Prom Nights from Hell Chapter Nine

He said, â€Å"Hi.† And she said, â€Å"Ho.† God. GOD. Could she just say one normal thing? Thanks Crazy Mouth. He cocked an eyebrow at her. â€Å"I didn't know you were coming to prom.† â€Å"I-changed my mind at the last minute.† â€Å"You look nice.† â€Å"You too.† Which was an understatement. He looked like a double stack of cinnamon apple pancakes with a side order of bacon and hash browns (extra crispy). Like the best thing Miranda had ever laid eyes on. She felt herself staring at him, then looked away, blushing. There was a moment of silence. Another one. Don't let it go beyond four seconds, she reminded herself. It had to have been one second already; that left three, now two, say something! Say- â€Å"Are you wearing space pants?† Miranda asked him. â€Å"What?† How did it end? Oh, right. She said, â€Å"Because your butt is fine.† He gazed at her in that way he had like he was measuring her for a straitjacket. â€Å"I think-† he started, then stopped and seemed to be having trouble talking. Cleared his throat three times before finally saying, â€Å"I think the line is ‘because your butt is out of this world. â€Å" â€Å"Oh. That makes a lot more sense. I can see that. See, I read it in this book about how to get guys to like you and they said it was a line that never failed but I got interrupted in the middle and the line before it was about china-not the country, the kind you eat off of-and that is where the fine part was but I must have gotten them confused.† He just kept staring at her. She remembered the other advice from the book, â€Å"when in doubt, make an offer,† reached out, grabbed the first thing she could put her hand on, held it up to his chin, and said, â€Å"Nuts?† He looked like he was about to choke. He cleared his throat a few times, took the nuts from her, put the bowl back on the table, stepped toward her so that their noses were almost touching, and said, â€Å"You read a book about this?† Miranda couldn't even hear his heartbeat over the sound of her own. â€Å"Yes, I did. Because clearly I wasn't doing it right. I mean, if you kiss a guy and he pulls away from you and looks at you like your skin just turned to purple slime, clearly you need to spend some time at the self-help section of-â€Å" â€Å"You talk more when you're nervous,† he said, still standing close to her. â€Å"No I don't. That's absurd. I'm just trying to explain to you-â€Å" â€Å"Do I make you nervous?† â€Å"No. I'm not nervous.† â€Å"You're trembling.† â€Å"I'm cold. I'm wearing practically zero clothes.† His glance went to her lips, then back to her eyes. â€Å"I noticed.† Miranda gulped. â€Å"Look, I should-â€Å" He caught her wrist before she could take off. â€Å"That kiss you gave me was the hottest kiss I've ever had. I pulled away because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to stop myself from ripping off your clothes. And that didn't seem like the right way to end a first date. I didn't want you to think that was all I was interested in.† She stared at him. There was silence again, but this time she didn't worry about how long it went on. â€Å"Why didn't you tell me?† she said finally. â€Å"I tried to, but every time I saw you afterward you disappeared. I got the feeling you were avoiding me.† â€Å"I didn't want things to be awkward.† â€Å"Yeah, there was nothing awkward about you hiding behind a plant when I came into the dining hall at lunch on Wednesday.† â€Å"I wasn't hiding. I was, um, breathing. You know, oxygen. From the plant. Very oxygenated, that air is.† Insert head in oven now. â€Å"Of course. I should have thought of that.† â€Å"It's a health thing. Not many people know about it.† Leave until no longer HALF BAKED. â€Å"No, I'm sure they-â€Å" Miranda blurted. â€Å"Did you really mean that? About liking it when I kissed you?† â€Å"I really did. A lot.† Her hands were shaking. She reached up and pulled him toward her. Just as the music went off, the emergency-exit lighting went on and a tinny voice announced over a loudspeaker, â€Å"Please make your way to the nearest exit and leave the building immediately.† She and Will were pushed in different directions by the crowd surging to the door, being guided by four men in full body armor. The message kept repeating, but Miranda wasn't hearing it or Ariel West screaming that someone was going to PAY for RUINING her NIGHT or the person saying that dude, this was the sweetest way to end a prom ever, man, he was so high. She was hearing again the one-two-three cha-cha heartbeat of Deputy Reynolds, slightly muffled by body armor. This was no drill. â€Å"It's us, isn't it?† Sibby said, rushing over to stand next to Miranda. â€Å"That's why those storm-trooper guys are here. For us.† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"You were right. I should have stayed hidden. This is my fault. I don't want anyone to get hurt. I'll just turn myself over to these people, and they'll have to let-â€Å" Miranda interrupted her. â€Å"After all that? With only three hours left to go? And you, blend-it-like-butter girl? No way. It's not over. We can totally get out of this.† She tried to sound confident, but she was terrified. Just what do you think you're doing? U-Suck channel demanded. I have no idea. Sibby looked at her, eyes blazing with hope. â€Å"Do you mean it? You have a way out?† Miranda swallowed, took a deep breath, and said to Sibby, â€Å"Follow me.† To herself: Please don't fail.

Faculty of Economics and Business Science Essay

Introduction – How the American Low-Cost Airline Industry Looks Like? In the post World War II the federal government heavily regulated period, commercial air travels in the US. As a result, the nation was reliant on a few leading airline companies. Competition was permitted only within individual states. California and Texas were the only two states that had both the geographical and demographic advantage to make air travel attractive. Since 1938, the U.S. Congress formally regulated air transportation through the Civil Aeronautics Act. This Act created a board to control the entry and exit of air carriers, to regulate fares, and to control mergers. These new findings led to the deregulation of the airline industry in 1978. Deregulation was premised on the idea that an unregulated market would approximate a perfectly competitive industry, one that had numerous carriers, no significant economies of scale, and no significant barriers to entry. As a result, many new entrants tried to establish on the airline market, although most of them get bankrupt due to the fierce competition on prices which made a profit margin too low to stay in the game. Besides, financial crises in 1983 and 1990 made many low-cost airlines leave the market. As an example, over 200 airlines stopped operating from 1983 to 1988. However, few significant airlines were born at that time: Spirit Airlines (1964) and Southwest Airlines (1967), Sun Country Airlines (1982). The relatively new low-cost carriers include Allegiant Air (1997), Frontier Airlines (1994), JetBlue (1999) and Virgin America (2004). In 2006 the low cost carriers have a market share of 30% in the Unites States, compared to 7% in 1990. One of the reasons for such an escalating increase could be a raising traveling demand in the US: total number of passengers in 2012 reached 800 million! We assume that such a significant market share should be understood as a separate industry. We would like to analyze the environment of the US low-cost airline industry by applying following tools: PESTEL analysis, Porter’s five forces framework and Strategic Groups  analysis. The Macro-Environment We will start with the analysis of the largest layer of the business environment. In order to investigate the macro-environment we will apply PESTEL analysis to understand to which extent the following six main factors have an impact on the whole industry. Political Factor Thread of terrorism: The airline industry has never really recovered from the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. This situation leads to more invasive security procedures at the airports and customers dissatisfaction even before taking a flight. September 11, 2001 has put a long-term shadow on the whole airline industry leading to significantly higher operating costs. The airline industry is highly regulated by the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration, primarily in areas of flight operations, maintenance and other safety and technical matters. Stricter regulations on aircraft safety maintenance, for instance, are placing new burdens on operators of older aircraft. Average aircraft operating age in the industry is 11 years. The 1978 Airline Deregulation Act partially shifted control over air travel from the political to the market sphere. The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), which had previously controlled entry, exit, and the pricing of airline services, mergers, and consumer issues, was phased out under the CAB Sunset Act and expired officially on December 31, 1984. The economic liberalization of air travel was part of a series of â€Å"deregulation† moves based on the growing realization that a politically controlled economy served no continuing public interest. U.S. deregulation has been part of a greater global airline liberalization trend. Economic Factor This economic part of the airlines industry has already struggling the airlines to contend with declining passenger traffic, competition from low cost carriers, high aviation fuel prices, labor demands, and soaring maintenance and operating costs. All these factors have made the airlines to get in bankruptcies because they can no longer afford to run their operations profitably. Fuel is the airline industry’s second largest  expense, exceeded only by labor. The major U.S. airlines spend more than $10 billion a year on fuel, which is approximately 10 percent of total operating expenses. As a result, increased fuel efficiency has been a top industry priority for many years. Significant changes appeared in the US economy between 1983 and 1988; the airline industry experienced a massive wave of bankruptcies, mergers, and acquisitions. Over 200 carriers left the market, leaving nine airlines (United, American, Continental, TWA, US Air, Pan Am, Delta, Northwest, and Eastern) to share 92 percent of domestic revenue. Contrary to initial expectations, deregulation actually led to a decrease in competition. Airlines’ profitability is closely tied to economic growth and trade. During the first half of the 1990s, the industry suffered not only from world recession but the Gulf War further depressed travel. In 1991 the number of international passengers dropped for the first time. The financial difficulties were exacerbated by airlines over-ordering aircraft in the boom years of the late 1980s, leading too significant excess capacity in the market. Mergers and acquisitions are seen to be one of the most important trends in the low-cost airline industry. Many carriers make efforts to purchase small regional aircraft operating companies or even fuel suppliers of the local level. This leads to lower operating costs and will result even into higher ticket prices in the future. The expectation for the US economy for the next years is that the growth rate will increase for 1.6% to 2.4%. Growing economy means an increase in buying power of the customers. For this reason, the traveling demand is expected to increase in the future as well. Social Factor The profile of the passengers has changed with more economically passengers and less business class passengers. Now with more information and social media the customers have high expectations in the low price sector of the tickets because the expected standards of the services have increased. Even for a low price passengers expect to have clean seats, smiling crew, no delays etc. Moreover, customers are ready to complain if the service does not meet their expectations. Technological Factor Though it is a fact that the airline industry uses technology extensively in its operations, they are limited to the aircraft and the operations of the  airlines excluding the ticketing and the distribution aspects. This has prompted many experts to call on the airlines to make use of the advances in technology for the front office and the customer facing functions as well. In other words, the technological changes have to be adapted to include mobile technologies as far as ticketing, distribution, and customer service. Technology media now is necessary, for their promotion and for the customers that can buy their tickets in a safe and a quicly way. An example is that Southwest Airlines uses the technology extensively and it is a fact that the 75% of its profits the company gains due to the online sales. Such technologies as mobile phone applications, homepages, online reservations and others are not necessary just to be successful in the market – they are an absolutely a  ¨must have ¨ for the airline to even start to make sales. Environmental Factor The social responsibility initiatives are becoming more pronounced in the airilines industry. As consumers and activists turn a critical eye towards the airlines and their corporate social responsibility. Many people do not associate noise with pollution. But in the last decades the noise produced by jets has become one of the airlines biggest environmental challenges, the one the companies have spent billions of dollars to address. Key to their noise reduction efforts has been the development and introduction of new technology over the years. The airlines have implemented a recycling program to reduce the amount of solid waste they send to landfills. These are the most commons: aluminum can recycling by flight, greater use of metal utensils and ceramic dishes, paper recycling of airline offices. Legal Factor The number of lawsuits against airlines from both customers as well as workers has gone up. In other words, the regulators are being stricter with the airlines, which mean that they are now increasingly their strategies, and actualizing their strategies only after they are convinced that they are not violating any laws. For the airlines industry the customers are the priority beacuase they know thath having an airplane accident will have legal issues and can destroy a whole airiline. The legal system became intolerant of delays, safety issues, and other aspects has only served to increase the fears among the airlines as each and every move of theirs is being checked. In the restrictions on mergers the U.S. Department of Justice approves a certain number of airline mergers, but also blocks a number of them because they fear a trend towards monopolization which would mean less competition and could lead to higher ticket prices. Airlines then sometimes file in lawsuits to defend their proposed merger and tend to succeed. Open Skies Agreement was signed in 2008, the intention of this U.S. and EU aviation pact was to allow greater access to U.S. markets by non-U.S. carriers. This means a greater competitive pressure for U.S. airlines. Conclusion from the PESTEL analysis: Key drivers from the macro-environment include political, economic and legal factors. In order to analyze the next layer of the environment – industries and sectors – we will use Porter’s five forces framework. This tool was developed to estimate the industry’s attractiveness. Another purpose of our analyze is to recognize dynamics of the US low-cost airline industry. Bargaining Power of Suppliers The suppliers of airline companies are fuel supplier, foods supplier, aircraft supplier and airport facilities. It should be mentioned that the US supplier market for the airlines is quite limited. There exist only two possible suppliers for the airplanes – Boeing and Airbus. There is a large investment required to purchase the airplanes. Thus, it makes it very difficult to switch between these two suppliers (for instance, to switch from Boeing vehicles to Airbus) as the switching costs will be unavoidably high. Another issue which is worth mentioning – in the case of switching to another supplier all mechanics and pilots should be retrained according to the standards of a new supplier. In the past, low-cost carriers tended to operate older aircraft purchased second-hand. Since 2000, however, fleets generally consist of newer, more fuel efficient aircraft. These are extremely efficient aircraft in terms of fuel, training, maintenance and  crew costs per passenger. Airlines are also highly dependent on Boeing’s and Airbus’s innovation strategy – especially low-cost carriers have little bargaining power to negotiate with the suppliers and order special custom-made vehicles (for example, airlines cannot make an order to Boeing/Airbus to produce special airplanes with more seats/less fuel costs in order to maximize airline’s profits). Thus, the power of the suppliers makes the airlines to adopt their strategies to a new fleet and the other way round! Fuel market is quite monopolized as well (PDVSA, Venezuela; Petrobras, Brazil). Moreover, price of aviation fuel is directly related to the cost of oil. It implies difficulties to the airlines as oil market is very unpredictable and tend to increase. For this reason airlines prefer to sign long-term contracts with the fuel suppliers in order to negotiate fuel prices for the future as well. Foods suppliers do not cause any specific difficulties for the low-cost airlines due to two main points. Firstly, many low-cost carriers do not serve a warm/cooked food for the passengers. Secondly, foods suppliers have little bargaining power as their market is highly competitive as well. This makes it very easy for the airline to switch to another foods supplier. Large airports charge very high prices for renting or buying the gates. Thus, they are seen as a big challenge for the airlines. On the other hand, regional airports have little bargaining power as they are heavily dependent to make their profits from a regionally dominant airline. It is worth mentioning that it is very important for the low-cost airlines to dominate on the regional level. But in this case, low-cost carriers do not challenge fees of regional airports – they rather compete with other low-cost airlines to get the airport gates. Conclusion: In general, bargaining power of suppliers in US low-cost airline industry is very high, although there can be some differences between the national and regional level of operating. Regional low-cost airlines are not so much dependent on airports’ bargaining power, but even this issue does not affect the whole picture of the industry. Bargaining Power of Customers Customers seem to be very price sensitive. According to the survey conducted in 2010, 36 percent of travelers ranked price as their top consideration while choosing a airline. The second most valued factor, with 32 percent respectively, is particular schedules and routes the airline can offer to a  passenger. Surprisingly, on-time performance and star rating all gathered seven percent or less. Thus, customers’ behavior towards prices makes low-cost carriers participate in a fierce competition on low prices for the flights and invite special sales offers and promotions to gather new customers. The next problem which low-cost companies face is low switching costs for the passengers. The opportunity to compare prices from different airlines online allows the customers to make a best-choice decision. According to the survey mentioned above, only less than two percent of travelers mentioned brand loyalty to be a crucial factor of choosing an airline to fly with. Increase in customers’ awareness about building the prices also puts some limits on the airlines’ strategies: modern travelers know exactly how much their flight tickets should cost! They are aware that most low-cost carriers try to promote online sales in order to shorten their costs by not renting offices and not establishing call centers with call agents. Today’s customers also understand that online check-in allows the airline to cut its costs for renting check-in desks at the airports etc. As a result of this awareness, customers become more suspicious about the price and have higher expectations for the services. Conclusion: Price became for the customers the most crucial factor to decide what airline they want to use. No switching costs and customers’ awareness define as well that customers possess a huge bargaining power towards low-cost carriers in the US. Threat of New Entrants Deregulation law of 1978 had a great impact on the whole US airline industry. The idea of deregulation changed the airline business into a perfectly competitive industry with numerous carriers, no significant economies of scale, and no significant barriers to entry. After plenty of mergers and acquisitions in the airline industry in the 1980s were executed, over 200 carriers left the market. Thus, US deregulation created a more concentrated airline market with no specific barriers for the new entrants on the other hand. Historically, it has been seen very prestige to owe an airline – for this reason a lot of investors tried to enter the industry despite of its low attractiveness. Most of them, however, left the market as the airlines declared themselves being bankrupt. In general, airline industry has one of the highest turnover rates – over 60% of all new entrants leave the market  in the first five operating years. There is a high capital investment required to ente r the industry. Moreover, investors cannot change the existing prices in the industry. Most costs for the airline are built from its fixed costs (renting or purchasing fleet, renting airport gates, fuel costs, salary paid to the personnel, trainings). This makes it very difficult to reduce the costs when needed – fixed costs cannot be reduced in the emergency case. Restricted slot availability makes it even more difficult for the new entrants to find suitable airports. Especially in the low-cost sector of the US airline industry it causes extremely high challenges for the new entrants to have enough basis to set low fares for the flight tickets. By setting very low and competitive ticket prices a new entrant should take a risk to stay unprofitable for the first operating years as a new company has a lot of debts from the investment and no customer base to make enough profits. On the other hand, as we analyzed before no close customer relationship is possible within a low-cost airline industry. Hence, if a new entrant is able to catch customers’ attention by setting low fares this airline can expect the profits in a short time. Conclusion: Although the new entrants will face a fierce price war immediately after entering the market, there are some key factors (low prices, different routes) that can save the company from going bankrupt. Nevertheless, the thread of new entrants in the industry tends to be low. Competitive Rivalry As mentioned before, the low-cost carrier market in the USA is highly competitive due to heavy pressure on prices, margins, and hence on profitability. Besides, the industry is characterized by the following specifics: Most cost advantages can be copied immediately. Low chances to participate in the competition for the national market as the two major low-cost airlines (Spirit Airlines, Southwest Airlines) have avoided direct head to head competition by choosing different routes to serve. Existing rivalry is competing on the regional and local level. Not much differentiation between services. Price is the main differentiating factor. The pricing policy of the low cost carriers is usually very dynamic, with discounts and tickets in promotion. A new tendency towards prices: the  prices steadily rise thereafter to a point where they can be comparable or more expensive than a flight on a full-service carrier. Conclusion: highly competitive environment. Threat of Substitutes Historically, airlines have satisfied the demand for a speedier travel experience with faster aircraft. Travelers choose air for a variety of reasons; chief among them are costs and time. But in the future airlines can be on the edge of losing this advantage if high-speed rail will be improved. In this case more travelers will re-evaluate this alternative, and many will quit flying because of the reasons they dislike air travel: check-in/security hassles, lost productive time, lower-than expected reliability on in-time departure and arrival, and negative environmental impact. Rail is not a complete substitute for air travel in all markets because longer distances magnify the effects of slower travel speeds. But for travel distances of less than 1,200 kilometers, high-speed rail can be seen as a viable choice. It is worth saying that after the Deregulation law in 1978 the American railway was quite â€Å"abandoned† as most travelers switched to the air travel due to the low fares offered for the tickets. Thus, American railway has hardly introduced new rail destinations and can be barely seen to be a substation for the air travel today. Nevertheless, the situation can change if investment in the improvement of American rail destinations will be made. Buses are not a substition for the US low-cost carriers as their prices (even for the regional destination) are comparable to the prices for the flight tickets. Conclusion: Low-cost carriers are not threatened by the substition by railway/buses. The summary of the Porter’s five forces analysis can be represented by the following graph: Conclusion from the Porter’s five forces framework: The U.S. low-cost airline industry is not an attractive industry to enter because of the heavy competition, large turnover rates and high fixed costs which results in one of the lowest profitability of all industries. Now we came to the most immediate layer by which the companies are surrounded – layer of competitors and markets. We will conduct the analysis of this layer by dividing the airline industry into particular Strategic Groups. We decided to define Strategic Groups by following terms: by geographic coverage (national, regional, international) and by customer satisfaction (measured in the airline industry by a scale from 1-1000 points). Conclusion to the Strategic Groups: The most direct competitors of low cost-carriers are very often other low-cost carriers. There is a strong competitive rivalry both within the strategic group of low cost carriers like Southwest Airlines and JetBlue, but also there exists a competition between strategic groups. For instance, a big low cost-carrier Southwest also competes with Delta Air Lines who is the largest legacy/major U.S.airline who operates in both a domestic and an international network. According to our research, critical success factors for the low-cost airline industry include: ticket fares, waiting times for flights, safety measure, customer-oriented service and comfort, special sales offers (for example, frequent-flyers programs), airport fees, number of destinations, costs of airplaines, fuel price conditions, online ticket booking, high-frequency flights.

Effect of Coffee Essay

Abstract The present study was undertaken to evaluate the use of ground roasted coffee (Coffee Arabica; GRC) as a natural feed additive in practical fish diets and its impact on growth, feed utilization, biochemical variables, and body composition of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L. ). Ground roasted coffee was added to the ingredients of tested diets to represent 0. 0 (control), 0. 5, 1. 0, 2. 0, or 5. 0 g/kg diet. Fish (1. 9 Â ± 0. 03 g) were distributed to various treatments at a rate of 20 fish per 80-L aquarium and fed one of the experimental diets for 10 weeks. No growth-promoting influences of GRC were observed; however, the optimum fish growth and feed utilization were obtained at 0. 0 – 1. 0 g GRC/kg diet. The inclusion of GRC in fish diet over 1. 0 g/kg diet reduced fish growth, feed consumption, and the protein contents in fish body. The highest lipids and ash contents were obtained at 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet. Glucose, plasma protein, and plasma lipids decreased significantly, meanwhile aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and creatinine increased significantly in fish fed 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet. Fish survival (93. 3 – 97. 8%) was not affect by GRC inclusion in fish diets. These results indicate that GRC supplement is not a promising growth stimulant for Nile tilapia. Keywords: Nile tilapia, ground roasted coffee, Coffee Arabica, fish growth, feed utilization, body composition, biochemical variables, fish health. INTRODUCTION Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L. ) is one of the most popular species in Egypt and worldwide (El-Sayed, 2006). As the regular use of antibiotics and chemicals as preventative and curative measures for disease leads to drug-resistant bacteria and harmful effects on the environment (Teuber, 2001; Bachere, 2003; Hermann et al., 2003), alternatives to antibiotics and chemicals to improve the quality and sustainability of aquaculture production have been seen as desirable (Meunpol et al. , 2003; Vaseeharan and Ramasamy, 2003; Li et al. , 2006). Medicinal plants have been used as immune-stimulants for human in China and old civilization for thousands years (Tan and Vanitha, 2004). These plants contain many types of active components such as polysaccharides, alkaloids, or flavonoids that have immuno-stimulating activities in mice, chickens, or human cell lines (Cao and Lin, 2003; Lin and Zhang, 2004). The use of medicinal plants as immuno-stimulants in fish diets has been considered (Abdel-Tawwab et al. , 2010; Ahmad and Abdel-Tawwab 2011; Ahmad et al. ; in press). Many studies have been conducted on using coffee pulp in fish diets and they found adverse effects of coffee pulp on fish growth and feed utilization (Fagbenro and Arowosoge, 1991; Moreau et al. , 2003; Ulloa and Verreth, 2003; Chatzifotis et al. , 2008). Some other studies reported that coffee shows an antioxidant activity because it contains many substances like caffeine, cafestol, kahweol, and chlorogenic acids (Pellegrini et al., 2003; Vinson et al. , 2005). Due to the abundance of antioxidant compounds in coffee, these agents must be seriously considered when elucidating potential pharmacological effects of coffee intake. Therefore, the present research aims to evaluate the effect of ground roasted coffee (GRC) supplementation on growth, feed efficiency, feed consumption, biochemical variables, and proximate composition of Nile tilapia, O. niloticus. MATERIALS AND METHODS Fish culture and feeding regime – Ground roasted coffee (Coffee Arabica; GRC) was obtained from the local market. Five different diets containing 0. 0, 0. 5, 1. 0, 2. 0 and 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet were formulated. The dietary ingredients were thoroughly mixed and moistened by the addition of 100 ml warm water per kg diet and then made into pellets by a mincing machine. The pellets were cut into shape manually, dried in an oven at 55 oC till constant weight was obtained and stored in a freezer at -2 oC until use. Nile tilapia, O. niloticus were obtained from fish hatchery, Central Laboratory for Aquaculture Research, Abbassa, abo-Hammad, Sharqia, Egypt. Before starting the experiment, fish were acclimated and hand-fed to apparent satiation twice a day for 2 weeks. For the experiment, 15 80-L aquaria were used and oxygenated to saturation by air pumps. In each aquarium, 20 randomly distributed fish (1. 9 Â ± 0. 03 g) were stocked. The tested diets were administered to five fish groups with three replicates per each. Fish were hand-fed for satiation thrice daily 5 days a week for 10 weeks. Settled fish wastes along with three-quarter of aquarium’s water were siphoned daily. Siphoned water was replaced by clean and aerated water from a storage tank. Average weight per aquarium was assessed every 2 weeks by group-weighing all fish. Fish were starved for a day before weighing. Fish growth and feed utilization – At the end of the experiment, fish per each aquarium were harvested, counted, and weighed. Fish growth and feed utilization variables were calculated as follows: Weight gain (g) = final weight – initial weight; Specific growth rate (SGR; %/day) = 100 (Ln final weight – Ln initial weight) / days; Feed conversion ratio (FCR) = feed intake (g) / weight gain (g); Protein efficiency ratio (PER) = weight gain (g) / protein intake (g); Fat efficiency ratio (FER) = weight gain (g) / fat intake (g); Energy utilization (EU; %) = 100 x (energy gain / energy intake). Chemical analysis of diets and fish – The proximate chemical analyses of the tested diets and fish samples were done for moisture, crude protein, total lipids, and total ash according to the standard methods of AOAC (1990). Moisture content was estimated by drying the samples to constant weight at 95 oC in drying oven (GCA, model 18EM, Precision Scientific group, Chicago, Illinois, USA). Nitrogen content was measured using a microkjeldahl apparatus (Labconco, Labconco Corporation, Kansas, Missouri, USA) and crude protein was estimated by multiplying nitrogen content by 6. 25. Lipid content was determined by ether extraction in multi-unit extraction Soxhlet apparatus (Lab-Line Instruments, Inc. , Melrose Park, Illinois, USA) for 16 hours. Total ash was determined by combusting dry samples in a muffle furnace (Thermolyne Corporation, Dubuque, Iowa, USA) at 550 oC for 6 hours. Biochemical measurements – At the end of the 10-week feeding trial, feed was withhold 24 hour immediately prior to sampling and five fish per aquaria were randomly chosen and anesthetized with tricaine methanesulfate (20 mg/L). Blood samples were collected from the caudal vessel and the extracted blood was collected in Eppendorf tubes contained 500 U sodium heparinate/mL; used as an anticoagulant. The collected plasma was stored at –20 oC for further assays. Blood glucose, plasma total protein, plasma total lipids, and plasma creatinine were calorimetrically determined according to Trinder (1969), Henry (1964), Joseph et al. (1972), and Henry (1974), respectively. Activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in plasma were determined colorimetrically according to Reitman and Frankel (1957). Statistical analysis – The obtained data were subjected to one-way ANOVA to evaluate the effect of GRC supplementation. Differences between means were tested at the 5% probability level using Duncan test. All the statistical analyses were done using SPSS program version 10 (SPSS, Richmond, VA, USA) as described by Dytham (1999). RESULTS In the present study, fish grow gradually by time in all treatments (Figure 1). Final fish weight, weight gain, and specific growth rate were not significantly (P < 0. 05) affected with the increase in GRC levels up to 1. 0 g/kg after which growth declined (Table 1). The lowest fish growth was obtained at 2. 0 – 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet. Moreover, fish fed on diets containing 2. 0 and 5. 0 g GRC/kg consumed less diet than the other treatments giving the highest FCR (1. 4 and 1. 5, respectively). Meanwhile, fish fed on 0. 0 – 1. 0 GRC/kg diet consumed approximately the same feed amount giving the same FCR (1. 3; Table 2). Table 1. Growth performance and survival of Nile tilapia fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. |GRC levels |Initial weight |Final weight |Weight gain |SGR |Fish survival | |(g/kg diet) |(g) |(g) |(g) |(%/day) |(%) | |0. 0 |1. 9Â ±0. 03 |14. 5Â ±0. 35 a |12. 6Â ±0. 38 a |2. 90Â ±0. 059 a |95. 6Â ±4. 43 | |0. 5 |1. 9Â ±0. 01 |14. 5Â ±0. 55 a |12. 6Â ±0. 55 a |2. 90Â ±0. 052 a |95. 5Â ±2. 23 | |1. 0 |1. 9Â ±0. 01 |14. 0Â ±0. 58 ab |12. 1Â ±0. 58 ab |2. 85Â ±0. 058 ab |97. 8Â ±2. 23 | |2. 0 |1. 9Â ±0. 03 |12. 5Â ±0. 55 bc |10. 6Â ±0. 52 bc |2. 69Â ±0. 043 bc |93. 3Â ±3. 84 | |5. 0 |1. 9Â ±0. 03 |11. 2Â ±0. 36 c |9. 3Â ±0. 38 c |2. 53Â ±0. 066 c |95. 6Â ±4. 43 | Means having the same letter in the same column are significantly differed at P < 0. 05. |Fish |[pic] | |growth (g)| | | |Weeks | Figure 1. The weight of Nile tilapia (g) fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. Furthermore, no significant differences were observed in fat efficiency ratio, protein efficiency ratio, and energy utilization at 0. 0 – 1. 0 GRC/kg diet levels and the lowest values of these parameters were obtained when fish fed 2. 0 – 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet (Table 2). On the other hand, fish survival range was 93. 3 – 97. 8% with no significant difference (P > 0. 05) among the different treatments. Table 2. Feed utilization by Nile tilapia fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. |GRC levels |Feed intake |FCR |Fat efficiency ratio |Protein efficiency |Energy utilization (%)| |(g/kg diet) |(g feed/fish) | | |ratio | | |0. 0 |16. 0Â ±0. 88 a |1. 3Â ±0. 033 b |10. 50Â ±0. 876 a |2. 86Â ±0. 238 a |32. 0Â ±1. 271 ab | |0. 5 |16. 0Â ±0. 44 a |1. 3Â ±0. 058 b |10. 08Â ±0. 123 a |2. 86Â ±0. 033 a |32. 8Â ±2. 119 a | |1. 0 |16. 1Â ±0. 44 a |1. 3Â ±0. 033 b |9. 45Â ±0. 568 ab |2. 74Â ±0. 154 ab |31. 4Â ±2. 227 ab | |2. 0 |14. 7Â ±0. 78 b |1. 4Â ±0. 033 ab |9. 22Â ±0. 108 b |2. 62Â ±0. 027 b |30. 1Â ±1. 266 bc | |5. 0 |14. 0Â ±0. 58 b |1. 5Â ±0. 058 a |8. 38Â ±0. 390 c |2. 39Â ±0. 106 c |28. 5Â ±0. 203 c |. Means having the same letter in the same column are significantly differed at P < 0. 05. The GRC supplementation in the present study significantly affected the whole-fish body constituents except moisture content, which did not vary significantly (P > 0. 05; Table 3). The protein content decreased significantly, meanwhile lipid and ash contents increased significantly by increasing GRC levels. The lowest protein (15. 1%), the highest lipids (9. 7%) and the highest ash (3. 8%) contents were obtained at 5. 0 GRC/kg diets. In addition, fish fed the control diet exhibited the highest protein (61.4%) and the lowest lipid (25. 5%) contents (Table 3). Table 3. Proximate composition of whole-body (%; on fresh weight basis) of Nile tilapia fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. | GRC levels |Moisture |Crude protein |Total lipid |Total ash | |(g/kg diet) | | | | | |0. 0 |72. 3Â ±0. 31 |17. 2Â ±0. 29 a |7. 1Â ±0. 03 c |3. 2Â ±0. 09 b | |0. 5 |71. 8Â ±0. 28 |16. 9Â ±0. 17 a |7. 7Â ±0. 19 bc |3. 2Â ±0. 07 b | |1. 0 |72. 0Â ±0. 27 |16. 4Â ±0. 18 a |8. 0Â ±0. 16 b |3. 3Â ±0. 13 b | |2. 0 |72. 1Â ±0. 87 |16. 5Â ±0. 53 a |8. 1Â ±0. 26 b |3. 2Â ±0. 17 b | |5. 0 |71. 7Â ±0. 41 |15. 1Â ±0. 30 b |9. 7Â ±0. 15 a |3. 8Â ±0. 21 a | Means having the same letter in the same column are significantly differed at P < 0. 05. The biochemical variables were significantly affected by GRC supplementation (P < 0. 05; Tables 4 and 5). The inclusion of 0. 5 – 5. 0 g/kg diet of dietary GRC resulted in significant decreases in glucose, plasma protein and plasma lipids, whereas the highest values of above parameters were obtained with fish fed the control diet (Table 4). Contrarily, AST, ALT, and creatinine values increased significantly with increasing GRC levels and the highest values of these parameters were obtained with fish fed 5. 0 g GRC/kg (Table 5). Fish fed on the control diets exhibited the lowest values. Table 4. Changes in glucose, plasma protein, and plasma lipids in Nile tilapia fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. |GRC levels |Glucose (mg/dL) |Protein (g/dL) |Lipids (g/dL) | |(g/kg diet) | | | | |0. 0 |67. 53Â ±1. 362 a |1. 77Â ±0. 057 a |2. 69Â ±0. 167 a | |0. 5 |55. 23Â ±1. 468 b |1. 63Â ±0. 064 b |1. 61Â ±0. 067 b | |1. 0 |55. 42Â ±2. 669 b |1. 60Â ±0. 061 b |1. 57Â ±0. 083 b | |2. 0 |52. 63Â ±4. 435 b |1. 51Â ±0. 021 b |1. 53Â ±0. 035 b | |5. 0 |50. 23Â ±1. 386 b |1. 37Â ±0. 056 c |1. 42Â ±0. 059 c |. Means having the same letter in the same column are significantly differed at P < 0. 05. Table 5. Changes in AST, ALT, and creatinine in plasma of Nile tilapia fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. |GRC levels |AST (mg/dL) |ALT (mg/dL) |Creatinine (mg/dL) | |(g/kg diet) | | | | |0. 0 |52. 57Â ±2. 919 d |22. 60Â ±2. 023 d |0. 252Â ±0. 0147 d | |0. 5 |63. 60Â ±2. 386 c |37. 23Â ±3. 187 c |0. 328Â ±0. 0117 c | |1. 0 |76. 90Â ±2. 312 b |45. 20Â ±4. 046 bc |0. 386Â ±0. 0684 b | |2. 0 |80. 13Â ±2. 440 b |48. 46Â ±5. 017 b |0. 393Â ±0. 0392 b | |5. 0 |97. 10Â ±5. 103 a |59. 30Â ±1. 350 a |0. 467Â ±0. 0304 a |. Means having the same letter in the same column are significantly differed at P < 0. 05. DISCUSSION The present study showed that GRC adversely affected Nile tilapia growth at a concentration higher than 1. 0 g/kg diet. These results are in concomitant with Fagbenro and Arowosoge (1991), Moreau et al. (2003), and Ulloa and Verreth (2003) who found adverse effects of coffee-containing diets on fish growth. Similarly, Chatzifotis et al. (2008) reported that sea bream, Sparus aurata did not accept the caffeine-containing diet at a 10 g/kg dose but at doses at or lower to 5 g/kg caffeine appeared not to have a deterrent effect. They also stated that the negative effect of caffeine on sea bream growth can be traced in its increased FCR. Throughout the feeding period the fish in all experimental groups were in good health and dose-related mortalities were not observed, indicating that Nile tilapia can tolerate GRC levels (up to 5 g/kg diet) albeit with reduced growth rate and increased feed conversion ratio. It is worth mentioning that 2 – 5 g GRC/kg diet caused a significant decrease in feed consumption and a significant increase in FCR. These results suggested that GRC did influence the diet palatability, implying that the growth retardation at 2 – 5 g GRC/kg diet may be due to the low diet utilization. It has been inferred that caffeine in GRC, together with polyphenols and tannins can deter feed consumption in fish (Ulloa and Verreth, 2003); possibly because of its bitter taste usually perceived by animals (Mazzafera, 2002; Frank et al. , 2004). Furthermore, Kasumyan and Doving (2003) reported that caffeine inhibited the feeding behavior of turbot, Psetta maxima. The proximate composition of whole-fish body was significantly affected by GRC inclusion (Table 3). However, protein content decreased, meanwhile lipids contents decreased by increasing GRC levels. These results disagree with Kobayashi-Hattori et al. (2005) who reported that caffeine induced lipolysis and thereby reduce the body fat mass and body fat percentage in Sprague–Dawley rats fed on a high fat diet. Chatzifotis et al. (2008) found that caffeine cannot reduce the lipid content of white muscle and liver in heterotherm sea bream when reared in low winter temperatures. These changes in protein and lipid contents in fish body herein could be linked with changes in their synthesis and/or deposition rate in fish body (Abdel-Tawwab et al. , 2006). Glucose, serum protein, and serum lipids decreased significantly, meanwhile AST, ALT, and creatinine increased significantly in fish fed 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet. In this regard, Gagne et al. (2006) stated that in rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, long-term exposure to caffeine could lead to lipid peroxidation. Furthermore, caffeine is an inhibitor of glycogen phosphorylase in the mantle tissue of mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis; Serrano et al., 1995) and of lactate dehydrogenase in the muscle of rabbit (Gardiner and Whiteley, 1985). The increase in AST and ALT activities is an indicative to liver dysfunction and the increase in creatinine is an indicative to kidney dysfunction. These results suggest that GRC may contain compounds that caused some kind of stress on fish affecting these biochemical variables. Corradetti et al. (1986) found a chronic-caffeine effect on rats. These results indicate that GRC supplement is not a promising growth stimulant for Nile tilapia and in some cases GRC should not exceed 1. 0%. Further work is needed to explore the role of GRC in enhancing antioxidant activity and/or the anti-toxicity effect against water pollutants Acknowledgment The author would like to thank Mohamed N. Monier and Nahla E. M. Ismael, Central Laboratory for Aquaculture Research (CLAR), Abbassa, Abo-Hammad, Sharqia, Egypt, for their assistance during the running of this study, and Sherien H. Shady, CLAR for doing the physiological assay. REFERENCES Abdel-Tawwab, M. , M. H. Ahmad, S. F. M. Sakr, and M. E. A. Seden. 2010. Use of green tea, Camellia sinensis L. in practical diet for growth and protection of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L.) against Aeromonas hydrophila infection. J. World Aquacult. Soc. , 41: 203-213. Abdel-Tawwab, M. , Y. A. E. Khattab, M. H. Ahmad, and A. M. E. 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Global Decision Support - Essay Example That DSS tools are effective in managerial decision making processes implies managers must improve the tools’ capacities to work efficiently to yield the right information structure (Antunes et al., 2007). Thus the generation, design, implementation, interpretation and implementation of DSS tools should be done efficiently and competently to solve decision-making problems. A DSS system should thus serve as a competitive advantage that helps an organization to tackle decision-making problems based on consistent information and information structure and win markets. Background Generally, a Decision Support System (DSS) is a compilation of amalgamated software and hardware applications (tools, techniques, and models) used by an organization as the benchmark of decision making process. Since decision making requires the analysis of data, a DSS should be data-driven. The concepts of Business Intelligence (BI), Organizational Intelligence (OI), and Competitive Intelligence (CI), whi ch encompass the processes, methodologies, and reporting tools central to decision support systems to report, monitor, and analyze data are also important in DSS and decision making (Antunes et al., 2007). This paper reviews literatures on the benefits and buy-in of global DSS, the processes of implementing global DSS, the ethical issues related to global DSS, and the possible ways by which global DSS may increase global partners. A global Decision Support System (GDSS) is a computer-based interactive system used by teams from different organizations, countries or regions to make decisions, solve problems, and make choices. Specifically, global DSS aims to support groups in the analysis of problem situations and in the performance of collective decision-making tasks. From its name global DSS is quite descriptive and is a mixture of systems that uses intricate communications infrastructures and quantitative models to support decision-making processes. Literature Review As a consequen ce of increased globalization and heightened competition in the business world, entrepreneurs have resorted to using the latest technologies to make vital business decisions (Lynch, 1994). Similarly, a lot of literary work has focused on decision making and its various techniques and tools such as DSS. According to most authors, there are numerous aspects of DSS that organizations and managers should consider when venturing into global DSS. Global DSS benefits, implementation, and ethical issues are among the most extensively covered aspects of DSS in literatures. Businesses enjoy numerous benefits by implementing global DSS. For instance, for quite a long time, organizations have struggled to find an electronic commercial application that would allow them to jointly decode and interpret information to allow them to make use of these decision making tools in the accompaniment of other organizations or business partners (Lynch, 1994). The first among the many benefits of global DSS i s that it allows organizations to orient their resources towards providing managers with all the required information for strategic decision making. Global DSS offers organizations several other capabilities, including support for decision-making processes in ill-structured situations that lack full computerization and requires computer-based assistance for voluminous data accessibility and processing (Lynch, 1994). Global DSS also helps in the rapid acquisition of quantity and quality results for reaching decision by supporting the various stages of

Food and Beverage Operations Management Assignment

Food and Beverage Operations Management - Assignment Example As a result of that different service and production system pertaining to the industry has been framed for the purpose of incorporating hygienic production and distribution system which ultimately results in health and nutrition of every consumer. Reports have also suggested that food and beverage industry has been the mainstay in the development of any country’s economy. According to Blazey (2009), whether it is a chemical or Pesticide Company, a biotech or a genetics firm, hotels, restaurants, or even large supermarkets such as the Walmart, Costco or Target Corporation; each of the business or industry revolves around beverage and food sector. Now, in the context of food and beverage production and service system, it has unique characteristics in comparison to the production and service delivery system of other products. The following are the characteristics: - The demand for food and beverages occurs at the peak time such as breakfast, lunch and dinner. However, other than these periods food industry generally experiences a lean phase. The demands for food might vary according to the time of the year as well as the events taking place in the surroundings. Hence, on the basis of the season and time of the year, the production and distribution system undergoes enormous amount of change. The food production and services are highly labour intensive. The industry requires both unskilled and skilled labour. The menu changes at regular interval of time and hence the production and distribution system changes (Dunne, Lusch and Carver, 2011). Both food and beverages are perishable in nature and as a result of that foods are required to be handled properly before, after and during the process of preparation. Figure 1 - Flow of Food (Source: Hollensen, 2007) 1.2 Discuss factors affecting recipes and menus for specific systems The recipes and menus get strongly affected by a number of factors. Broadly, food service systems are classified as a cook and chill, conv entional, assembly and commissioners serve (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2011). The conventional food service is the type of service where food is prepared and is eaten at the same place. Cook and chill are the service where food is prepared and is eaten after a certain period of time, the commissioner is the system where food is prepared and is taken somewhere for eating and lastly in assembly service the food is brought to a new location and it requires reheating before actually consuming it. The factors which affect the recipes and menus for a specific system are as follows: - Demand of customers: - The consumer demands are probably the most vital factor that affects the recipes and menus. The tendency of customer demands is observed and a menu is prepared on the basis of that only (Lingar, 2007). Seasonality: - Seasonality is a major factor. Being a perishable product, it has strong dependence on season. For example, ice cream or cold drinks are hardly consumed during winters and as a result of that menu needs to be changed and alternate items such as juice need to be on the menu. Budget and Ability: - The budget and ability of the restaurant are also considered before finalizing the menu. For example, if there is a shortage of staff members or lack of ingredients, the menu list needs of to be shortened (Nazarko, 2004). 1.3 Compare the cost and staffing

Huckleberry Finn and The Catcher in the Rye essay Essay Example for Free

Huckleberry Finn and The Catcher in the Rye essay Essay The novels ‘The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn’ and ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ are both set in times where the expectations of society differed from the ones of today. Huckleberry Finn is set in the late 1800s, pre USA civil war and in a time where slavery was an accepted occurrence and the escape of a slave was seen as legally and morally wrong. This was also a time in which church attendance and education were seen as tokens of respectability. A young boy, the eponymous character, Huck, seeks to reject all that he regards as oppressive and cruel in order to establish an alternative life as a wanderer, far from adult control. The Catcher in the Rye’, on the other hand, was set in the late 1940s, a time when teenagers were just beginning to gain their own lives and being allowed more freedom than ever before. The picaresque novel gives the reader an insight into middleclass life in New York in the 50s and how one boy felt trapped by the expectations of his parents and school. His period of comparative freedom leads to unexpected consequences as he falls victim to depression and eventual supervision in an institution, putting paid forever to his dreams of freedom. Both novels present the themes of freedom and escape and the selected extracts portray incidents in the characters’ lives which focus on this theme. In both of the extracts, the characters are pretending to be someone else, Huckleberry Finn a young girl and Holden Caulfield taking a false identity. The reader may infer from this that by assuming a different and fake identity, the two boys can escape from their own lives; ones that are full of problems and worries. Escaping their lives allows them both to live a little more freely, even if just for a little while. However, Huckleberry Finn and Holden take on their new identities for different reasons. For instance, Huckleberry Finn assumes the alternative identity in order to travel across town without being recognised by anybody, as he was supposed to have died not long before. Another reason he had to pretend to be a girl is to protect his and Jim’s safety. Holden on the other hand, assumes the alternative identity in order to befriend people he meets on his journey without the people realising that he should still be at school. Various audiences of the two novels would interpret and receive the occurrences in the extracts very differently. For example, the audience of Huckleberry Finn would be shocked at Huck escaping, living with a slave and then dressing as a girl. This is because the changes in society since Huckleberry Finn was written are significant. In the late 1800s, young boys were to be well educated and then sent off to be a successful businessman, not to escape and run amok. Slaves were also seen as inferior and a possession and anybody helping them was breaking the law. Another thing that the different audiences would feel differently about is the fact that Jim gets called a ‘nigger’ quite often. An audience of the 1880s would accept that as normal as they were used to hearing it, whereas an audience of the 2000s would be shocked by this, as the word nigger has a very malicious meaning nowadays and is considered a racist insult due to the equality rights now instilled in the majority of society, due to the word undergoing perjoration. The audience of Catcher in the Rye would probably not be surprised at the behaviour that Holden employs, as teenagers in the late 1940s were gaining a new sense of freedom and the dangers of letting your children out into the world unsupervised had not yet been considered. They also would accept that he might befriend any stranger that he comes across. However in the 40s there still existed traditional views about respect for authority although they were gradually evaded. His parents however do not approve of him staying in the hotel by himself. In the 2000s however, we would frown upon a young teenager travelling around alone, talking to strangers and booking a hotel room in a large city. The maturity of the two different characters is also very different. Although Holden wants and tries to be mature, the reader very quickly sees that he is in actual fact very childish and naive. This could be so that he can escape the realities of adult life, and stay in his idealistic child’s world forever. Despite this, he does attempt to seem more of an adult by using more taboo language and more complicated language around people who he would like to impress, like the females in the Lavender Room. For example, he says; ‘I’m twelve, for Chrissake. I’m big for my age. ’ Although the word Chrissake, which is the words ‘Christ’s sake’ after undergoing elision and with Holden’s idiolect, is not considered taboo now, it was still frowned upon in the 1940s, as some sectors of society were still highly religious. Another taboo word he used a lot is ‘Goddamn’. Again this word, which is the words ‘God damn’ that have also undergone elision and are with Holden’s idiolect, is no longer considered taboo or offensive, due to the change in society over time. This language choice illustrates Holden’s immaturity as it shows that he believes that using taboo words and more complicated language will make him look more grown up, when in actual fact it simply makes him seem barbaric and pretentious. Huck, on the other hand seems quite comfortable with his maturity level, which is one that seems to fluctuate. For instance, he seems to treat the whole journey in the novel as an adventure, one that fuels his child-like imagination; as is shown when Huck plays a prank on Jim. He says; ‘I went to the cavern to get some, and found a rattlesnake in there. I killed him, and curled him up at the foot of Jim’s blanket, ever so natural, thinking there’d be some fun when Jim found him there’. This illustrates his immature side as children are more likely to play pranks and find them amusing. Another way that Twain shows Huck’s immaturity and failed education is through his speech, as Twain uses elision in depicting Huck’s speech and gives him a very strong idiolect and dialect. One instance of this is; ‘Who done it? we’ve heard considerable about these goings on, down in Hookerville, but we don’t know who t’was that killed Huck Finn. Huck uses the word ‘t’was’ instead of saying ‘it was’. Using elision as strong as this also shows us how badly educated Huck is, despite the attempts of Widow Douglas to correct this. However, you do get to see the more mature side of Huck. One example of this is when he makes plans for his escape from his father. He makes a list of the things he needs and even fakes his own death so that he can never be found. This shows his maturity because he has the initiative to put the plans into place and fool the people he is escaping from. Another example would be when he treats and considers Jim to be his friend, as it is obvious that he has to ignore society and make his own decision to befriend someone who could potentially get him into trouble with the law. Also, he has to overcome a moral dilemma when deciding whether to escape with Jim, or hand him over to Widow Douglas, to whom Jim rightfully belongs. The fact that Jim is a possession of someone else would shock modern audiences as they are not used to this due to the change in society. This particularly shows his maturity because he was making a decision about somebody else’s life as well, as Jim would have been sold on if returned to Widow Douglas, therefore thwarting his plan to find his family. The decision that Huck had to make had consequences beyond his control and Huck was fully and completely aware of this whilst making the choice. The central characters in the two novels respond to the theme of escape in different but not quite contrasting ways. For Huckleberry Finn, the journey he goes on allows him to grow up and realise what he wants for himself in the future. Huck’s resolution to embrace traditional societal values by resuming his studies shows he has come to a positive decision about his future. On the other hand, for Holden the journey is a reality check, as it shows him that he is not ready for the outside and adult world because he hadn’t even got the simple child’s world right. He saw life as a game, and was stubbornly naive. His loss of autonomy at the end of the novel shows loss of dreams of freedom and little hope of escape from the downward spiral he has found himself in along the way.

Management Of Organisations: Virgin Group

Management Of Organisations: Virgin Group Virgin is a leading branded venture capital (Virgin, 2011) organisation and is one of the worlds most recognised and respected brands, which was founded by the business tycoon Richard Branson. Virgin Group is classed as a Private Limited Company by Companies House. Virgin Group date of incorporation is listed as 1985 (Companies House, 2010), however, business and trading activities originally started in 1970 (Virgin, 2011). Virgin Group has gone on to grow very successful businesses in core sectors ranging from music to transportation, travel, financial services, media, drinks, books, gaming and fitness etc (Virgin, 2011).Virgin has created more than 300 branded companies worldwide, employing approximately 50,000 people, in 30 countries. Global branded revenues in 2009 exceeded  £11.5 billion (Virgin, 2011). The Virgin Group is structure is quite interestingly complex, although numbers of people recognise the Virgin Group to be a single business entity but this may not be the case. In actuality, each of the Virgin brand companies operates as a separate business entity (Grant, 2005). Although, Richard Branson holds full ownership and control of the Virgin Brand, the commercial set-up of the companies using the Virgin name is varied and complex (Grant, 2005). Even though each of the 300 companies operates as a single entity, Branson completely owns the majority of them either individually or through family trusts and is holding majority stakes in the others. However, occasionally, Richard Branson simply licenses the Virgin brand to a company that has purchased a division from him such as Virgin Mobile USA Australia, Virgin Radio and Virgin Music. (Grant, 2005). However, what connects the companies is use of the Virgin trademark, Bransons roles as chairman and shareholder and his managemen t role as the face of virgin in publicity, public and government relations. He also has responsibility for appointing senior executives (Grant, 2005). Appendix 1 illustrates the structure of the Virgin Group of companies, including some major operating companies and the holding companies that own them. Firstly, the report will explore and analyse theories relating to organisational culture for example, definitions, level and types of organisational culture, and will look at the way these theories relate to the Virgin organisation. Finally, leadership styles will be addressed with key theories supporting the importance of leadership and different types of leadership skills. In relation to the Virgin case study the particular value of the transformational type of leadership and the importance of team development will be highlighted. Case Study Analysis 2.1 Organisational Culture Organisational culture plays an important role within any organisation. Although the majority of us will have our own understanding of organisational culture, it is a universal concept that is difficult to define or explain precisely (Mullins, 2007, p. 721). It has been explained, for instance, as the dominant values espoused by an organisation (Deal Kennedy, 2000), whereas, Bower (1966) simply described it as the way things are done around here. However, despite there not being a unanimous accepted definition, there is a common theme within Deal Kennedy (2000) and Bower (1966). Their definitions uncover a central theme, that is, organisational culture refers to a system of shared meaning. A more detailed definition is: The collection of traditions, values, policies, beliefs and attitudes that constitute a pervasive context for everything we do and think in an organisation. (Mclean and Marshall, 1993 cited in Mullins, 2007) This clarifies that organisational culture is a mixture of customs and practices and the beliefs and attitudes that these are based on that make up the way of working and the approach of an organisation. According to Mullins (2007), the culture of an organisation is also often likened to the personality of an individual; this could be said of Virgin. Virgin describes it culture and brand as making a difference. Virgin stands for value for money, quality, innovation, fun and a sense of competitive challenge (Virgin, 2011). These traits are often used to describe Richard Branson, founder and chairman or the Virgin Group. The company aims to deliver a quality service by empowering its employees and facilitating and monitoring customer feedback to continually improve the customers experience through innovation (Virgin, 2011). It is evident that Virgins values and approach to business appeal to the customers and create an adventurous spirit in the organisation that has contributed to its success which has enabled it to branch out into other sectors such as those described above. Levels of Cultures To help understand culture more, Schein (2010) has categorized the places where culture is found into three fundamental categories (Figure 1), each category is recognized by its visibility and accessibility by individuals. The deeper one gets, the more difficult it is to discover the culture. Figure 1 Scheins Three Levels of Culture Source: (Buchanan Huczynski, 2007, p. 622) Scheins first level is known as Artifacts, it is the most visible level out of the three. It refers to the observable things that a culture produces. It includes both physical objects and behaviour patterns that can be observed freely through what you see, hear and feel in an organisation, for instance, the architecture and physical surroundings; its products; its technologies; its style (shown through clothing); its published values and mission statement; its language and humour; its myths and stories. In the case of Virgin their uniform is consistently red, their language style is informal hip and the company has its own myth that Richard Branson always walks around with a notebook to record and pick up on every creative idea from employees and how he surprises employees with trips to his islands. The next level is less visible and is referred to as the espoused values level. It is the beliefs and values, sometime unspoken shared within an organisation and its members, that have meaning and worth to the founders and senior management of an organisation (Buchanan Huczynski, 2007). The espoused values may have their roots and be based on values that were learnt through childhood whether its religious, societal or moral upbringing (Buchanan Huczynski, 2007). These values can give the organisation its distinct character and provide a sense of direction for employees. The Virgin Group has a distinct organisational culture which is characterised by its founders individual values, personality and personal style the company reflects his ambition a drive for success coupled with his informal anti-corporate approach, very much a product of his upbringing and the popular culture of his time (Grant, 2005). Finally, located at Scheins third level, known as the deeper level of cultural analysis are Basic Assumptions. This deeper level is more commonly known as the hidden beliefs and assumptions or shared tacit assumptions. Basic Assumptions are essential, often unaware, determinants of an organisations attitudes, thought processes, and actions. These assumptions are central to its culture. Values that gain long-term acceptance often become so embedded and taken-for-granted that individuals are usually unaware of their influence. They usually provide a tacit sense of security and an unquestioned thrust for perceptions and behaviour. Scheins three levels of culture has proved to be useful as an approach to analysing Virgin Group organisational culture. Schein (2010) emphasises the fact that if organisational culture is understood fully it can be manipulated and managed within the organisation to meet the organisations purposes. For example, Virgin has been able to use organisational culture to foster loyalty, commitment and hard work within its employees by offering freedom, empowerment and by giving them a sense of being part of something cool and different whist providing social activities. Scheins three level of culture has also help clarified why Virgin Group should give importance to organisational culture; it is a mixture of execution and culture that makes the difference between one organisation to another. Organisational culture is essential; it is the glue that binds everyone together. Virgin Group holds onto the values, symbols, and rituals that have guided them for several years, and anything new that add to the culture should always supports what already exists. In summary, organisational culture maybe identified through companies using Scheins level of culture. Though, Schein (2010) does states that there are no consistently quick ways to identify the cultural assumptions of people in organizations. He does recommends observing, talking to people, collecting archival data, listening to stories, and etc, until a pattern finally emerges. However, organisational culture can be developed through effective leadership, empowered employees, strong development programs, good communications and a real focus on customers. All attributes that Richard Branson uses to run his organisation. One thing that is clear is that the culture which Branson created through his own unique leadership style was one that is strongly influenced by his personal style and personality, making it a difficult model to adopt or mimic if he was to leave. 2.2 Leadership Styles and Team Development Due to the success and efficiency of Virgin Group, the media frequently cover the leadership and management strategies of Virgin Group. Sir Richard Branson is renowned for his vibrant yet competitive leadership style. According to Mullins (2007) and Daft (2002), leadership is essentially a relationship through which one person influences the behaviour or actions of other people, those people intentionally wish for major changes, and the changes mirror purposes shared by followers and leaders. In the case of the Virgin Group, this means that the style of Sir Richard Bransons leadership cannot be separated from the activities of Virgin Group and the effective teambuilding within the organisation. This supported by Grant (2005) and Jackson (1998) who states that a major contributor to the Virgin Groups success is the inventive leadership style of Richard Branson. This leads us to closely examine Richard Branson leadership styles. In examining Richard Bransons style, his ability as to influence and skill to build a common idea among his employees are renowned. Mintzberg (2009) maintains that you earn leadership from those you lead. He proposes that leadership is about earning the respect of employees, something which Branson appears to do a lot in his career. One of the ways he does this is through his sense of equality and fairness in how he treats people and by promoting flat, non hierarchical structure to run his businesses (Grant, 2005). The early 1980s saw a great paradigm shift in the way of leadership, from transactional to transformational. (Gaughan, 2001). Earlier models to leadership, such as the situational or contingency models of Fiedler (1967), Vroom and Yetton (1973), and Hersey and Blanchard (1969), focused on identifying the styles and behaviours, which predicted effective outcomes depending on a variety of situational factors . In an organisation and environment where constant change is the norm, these authors did not help to offer any advice. During this time, the transformational and charismatic models began to emerge (Bryman, 1992), which comprised ideas such as charismatic and visionary in their concept of what leadership meant. Richard Branson style of leadership is best summarised as a transformational approach (Lussier Achua, 2009). Branson has also been labelled as a transformational leader by management lexicon, for his individualist strategies and his stress on the Virgin Group as an organisation driven on informality and information, one thats bottom heavy rather than strangled by top-level management. According to (Bass, 1985) Transformational leadership is a style of leadership that occurs when leaders broaden and elevate the interests of their people, when they generate awareness and acceptance of the purposes and mission of their group, and when they stir their people to look beyond self- interest for the good of the group. Transformational leaders are frequently compared with others who can adjust quickly to change (Bass, 1985). Branson evidently shows his flexibility and success in adjusting to changing organisational cultures as his been able to bring in new businesses and move into new sector whilst bringing his people with him (Grant, 2005). Studies by Lowe et al. (1996) and Patterson et al, (1995) have confirmed the positive relationship between transformational leadership and performance. This has helped to support why Richard Branson has been able to make Virgin such a success. Bass (1985) states that transformational leadership is more likely reflect social values and to surface in troubled times and change. This lies true with Virgin, an organisation that is centred on constant growth and change, as a result making the transformational style more suitable. For example, of how Richard Branson demonstrated this transformational approach was when he gave Virgin Atlantic employees his personal con tact details and encouraged them to forward any ideas and suggestions for improvements by contacting him directly (Jackson, 1998). Transformational leadership theory implies that this approach of leadership is likely to bring about empowerment and growth among followers (Bass, 1985). However, Howell (1988) states this type of style may cause followers to depend on the leader. This indicates on a psychologically level, followers self esteem and motivation may depend on recognition and positive feedback from the leader. In the case of Virgin group, this may not necessarily an issue despite Richard Branson personality being marked everywhere all through business he still manages to empower his employees with a degree of independence. A study of charismatic and transformational leadership theories suggests that such leaders possibly will achieve influencing followers who personally identify with this style as well as with the colleagues they work with (Yukl, 2002). According to (Conger Kanungo, 1998) personal identification with the leader is down to the leaders charismatic approach and is based on referent power. Similarly, Shamir, House and Arthur, (1993) argues one key way leaders can influence followers is by becoming a role model. Social recognition is another aspect of Richard Branson leadership style worth highlighting. Once individuals associate with a group, they establish their self esteem and self belief to some extent on their belonging to that group, with group failures and successes being faced as personal to the individual (Mael Ashforth, 1992). Followers are inspired by the leader to identify with the group aims and ethics Shamir, House and Arthur, (1993)by connecting the followers self belief to the mission statement of the organisation and goals of the group. The ways in which Richard Branson gets his employees to recognise with the organisation, as well as himself, is through managing the mood of his organisation (Jackson, 1998) . He has been known to be empathic and self aware which has allows him to instinctively takes in how customers and employees feel and estimate the organisations emotional state. According to Salovey et al (2004), emotional intelligence is the ability to precisely tell apart others emotions plus your own. Salovey et al (2004)also states one of the main ways of becoming a triumphant leader is through emotional intelligence, something that Richard Branson has manage to achieve through the way he studies himself and others. Finally, possibly one of the most powerful traits in Richard Bransons leadership style is his persistent determination to accomplish his goals, despite a few obstacles in his way. Zaleznik (2004) states that leaders and managers think about goals differently to one another, leaders tend to be active whilst managers are more reactive. The direction an organisation takes is determined by the influence the leaders uses when changing frame of minds, suggesting expectations and in creating specific objectives and desires. The net outcome of this influence, it changes how people consider what is feasible or desirable in terms of goals. As a result, leaders are able to instil some enthusiasm for particular goals on their followers. Regardless of some negative circumstances mainly external, Richard Bransons persistent shaping of the vision for his company and his ability to infuse these desires to those he hired is the reason for Virgins continues success and growth (Grant, 2005). To summaries, Richard Bransons charismatic way of leadership is one that comes from a largely transformational approach to how he influences those in his organisation. He shows clear skills in his ability to read the emotions of others and to assess the mood of his own culture, while having tremendous skills in how he can adapt his style and approach to the particular situation or context he is in. His drive and determination to succeed has been a key element of his success, something that stems from a combination of genetics and family circumstances. His success in becoming and remaining an effective leader of Virgin is largely due to his willingness and ability to empower individuals within the organisation. Branson has shown sensitivity to the needs of others, such as the need for recognition, growth and achievement. Through his attention to and encouragement of ideas and initiatives, Branson has gotten the support of his subordinates. His authority at Virgin is extended by his fl amboyant and charismatic personality and attention grabbing behaviour, both of which increased his visibility and appeal to staff and the public. Although unique to Branson himself, this style of leadership is one that works very well within the Virgin empire. Conclusion This case study has brought to a light many different strategies that an event manager can utilize in a future role within the event industry as well as to maintain a healthy organisational culture. First suggestion would be to adopt a transformational leadership style. Transformational leadership would allow your employees to work together for one common goal which is essential, especially within the event industry when organising an event. By working together your employees can come together to achieve great things and improve their overall efficiency. My second recommendation would be to utilize delegation. Delegation is a great way to develop the skills of your employees. When management can determine where a person will be most efficient it will help those involved in the project. By putting people in the jobs that they a best suited for it will lead to a more enjoyable and effective working environment. (change to culture) In a nutshell, there is a lot to be learnt from the culture and leadership of Virgin Group. Chairman Richard Branson has created a unique culture that has contributed to the long term success of the company. Although there is a clear distinction between culture and leadership, the company has been able to integrate a blend of each in many aspects of Virgin Group. The transformational leadership has proved to be a valuable tool for executives, managers, and workers alike. Employees within the company have a willingness to work together to expand and improve the company in order to reach their own personal success in life. Personal Leadership skills assessment Looking back at the night before Spy Games Development Day, my initial feelings were excitement, but apprehensive too because I did not know what was expected from me, nor did I know how helpful it was going to be. Thankfully, all that changed after the meeting in the morning. Leadership has played an important role in the completion of our Spy Games tasks especially the first one; it was not the predictable and usual type of leadership. There was no member of the group who emerged as a sole leader, but we as a group shared and took control of the leadership that was needed to complete our tasks. Each member had the chance to voice their opinions, and from there individually we would nominate ourselves for each task we felt most confident in or had knowledge or experience in. Our groups strongest attribute was that we were very organised; this led to better performance and development. Our group was very optimistic, as there was never a situation where a group member was negative even when we failed to complete a task on time, which was why performance was very high and effective. Even though we were not familiar with each other from the beginning, we still managed to work together without much conflict. The one argument we had was on the topic of whether a group member could be a leader for more than one task. We did resolve the conflict which made our group more comfortable with each other. Overall the Spy Games Development Day was a success; I learnt how to share the leadership role with the members within my group. I learnt that performance and development is a big factor in team roles, and learned that conflict is not always a bad thing. Shared leadership does not depend on one person, but on how people act together to make sense of the situations that face them (Doyle and Smith, 2001). In order to achieve an effective leadership and an effectual result at the end of the Spy Games, a shared leadership needed to be present. In some ways shared leadership was present mostly through the outdoor tasks. The primary factor