Free College Essay

President Obama has outlined his proposal to offer the first two years of community college free for students, or as he has said in his speech â€Å"to lower the cost of community college — to zero. † Obama believes that whether young or old, just starting out, or simply looking for a better job, this could benefit millions of Americans. The program would provide tuition-free classes for students going to school at least half time who maintain a GPA of 2. 5 or higher and are trying to obtain a higher degree or are transferring to a four-year institution. The proposal would require federal government to cover 75 percent of the average cost of community college, and the program calls for states to pick up the remaining quarter of the tab. Overall, this proposal could benefit the American population and thus better the American nation. The most crucial reason why this proposal will succeed is that more people in America will attend college. This will all around have a positive have an effect on American society, and economy. Lowering the unemployment rate can help to reduce many factors such as, crime rate, well-fare, and overall national debt. On the other hand, community colleges may become over crowded due to the increased number of students. Despite this minor complication, having more people attend college is in America would be phenomenal. A majority of Americans believe the cost of a college education at a state university, or community college is unaffordable. Having the first two years of community college free will open up opportunities to many. This will allow students first starting out to begin their educational course debt free. College debt is a major problem in todays society, and holds back many from achieving higher goals. However, passage of a bill making community college free could have a dramatic effect on the cost of higher education. If community college is free, many other schools will have to lower their prices in order to stay competitive. Free higher education, even if only for two years, could be a game-changer. Passage of Obama’s proposal is far from a sure thing. If it does pass, at this point the best we can do is speculate about the different possible  outcomes. However, we do know one thing for sure. Obama’s proposal is a bold approach to fixing a broken higher education system. Student loan borrowers are reminded of how badly broken the system is each month they pay huge student loan bills. The more that can be done to fix this system, the better. Overall, this bill will benefit most Americans. If Obama’s proposal is given passage it will create an abundance of opportunities for American citizens. These opportunities include: more job positions, a thriving economy, expansion, etc. In spite of the endless benefits, at the end of the day someone is responsible for paying the two-year â€Å"free† tuition. This causes question to tax payers and the state on the tab they are left to pick up. Although, taxes may increase, the decrease in student loans will greatly outweigh the cost. In conclusion, this bill can aid anyone from past generations to new, young to old, starting out or going back. This could change the entire way of American society for the better and continually push American as a nation in the right direction.

Genie †The Wild Child Essay

Genie was discovered at the age of thirteen living completely isolated in a room in her parent’s house, with nothing to look at, restrained to a potty chair for most of her life. At this time, Genie was still wearing a diaper, did not have the ability to communicate and could barely walk. Her father’s reason for keeping Genie isolated was that he believed that she was retarded from birth. Her mother takes no responsibility, claiming she too was abused by her controlling husband. Both of her parents were charged with child abuse; but her father killed himself shortly after and her mother was able to beat the charges. Genie was taken to The Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles where she would meet several specialist assigned to her case. Shirley, an isolation specialist, stated that Genie was the most extreme case of isolation that he had encountered. Specialist started to run test to diagnose the extent of Genie’s deficiencies. Genie had a strange bunny walk, spat and clawed. It was believed that she was beat for making noise, so she remained silent. Was she born brain dead or did she become mentally challenged? First they conducted a test to monitor the electric activity in her brain. This four night study showed that Genie had a high number of sleep spindles, which shows abnormal brain wave patterns. By that spring, Genie had learned a hundred words and was beginning to speak verbally; which allowed her to express herself. Signs of her mental and physical growth were striving. She explored things using her lips and face. Doctors showed confidence in her success. Genie moved in with her Special Education teacher, Mrs. Butler. This was Genie’s first run in a foster home. Notes were taken on Genie’s obsession with hoarding objects, especially containers of liquid. This has also been recorded in other cases of isolated children. Mrs. Butler took it upon herself to cut off all contact with the other members of Genie’s case and filed a request to gain permanent custody, which was rejected by Social Services and Genie returned to Children’s Hospital for a short period of time. Genie was then placed with Mr. Riddler, who took on many of the roles in the case. Mrs. Riddler worked with Genie and taught her how to express her rage through fits, instead of physically hitting herself. She soon learned to verbally communicate her degree of unhappiness. Mrs. Riddle also helped Genie to verbalize memories from her past. Genie was able to use words and her vocabulary continued to grow. She started going to a nursery school and learned sign language. Case members still disagreed on Genie’s prognoses. Some believed that Genie was still brain dead from birth due to abnormal brain activity; while others believed that she had mental delays due to isolation, showing that her mental age was increasing. With all of Genie’s verbal achievements, she was not able to make grammatical sentences. In 1975 the research case on Genie ended and she returned to her mother’s care. Soon her mother realized that Genie was too much for her to handle and she was moved from foster family to foster family. Genie faced abuse and harassment during this time. In one situation, Genie was punished for vomiting, resulting in Genie refusing to open her mouth; ultimately, regressing Genie’s progress. Genie’s case strongly sides with the nurture debate. Emphasis is placed on Genie’s ability to overcome her early environment by allowing her to experience the world and to gain personal relationships. Genie’s ability to learn to verbalize after puberty shows that human development can occur and does not need to be learned during infancy. By Genie gaining personal relationships, she was able to learn how to express her emotions (happy, sad, angry). This proves that her environment is an important factor in her development. This study seems to be most consistent with Skinner’s Behavior Theory. Skinner believed that a person’s development was caused by the consequences of their behavior. An example would be when Genie was encouraged to speak and socialize, she did and enjoyed it. When Genie was punished for vomiting, she felt that opening her mouth was bad and stopped. Skinner also believed that the nurture side of the debate was important, development depends on experiences and people are shaped by their environment. All of which seem to be a theme in Genie’s case.

Justification of Hacking into Websites Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Justification of Hacking into Websites - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that most hackers state that they hack into websites not as criminals but as interested parties seeking to identify flaws in computer systems or reveal certain information. By hacking, they claim, it becomes possible for computer security firms to prevent or rectify any damaging security leaks. However, due to the side effects of hacking and the damages it causes to computer firms’ images and business, questions have arisen on the issue of justification for hacking and activities. While others insist that hacking can never be justifiable, others believe it is a justifiable practice, depending on the reasons for which it is done. Among the reasons cited for the justification of hacking are to improve the quality of computer/website products, for artistic expression, as political statements, and to uncover expose criminal activities such as corruption and other government or corporate malpractices. In hacking into technology companies su ch as AT&T, which deals with millions of peoples’ data worldwide, hackers believe they compel these companies to ensure that they have tamperproof systems that keep their clients’ data confidential. Therefore, hackers are a watchdog for the public on the security weaknesses of technology firms. Hacking is thus justifiable since it addresses the vulnerabilities inherent in technology products that expose clients’ confidential information. Hacking could also be justifiable if it exposes illegal political activities by discredited groups. In addition, hacking may be justified if it reveals certain publicly important information, which the public is denied by governments, organizations, or politicians. Importantly, hackers reveal malpractices and criminal activities that may be happening without the knowledge of the public and the law enforcement agencies. Â  

Analyze one week of world economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Analyze one week of world economy - Essay Example Spending on durable goods was relatively rigid, this was an indication of stagnation or fall in the economy. Within the analysis week as the change or fluctuation in the index was minimal, from negative 0.3 to negative 0.2, a figure that was massively below the experts’ projection of 0.4 percent. The US economy registered negative statistics recording EUR/USD figures that were down as compared to experts’ projections. The only sector in the economy that recorded a positive figure was home sales whereas the new home sales, unemployment claims, and manufacturing reports recorded lowered figures from the projections. The projections indicated slowdown in the manufacturing sector that the negative statistics proved. The fluctuation of the dollar is another influencing factor that negatively affected the US economy. The unemployment rates were high because of the existence of part-time jobs in the labor market and lack of full-time positions that rendered many unemployed over time. The cost of orders received for the durable goods were low to a negative 2 percent, an indication of slow economic growth. The figures exempted orders for transportation that was stable regardless of the economic instability. From the rest of the world’s economies, Germany registered an index of 113.9, a figure up by 1.9 from the previous recordings (The Forex Market n.p). The figures indicate the current conditions and future projection of economic growth. The survey analyzed more than 7000 businesses, and the realization of a positive index indicates growth in the economy. The growth in the economy represents an improvement in the gross domestic income contributed to by an increase in net exports. The US Euro economy rarely benefits from variety of economy injections because of its weaker currency, which only favors the exports thereby discouraging local manufacturers who become less competitive. There exists a cut of close to a

Course Management Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Course Management Systems - Essay Example They can also assist instructors with furthering their Internet class options through the use of features like discussions, Emails, and quizzes (Cole and Foster, 2007). A teacher can also store a syllabus, lecture notes, and other information on a server, if desired. Another beneficial feature is the use of the open forum discussion, which allows for asynchronous classroom participation; thus, this makes it much easier for both professors and students to find the time to interact (Cole and Foster, 2007). Synchronous tools include the chat feature, which some instructors like to use to setup office hours with their students, or question and answer sessions via an appointment (Cole and Foster, 2007). Assignments in Moodle are particularly easy to grade, as the CMS uses a dropbox feature for written assignments, and this information, when graded, goes right into the gradebook, and can be privately viewed by the student, thus keeping the school in line with FERPA guidelines (Moodle Docs, n.d.) Moodle has an extreme advantage over some other online platforms because it is relatively inexpensive. For instance, one can actually sign up for a free trial, meaning that Moodle is an open source (Cole and Foster, 2007). ... Since online technology is becoming more and more important in education as online education becomes increasingly popular, Moodle allows individuals to be able to do several things in an online or traditional course via the Internet that were not possible less than a decade before. Educators throughout the country are still debating about how to combine technology for both online teaching, face-to-face meetings, and classes that use both online and face-to-face meetings, designated as hybrid courses. Hybrid courses generally utilize both solid aspects of face-to-face learning with the Internet software available to give students a credible learning experience overall, especially if the students still require some face to face interaction.Furthermore, Moodle is a very effective tool as far as Social Constructionist theory is concerned. Social Constructivism states that an individual or group will learn best when he or she or they are experiencing a social process of constructing ideas through the act of constructing an artifact for others (Cole and Foster, 2007). Therefore, in order to effectively learn, one most place oneself in the process of negotiating meaning in a culture of shared artifacts and symbols. The use of Moodle software effectively offers this, because it allows for the individual to be able to learn in a variety of ways; through chats, through discussions, via Email and assignments, through feedback from the instructor, through interaction with peers, and, if a traditional or hybrid course, through face to face learning (Cole and Foster, 2007).Another reason to consider Moodle is the fact that it holds up

Reflection on social media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reflection on social media - Essay Example The cons of social media use in my organization mainly include the tendency of workers to use the office time for personal tasks e.g. blogging and chatting rather than for work leading to reduced productivity of workers, increased susceptibility to release of secret information or strategic plans to external entities, occasional experience of difficulty in using personal USB devices at the workplace, chances of distorted relations among peers or with bosses because of non-acceptance of friends requests or adjustments of the personal profile settings, and increased awareness about the ongoing changes and happenings in the personal and social lives of the workers occasionally leading to doubts and curiosity. Since use of social media is a very important element of work in my organization, management assumes huge responsibility of training the workers in the use of social media to ensure that the policies are complied with. My organization achieves this by introducing the new employees to the policy of our hospital on the use of the Internet as well as social media within the very first week of the commencement of service. In addition to that, every year, employees of the Department of Defense and military conduct a mandatory online class on the hospital’s policies on media and the Internet. These measures have helped create awareness regarding the organizational policies on the use of social media among the organizational personnel. Management ensures compliance with these policies on the part of the workers by holding the violators accountable for the violations of the policies and imposing fines upon them. Because of this, violation of policies at my organization happens very r arely and the system is

Immunosurveillance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Immunosurveillance - Essay Example There is a third element in the research for investigating interactions between the immune system and neoplasia. This is that neoplasia deliberately develop certain defence mechanisms against the incumbent system in such a manner that they successfully evade punitive action (Chernock et al, Undated). This paper's purpose is to investigate what these evasive strategies may be and how they assist neoplasia to evade immune reaction. In the 1950s Lewis Thomas and Sir MacFarlane Burnet postulated the theory positing that effector cells of the immune system constantly patrol the body to actively identify and eradicate incipient tumour cells (Ichim, 2005). In the 1970, subsequent research found that T-cells may be implicated in this defensive mechanism (Ichim, 2005). This theory fell out of favour in the 1980s as research studies noted certain discrepancies in it but, in the 1990s, it was again revived because subsequent research studies noted that it was partially viable (Bhardwaj, 2007). It is observed that both the innate immune system - phagocytes, NK cells, NKT cells, cytokines, proteins, etc. - and the adaptive immune system - B- and T-cells, etc. - do fight neoplasia but, ultimately, it is observed for most spontaneous tumours that the overall immune system fails to entirely rid the organism of the cancerous cells. This is so as per three acknowledged phases to the immune response - 1) the elimination phase during which nascent tumourous cells are eliminated by the immune system; 2) the equilibrium phase when the tumour cells persist but are held in abeyance by the immune system; and 3) the escape phase when the tumour cells develop strategies to combat the immune system (Bhardwaj, 2007). This is the whole concept of 'immunoediting' and the last phase - the escape phase - is the one the paper is interested in because it is the one in which the neoplasia develop successful strategies in evading immune reaction. Evasive Strategies The evasive strategies adopted by neoplasia may be pre-existing or adaptive. Since such develop from healthy normal cells, some of the progenitor cells' evasive strategies pre-exist in them (Chernock et al, Undated). Pre-existing Strategies: Normal cells are incorporated by certain mechanisms that assist them in evading the body's own immune reactions. Such mechanisms may be self-tolerance, shielding from proper surveillance, antigen shedding, lymphocyte killing, secretion of immunosuppressive cytokines, lack of MHC2 expression, lack of co-stimulatory molecules and local secretion of prostaglandins and neuropeptides. These strategies are often sustained in neoplasm (Chernock et al, Undated). They ultimately, to a large extent, help the mutant cells maintain themselves with impunity in the organism's body. Adaptive Strategies: Nevertheless, such mutant cells are altered and have certain distinct proteins that differ from normal cells and these may be recognised by the immune system. To evade this eventuality such cells develop strategies that are not inherited from normal cells but are variants developed customarily by the mutant cells themselves as per requirements. Such adapted strategies may be up-regulation of the evasive tactics of healthy cells still existing in the mutants,

Innovations in on-line payment systems for retail customers Thesis

Innovations in on-line payment systems for retail customers - Thesis Example Master’s Thesis INNOVATIONS IN ON-LINE PAYMENT SYSTEMS FOR RETAIL CUSTOMERS MICHAEL YUSHCHENKO INNOVATIONS IN ON-LINE PAYMENT SYSTEMS FOR RETAIL CUSTOMERS Master’s Thesis At the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management Supervised by Dr. Dirk Rudolph Prof. Dr. ... The cash is transformed into electronic format. There are many types of payment systems in the world now, but the doubt lies in matters of security. It is very important to identify the secure way of online payment mode. In e-commerce the transaction usually takes place between the client, the trader and the bank. The client transfers the money to the seller through the web with the help of online banking services and the desired product is delivered to the buyer at his/ her doorstep (Abrazhevich 1-3). An electronic payment system must have the following characteristics: Security: The most important thing in online payment system is the security of transaction. Unfortunately, the electronic money is considered a simple file like the other files, which can be copied. So the problem of copying or double spending of the money should be avoided. Transferability: This deals with the transfer of funds from one account to another without a bank intermediary. Flexibility: The payment gateway must give enough flexibility to the buyers and sellers to make payments from alternative forms payment options. Reliability: The payment system must be available to eliminate system errors (Bhasker 357-358). It has been studied that in the year 2010, the market share for credit card payments has increased about 40 percent in North America. Due to this reason, American Express has launched digital payment systems in the year 2011. This would offer different forms of payment systems to the customers. In Latin America about 70 percent of the customers prefer online payment systems to traditional payment methods. In Brazil systems like SafetyPay, and BrasPag are working together to bring about a revolution in the online payment market.

Indian Automobile Industry Essay Example for Free

Indian Automobile Industry Essay These include passenger cars which are divided into following 6 categories depending upon length: 1. Mini – Car length upto 3400 mm – Maruti 800 and REVA 2. Compact – Length between 3401 and 4000 mm – Maruti Alto, Tata Indica, Hyundai Santro 3. Midsize – Length between 4001 and 4500 mm – Maruti Esteem, Tata Indigo, Hyundai Accent 4. Executive – Length between 4501 and 4700 mm – Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic 5. Premium – Length between 4701 and 5000 mm – Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata 6. Luxury – Length above 5000 mm – Mercedes S-class 2. Utility Vehicles: Tata Sumo and Safari, Toyota Qualis. 3. Multi Utility Vehicles: Maruti Omni and Versa 4. Commercial Vehicles These are divided into 2 categories according to the loads they can carry: 4. 1. Light Commercial Vehicles – Gross vehicle weight limit is 7. 5 tonnes – Cargo, Tempo, Mini Buses, and Mini Trucks etc. Major players are Tata Motors Ltd. , Swaraj Mazda Ltd. , Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. 2. Medium Heavy Commercial Vehicles – Gross vehicle weight limit is above 7. 5 tonnes – Cargo, Trucks, Buses, Trailers. Tata Motors Ltd. and Ashok Leyland Ltd are major players. Scope of Study and Methodology. We begin with an overview of the automobile industry followed by a competitive analysis of the â€Å"Passenger Cars† part of the industry on the following criteria: †¢ Product †¢ Brand †¢ Pricing †¢ Distribution †¢ Marketing Communication In each of these contexts, we try to compare the strategies used by players in different segments: from entry level A segment, to most-competitive B-segment to niche SUVs. We cite examples from cars that have been really successful in any parameter as well as the debacles. Finally, we segment the consumer based on our primary research and discuss their distinctive characteristics. On the basis of our study, we infer the critical factors for success in market and derive insights out of the study. To carry out the above study, we carried out: Secondary research: We scoured the internet including industry data from SIAM and IBEF. We referred to old newspaper and magazine articles as required. This was primarily our basis for competitive analysis. Primary Research: To understand the consumer mindset, we carried out a survey. This survey was conducted online as well as in 14-sector market, Gurgaon. The survey had 94 respondents as below: [pic] We supplemented the survey with interviews Customer Relations Manager at Orion Hyundai and Apra-Motors Maruti showroom. Overview of Indian Passenger Vehicles Industry Indian economy has grown at an average rate of above 8% in the last 5 years and services followed by industrial production have made excellent contributions to this growth. Auto industry has contributed to the GDP to the tune of 5%. The Passenger Vehicles (PV) market grew 14% YoY to 1. 76 million units as against 1. 54 million units sold in last financial year(FY 06-07). It is mainly on account of the impressive growth in the passenger car segment which contributed 80% to the total Passenger Vehicle sales in financial year 2007-08. It (PV) was backed by healthy growth in its domestic sales and exports. Domestic sales grew 12% YoY to 1. 54 million units in financial year 2007-08, whereas the exports increased by 9. 4% YoY to 2. 1 lakhs units in the same time. Over the last five years total PV production has increased at a CAGR of 19. 5%, from 7. 2 lakhs units in 2002-03 to 1. 76 million units in 2007-08. The growth was mainly made possible due to 2 major factors: 1. The continuous improvement in the living standards of the middle class, and subsequent increase in their disposable incomes. 2. the liberalization steps taken by the Indian Government such as relaxation of the foreign exchange and equity regulations, reduction of import tariffs, and refining the banking policies have played an equally important role in bringing the Indian Automobile industry to present level. Add to this the easy availability of components and competence; the global auto companies are looking at India as the manufacturing hub for the next generation models. India is poised to become small car hub, not only in terms of production but also product development. Global car majors like Nissan, Hyundai, General Motors, Mercedes Benz and Renault have made huge investments owing to the positive sentiment in the market. Major Manufacturers in Passenger Cars Industry in India are: †¢ Maruti Udyog Ltd. (45% market share) †¢ Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (16%) †¢ Honda Motors †¢ Tata Motors Ltd. (14%) Overall, there is still just 1 car per 100 people in India as against 74 cars per 100 in US. Thus, Indian market has a huge potential in future. Competitive Analysis Product level Analysis. Here, we study the product strategy of automobile industry from a marketing point of view. We begin with a study of customer-value hierarchy, of which the marketer needs to address each of the five levels while planning product offering. Then in product differentiation we study different factors on which car is differentiated. Customer-Value Hierarchy (Product levels): |Core benefit |It is the service or benefit the customer is really buying. In case of automobiles those benefits are | | |convenience, transportation, speed. | |Basic product |At second level the core benefit is turned into basic product. In the case the product is car. It | | |typically includes an IC engine, mechanism to provide motion and steering, chassis. | |Expected product |At the third level, an expected product is prepared which includes a set of attributes and conditions | | |buyers normally expect when they purchase a product. All car buyers expect comfort, safety and | | |functional characteristics (fuel economy, handling, repair frequency etc). Other expectations differ | | |from one segment of buyers to other. For a middle class buyer value for money is important for e. g. | | | Maruti 800 but for an upper class buyer where money is not an issue, prestige is the criteria for e.g. | | |Hyundai Tucson, Jaguar etc. Other expectations include good sound system, leather upholstery, more | | |seating capacity, more power etc. | |Augmented product |It is a product that exceeds consumer expectations. It is created by inclusion of additional features, | | |benefits, attributes or related services that serve to differentiate the product from its competitors. | | |For automobile industry these features include insurance service, test drive, attractive offers, after | | |sales service, availability of service centres, easy financing options such as EMIs, wide dealer | | |network etc. | |Potential product |It encompasses all the possible augmentations and transformations the product or offering might undergo| | |in the future. These include latest technology, design changes etc for e. g. Design of Maruti 800 has | | |changed consistently over the years. | Product Differentiation: |Features |Cars are often offered with varying features that supplement their basic function. For e. g. Hyundai i10| | |(a compact car) boasts of features similar to a sedan. | |Performance quality |Performance is becoming an increasingly important dimension for differentiation. Car companies invest | | |hugely on RD to come up with new improved engines so that performance can be improved. For e. g. Santro| | |Xing considers its eRLX engine as a differentiator. | |Reliability |It is a measure of the probability that a product will not malfunction or fail within a specified time | | |period. Maruti Omni is one such car; it is differentiated as a ‘faithful workhorse’. | |Style |It describes the product’s look and feel to the buyer. It is very important because even before | | |performance people judge a car by its look. Swift DZire from Maruti stable claims itself as ‘the heart | | |car’ with striking looks. | |Design |Apart from look and feel, this factor takes into account the function of the product as well. Maruti | | |SX4 claims of revolutionary European design. | Brand Maruti 800, the entry level car in the Indian market, has long been positioned as the family car. While it competes against bigger B-segment cars, its sales have been cannibalized recently by Alto whose basic model is priced jus Rs. 30,000 above the basic M800. Through the Alto, Maruti is trying to move the consumer up the value chain. M800 has also been targeting the semi-urban and rural areas where it is positioned as an alternative to two-wheeler. To see how to manage an automobile brand through its product life cycle, we look at Santro Xing and Tata Indica. Both were launched around 10 years ago, and have evolved and repositioned themselves successfully. Santro was launched in 1998 as an upgrade for the entry-level car and positioned as a family car targeted at 35-40 year olds. In 2003, the product was refreshed as Santro Xing. The brand now aimed to appeal to the first time car buyers rather than be an upgrade. To catch the young buyers in 25-30 year age group, the brand was positioned as the â€Å"Sunshine car. † Sunshine was communicating two intangibles: Freshness and youthful attitude. The brand moved to a Change your life positioning. Today, Santro is facing declining phase in maturity stage in its PLC. The sales have stagnated and price war from Maruti and a slew of new launches in compact car segment have hurt the sales of Santro. Santro is banking on price cuts and sales promotions to stay afloat. Hyundai has recently launched a new brand i10 to take the place of Santro. Similarly, Tata Motors recently launched the new generation Indica Vista. This is an update on Indica V2’s seven variants. Over the years, Tata has invested heavily in product and brand development, yet the sales of Indica have recently declined. This is because the product has reached the declining maturity stage. And to counter this, Tata’s have gone in for strategy of product modification. Indica Vista is Tatas entry into the luxury hatchback segment which is dominated by Maruti Swift and has new entrants like Hyundai i10. The original Indica has also been retained in the product line. These two product lines together offer a wide choice to the customers from price points of Rs 2. 80 lakhs to Rs 5 Lakhs. The Indica Vista has a new tagline of â€Å"Changes Everything† is used to communicate that the brand has changed. The ads are also more tuned to attract the new generation. However, the core strength of the brand remains its value proposition. In the C and D segment, the cars are positioned on distinct personalities rather than benefits or attributes. For example, when GM launched Optra against heavy-weights such as Honda City and Sonata, it aimed at an emotional positioning platform. The brand, which was targeted at executives in age 30-45, tried to communicate Love, Care and Warmth as its core values. To convey this, Optra used an apt tagline, â€Å"For a special journey called life. † Niche cars use their own unique appeals e. g. SUVs such as Scorpio position on their size and sense of adventure. Thus, we have seen that while brands manage to differentiate from each other through a unique proposition, there is some commonality in how cars are positioned within each segment. Pricing Pricing decisions are management decisions about what to charge for the products and services that the companies deliver. In car industry, the pricing decisions vary from segment to segment. In entry level cars, the companies price the cars low and give all basic features a car would offer. This segment had a monopoly in India with Maruti 800 being the sole player. Maruti has traditionally been employing promotional schemes to increase the sales of Maruti 800 rather than decreasing its price. In compact car segment, the cars cater to the affluent middle-class people who wish to graduate to cars which provide extra glamour compared to entry level cars. Due to fierce competition in this segment price emerges as an important factor affecting the purchasing decision of consumers. Hence the pricing decision is not only dependent on the perceived value of the customer but also dependent on the competitor’s pricing strategies. Maruti’s aggressive price reduction of Alto has displaced Hyundai’s Santro from No. 1 spot in 2004. In Mid-size segment, as the customers’ aspirations are more inclined towards design, advanced features and luxury the car offers, pricing doesn’t play as big a role as it does in compact segment. In fact, there is a tag of premiumness attached to the price in this segment. As an example, Hyundai Elantra’s sales dropped when its price had been reduced from Rs. 10lakh to Rs. 8 lakh. Distribution This section is explained through the study the supply chain at Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL). Logistics goes beyond mere distribution management. It is improving the quality of the supply chain itself to achieve a cost-effective distribution mechanism. This is the philosophy which drives Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL), the countrys biggest passenger car manufacturer. Dependent on over 300 suppliers for some 7,000 components that go into its 9 major models and their 200 variants, the company keeps control over costs at every stage to remain competitive. This is achieved only through close coordination with the vendors. The streamlined state of supply chain at Maruti is achieved through following measures: †¢ It implements innovative material handling solutions which reduces wastage. †¢ It collaborates with its vendors to localize components supply. This not only increases productivity but also removes uncertainties in supply. †¢ The schedule for indenting components is precisely planned so that inventory holding process is optimized. The schedules issued every fortnight are further fine tuned by an online system for replenishment of inventory on an electronic card system. This avoids inventory build up or unanticipated deliveries by vendors as supplies are made only after receipt of the indent card from MUL. This brings inventory management down to the doorsteps of the vendors, who produce only what is indented †¢ The delivery instruction are revised daily and location wise to exactly meet the assembly line requirements. This strategy is adopted to tackle the fluctuating market demand, accentuated by the intense competition in the automobile business now. †¢ Various steps are taken to improve the productivity of operator and machine and reducing and recycling waste. Marketing Communication Hyundai, a Korean car company launched its first car, SANTRO in 1998. They had many challenges as Maruti had a strong hold over the car market, and people were not willing to accept the tall boy car. Moreover the customers were skeptical regarding after sales-service support and spares availability and had limited belief in the Korean car company. Hyundai came up with advertisements which focused on car quality. They had Shahrukh Khan as their brand ambassador. They started with teaser ads but later promoted it as the ‘Sunshine Car indicating freshness and youthful attitude Maruti, on the other hand, concentrated on its wide service network and spare parts availability, Hyundai gave a lot of stress on car features in its advertisement for e. g. Hyundai came up with Zip drive. In 2003 a new trend was seen where in advertisements of Mahindra Bolero, Mahindra Scorpio and Hyundai Santro, women were seen driving the car. Thus targeting the fast growing working women segment. Hyundai has come up with special schemes for working women. They are also offering loans to women at 0. 75% lower rate of interest than the market rate. MSIL and GM India have introduced special financing schemes to attract customers from semi urban and rural areas. In 2007 when Maruti launched SX4, they positioned it as a ‘manly car’ through their ads. Xeta introduced by Tata was aimed at rendering better fuel efficiency at a competitive price and the ads highlighted it. They aimed to create a unique brand identity in petrol segment and promoted it through ads, print media ads, internet and test drive. In 2002 Hyundai topped TV advertising in 2002 but from 2003 Maruti picked up and came to number one slot. About 50% of the advertisement is done during feature films and news bulletin. For the newly launched i10 Hyundai has aggressively advertised it by posters of i10 throughout the showroom and hanging banners. (see examples of print ads of cars in various segments in Annexure 2) Consumer Segments and their Distinctive Characteristics. Instead of developing segment profiles based on secondary research, we categorised consumers based on our interviews with car dealers and the survey we conducted across various consumer categories. Through this primary data, we identified three broad kind of customers based on their distinctive buying behaviours. †¢ Analytical customer: One who buy car after researching internet and other sources. These customers are aware of the various options available in the market and know what car they need to buy even before their first visit to the dealer. This is usually a middle-class price conscious consumer looking to obtain value for his money. †¢ Confused customer: The biggest category of consumers; those who don’t know which car to buy because they have been the target of a lot of promotions and heard Word-of-Mouth from friends, family and other influencers. These customers have a fair amount of idea of the price and other attributes of the car they want to buy but can’t decide on the actual model. These customers buy the car after a proper need analysis has been done at the car dealer’s showroom. †¢ Copy-cat Customer: The last is the category of the customers who buy a car after seeing a similar car with their friends or neighbours. These people want some exact colour and model and cannot be classified as rational consumers. This category is constituted of those customers who do impulse buying. Further, we look at the consumer for each segment. We observe that in the B-segment a customer usually goes for value-for-money proposition. 67% respondents gave a rating of 4 or 5 to price as a critical factors while buying a car while 74. 4% respondents gave mileage same importance. Most of these people preferred cars priced around 4-6 lakhs. The C and D segment cars sell because their various attributes communicate a certain image. Here, the customer looks for attributes like power, newest technology and exclusivity. Out of the 32 people who rated technology as 5 and 19 people who rated power as 5, majority of them considered buying a car in the price range of 6 lakhs and above. Resale value of the car and the number of service stations is crucial deal-maker. Most of the consumers and the company people also say that the ad campaigns and the endorsements don’t play a major role in deciding which car to buy apart from creating awareness about the launch and availability of the new model. Only 6% of people rated endorsements as 5 as a deciding criteria. SUVs are normally the second or third car in the family. These consumers do not buy on the value proposition but rather on the image proposition. Seating capacity, premium image, innovative features and a need to portray an adventurous image are some of the benefits that a customer seeks from the SUV that he is buying. The survey results also depict that consumers are more inclined towards new models launched in the market including new variants of old cars. Maruti SX4, Hyundai i10 and Maruti Swift are the cars that appeal to most of the respondents. Factors Critical for Success. Selling a car is part delivering product and part providing service. So the car manufacturer has to ensure both quality of the product and the experience of using it. However, we must understand that the typical customer for a B-segment car differs significantly from that of an SUV. His lifestyle, his car usage, and his expectations from his vehicle change. In the B segment, there are three factors critical for success: †¢ Value for Money- This is a price-conscious consumer. For a car, price constitutes one time purchase price, as well as the petrol costs reflected in the mileage. In our survey as well as our talk we the Hyundai dealer †¢ After sales service network- When we asked the Hyundai dealer, what was the one thing a new player needed to provide to compete with them or Maruti, we met one word response: service. In fact, the dealer provided the example of Ford saying, while their cars had great engine and quality, they couldnt compete nationally because of poor after sales service network. Ford has now made a tie-up with Tatas to rectify the same. †¢ Product Quality- Since, the car market works essentially through Word-of-Mouth, it is crucial that you product meets the consumer expectation. Else, you run the risk of losing the customer not only from this car, but your company altogether, and taking additional potential customers with him. As we move into C-segment, value for money becomes lower in priority for the customer. He is looking for a status symbol now. These critical factors come in †¢ Prestige- There must be a buzz around your brand and the brand should have a premium image. †¢ Power The cars in this category have more power giving a better pick-up and smoother drive. †¢ Latest technology- The sedans are known for newest innovative technology and the customers are seen to prefer product innovations. †¢ Safety Safety features have often been neglected in the Indian markets. But typically sedans come fitted with the state of the art safety features. Insights derived out of Study †¢ Buying a car is a family decision- this held true across the board in our survey, with majority of respondents owning one family-per-car. However, the women are not much of an influencer while buying a car- in fact, most hesitated to respond to the survey, pushing their accompanying male ahead. †¢ Hyundais strength is technology and product quality, while people look to Maruti for good after sales service and high resale value. †¢ Dealer-manufacturer relationship is crucial- car companies depend on the dealers to tap the nerve of the local consumers. So the relationship between the company and the dealer needs to be good. In most cases the companies allow the dealers to run local promotional schemes and take other such initiatives. †¢ Endorsements and advertisements have minimal influence on customer decision (the B-segment). From the survey, we infer that when a middle class customer is shelling Rs 4-6 Lakhs from his pocket, he normally does considerable research before buying a car. †¢ Safety provisions- Indian car manufacturers do not provide ABS and airbags as standard safety features in entry level and B segment cars, while they do so in models they export. The consumer is also not demanding these yet. †¢ Cars are still a prestige issue in the semi urban and rural areas. Many consumers in these areas buy those cars which their neighbours have bought. †¢ Car awards and launch of a new model boost up the sales overtime. But the real sales happen only because of the quality of the product and not because of promotion.

Recommendation Brief for an Internal Accountant Essay Example for Free

Recommendation Brief for an Internal Accountant Essay Currently, a client with an out-of-control system is grasping for a change in order to regain their internal controls. For any company, internal controls are highly important for success. Internal controls assist with minimizing mistakes and dishonesty; however will not completely eliminate them. The client has an out-of-control system in operation and will definitely benefit from having an internal accountant. Therefore, it is extremely recommended that a well-qualified internal accountant be hired by the company. An internal accountant will provide management with the necessary information needed to handle issues that arise, as well as preform system audits to maintain internal accountability. Setting forth a reliable internal audit system will build stability within the company and assist with violations occurring with laws and regulations. The role of an internal accountant will include, but are not limited to, working closely with the owners and department managers to evaluate the company’s performance in the most vital areas of operation and review the policies and procedures to ensure they are in line with the company’s mission and goals. More specifically, the internal accountant will evaluate the assets, financial accuracy, and that the standards of the government and industry are being followed correctly. The internal accountant will also serve as a security measure for the company and their assets. To directly describe the responsibility of an internal accountant the first action would be to assess the current system and create a plan of action to correct it. The audit will be focusing on deficiencies and areas of improvement. The plan will consist of correcting the items found to be working against the company and implementing suggested changes within. Once the internal accountant has completed their assessment, a formal written recommendation describing the current control system and the deficiencies, along with an explanation of how management can correct and improve the issues. The hiring of an internal accountant has many advantages, especially for a company with an out-of-control system such as  the client . The first would be the money saving attribute because there would be no need to hire an outside auditor. Minimizing deficiencies to prevent a long-term negative affect is another hopeful advantage, as well as improving the overall functioning of the company to be more efficient in operations and successful in hitting the company’s mission and goals that have been set. The ideal candidate for the internal accountant position will pose an exceptional knowledge base of the company’s industry operations and goals. This candidate will have access to confidential information that others may not possess, therefore being part of the company’s staff will be able to conduct evaluations of the system and provide management with the necessary tools to correct issues as they surface. Specific qualifications and requirements need to play a major role in the hiring process of the internal accountant. These items would include the proper amount of education and experience, to include the required licensing to conduct the appropriate job functions legally. Experience will play a pri mary role when it comes to written reports and timely problem solving techniques for the current out-of-control system. The client advantage to hiring a candidate with a certain amount of knowledge of the industry would be that the candidate will already have a direction based off of what they know works versus what does not work. As a final part to the hiring process, the internal accountant should display personal attributes that include basic characteristics. Attributes such as being confident, trustworthy, open-minded, and observant. Many other qualities would be looked upon as well. Thus, a recommendation to hire a well-qualified, knowledgeable, and experienced internal accountant would be an extreme advantage for the client. The client will need to display an open line of communication and maintain that communication for the success of the company’s internal controls. References FDIC. (2013, September 16). FDIC LAws, Regulations, Related Acts. Retrieved from Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/5000-3250.html

Smartphone Operating Systems: Evaluation Enhancements

Smartphone Operating Systems: Evaluation Enhancements Muneer Ahmad Dar Javed Parvez Abstract—The increasing number of mobile operating systems that operates the small hand held devices called the Smartphone, has become integral part of our lives. The openness of these new environments has lead to new domain of apps and markets and has enabled greater integration with existing online services like e-banking etc. Smartphone makers are competing in turns to trump each other for storage, processor speed, platform compatibility and camera megapixels but it’s the largely software the mobile OS that makes the biggest difference to the popularity and market share of Smartphone. This paper evaluates the popular Smartphone Operating Systems with the purpose of understanding the user friendliness, popularity, user privacy and security and accessibility with the wide range of apps. Our research focused on the advantages and limitations of the Smartphone operating systems with the intension to find out if one of them has an edge on the other and finally we propos e the enhancements so as to make them more user friendly and secure. Keywords: mobile Operating Systems; Smartphone; Apps; Processor speed; Megapixels; Security; Accessibility. Introduction Smartphone have become indispensible part of our life and everyone who uses it is getting addicted. Smartphone provides a wide variety of apps ranging from social networking to GPS based location searching that are useful for everyone in their day today tasks. In a study of 1,600 people including managers and professionals [1], Leslie Perlow, found that: 70% people said they check their Smartphone within an hour of getting up. 56% check their phone within an hour of going to sleep. 48% check over the weekend, including on Friday and Saturday nights. 51% check continuously during vacation. 44% said they would experience a great deal of anxiety if they lost their phone and couldnt replace it for a week. With these many professionals becoming dependent on Smartphone, which has necessary components of the computing platform: an operating system, applications and hardware. The main component of a Smartphone on which its functionality depends is the operating system ASmartphone,tablet or any other digitalmobile device is operated by the Operating system called the mobile OS. Modern mobile operating systems includes all the features of apersonal computeroperating system and in addition to that includes the features like atouch screen,cellular,Bluetooth,Wi-Fi,speech recognition,voice recorder, GPS mobile navigation,camera,video camera,music player etc. The Smartphone operating system (OS) development has grown to include competitors such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Symbian, and Palm with each of them trying to make it more user friendly and secure. Although these operating system platforms are trying their best and have come achieved a lot since their inception, none of these Smartphone companies provide a mobile OS that is ideal and satisfies all the users in terms of user friendliness and privacy. They claim that their platforms perform the best in all situations and will certainly not advertise any weakness with their Operating systems. This makes it difficult for end users particularly to a novice user to know which platform is best suited for their need. In this paper, we perform a comprehensive analysis of each mobile operating system in order to identify the strengths of one Operating System over other operating system. Section II gives the overview of various Smartphone operating systems. In section III we identify the limitations of mobile operating systems. In section IV we propose the enhancements which could be implemented in the Smartphone Operating Systems and finally we draw our conclusions in section V. Smartphone Operating Systems ANDROID Andy Rubin, Google’s director of mobile platforms, commented â€Å"There should be nothing that users can access on their desktop that they can’t access on their cell phone.† [1]. with this vision the popularity of smart phones having Google’s Android Operating System is continuously on the rise in the 21st century. .Android is a comprehensive operating environment based on Linux kernel, it is also a layered system; the architecture of Android system is shown as in picture [3]. Applications layer is the site of all Android applications including an email client, SMS program, maps, browser, contacts, and others. All applications are written using the Java programming language. Application framework layer defined the Android application framework. All Android applications are based on the application framework. The Android application framework including: A rich and extensible set of Views that can be used to build an application with beautiful user interface, including lists, grids, text boxes, buttons, and even an embeddable web browser. A set of Content Providers that enable applications to access data from other applications (such as Contacts), or to share their own data. A Resource Manager that provides access to non code resources such as localized strings, graphics, and layout files A Notification Manager that enables all applications to display custom alerts in the status bar. An Activity Manager that manages the lifecycle of applications and provides a common navigation back stack.[1]. Figure 1: Android System Architecture [3] Some of the advantages of Android over other Smartphone operating systems is listed as under. The ability to run tens of thousands of apps just like the iPhone but with choice of phone models that you can choose from. The choice of with or without physical keyboard, shape, color, phone size, screen size, manufacturer, features, and phone carrier. No more monopoly by one company on one carrier. Android allow developers/programmers to develop apps (applications) in what is known as application without borders. Android is beginner friendly and supremely customizable the more you use Googles services, the more Android will shine Android has the majority of the market and the user experience is improving quickly. Google’s Android Now checks your location and calendar to automatically show you relevant info e.g. traffic to work, cafes, and flight details and lets you search with natural voice commands and replies with natural speech. Android is an open source service. This means that it’s free and anyone can use it. Anyone can modify and improve the software making it more effective and personalized. Applications are freely made and designed for Android by numerous app developers all over the world and these apps are offered for free on the Android market place. This feature of open source has also attracted mobile phone producers to manufacture phones using Android OS Android is not just an operating system designed for individuals but it also fulfills your business needs at the same time. Android market place offers numerous apps that are specially designed to manage your business. Now you can have a closer look at your business processes on the go with the help of these apps. IPHONE OS iOS is the mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. It is the second most commonly used operating system behind Google’s Android. Unlike Android it can be installed only on Apple’s hardware. The iPhone OS has seen a rapid rise in popularity and garnered a large and dedicated user base. The iPhone OS has risen so far and so fast primarily due to the innovations on user interface and availability of 3rd party applications [11]. Unlike the Android security architecture, iOS security model provides different philosophy for achieving mobile device security and user’s protection. The iOS application platform empowers developers to create new applications and to contribute to the application store. However, each application submitted by a third party developer is sent to the revision process. During the revision process the application code is analyzed by professional developers who make sure that the application is safe before it is released the application store. However, such an application, when installed, gets all the permissions on a mobile device. Application might access local camera, 3G/4G, Wi-Fi or GPS module without users knowledge. While Android lets each user handle its own security on their own responsibility, the iOS platform makes developers to write safe code using iOS secure APIs and prevents malicious applications from getting into the app store. The iOS security APIs are located in the Core Services layer of the operating system and are based on services in the Core OS (kernel) layer of the operating system [14]. Application that needs to execute a network task, may use secure networking functions through the API called CFNetwork , located in the Core Services layer. The iOS security implementation includes a daemon called the Security Server that implements several security protocols. The Security Server has no API with public access. Instead, applications use the Keychain Services API, the Certificate, Key, and Trust services API, which in turn gets access with the Security Server. SYMBIAN The Symbian OS was designed specifically for mobile devices with its small memory footprint and consumes low power. It is an open OS, enabling third party developers to write and install applications independently from the device manufacturers. An extensive C++ API is provided which allows access to services such as telephony and messaging, in addition to basic OS functionality. The Symbian OS was designed so applications could run for years without losing the user data. Also the OS has the capability of being platform independent and can run on more than one hardware platform [6, 7, 8, 9]. WINDOWS MOBILE This platform is based on Windows CE (WinCE). WinCe is a compact OS specifically designed for pervasive devices. It is focused on providing a consistent interface for applications on various hardware platforms which emphasizes portability by providing the user with the Win32 API. The hardware platforms include Packet PCs, Smartphone, Portable Media Centers, and even onboard computers in automobiles. The Windows Mobile platform was designed for flexibility and with the developer in mind. For that reason it was designed to support lots of preemptive multitasking. It supports a whopping 256 priority levels for threads and up to 32 processes. It supports all of the standard mutual exclusion and synchronization methods you would expect from a desktop PC. This functionality makes it ideal for a Smartphone because the users typically demand multitasking and want to be as productive as possible [4, 7, 8, 9 ]. PALM OS Palm OS is a proprietary operating system originally developed by Palm Inc. In the early versions (preà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Garnet), the Palm OS was primarily utilized in Palmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ developed Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) mobile hardware units. At one point, Palm PDAs with the Palm OS held 85% of the market share in the mobile device market [12]. However, in recent years, Palms market share has been in decline, mostly due to the stagnant nature of the OS development and has yielded the leading position to Symbian [6, 7, 8, 12]. Limitations of Mobile Os As discussed in the previous sections, the mobile operating systems are competing for the major market share and are claiming to be the best for the users, yet they have number of limitations in their platforms which for obvious reasons they are not disclosing to their users. The malicious apps aimed at mobile devices have risen from about 14,000 to 40,000 in less than a year. This rise in the malicious apps requires the strong OS. The limitations of the Mobile operating systems are listed as under: All or No Permission: A user cannot grant single permissions, while rejecting others in order to install the app. Among the list of permissions an app might request a suspicious permission among the other legitimate permissions, will still be able to confirm the installation. Mobile devices may download malware which the mobile OS is not able to trace. The novice users may download apps that contain malware unknowingly because it can be disguised as a well known game, security patch by OS, utility, or other useful application. It is difficult for users to tell the difference between a legitimate app and one containing malware. Often, the users of the app cannot judge the appropriateness and legitimacy of permissions for the app in question. In some cases it may be well understood, for example when a chess game app requests the privilege to reboot the Smartphone or to send SMS messages. In many cases, however, users will simply not be able to understand the appropriateness of the permission. Functionality, which is supposed to be possible only given the appropriate permissions, can still be achieved with less number of permissions or even with none at all. In case of the iOS , the user is not at all informed about any of the permissions. The app can access any of the resources without the permission of the user. Resistance of Android and iOS against various attacks. Proposed OS Enhancements In order to enhance the security of the mobile operating systems we propose the following Enhancements: Need Based Permission System (NBS): The Need-Based Security (NBS) system designed to enhance the privacy of the user at run time. The main advantage of the proposed NBS system is that the user is informed about the authorized and unauthorized access of the resources at run time. The NBS system can be implemented in the operating system to provide the permissions at run time. Currently the Os is either including all the permissions without the information of the user as in case of iOS or it forces the user to accept all the permissions at install time as in case of the worlds popular OS Android. The most important file AndroidManifest.xml which lists the permissions of the app can be modified at run time by providing the need based permission system whenever the app is asking for the permission the user may be informed at that moment. For example, let us examine the Dial Kashmir app available on Google Play which gives all the details of Tourist places in Kashmir and contact details o f important places like universities, government offices etc. The main permission this app may require is the INTERNET. If it includes MANAGE_ACCOUNTS which is the permission that allows the app to retrieve the user account information from the phone, our operating system will get the permission from the user at run time to access the resource and if user allows then only the permission will be granted. The main advantage of our NBS system is that it gives freedom to the users and the programmers to write a code which does not result in usability issues. Need based permission system and getting permission approvals at run time is a relatively new but promising approach as it gives lot of freedom to the novice users. Security API: In order to deal with the malicious apps downloaded by the user, we propose a security API which can be integrated with the existing security framework of mobile operating system. The objective is to provide security against the Apps which are installed by the end user and is given all the permissions at the time of installation. This enhanced security has the desirable property of not disturbing a regular user in any noticeable way. In fact, the user need not even be aware that the Security API has been applied. We have to prevent the modification and access of data from mobile phones by other external malicious applications unknowingly. We propose an API which will enhance the security of existing Android Framework. The first step in our proposed security API is implemented by adapting an encryption technique utilizing Advanced Encryption Algorithm (AES) and applying it to all the personal files in the Smartphone. File operations offered by the proposed Security API should aid in the detection of potentially malicious Apps whose behavior matches that of Malware. Malware recognition is usually achieved by signature matching, heuristic analysis, or comparing hash-values Fig 4: Sequence Diagram of the System Conclusion The increasing trend of Smartphone usage by individuals of all ages has brought forward stiff competition between different Smartphone OS’s and Google’s Android OS. However, recent researches and reports revealed that the novice users are not secure on these platforms because of the limitations of these OS. We found different types of limitations in various mobile Os and particularly in Android and iOS which are the leading mobile Operating Systems. We found that there is a major need of modification in the permission based model of security system and we strongly recommended the implementation of Need based security system in the mobile operating systems so that the novice user can be informed at run time about the access to its various resources. References Perlow, L.A.: Sleeping with your smartphone:how to break the 24-7 habbit and change the way you work, Harvard Business review press, 2012. Kataria, A.; Anjali, T.; Venkat, R., Quantifying smartphone vulnerabilities,Signal Processing and Integrated Networks (SPIN), 2014 International Conference on, vol., no., pp.645,649, 20-21 Feb. 2014doi: 10.1109/SPIN.2014. Bornstein, Dan. 2008. â€Å"Dalvik VM Internals†. http://sites.google.com/site/io/dalvikà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ vmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ internals> Delac, G.; Silic, M.; Krolo, J., Emerging security threats for mobile platforms,MIPRO, 2011 Proceedings of the 34th International Convention, vol., no., pp.1468,1473, 23-27 May 2011 Muneer Ahmad Dar and Javed Parvez.: â€Å"A Novel Strategy to Enhance the Android Security Framework†.International Journal of Computer Applications91(8):37-41, April 2014. Published by Foundation of Computer Science, New York, USA. Cleron, Mike. â€Å"Androidology à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Part 2 of 3 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Architecture Overview. 11 November, 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL6gSd4ugSI> Cleron, Mike. â€Å"Androidology à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Part 3 of 3 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Architecture Overview. 11 November, 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPukbH6Dà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ lY> . [8] DeviceForge.com. 2006. â€Å"Sun blesses Java phone†. http://www.deviceforge.com/news/NS6109398413.html> (accessed 14 April 2009). Dilger, Daniel E. iPhone 2.0 SDK: The No Multitasking Myth. 13 March 2008. Roughly Drafted Magazine. http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/03/13/iphoneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 20 sdkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ theà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ noà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ multitaskingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ myth/> (accessed 8 February 2009). Dilger, Daniel E. â€Å"iPhone OS X Architecture: the Mach Kernel and RAM.† 13 July 2007. Roughly Drafted Magazine. http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2007/07/13/iphoneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ osà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ xà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ architectureà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ theà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ machà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ kernelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ andram/> Faas, Ryan and David Haskin. â€Å"Review: Which smart phone OS works best?†. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasicarticleId=9117021 [14]. Apple inc., iOS Reference Library, Security Overview, http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/Security/Conceptual/Security_Overview/Introduction/Introduction.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30000976-CH201-TPXREF101

An Analysis of Arnolds Essay, The Function of Criticism at The Present

Introduction The first thing to start with is the title. In order to understand Arnold’s essay we should first understand the title of the essay. As we notice that Matthew Arnold associates criticism with one function not many functions, but which function? He also mentions that this function of criticism is limited within a specific and particular time which is the present time and the past or the future time. Therefore, answering the questions of function and time of criticism goes with analyzing Matthew Arnold‘s essay through my reading of his essay. It becomes clear that Arnold defends the importance of criticism. That’s to say he tries to display that the critical mind is of a paramount importance as well as the creative mind. A Brief Biography Arnold, Matthew 1822-1888, English poet and critic, he was a leading literary figure of the Victorian period, and the foremost literary figure of his age. His writings have a distinct style which is characterized by the use of symbolism and earnestness. Arnold, Matthew was born in Lalehan, Middlesex; he is the son of Thomas Arnold, a famous historian and head master of rugby school the famous independent school. Arnold himself studied at this school and Balliol College, university of Oxford. In 1851, Arnold served as an inspector of schools for the British government. Most of his poems were published between 1849 and 1855. His first book of poetry, The Strayed Reveller and Other Poems, was published in 1849.his first piece as a critic was Preface to the Poems which appeared in 1853. In 1857, Arnold became a professor of poetry at Oxford University and retained this position for ten years 1867. In this essay, Arnold Matthew discusses the tenuous relationship between criticism and... ...ety. In fact, both art and society are closely late in Arnold’s world view, thus the first and the last purpose of the critic is to attain truth so as to enlarge ideas which will provide an intellectual atmosphere in the future. Conclusion To sum up, Matthew Arnold tries in his essay to provide a mode about the importance of criticism and to refute the idea that criticism is of less importance than the creative power, asserting that writing criticism actually produces in its practitioner a sense of ecstatic creative joy very similar to that enjoy by the person who engages in creative writing. Therefore, criticism should be disinterested and objective so as to obtain the best known and thought in the world. Matthew Arnold’s essay â€Å"The Function of Criticism in the Present Time†, is in fact an important critical work which theorises the politics of criticism.

Seeking a Self Satisfying Career Essay -- Teaching Teachers Education

Seeking a Self Satisfying Career Teachers are not normally viewed as being professionals. I do not believe that the teaching profession receives enough respect. I believe that teachers have one of the most important jobs because they have the future of the world in their hands. Before I decided that I wanted to teach, I knew how important being a teacher really is. Some of the most memorable people that have made a difference in my life were teachers. They listened when I had a problem, they taught me how to be a better person and they helped me through many difficult academic subjects. I hope to have a positive impact on the lives of my future students just like the special teachers I had in my own life. In my opinion, this is why the teaching profession is as important as or more important than any other profession. The purpose of an education is to make one self sufficient, responsible and be able to support themselves in the world. I attend college part time and work full time. There are some days that the stress of having so much to do and not enough time to do everything makes me feel like quitting. Then, I remember the goal that I am working toward and it inspires me to continue, because an education is a very important thing to have. The job that I have now is not self satisfying. It does not challenge me to use the knowledge that I have acquired in my classes. Everyday that I am at work, I think to myself â€Å"I will not be here forever†, that if I keep working hard and keep myself motivated to continue on it will be worth it in the end, one day I will be able to teach. When I become a teacher, there are several things I hope to accomplish. The biggest accomplishment is becoming a teach... ... If they work hard and follow their dreams, they can accomplish anything. When I finish at Concord College and receive my degree, I hope to start teaching as soon as possible. I will probably have to do some substitute teaching before I am lucky enough to receive a full time position. After I receive a full time position, I plan to receive a Master’s Degree. If everything goes as I have planned, I will take night classes during the school year and full time during the summer. I know that the more I better myself through school, the more money I will earn. I do not plan of getting rich from teaching that is not the reason I want to teach. I want to be able to live comfortably, but being a teacher is more important that money. People have always told me if I set my mind to something, I can do it. I hope this is true, because I truly hope to become a teacher.

Bamboo as a Sustainable Material of Architecture in Australia

Bamboo as asustainable stuffof architecture in Australia Subject: Material and sustainable design Abstraction: Bamboo is a stuff that is became much more application in day-to-day life. Architecture is one of using range that is increasing used. The bamboo’s architecture non merely bound on the topographic points such as East-Asia, South-Asia and South-America which is besides increasing applied in USA and Europe such as Germany, Spain and Italy. However, bamboo as a sustainable stuff of architecture, thedevelopmentof bamboo’sarchitecturein Australia is really slow. In Australia, there are merely really less architecture that is widely applied with bamboo. Most of them merely remain in the phase of bamboo’s flooring, furniture and ornaments. Hence, this paper investigated bamboo as a sustainable stuff of architecture in Australia. At the first, this paper studied the advantages and disadvantages of the Bamboo and the bamboo’s architecture in the whole universe to analysis the feasibleness of bamboo’s architecture in Australia. After that, this r esearch paper explore the history, recent state of affairs, coming development of bamboo and bamboo‘s architecture to analysis the job that is confronting and development of hereafter.AT last, this paper has a comparing between bamboo and wood and analysis that is wood became a. obstruction of the development of bamboo’s architecture. Introduction Bamboo is a stuff that has been used for different application such as cookery, cloths and vesture, agribusiness, arms, instruments, interior ornaments and edifice stuffs.Bamboo is widely used for constructing stuff in the East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia since thousand old ages ago. In 21th century, topographic point like American, Europe, start to use bamboo in architecture and application of bamboo in architecture is increasing. Although stuffs like masonry, concrete and steel are the chief building stuffs in the recent history of architecture, there is a social push for more sustainable architectural stuffs presents. Bamboo is an highly lasting stuff that has a possible to replace stuffs such as lumber and steel. However, there are a batch of factors that is impacting the application of bamboo in the architecture. This research paper studied the characteristic, advantages and disadvantages of bamboo and examined edifice that is applied bamboo in the whole universe. This p aper besides explored the history, recent state of affairs and future development of bamboo in Australia and one illustration of bamboo architecture in Australia is studied. In add-on, there is a comparing between Bamboo and wood. Analysis Advantages of Bamboo Bamboo has a good strength and lastingness, it can be stronger than oak, even steel, it is light and flexible at the same clip and has a good H2O opposition (green physique2012 ) . Bamboo has good temblor opposition, the bamboo of edifices in Colombia still stood strong when a 6.2 temblor was happened in January 1999 ( The Permaculture Research Institute 2011 ) . Bamboo is an environmental friendly stuff. Bamboo merely needs 30 MJ/m3per N/mm2, it is less than the energy demand of concrete, steel and lumber (J. Bamboo2003) . Hardwood trees release less 35 per centums oxygen than bamboo (Bamboo Grove Home2008 ) . Therefore, bamboo can run into the demand of energy efficiency that is more of import in presents. The regeneration of bamboo merely necessitate approximately two to three old ages, so bamboo can supply a big figure of resources in a short period ( J. Bamboo2003) . Each portion of the bamboo can be made different sort of merchandises. So, there is merely has small waste (Bambo o Grove Home2008 ) . One of advantages of bamboo is it low cost when it compared with other architectural stuffs such as concrete, lumber, steel, masonry. The cost of a bamboo house is non more than 450USD in Ecuador and most of people can afford the monetary value. The bamboo industry can besides increase the employment ( J. Bamboo2003) . This is one of the chief grounds that bamboo can be successful applied in commercial all over the universe. It is easy to construct houses with bamboo because it no demand require high engineering to construct and bamboo can be maintained and replaced anytime (Bamboo Grove Home2008 ) . Furthermore, bamboo can turn in a broad scope of clime environment such as low wetlands, waterless parts, top of the mountain. Unlike other harvests, bamboo no demand agricultural chemicals to turn strongly (Bamboo Grove Home2008 ) .That is why bamboo are more natural and would non impact human wellness. After Reaping, the root of the bamboo still remain in the dirt , it could protect the dirt and supply foods for the following works (Bamboo Grove Home2008 ) . Disadvantages of bamboo Although bamboo has a batch of benefit, there are besides some disadvantages. The starchy inside of bamboo ever attracts to insects and it is difficult to paint the surface of the bamboo due to the natural waterproof coating (NaturalConstructing Colloquium Southwest) . In add-on, the right clip of the crop is of import so that bamboo have the best strength and minimise erode by plagues. As the harm by insects, fire, Fungis and putrefaction, bamboo besides need to hold a good intervention such as smoking fires in kilns and utilizing chemical coating to maintain bamboo in a high quality (green physique2012 ) . The process of cutting and drying the bamboo is besides of import for prevent erode. As the bamboo is easy to absorb wet, the belongingss of bamboo will cut down, hence, a covered and dry topographic point is provided for the shop of bamboo. Most of the root of bamboo does non turn directly wholly and the diameter and thickness of one bamboo is non the same ( Minke 2012 ) . Hence , it is difficult to maintain bamboo in a criterion. Bamboo edifices in the whole universe As bamboo solutions have a batch of advantages, it is non surprise that Asiatic and Central and South American widely integrate bamboo in their applications in day-to-day life and civilization. North American wages more attending to the application of bamboo in edifice (green physique2012 ) . After the ZERI marquee in the universe EXPO 2000 is built, more European designers and applied scientists feel Interesting to bamboo. Ten old ages subsequently, the marquees in universe EXPO show bamboo as a high-performance sustainable stuff ( Minke 2012 ) . Nowadays, more and more bamboo architecture appear in Europe and all around the universe. Two illustrations are study in the followers. The first illustration is the Vietnam Pavilion by Vo Trong Nghia in China. The edifice is over 10m tallness and the whole piece of frontage and interior constructions are built by bamboos ( Sanchez Vidiella 2011 ) . It shows that it is possible to use bamboo in a big graduated table of architecture and it i s successfully used bamboo widely in a large architecture. The 2nd illustration is the Pacific Tahitian by David Sands in United Sates. It is a prefabricated house which is made by bamboo and it was assemble in Vietnam and sent it to Hawaii to construct up on site. It spent two yearss merely ( Sanchez Vidiella 2011 ) . Hence, the procedure of the green goods is non necessary in the locals. Most of the bamboo resource of Europe and America are imported from Colombia. States such as German, Italy and Spain import bamboo from Colombia, Ecuador and Indonesia. Although it need cost for transit, it is still cheaper than wood. In USA, although they have their ain plantations, it is cheaper to import bamboo from Colombia or China. ( Minke 2012 )In decision, Australia has possible to works its ain bamboo and applied in architecture widely. History of bamboo in Australia In Australia, bamboo is non a common stuff comparison to Asia. In Asia, bamboo is used in cookery, furniture, musical instruments, architecture, arm, artifact†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦bamboo has already integrated in the society and civilization of Asia. In Australia, bamboo has a bad repute, which is moving an invaded character (The RIC Good Wood Guide1998 ) . Therefore, the attitude of how people treat the bamboo and the civilization was impacting the development of bamboo. This is besides one of the grounds why the bamboo of Australia is developing easy. However, there are at least three autochthonal bamboos in Australia and one of them has been applied in the stuff of an instrument over four thousand old ages (The RIC Good Wood Guide1998 ) . Unfortunately, it did non use in edifices and used widely in day-to-day life. Bamboo architecture in Australia Nowadays, most of the applications of bamboo in Australia merely remain in the little scale objects such as flooring, furniture, gardening so on. There is merely less big graduated table of architecture that is made by bamboo or widely applied bamboo as a facade or construction of architecture. There is an illustration. The Bamboo Loveshack is the first bamboo’s edifice that is designed and built by Australia’s pupils in Australia. The Bamboo Loveshack is a lasting architecture which is used for community at Randwick. The Loveshack shows that bamboos have possible to be an architectural stuff that can be applied at shelter, summerhouse and houses. The Bamboo is used for Loveshack, which is come from a plantation in north-east New South Wales (Faculty of the built environment2008) . Except the doors are built with lumber, most of the portion of the edifice are made by bamboo including the portion of construction (bambooroo) . The graduated table of Loveshack is little, b ut it is meaningful. It shows the ability of bamboo widely applied for lasting architecture in Australia and Australia can besides supply local’s bamboo for architecture. Roentgenecent state of affairs of bamboo in Australia The followerss are analysis about the jobs and state of affairs that is happened today. Although bamboo has a batch of benefits, bamboo is difficult to go through the quality confidence criterions, specification criterion and ordinances of Australia’s authorities (The Archives of The Rare Fruit Council of Australia1992 ) . Hence, the place and support of the authorities is really of import and it is moving an of import character of the development of the bamboo. For illustration, even Australia supply a good environment to develop bamboo, the authorities can still barricade the development. Furthermore, although the increasing of Asiatic people in Australia rise the demands for good quality of bamboo for different demands of used, Australia still lack a complete set to bring forth mature bamboo and good quality of bamboo. The complete set including the expeditiously accomplishments of builders, the design of designer, the cognition of applied scientist, the intervention, harve st home of manufacturer (The RIC Good Wood Guide1998 ) . The craftsmen in Australia besides do non hold professional cognition and accomplishments for doing furniture and interior ornaments (The Archives of The Rare Fruit Council of Australia1992 ) . That means, Australia besides need to develop people and better their cognition to manage the hereafter development of bamboo or else the state of affairs will be the same as today. Although there are large countries of land is suited to works bamboo, Australia still imports different bamboo merchandises (The Archives of The Rare Fruit Council of Australia1992 ) . That besides means that Australia has possible to supply its ain bamboo resource for architecture. Nowadays, Golden bamboo, Painted bamboo and Balcooa are three sorts of bamboos that are planted in Australia. The balcooa could be used in edifice and it is better than the other two (The RIC Good Wood Guide1998 ) . This is a illustration which is demoing the feasibleness of seti ng bamboo in Australia. Future development of Bamboo in Australia In the hereafter, development of bamboo in Australia is optimistic. As the native lumber environment become worse and cut down, the demands of bamboo will increase in Australia due to the benefits of bamboo, particularly the advantage to the environment (The RIC Good Wood Guide1998 ) . It shows that bamboo has a possible to go a common stuff in Australia, it can be one of the stuff that is applied in architecture. As Different sort of bamboos as garden ornamentals are sold in Australia, the market of bamboo is increasing and there will be more and more applications of bamboo in the hereafter (The Archives of The Rare Fruit Council of Australia1992 ) . It will advance the demand of bamboo in Australia and more people will be accept and know bamboo. Hence, it besides promotes the development of bamboo of architecture in Australia. The monetary value of the bamboo furniture which is imported from South-East Asia, is expensive due to the usage and transit charge. If Australia can bring f orth its ain bamboo furniture, it can salvage money. Australia perfectly has the possible and experience to bring forth its ain merchandises and design and produce the better one (The Archives of The Rare Fruit Council of Australia1992 ) . This is a good ground to develop the bamboo’s industry. Some of the organisations such as the Rainforest information Centre, the Bello Bamboo Company are advancing the applications of bamboo in day-to-day life. It is besides to organize a complete set such as the publicity of the bamboo’s civilization, the preparation of the applied scientist, craftsmen, architect so on (The RIC Good Wood Guide1998 ) . Until 2002, there are 200 hectares of bamboo plantation in Australia. However, the industry has competed with monetary value of import. Comparison between wood and bamboo In Australia, lumber is a common stuff that is used widely in different portion of edifice, but bamboo merely applied in a narrow field of architecture. In the followers, bamboo and wood are compared. As bamboo is a good renewable resource, it needs merely one to five old ages to be mature. Hardwood needs at least 20 twelvemonth before it can be harvested. Some of the hardwoods like oak need over 40 old ages to go mature (Bamboo Grove Home) . Trees absorb less 40 % CO2 than bamboos (green builder) . In add-on, some sorts of the bamboo are really strong and lasting. It can hold the same lastingness with ruddy oak, Strand woven bamboo can even harder than ruddy oak. (about.com) . In each hebdomad, we lost one million estates of woods in the whole universe. If bamboo displaces portion of the hardwood, bamboo can retrieve portion of the woods that are lost. Bamboo can besides replace wood in each field including edifice stuffs. Compare with wood, bamboo can accommodate more different cli me status (Bamboo Grove Home) . Hence, the market of bamboo has possible to replace lumber in the hereafter (The Archives of The Rare Fruit Council of Australia1992 ) . Decision To reason, bamboo as a renewable, inexpensive, strong, flexible, lastingness, light good water-resistance easy to works and construct, the applications of bamboo is increasing in the day-to-day life of the whole universe, even there has some disadvantages of bamboo, those jobs are piddling affair and easy to work out it. That is why more and more bamboo is applied in architecture in the universe. However, hindrances such as ordinances, civilization, import competition, accomplishments are the unfavourable factors that are forestalling the development of the bamboo architecture in Australia. Nevertheless, the hereafter development of bamboo’s architecture is still bright as the increasing used and benefits of bamboo. Mentions About.com. ‘’The Benefits of Natural Bamboo Flooring ‘’ hypertext transfer protocol: //flooring.about.com/od/Flooring-Pros-And-Cons/a/The-Benefits-And-Drawbacks-Of-Bamboo-Floors.htm ( beginning 4ThursdayOctober, 2013 ) Bamboo Grove Home. ‘’Bamboo Grove’’ hypertext transfer protocol: //www.bamboogrove.com ( beginning 4ThursdayOctober, 2013 ) Bambooroo. ‘’Bamboo Love Shack’’ hypertext transfer protocol: //www.bambooroo.net/love_shack.php ( sourced 1stOctober, 2013 ) Faculty of the built environment ‘’Bamboo Love Shack An FBE Winter Elective’’ hypertext transfer protocol: //www2.fbe.unsw.edu.au/research/strengths/LearningTeaching/Exhibit/Bamboo_Love_Shack/ ( sourced 1stOctober, 2013 ) Green Build. â€Å"Use of Bamboo in Sustainable Building.† hypertext transfer protocol: //www.greenbuild.org/new-construction/uses-for-bamboo-in-sustainable-building/ ( sourced 24ThursdayAugust, 2013 ) J. Bamboo and Rattan, ( 2003 ) Bamboo lodging: market potency for low-income groups.vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 381–396 Minke, Gernot ( 2012 ) , Constructing with Bamboo: Design and Technology of a Sustainable Architecture, Basel Natural Building Colloquium Southwest. ‘’Bamboo Architecture and Construction with Oscar Hidalgo’’ hypertext transfer protocol: //www.networkearth.org/naturalbuilding/bamboo.html ( sourced 24ThursdayAugust, 2013 ) Sanchez Vidiella, Alex ( 2011 )Bamboo: Bambu = Bamboe = Bambu. Barcelona: Loft Publications, The Permaculture Research Institute. ‘’Bamboo: a Great Building Material Gets Even Better’’ hypertext transfer protocol: //permaculturenews.org/2011/03/09/bamboo-a-great-building-material-gets-even-better/ ( beginning 4ThursdayOctober, 2013 ) The Archives of The Rare Fruit Council of Australia. ‘’farming bamboo’’ hypertext transfer protocol: //rfcarchives.org.au/Next/Fruits/Bamboo/FarmingBamboo9-92.htm ( beginning 4ThursdayOctober, 2013 ) The RIC Good Wood Guide. ‘’Bamboo the Rainforest’s Universal, Renewable, Spiritual Resource’’ hypertext transfer protocol: //www.rainforestinfo.org.au/good_wood/bamboo.htm # anchor137507 ( beginning 4ThursdayOctober, 2013 )

A Game of Thrones Chapter Twenty-four

Bran In the yard below, Rickon ran with the wolves. Bran watched from his window seat. Wherever the boy went, Grey Wind was there first, loping ahead to cut him off, until Rickon saw him, screamed in delight, and went pelting off in another direction. Shaggydog ran at his heels, spinning and snapping if the other wolves came too close. His fur had darkened until he was all black, and his eyes were green fire. Bran's Summer came last. He was silver and smoke, with eyes of yellow gold that saw all there was to see. Smaller than Grey Wind, and more wary. Bran thought he was the smartest of the litter. He could hear his brother's breathless laughter as Rickon dashed across the hard-packed earth on little baby legs. His eyes stung. He wanted to be down there, laughing and running. Angry at the thought, Bran knuckled away the tears before they could fall. His eighth name day had come and gone. He was almost a man grown now, too old to cry. â€Å"It was just a lie,† he said bitterly, remembering the crow from his dream. â€Å"I can't fly. I can't even run.† â€Å"Crows are all liars,† Old Nan agreed, from the chair where she sat doing her needlework. â€Å"I know a story about a crow.† â€Å"I don't want any more stories,† Bran snapped, his voice petulant. He had liked Old Nan and her stories once. Before. But it was different now. They left her with him all day now, to watch over him and clean him and keep him from being lonely, but she just made it worse. â€Å"I hate your stupid stories.† The old woman smiled at him toothlessly. â€Å"My stories? No, my little lord, not mine. The stories are, before me and after me, before you too.† She was a very ugly old woman, Bran thought spitefully; shrunken and wrinkled, almost blind, too weak to climb stairs, with only a few wisps of white hair left to cover a mottled pink scalp. No one really knew how old she was, but his father said she'd been called Old Nan even when he was a boy. She was the oldest person in Winterfell for certain, maybe the oldest person in the Seven Kingdoms. Nan had come to the castle as a wet nurse for a Brandon Stark whose mother had died birthing him. He had been an older brother of Lord Rickard, Bran's grandfather, or perhaps a younger brother, or a brother to Lord Rickard's father. Sometimes Old Nan told it one way and sometimes another. In all the stories the little boy died at three of a summer chill, but Old Nan stayed on at Winterfell with her own children. She had lost both her sons to the war when King Robert won the throne, and her grandson was killed on the walls of Pyke during Balon Greyjoy's rebellion. Her daughters had long ago marr ied and moved away and died. All that was left of her own blood was Hodor, the simpleminded giant who worked in the stables, but Old Nan just lived on and on, doing her needlework and telling her stories. â€Å"I don't care whose stories they are,† Bran told her, â€Å"I hate them.† He didn't want stories and he didn't want Old Nan. He wanted his mother and father. He wanted to go running with Summer loping beside him. He wanted to climb the broken tower and feed corn to the crows. He wanted to ride his pony again with his brothers. He wanted it to be the way it had been before. â€Å"I know a story about a boy who hated stories,† Old Nan said with her stupid little smile, her needles moving all the while, click click click, until Bran was ready to scream at her. It would never be the way it had been, he knew. The crow had tricked him into flying, but when he woke up he was broken and the world was changed. They had all left him, his father and his mother and his sisters and even his bastard brother Jon. His father had promised he would ride a real horse to King's Landing, but they'd gone without him. Maester Luwin had sent a bird after Lord Eddard with a message, and another to Mother and a third to Jon on the Wall, but there had been no answers. â€Å"Ofttimes the birds are lost, child,† the maester had told him. â€Å"There's many a mile and many a hawk between here and King's Landing, the message may not have reached them.† Yet to Bran it felt as if they had all died while he had slept . . . or perhaps Bran had died, and they had forgotten him. Jory and Ser Rodrik and Vayon Poole had gone too, and Hullen and Harwin and Fat Tom and a quarter of the guard. Only Robb and baby Rickon were still here, and Robb was changed. He was Robb the Lord now, or trying to be. He wore a real sword and never smiled. His days were spent drilling the guard and practicing his swordplay, making the yard ring with the sound of steel as Bran watched forlornly from his window. At night he closeted himself with Maester Luwin, talking or going over account books. Sometimes he would ride out with Hallis Mollen and be gone for days at a time, visiting distant holdfasts. Whenever he was away more than a day, Rickon would cry and ask Bran if Robb was ever coming back. Even when he was home at Winterfell, Robb the Lord seemed to have more time for Hallis Mollen and Theon Greyjoy than he ever did for his brothers. â€Å"I could tell you the story about Brandon the Builder,† Old Nan said. â€Å"That was always your favorite.† Thousands and thousands of years ago, Brandon the Builder had raised Winterfell, and some said the Wall. Bran knew the story, but it had never been his favorite. Maybe one of the other Brandons had liked that story. Sometimes Nan would talk to him as if he were her Brandon, the baby she had nursed all those years ago, and sometimes she confused him with his uncle Brandon, who was killed by the Mad King before Bran was even born. She had lived so long, Mother had told him once, that all the Brandon Starks had become one person in her head. â€Å"That's not my favorite,† he said. â€Å"My favorites were the scary ones.† He heard some sort of commotion outside and turned back to the window. Rickon was running across the yard toward the gatehouse, the wolves following him, but the tower faced the wrong way for Bran to see what was happening. He smashed a fist on his thigh in frustration and felt nothing. â€Å"Oh, my sweet summer child,† Old Nan said quietly, â€Å"what do you know of fear? Fear is for the winter, my little lord, when the snows fall a hundred feet deep and the ice wind comes howling out of the north. Fear is for the long night, when the sun hides its face for years at a time, and little children are born and live and die all in darkness while the direwolves grow gaunt and hungry, and the white walkers move through the woods.† â€Å"You mean the Others,† Bran said querulously. â€Å"The Others,† Old Nan agreed. â€Å"Thousands and thousands of years ago, a winter fell that was cold and hard and endless beyond all memory of man. There came a night that lasted a generation, and kings shivered and died in their castles even as the swineherds in their hovels. Women smothered their children rather than see them starve, and cried, and felt their tears freeze on their cheeks.† Her voice and her needles fell silent, and she glanced up at Bran with pale, filmy eyes and asked, â€Å"So, child. This is the sort of story you like?† â€Å"Well,† Bran said reluctantly, â€Å"yes, only . . . â€Å" Old Nan nodded. â€Å"In that darkness, the Others came for the first time,† she said as her needles went click click click. â€Å"They were cold things, dead things, that hated iron and fire and the touch of the sun, and every creature with hot blood in its veins. They swept over holdfasts and cities and kingdoms, felled heroes and armies by the score, riding their pale dead horses and leading hosts of the slain. All the swords of men could not stay their advance, and even maidens and suckling babes found no pity in them. They hunted the maids through frozen forests, and fed their dead servants on the flesh of human children.† Her voice had dropped very low, almost to a whisper, and Bran found himself leaning forward to listen. â€Å"Now these were the days before the Andals came, and long before the women fled across the narrow sea from the cities of the Rhoyne, and the hundred kingdoms of those times were the kingdoms of the First Men, who had taken these lands from the children of the forest. Yet here and there in the fastness of the woods the children still lived in their wooden cities and hollow hills, and the faces in the trees kept watch. So as cold and death filled the earth, the last hero determined to seek out the children, in the hopes that their ancient magics could win back what the armies of men had lost. He set out into the dead lands with a sword, a horse, a dog, and a dozen companions. For years he searched, until he despaired of ever finding the children of the forest in their secret cities. One by one his friends died, and his horse, and finally even his dog, and his sword froze so hard the blade snapped when he tried to use it. And the Others smelled the hot blood in him, and came silen t on his trail, stalking him with packs of pale white spiders big as hounds—† The door opened with a bang, and Bran's heart leapt up into his mouth in sudden fear, but it was only Maester Luwin, with Hodor looming in the stairway behind him. â€Å"Hodor!† the stableboy announced, as was his custom, smiling hugely at them all. Maester Luwin was not smiling. â€Å"We have visitors,† he announced, â€Å"and your presence is required, Bran.† â€Å"I'm listening to a story now,† Bran complained. â€Å"Stories wait, my little lord, and when you come back to them, why, there they are,† Old Nan said. â€Å"Visitors are not so patient, and ofttimes they bring stories of their own.† â€Å"Who is it?† Bran asked Maester Luwin. â€Å"Tyrion Lannister, and some men of the Night's Watch, with word from your brother Jon. Robb is meeting with them now. Hodor, will you help Bran down to the hall?† â€Å"Hodor!† Hodor agreed happily. He ducked to get his great shaggy head under the door. Hodor was nearly seven feet tall. It was hard to believe that he was the same blood as Old Nan. Bran wondered if he would shrivel up as small as his great-grandmother when he was old. It did not seem likely, even if Hodor lived to be a thousand. Hodor lifted Bran as easy as if he were a bale of hay, and cradled him against his massive chest. He always smelled faintly of horses, but it was not a bad smell. His arms were thick with muscle and matted with brown hair. â€Å"Hodor,† he said again. Theon Greyjoy had once commented that Hodor did not know much, but no one could doubt that he knew his name. Old Nan had cackled like a hen when Bran told her that, and confessed that Hodor's real name was Walder. No one knew where â€Å"Hodor† had come from, she said, but when he started saying it, they started calling him by it. It was the only word he had. They left Old Nan in the tower room with her needles and her memories. Hodor hummed tunelessly as he carried Bran down the steps and through the gallery, with Maester Luwin following behind, hurrying to keep up with the stableboy's long strides. Robb was seated in Father's high seat, wearing ringmail and boiled leather and the stern face of Robb the Lord. Theon Greyjoy and Hallis Mollen stood behind him. A dozen guardsmen lined the grey stone walls beneath tall narrow windows. In the center of the room the dwarf stood with his servants, and four strangers in the black of the Night's Watch. Bran could sense the anger in the hall the moment that Hodor carried him through the doors. â€Å"Any man of the Night's Watch is welcome here at Winterfell for as long as he wishes to stay,† Robb was saying with the voice of Robb the Lord. His sword was across his knees, the steel bare for all the world to see. Even Bran knew what it meant to greet a guest with an unsheathed sword. â€Å"Any man of the Night's Watch,† the dwarf repeated, â€Å"but not me, do I take your meaning, boy?† Robb stood and pointed at the little man with his sword. â€Å"I am the lord here while my mother and father are away, Lannister. I am not your boy.† â€Å"If you are a lord, you might learn a lord's courtesy,† the little man replied, ignoring the sword point in his face. â€Å"Your bastard brother has all your father's graces, it would seem.† â€Å"Jon,† Bran gasped out from Hodor's arms. The dwarf turned to look at him. â€Å"So it is true, the boy lives. I could scarce believe it. You Starks are hard to kill.† â€Å"You Lannisters had best remember that,† Robb said, lowering his sword. â€Å"Hodor, bring my brother here.† â€Å"Hodor,† Hodor said, and he trotted forward smiling and set Bran in the high seat of the Starks, where the Lords of Winterfell had sat since the days when they called themselves the Kings in the North. The seat was cold stone, polished smooth by countless bottoms; the carved heads of direwolves snarled on the ends of its massive arms. Bran clasped them as he sat, his useless legs dangling. The great seat made him feel half a baby. Robb put a hand on his shoulder. â€Å"You said you had business with Bran. Well, here he is, Lannister.† Bran was uncomfortably aware of Tyrion Lannister's eyes. One was black and one was green, and both were looking at him, studying him, weighing him. â€Å"I am told you were quite the climber, Bran,† the little man said at last. â€Å"Tell me, how is it you happened to fall that day?† â€Å"I never,† Bran insisted. He never fell, never never never. â€Å"The child does not remember anything of the fall, or the climb that came before it,† said Maester Luwin gently. â€Å"Curious,† said Tyrion Lannister. â€Å"My brother is not here to answer questions, Lannister,† Robb said curtly. â€Å"Do your business and be on your way.† â€Å"I have a gift for you,† the dwarf said to Bran. â€Å"Do you like to ride, boy?† Maester Luwin came forward. â€Å"My lord, the child has lost the use of his legs. He cannot sit a horse.† â€Å"Nonsense,† said Lannister. â€Å"With the right horse and the right saddle, even a cripple can ride.† The word was a knife through Bran's heart. He felt tears come unbidden to his eyes. â€Å"I'm not a cripple!† â€Å"Then I am not a dwarf,† the dwarf said with a twist of his mouth. â€Å"My father will rejoice to hear it.† Greyjoy laughed. â€Å"What sort of horse and saddle are you suggesting?† Maester Luwin asked. â€Å"A smart horse,† Lannister replied. â€Å"The boy cannot use his legs to command the animal, so you must shape the horse to the rider, teach it to respond to the reins, to the voice. I would begin with an unbroken yearling, with no old training to be unlearned.† He drew a rolled paper from his belt. â€Å"Give this to your saddler. He will provide the rest.† Maester Luwin took the paper from the dwarfs hand, curious as a small grey squirrel. He unrolled it, studied it. â€Å"I see. You draw nicely, my lord. Yes, this ought to work. I should have thought of this myself.† â€Å"It came easier to me, Maester. It is not terribly unlike my own saddles.† â€Å"Will I truly be able to ride?† Bran asked. He wanted to believe them, but he was afraid. Perhaps it was just another lie. The crow had promised him that he could fly. â€Å"You will,† the dwarf told him. â€Å"And I swear to you, boy, on horseback you will be as tall as any of them.† Robb Stark seemed puzzled. â€Å"Is this some trap, Lannister? What's Bran to you? Why should you want to help him?† â€Å"Your brother Jon asked it of me. And I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples and bastards and broken things.† Tyrion Lannister placed a hand over his heart and grinned. The door to the yard flew open. Sunlight came streaming across the hall as Rickon burst in, breathless. The direwolves were with him. The boy stopped by the door, wide-eyed, but the wolves came on. Their eyes found Lannister, or perhaps they caught his scent. Summer began to growl first. Grey Wind picked it up. They padded toward the little man, one from the right and one from the left. â€Å"The wolves do not like your smell, Lannister,† Theon Greyioy commented. â€Å"Perhaps it's time I took my leave,† Tyrion said. He took a step backward . . . and Shaggydog came out of the shadows behind him, snarling. Lannister recoiled, and Summer lunged at him from the other side. He reeled away, unsteady on his feet, and Grey Wind snapped at his arm, teeth ripping at his sleeve and tearing loose a scrap of cloth. â€Å"No!† Bran shouted from the high seat as Lannister's men reached for their steel. â€Å"Summer, here. Summer, to me!† The direwolf heard the voice, glanced at Bran, and again at Lannister. He crept backward, away from the little man, and settled down below Bran's dangling feet. Robb had been holding his breath. He let it out with a sigh and called, â€Å"Grey Wind.† His direwolf moved to him, swift and silent. Now there was only Shaggydog, rumbling at the small man, his eyes burning like green fire. â€Å"Rickon, call him,† Bran shouted to his baby brother, and Rickon remembered himself and screamed, â€Å"Home, Shaggy, home now.† The black wolf gave Lannister one final snarl and bounded off to Rickon, who hugged him tightly around the neck. Tyrion Lannister undid his scarf, mopped at his brow, and said in a flat voice, â€Å"How interesting.† â€Å"Are you well, my lord?† asked one of his men, his sword in hand. He glanced nervously at the direwolves as he spoke. â€Å"My sleeve is torn and my breeches are unaccountably damp, but nothing was harmed save my dignity.† Even Robb looked shaken. â€Å"The wolves . . . I don't know why they did that . . . â€Å" â€Å"No doubt they mistook me for dinner.† Lannister bowed stiffly to Bran. â€Å"I thank you for calling them off, young ser. I promise you, they would have found me quite indigestible. And now I will be leaving, truly.† â€Å"A moment, my lord,† Maester Luwin said. He moved to Robb and they huddled close together, whispering. Bran tried to hear what they were saying, but their voices were too low. Robb Stark finally sheathed his sword. â€Å"I . . . I may have been hasty with you,† he said. â€Å"You've done Bran a kindness, and, well . . . † Robb composed himself with an effort. â€Å"The hospitality of Winterfell is yours if you wish it, Lannister.† â€Å"Spare me your false courtesies, boy. You do not love me and you do not want me here. I saw an inn outside your walls, in the winter town. I'll find a bed there, and both of us will sleep easier. For a few coppers I may even find a comely wench to warm the sheets for me.† He spoke to one of the black brothers, an old man with a twisted back and a tangled beard. â€Å"Yoren, we go south at daybreak. You will find me on the road, no doubt.† With that he made his exit, struggling across the hall on his short legs, past Rickon and out the door. His men followed. The four of the Night's Watch remained. Robb turned to them uncertainly. â€Å"I have had rooms prepared, and you'll find no lack of hot water to wash off the dust of the road. I hope you will honor us at table tonight.† He spoke the words so awkwardly that even Bran took note; it was a speech he had learned, not words from the heart, but the black brothers thanked him all the same. Summer followed them up the tower steps as Hodor carried Bran back to his bed. Old Nan was asleep in her chair. Hodor said â€Å"Hodor,† gathered up his great-grandmother, and carried her off, snoring softly, while Bran lay thinking. Robb had promised that he could feast with the Night's Watch in the Great Hall. â€Å"Summer,† he called. The wolf bounded up on the bed. Bran hugged him so hard he could feel the hot breath on his cheek. â€Å"I can ride now,† he whispered to his friend. â€Å"We can go hunting in the woods soon, wait and see.† After a time he slept. In his dream he was climbing again, pulling himself up an ancient windowless tower, his fingers forcing themselves between blackened stones, his feet scrabbling for purchase. Higher and higher he climbed, through the clouds and into the night sky, and still the tower rose before him. When he paused to look down, his head swam dizzily and he felt his fingers slipping. Bran cried out and clung for dear life. The earth was a thousand miles beneath him and he could not fly. He could not fly. He waited until his heart had stopped pounding, until he could breathe, and he began to climb again. There was no way to go but up. Far above him, outlined against a vast pale moon, he thought he could see the shapes of gargoyles. His arms were sore and aching, but he dared not rest. He forced himself to climb faster. The gargoyles watched him ascend. Their eyes glowed red as hot coals in a brazier. Perhaps once they had been lions, but now they were twisted and grotesque. Bran could hear them whispe ring to each other in soft stone voices terrible to hear. He must not listen, he told himself, he must not hear, so long as he did not hear them he was safe. But when the gargoyles pulled themselves loose from the stone and padded down the side of the tower to where Bran clung, he knew he was not safe after all. â€Å"I didn't hear,† he wept as they came closer and closer, â€Å"I didn't, I didn't.† He woke gasping, lost in darkness, and saw a vast shadow looming over him. â€Å"I didn't hear,† he whispered, trembling in fear, but then the shadow said â€Å"Hodor,† and lit the candle by the bedside, and Bran sighed with relief. Hodor washed the sweat from him with a warm, damp cloth and dressed him with deft and gentle hands. When it was time, he carried him down to the Great Hall, where a long trestle table had been set up near the fire. The lord's seat at the head of the table had been left empty, but Robb sat to the right of it, with Bran across from him. They ate suckling pig that night, and pigeon pie, and turnips soaking in butter, and afterward the cook had promised honeycombs. Summer snatched table scraps from Bran's hand, while Grey Wind and Shaggydog fought over a bone in the corner. Winterfell's dogs would not come near the hall now. Bran had found that strange at first, but he was growing used to it. Yoren was senior among the black brothers, so the steward had seated him between Robb and Maester Luwin. The old man had a sour smell, as if he had not washed in a long time. He ripped at the meat with his teeth, cracked the ribs to suck out the marrow from the bones, and shrugged at the mention of Jon Snow. â€Å"Ser Alliser's bane,† he grunted, and two of his companions shared a laugh that Bran did not understand. But when Robb asked for news of their uncle Benjen, the black brothers grew ominously quiet. â€Å"What is it?† Bran asked. Yoren wiped his fingers on his vest. â€Å"There's hard news, m'lords, and a cruel way to pay you for your meat and mead, but the man as asks the question must bear the answer. Stark's gone.† One of the other men said, â€Å"The Old Bear sent him out to look for Waymar Royce, and he's late returning, my lord.† â€Å"Too long,† Yoren said. â€Å"Most like he's dead.† â€Å"My uncle is not dead,† Robb Stark said loudly, anger in his tones. He rose from the bench and laid his hand on the hilt of his sword. â€Å"Do you hear me? My uncle is not dead!† His voice rang against the stone walls, and Bran was suddenly afraid. Old sour-smelling Yoren looked up at Robb, unimpressed. â€Å"Whatever you say, m'lord,† he said. He sucked at a piece of meat between his teeth. The youngest of the black brothers shifted uncomfortably in his seat. â€Å"There's not a man on the Wall knows the haunted forest better than Benjen Stark. He'll find his way back.† â€Å"Well,† said Yoren, â€Å"maybe he will and maybe he won't. Good men have gone into those woods before, and never come out.† All Bran could think of was Old Nan's story of the Others and the last hero, hounded through the white woods by dead men and spiders big as hounds. He was afraid for a moment, until he remembered how that story ended. â€Å"The children will help him,† he blurted, â€Å"the children of the forest!† Theon Greyjoy sniggered, and Maester Luwin said, â€Å"Bran, the children of the forest have been dead and gone for thousands of years. All that is left of them are the faces in the trees.† â€Å"Down here, might be that's true, Maester,† Yoren said, â€Å"but up past the Wall, who's to say? Up there, a man can't always tell what's alive and what's dead.† That night, after the plates had been cleared, Robb carried Bran up to bed himself. Grey Wind led the way, and Summer came close behind. His brother was strong for his age, and Bran was as light as a bundle of rags, but the stairs were steep and dark, and Robb was breathing hard by the time they reached the top. He put Bran into bed, covered him with blankets, and blew out the candle. For a time Robb sat beside him in the dark. Bran wanted to talk to him, but he did not know what to say. â€Å"We'll find a horse for you, I promise,† Robb whispered at last. â€Å"Are they ever coming back?† Bran asked him. â€Å"Yes,† Robb said with such hope in his voice that Bran knew he was hearing his brother and not just Robb the Lord. â€Å"Mother will be home soon. Maybe we can ride out to meet her when she comes. Wouldn't that surprise her, to see you ahorse?† Even in the dark room, Bran could feel his brother's smile. â€Å"And afterward, we'll ride north to see the Wall. We won't even tell Jon we're coming, we'll just be there one day, you and me. It will be an adventure.† â€Å"An adventure,† Bran repeated wistfully. He heard his brother sob. The room was so dark he could not see the tears on Robb's face, so he reached out and found his hand. Their fingers twined together.