Ground Rules Essay

â€Å"Ground Rules are boundaries, rules and conditions within which learners can safely work and learns†. (Gravells A, 2010). This above definition explains that all learners require boundaries and rules within which to work. These must be made very clear and early on in the course; these terms could be set by organisation and/or produced by the tutor himself. In fact setting ground rules will help everyone know their limits. Learners like routine and will expect tutor to be organised and professional. â€Å"Ground rules articulate a set of expected behaviours for classroom conduct. They can be set by the instructor or created by the students themselves (some people believe that students adhere more to ground rules they have played a role in creating)†. (Carnegie Mellon, 2005). These rules must be shaped as soon as possible to help maintain order, underpin behaviour and promote respect. They should lead to a set of guidelines regarding acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and set clear boundaries within which to work. If they are not set, problems may occur which could disrupt the session and lead to misunderstandings. The instructor should explain the purpose to ensure that discussions are spirited and passionate without descending into argumentation, to ensure that everyone is heard, to ensure that participants work together toward greater understanding rather than contribute disjointed pieces. Some instructors ask students to sign a contract based on the ground rules; others simply discuss and agree to the ground rules informally. It is important for instructors to remind students of these ground rules periodically, particularly if problems occur (for example, students cutting one another off in discussion or making inappropriate personal comments). Instructors should also be sure to hold students accountable to these rules, for example, by exacting a small penalty for infractions (this can be done in a lighthearted way, perhaps by asking students who violate the rules to contribute a quid to a class party fund), by factoring conduct during discussions into a participation grade for the course, or by pulling aside and talking to students whose conduct violates the agreed-upon rules. 2. Establish Ground Rules: Classroom management and discipline can make or break a teacher. Even the most knowledgeable teachers can struggle with maintaining an effective and orderly learning environment.   Setting ground rules and consequences early, practicing procedures and enforcing rules consistently can contribute to a teacher’s educational success. Often problems arise with students because of unclear expectations about your role as a tutor and about their role as a student and a member of the class. Establishing expectations or ground-rules at the beginning of semester can help clarify these expectations and help in maintaining a good working relationship between you and the group, individual students, and among the students themselves. 2.1 Setting up the Rules: To set ground rules for student activities a behaviour code which all the class will agree with it. This helps to create feelings of trust when beginning to address the feelings the students may have when thinking and talking about the emotive problem. Getting the students to generate the ground rules themselves can also help to establish rules that will be more likely to be kept by the group, as students will feel like tutor trusted and valued their perspectives. A set of ground rules can be a helpful tool when having to deal with difficult situations at a later date. For example, if some students are dominating discussion or behaving inappropriately, being able to refer back to the ground rules that the students themselves negotiated can be quite powerful in getting back control of the class. It’s also quite useful to review the ground rules during the semester, to get feedback from students on how they think things are going, if there are any rules that aren’t working or any rules that should be added. Some possible ways to generate a set of ground rules with the learners include the following: (1) Use pyramiding to get students thinking about their expectations and what they would like as ground rules. First, ask students to think about (and write down) what kind of expectations they would like set for the group on their own, then after a couple of minutes, they turn to their partner and share their ideas, and then each pair joins with another pair and this group of 4 shares ideas and negotiates a common set of ideas. After a few minutes (say 5 – 10 minutes), ask one member of each group to report back to the whole class and you write each idea on the board. Once a set of expectations/rules has been generated, discuss the list with the class, clarifying if needed and making changes (if appropriate). (2) Start with a short list of rules and expectations that you have created, project this on an overhead projector (OHP) or write on the board, and ask the learners to form small groups (around 4 students) and discuss the list, do they agree, is anything missing, etc? Then ask each group to feed back to whole learners their comments. This then works in a similar way to the last part of pyramiding. (3) Ground rules can also be set up by having a group discussion. It is best to have the ground rules mutually agreed so that both tutor and learner has an opportunity to put their views forward and they must be doable. Once everyone’s views are considered, a set of rules that suit everyone can be designed. Learners are more likely to be committed and adherent to these rules and less likely to be broken, since they were designed by the group itself. After ground rules are agreed, they will have to be written down and distributed to every member of the classroom, and a copy will be displayed in a visible place in the classroom, all through the length of the course. Also it has to be agreed among in the learners how the tutor will react if rules are broken. Learners have to be warned, as to what actions will be taken and disciplinary procedures made aware which will be different for each institution. This will create a safe and respectful environment in which all participants will have the opportunity to benefit from the learning experience. 3. Appropriate Examples of Ground Rules: 3.1 Examples: Each and every learner is different when it comes to behaviours and respect for others. So agreements have to be made about expected behaviour in the classroom. Ground rules are mutually agreed arrangements between the tutors and the learners, which ensure that the views and needs of all learners are valued and appreciated. It helps learning, easy in the classroom. Learners need to know what the teacher expects from them and what they can expect from the teacher during the course. They need to know where the boundaries lie and what will happen if they step over the boundaries. These rules have to be established by thinking carefully, expressing clearly and enforcing consistently. Ground rules can be set either by the tutor, or by the learner or by the tutor and learners together. Here are some examples of Ground rules: * Listen actively and attentively. * Ask for clarification if you are confused. * Do not interrupt one another. * Challenge one another, but do so respectfully. * Critics ideas, not people. * Do not offer opinions without supporting evidence. * Avoid put-downs (even humorous ones). * Take responsibility for the quality of the discussion. * Build on one another’s comments; work toward shared understanding. * Always have your book/readings in front of you. * Do not monopolize discussion. * Speak from your own experience, without generalizing. * If you are offended by anything said during discussion, acknowledge it immediately. * Consider anything that is said in class strictly confidential. * Everyone will be on time. * Respect each other’s point of view. * Listen to each other, and don’t interrupt when another person is speaking. * Don’t criticise or ‘put down’ another person. * Come prepared for each class. * Turn off mobile phones. * Behave Seriously. * No Violence. * Helps other so everybody can enjoy the lesson. 4. Setting Ground Rules to promote respect for others: Well-defined rules in the classroom can prevent many behavioural difficulties. When learners are involved in the development of the rules, they are more likely to adhere to them and understand why they have been put into place. â€Å"Ground rules are boundaries, rules, and conditions within which learners can safely work and learn. If they are followed, they should promote respect for others and ensure the sessions run smoothly†. (A.Gravells, 2008) So agreements have to be made about expected behaviour in the session. Ground rules are mutually agreed arrangements between the tutors and the learners, which ensure that the views and needs of all learners are valued and appreciated. It helps learning, easy in the session. Learners need to know what the tutor expects from them and what they can expect from the tutor during the course. They need to know where the boundaries lie and what will happen if they step over the boundaries. These rules have to be established by thinking carefully, expressing clearly and enforcing consistently. Ground rules can be set either by the tutor, or by the learner or by the tutors and learners together. Ground rules can be set up by having a group discussion. It is best to have the ground rules mutually agreed so that both tutor and students have an opportunity to put their views forward and they must be doable. Once everyone’s views are considered, a set of rules that suit everyone can be designed. Learners are more likely to be committed and adherent to these rules and less likely to be broken, since they were designed by the group itself. It will instil positive discipline and maximise learning since the rules were set up with them and not enforced. As a tutor, ground rules will be to ensure that tutor will be fully prepared for the session, be punctual with start and finishing times for each session and make sure markings are completed in time. Tutor must make sure not to put down anyone, encourage the learners, assist in team work, help with course completion, be professional and honest, be non-judgemental and will have interactive teaching and no politics. Learners must have to decide on their ground rules like, respect for others, punctuality, confidentiality, honesty, equality of opportunity, learn and listen, no interruption, mobile phones off, no abusive language, self-control, no politics. After ground rules are agreed, they will have to be written down and distributed to every member of the classroom, and a copy will be displayed in a visible place in the classroom, all through the length of the course. Also it has to be agreed in the class how the tutor will react if rules are broken. Learners have to be warned, as to what actions will be taken and disciplinary procedures made aware which will be different for each institution. This will create a safe and respectful environment in which all participants will have the opportunity to benefit from the learning experience. Conclusion: This assignment focus on the ground rules between the tutor and learner. It defines some general ground rules between them, ways to establish and setting up in that way so it could promote respect for other learners. As I have already defined that Ground rules are the boundaries and conditions in which a learner can work and learn safely so these rules should be be established at the beginning of a course, and the tutor should explain the purpose they serve to ensure that discussions are spirited and passionate without descending into argumentation. It is vitally important point behind the ground rules that we could provide safe learning environment which promote respect for among the learner. At the end of this assignment, I conclude that these ground rules are the basic rules which create harmonious and safe environment during session, avoid the disaster situations and create a respective feelings for each other.

Emergence of Malls in India

Malls as we understand, is a form of organized retailing. They lend an ideal shopping experience with an amalgamation of product, service and entertainment, all under a common roof. Before going into the details of emergence of malls, let's see how the Indian retail sector has evolved over the years and how the concepts of malls came into being. The era of rural retail industry could be categorized into two formats:  weekly markets  and  village fairs.Primarily, weekly formats catered to the daily necessities of villagers. Village fairs were larger in size with a wide variety of goods sold from food, clothing, cosmetics and small consumer durables. The traditional era saw the emergence of the neighborhood ‘Kirana' store to cater to the convenience of the Indian consumers. The era of government support saw indigenous franchise model of store chains run by Khadi ; Village Industries Commission. The KVIC has a countrywide chain of 7000 plus stores in India.This period also w itnessed the emergence of shopping centers with car parking facility. The modern era has a host of small and large formats with exclusive outlets showcasing a complete range of products. The department stores and shopping malls targeting to provide a complete destination experience for all segments of the society. The hyper and super markets are consistently trying to provide the customer with the 3 Vs (Value, Variety ; Volume).Over the last three years, this sector has witnessed an exorbitant growth due to the establishment of numerous international quality formats to suit the Indian purchase behavior, the improvement in retail processes, the development of retail specific properties and the emergence of both domestic and international organizations has witnessed the emergence of malls. it is not just the north of the country that is seeing a furious construction of malls. Visakhapatnam, a fast-growing city in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, is witnessing a huge demand for sh opping malls.The biggest of them, CMR Shopping Mall, occupies 60,000 square feet over five floors. The throngs of buyers who visit the mall are working class and office employees of the numerous public and private sector outfits that are based in Visakhapatnam. Similarly, Ahmedabad in western India is slowly becoming a magnet for shopping malls. More than half a dozen malls have sprung up in Ahmedabad, known as a fading city of dying textile mills until a few years back. The biggest of them, aptly called Super Mall, occupies a gargantuan 90,000 square feet and has 200 shops in its folds.But the biggest mall-construction activity in India is taking place, as expected, in Mumbai, the country's financial and business capital. In all, 25 malls are under construction, each measuring anything between 90,000 and 600,000 square feet. A hefty Rs. 4 billion (US $87 million) is being pumped into these projects by 20 investors. About a dozen malls are already up and running in the up-market sou th side of the city, as well as the downmarket distant suburbs. Making the job easier for the anchors is a gradual change in the Indian economy from a socialistic to a capitalistic one.This has led to a rise in the numbers of middle-class consumers, their wallets stuffed with more disposable income. According to one estimate, over the past three years, consumer spending has increased at a respectable rate of 12% per annum. Another reason for the ongoing boom in mall activity is the opportunity to retailers for a greater accessibility to real estate at affordable prices. Part of this is due to easier availability of bank and institutional finance. And in places such as Mumbai, the freeing up of much-needed real estate.This has happened with the many closed textile mills in the central part of the city now being allowed to exploit their real estate for other commercial purposes. Investors are attracted by the 14% returns in the malls business, compared to 11% in the office segment and 6% in the residential segment. For the young crowd, malls have become areas in which to â€Å"hang out†, to catch up with friends in stores like Cafe Coffee Day and Barista, each vying to be the Starbucks of India. There's also an entertainment factor, with more and more of the youngsters beginning to see shopping as an enjoyable thing to pass the time.

Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 54~55

54 Selling Tucker The Sky Priestess threw the straw hat across the room, then tore at the high-buttoned collar of the white dress. She was losing him. She hated that more than anything: losing control. She ripped the dress down the front and wrestled out of it. She stormed across the room, the dress still trailing from one foot, and pulled a bottle of vodka from the freezer. She poured herself a tumbler and drank half of it off while still holding the bottle, then refilled the glass while her temples throbbed with the cold. She carried the bottle and glass to a chair in front of the television, sat down, and turned it on. Nothing but static and snow. Sebastian was using the satellite dish. She threw the vodka bottle at the screen, but missed and it bounced off the case, taking a small chip out of the plastic. â€Å"Fuck!† She keyed the intercom next to her chair. â€Å"‘Bastian! Dammit!† â€Å"Yes, my sweet.† His voice was calm and oily. â€Å"What the fuck are you doing? I want to watch TV.† â€Å"I'm just finishing up, sweetheart.† â€Å"We need to talk.† She tossed back another slug of vodka. â€Å"Yes, we do. I'll be up in a moment.† â€Å"Bring some vodka from your house.† â€Å"As you wish.† Ten minutes later the Sorcerer walked into her bungalow, the picture of the patrician physician. He handed her the vodka and sat down across from her. â€Å"Pour me one, would you, darling?† Before she could catch herself, she'd gotten up and fetched him a glass from the kitchen. She handed it to him along with the bottle. â€Å"Your dress is torn, dear.† â€Å"No shit.† â€Å"I like the look,† the Sorcerer said, â€Å"although I'd have preferred to tear it off you myself.† â€Å"Not now. I think we have trouble.† The Sorcerer smiled. â€Å"We did, but as of tonight at midnight, our troubles are over. How was your walk this morning, by the way?† â€Å"I took Case to see the shark hunt. I thought it would keep him from getting island fever, something different to break the boredom.† â€Å"As opposed to fucking him.† She wasn't going to show any surprise, not after he'd laid a trap like that. â€Å"No, in addition to fucking him. It was a mistake.† â€Å"The shark hunt or the fucking?† She bristled, â€Å"The shark hunt. The fucking was fine. He saw the boy whose corneas we harvested.† â€Å"So.† â€Å"He freaked. I shouldn't have let him connect the people with the procedure.† â€Å"But I thought you could handle him.† He was enjoying this entirely too much for her taste. â€Å"Don't be smug, ‘Bastian. What are you going to do, lock him in the back room of the clinic? We need him.† â€Å"No, we don't. I've hired a new pilot. A Japanese.† â€Å"I thought we'd agreed that†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"It hasn't worked using Americans, has it? He starts tonight.† â€Å"How?† â€Å"You're going to go pick him up. The corporation assures me that he's the best, and he won't ask questions.† â€Å"I'm going to pick him up?† â€Å"We have a heart-lung order. You and Mr. Case need to deliver it.† â€Å"I can't do it, ‘Bastian. I can't do a performance and a heart-lung tonight. I'm too jangled.† â€Å"You don't have to do either, dear. We don't have to do the surgery. We'll make less money on it, but we only have to deliver the donor.† â€Å"But what about doing the choosing?† â€Å"You've done that already. You chose when you went to bed with our intrepid Mr. Case. The heart-lung donor is Tucker Case.† Tuck needed a drink. He looked around the bungalow, hoping that someone had left a stray bottle of vanilla extract or aftershave that might go well with a slice of mango. Mangoes he had, but anything containing ethyl alco-hol was not to be found. It would be hours before darkness could cover his escape to the drinking circle, where he intended to get gloriously hammered if he could look any of the Shark People in the eye and keep his stomach. Sorry, you guys. Just had to take the edge off of the guilt of blinding a child to get my own airplane. He tried to distract himself by reading, but the moral certainties of the literary spy guys only served to make him feel worse. Television was no help either. Some sort of Balinese shadow puppet show and Filipino news special on how swell it was to make American semiconductors for three bucks a day. He punched the remote to off and tossed it across the room. Frustration leaped out in a string of curses, followed by â€Å"All right, Mr. Ghost Pilot, where in the hell are you now?† And there was a knock on the door. â€Å"Kidding,† Tuck said. â€Å"I was kidding.† â€Å"Tucker, can I come in?† Beth Curtis said. â€Å"It's open.† It was always open. There was no lock on it. He looked away as she entered, afraid that, like the face of the Medusa, she might turn him to stone – or at least that part of him unaffected by conscience. She came up behind him and began kneading the muscles in his shoulders. He did not look back at her and still had no idea if she might be naked or wearing a clown suit. â€Å"You're upset. I understand. But it's not what you think.† â€Å"There's not a lot of room for misinterpretation.† â€Å"Isn't there? What if I told you that that boy was blind from birth. His corneas were healthy, but he was born with atrophied optic nerves.† â€Å"I feel much better, thanks. Kid wasn't using his eyes, so we ripped them out.† He felt her nails dig into his trapezius muscles. â€Å"Ripped out is hardly appropriate. It's a very delicate operation. And because we did it, another child is able to see. You seem to be missing that aspect of what we're doing here. Every time we deliver a kidney, we're saving a life.† She was right. He hadn't thought about that. â€Å"I just fly the plane,† he said. â€Å"And take the money. You could have this same job back in the States. You could be flying the organs of accident victims on Life Flight jets and accomplishing the same thing, except you wouldn't be making enough to pay the taxes on what you make here, right?† No, not exactly, he thought. Back in the States, he couldn't fly anything but a hang glider without his license. â€Å"I guess so,† he said. â€Å"But you could have told me what you were doing.† â€Å"And have you thinking about the little blind kid at five hundred miles per hour. I don't think so.† She bent over and kissed his earlobe lightly. â€Å"I'm not a monster, Tuck. I was a little girl once, with a mother and a father and a cat named Cupcake. I don't blind little kids.† Finally he turned in the chair to face her and was grateful to see that she was wearing one of her conservative Donna Reed dresses. â€Å"What happened to you, Beth? How in the hell do you get from ‘Here, Cupcake' to the Murdering Bitch Goddess of the Shark People?† He immediately regretted saying it. Not because it wasn't true, but because he'd given away the fact that he knew it was. He braced himself for the rage. She moved to the couch and sat down across from him. Then she curled into a ball, her face against the cushions, and covered her eyes. He said nothing. He just watched as her body quaked with silent sobs. He hoped this wasn't an act. He hoped that she was so offended that she would take his murder accusation for hyperbole. Five full minutes passed before she looked up. Her eyes were red and she'd managed to smear mascara across one cheek. â€Å"It's your fault,† she said. Tuck nodded and tried not to let a smile cross his lips. She was playing another part, and she didn't do the victim nearly as well as she did the seduction queen. He said, â€Å"I'm sorry, Beth. I was out of line.† She seemed surprised and broke character. Evidently, he'd stepped on her line, the one she'd been thinking of while pretending to cry. A second for composure and she was back at it. â€Å"It's your fault. I only wanted to have a friend, not a lover. All men are that way.† â€Å"Then you must not have gotten the newsletter: ‘Men Are Pigs.' Next issue is ‘Water Is Wet.' Don't miss it.† She fell out of character again. â€Å"What are you saying?† â€Å"You might have been a victim once, but now that's just a distant memory you use to rationalize what you do now. You use men because you can. I can't figure out what happened in San Francisco, though. A woman who looks like you should have been able to find an easier way to fuck her way to a fortune. The doc must have been a cakewalk for you.† â€Å"And you weren't?† Tuck felt as if someone had injected him with a truth serum that was lighting up his mind, and not with revelations about Beth Curtis. The light was shining on him. â€Å"Yeah, I guess I was a cakewalk. So what? Did you think for a minute that you might try not to go to bed with me? â€Å"Other than when I found out that you'd almost torn your balls off, not for a minute.† She was gritting her teeth. â€Å"And how big a task do you think you took on? It's not like you were corrupting me or anything. I've been on the other end of the game for years. I know you, Beth. I am you.† â€Å"You don't know anything.† She was visibly trying not to scream, but Tuck could see the blood rising in her face. He pushed on. â€Å"Freud says I'm this way because I was never hugged as a child. What's your excuse?† â€Å"Don't be smug. I could have you right now if I wanted.† As if to prove her point, she placed her feet at either end of the coffee table and began to pull up her dress. She wore white stockings and nothing else underneath. â€Å"Not interested,† Tuck said. â€Å"Been there, done that.† â€Å"You're so transparent,† she said. She crawled over the table and did a languid cat stretch as she ran her hands up the inside of his thighs. By the time her hands got to his belt buckle, she was face-to-face with him, almost touching noses. Tuck could smell the alcohol on her breath. She flicked her tongue on his lips. He just looked in her eyes, as cold and blue as crystal, like his own. She wasn't fooling anyone, and in realizing that, Tuck realized that he also had never fooled anybody. Every Mary Jean lady, every bar bimbo, every secretary, flight attendant, or girl at the grocery store had seen him coming and let him come. Beth unzipped his pants and took him in her hand, her face still only a millimeter from his, their eyes locked. â€Å"Your armor seems to have a weak spot, tough guy.† â€Å"Nope,† Tuck said. She slid down to the floor and took him into her mouth. Tuck suppressed a gasp. He watched her head moving on him. To keep himself from touching her he grabbed the arms of the chair and the wicker creaked as if it was being punished. â€Å"That's a pretty convincing argument,† said the male voice. Tuck looked up to see Vincent sitting on the couch where Beth had been a minute ago. â€Å"Jesus!† Tuck said. Beth let out a muffled moan and dug her nails into his ass. â€Å"Wrong!† Vincent said. â€Å"But never play cards with that guy.† The flyer was smoking a cigarette, but Tuck couldn't smell it. â€Å"Oh, don't worry. She can't hear me. Can't see me either, not that she's looking or anything.† Tuck just shook his head and pushed up on the arms of the chair. Beth took his movement for enthusiasm and paused to look up at him. Tuck met her gaze with eyes the size of golf balls. She smiled, her lipstick a bit worse for the wear, a string of saliva trailed from her lips. â€Å"Just enjoy. You lost. Losers flourish here.† She licked her lips and returned to her task. â€Å"Dame makes a point,† Vincent said. â€Å"I give you three to one she brings you around to her way of thinking. Whatta ya say?† â€Å"No.† Tuck waved the flyer off and shut his eyes. â€Å"Oh, yes,† Beth said, as if speaking into the microphone. Vincent flicked his cigarette butt out the window. â€Å"I'm not distracting you, am I? I just dropped in to take up on the dame's side, as she is unable to speak for herself at present.† Tuck was experiencing the worst case of bed spins he'd ever had – in a chair. Sexual vertigo. â€Å"Of course,† Vincent continued, â€Å"this is kinda turning into a religious experience for you, ain't it? Go with what you know, right? You let her run the show, you got no decisions to make and no worries ever after. Not a worry in the world. You got my word on that. Although, if it was me, I'd check out her story just to be safe. Look in the doc's computer maybe.† Beth was working her mouth and hands like she was pumping water on an inner fire that was consuming her with each second that passed. Tuck heard his own breath rise to a pant and the wicker chair crackle and creak and skid on the wooden floor. He was helping her now, wanting her to quench that flame and that was all there was. â€Å"You think about it,† Vincent said. â€Å"You'll do the right thing. You owe me, remember.† He faded and disappeared. â€Å"What does that mean?† Tuck said, then he moaned, arched his back, and came so hard he thought he would pass out, but she kept on and on until he couldn't stand the intensity and had to push her away. She landed on the floor at his feet and looked up like an angry she-cat. â€Å"You're mine,† she said. She was still breathing hard and her dress was still up around her waist. â€Å"We're friends.† It came out like a command, but Tuck heard a note of desperation below the panting and the ire, and he felt a wrenching pain in his chest like nothing he'd ever felt before. â€Å"I know you, Beth. I am you,† he said. But not anymore, he thought. He said, â€Å"Yes, we're friends.† She smiled like a little girl who'd been given a pony for her birthday. â€Å"I knew it,† she said. She climbed to her feet and smoothed down her skirt, then bent and kissed him on the eyebrow. He tried to smile. She said, â€Å"I'll see you in a few hours. We're flying out at nine. I have to go see to Sebastian.† Tuck zipped up his pants. â€Å"And get ready for your performance?† he said. â€Å"No, this isn't a medical flight. Just supplies.† Tuck nodded. â€Å"Beth, was that little boy blind from birth?† â€Å"Of course,† she said, looking offended. She was more convincing as the Sky Priestess. â€Å"You go see to Sebastian,† Tuck said. After she had left, Tuck looked at the ceiling and said, â€Å"Vincent, just in case you're listening, I'm not buying your bullshit. If you want to help me, fine. But if not, stay out of my way.† 55 Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Computer Tuck went into the bathroom and washed his face, then combed his hair. He studied his face in the mirror, looking for that scary glint that he'd seen in Beth Curtis's eyes. He wasn't her. He wasn't as smart as she was, but he wasn't as crazy either. He cringed with the realization that he had spent most of his adult life being a jerk or a patsy and sometimes both simultan-eously. And it was no small irony to have had an epiphany during a blow job. Vincent, whatever he was, had been playing some kind of game from the beginning, mixing lies and truth, helping him only to get him into trouble. There was no grand bailout coming, and if he was going to find out what was really being planned for him, he had to get into the computer. The best time to sneak into the clinic was right now, in broad daylight. He hadn't seen any of the guards all day and Beth was â€Å"seeing to Sebastian.† If he got caught, he'd simply say he was trying to get the weather for to-night's flight. If the doc could e-mail and fax all over the world, then surely he would have access to weather services. It didn't matter; he didn't think he'd have a hard time convincing the doc that he was just being stupid. His entire life had set up the cover. He grabbed some paper and a pencil from the nightstand and stuffed them into his back pocket. While he was in there, he might as well see if he could pick up the coordinates for Okinawa. If he could sneak them into the nav computer on the Lear, he might just be able to get the military to force the jet down there. He didn't have a chance in hell of getting there on his own navigational skills. He stepped out on the lanai and gave a sidelong glance to the guards' quarters to make sure no one was just inside the door watching his bungalow. Satisfied, he walked to the clinic and tried the door. It was unlocked. He checked the compound again, saw nothing, and slipped into the clinic. He was immediately met by the sound of voices coming from the back room. Male voices, speaking Japanese. He tiptoed through the door that led into the operating room and opened it a crack. The door to the far side was open. He could see all the ninjas gathered around one of the hos-pital beds playing cards. It was visiting day for Stripe. He palmed the door shut and went to the computer. There had been a time when Tuck was so ignorant of computers that he thought a mouse pad was Disney's brand of sanitary napkin, but that was before he met Jake Skye. Jake had taught him how to access the weather maps, charts, and how to file his flight plans through the computer. In the process Tuck had also learned what Jake considered the most important computer skill, how to hack into someone else's stuff. The three CRTs were all on, two green over black and one color. Tuck focused on the color screen. It was friendlier and it was displaying a screen saver he recognized, a slide show of dolphins. He moved the mouse and the familiar Windows screen appeared. There was a cheer from the back room and Tuck nearly drove the mouse off the top of the desk. Must have been a good hand. He expected to see obscure medical programs, something he'd never figure out, but it looked like the doc used the same stuff everyone in the States did. Tuck clicked on the database icon and the program jumped to fill the screen. He opened a file menu; there were only two. One was named SUPPLIES, the other TT. Tissue types? He clicked it. The ENTER PASSWORD field opened. â€Å"Shit.† Jake had always told him that people used obvious passwords if you knew the people. Something they wouldn't forget. Put yourself in their place, you'll figure out their passwords, and don't eliminate the possibility that it may be written on a Post-it note stuck to the computer. Tuck looked for Post-it notes, then open the desk drawers and riffled through the papers for anything that looked like a password. He pushed out the chair and looked under the desk. Bingo! There were two long numbers written on tape on the bottom of the desk drawer. He pulled the paper and pencil from his pocket and copied them down, then entered the first one in the password field. was the response Tuck typed in the second number. Look for the obvious. Tuck typed SKY PRIESTESS. The guards were laughing in the other room. Tuck typed in VINCENT. DOCTOR. It would be something that the doc would be sitting here thinking about. It would be on his mind. Tuck typed BETH. BETHS TITS. Wait a minute. This was the doc thinking. He typed BETHS BREASTS. The file scrolled open, filling the screen with a list of names down the left side followed by rows and columns of letters and numbers. All of the names Tuck could see were native. Across the top were five columns that must be the tissue types and blood types, next to those, kidney, liver, heart, lung, cornea, and pancreas. Christ, it was an inventory sheet. And the heart, lung, liver, and pancreas categories convinced him once and for all that there was no benevolent intention behind the Curtises' plan. They were going to the meat market with the Shark People until the village was empty. Tuck typed in SEPIE in the FIND field. An X had been placed in all the organ categories except kidney. There he found an H and a date. H? Har-vested. The date was the day they harvested it. He typed in PARDEE, JEFFERSON. No â€Å"x's† in any of the columns, but two H's under heart and lungs. Of course the other organs weren't marked. They'd been donated to the sharks and were no longer available. There was nothing under SOMMERS, JAMES. That too made sense. How would they get the organs to Japan without a pilot. Tuck wished he'd gotten the little blind boy's name. He couldn't take the time to scroll though all three hundred or so names looking for missing corneas. He typed in CASE, TUCKER. There were H's marked under the heart and lung category. The harvest date was today. â€Å"You fuckers,† he said. There was a shuffling in the back room and he stood so quickly the chair rolled back and banged into a cabinet on the other side of the office. The database was still up on the screen. Tuck reached out and punched the button on the monitor. It clicked off as Mato came through the door. â€Å"What are you guys doing here?† Tuck said. Mato pulled up. He seemed confused. He was supposed to be doing the yelling. â€Å"We're flying tonight,† Tuck said. â€Å"Do you guys have the plane fueled up?† Mato shook his head. â€Å"Then get on it. I wondered where you were.† Mato just looked at him. â€Å"Go!† Tuck said. â€Å"Now!† Mato started to slink toward the door, obviously not comfortable with leaving Tuck in the clinic. Another guard came into the office and when Mato looked up, Tuck snatched his paper and pencil from the desk. He dropped the pencil and when he bent to pick it up, he hit the main power switch on the computer. The computer would reboot when turned on and the doctor would only know that it had been turned off. He'd never suspect that someone had been into the donor files. â€Å"Let's go, you guys.† Tuck pushed past Mato out the office door, shoving the paper in his pocket as he went. Tuck made quite a show of the preflight on the Lear, demanding three times that the guard with access to the key to the main power cutoff turn it on so he could check out the plane. The guard wasn't buying it. He walked away from Tuck snickering. Tuck checked under the instrument panel. Maybe there would be some obvious way to hot-wire the switch. He'd been lucky with the computer. The switch and all the wires leading into it were covered by a steel case. He couldn't get into it with a blowtorch, and frankly, he had no idea which wires did what. It probably wasn't even a simple switch, but a relay that lead to another switch. There'd be no way to wire around it. He left the hangar and went back to his bungalow. Unless he found some way to get off the island, he was going to be short a couple of lungs and a heart come midnight. Beth would have at least one guard on the plane with her, probably two, given the circumstances. And he had no doubt that she'd shoot him in the crotch and make him fly to Japan anyway. There had to be another way. Like a boat. Kimi's boat. Didn't these guys travel thousands of miles over the Pacific in canoes like that? What could the doc do? He'd been so careful about safeguarding the island that the guards didn't even have a boat to chase him with. Tuck put on his shorts and took his fins and mask to the bathroom. He knotted the ends of his trouser legs and started filling them with supplies. A shirt, a light jacket, some disinfectant, sunscreen, a short kitchen knife. He found a small jar of sugar in the kitchen, dumped the sugar into the sink, and filled the jar with matches and Band-Aids. When he was ready to seal it, he saw the slip of paper he'd written on in the office sticking from the pocket of the trousers and shoved it into the jar as an afterthought. He topped off the pants bag with a pair of sneakers, then pulled the webbed belt tight to cinch it all up. He could swim with the pants legs like water wings. The wet clothing would get heavy, but not until he hit the beach on the far side of the minefield. To Tuck's way of thinking, once he was past the minefield he was halfway there. Then all he had to do was convince the old cannibal to give him the canoe, enough food and water to get somewhere, and Kimi to navigate. Where in the hell would they go? Yap? Guam? One step at a time. First he had to get out of the compound. He checked the guards' positions. Leaning out the window, he could see three – no, four – at the hangar. He waited. He'd never tried to make the swim while it was still light. They'd be able to see him in the water from as far away as the runway. He just had to hope that they didn't look in that direction. The guards were rolling barrels into the hangar to hand-pump the jet fuel into the Lear. Two on each barrel, four out in the compound, bingo. One guy had to be in the hangar cranking the pump. And Stripe was in the clinic. Showtime! Tuck went into the bathroom, lifted the hatch, threw down the pants bag and his swimming stuff, and followed it through. He weighed sneaking against running, stealth against speed, and decided to go like a newborn turtle for the water. The only people who might see him were the Doc and Beth, and they were probably in the process of pushing the twin beds together and doing the Ozzie and Harriet double-skin sweat slap – or whatever sort of weird shit they did. He hoped it was painful. He broke into a dead run across the gravel, feeling the coral dig at his feet and the ferns whip at his ankles but keeping his focus on the beach. As he passed the clinic, he thought he saw some movement out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't turn. He was Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, and Edwin Moses (except he was white and slow), a single head turn could cause him to lose his stride and the race – and boy, does that beach seem farther when you're running than when you're sneaking. He almost tumbled when he hit the sand, but managed a controlled forward stumble that put him face-first in four inches of water. The baby turtle had made it to the water, but now he faced a whole new set of dangers at sea, not the least of which was trying to swim with a pair of stuffed khakis around his neck. He kicked a few feet out into the water, put on his fins and mask, and began the swim. He'd been furious from the moment he heard the pilot's voice in the clinic and he had fought the cloud of painkillers and the pressure in his head to get to him. Yamata watched the pilot stumble into the water before he tried shouting for the others. The shout came out little more than a grunt through his wired jaw, and his crushed sinuses allowed little sound to pass through his nose. His gun was in the guards' quarters, the others were at the hangar, and his hated enemy was escaping. He decided to go for his gun. The others might want to take the pilot alive.

Selection Strategy for Merino Textiles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Selection Strategy for Merino Textiles - Essay Example This essay stresses that an effective HR Department will provide the company effective people to man the sensitive jobs of selecting qualified personnel for the various jobs of machine operators and an effective workforce for the different machineries in the production of textile and fabric products of the company. The role of the human resource department is significant to the attainment of the organisation’s goals and objectives. The manager has to maintain a good and effective rapport with his employees. The employees too have to establish an effective communication with the customers. Meeting the needs and wants of customers is the job of both the manager and employees. This paper makes a conclusion that the human resource department has to focus on identifying and selecting persons capable of implementing the organisation’s plans. HRD should maintain employee performance and see to it that that they are highly motivated. Without motivation employees cannot function well. Other HRM functions include job analysis, appraisal, and performance standards. Human resource management also determines the number and type of employees needed in the team and where the labor supply should come from. Recruitment, training and development, and assignment of people should all be in accordance with the organisation’s objectives. The organisation’s objectives are crucial to the staffing process.

Personal Nursing Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Personal Nursing Philosophy - Essay Example In most literature of nursing practice, the paradigm of nursing has been equated to caring, which makes the definition of nursing fit as a hands-on support that is delivered from a nurse or a health professional to a patient, based on medical interventions (Yong, 1998). This paradigm may be said to be a multi-variant paradigm meaning it has several aspects and scopes. For example nursing encompasses the task of a nursing professional to offer help to people and also to help reduce suffering and pain among people. Nursing as a paradigm has therefore been said to have come about as a result of the fundamental reason that people train to be nurses. This means that nursing is rooted in the need for a practicing nurse to seek the wellbeing and improved health of her patient as his or her sole source of satisfaction and reward (Walker et al, 19990). This paradigm was therefore used or employed by making attempts to serve humanity through professional application of medical health. Health: Health has been explained to be a relative state of wellness and wellbeing (Lynn and Oliver, 2003). The term relative is used to depict two major ideas. The first is that health can be interpreted from different perspectives according to the person needing it. A typical example of this is two patients, one of whom is suffering from cancer and the other from malaria. For the patient suffering from cancer may deem a day that he finds himself alive and in less pain as a day that health was achieved. The other patient suffering malaria would also find a day he achieved health as one in which the symptoms of cold and fever were down for him. The other idea of health as being relative is that health is measurable. This means that a person can rate health such as being good, better, best, bad, worse, and so on. This paradigm was employed as a concept of ensuring equality in the provision of health care to people so that at the end of the day, all can enjoy some level of health delivery. Environment: The Environment has been explained to be an embodiment of everything that to the recovery of the patient (Pender et al, 1990). This means that the environment is basically every health and medical phenomenon around the patient. This may therefore include both logistics and human resource. Logistics may refer to the availability of medicines, standardized patient beds, laboratory services, and other tangible materials used in the delivery of health care. Human resources on the other hand may refer to people like laboratory technicians, nurses, doctors, pharmacists and ward attendants. In some

To what extent can a states promotion of its culture further its Essay

To what extent can a states promotion of its culture further its national interests and influence on the world stage - Essay Example In this case each country is seeking to prove its cultural heritage as a really valuable for the world’s success or even progress. Following this idea, the measure between the most or less influential countries of the world slowly becomes vague, so to speak. However, if the main features of such a discussion are that it is really the fact to keep in mind. Definitely, as Snow & Taylor (2008, p. x) admit, this kind of â€Å"primacy-of-culture perspective dominates much of our thinking about public diplomacy and calls for a more balanced perspective that takes into account cultural difference but also recognizes and utilizes influence universals.† Hereby, this question still remains to be answered. On the other hand, the truth of cultural diversity seems to be of less concern for powerful countries of the world inclined more and more to impose their cultural peculiarities along with the way of living on other communities. Here comes a mere extent of imitation in a global scope. One of the most apparent examples is the American cultural influence. On the other hand, less people have an idea of cultural life in Jakarta, for instance. Needless to say, such cultural ideals are mostly stereotyped and have much of copyism. Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2008, p. 34) pays more attention to the following fact in terms of the cultural aspect: â€Å"Images of foreign countries are in fact part of the culture of the country that holds the perceptions: Japan’s image in China, for example, is part of Chinese culture, and vice versa.† Thus, countries are constantly trying to earn more appreciation from the rest of the world forgetting about some national priorities and, therefore, amplifying the need for the cultural promotion as it is. Everyone desires to look well or even better before the rest. Thereupon, countries urge for better reputation in order to show their status in the world arena. Once such

International financial management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

International financial management - Essay Example Zeus Plc can apply for the direct loan from the host government in order to finance its project. The host country i.e. Malaysia must arrange for the venture capital in order to reduce the financial risk associated with Zeus Plc. Country risk was described by Levi (1990) as the type of risk that, because of a consequence of war, social or political events, or revolution; a firm might not be rewarded or paid for their exports. It applies to credit granted within trade and also to the foreign investment (Kosmidou, Doumpos and Zopounidis, 2010). However, it is also a part of financial risk. Scholars describe financial risk as a common term that is used for multiple risks that are close associated with and involves financial transaction (Frenkel et al, 2004; Siddaiah, 2010). In this regards, notion of debt and equity also becomes prevalent. The relation between debt and equity reflects the debt used for financing a company and equity of shareholders. In terms of the country risk ranking, UK is at 19th place as compared to 11th position in 2008. The score declines which means that in general the country risk of UK is 10 points less than the standard score designed for the AAA sovereigns (See Appendix 1 (Euromoney, 2012). As of now, its country risk rating is A2 (Globaledge, 2014). Three types of ventures have been discussed i.e. joint venture, franchising, and subsidiary. Joint venture is the type of strategic alliance of two different companies where both of them decide to act jointly, normally forming a two different legal entity, for a similar purpose (Uta, 2001; Van and Wachowicz, 2008). Lima (2008) stated a subsidiary means a unit which is actually controlled by a different entity (Epstein and Jermakowicz, 2010). Zeus Plc is assumed to be a large global mining company in the United Kingdom, which is deeming to extract minerals from the deposits which it owns at Tapir River in Malaysia. Country risk is

Gender as a victim Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Gender as a victim - Assignment Example Moreover, in the case of Emily the attitudes, perception and situations were the key factors regarding the aspect of gender that contributed to the vulnerability of the victim. Morgan & Chadwick (2009) concluded that with having negative attitudes affects the life of couple. In this case, it has been reflected that the behaviour of Emily’s husband towards her was negative and depicted criminal activities. Besides, VicHealth (2009) stated that attitudes of violence-supporting are high in males due to gender biases. On the other hand perception also influences one to commit crimes and restrain other to commit the same. Likely, the situation i.e. the husband wife relationship and the dominance of male over the female is major gender contribution factor of vulnerability of the victim in case of Emily. Criminal activities especially the sexual violence has significant impact both on physical as well as mental condition over the victim and cause physical injury. Based on the analysis of the provided victim case it can be affirmed that anger and the feeling of superiority led Emily’s husband to commit crime. In this context, Truman (2011) concluded that male genders during the time of frustration, express their anger and negativity towards others especially their better half as in the case of Emily. In this regard it can be affirmed that individual perpetrator factor i.e. attitude of Emily husband, lenient behaviour of Emily over the crime, short temperedness can be perceived as a key factor of crime. Moreover, material relationship and the community perspective i.e. high level of dominance of male over the females are few reasons of crime (Cooper & Smith, 2011) played a prior role in committing crime against Emily (Jewkes, 2012; NCDSV, 2003). Moreover, lack of knowledge and the male dominating attitude leads to crime and victimization. With regard to the criminal case of Emily, one of the major lacunas in the judicial

Canadian Aboriginal Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Canadian Aboriginal Law - Essay Example This assists in managing and bonding the interaction between the government and the aboriginals. The aboriginal law was adopted from several sources of legislation since Section 91 (24) of the 1867 Constitution Act gives federal parliament the powers to legislate on matters affecting or relating to the Indians and their reserved land. Such mandate has led to enactment of various legislations including Indian Oil and Gas Act, Indian Act, and First Nations Land Management Act among others as discussed by Elkins (1999 p23). However, there had been a breakdown of the rule of law for Aboriginal people as this paper discusses. The study also describes how breaking the laws affect the Aboriginal people and the involved stakeholders such as the governmental agents. The study points out various aspects of the breakdown of the rule of law and government defiance in respect to aboriginals. The first aspect is the way the Aboriginal people are colonized internally in Canada through processes of cultural suppressions, breaching the trust and promises, legislative, dispossession, and public discriminations. The Aboriginals have no freedom of dispossessing their traditional resources and land in Canada. There had been forced relocations and taking of First Nations’ land and resources that increase the dispossession cases from indigenous people. There has also enforcement and enactment of other policies, laws, and practices perceived to weaken the Aboriginal societies and economies, forcing the people to be assimilated into Canadian mainstreams. The Aboriginal Law reinforces the approach of colonialism by ignoring the fundamental rights of the aboriginal people, especially the rights treaty (Hogg p.631). The Canadian Constitution ironically, recognizes such legislations. Moreover, the federal government of Canada continues to strengthen and maintain the domination of Indian Act by adopting legislations that affect the Aboriginals’ human rights of determining and governing their own political future. The federal government also breaks the law by refusing to fairly, promptly, and equal address several cases of private or governmental theft of Aboriginal’s reserved land and resources. This undermines the rule of law and hinders the aboriginal people from getting their justice. Another aspect is the dishonor of treaties between the government and the Aboriginal people. The treaties gives a fundamental framework for the First Nation people to govern themselves and their cultural diversities be respected by all stakeholders in the country. Unfortunately, the dishonor by the federal government of the treaties means the infringement of law and order. This gives the government an opportunity to oppress the aboriginals, especially discriminating them from better public service deliveries. This results to poor governmental services to the society such as health, water, poor infrastructures, and food safety among other services. Study reveals th at among the diseases such as Tuberculosis are commonly affecting the Aboriginal societies, as compared to un-Aboriginals in Canada. Other diseases such as diabetes were uncommon to the Aboriginal society, but it is currently affecting them at the highest rate as compared to the rest societies in the world (Coon, 2003). This is because the government discriminate them from the medical services such as insurance care system. The life expectancy of Aboriginal people is six years lower than the non-Aboriginal Canadians. This

Antisocial Behaviors Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Antisocial Behaviors - Essay Example or factors, which have contributed to the person’s behaviors; (4) the interventions that have been tried with the person in attempts to improve behaviors, including personal opinions on any programs, services the person should be involved with; (5) a comparison of similarities between the person profiled and a person with antisocial behaviors; and (6) comments on similarities or differences between the person profiled and what have been learned about people with antisocial behaviors. Individuals exposed to diverse scenarios and experiences react differently. There are a multitude of factors that influence the behavior of people. The ability to interact and socialize is dependent on external and internal factors which directly affect the individual’s perception and response to various stimuli. Some experiences could be both traumatic and ingrained in an individual’s memory causing an emergence of antisocial behaviors. This essay is hereby written to present a profile of an individual exhibiting antisocial and delinquent behavior. The personal, family and community background of the individual would be delved into with the aim of evaluating the factors which influenced the predilection for behaving antisocially. The individual’s name is Jorge, 46 years of age, married, currently experiencing chronic illness of various kinds. He admitted exhibiting antisocial behavior ever since he was on his elementary level in school. He fears rejection, is basically shy, does not enjoy interacting with others for social reasons except for compliance to academic requirements, he admits to having mood swings, and imposed a self recluse in his own room. He was an adopted child and the only child in the family. His mother, a university professor, works full time to support the family. His father does not have a regular job also due to chronic illness and an amputated leg. The family changed residences five times since his birth and likewise, transferred in five different

The impact of renewable and nonrenewable energy sources on Our Research Paper

The impact of renewable and nonrenewable energy sources on Our Earth... How does each one help or hinder our future - Research Paper Example However, energy can be classified into two main groups such as renewable as well as non-renewable energy (The National Academics Press, 2012). Renewable energy can be defined as the energy that is mainly created out of the natural sources such as sun, wind, rain, tides and can be reproduced as per the requirements. They are generally available in abundance and can be availed as and when needed. Renewable sources of energy are the cleanest sources of energy. Renewable energy sources are the sources that generally comprise wind power, geothermal energy, ocean energy, fuel wood, tar sands and oil share among others (The National Academics Press, 2012). On the other hand, the non-renewable sources of energy can be defined as the energy that has been prepared from those sources that are most likely to extinct fifty-sixty years from now. Owing to the fact that the non-renewable sources of energy are not environmental friendly, it is most likely to have an impact upon the health of an indiv idual. The main reason behind their name to be regarded as non-renewable is that they cannot be re-created within a short span of time. Non-renewable sources tend to prevail in the form of fossil fuels, oil, natural gas as well as coal (The National Academics Press, 2012). The study intends to identify the impacts of renewable and non-renewable sources of energy upon the earth. ... It can be stated that wind energy has become cost competitive with traditional energies in leading countries. Among all the renewable sources energy, it can be mentioned that the geothermal energy is practically infinite in nature in the long-term and it is also considered to be an abundant resource in the developing countries (The National Academics Press, 2012). Solar energy does not lead to air pollution when it is operated. The primary environmental and safety issues related to solar energy comprise the way they are created, installed and disposed of. There is a need of energy to create and hence install solar components. The fossil fuels used for this purpose can lead to emission of harmful gases thereby polluting the environment. Hence, one of the significant questions is related to the amount of fossil energy input needed for solar system in comparison to the fossil energy consumed by traditional energy systems. This generally alters based upon the technology and climate and t he remaining energy can be effectively utilized to solar systems in applications where they are generally cost effective and hence enhance with the improvement of technology. The materials that are utilized in a few of the solar systems can lead to health and safety issues for a person who comes into contact with them. The production of the photovoltaic cells needs hazardous materials such as arsenic as well as cadmium. Silicon which is a chief substance that is utilized in solar cells can prove to be detrimental to the workers if they inhale it with dust (The National Academics Press, 2012). Geothermal energy tends to produce heat that can be found beneath the surface of the earth. One of the widely developed geothermal energy has been

Legion of Honor Trip Essay Example for Free

Legion of Honor Trip Essay This semester marked the first time I had stepped foot onto any type of school or college in over six years. I must say things have changed. Everything seems to be taken over by the internet and I’m not exactly sure I like this idea just for the fact that it takes away from past habits. Furthermore, I am extremely glad that I had the opportunity to enroll in this Art 165 class because it taught me not only the history of art but how to appreciate it as well. As I drove up the road to the Legion of Honor I had no idea what to expect. What I found was a beautiful structure with amazing scenery to surround the museum. It really wasn’t like anything I had ever seen or been to before, if you can tell I don’t leave town very much. After making my admission official with putting on my un-adhesive sticker, I walked into a space of extraordinary history. Not knowing where to start, I began on to the left where I found artworks from the Medieval times and the Renaissance. In the room there was an incredible ceiling that displayed what I thought was an early pendentive. While in the Renaissance room, I seen a painting by El Greco that really caught my eye. It was his painting Saint Francis Kneeling in Meditation. This painting is an oil on canvas and was done around 1605-1610. The art work explains the life of Saint Francis and his love to Jesus. People at the museum were saying that Saint Francis was a very poor man who always had his own death on his mind. He wondered constantly how he was going to die and if it was going to be a nice or painful death. The painting shows him kneeling and praising Jesus while having a skull in the background making you feel as if he was having death on his mind. The artist must relate to Saint Francis because on the issue of death or some type of detachment to the world because most of El Greco’s art shows humans in a very pale, thin and unhealthy perspective. The brushwork was extremely detailed with a beautiful diagonal composition. Entering the Baroque and Rococo section of the museum I seen the Equestrian Statue of Charles III. It was produced by Tommaso Solari of Italy in 1762. At first sight, you would think it was Donatello’s Gattamelata. The next thing you find out, is that it’s wax! Maybe that was common in these times, however, being that we never went over any wax statues or wax artworks, this was astounding to me. From a 360 degree point of view, this piece of art had me in awe. How does something made of wax stay so delicate and well preserved? If you look at the straps on the sides of the horses mouth or in King Charles’ hand, you would actually think they were real because of the extreme detail. Da Vinci had been commissioned to create a large scale horse which was never produced, however, seems to me the horse that King Charles is riding has a very familiar pose as well as its features as did Da Vinci’s concept. As I walked through the museum I found myself in the 17th Century Dutch and Flemish Painting room. There I seen a very different still life portrait. It was titled Hunting Still Life by the Flemish painter Jan Fyt. This oil on canvas was produced in 1655. It is told that his influences for hunting portraits and still life were from his teacher named Snyders. This still life contains graphic images of dead animals such as birds, chickens and a rabbit or hare tied to a rifle. I believe this portrait shows a great example of Tenebroso in the way the light shines on the animals making them the subject of the portrait. If you look at it closely the sunlight on the clouds says that the sun is coming from the opposite direction that the light that is shining on the animals is coming from. You can see the dog staring at its light source as if he’s defending the animals from cruelty, there is also a badger or some type of creature hissing at that light source as well saying â€Å"Get back! † Since dogs meant fidelity in paintings, then this dog is being true to his own kind in that sense and his red collar probably represents his compassion. I find myself a sucker for still life portraits and I enjoyed this one especially for its uniqueness.

The key steps of the implantation

The key steps of the implantation IMPLANTATION The life journey of a conceptus consists of many stages right from the point of conception to the point of birth which is one of natures wonders. However, an essential stage in this journey is the process of implantation. Implantation is generally defined as an event in which an embryo becomes progressively attached to the wall of the uterus during early pregnancy. This process is pivotal to the events that occur later in pregnancy. According to Makrigiannakis (2005), implantation is an active process in which a blastocyst apposes, attaches and progressively invades into the endometrium to establish the placenta (Figure 5). From this definition, we can deduce that the embryo undergoes the process of implantation at the blastocyst stage (Figure 1). Implantation is a process that occurs in mammals and it takes places in the endometrial lining of the uterus. IMPORTANCE OF IMPLANTATION Implantation is a key event in the reproductive physiology of mammals as it is a pre-requisite for further embryonic development. It is the first stage in the process of placental formation which is in turn is a crucial component of fetal development as it serves as a medium for nutrient absorption, gaseous exchange and waste disposal. Physiological defects in humans and other mammals have gone further to emphasize the importance of the implantation process. Implantation defects have been associated with non-chromosomal early pregnancy loss and infertility (Makrigiannakis, 2005). Many complications that show up late in pregnancy such as pre-eclampsia and preterm labour appear to have originated early in pregnancy with abnormalities in the process of implantation and placental development (Norwitz, 2006). Another implantation defect is a phenomenon known as ectopic pregnancy. In this case, the blastocyst implants outside the uterine cavity usually in the fallopian tubes although ectop ic implantation could also occur in the cervix, abdomen and ovaries. A good understanding of the steps involved in the process of implantation and the factors controlling these steps are necessary in order to be able to influence clinical outcomes in humans such as reduction of recurrent miscarriages and improvement of implantation rates in both natural and assisted reproduction. This will also be beneficial to the use of animals in the area of research and agriculture. A greater detail of the events that take place before and during the process implantation shall be discussed herein. PRE-IMPLANTATION DEVELOPMENT The developmental events that take place between the fertilization of the ovum and the implantation of the blastocyst are important in order to understand the process of implantation. Following fertilization, a process known as cleavage occurs (Figure 1). Cleavage is the mitotic division of the cells of the resulting embryo without any growth. This starts from the time the embryo is at the 2-cell stage and each cell continues to divide up to the morula stage. At this point the embryo is a solid ball of 16 or more cells. In humans, this stage is normally observed at about 4 days after fertilization. In continuation of development, the morula undergoes a process known as compaction. Here, the embryonic cells begin to change shape and gap junctions start to form between adjacent cells. The inner cells of the embryo then start to differentiate from the outer cells as different genes are being expressed in the inner and the outer cells. Blastocyst formation follows shortly after and the i nner cells give rise to the inner cell mass whilst the outer cells give rise to the trophoblast cells (Figure 1). A vast knowledge of the structure of the blastocyst is important as each of its structural components play an important role in the process of implantation. The inner cell mass of a blastocyst gives rise to the embryo proper while the trophoblast gives rise to the fetal component of the placenta (Schoenwolf et al., 2009). The process of implantation is generally known to take place a few days after fertilization and the uterine wall is ready to accept the implanting blastocyst during a limited period of time outside of which it may not optimally support the implantation of the embryo. This period of time is known as the ‘window of implantation (Psychoyos et al., 1995; Klentzeris, 1997). THE BLASTOCYST AND THE UTERUS BEFORE IMPLANTATION In the build up to the implantation process following pre-implantation development, there are a number of necessary events that take place. First of all, there has to be a receptive and hormonally primed uterus present. The uterus is composed of 3 layers namely the endometrium, perimetrium and myometrium (Figure 2). The endometrium which is the most important uterine tissue involved in implantation consists of the luminal epithelium, the stroma and the germinal basalis (Yoon et al., 2004). The hormone progesterone, which is secreted by the corpus luteum, is actively involved here as it makes the already thickened endometrial lining of the uterus more favourable for the implantation of the blastocyst. The thickening of the endometrium is due to the effect of estrogens (Norwitz, 2006). The blastocyst is then transported to the uterus via signalling mechanisms and arrives there at about 5 to 7 days after fertilization (Bischof and Campana, 1996). After the blastocyst arrives in the uter us, it begins to move towards the endometrium with the inner cell mass positioned towards the endometrial lining (Bischof and Campana, 1996). Before any further interaction with the endometrium, the blastocyst must undergo a process known as hatching. This simply involves the blastocyst boring a hole through the zona pellucida with the aid of enzymes and squeezing out. It is a general school of thought that serine proteases are responsible for this process although the mechanisms behind its action are not clearly understood (OSullivan et al., 2002). After hatching, the blastocyst is naked of all its original investments and can interact directly with the endometrium (Schoenwolf et al., 2009). At this time, blastocystis also known to secrete moleculesthat affect the activity of the ovary, fallopian tube and the endometrium (Norwitz, 2006). Shortly before the blastocyst comes in contact with the endometrium, thetrophoblastdifferentiates intotwo different cell masses, which are the inn er cytotrophoblast and the outer syncytiotrophoblast which is formed as a result of the fusion of cytotrophoblast cells. PATTERNS OF IMPLANTATION There are three known patterns of implantation which are centric, eccentric and interstitial (Wimsatt, 1975). Centric implantation occurs when the embryo expands and increases in size before implantation, then stays in the centre of the uterus (Lee and DeMayo, 2004). Examples of animals that undergo this pattern of implantation include rabbits, dogs, cows, pigs, sheep, horses and a number of marsupials. Eccentric implantation occurs when the embryo is small in size and implants inside the endometrium usually taking place on the side of the uterus, opposite to the mesometrium (Lee and DeMayo, 2004). Examples of animals that show this pattern of implantation include rats, mice and hamsters. In Interstitial implantation, the embryo is also small and it invades through the endometrial epithelium into the subepithelial connective tissue (Lee and DeMayo, 2004). Examples of animals under this category include guinea pigs and humans (Wimsatt, 1975). KEY STEPS OF THE IMPLANTATION PROCESS There are three key steps in the process implantation namely apposition, attachment and invasion. Apposition This is the first major step of the implantation process following the hatching of the blastocyst. During apposition, the blastocyst comes in slight contact forming a weak bond with the uterine luminal epithelium. Microvilli on the apical surface of the cytotrophoblasts interlock with microprotrusions called pinopodes (Figure 3) which are present on the apical surface of the endometrial epithelium (Norwitz et al., 2001). This interaction involves changes in the expression of cell adhesion molecules and extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins (Nagaoka et al., 2003). Pinopodes are progesterone-dependent organelles, and they have been suggested to be indicators of endometrial receptivity (Nikas, 1999). In humans, they are usually visible on days 20-21 of the menstrual cycle prior to the time of implantation (Nikas, 1999). They could facilitate implantation by preventing the blastocyst from being swept away by uterine cilia (Stavreus-Evers, 2005). It has been identified that high molecular w eight mucin glycoproteins particularly MUC1, are dominant inhibitors of embryo apposition and attachment (Thathiah and Carson, 2002). However, a decrease in the expression of MUC1 at the time of implantation could facilitate blastocyst apposition (Thathiah and Carson, 2002). During apposition, soluble mediators such as chemokines e.g. CX3CL1, CCL7, CCL14 and CCL4 have been found to establish a dialogue between the maternal cells and those of the blastocyst (Hannan and Salamonsen, 2007). Chemokines are a large family of chemotactic cytokines, well known for their functions in leucocyte recruitment and activation (Dominguez et al., 2003). They have a wide range of functions and have been implicated to play a role in implantation (Dominguez et al., 2003). Chemokines have been localized in areas of inflammation and they are suggested to be potential mediators of inflammation (Feng, 2000). This could be the reason why blastocysts tend to implant on scar tissue from caesarean sections which is an area of inflammation (Dominguez et al., 2005). The dialogue between the maternal and blastocyst cells has important influences on the development of the implanting blastocyst and maintenance of endometrial receptivity (Hannan and Salamonsen, 2007). It also results in the expression of a unique array of adhesion molecules on the surface of both fetal and maternal cells, promoting the attachment of the trophoblast cells to the endometrial epithelium (Hannan and Salamonsen, 2007). Attachment Following apposition, the next step in the process of implantation is known as attachment or adhesion. This is characterized by increased physical contact between the blastocyst and the uterine epithelium (Norwitz et al., 2001). At this point the blastocyst can no longer be dislodged. A ligand carbohydrate known as trophinin has been identified as an adhesion molecule that mediates the initial step of attachment of the blastocyst to the endometrial epithelium (Fukuda and Sugihara, 2008). Trophinin mediates cell adhesion by homophilic Trophinin-Trophinin binding (Fukuda and Sugihara, 2008). A carbohydrate-binding protein known as L-selectin which is expressed in the blastocyst, has also been discovered to play a role in human embryo attachment (Genbacev et al., 2003). Interaction between L-selectin on the blastocyst and L-selectin ligands on the endometrial surface allows for loose attachment and rolling of blastocyst to its implantation site ((Fukuda and Sugihara, 2008). The human Ch orionic Gonadotrophin (HCG) produced by the blastocyst up regulates trophinin expression on pinopodes and down regulates MUC1 expression (Fukuda and Sugihara, 2008). The blastocyst then adheres to the pinopodes by trophinin-trophinin interaction (Figure 4). A substance known as Heparin Binding Epidermal Growth Factor (HB EGF) has also been implicated in blastocyst attachment (Lim and Dey, 2008). This growth factor is expressed by the endometrium whilst its receptors are present on the blastocyst. This interaction also helps in facilitating the attachment of the blastocyst. Figure 4: Proposed role of L-selectin and trophinin in human embryo implantation. Source: Fukuda and Sugihara, 2008. (a) A human blastocyst entering the uterine cavity is prevented from attaching to the endometrial epithelia by MUC1, except for epithelia that express the L-selectin ligand (T). The human blastocyst expresses L-selectin (L), and ‘rolls on the surface of the endometrium covered by glycocalyx. (b) The blastocyst feebly interacts with the glycocalyx. Here, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) which is secreted from the blastocyst, acts locally on endometrial epithelia to induce trophinin expression. (c) Trophinin expressed by endometrial epithelia is enriched in the pinopodes, the structure extended above the glycocalyx. MUC1, which carries the L-selectin ligand, is down-regulated from the endometrial epithelia underneath the blastocyst, allowing direct contact and attachment of blastocyst trophectoderm cells and pinopodes via trophinin-trophinin binding. Invasion The next step which is critical to the implantation of the blastocyst is known as invasion. As the term implies, this involves the infiltration of the endometrium by the cytotrophoblast cells of the blastocyst. This starts with the progression of the trophoblast cells between the adjacent endometrial epithelial cells to reach the underlying basement membrane. This membrane is destroyed, allowing the trophoblast cells to reach the stromal compartment (Bischof and Campana, 1996). The syncytiotrophoblast undergoes proliferation and invades the endometrial stroma. The progressive invasion of the blastocyst into the endometrium continues until the blastocyst is completely embedded in subepithelial stromal tissue and the uterine epithelium grows to cover the implantation site (Norwitz, 2006). The syncytiotrophoblast cells continue to develop quickly and surround the blastocyst until it has completely embedded itself in the endometrial stroma. In the syncytiotrophoblast, fluid-filled spaces known as lacunae are formed as a result of the fusion of syncytiotrophoblast cells. The lacunae are separated by trabeculae and they transform the syncytiotrophoblast into a sponge-like material (Bischof and Campana, 1996). The trabeculae are arranged radially, and cytotrophoblastic cells divide within the trabeculae, leading to the formation of primary chorionic villi (Bischof and Campana, 1996). Following this event, the primary villi grow and branch into secondary and tertiary villi (Bischof and Campana, 1996). This process is known as placentation. A wide range of factors e.g. cytokines, integrins, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), Leukaemia Inhibiting Factor (LIF) e.t.c have been found to play a role in the invasion process (Makrigiannakis, 2005; Norwitz, 2006). The role of these c omponents in the process of implantation shall be discussed shortly under the factors that regulate implantation. Figure 5: Implantation of the human blastocyst step by step. Source: Bischof and Campana, 1996. (1): Transport. The blastocyst arrives in the uterus after fertilization. (2) Orientation: The inner cell mass is positioned towards the endometrial lining. (3) Hatching: The zona pellucida is perforated making way for the release of the blastocyst. (4) Apposition: The blastocyst is now in close contact with the endometrial lining but no connections have been established. (5) Adhesion: Connections are established between the embryo and the endometrial epithelium. (6) Invasion: Thin folds of trophectodermal cells intrude between the endometrial epithelial cells. (7) Syncytialization: Some trophectodermal cells fuse to form syncytia which proliferate and invade the endometrial stroma. (8) Villous formation: The cytotrophoblastic cells migrate between the syncytia followed by the fetal stroma. This will lead to the formation of the placental villi. The cells of the endometrial stroma react to the presence of the blastocyst and the secretion of progesterone by differentiating into metabolically active, secretory cells called decidual cells (Schoenwolf et al., 2009). This response is known as the decidual reaction or decidualization. In humans, this begins in the secretory phase of the menstrual cycle. The decidua is also known as the maternal portion of the placenta (Gilbert, 2006) and it is believed to provide an element of control of trophoblast invasion during implantation (Loke and King, 1995). The decidualized stroma cells have been found to secrete prolactin and Insulin-like Growth Factor Binding Protein-1(IGFBPI) which are held to function in complex gene networks that function in the regulation of trophoblast invasion as well as many other endocrine and paracrine factors (Bazer et al., 2010). This regulatory function is required for the optimal implantation of the blastocyst as the invasion of the cytotrophoblast to the proper depth is a major factor in determining pregnancy outcome (Norwitz, 2006). Excessive invasion resulting from the inability of the decidua to control the invading cytotrophoblast cells could lead to an unusually strong attachment of the placenta to the myometrium (placenta accreta), extension into the myometrium (placenta increta), or invasion through the myometrium into adjacent organs also known as placenta percreta (Norwitz, 2006). Insufficient cytotrophoblast invasion has also been associated with pre-eclampsia (Lyall, 2006; Lee et al., 2010) which is a medical complication that presents itself late in pregnancy. During implantation, a process known as angiogenesis has been identified to be important (Sherer and Abulafia, 2001). Angiogenesis is the growth of new capillaries from pre-existing blood vessels. In this case, it occurs in the endometrium and takes place throughout the implantation period. Endometrial angiogenesis starts with the degradation of the capillary vessel membrane, creating a means through which migrating endothelial cells proliferate to create a new lumen and further vessel maturation (Sherer and Abulafia, 2001). This vascularization functions to maintain endometrial structure and receptivity. Angiogenesis is known to be mediated by some factors present in the endometrium such as fibroblast growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor and platelet activating factors (Norwitz 2006; Sherer and Abulafia, 2001). FACTORS THAT REGULATE IMPLANTATION The regulation of implantation and early development is dependent on a wide range of factors. Although the molecular and cellular mechanisms behind implantation are not well understood, it is apparent that multiple factors (including maternal and fetal) are needed to synchronize blastocyst maturation and uterine receptivity up to the point of initiation of implantation and through the process of implantation (Norwitz, 2006). A closer look will now be taken at some of the important factors associated with implantation and early pregnancy maintenance. Maternal factors Starting with the uterine (maternal) side, there are a lot of components to consider. Cytokines and growth factors have been shown by different studies to be important to the maternal role in implantation. These include interleukin-1 (Sheth et al., 1991; Simon et al., 1996; Stewart and Cullinan, 1997; Huang et al., 1998), Interleukin-2 (Stewart and Cullinan, 1997), Insulin-like growth factor I and II (Stewart and Cullinan, 1997; Giudice and Irwin, 1999), transforming growth factor a and (Slowey et al., 1994; Stewart and Cullinan, 1997; Godkin and Dore, 1998), vascular endothelial growth factor (Athanassiades et al., 1998) and leukemia inhibitory factor (Cullinan et al., 1996; Stewart and Cullinan, 1997). The mode of function of the leukemia inhibitory factor is not well understood but has been established as a critical factor in the process of implantation (Stewart et al., 1992; Cheng et al. 2002). These cytokines and growth factors all work towards facilitating the communication bet ween the blastocyst and the uterus whilst promoting endometrial proliferation and differentiation (Norwitz, 2006). They have also been found to regulate endometrial angiogenesis and vascular permeability (Norwitz, 2006). As mentioned earlier, some steroid hormones such as Progesterone (Peyron et al., 1993) and Oestradiol-17 (Miller, 1988) have also been found to be important. They function in the proliferation of uterine epithelial cells and endometrial stromal cells (Norwitz, 2006). Some changes in the uterine luminal epithelium such as the expression of pinopodes (Nikas, 1999) and MUC 1 (Thathiah and Carson, 2002) have been suggested to be important for blastocyst recognition and attachment. Transcription factors such as the peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-s (Lim et al., 1999; Barak et al., 1999) have been identified to function in defining the molecular mechanisms by which the regulatory factors exert their effects at a cellular level (Norwitz, 2006). Studies have shown the relevance of some other components such as homeobox genes Hoxa-10 and 11 which have been found to regulate the responsiveness of stromal cells to progesterone (Benson et al., 1996; Taylor et al., 1997; Lim et al., 19 99), Cyclooxy-genase-2 which regulates prostaglandin production (Norwitz and Wilson 2000) and oxygen tension (Genbacev et al., 1997) which has been found to promote trophoblast vascular mimicry by initiating integrin expression. Also, proteins such as Rac1 and RhoA which are found in stromal cells have been implicated in trophoblast invasion (Grewal et al., 2008). Fetal factors Evaluations of the blastocyst (fetal) factors also reveal that present here, are some of the groups of factors present on the maternal side of implantation as they possess some overlapping functions. Cytokines and growth factors, in addition to facilitating communication between the blastocyst and uterus, could also enhance trophoblast differentiation and invasion. These include Interleukin-1, Interleukin-6 (Stewart and Cullinan, 1997), leukemia inhibiting factor, transforming growth factor a and , insulin-like growth factor II and colony stimulating factor-1 (Stewart and Cullinan, 1997, Cohen et al., 1997). Some trophoblast proteinases and inhibitors such as the matrix metalloproteinases (Makrigiannakis, 2005) and cathepsin B and L (Afonso et al., 1997) have also been found to regulate trophoblast invasion. The expression of some adhesion molecules e.g. integrins have been identified in the enhancement of trophoblast invasion. Some of them include integrin a64, integrin a11 and E-ca dherin (Lessey, 1998; Lessey and Arnold, 1998; Damsky and Fisher, 1998). Some other important factors include prostaglandin E2 which aids the process of endometrial apoptosis and platelet-activating factor which stimulates uterine prostaglandin production (Norwitz, 2006). Immunological factors The immunological interactions between the blastocyst and the uterine decidua are essential in the regulation of the implantation process. Implantation is of immunological significance because the blastocyst contains half of its paternal genes hence it is immunologically foreign to its mother. Despite this fact, blastocyst implantation still turns out to be a successful process and the blastocyst is not rejected by the maternal immune system during normal implantation. This is down to the action of immunological factors. These factors are a combination of elements expressed by both the blastocyst and the uterus and they act together to ensure fetal survival. On the maternal side such factors include Interleukin-10 (Roth et al., 1996; Roth and fisher, 1999) which plays an important role in immunosuppression thus reducing the activity of the maternal immune system against the foetus (Norwitz, 2006). Another factor is 2, 3-dioxygenase (Kamimura et al., 1991; Munn et al., 1998) which has been found to be responsible for macrophage action during implantation (Norwitz, 2006). Uterine natural killer cells found in the stroma also play a role here as they produce cytokine, chemokines and angiogenic factors which all promote and regulate trophoblast invasion (King and Loke, 1997). On the fetal side, factors such as histocompatibility antigen, class I, G (HLA-G) have been found to be involved in preventing the maternal immune rejection of the semi-allogenic foetus (Lanier, 1999; Norwitz, 2006). Coordination of the regulatory factors within the window of implantation The window of implantation as defined earlier is characterized by the perfect synchrony of all the components that play a role in the implantation process. These include the endometrium, the blastocyst and the factors regulating the process of implantation. Figure 6 below illustrates how all these factors are coordinated during the implantation window. This shows that within the window of implantation, the endometrium is highly influenced by steroid hormones (oestrogen and progesterone) and the interaction between the blastocyst and the endometrium is as a result of stage-specific actions of different implantation factors. Figure 6: Events that take place within the implantation window. Source: Achache and Revel, 2006 (A) Endometrium proliferates under the enhancement of estrogen. (B) Progesterone from follicles that have been luteinized leads to endometrial differentiation. (C) The blastocyst makes its way to the uterus via the ostia and rolls freely over the endometrium with the aid of L-selectin signals. (D) MUC-1 repels the blastocyst and prevents it from adhering to areas on the endometrium with poor chances of implantation. (E) Cytokines and chemokines attract the blastocyst to the optimal implantation spot. (F) Adhesion molecules (e.g. integrins and cadherins) attach the blastocyst firmly to the endometrial pinopodes to ensure successful implantation. The functions of all the factors mentioned earlier further emphasize the importance of these components to the process of implantation. A lot of studies have also been carried out on some of these molecules to further establish their importance. A notable one amongst these molecules is the leukemia inhibitory factor. As mentioned earlier, this molecule has been identified to be critical to the process of implantation. Studies revealed that implantation did not occur in female transgenic mice that were homozygous for the deficiency of the gene responsible for the leukemia inhibitory factor (Aghajanova, 2004). It was further proven that the lack of implantation was not caused by faults in the embryo because the implantation of the same embryos occurred when they were transferred to pseudopregnant recipients. The addition of exogenous LIF to the females with this defective gene throughout the period of normal implantation restored implantation sites and allowed proper attachments of the blastocysts (Aghajanova, 2004). LIF and LIF mRNA has also been shown to be expressed throughout the menstrual cycle of women with proven fertility (Arici et al., 1995; Charnock-Jones et al., 1994). This was associated with peaks in the mid and late secretory phase, and in early pregnancy (Aghajanova, 2004). Leukemia inhibitory factor has also been found to be present in uterine flushings within the implantation window in fertile women. This characterized by gradually increasing concentrations from 7 days to 12 days after the LH surge (Laird et al., 1997). In future, the evidence and information obtained from similar studies may be applied clinically through a well regimented administration of LIF in a pharmaceutical form to improve implantation rates in both natural and assisted reproduction. IMPLANTATION AND ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY (ART) Successful pregnancy outcomes from assisted reproductive techniques such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) have largely depended on the process of implantation. The advances in ART techniques have not had a significant effect on implantation rates (Donaghay and Lessey, 2007) hence a lot of measures have been taken by ART units over the years in an attempt to optimize implantation rates. Assisted hatching (Cohen, 1991) is a well known procedure carried out in this regard. This involves the manual perforation of a blastocysts zona pellucida in order to separate the blastocyst from the zona pellucida just as it would have occurred during natural hatching. This may increase implantation and pregnancy rates in IVF cycles (Chao et al., 1997). The function of regulatory factors in the process of implantation indicates that a number of biomarkers can be adapted from these to determine the ideal period of endometrial receptivity which can be traced and monitored during IVF cycles (Haouzi et al. , 2009). These may include the detection and monitoring of some of the molecules and steroid hormones involved in implantation by making use of samples obtained from IVF treatment cycles such as follicular fluids and embryo culture supernatants. Fluorescent markers can also be used to highlight proteins and any other key component in the blastocyst involved in implantation. Continuous studies are being performed with the aim of discovering techniques that would improve implantation rates during ART treatments. CONCLUSION Over the years, the research carried out on implantation and the factors that control implantation has been done making use of mostly animal models with the exception of some that have employed the use of in vitro human systems. The use of animals in the study of implantation has many benefits as many factors and regulatory mechanisms are being discovered. However, it is difficult to precisely extrapolate results obtained from animal data into human cases. This is one of the problems being encountered by implantation studies as the difficulty and ethical significance associated with research using humans make scientists resort to the use of animal models. The process of implantation occurs with the uterus and the blastocyst in synchrony. It has been clearly shown that a lot of factors are responsible but the complete framework of the regulation of implantation has not yet been understood. With continuous research and more human-based studies, a better understanding of the process and regulation of implantation may be achieved in the future. REFERENCES Achache, H. and Revel, A., 2006. Endometrial receptivity markers, the journey to successful embryo implantation. Hum. Reprod. Update. 12(6), 731-746. Afonso, S., Romagnano, L. and Babiarz, B., 1997. The expression and function of cystatin C and cathepsin B and cathepsin L during mouse embryo implantation and placentation. Development. 124, 3415-3425. Aghajanova, L., 2004. Leukemia inhibitory factor and human embryo implantation. Ann. NY. Acad. Sci.1034, 176-183. Arici, A., Engin, O., Attar, E. And Olive, D.L., 1995. Modulation of leukaemia inhibitory factor gene expression and protein biosynthesis in human endometrium. J. Clin. Endocr. Metab. 80, 1908-1915 Athanassiades, A., Hamilton, G.S., Lala, P.K., 1998. Vascular endothelial growth factor stimulates proliferation but not migration or invasiveness in human extravillous trophoblast. Biol. Reprod. 59, 643-654. Barak, Y., Nelson, M.C., Ong, E.S. et al., 1999. PPAR gamma is required for placental, cardiac, and adipose tissue development. Molecular Cell 4, 585-595. Bazer, F.W., Wu, G., Spencer, T.E., Johnson, G.A., Burghardt, R.C. and Bayless, K., 2010. Novel pathways for implantation and establishment and maintenance of pregnancy in mammals. Mol. Hum. Reprod 16(3), 135-152. Benson, G.V., Lim, H., Paria, B.C. et al., 1996. Mechanisms of reduced fertility in Hoxa-10 mutant mice: uterine homeostasis and loss of maternal Hoxa-10 expression. Development. 122, 2687-2696. Bischof, P. and Campana, A., 1996. A model for implantation of the human blastocyst and early placentation. Hum. Reprod. Update. 2(3), 262-270. Chao, K., Wu, M., Chen, S., Yang, Y., Chen, H. and Ho, H., 1997. Assisted hatching increases the implantation and pregnancy rate of in vitro fertilization (IVF)-embryo transfer (ET), but not that of IVF-tubal ET in patients with repeated IVF failures. Fertil. Steril. 67(5), 904-908 Charnock-Jones, D.S., Sharkey, A.M., Fenwick, P. and Smith, S.K., 1994. Leukemia inhibitory factor mRNA concentration peaks in human endometrium at the time of implantation and the blastocyst contains mRNA for the rec

Cybercare Work Placement Review

Cybercare Work Placement Review Ignacio Fernà ¡ndez De Arroyabe The work placement for this module, Work Related Module II, was at Cybercare UK. From October 2016, I have been developing this activity. Cybercare UK is an organisation in London, which offers one-stop-shop to support victims of cyber crimes. The goal of the organisation is to assist victims of cyber crimes in detecting and protecting themselves. In fact, the aims of this company are advocacy for the protection of the individual, respecting rights and responsibilities to ensure security and freedom, in consultation with government, legal and technical services, and charitable agencies. During the time spent at Cybercare, I have worked in a group called Cybercare Business Research Team. The objective of this team has been to identify products for the security of computer systems. For this task, we have followed the work methodology DESP, which consists in detecting problems and vulnerabilities, customer education, and in supporting and offering protection for victims of cyber crime. In this report, we synthesise both the activities carried out and the assessment of the learning outcomes. Thus, we firstly conduct a review of the activities performed, placing special emphasis in the work methodology. Secondly, we evaluate the activities carried out in terms of learning. This learning has been evaluated at three levels: (i) the acquisition of knowledge, (ii) the improvement of capabilities, and finally (iii) the improvement of skills (not only personal skills but also interrelational and leadership skills). In the following sections, I present the review of activities, the academic context in which they have been developed, the evaluation of activities and finally, the conclusion explaining the achievements with this Module. I enclose as Annexes the presentations that I have elaborated for the organisation. 2. Review of Activities As a member of the Cybercare Business Research Team, the work we have done has been to find products for the security of computer systems. Our role was to educate and provide victims of cyber crime with measures (software or procedures) to protect systems; For example, antivirus and search engines that provide you privacy, or network sniffers, for users with more computer skills. As members of the Cybercare Business Research Team, we took care of everyday software, for example, encrypted mail, secure VPN, secure payment methods, etc. The Table 1 shows the activities developing. Table1: Activities performed during the work with Cybercare Research Type Main Duties Research on Antivirus and Secure Browsers -Find the best Cost/Security Antivirus. -Find the best Secure browsers that do not slow down the system. -Compatible with multiple O.S. Research on Network Sniffers -Research for Network Sniffers. -Tutorials to show how to use the Software. Research on Network Ports -Tutorials in explaining what Network Ports are. -Research on how to close ports. 2.1 Dealing with the client needs In the context of my activities in Cybercare Business Research Team, we note that Cybercare is a peculiar organisation in the relationship with its clients since it is not only necessary to provide a service, but also it is necessary to consider the psychological state of the client, as these people have suffered a cybercrime. Therefore, this makes our work affected in several ways: First of all, when finding solutions or helping a client, we have to lead with clear and simple ideas to help them. We assume that their knowledge of computer tools does not necessarily correspond to an expert level. Second, the psychological situation, since apart from customers, they are victims of cybercrime. This means that we have to be especially sensitive, both in the provision of the service and in the relationship with them. These two aspects have been the reason for the first meetings with the company since the relationship with the clients is fundamental. 2.2 Working Methodology: DESP approach. For the accomplishment of our work, and considering the framework of the relationship with the clients, the methodology used in the company is DESP approach. This methodology work consists of four phases: Detect, Educate, Support, and Protect. Through it, we provide an integral service to our clients, following the guidelines of work of the main international regulations, on the implementation of information security systems (Boehm, 1991; CLUSIF, 2008[1]; Infosec Institute, 2016; ISO, 2016). Below we describe the main aspects of the work methodology: The first stage of the work is the detection (Detect). This is probably the most difficult task because when a client needs help, you have to find the possible vulnerabilities or mistakes that they have made and that have allowed the hacker to enter to the system. It is a crucial step, as all the solutions that might be applied depend on finding the problem. If the vulnerability exploited by a hacker is not detected, it will not be possible to implement a solution. To make a good detection analysis, it is crucial to meet with clients, with the aim of identifying and recreating the steps followed by the hacker. For the realisation of this work, we use technical diagnostic toolkits, such as CrystalDiskInfo, which monitors the hard disks and reports the state of their health, then it returns all the S.M.A.R.T. information and shows how many times the disk has been turned on and off (Hiyohiyo, 1998), or even the help of legal agencies (for example, the metropolitan police). The second stage of our methodology is education (Educate). At this stage, we develop an educational programme, suitable for each client. The purpose of this is to instruct the client so that he/she can understand why it happened (identification of vulnerabilities), and how to remedy it (development of information security systems). As we pointed out above, for the development of this educational phase, we must be patient with the client, and very clear and didactic in the teachings, as well as in the recreation of the computer attack. Therefore, for this task, it is necessary both, the understanding and empathy of the employee as the interest towards the client. Moreover, we have to consider, that in many cases the client does not have a high knowledge in IT, for which is essential that it is explained in a language and context that the client can understand and apply later what has been learned, always taking into account that the most important thing is that the user can apply the se remedies or the solutions taught. As a means to accomplish this task, we have used digital and blended training tools and e-learning tutorials. These educational systems have helped customers learn the use of some software, for example, Zenmap. Zenmap is software from the company Nmap[2], which adds an interactive GUI so that the user can easily see the networks to which it is connected, the open ports and all the interactions between the computer and the network. The third stage of our methodology is Support. This stage is intended to help the client in future questions or doubts about what has been learned to protect themselves. Fui-Hoon et al. (2001), Boehm (2008) and ISO (2016) point out that this task is critical for the development of a computer security system. Cybercare considers this stage to be fundamental, unlike other consulting companies that do not give so much importance to the phase of support, in Cybercare we ensure that the customer has the best support possible. This is because if the client does not remember how to apply what they have learned to protect their System, they will repeat the same mistakes made previously. For the accomplishment of this stage, telephone support is usually the most used medium, and combined with online assistance, in the clients system. The last step is protection (Protect). This is the stage in which the system is already protected and the customer has already applied the recommended guidelines to keep the System safe. Normally this is the last process, unless it is necessary to repeat any of the above, either due to new system vulnerabilities or bad habits and/or forgetting to follow practices to defend it. If this is successfully completed it can be said that the system is protected and that the user is out of risk. 2.3 Working within a team environment For the development of our work and the performance of the same, it has been done by working on a team. The importance to the business success of teamwork is well known in the literature (McDonough, 2000; Bakker and Schaufeli, 2008). In this sense, in Cybercare, we work as a Research Team, being team work the second pillar on which the methodological work is supported. In this context, the coordination and interaction between the team members were very important, with the aim of finding solutions for our clients, which can satisfy them in all aspects both economic and practical security. My working group was Cybercare Business Research Team. The goal was to work on finding cybersecurity solutions for each client. The assignment of the tasks in our work team was based on the type of products needed. Thus, each member of the group specialised in one type of product. In my case, I was responsible for the antivirus software. For this task, I elaborated a list with all the antivirus that were on the market and classified them considering two conditions, the price and the operating system of the client; also for mobile devices, such as smartphones, PDAs, etc. The second product I had to research in my working group, was secure browsers. In order to perform this assignment, I had to find the best secure browsers that offered the most security and privacy to the user, for the various operating systems, which could allow them to navigate the network with the highest security possible. However, in our situation as students with not much experience in the organisation environment, it was difficult at first to be able to coordinate and divide the assignments properly. This is a fundamental element since in any professional environment the coordination of workers is a critical element, which is why we try hard to learn from it. The situation among the teammates, given that we all have the same background (IT), made communication between us easier since in technical terms we all understood each other. 2.4 Presentations for employers, clients and team members In the implementation of our work methodology, a key element is the presentation of our results to employers, clients and members of the others groups. This methodology followed in Cybercare was considered critical, as Fincham (1999) points out, it facilitates the learning, the interaction and the trust between the company and the clients (Fincham, 1999; Nah et al. 2003). In addition, teamwork required that each member of the Research Business Team had to present at the meetings our results and recommendations, both in terms of solutions and products. Hence, I have made several presentations during my work with Cybercare. In these presentations I showed the characteristics, the prices and the time that would take to get the software or product to be in operation for the company. 2.5 Find the right products for customers As a member of the Cybercare Research Business Team, our work was based on the search for products that offered security for our clients. For this, we looked for products the most affordable as possible, preferably free, since in many cases the user or customer prioritises the software to be free or very low cost. One of the products to look for the clients was an antivirus and secure browsers. For this, we elaborated a comparative spreadsheet (Annexe 1), in which we explain the features of the antivirus and the secure browsers. We also prioritise the cost, thus obtaining two antiviruses per operating system (one free and another low cost but with features better than the free), and secure browsers by Operating System. For the realisation of this work, apart from the Internet search, we had to contact companies to ask about their products specification, for example, Panda Security. The objective was to clarify the various products and classify them both in security level and in cost. 3. Academic Context The work placement is related to my course in many ways. Firstly, it has allowed me to put into practice the knowledge acquired in the modules developed in my Bachelor. Especially, I would like to point out that the knowledge acquired in the CC6004: Network and Cloud Security, CS5001: Networks and Operating Systems and CC5004: Security in Computing modules, have been useful in the accomplishment of my work at Cybercare. Secondly, I had the possibility of interacting with other colleagues, of whom I have acquired knowledge in other areas, which I did not have prior knowledge, or in which my knowledge was superfluous. This is the case, for example, network security or software security. In addition to the implementation of the knowledge acquired in my BSc, I have had the opportunity to improve my capabilities and skills. Working in a company has helped me to gain first-hand in-depth knowledge, not only on customers needs but also on new working methodologies and learned to interact with other colleagues. 4. Activities Evaluation 4.1 Dealing with the client needs Since my experience in a company environment was not as extensive as some of my colleagues, I did not have the opportunity in prior working occasions to deal with clients needs. This, in turn, resulted in that I had to learn many things, which helped me develop my skills and abilities. Specifically, I have developed my client orientation competencies, as the relationship with them was oriented towards the search for adequate protection solutions, in terms of money and time of implementation. Furthermore, I have improved my skills of interrelating with people, especially in dealing with clients. In this respect, we have to consider not only the classic supplier-customer interaction but also we had to qualify the clients psychological state, as the victim of a cyber-attack. This was helpful to see what the requirements in company environment are. As a result of this, I developed my personal skills, such as work and time management and organisational capabilities. 4.2 DESP approach As pointed out earlier, DESP approach follows the standards of consulting in the information sector. This system is very effective in solving cyberattack problems, which has required being able to detect, educate, implement and assist the client, developing and learning to better analyse systems and problems derived from malware or intrusion to the system. This has allowed me to assimilate this methodology, as well as to know how and when to implement it properly and to learn the international standards of computer security. This experience has opened me the doors to a learning process and therefore an increase in my personal skills and abilities, which will allow me in the future to work in the consultancy sector. Windolf (1986) and Sparrow (2007) point out that in the recruitment of personnel in the consultancy sector the most valued capacities are: to detect, educate, implement and help the client. 4.3 Working within a team environment The next challenge for me has been group work. Although at university we have experiences in group work, for example, the elaboration of coursework. However, the experience of a professional job has enriched me in my skills both in a personal relationship and in management. The group work, has in first place, meant the need to plan and organise the tasks in the team. This interaction has been a very interesting experience, for example, analysing the criteria for dividing tasks and adjusting a work plan to the needs of the client. Additionally, in some tasks, I have developed the coordination role. This has allowed me to gain experience in the management of work teams. Having to learn, listen, coordinate, motivate, and lead a team. 4.4 Presentations for employers, clients and team members Personally, before working at Cybercare, I did not have much experience in presentations in a business environment, outside the strictly academic. This experience has, therefore, helped me greatly to improve my presentation skills, in presentations with employers, clients, and team members. More in detail, the presentations meant the implementation of our communication skills, especially in the transmission of ideas, which have to be especially good to be able to express and convince the possible client about the solutions or products more suitable for their Computer security problems. In addition, considering that clients were not IT experts, we had to make a communication effort, to simplify some terms, for example, VPN, Network Sniffer, etc. In addition, attending presentations of other teams helped me to increase my knowledge in areas in which I had not much prior knowledge, such as Networks Sniffers products (this is the case of Wireshark, Nmap or Zenmap). 4.5 Find the right products for customers As already mentioned, much of the time working for the company was spent looking for the products and applications most appropriate to the needs of customers. The best example has been to search, analyse and classify the best antivirus that can be found on the market. This has required looking at all the antivirus for all operating systems, their functions, and features, considering aspects such as the price and the number of licenses that can be obtained for that price. So make a chart with the main features and prices. In order to be able to find products to recommend to customers, we had to acquire an exhaustive knowledge about the product and the market, besides identifying the needs of the customer or user. As a conclusion to this work, this helped me to understand that each customer has different necessities and therefore the product has to be adapted to these needs, thereby increasing my analytical skills greatly improved after this situation (see Table 2). Also, gain a thorough knowledge of antivirus. Table 2: Skills, Knowledge and Capabilities gather. Skills Capabilities Knowledge Clients Personal Interaction Orientation to the clients Client treatment DESP Personal Consultant Work Methodology Working Team Personal Interaction Direction Define and eradicate the problem Networks Team Work Solutions Personal Analytics Anti-Virus, Secure Browsers Network Sniffers 5.   Challenges As in all jobs, motivation is always a great ally in order to perform a task properly. At first you are very motivated to have achieved that position, but then irremediably with the passage of time is just falling into a routine, which ends up gradually losing your motivation, and instead of being something special that put one hundred percent, You end up just putting what you think is just necessary to complete the task. In my case, I always try to be motivated, with ideas, with previously read material to extend my knowledge on the field. But sometimes it is impossible to keep that motivation all the time. For example in my case, to get down to work, I have to travel an hour and a half between trains and the underground. At the beginning, I used that time to read the extra material, that could give me a better idea of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹the topic that was going to be working that day, but in the end, I end up not reading on trains, usually for lack of motivation. This I think has been one of the great challenges for me, to keep the motivation to one hundred percent, to be able to take full advantage of the experience of working in the company Cybercare. Another great challenge that I had when it comes to successfully carry out the work with the organisation Cybercare, has been the product presentations. This was due to my lack of experience in professional presentations (not academic, since I have had numerous presentations at the University), since professional presentations require a more practical knowledge of the products (such as cost of a product, the availability, the time it would take to have such a product), plus you have to present only what is important, since the rest of the things you say will not serve to the company at all, therefore, they would not pay attention. This has been from my point of view the most difficult challenge, getting the audience (employers and clients) to pay attention and being able to convey the main characteristics of the product. Compared to presentations at an academic level, in which data, such as the history of the product, origin, how you ended up reaching that product, etc., are very imp ortant. In the presentations at a business level, the important thing is: why would the company invest in this product, which is what it makes it better than the rest of the product, and when will they have it. 6. Conclusion In conclusion, after working with Cybercare since last October (2016), I have noticed that I have improved in my personal, interrelation and leadership skills. Being in a business environment the demand by the employers is maximum, so you have to do your best to be able to meet deadlines, and correctly perform the tasks ordered. The Learning outcomes (LO) have helped me to set goals to meet. With the logbooks, I have been able to summarise what I have done during this time, and it has helped me to review the feedback of the employees so that I was able to improve every week. In general terms, the Work Related Module II module has helped me to put into practice my theoretical knowledge learned in the University and has prepared me for the business world for when I finish my bachelor. References Bakker, A.B. and Schaufeli, W.B. (2008). Positive organisational behavior: Engaged employees in flourishing organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29(2), 147-154. Boehm, B.W.   (1991). Software risk management: principles and practices. IEEE Software Journal,8, 32-41. Boehm, B.W. (2008). Appraisal of the Effectiveness and Efficiency of an Information Security Management System Based on ISO 27001. SECURWARE, 8, 224-231. CLUSIF (2008). Risk Management. Concepts and Methods. Club de la Securite Infomatique, Paris, France. Fincham, R. (1999). The consultant-client relationship: Critical perspectives on the management of organizational change. Journal of Management Studies, 36(3), 335-351. Fui-Hoon Nah, F., Lee-Shang Lau, J. and Kuang, J. (2001). Critical factors for successful implementation of enterprise systems. Business Process Management Journal, 7(3), 285-296. Hiyohiyo (1998) CrystalDiskInfo software crystal dew world. Available at: http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html (Accessed: 12 January 2017). Infosec Institute (2016). IT Auditing and Controls Planning the IT Audit. Infosec Institute. http://resources.infosecinstitute.com/itac-planning/#gref ISO (2016). ISO/IEC 27001 Information security management. ISO. http://www.iso.org/iso/iso27001 McDonough, E. F. (2000). Investigation of factors contributing to the success of crossà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ functional teams. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 17(3), 221-235. Nah, F.H., Zuckweiler, K.M.and Lee-Shang Lau, J. (2003). ERP implementation: chief information officers perceptions of critical success factors. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 16(1), 5-22. Sparrow, P.R. (2007). Globalization of HR at function level: four UK-based case studies of the international recruitment and selection process. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 18(5), 845-867. Windolf, P. (1986). Recruitment, selection, and internal labour markets in Britain and Germany. Organization Studies, 7(3), 235-254. Annexe 1: Presentation on Antivirus and Secure browsers Annexe 2: Presentation on Network Sniffers Annexe 3. Presentation on Network Ports (Windows) [1] CLUSIF: Club de la Sà ©curità © de lInformation Franà §ais (https://clusif.fr/). [2] Nmap Security   (NMAP.ORG, https://nmap.org/zenmap/).