusiasm she felt into a vehicle for imminent disappointment, and above all, suppressing the deep-seated perkiness that her friend Lily said she'd never shed when she'd refused to throw away her Hello Kitty backpack or let go of her Nintendog virtual beagle puppy. â€Å"He has virtual parvo,† Lily had said. â€Å"You have to put him down.† â€Å"He doesn't have parvo,† Abby had insisted. â€Å"He's just tired.† â€Å"He's doomed, and you're cute, and hopelessly perky,† Lily taunted. â€Å"I am not. I'm complex and I'm dark.† â€Å"You're perky and your e-dog has i-parvo.† â€Å"As Azrael is my witness, I will never be perky again,† said Abby, her wrist set tragically to her forehead. Lily stood with her as she threw her Nintendog cartridge under the tire of the 91 midnight express bus. And now she had been chosen by a real creature of the night, and she would be true to her word: she had shed her perkiness. She sipped her hot chocolate, and studied the vampire Flood across the table. How clever, that he could appear as just a simple, clueless guy – but then, he could probably take many shapes. â€Å"I could be a slave to your darkest desires,† Abby said. â€Å"I can do things. Anything you want.† The vampire Flood commenced a coughing fit. When he had control again, he said, â€Å"Well, that's terrific, because we have a lot of laundry piled up and the apartment is a wreck.† He was testing her. Seeing if she was worthy before bringing her into his world. â€Å"Anything you desire, my lord. I can do laundry, clean, bring you small creatures to quench your thirst until I am worthy.† The vampire Flood snickered. â€Å"This is so cool,† he said. â€Å"You'll do my laundry, just like that?† Abby knew she had to tread carefully here, not fall for his trap. â€Å"Anything,† she said. â€Å"Have you ever gone apartment hunting?† â€Å"Sure,† she lied. â€Å"Okay, you can start tomorrow first thing. You need to find us an apartment.† Abby was horrified. She hadn't really tried on the idea of leaving her old life so quickly. But all that would mean nothing when she became immortal, and ran with the children of the night. But her mom was going to be pissed. â€Å"I can't move in right away, my lord. I have affairs to put in order before I make the change.† The vampire Flood smiled, his fangs barely visible now. â€Å"Oh, it's not for you. There's another.† He paused and leaned across the table. â€Å"An elder,† he whispered. There was another? Was she to become the sacrifice to a whole coven of the undead? Well, whatever. Lily would be so jealous. â€Å"As you please, my lord,† she said. â€Å"You might want to chill with the ‘my lord' stuff,† Flood said. â€Å"Sorry.† â€Å"It's okay. You know this all has to be completely secret, right?† â€Å"Right. Secret.† â€Å"I mean, I'm okay with it, but the other, the elder, she has a terrible temper.† â€Å"She?† â€Å"Yeah, you know, an Irish redhead.† â€Å"A Celtic countess, then? The one who was with you at Walgreens?† â€Å"Exactly.† â€Å"Sweet!† Abby blurted out. She couldn't help it. She immediately tried to hide her latent perkiness by biting the edge of her cocoa cup. â€Å"You've got chocolate, here.† The vampire Flood gestured to her lip. â€Å"Kind of a marshmallow mustache.† â€Å"Sorry,† Abby said, wiping her mouth furiously with the back of her fishnet glove, smearing her black lipstick across the side of her face. â€Å"It's okay,† said the vampire Flood. â€Å"It's cute.† â€Å"Fuck!† Abby said.