Internal Controls and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act Essay -- SOX Act

Internal controls are in place to protect entities against theft from dishonest workers and outside predators. They are also an accurate series of checks and balances and are in place to find discrepancies. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was named after Senator Paul Sarbanes and Michael Oxley. The Act has 11 titles and there are about six areas that are considered very important. (Sox, 2006) The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 made publicly traded United States companies create internal controls. The SOX act is mandatory, all companies must comply. These controls maybe costly, but they have indentified areas within companies that need to be protected. It also showed some companies areas that had unnecessary repeated practices. It has given investors a sense of confidence in companies that have complied with the SOX act. The SOX act section 404 requires that the auditor assess the company’s management of internal controls and report on it. The act requires that a company include a copy of the internal controls in the year end annual report. All financial statements must be certified by a company’s management. (Coustan, 2004) A company that announces deficiencies in its internal control will more than likely have a fall in their stock prices. Investors will not trust that company’s financial information. The investors know that the company will be hit with fines for not complying with the regulations. No honest investor wants to be involved with a company that defies the government. There are some limitations of internal controls. One is a person knowing the system. This person knows when everything is done and how it is done he or she can find a loophole and use it to his or her advantage. Another limitation is... ...l. If a transaction is missing or the cash on hand is not adding up management should be notified. Even though internal controls do not always work, every entity that has workers should have internal controls. Internal controls protect entities from dishonest workers. Internal controls are a series of checks and balances. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was needed to gain control of accounting improprieties. Dishonest accounting has cost company employees millions of dollars in retirement funds. It has also cost investors millions of dollars. Works Cited A Guide to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (2006). Retrieved December 16, 2009 from www.soxlaw.com Coustan, H., Leinicke, L.M., & Rexroad, W.M., Ostrosky, J.A. (2004). Sorbanes-Oxley What it means to the marketplace. Journal of Accountancy. Retrieved December 17, 2009 from www.journalofaccountancy.com Internal Controls and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act Essay -- SOX Act Internal controls are in place to protect entities against theft from dishonest workers and outside predators. They are also an accurate series of checks and balances and are in place to find discrepancies. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was named after Senator Paul Sarbanes and Michael Oxley. The Act has 11 titles and there are about six areas that are considered very important. (Sox, 2006) The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 made publicly traded United States companies create internal controls. The SOX act is mandatory, all companies must comply. These controls maybe costly, but they have indentified areas within companies that need to be protected. It also showed some companies areas that had unnecessary repeated practices. It has given investors a sense of confidence in companies that have complied with the SOX act. The SOX act section 404 requires that the auditor assess the company’s management of internal controls and report on it. The act requires that a company include a copy of the internal controls in the year end annual report. All financial statements must be certified by a company’s management. (Coustan, 2004) A company that announces deficiencies in its internal control will more than likely have a fall in their stock prices. Investors will not trust that company’s financial information. The investors know that the company will be hit with fines for not complying with the regulations. No honest investor wants to be involved with a company that defies the government. There are some limitations of internal controls. One is a person knowing the system. This person knows when everything is done and how it is done he or she can find a loophole and use it to his or her advantage. Another limitation is... ...l. If a transaction is missing or the cash on hand is not adding up management should be notified. Even though internal controls do not always work, every entity that has workers should have internal controls. Internal controls protect entities from dishonest workers. Internal controls are a series of checks and balances. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was needed to gain control of accounting improprieties. Dishonest accounting has cost company employees millions of dollars in retirement funds. It has also cost investors millions of dollars. Works Cited A Guide to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (2006). Retrieved December 16, 2009 from www.soxlaw.com Coustan, H., Leinicke, L.M., & Rexroad, W.M., Ostrosky, J.A. (2004). Sorbanes-Oxley What it means to the marketplace. Journal of Accountancy. Retrieved December 17, 2009 from www.journalofaccountancy.com

Sepsis

Four days later on February 29th, she as moved into ICC because she continued to have the same symptoms and appeared to be getting worse. After doing my own research on her symptoms, I asked the ICC nurse if they tested her for sepsis. She confirmed that she did have sepsis and they were now treating that along with a laundry list of other things. Eight days later, my mother passed away from complications of: Sepsis, COOP, Pneumonia, Hypoxia, Kielbasa, and Hyperplasia (carbon-dioxide poisoning). Sepsis is a condition that can be a cause or result of other diseases and infections. WayneRobinson and Ron Daniels (2013) quote the definition as: Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to an infection injures its own tissue and organs. Sepsis can lead to shock, multiple organ failure and death especially if not recognized early and treated promptly. Sepsis remains the primary cause of death from infection despite advances in modern medicine, including va ccines, antibiotics and acute care. Millions of people worldwide die of sepsis every year (l 2). Sepsis can be difficult to diagnose quickly because of the underlying infection(s) hat may be causing the sepsis.There is a very small window of opportunity in which treatment can dramatically improve survival. A patient that is admitted with severe sepsis is at a level of risk many times greater than if he or she were admitted with a stroke or heart attack. The two most common infections associated with sepsis are It's and pneumonia. In my mother's case, she had a OUT and was unaware that she had one. In fact, she probably had it for a couple of weeks prior to going to the hospital. There are three diagnosed levels of sepsis; sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock.Sepsis is a systematic inflammatory response to an infection defined by two or more inflammatory response syndrome criteria. Those criteria are based on observations such as fever, slow respirations (breathing), rapid heart r ate, and an altered mental state. Some blood test results can assist in determining this as well. Severe sepsis is present when one or more organs begin to fail as a result of sepsis. Acute respiratory distress can accompany severe sepsis as well as a disease called Disseminated Intramuscular Coagulation (DICE), which has to do with the blood not clotting normally.DICE is highly relevant to outcome in patients with sepsis. The final level of diagnosis is septic shock. Septic shock is present when there is evidence that the tissues and organs are receiving insufficient amounts of oxygen and nutrients, low blood pressure, a rapid heart rate and breathing, and can be considered the most severe end of the spectrum of this disease. As stated earlier, my mother had a laundry list of things wrong with her, all contributing to her death. Some of the infections she had developed from the sepsis infection, and some of them caused the sepsis infection.Her UT', for example, was ere initial diag nosis when she came into the ERE. People with limited or no sensation below the waist may not know they have a UT'. â€Å"An untreated OUT may spread to the kidney, causing more pain and illness. It can also cause sepsis. The term resources is usually used to describe sepsis caused by a UT'† (Sepsis Alliance, n. D. , ‘1 2). More than one half of reported cases of older adults with resources are caused by a UT'. Another interesting fact is that one-third of people who develop sepsis, die from it.Those that do survive it are usually left with some type of organ dysfunction and/or amputation. While in the ICC, my mother developed hyperplasia (carbon-dioxide poisoning). This infection was a result of the sepsis. I had never heard of hyperplasia before so I started to ask questions. Because of the sepsis infection, my mother's respirations were very weak. She wasn't breathing hard enough to release the carbon-dioxide from her body when she exhaled. To assist her with breathi ng, she was put on a APIPA machine that forced the oxygen into her system so she could breathe easier.The hope was that this machine would help her breathe until she was well enough to earth properly on her own. The nurses tried small intervals of removing the machine to see how she would do, but her gas levels would go back up if off of the machine too long. The highest gas rate at one time was 86, which is almost quadruple what a normal level should be. Another infection that my mother developed while in the hospital was Kielbasa. Kielbasa is a type of bacteria that causes other infections. â€Å"Kielbasa infections commonly occur among sick patients who are receiving treatment for other conditions.Patients who require devices like ventilators (breathing machines) or intravenous catheters are more at risk for Kielbasa infections† (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2012, ‘1 1). A person has to be exposed to the bacteria to get the infection. Unfortunate ly, medical tools such as ventilators and intravenous catheters allow Kielbasa to enter the body off patient and cause infection. It is very rare for Kielbasa to spread to family members of patient's. Healthy people are at a very low risk of acquiring this infection.My mother most likely developed Kielbasa from the Bi-PAP machine she needed to use to breathe, as well as a compromised immune system. Another condition my mother developed as a result of the sepsis was hypoxia. In her case, she had metabolic hypoxia. This developed because of the high demand of oxygen required from her tissues. Even though the oxygen can be transported and absorbed properly, it is not enough when it comes to sepsis. Some organs that can be affected by hypoxia are the heart, liver and the brain. There is a correlation between edema and hypoxia as well.Edema is the swelling of tissues (usually due to heart failure) and can limit the ability of oxygen to reach tissues. Since my mother also had edema, her h ypoxia very well could have developed from both the sepsis and edema. One of the last infections my mother developed was pneumonia. Pneumonia is commonly associated with sepsis as either a result or a cause. Pneumonia is an infection in the lungs and can be in Just one or both lungs. If pneumonia alone is left untreated it can be deadly. In the days prior to antibiotics, about one third of people who developed bacteria pneumonia died.Once my mother developed pneumonia, we knew that she was never going to recover from all of the infections she was developing. She came into the hospital with COOP that she had for several years prior and a number of other issues that only contributed to her development of sepsis and these other infections. Out of the millions worldwide that die every year from sepsis, more than 750,000 of them are in the U. S. One article I read said that sepsis â€Å"triggers a cascading, whole-body inflammatory response† (McKinney, 2014, ‘1 3).According to federal data, it is the leading cause of hospital deaths in ICC and the 10th leading cause of death in the United States overall. Hospitals continue to struggle when it comes to early detection of sepsis. Another interesting fact I found was that researchers noted high rates of sepsis mortality in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Southern States; even as much as four times the national average. These areas are called â€Å"hot spots†. Researchers continue to research the reasons behind this. â€Å"Is it a result of patient level differences: commodities, age, race, smoking, alcohol, etc.? Is it a result of MS care?DEED care? In-patient care? This needs to be sorted out† (Struck, 2013, ‘1 6). The following graph from 2010 illustrates the death rate in these hot spots as well as there areas of the United States: (McKinney, 2014) There really is no single test for sepsis. It is at the discretion of the DEED and physicians to carefully screen patients who might have it in order to rule it out or identify who actually has it. Unfortunately, there is not one single treatment that targets sepsis. Instead, physicians and nurses follow a number of treatments including antibiotics, intravenous fluids, oxygen, and in some cases, surgery.Sometimes it is hard to get physicians to think about sepsis as a disease that is time- sensitive like a heart-attack. Continuous efforts and resources will hopefully lead too reduction in mortality rates. In conclusion, not enough is known about sepsis, yet it is one of the most deadly diseases someone can get. My father had never heard of sepsis until mom was diagnosed with it. After learning more about sepsis, I am not surprised she developed it. She was sick for years starting back in 2007 when she had a triple- bypass, Cybernetic surgery for cancer on her lung, and a kidney removed for cancer as well.She never fully recovered from all of that and I think it Just made her alienable to other infections and diseases. Watching the disease progress firsthand made me see that it is almost impossible for anyone to recover from it. As stated earlier, it cascades into other diseases so rapidly that hospital staff cannot stop it. We were told that there was no way my mother was ever going to recover from the disease and to keep her alive she would need to be on a machine for the rest of her shortened life. No one deserves to live like that. Sepsis will leave a patient with no quality of life and a poisoning of the whole body.I want to help create more wariness about the disease and will continue to do research on the disease and other diseases that cause and result from it. I am also going to seek out organizations in our area to see how I can be an advocate for this awful disease. I would love to be able to educate families that may be going through what my family had to go through. This evil may have taken my mother from me, but it has only made me stronger and more determined than ever to do someth ing positive and help others. Reference Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Kielbasa pneumonia in Healthcare Settings.

Project Management Project Plan Cost Management Essay

Project budget With the Sim4Project our team utilized a proper plan cost management, by employing certain procedures to control the project’s cost. The cost management influences the project manager’s decisions and project output. We used weekly meetings and strategic budget management to decide on which resources were valuable and which did not meet the criteria. Other factors impacted the cost management for sim4project such as organizing resource time and to what percent the resource contributed to the task. Although, for the majority of the project phases we were consistently at or slightly above the expected budget, allowing little room for error or overall risk (Kloppenborg 2012). The budget for this project began at $280,000; each task was contracted out with an estimated cost during that period. Specific pieces for each resource fluctuated according to certain elements, such as flexibility, reputation, and skill. Usually resources with more skill had high er starting bids. This affects the overall estimated budget, bidding too high on a resource can exceed that period’s estimated budget. For example, this continuously happened with our Project Manager, Brian Michelson, whom scored exceptionally high in reputation, ethics, flexibility, and interpersonal skills, but his rate per hour may have been too high for this project. Now seeing how this and some additional high priced resources can cause cost control issues, we should have bid lower or chose a lessShow MoreRelatedPlanning For And Managing A New Technology Insertion Into My Organization1341 Words   |  6 Pagesorganization, I would make use of the structured, proven project management processes, tools, and techniques that are outlined in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide). 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The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini Essays - 1723 Words

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, follows the maturation of Amir, a boy from Afghanistan, as he discovers what it means to stand up for what he believes in. His quest to redeem himself after betraying his friend and brother, Hassan, makes up the heart of the novel. When Amir hears that his father’s old business partner, Rahim Khan, is sick and dying, he travels to Pakistan to say his goodbyes. Rahim Khan tells Amir about Hassan’s life and eventual death; the Taliban murdered Hassan while he was living in Amir’s childhood home. As his dying wish, Rahim Khan asks Amir to rescue Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from an orphanage in Afghanistan. Although Amir refuses at first, he thinks about what Rahim Khan had always told him: â€Å"There is a way to be†¦show more content†¦It was a look I had seen before. It was the look of the lamb†¦ I imagine the animal sees that its imminent demise is for a higher purpose†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (76-77). Amir knew that Hass an has accepted what was about to happen to him. At the time, he believed his actions of abandoning Hassan were necessary. Hassan was â€Å"the lamb [he] had to slay† in order to win Baba’s affections. However, Sohrab is now the sheep rather than Hassan, as he is the one being sacrificed. Later in the novel, when Amir asks Assef to give Sohrab to him, he makes the same comparison: â€Å"Sohrab’s eyes†¦ were slaughter sheep’s eyes† (285). The author uses the metaphor of the sheep to depict the correlation between the two scenes. Just like his father, Sohrab understands that this is his position in life – he is too weak to stop the power-hungry from taking advantage of him. In this scene, Sohrab becomes his father – he is now the sheep that Assef is torturing. This parallel is constructed in order to place Amir in a similar situation, providing him with the opportunity to choose differently. Rather than leaving Sohrab, Amir chooses to take Sohrab’s place as the victim. He embraces the role of the lamb; he is the sacrifice needed in order to take Sohrab away from Assef. If Amir fights him and wins, he can leave a free man with Sohrab. Amir doesn’t realize until that moment that his sacrifice, that his potential death for another person, is what he needs to make up for his sins: What was so funny was that, forShow MoreRelatedThe Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini883 Words   |  4 Pagesregret from past encounters and usually feel guilty and bitter about the situation. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, revolves around the theme of redemption. Redemption can be used as a cure for guilt. Throughout the novel, the author shows that redemption requires some sort of sacrifice and the only way that is possible is if you can forgive yourself from the mistakes you have made in the past. Khaled Hosseini effectively portrays redemption through motifs such as rape, irony and flashbacks, symbolismRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini1651 Words   |  7 Pages  Ã‚  Ã‚   The novel â€Å"The Kite Runner† by Khaled Hosseini describes the life of a boy, Amir. Amir’s best friend and brother (although that part isn’t known until towards the end), Hassan, plays a major role in Amir’s life and how he grows up. Hosseini portrays many sacrifi ces that are made by Hassan and Amir. Additionally, Amir seeks redemption throughout much of the novel. By using first person point of view, readers are able to connect with Amir and understand his pain and yearning for a way to be redeemedRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini1655 Words   |  7 PagesSarah Singer Major Works Data Form Title: The Kite Runner Author: Khaled Hosseini Date of Publication: 2003 Genre: Historical Fiction Historical information about the period of publication: Since the September 11th attacks in 2001, the United States has been at war with Afghanistan. Their goals were to remove the Taliban, track down those in charge of the attacks, and destroy Al-Qaeda. Biographical information about the author: Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. HIs motherRead MoreThe Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini1313 Words   |  5 Pagesis not unique to just J.K. Rowling. Khaled Hosseini also incorporates life experiences into some of his novels. A prime example of this is The Kite Runner. The storyline of this novel reflects his past to create a journey of a young Afghanistan boy, whose name is Amir. This boy changes drastically throughout his lifetime from a close minded, considerably arrogant boy to an open hearted and minded man. This emotional and mental trip is partially based on Khaled Hosseini’s own life. Throughout Hosseini’sRead MoreThe Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini1098 Words   |  5 PagesIn The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, we learn a lot about Amir the main character, and Hassan his servant/brother. In the beginning Hassan and Amir’s relationship was one of brotherly love despite the fact that Hassan was a Hazara and Amir a Pashtun. Back in th e 1970’s race and religion played a big part in Kabul and these two races were not suppose to have relationships unless it was owner (Pashtun) and servant (Hazara). Baba Amir’s father had an affair with Hassan’s mother, but it was kept aRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini1050 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"There is a way to be good again.† (Hosseini 334). This quote given by Rahim Khan to Amir holds a great amount of force and symbolism. In theory, this quote symbolizes the beginning of Amir’s path to redemption. The eye-opening Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini tells about the struggles of Afghanistan before and during the Taliban, and one’s struggle for redemption and acceptance. With regards to the opening quote, some see Amir’s actions as selfish. However, others may believe that Amir truly changedRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini1583 Words   |  7 Pagesnovel the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Amir, the main character, shares his thoughts and actions due to his poor decisions. The problems he encountered were all because of the sin committed in his youth. His sins taunted the beginning of his life and gave him a troublesome memory full of guilt. As the novel continued, Amir attempted to disengage the memory of his sin and forget about it. Amir then faced the long bumpy road to redemption. Khaled Hosseini’s novel the Kite Runner is about sinRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini1908 Words   |  8 Pages​In the novel, â€Å"The Kite Runner†, written by Khaled Hosseini, was taken place in Afghanistan during the 1970’s to the year of 2002. Many historical events happened during this time period and Hosseini portrayed it into his novel. Kabul, the capitol of Afghanistan, was a free, living area for many Afghanistan families to enjoy the life they were given. Until one day, Afghanistan was then taken over and attacked. In the novel, Amir, the protagonist, must redeem himself and the history behind his actionsRead MoreThe Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini871 Words   |  4 Pagesthat person is trying to fix that mistake. This also applies to the novel The Kite Runner. The story revolves around the main character Amir, and his childhood friend, Hassan. After Amir came to America with Baba, his father, he still regrets the things he had done to his childhood friend. H e left Hassan getting raped by Assef in a small alley in 1975. Thereafter, Amir always feel regret and seeks for redemption. Hosseini -the author, argues that redemption can be achieved by helping others, teachRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini2522 Words   |  11 PagesIn The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini creates an awareness and humanization of Afghanistan as a nation and as a culture. Through a postcolonial perspective, the main character, Amir resembles the internal conflicts and external tribulations that a country and its citizens’ face when living in a war-torn region. Postcolonial criticism offers a unique perspective by highlighting the destructive events that lead to death and misery, rather than glorifying the exploratory nature of colonists as they

Night World The Chosen Chapter 3 Free Essays

string(51) " was every bloodsucking leech’s worst enemy\." God, it stank. RashelJordan had seen a lot of vampire lairs in her seventeen years, but this was probably the most disgusting. She held her breath as she stirred the nest of tattered cloth with the toe of one boot. We will write a custom essay sample on Night World : The Chosen Chapter 3 or any similar topic only for you Order Now She could read the story of this collection of garbage as easily as if the inhabitant had written out a full confession, signed it, and posted it on the wall. One vampire. A rogue, an outcast who lived on the fringe of both the human world and the Night World. He probably moved to anew city every few weeks to avoid getting caught. And he undoubtedly looked like any other homeless guy, except that none of the human homeless would be hanging around aBoston dock on a Tuesday night in early March. He brings his victims here, Rashel thought. The pier’s deserted, it’s private, he can take his time with them. And of course he can’t resist keeping a few trophies. Her foot stirred them gently. A pink-and-blue knit baby jacket, a plaid sash from a school uniform, a Spiderman tennis shoe. All bloodstained. All very small. There had been a rash of missing children lately. TheBoston police would never discover where they had gone-but now Rashel knew. She felt her lips draw back slightly from her teeth in something that wasn’t really a smile. She was aware of everything around her: the soft plash of water against the wooden pier, the rank coppery smell that was almost a taste, the darkness of a night lit only by a half moon. Even the light moisture of the cold breeze against her skin. She was aware of all of it without being preoccupied with any of it-and when the tiny scratch sounded behind her, she moved as smoothly and gracefully as if she were taking her turn in a dance. She pivoted on her left foot, drawing her bokken in the same motion, and without a break in the movement, she stabbed straight to the vampire’s chest. She drove the blow from her hips, exhaling in a hiss as she did it, putting all her strength behind it. â€Å"Gotta be faster than that,† she said. The vampire, skewered like a hot dog, waved his arms and gibbered. He was dressed in filthy clothing and his hair was a bushy tangle. His eyes were wide, full of surprise and hatred, shining as silver as an animal’s in the faint light. His teeth weren’t so much fangs as tusks: fully extended, they reached almost to his chin. â€Å"I know,† Rashel said. â€Å"You really, really wanted to kill me. Life’s tough, isn’t it?† The vampire snarled one more time and then the silver went out of his eyes, leaving only the look of astonishment. His body stiffened and slumped backward. It lay still on the ground. Grimacing, Rashel pulled her wooden sword out of the chest. She started to wipe the blade on the vampire’s pants, then hesitated, peering at them more closely. Yes, those were definitely little crawly things. And the blankets were just as repulsive. Oh, well. Use your own jeans. It won’t be the first time. She carefully wiped the bokken clean. It was two and a half feet long and just slightly, gracefully curved, with a narrow, sharp, angled tip. Designed to penetrate a body as efficiently as possible-if that body was susceptible to wood. The sword slipped back into its sheath with a papery whisper. Then Rashel glanced at the body again. Mr. Vampire was already going mummified. His skin was now yellow and tough; his staring eyes were dried up, his lips shrunken, his tusks collapsed. Rashel bent over him, reaching into her back pocket. What she pulled out looked like the snapped-off end of a bamboo backscratcher-which was exactly what it was. She’d had it for years. Very precisely, Rashel drew the five lacquered fingers of the scratcher down the vampire’s forehead. On the yellow skin five brown marks appeared, like the marks of a cat’s claws. Vampire skin was easy to mark tight after death. â€Å"This kitten has claws,† she murmured. It was a ritual sentence; she’d repeated it ever since the night she’d killed her first vampire at the age of twelve. In memory of her mother, who’d always called her kitten. In memory of herself at age five, and all the innocence she’d lost. She’d never be a helpless kitten again. Besides, it was a little joke. Vampires†¦ bats. Herself†¦ a cat. Anybody who’d grown up with Batman and Catwoman would get it. Well. All done. Whistling softly, she rolled the body over and over with her foot to the end of the pier. She didn’t feel like carting the mummy all the way out to the fens, the salt marshes where bodies were traditionally left inBoston . With a mental apology to everybody who was trying to clean up the harbor, she gave the corpse a final push and listened for the splash. She was still whistling as she emerged from the pier onto the street. Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to work we go— She was in a very good mood. The only disappointment was the constant one, that it hadn’t been the vampire, the one she’d been looking for ever since she’d been five years old. It had been a rogue, all right-a depraved monster who killed human kids foolishly close to human habitations. But it hadn’t been the rogue. Rashel would never forget his face. And she knew that someday she would see it again. Meanwhile, there was nothing to do but shish-kebab as many of the parasites as possible. She scanned the streets as she walked, alert for any sign of Night People. All she saw were quiet brick buildings and streetlights shining pale gold. And that was a shame, because she was in terrific form tonight; she could feel it. She was every bloodsucking leech’s worst enemy. She could stake six of them before breakfast and still be fresh for chemistry first period at Wassaguscus High. Rashel stopped suddenly, absent-mindedly melting into a shadow as a police car cruised silently down the cross-street ahead. I know, she thought. I’ll go see what the Lancers are up to. If anybody knows where vampires are, they do. She headed for the North End. Half an hour later she was standing in front of a brownstone apartment building, ringing the buzzer. â€Å"Who’s there?† Instead of answering, Rashel said, â€Å"The night has a thousand eyes.† â€Å"And the day only one,† came the reply from the intercom. â€Å"Hey there, girl. Come on up.† Inside, Rashel climbed a dark and narrow stairway to a scarred wooden door. There was a peephole in the door. Rashel faced it squarely, then pulled off the scarf she’d been wearing. It was black, silky, and very long. She wore it wrapped around her head and face like a veil, so that only her eyes showed, and even they were in shadow. She shook out her hair, knowing what the person on the other side could see. A tall girl dressed like a ninja, all hi black, with black hair falling loose around her shoulders and green eyes blazing. She hadn’t changed much since she was five, except in height. Right now she made a barbaric face at the peephole and heard the sound of laughter behind the door as bolts were drawn. She waited until the door was shut behind her again before she said, â€Å"Hi, Elliot.† Elliot was a few years older than she was, and thin, with intense eyes and little shiny glasses that were always slipping off his nose. Some people would have dismissed him as a geek. But Rashel had once seen him stand up to two werewolves while she got a human girl out a window, and she knew that he had practically single-handedly started the Lancers-one of the most successful organizations of vampire hunters on the east coast. â€Å"What’s up, Rashel? It’s been a while.† â€Å"I’ve been busy. But now I’m bored. I came to see if you guys had anything going.† As Rashel spoke, she was looking at the other people in the room. A brown-haired girl was kneeling, loading objects from boxes into a dark green backpack. Another girl and a boy were sitting on the couch. Rashel recognized the boy from other Lancers meetings, but neither of the girls were familiar. â€Å"Lucky you,† Elliot said. â€Å"This is Vicky, my new second-in-command.† He nodded at the girl on the floor. â€Å"She just moved toBoston ; she was the leader of a group on the south shore. And tonight she’s taking a little expedition out to some warehouses in Mission Hill. We got a lead that there’s been some activity out there.† â€Å"What kind of activity? Leeches, puppies?† Elliot shrugged. â€Å"Vampires definitely. Werewolves maybe. There’s been a rumor about teenage girls getting kidnapped and stashed somewhere around there. The problem is we don’t know exactly where, or why.† He tilted his head, his eyes twinkling. â€Å"You want to go?† â€Å"Isn’t anybody going to ask me?† Vicky said, straightening up from her backpack. Her pale blue eyes were fixed on Rashel. â€Å"I’ve never even seen this girl before. She could be one of them.† Elliot pushed his glasses higher on his nose. He looked amused. â€Å"You wouldn’t say that if you knew, Vicky. Rashel’s the best.† â€Å"At what?† â€Å"At everything. When you were going to your fancy prep school, she was out in theChicago slums staking vampires. She’s been inL.A. ,New York ,New Orleans†¦ even Vegas. She’s wiped out more parasites than the rest of us put together.† Elliot glanced mischievously at Rashel, then leaned toward Vicki. â€Å"Ever heard of the Cat?† he said. Vicki’s head snapped up. She stared at Rashel. â€Å"The Cat? The one all the Night People are afraid of? The one they’re offering a reward for? The one who leaves a mark-â€Å" Rashel shot Elliot a warning look. â€Å"Never mind,† she said. She wasn’t sure she trusted these new people. Vicky was right about one thing: you couldn’t be too careful. And she didn’t like Vicky much, but she could hardly turn down such a good opportunity for vampire hunting. Not tonight, when she was in such terrific form. â€Å"I’ll go with you-if you’ll have me,† she said. Vicky’s pale blue eyes bored into Rashel’s a moment, then she nodded. â€Å"Just remember I’m in charge.† â€Å"Sure,† Rashel murmured. She could see Elliot’s grin out of the corner of her eye. â€Å"You know Steve, and that’s Nyala.† Elliot indicated the boy and girl on the couch. Steve had blond hair, muscular shoulders, and a steady expression; Nyala had skin like cocoa and a faraway look in her eyes, as if she were sleepwalking. â€Å"Nyala’s new. She just lost her sister a month ago,† Elliot added in a gentle voice. He didn’t need to say how the sister had been lost. Rashel nodded at the girl. She sympathized. There was nothing quite like the shock of first discovering the Night World, when you realized that things like vampires and witches and werewolves were real, and that they were everywhere, joined in one giant secret organization. That anybody could be one, and you’d never know until it was too late. â€Å"Everybody ready? Then let’s go,† Vicky said, and Steve and Nyala got up. Elliot showed them to the door. â€Å"Good luck,† he said. Outside, Vicky led the way to a dark blue car with mud strategically caked on the license plates. â€Å"We’ll drive to the warehouse area,† she said. Rashel was relieved. She was used to walking the city streets at night without being seen-important when you were carrying a rather unconcealable sword-but she wasn’t sure that these other three could manage. It took practice. The drive was silent except for the murmur of Steve’s voice occasionally helping Vicky with directions. They passed through respectable neighborhoods and venerable areas with handsome old buildings until they got to a street where everything changed suddenly. All at once, as if they had crossed some invisible dividing line, the gutters were full of soggy trash and the fences were topped with razor wire. The buildings were government housing projects, dark warehouses, or rowdy bars. Vicky pulled into a parking lot and stopped the car away from the security lights. Then she led them through the knee-high dead weeds of a vacant lot to a street that was poorly lighted and utterly silent. â€Å"This is the observation post,† Vicky whispered, as they reached a squat brick building, a part of the housing project that had been abandoned. Following her, they zigzagged through debris and scrap metal to get to a side door, and then they climbed a dark staircase covered with graffiti to the third floor. Their flashlights provided the only illumination. â€Å"Nice place,† Nyala whispered, looking around. She had obviously never seen anything like it before. â€Å"Don’t you think-there may be other people here besides vampires?† Steve gave her a reassuring pat. â€Å"No, it’s okay.† â€Å"Yeah, it looks like even the junkies have abandoned it,† Rashel said, grimly amused. â€Å"You can see the whole street from the window,† Vicky put in shortly. â€Å"Elliot and I were here yesterday watching those warehouses across the street. And last night we saw a guy at the end of the street who looked a lot like a vampire. You know the signs.† Nyala opened her mouth as if to say she didn’t know the signs, but Rashel was already speaking. â€Å"Did you test him?† â€Å"We didn’t want to get that close. We’ll do it tonight if he shows up again.† â€Å"How do you test them?† Nyala asked. Vicky didn’t answer. She and Steve had pushed aside a couple of rat-chewed mattresses and were unloading the bags and backpacks they’d brought. Rashel said, â€Å"One way is to shine a flashlight in their eyes. Usually you get eye-shine back-like an animal’s.† â€Å"There are other ways, too,† Vicky said, setting the things she was unloading on the bare boards of the floor. There were ski masks, knives made of both metal and wood, a number of stakes of various sizes, and a mallet. Steve added two clubs made of white oak to the pile. â€Å"Wood hurts them more than metal,† Vicky said to Nyala. â€Å"If you cut them with a steel knife they heal right before your eyes-but cut them with wood and they keep bleeding.† Rashel didn’t quite like the way she said it. And she didn’t like the last thing Vicky was pulling out of her backpack. It was a wooden device that looked a bit like a miniature stock. Two hinged blocks of wood that fit snugly around a person’s wrists and closed with a lock. â€Å"Vampire handcuffs,† Vicky said proudly, seeing her look. â€Å"Made of white oak. Guaranteed to hold any parasite. I brought them from down south.† â€Å"But hold them for what? And what do you need all those little knives and stakes for? It would take hours to kill a vampire with those.† Vicky smiled fiercely. â€Å"I know.† Oh. Rashel’s heart seemed to thump and then sink, and she looked away to control her reaction. She understood what Vicky had in mind now. Torture. â€Å"A quick death’s too good for them,† Vicky said, still smiling. â€Å"They deserve to suffer-the way they make our people suffer. Besides, we might get some information. We need to know where they’re keeping the girls they kidnap, and what they’re doing with them.† â€Å"Vicky.† Rashel spoke earnestly. â€Å"It’s practically impossible to make vampires talk. They’re stubborn. When they’re hurt they just get angry-like animals.† Vicky smirked. â€Å"I’ve made some talk. It just depends on what you do, and how long you make it last. Anyway, there’s no harm in trying.† â€Å"Does Elliot know about this?† Vicky lifted a shoulder defensively. â€Å"Elliot lets me do things my way. I don’t have to tell him every little detail. I was a leader myself, you know.† Helplessly, Rashel looked at Nyala and Steve. And saw that for the first time Nyala’s eyes had lost their sleepwalking expression. Now she looked awake- and savagely glad. â€Å"Yes,† she said. â€Å"We should try to make the vampire talk. And if he suffers-well, my sister suffered. When I found her, she was almost dead but she could still talk. She told me what it felt like, having all the blood drained out of her body while she was still conscious. She said it hurt. She said†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Nyala stopped, swallowed, and looked at Vicky. â€Å"I want to help do it,† she said thickly. Steve didn’t say anything, but then from what Rashel knew of him, that was typical. He was a guy of few words. Anyway, he didn’t protest. Rashel felt odd, as if she were seeing the very worst of herself reflected in a mirror. It made her†¦ ashamed. It left her shaken. But who am I to judge? she thought, turning away. It’s true that the parasites are evil, all of them. The whole race needs to be wiped out. And Vicky’s right, why should they have a clean death, when they usually don’t give their victims one? Nyala deserves to avenge her sister. â€Å"Unless you object or something,† Vicky said heavily, and Rashel could feel those pale blue eyes on her. â€Å"Unless you’re some kind of vampire sympathizer.† Rashel might have laughed at that, but she wasn’t in a laughing mood. She took a breath, then said without turning around, â€Å"It’s your show. I agreed that you were in charge.† â€Å"Good,† Vicky said, and returned to her work. But the sick feeling in the pit of Rashel’s stomach didn’t go away. She almost hoped that the vampire wouldn’t come. How to cite Night World : The Chosen Chapter 3, Essay examples

Types of Teams in Contemporary Organizations free essay sample

We can define team as a group of individuals who are working together (not necessarily present physically at a common place) to achieve a common goal and thereby benefits for an organization through collaborative decision making. The successful team cannot be established until they have clear vision (Lewis, 2006) . According to Hackman following are the characteristics of a team: 1. Characteristics. 2. Shared goal. 3. Interdependence among members. 4. Identifiable membership. Literature review In order to get maximum output from employees, teams are being made in the organization. There are different types of teams. Depending on the needs of an organization, teams are being configured to get the success. Broadly we can classify teams under following categories which are: 1. Problem-solving teams. 2. Self-managed work teams. 3. Cross functional teams. 4. Virtual teams. It all depends on the different departments of an organization that what type of teams they want to have. For example the consultancy firms generally comprise off problem-solving teams. As team contains interdependent members, who share common goal and who contribute to each other in a large organization, therefore the success of a team depends on team’s internal and external dynamics (Bang, 2004). Internal dynamics is the internal activities that happen inside the team or among team mates. Good relations between the team mates will result to better productivity. If there are conflicts occur within the team then it will effect the productivity and efficiency of team in negative way. Now I am going to discuss how these teams are made. Basically team making is dynamic process and successfully construction of team depends on the size of an organization and number of members in the team. Generally, team-building is a five stage process. First stage of team building is called as start-up stage or forming stage. In this stage the organization describes the nature of the team, number of members that a team is going to have, structure of the team and the goals which the team is planning to achieve. The second stage is known as conflict stage or storming stage. It is quite possible that members of team will disagree on development process, structure and methods to attain the goals. This may come as barrier in the way of developing the team and hence a troublesome stage in the process of building a team. Therefore a sufficient time must be given to all the members of the team to work through disagreements. The next stage is team work stage. At this stage, individual team member in the team make their roles and responsibilities. The team members interact with each other. The next stage in team development stage is called as achievement stage or performing stage. In this stage the team is become operational. In this stage, regular meetings related to goals achieving take place. The team starts interacting with other teams of an organization in order to attain goals. The last stage of the cycle of team development is called as change stage or reforming stage. As the time passes, the way in which team is performing may no longer meets the organizational. The above steps show how a team comes into picture and works for an organization to attain the goals. (Lewis, 2006) Now in current scenario when globalization in industries is on the increase then it is not necessary that all the members of a particular team are present at a single physical location. They may present at different physical location in the country or may be situated at different parts of a globe too. In that case they have to be connected through some internet technologies in order to work together. These types of teams are called as virtual teams. The virtual team can also be called as Geographically Dispersed team (GDT) (Stephen C. Betts M. D. , 2006). By having these kinds of teams, the organization is benefitted by recruiting the best people for the team regardless of the geographic location. In today’s scenario, in many virtual teams people work from their home also. There are different types of virtual teams which are as follows: 1. Networked Teams 2. Parallel Teams 3. Projector Product-Development Teams . Work or Production Teams 5. Service teams 6. Management teams 7. Action teams Since team members of a virtual team are spread over the locations therefore there are some advantages and disadvantages of these kinds of teams. As these kinds of teams are physically spread over the locations therefore people of different mental ability, different efficiencies, different work environment work together. By this all of them can share their views to get a better result th ereby can increase organizational output. Hence members of these teams are located on different locations, therefore people are of different cultures which may lead to cross culture environment which can become a barrier in getting the desired output. The manager faces difficulties in managing the whole team. The manager should know all the languages where all the team is spread. (Amin Kaboli, 2006) Learning Outcome After doing this assignment, I came to know about different things about teams like how are they made, merits, de-merits of teams and so on. I also learnt many things about virtual teams which are very much being used now a days and their advantages and disadvantages. Apart from these theoretical concepts, I also learnt from this assignment that all the work should be completed on the deadline to avoid extra burden of work.