Analysis of the Carlsberg Advertisements

Analysis of Carlsberg Advertisements Cultural differences and similarities between Denmark and Great Britain Consumer Behaviour RSM353 Chernenko Kirill The following examination of British and Danish versions of printed advertisements of Carlsberg beer is to determine role of culture in advertising and compare and contrast how the same brand is advertised in different cultures. I. Danish printed advertisement The poster shows 4 men in the forest having conversation and smiling, meanwhile everyone has a bottle in a hand.The background shows the connection to wild nature: large green trees together with five fallow dears, a magpie, a fox and a pheasant. The men have been hunting, possibly, and decided to take a break. The idea is to illustrate a moment of relaxation and enjoyment of Carlsberg beer in a good company. The slogan â€Å"Vores ol brygget pa det bedste vi har† (Our beer. Brewed from the best we have) at the bottom, involves different product characteristics. The first part â€Å"Vores ol† awakes the awareness of Danes, because their traditional beer connects people in Denmark.Per contra, the final part focuses on quality of a beverage, which worth to go hunting. The image and the content of a text box creates a unified whole. The advertisement illustrates the traditional myth of drinking beer since hunting is an old tradition and according to the text box â€Å"Only 11% of the Danish hunters are hunting to hunt† which implies social interaction with friends. And, therefore, the social belonging to that particular group is related to drinking beer.Furthermore, Carlsberg beer can be seen as a reward for hard-working process, going beyond the beverage and highlighting old traditional values which express the hunting myth. In addition, a humor takes special place in this print. Relaxed hunters are surrounded by animals, walking nearby very close. It seems that animals are not afraid of intruders. The beer is no longer just a beer. It b uilds community and harmony between the people, and also between the animals. This is a signal of weak uncertainty avoidance in Denmark.Carlsberg beer provides relaxing atmosphere and sense of peace as well as hygge (fun on Danish). Moreover, the poster represents the everyday culture, playing on the symbolic associations. Consequently, Carlsberg intends to tell a true story about the real product. Denmark is a very individualistic culture where independence is very important. Nevertheless, the Danish advertisement (the slogan â€Å"Vores ol†) contradicts individualism. Instead, the advertisement drives towards collectivism.It turns out that Danes are double-standard people: they keep distance from other people, sitting alone in public transit while they pursue the sense of belonging, seeking community involvement. Ultimately, Denmark is categorized as a low-context culture. That means that additional information and reasoning is required. Although this poster does not provid e explicit argumentation apart from slogan and little text box. In my opinion, information given is sufficient enough to deliver the message to Danish consumer. II. British printed advertisementUK version demonstrates 2 young men sitting on a terrace of a luxury house with a sea view and two beautiful young women in the background The woman standing next to swimming pool is showered by a cloud above. Next to her is another young woman, who is lying in the sun with a rainbow over her body. Aforesaid young men are both smiling and holding a bottle of beer. There is a snowing cloud between them, which keeps the beer on the table refrigerated. Perhaps, they talk to each other, sharing opinions and ideas about everything behind them, which is not realistic.It can be assumed that the man on the left is telling about his fantasy (which is the actual background of a print). This flight of imagination is correlated with a text box â€Å"Carlsberg don't do the weather, but if we did it would probably be the best weather in the world†. I will interpret it this way: Carlsberg is already producing the best beer in the world; if only Carlsberg made weather, it would also be the best in the world. The informal contradiction â€Å"don’t† is used to make the text ordinary, which links to the fact that Carlsberg beer is an everyday beer for any event, any time.According to this ad, the best weather is summertime, beautiful ladies either taking shower of rain or sunbathing and cold Carlsberg beer with a snowing cloud above. This idealistic lifestyle reflects the fantasies and desires of younger audience, which is the actual target population. This unrealistic weather is not only a castle in the sky, a dream, but also a myth of success which implies luxury, nice weather and exclusive alcoholic beverages. Young men stylish clothes and beautiful beach house proves that link.British small power distance is visible in this poster by the use of four independent yo ung people who are able to make ideals in countries, where individualism is highly valued. Beer-drinking culture in is also manifested in this advertisement. In Great Britain beer is a social drink, it is not consumed alone, it should be shared in a company. Just like in Denmark, British are double-standard people: individualistic community seekers. Overstatement in slogan â€Å"Probably the best beer in the world is a sign of masculine cultures, it is often used.The features of the product related to luxury and high status is another a signal of masculinity. On the other hand, slogan also has an understatement â€Å"probably† which represent feminine values. Weak uncertainty avoidance can be noticed in text box focused on what the product does rather than what it can. And again, if Carlsberg could modify the weather it would be just as good as their beer. Communication style is more high-context than low-context. This is caused by the indirect, implicit message the viewer h ave to understand (metaphor: snowing clouds performs the role of refrigerator). III.Cultural Differences and Similarities The above analysis of Carlsberg advertisements of Denmark and United Kingdom illustrates how dominant cultural values, believes and norms reflect the style and content of particular print. There are some characteristics in common while there are a few differences. In the first place, both advertisements involves myths. However, British one provides the myth of success, whereas Danish ad is linked to old Dane traditional values such as hunting and social interaction. Secondly, in both posters beer-drinking culture is related to social process and relaxing activity.The Denmark version possess harmony, peace and community while British focal point is high quality and exclusive luxury. Thirdly, both Denmark and Great Britain advertisements are high-context despite the fact that both countries are classified as low-context. Text boxes are not that informative such as the image scenario. Although Danish ad is more symbolic meanwhile British one has more high-context communication. Last but not least, in both prints all characters are smiling, expressing the joy and satisfaction. This is a distinctive feature of strong uncertainty avoidance cultures.On top of that, both countries are double-standard combining individualism with collectivism (as previously mentioned â€Å"individualistic community seekers†). Still, UK ad demonstrates more signs of highly individualistic values Appendix A Danish printed advertisement, 1999 Only 11% of the Danish hunters are hunting to hunt There is intelligence that can create intense peace as the taste of the original Carlsberg humble exclusively from flowers of the hemp plant Our beer. Brewed from the best we have Appendix B British printed advertisement, 2007

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Evan Michel Mr. Rotolo Advanced Composition 31 August 2010 One of the most challenging parts about facing difficult times and hard ship is learning how to look past the adverse times to see the brighter side of your troubles and the lighter side of your struggles. President Gerald R. Ford made a speech to Washington’s Gridiron Club and stated just that. Americans are at their very best when they look at the brighter side of their troubles and the lighter side of their struggles,† the quote from President Ford’s speech is a perfect reminder that no matter what hardships you are going through it can always be made better by looking at it from a different perspective. By embracing the brighter side of the problem Americans are able to address the problem that is at stake and happening right now instead of being held back by past problems and hesitation.Americans go through times where it is extremely hard to put food on the table and many citizens can’t take t hat kind of stress. This is when President Ford’s advice can come into play. If only the Americans that are going through these hardships would look differently at them instead of struggling and trying to fight them their life would be made much easier because they could solve the problems and move on with their lives. Over the history of our country there has been many instances where these hard times are present not only to some but to all and many people just break down and give up.For example The Great Depression was a time when the stock market crashed and America as a whole was going through an adverse time. During this time there were a small handful of people who looked at the problem from a different point of view, as recommended by President Ford and helped pull our country out of that whole and back to its former self. If no one would have taken action during that time and everyone would have waited for someone else to do it for them then America would probably sti ll be in a depression.No matter what type of problems we face and how difficult they are they can all be overcome. This can be done by looking at the brighter side of life and remembering and other past hardships that were overcome and how you overcame them and putting that knowledge to use. Whether the problem is big or small Americans can overcome it together by trying. Overall President Gerald R. Ford’s speech to Washington’s Gridiron Club is all the advice needed to get through any hard time in life.

SAP SYSTEM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

SAP SYSTEM - Essay Example The following report is a critical analysis of adoption of SAP systems in business environment and challenges and benefits that are derived by implementing SAP from accounting perspective. For the purpose of analysis first an overview of the SAP systems is provided and is compared with Oracle financial accounting. Challenges and benefits of SAP are analyzed by means of literature review. From the analysis of challenges recommendations are provided which lead to the success factors of SAP. SAP stands for Systeme, Anwendungen, Produkte which is the German word meaning Systems applications and products. SAP ERP system is used to encompass a wide range of software products that supports day-to-day business operations and activities. ERP serves different industries and several functional aspects in integrated approach. The attempt is to automate different operations from supply chain management, inventory control and almost any management process that uses data. Many business organizations use SAP for their entire business functions. Other business organization use SAP for some specific business functions only. The reason for the wide acceptance and the popularity behind SAP is this functionality that allows it to be designed and customized in accordance with the requirement of particular organization. Most organizations earlier used standalone software to perform  ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­individual functions. However since ERP has been invented all these individual and stand alon e functions have been integrated and can be performed by this single software package alone. In case of standalone system for a particular change to be incorporated and taken into account the companies had to modify each functional software separately which was time consuming and expensive. However, since SAP has come into the picture all this cumbersome and difficulties have been resolved. For example if a salesman would have earlier completed an order then it was required that

How the Vitamin War changed America Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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Employee Incentive Plan Evaluation at XYZ Industries Essay

Employee Incentive Plan Evaluation at XYZ Industries - Essay Example The Company will implement a new incentive plan, the details of which are given in the following sections. The plan will be reviewed after a period of twelve months. Objective: To become the leading provider of blood bags in North America. Types of incentives proposed: Incentive plans are broadly classified into three groups, namely those for individuals, groups, and the enterprise (Bohlander & Snell, 2010, 455). Individual incentives: a. Hourly pay of $5 per hour with a maximum of $10 a day (five working days). Every employee is eligible. b. Sales incentive – 25 cents per bag, for exceeding targets for sales and marketing staff. There is no limit on the amount that can be earned. c. Bonuses – Thirty percent of basic pay for all employees twice a year (employees are at liberty to choose the time, but needs to provide one month’s advance notice. d. ... cturing and packing (Note – the company has excess production capacity and aims to achieve a 30 percent increase in sales this year) Enterprise incentives: a. The Company is planning to go public and is planning to introduce 100,000 shares in February 2011. It is expected the value of each share will be approximately $7. Of these, thirty percent will be held by the owners, fifteen percent will be given as employee ownership, and the rest be made public. Employees are not allowed to sell the shares to the public for a minimum period of five years. It is hoped that full cooperation from all employees and departments will be there for the successful implementation of the incentive plan. Review of the bonus plan: A review of the effectiveness of the plan was made after a period of fifteen months in June, 2011. The gap of an additional three months (plan introduced in January 2010). This was to assess the impact of the stock ownership plan which was planned in February 2011, as men tioned in the incentive plan. The review was conducted by the human resources manager, Mr A. as he had a good rapport with all employees. This was the first time that a relatively comprehensive incentive plan was introduced. Previously, only the group bonus plan was in operation. Hence the employees were willing to cooperate until the period of review was over. Moreover they were happy that they could obtain additional compensation when compared to previous years. But the following drawbacks were noted after discussions, which need to be looked into by the management and implemented as far as possible. The company did achieve it target of thirty percent increase in sales. With regard to the sales and marketing personnel had the following complaints especially from the top performers who

Construction Safety Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Construction Safety - Research Paper Example The employee might as a result claim against the undue termination. However, â€Å"An â€Å"at-will† employer - that is, an employer who reserves the right to terminate employees without cause - generally does not need to worry about such claims.† (Muskovitz, 2010). The employee’s act of informing OSHA is fairly justified since this tends to develop a culture of respect for humanity and civilization. OSHA is a statutory body that has a right to interfere with the business for good without having to gain the consent of the employers only because government has trust in OSHA’s laws and proceedings. The employee’s attempt to inform OSHA about the unethical instructions of his employer is ethical because this would cause the employer to be careful about the OSHA considerations of his instructions. $15,000 is a big amount and OSHA could not have charged the employer this amount unless he was proved guilty of having committed a serious offense against the rules of OSHA. OSHA is meant to ensure health and safety on site and if the employee’s call to OSHA made it impose such a large fine on the employer, it means that the employee’s action was

Organizational change and research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Explain the supervisors responsibilities for providing counsel to his Essay

Explain the supervisors responsibilities for providing counsel to his or her workers - Essay Example With the many cartels, the exposure to drugs is quite high and the program assists the employees that have fallen victim. A middle-sized law firm in Australia has introduced an employee assistance program that seeks to help workers with occupational stress. The organization has organized weekly picnics that seek to relief employees of work related stress. A small marketing company has introduced a health care employee assistance program where it caters for all the health expenses that an employee may have. Going through these employee assistance programs one gets to recognize that the larger the size of the company, the more complex the program involved is (Mannion, 2014). The program integrated in the small marketing company is not similar or as sophisticated as the one used in the multinational telecommunication organization. As the supervisor of this law firm, I recommend that you join the program where you get to enjoy picnics with other members of the organization and even with family members. I advise this because I find it necessary to relief stress at times. Handling clients is a very tasking responsibility and to earn the trust of a client it is vital to be sharp. Picnics will assist you feel rejuvenated and you will have better lawyer-client

Isle of wight ventnor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Isle of wight ventnor - Essay Example In addition, the seabed forms a ridge rising to 15 meters of the surface that causes the sea to rush in between the ridge created and the Island. Due to this, there exists a narrow deep channel called the St Catherine’s Deep. The problem Study of the geotechnical situation in Ventnor indicates that the town has experienced landslides subject to ground movements. These landslides cause damage to property and interrupt the delivery of services mostly done through pipelines. The under-cliff of the Isle of Wight is 12 kilometers long. In 1988, the Department of Environment in Ventnor commissioned a study to come with ideas for dealing with the land instability problem. To understand the problems of stabilizing the town of Ventnor properly, it is important to consider; 1. The nature of the landslips 2. Study the strategies used to reduce negative impacts in the future and their applicability 3. Investigate the previous cases of instability It is very crucial to note that only some areas in the town of Ventnor experience landslips. In fact, various developed areas do not get affected even by main events. Consider the Bonchurch Old church which is over 1050 years old and still exists. Researchers tend to misinterpret the extent of the landslides since they include buildings and property that crumble due to poor foundations. Consequently, the problem appears great and non-manageable. (Griffiths, 2001). Location map The location of the town of Ventnor creates a problem in the stabilization of the area. The town faces a sea with various activities among them sea bed movements. Its open side facing the sea presents the problem of vulnerability due to lack of protection from sea tides and strong winds. Instability due to ground movements Ground movement continues to be a problem in the stabilizing of the town of Ventnor. The worst period occurred in 1961 where cliff falls and collapsed settlements were rampant following heavy autumn rainfall. Although the records da te as far back as 1781, it is not easy to get a clear picture of the problem of ground movements. 91% of the town has had minimal movement annually and short term major movements are attributed to long run movements. In the last 100 years, ground movement has become a challenge to the local community. This problem is independent of financial influence since it is a natural occurrence. The continued development of the area based on urbanization increases human traffic; thus, adds to the initial ground movement activity. Sir William 1997 argues that ground movements result from slope instability, ground compression and subsidence. Initially, the under cliff was a result of various phases of landslides due to climate and sea level influences. Landslides in Ventnor appear in the cretaceous rocks which consist of Gault clay overlain by big sandstones and chalk. The thin clay layers and the Gault clay determine the stability of the area. It is evident that the geotechnical design of the t own of Ventnor is itself a problem to the stability of the area. Landslides The images above show the occurrence of landslides which create a challenge in stabilizing the town. Mostly, landslides in Ventnor occur due to planes of weakness that come beneath impermeable clay surfaces. Water seeps through layers of sand leading to instability due to erosion. This image above represents the anatomy of the landslides. Landslides occur at the under-cliff of Ventnor located to the south of

Retail Market Environment in the Republic of Ireland Assignment

Retail Market Environment in the Republic of Ireland - Assignment Example The political and economic stability provided by Irish government policies brought inflation and budget deficits under control after two years of overheating, resulting in increased labour force skills, employment, and foreign investments. Ireland's population of 4.1 million, growing at 1.2% yearly, is the youngest in the EU with more than 53% below the age of 35. Literacy is high, poverty is low, and government forecasts private consumption to grow at 5.6% and GDP ($222 bn in 2005) to grow steadily at 4.7% in 2006. The economic boom triggered substantial changes in the Irish retail landscape and transformed what was once a collection of small shops offering specialised services, small general stores offering various dry goods and fresh foods, and department stores selling clothes and household items. Rapid growth increased mobility, improving the access to information and altering the tastes and shopping habits of consumers, who are more discriminating in getting the highest possible quality at the lowest possible price. The retail sector is adapting to these changes through continuous entrepreneurial innovation and business consolidation. There are currently eleven categories of retail marketing channels in Ireland, ranging from small boutiques to large hypermarkets (Forfs, 2006). The average consumer in Ireland is young, affluent, well educated, employed, and with a high disposable income. The second part of the paper will be devoted to an analysis of Ireland's consumer profile. Environmental Assessment of Ireland's Retail Sector Probably the most important development in Ireland has been the lifting in January 2006, according to plan, of the Groceries Order, a 20-year old law designed to minimise cutthroat price competition among retailers by prohibiting below invoice selling (CSG, 2005). We made a LoNGPEST analysis to assess the political, economic, social, and technological effects of the recent lifting of the Groceries Order that may have widespread local, national, and global consequences. Overview of the Retail Market Sector Table 1 contains an overview of the top competitors in Ireland's retail market

Business Law Essay Example for Free

Business Law Essay Introduction Law plays important roles to protect benefits, obligations and bringing fair for everybody in society. This report gives information about tortuous liability, contractual liability, vicarious liability, the tort of negligence and defences. After that, I can determine liability of person who is responsible when violations as well as providing advices for the legal problems in business of VJSC. (3.1) Contrast liability in torts with contractual liability Tortuous liability will be applied when occurs the law violation of civil nature that infringes on the rights and legal interests of others as a legal entity or individual. In addition, the rights and legal interests are not specified in the contract between the parties. Contractual liability is the parties sign in the contract based on satisfy about agreement, negotiation and terms of contract. They are completely voluntary to enter into a contract and having contractual liability each other. The tortuous liability and contractual liability have the same point are violations of the law and suffer liability under civil law. The liable party has responsibility for compensation by payments for any losses from their wrong. Differences: Tortuous liability Contractual liability A law violation of non-contractual damages. Parties related to the violations which they have no contractual relationship with each other even they are strangers. Tort is the basis for generating tortuous liability so the person wronged has responsibility to any persons who are damaged from their behaviour. Cannot measure clearly the damages. Difficult to determine exactly compensation rate so the compensation will be based on the actual extent of damage occurred. A violation of the contents which parties signed in the contract. Parties have a close relationship because they have time for agreements and sign the contract together. If the breach of contract occurs that the person violated have a contractual liability to the other party of the contract. The damages can be quantitative because they are regulated in the contract. The compensation under the liquidated damage that means compensation which determined based on the formula and stipulations that the parties have agreed in the contract. (3.2) Explain the nature of liability in negligence (3.3) Explain how a business can be vicariously liable A human who lives in society must follow the provisions of law is having a duty of care by respecting and protecting the rights and benefit legal of others. Negligence is behaviour which infringes on the rights and legal interests of others. However, these behaviours are not deliberate actions by an individual or entity who did not perform well their reasonable care which bring the consequences of monetary damages or personal injury. To sue a person who violating behaviour of negligence, the claimant need to prove those factors: Defendant owes the claimant a duty of care. Defendant breaches the duty of care. The tort of negligence has to a direct reason that brings damage or loss for the claimant. Vicarious liability is many people who related to damage occurs will have responsibility for the damage by misconduct. In business, the relationship of employer and employee is an important part of vicarious liability because employers will have the strong financial capacity to compensation to the injured party. Therefore, employer will be the main responsible for damage caused by their employee prescribed by law. After that, the employee has to  refund that amount for employer. There are factors to determine vicarious liability between employer and employee: They have a valid relationship employment between employer and employee. Employee implements the tort act in the course of their work that base on the agreement and requirement of employer. Case 1: there are two problems occur. The first problem The VJSC software company engages SP an event management company to coordinate and provide corporate hospitality for event’s clients. Trinh Van is an employee of SP and he installs equipments needed to serve for event in time constraint so he did not completely testing for all equipments. Unfortunately, an explosion happens causing some guest got minor burns and damage to the software. However, Trinh Van had left the company just one week before the event. Explain the liability in negligence and vicariously liable of the first problem. The negligent in this case is Trinh Van did not have fully in checking and testing for those things installed in the event. Thus, Trinh Van had violated the duty of care because with the nature of his work that he has a reasonably foreseeable the damage and consequences. Therefore, Trinh Van also breach duty of care because he did not have fully tested so that two damages caused by the explosion are clients of VJSC got minor burns and damage their software. Although Trinh Van had left SP one week before the event but at the time he performed his work that he still an employee of SP so there was a relationship employment and vicarious liability between Trinh Van and SP. Therefore, SP will have responsibility for damage by explosion and then SP has the right to require Trinh Van refund the amount that SP paid for caused damage of Trinh Van. Follow case Lister and ors Hesley Hall Ltd 2001 (Course book,2010) Children resident of a boarding school sexual abused by warden. Thus, the school was vicariously liable for warden because the nature of this job is supervise students during learning process which  created connection with the acts of abuse. To compliance with regulations of the duty of care that Trinh Van has responsibility to implement regulations about in checking and testing things installed to make sure that do not have any damage is likely to occur for clients as well as any assets in the area of the event. The relationship between SP and VJSC is a contractor to perform the event. However, the damage caused by explosion not only for software but also with some guess of VJSC. Otherwise, VJSC is the main subject of the event and they are an occupiers’ liability in the event so they have to ensure the safe for visitors who enter in the event. Moreover, VJSC has work done by SP as an independent contractor so that they also have vicarious liability for damage of guesses. The second problem. SP hired a SECurity contractor to protect for performing the event. The security staff’s had a specific instruction not to let anyone without an invitation. In case, someone who tries to enter the event without the invitation so the staff should inform to SP who then contact VJSC staff to attend and resolve the problem. However, Van Dao tried to enter into the event during the commotion and he was caught by Truong La who was SECuritys staff. The result was Van Dao injured by violenty of Truong La. Explain the liability in negligence and vicariously liable of the second problem. The regulations of SECurity that if any security guys have problems with people who try to enter without invitation so they should radio a member of SP who then contact VJSC employee to solve that problem. However, Truong La did not follow those regulations of SECurity when Van Dao enter in the event. As a result of Van Dao tried to unlawfully enter in the event during the commotion that he was twisted the arm and threw to the ground by Truong La so he breached the duty of care. Instead of the tort act, Truong La should hold Van Dao to prevent him enter the event and then inform this problem to  member of SP. Truong La had a tort of negligence in work because he has a reasonable foreseeable about damage for his act with Van Dao. Thus, the SECurity company has a liability for damage of Van Dao because Truong La is an employee of SECurity so there was a relationship employment between them. After that, Truong La has a liability to refund the amount that SECurity paid for caused damage of Van Dao. Base on case Lister and ors Hesley Hall Ltd 2001 (Course book, 2010) However, the compensation liability for damage of Van Dao will be reduced because mistake of Van Dao and Truong La were considered as contributory negligence so there are some defences for the tort of Truong La as: Van Dao is a trespasser. Van Dao can also predict there will be damage to himself in trespassing. Van Dao also has mistake for intentional enter in the event.   In this case, even SP hired SECurity company and the relationship between them are contractor but SP is not an occupier of the event. Therefore, SP does not have a various liability with SECurity about the damage of Van Dao. (4.1) Apply the elements of the tort of negligence and defences in the above different business situations for the legal officer who is assigned to VJSC (4.2) Apply the elements of vicarious liability in above different business situations for the legal officer who is assigned to VJSC Bui and Do was to pick Tran Vu up celebrate at petrol kiosk of Vu’s father where Vu works part time because Bui and Do completed of a software project. Suddenly rockets from an organized fireworks display fall into the petrol kiosk and garage forecourt of Vu’s father. It leads to the car of Bui and Do catch fire and two of them escapes but Do was trap short in the car so he felt shock and fainted. In other hand, Vu gets outside the office to save the vintage Vespa as requirement of his father is Tran Cao. However, Vespa was completely destroyed. Apply the element of negligence and defences and vicariously liable Event  organizer will be liable for damage because the duty of care of organising a fireworks display is ensuring that there is no damage about health, safe as well as assets of the other. However, they breached duty of care because the launch mechanism for rocket had wrong assembled by the event organizer but this event was taking place. Causing by the negligence of event organizer’s that leads to rockets from the fireworks event crashed into petrol kiosk and also catch fire to Bui’s car. After that, the fire spread in a short time so the vintage Vespa of Tran Cao was destroyed. In general, the main damage in this case about assets are petrol kiosk, scooter, car and there is no damage about human because Bui and Do escaped from the fire and they just feel a bit sick. We can find out defences for event organizer if they properly installed for the rockets launch mechanism and make sure that there is no mistakes from fireworks process so we can consider that the accident of Bui, Do, Vu and Tran Cao is an unavoidable accident because event organizer cannot be foreseen or predicted by the exercise of ordinary care for this kind of accident. Based on case Stanley and Powell 1891 (Course book,2010) The facts: In a shooting party, Powell fired at a pheasant. Unluckily, the bullet hit on a tree and a pellet glanced off a tree that bring injured for Stanley who are a beater of Powell. Decision: The defendant will not have liable with claimant because this accident is no one can anticipate. However, in the fact of this case that event organiser had not been properly assembled for rocket’s launch mechanism. Therefore, event organiser got mistakes in organizing fireworks process that causes for damage of petrol kiosk, car, scooter and human. In addition, the unavoidable accident just applies to the damage or injury which does not result from negligence. Therefore, we cannot apply defences for event organizer so they will be liable for damage caused by their negligence. To organize a fireworks display that event organizer will has lots employee for implementing. Therefore, with the damage occurred that lead to vicarious  liability between the event organiser and the employee who has responsibility for installation rocket’s launch mechanism because there was a relationship employment between them so the event organizer has a liability for damage caused by their employees. Beside that, Tran Cao told Tran Vu â€Å"take the fire extinguisher, get outside and put the fire out and save the scooter†(Scenario) but Tran Vu cared for the injure of his colleague so the scooter was completely destroyed. In this case Tran Cao is principal and Tran Vu is an agent so between Tran Cao and Tran Vu also exists vicarious liability with the damage of Tran Cao’s Vespa. Therefore, the vicarious liability between Tran Cao and Tran Vu also help the event organizer in reducing liability for damage of scooter because it considered as a contributory negligence from two sides. Follow case Ormrod Crossville Motor Service 1953 (Course book, 2010) A car owner asked a friend to drive his car to Monte Carlo for his work and then they were going to holiday. However, a damage to claimant’s bus occurred by the friend’s negligent driving. In this case, the friend was driving to Monte Carlo is for the car owner’s purpose so he was vicariously liable wi th his friend. Conclusion From this report, we can realize that anyone in society need to have the knowledge about tortuous liability to know the way to solve law problems in life and business activities. Moreover, we also understand the importance of duty of care as well as the unfortunate consequences of non-compliance of duty of care to remind everyone should more carefully when doing anything. References Business essentials – Supporting HNC/HND (2010) London: BPP Learning Media Ltd – Aspects of Contract and Negligence for Business Course book, Introduction to types of tort, chapter 12. Business essentials – Supporting HNC/HND (2010) London: BPP Learning Media Ltd – Aspects of Contract and Negligence for Business Course book, Business and economic tort – Negligence, chapter 13. Business essentials – Supporting HNC/HND (2010) London: BPP Learning Media Ltd – Aspects of Contract and Negligence for Business Course book, Business and economic tort – Occupiers’ liability, chapter 13. Business essentials – Supporting HNC/HND (2010) London: BPP Learning Media Ltd – Aspects of Contract and Negligence for Business Course book, Defences and remedies in tort – Unavoidable accident case Stanley and Powell 1891, chapter 14.

Research and Technology for Learning and Memory

Research and Technology for Learning and Memory Stacey Obispo Enhanced Learning Technological advances in bioelectronics and applied neural control technologies have enabled scientist to create machine assisted minds (McGee Maguire, 2007). The technological advances have been sought to improve the quality of people’s mental capacities by enhancing one’s ability to learn just like pharmaceutical enhancements have done in the past (McGee Maguire, 2007). However, when enhancing ones’ mental abilities as both technological and pharmaceutical advances have done, many ethical questions arise. This paper will address the available and future plans for learning enhancements and ethical implications for learning enhancements such as; pharmaceutical enhancements that are acceptable and controversial, uses of brain/ computer interfaces, equal availability of brain enhancements to all diverse groups, who controls how brains are enhanced, and who receives enhancement. These topics will be further explored by this author’s ethical viewpoint. When one talks of brain enhancement certain images from futuristic movies displaying cyborgs may come to mind. However brain enhancements specifically for learning are nothing new. Doctors for many years have been prescribing pharmaceuticals to enhance one’s ability to teach (McGee Maguire, 2007). These drugs promise to improve general psychological and cognitive functioning by enhancing ones’ mood, memory, attention, alertness and other cognitive capacities (Fuchs, 2006). Increasing one’s ability for attention and alertness has been accomplished over the last two decades through psychostimulants such as methylphenidate and dextromphetamine (Fuchs, 2006). The legal drugs have been used to treat (ADHD) and enhance attention and other functions in healthy people (Fuchs, 2006). Another drug that has been reportedly used on mood and personality in healthy people is the use of selective serotonin inhibitors (SSRIs) (Fuchs, 2006). Healthy individuals who take (SSRIs) in absence of mental illness have frequently reported that negative feelings such as anxiety, sadness, disappointment, guilt or shame are weakened and self-esteem and confidence rise(Fuchs, 2006). In addition (SSRIs) may be attributed towards giving individuals a sense of well-being and offer positive influence on the quality of individual’s social interactions (Fuchs, 2006). Pharmaceutical development in increasing ones’ ability to recover memories and block memories is currently in the works for future development (Fuchs, 2006). The pharmaceutical uses for recovering memories will be specifically targeted towards those who are cognitively impaired by the aging process and for those who develop dementia (Fuchs, 2006). The pharmaceutical development in blocking memories will be developed specifically towards blocking painful memories in those who suffer from PTSD (Fuchs, 2006). Ethical considerations in dealing with the use of pharmaceutical enhanced cognitive abilities stem from improper diagnosis and misuse. The implications for methylphenidate and dextromphetamine drug misuses come from improper diagnosis. For instance, how can one surmise that a problem with a child’s academic performance is due to the child’s inability to pay attention or be alert when in fact the problem may be with the child’s environment? Furthermore excessive use of methylphenidate in school boys has raised concerns in the United States (Fuchs, 2006). Misuse of methylphenidate and dextromphetamine has accounted for 16 percent of college students using the drugs as study aids (Fuchs, 2006). As a result the use of these drugs has been very controversial. Ethical concerns in brain enhancement through pharmaceuticals include safety (Fuchs, 2006). For example, methylphenidate can increase the short term capacity of one’s working memory at the expense of information adequately harnessed in meaningful, higher order knowledge (Fuchs, 2006). Furthermore unanticipated consequences and side effects from this drug are long term (Fuchs, 2006). What happens is that memory enhancement may impair memory retrieval in some individuals because the natural balance between remembering and forgetting could be interrupted by an overload of memories in the brain (Fuchs, 2006). Competition between individuals is another ethical concern for pharmaceutical brain enhancement. For instance once pharmaceuticals are more widely spread then individuals may try using this method for a competitive edge towards better grades at school or for keeping a job (Fuchs, 2006). In addition those who may be of lower socioeconomic levels may not be able to afford the â€Å"competitive edge† and are placed at an even greater disadvantage (Fuchs, 2006). Another ethical consideration for pharmaceutical brain enhancement is that it changes the human condition by manipulating our subjective experiences, cognitive abilities, and personality traits (Fuchs, 2006). Mind enhancement according Fuchs (2006) threatens to devalue human life and its imperfections, it fosters an illusion that one must be constantly happily and it villainies natural forgetfulness and negative moods. The use of pharmaceuticals for brain enhancement interferes with one’s own personal development and one’s ability to cope with their fears, failures and seatbacks. Perhaps prescribing brain enhancing drugs just place the responsibility of solving ones problem on a drug rather than finding a sense of responsibility to oneself to come up with solutions to ones’ life problems. Brain/Computer interfaces (BCI’s) have multiple uses. Pacemaker like brain implants help individuals with Parkinson’s disease and those with tremors (McGee Maguire, 2007). Treating depression has been shown effective in clinical trials with Vagus nerve stimulators constructed by Cyberonics (McGee Maguire, 2007). Experimentally in cases of spinal cord severage, systems for functional neuromuscular stimulation are being used (McGee Maguire, 2007). Patients with â€Å"locked in† syndrome have received brain to computer interfaces enabling one to communicate via computer by thinking about moving the cursor (McGee Maguire, 2007). Artificial vision systems enables the blind, using a cortical implant to navigate independently, to read letters, and through electronic interface it allows one to watch television, access a computer, and use the internet (McGee Maguire, 2007). The device Braingate has been used on a severely paralyzed patients, through a brain chip, to enable individuals to access e-mail, play computer games, control a television, and turn lights on and off by thought alone(McGee Maguire, 2007). Researchers have been able to restore hearing in deaf patients by inserting a penetrating device inside the brain stem (McGee Maguire, 2007). A clinical trial towards restoring speech is being used to restore speech from an implantable BCI (Alpert, 2008). The future of BCI’s crosses from assisting the physically ill and handicapped to assisting government in their Department of Defense strategies. Neural prostheses will be used in future developments to enable users to move mechanical devices with thoughts and monitor not only the patients goals of what they want to reach for but also their motivation and mood(McGee Maguire,2007)( Alpert, 2008). The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has allotted $24 million to support research into the proposals for brain machine systems in six different laboratories (McGee Maguire, 2007). These projects have the objective to control robots and airplanes through thought alone (McGee Maguire, 2007). British Telecom’s Artificial Life Team is working creating a chip called Soul Catcher 2025 (presumably ready, 2025) which goes behind the eye and records the individuals thoughts, sensations, and experiences throughout their life (McGee Maguire, 2007). In order to record al l experiences multiple chips would need to be used (McGee Maguire, 2007). The technology would allow users to transfer or transplant memories and experiences from one user to the next (McGee Maguire, 2007). Currently not all BCI’s are available to all groups of people. Brain interfaces such as the Braingate costs 50,000 for the procedure and equipment used and follow up costs vary (Brown University, 2005).In the future, after FDA approval, and commercial marketing it is possible that private insurance and Medicaid may pay for BCI’s like the Braingate (Brown University, 2005). Individuals who want the Braingate procedure pay out of pocket (Brown University, 2005). Not being able to offer enhanced learning procedures such as BCI’s to all individuals’ raises the issue of fairness. Is it fair to only help the have’s and not the have not’s when both can benefit from a brain computer interface procedure due to their disease or handicap? If brain interfaces are not made available to individuals who meet the requirements for its uses (physical impairment, disease, etc.) then it could mean a loss of quality of life in individuals who come from low socio economic levels. BCI’s should be regulated for its potential uses for enhancement purposes in â€Å"healthy† individuals. BCI’s used for the purpose of intelligence enhancing for people who have no disability, or BCI’s used for controlling weapons or heavy machinery such as automobiles and airplanes like DARPA has proposed should be regulated. Perhaps international laws could be made to regulate the uses of BCI’s so that this technology enhances only those who have a disability or disease and not individuals who just want to be enhanced for a job, acquiring a job, or performing better at school. When enhancements are made because a person thinks they need it rather than truly needing because of disease, illness, or physical impairment then inequality between those who have and have not will get larger. Regulating who can control BCI’s is an important consideration. Currently in the United States before a medical device can be marketed it must meet the requirements of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (McGee Maguire, 2007). Although these devices are regulated to some degree the question as to whether the investigation of the FDA is adequate (McGee Maguire, 2007). For instance , required post market safety reviews on devices are rarely done and the focuses of FDA review is establishing the indications for use, methods of safe placement ,individual risks, to surgery and anesthesia, and compilation of adverse events related to device removals ( McGee Maguire,2007). Clinical trials are then implemented to assess the efficacy of the device and its safety (McGee Maguire, 2007). Regulations for BCI operators should also be mandated. For instance the capabilities of BCI’s in the future could mean that individual’s will not have control over their actions and that an operator can control the individual (McGee Maguire, 2007). Individual’s that control the operation of BCI’s installed in patients have an enormous power in their hands. BCI’s installed into patients could make these individual vulnerable to a doctor or governments control (McGee Maguire, 2007). For this reason BCI’s should be regulated internationally. Learning enhancements through BCI’s are quickly developing. BCI’s can enhance the learning processes and experience of individuals who are disabled and increase their quality of life. Conversely this same technology can be used to enhance healthy people and give one a competitive advantage. Enhancing healthy people can lead to making them robot like, or allow one to control robots, weapons, and heavy machinery through thought alone (McGee Maguire, 2007). Perhaps one of the most important concerns of using BCI’S in healthy people is what will happen to humanity and the human condition? What will happen to ones concept of self? Would individuals with BCI’s be responsible for their actions or empathetic towards others? Offering BCI’s to enhance healthy people seems to be a very slippery slope and should be avoided. Technologies such as BCI’s should be embraced to help individual with disabilities and illnesses have a better quality of life. How ever this technology should not be allowed to enhance healthy people. Consequences to the human condition could be affected negatively as well as society and environment. Proposing international regulation of such devices seems to be appropriate form of action to prevent such detriments in the future. References Alpert, S. (2008). Brain-Computer interface devices: Risks and Canadian regulations. Accountability in Research, 15, 86. Fuchs, T. (2006). Ethical issues in neuroscience (McGee Maguire, 2007, p. 291) (McGee Maguire, p. 291) . Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 19, 607. McGee, E. M., Maguire, G. Q. (2007). Becoming borg to become immortal: Regulating brain implant technologies. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 16, 302. Brown University, (2005). Brain-chip interfaces. biomed.brown.edu/Courses/BI108/BI108_2005_Groups/03/impact.htm#demo

Coliform Bacteria: Occurrence and Antibiotic Susceptibility

Coliform Bacteria: Occurrence and Antibiotic Susceptibility Abstract   Bacteriological contamination of muscles and digestive tract contents of Oreochromis sp. and Labeo sp. reared in a pond supplied with domestic sewage was enumerated followed by determination of resistance of thermotolerent coliforms for antibiotics. Numbers of bacteria in muscles and digestive tract contents of fish reflected their densities in water. Muscles of both the fish species contained high numbers of total coliforms (TC) and fecal coliforms (FC). Escherichia Coli (E.coli) were never recovered from the muscles but from the digestive tract contents of the fish. Ranking of the total and fecal coliform contamination levels showed a decrease in the order digestive tract contents> muscles (p Keywords: Domestic sewage; Fish; Fecal coliforms; Escherichia coli; Water quality; Antibacterial resistance; Public health. Introduction All around the world, people both in rural and urban areas have been using domestic wastes to fertilize fish ponds (Strauss et al. 2000). In the majority of cases, domestic sewages are applied untreated or only partially treated through storage (Strauss 2000). Domestic wastewater, rich in nutrients, used in aquaculture supports the growth of plankton and other microorganisms which are consumed by the fish with little intake of other supplemented feed. Recycling of domestic sewage through aquaculture is an effective form of pollution control, which contributes to cost recovery and provides a source of low cost animal protein production. Domestic sewage transports a variety of human pathogenic microorganisms which may contaminate fish flesh when fish is grown in ponds receiving waste water (Niewolak and Tucholski 2000). Besides, municipal wastewater consists of huge amounts of incompletely metabolized antimicrobial drugs which can lead to the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria as well as resistant plasmids (Wiggins et al. 1999). The prominently affected bacteria are members of enterobacteriaceae and related gram negative rods (Kelch and Lee 1978). One of the important concern of wastewater fisheries is the contamination of fishes by fecal coliforms (Fapohunda, MacMillan, Marshall and Waites 1994). Their presence in fish intended for human consumption may constitute a potential danger not only by causing disease but also because of the possible transfer of antibiotic resistance from aquatic bacteria to human-infecting bacteria from nonaquatic sources (Olayemi, Adedayo and Ojo 1991). Therefore, periodic and c omprehensive sanitary survey of wastewater fishery is required. For years, the group of fecal (also called thermotolerant) coliforms (FC) has been the most widely used as fecal contamination as their excreted load is similar or larger than that of pathogenic organisms, and their survival time in the environment longer than that of excreted bacteria and viruses (Strauss 1997). In the present study, an attempt has been made to determine the bacteriological contamination of muscles and digestive tract contents of Oreochromis sp. and Labeo sp. reared in wastewater fed pond. Resistance to two very common antibiotics for random thermotolerent coliform isolates from muscle and digestive tract contents of both the fish was also determined. Materials and Methods Study Site A sewage fed pond of Bandipur, Rahara, North 24 Parganas, (22 °44N Latitude and 88 °24E Longitude) was taken into consideration for this study and to examine bacterial load of water and fish. Raw sewage was entirely of domestic origin, coming from Titagarh town of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. Sampling and Dissection Fish samples were caught with a net and were immediately transferred to the laboratory in containers with pond water. They were dissected according to Buras et al. 1987. Muscles and digestive tract contents were isolated and placed in sterile glass vessels. The tissues were weighed under sterile conditions, ground in a mortar and suspended in sodium chloride (NaCl) physiological solution (10 ml of the solution for each 1 g of the muscle or digestive tract content). The suspensions were homogenized using Universal Laboratory Aid Type MPW-309 homogenizer, at 1000 rpm, for 10 minutes. The homogenates were then serially diluted (10-1 to 10-6 for muscles and 10-1 to 10-7 for digestive tract contents) and inoculated into culture media. Time lag from fish collection to the analyses did not exceed 6 hours. Water from sewage-supplied pond was sampled and analysed simultaneously with fish sampling. Samples were collected monthly from July 2009 to September 2009. Microbiological Analyses Total Coliforms Lauryl Tryptose (LT) Broth at 350C for 48 hr was used for three-tube most-probable-number (MPN) presumptive determinations of coliforms (APHA 1998). From all positive presumptive tubes, total coliforms were confirmed by the formation of gas in any amount in the Durham fermentation tubes of brilliant green lactose bile broth (BGLB) for 48 hr at 350C. Fecal Coliforms and E.coli All positive Lauryl Tryptose (LT) MPN tubes to tubes of Escherichia coli (EC) Broth followed by incubation at 44.50C for 48 hr constitute a positive fecal coliform test. The growth from positive EC tubes was then streaked onto Levine Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) Agar plates and incubated at 35 °C for 18 to 24 h. Colonies from EMB Agar plates typical of E. coli were transferred to Nutrient agar (NA) slants from which GIMViC tests were performed where G-medium is the secondary EC broth, I -medium is Tryptone broth, M- and V-medium is Buffered Glucose broth, and C-medium is Simmons Citrate agar. MPN of E. coli was then computed based on the number of tubes found to contain isolates that produce GIMViC reaction patterns characteristic of E. coli (APHA 2001). Representatives of typical thermotolerent coliform isolates from fish samples were selected randomly by colony morphology on Eosin methylene blue agar and were streaked aseptically several times on freshly prepared nutrient agar plates to obtain pure isolates (Ogbonna, Sokari and Amaku 2008). Nutrient agar plates were then supplemented with ampicillin (50 µg ml-1) and tetracycline (25 µgml-1) and were used to evaluate antibiotic susceptibility patterns of 117 pure isolates (Miranda and Zemelman 2001). 32 isolates from muscles and 24 isolates from digestive tract contents of Oreochromis sp. and 39 strains from muscles and 22 isolates from digestive tract contents of Labeo sp. were subjected to antibiotics sensitivity test. Statistical Analyses Means and standard errors (SE) were calculated. T test was performed between bacterial concentration of muscles and digestive tract contents of both the fish. A significance level of 5% was considered (Zar 2007). Results Bacterial loads in muscles and digestive tract contents of Oreochromis sp. and Labeo sp. were exceptionally high. Total coliforms and fecal coliforms were commonly found in all analysed fish tissues. Escherichia Coli were not found in the muscles of either fish. Additionally, however, thermotolerant Escherichia coli were present in the digestive tract contents of both the fish (Table 2). Bacterial loads in the fish were significantly higher (p Antibiotic resistance pattern Of the 117 thermotolerent coliform isolates examined for antibiotic sensitivity, 82% (96 isolates out of 117) were tetracycline resistant and 65% (76 isolates out of 117) were ampicillin resistant. 58.11% (68 isolates out of 117) of the total isolates were resistant to both antibiotics where as 31% (36 isolates out of 117) were resistant to single antibiotic. From the single antibiotic resistant isolates, 24% were tetracycline resistant and 7% were ampicillin resistant (Figure 1). 56.41% isolates (22 isolates out of 39) from flesh and 22.72% (5 isolates out of 22) from digestive tract contents of Labeo sp. showed resistance to both antibiotics whereas 71.87% isolates from flesh (23 isolates out of 32) and 75% (18 isolates out of 24) from digestive tract contents of Oreochromis sp. showed resistance to both ampicillin and tetracycline (Figure 2). Discussion Comparison of fecal coliform counts of water of Bandipur sewage fed fish pond with WHO (World Health Organization) water quality criteria (WHO 1989) suggests considerable contamination of the first. Bacterial flora of fish reflects the bacteriological quality of the water from where the fish harvested (Geldrich and Clarke 1966). Strong correlation between the bacterial species present in the pond water and the fish regardless of the type of fish were also reported by Buras et al. 1987; Ogbondeminu 1993; Apun, Yusofand and Jugang 1999. Thus, in our study, total coliforms, fecal coliforms and E.coli recovered from muscles and digestive tract contents of Oreochromis sp. and Labeo sp. may reflect bacteriological water quality of the Bandipur sewage fed pond. Fecal coliforms in fish muscles were recovered when values of FC in water were 3.86+3.63105 MPN 100 ml-1 which were much higher than those recommended by WHO (1989) in its health guidelines on wastewater use in aquaculture. Fecal coliforms in fish reflect the level of pollution of their environment, as the normal floras of fish do not include coliforms (Cohen and Shuval 1973). Presence of fecal coliforms indicates the presence of fecal material from warm-blooded animals. However, thermotolerent coliforms include the genera of fecal as well as non fecal origin. E. coli is a species of fecal coliform bacteria that is specific to fecal material from humans and other warm-blooded animals (Bhatia 2008). Environmental Protection Agency (1992) thus recommends E. coli as the best fecal indicator of health risk from water. No detectable penetration of E.coli in muscles of either fish was found at 1.34+0.95104 MPN 100 ml-1 of E.coli concentration in water of sewage fed pond (Table 1). Thus, th e fish flesh qualities at harvest were good on the basis of their E. coli counts. Safety precautions during fish processing are still needed to avoid cross-contamination due to high accumulation of microorganisms in the digestive tract of fish. In this study significantly higher numbers of bacteria (p A wide range of thermotolerent coliforms isolated from sewage fed fish showed resistance to both ampicillin and tetracycline. Multiple anitibiotic resistant faecal coliforms have been observed in wastewater across the world (Gallert et al. 2005). Antibiotic resistance among random bacterial isolates from different organs of fish captured from fecally contaminated water with a full range of resistance (00-100%) to different common antibiotics of therapeutic and prophylactic use among human beings and in various animal farms and fish farms was reported by several authors. (Rhodes et al. 2000; Miranda and Zemelman 2001; Pathak and Gopal 2005). Thus the source of the problem of antibiotic resistance bacteria in wastewater pond of Bandipur was fecally contaminated water. Among thermotolerent coliforms recovered from fish, resistance to ampicillin and tetracycline was found in 65% and 82% of the isolates, respectively. Occurrence of thermotolerent coliforms with high resistance to ampicillin and tetracycline reflect human influence in the environment (Andersen and Sandaa 1994). Domestic sewage enters into the pond environment of the sewage fed farm with huge antibiotics which are used as medicines, as growth promoters or as preventative maintenance and may have established a selective pressure due to a slow degradation of antimicrobials favouring further growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (Petersen and Dalsgaard 2003). It may possible that these antibiotic resistant bacteria from wastewater may transfer their antibiotic resistant determinants to indigenous flora of fish, provoking their spread and prevalence in aquatic environment. In the present study bacteria resistant to both ampicillin and tetracycline from digestive tract contents were higher in Oreochromis sp. than in Labeo sp. It may be related to detritus feeding habit of Oreochromis sp. by which it is more exposed to wastes as well as antimicrobials than Labeo sp. which is a column feeder. Similar findings were reported by Miranda and Zemelman (2001) with demersal and pelagic fish. Antibiotic resistant fecal bacteria form domestic sewage may change nutritionally beneficial intestinal microflora with unexpected consequences on fish health. Our study indicates that fish flesh qualities were satisfactory in terms of E.coli counts. In spite of that flesh of both fish showed high numbers of antibiotic resistant thermotolerent coliforms which may include Klebsiella spp., Citrobactor spp. and Enterobacter spp. (non fecal origin) but till have immense ecological and public health implications specially if the resistance is plasmid mediated then there could be a problem associated with the transfer of resistance determinants to human pathogenic bacteria which may enter in human population through fish consumption. According to Walia et al. (2004) antibiotic resistance genes against ampicillin, streptomycin, and tetracycline are known to be transferable to other bacteria. Thus, we can say that Wastewaters and fishes reside there are potent source of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which in turn may transfer their resistance genes to nonresistant bacteria (Schwartz et al. 2003). Several studies indicate that the environmental conditions in wastewater may enhance the likelihood of gene transfer (Pote et al. 2003). Mach and Grimes (1982) demonstrated the high transfer frequencies of enteric bacteria in a wastewater. Additionally resistant bacteria may pose a risk of therapeutic problems to public health and fish population. So the study demands an elaborate investigation on the members of predominant multidrug resistant bacterial microflora associated with sewage fed fishery along with their plasmids profile as an evidence of conjugal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes in human and animal food chain through fish consumption.

Soap Opera Genre Essay -- TV Television Media Essays

Soap Opera Genre "Before I saw Neighbours, I didn’t know there was an Australia" (Jerry Hall, The Clive James Show, UK, 31 December, 1989) The soap opera genre originated in American radio serials of the 1930s, and owes the name to the sponsorship of some of these programs by major soap powder companies. Proctor and Gamble and other soap companies were the most common sponsors, and soon the genre of 'soap opera' had been labeled. Like many television genres (e.g. news and quiz shows), the soap opera is a genre originally drawn from radio rather than film. Television soap operas are long-running serials traditionally based on the close study of personal relationships within the everyday life of its characters. Soaps are a consistent set of values based on personal relationships, on women’s responsibility for the maintenance of these relationships and the applicability of the family model to structures. In soap operas at least one story line is carried over from one episode to the next. S uccessful soaps may continue for many years: so new viewers have to be able to join in at any stage in the serial. In serials, the passage of time also appears to reflect 'real time' for the viewers: in long-running soaps the characters age as the viewers do. Christine Geraghty (1991, p. 11) notes that 'the longer they run the more impossible it seems to imagine them ending.' There are sometimes allusions to major topical events in the world outside the programs. Soap operas have attempted to articulate social change through issues of race, class and sexuality. In dealing with what are often perceived to be awkward issues soap operas make good stories along the emotional lines of the characters. Christine Geraghty (1991, p. 147) ‘While it seeks... ...stitute Curran, James & Michael Gurevitch (eds.) (1991): Mass Media and Society. London: Edward Arnold Dyer, Richard (ed.) (1981): Coronation Street. London: British Film Institute Turner, V (1974) Social Dramas and ritual metaphors In V.Turner, Dramas, fields and metaphors: symbolic action in human society Cornell University Press: Ithaca Hobson, Dorothy (1982): Crossroads - The Drama of a Soap. London: Methuen Modleski, Tania (1982): Loving with a Vengeance: Mass-Produced Fantasies for Women. Hamden, CT: Archon Morley, David (1992): Television Audiences and Cultural Studies. London: Routledge Coward, Rosalind (1987) Women’s Programmes: Why not? In Boxed in :Women and Television Edited by Baehr, Helen, and Dyer, Gillian Pandora Press Tulloch, John and Moron, Allen ‘Women Like Gossip’: The family audience in A Country Practice: ‘Quality Soap’

Air Pressure :: essays research papers

Air Pressure Air is composed of molecules. Air is matter. It has mass and takes up space. Air is composed of different gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other gases. Air molecules are in constant motion. As they move, they come in contact with surfaces. Air molecules push and press on the surfaces they contact. The amount of force per unit area that air molecules exert on a surface is called air pressure. (What is Air Pressure 6) Air pressure is caused by all of the air molecules in the Earth's atmosphere pressing down on the Earth's surfaces. We can measure air pressure to help us predict weather conditions around the world. Temperature also affects air pressure because air contracts when it cools and expands when it is heated. So if air above a region of Earth cools, it does not extend to as high an altitude as the surrounding air. In this case, its pressure at higher temperature is lower than in the surroundings even when the pressure at the surface is the same a s in surrounding areas. Then air flows into the cooler region at high altitude, making the total weight of air above the region greater than in the surroundings. This is a "high". The cool air descends to the earth's surface. Near the surface, the falling air spreads out, spiraling clockwise in the northern hemisphere. The opposite happens where air is warmed by the sun or by the Earth's surface temperature. The resulting rising air is above a "low." Near the surface, air flows into the "low" to replace the rising air, spiraling counter-clockwise (Atmosphere 26). Highs and lows react to each other causing a variety of conditions. Driving up or down a mountain leads to a reduction or increase of air pressure in the outer part of the ear, creating a pressure difference across the eardrum, which separates the outer ear from the middle ear. The difference distorts the eardrum, so that sounds are muffled (What is Air Pressure 9). However, this can be taken care of by swallowing air and opening the Eustachian tube between the middle ear and the nasal cavity, which in turn is joined to the mouth.

Allys Wisdom :: College Admissions Essays

Ally's Wisdom I have baby-sat Ally, a little girl who has mild autism, for the past several years. She used to only speak a few words and sit still only five minutes at a time. Now she is a child who can talk up a storm and sit with me for hours while we enjoy a video. She is cute, funny, bright, and very caring. Like the rest of us, Ally has her ups and downs. There are moments when she is confident and moments when she is feeling a bit confused. She can be serious or delightfully silly. One thing that distinguishes Ally is the tendency to think in very concrete terms. When she was young, we often played the "What is it?" game. I choose an object; she identified it. The light switch was "light on-off," and the doorknob was "door open-close." At first I thought, "That's not what it's called." Then I realized how arbitrary our conventional labels are. Ally identified things for their purpose and function. Even now when I talk to her on the phone and ask, "What are you doing?", she answers "I'm talking to you." I have realized that if I wanted to know what she was doing before she came to the phone, that's what I should have asked. Sometimes we think we are communicating clearly, when what we say can actually be confusing for others. Ally helped me the most when my grandmother died. She knew that I was upset because she could see that I had been crying. When she asked me what was the matter, I told her I was sad because I missed my grandmother. She looked at me and said, "Why don't you try smiling?" At first I thought that her suggestion was foolish, but I have realized the

Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 2

For a few seconds, I was no longer at the party. My mind's eye flashed back to where I stood on a cliff outside the town I'd grown up in, barely old enough to be called an adult by today's standards. And Niphon was there, smiling at me, promising me he had all the answers and could make my problems disappear†¦. I shook my head, driving off the memories and returning to the party at hand. His smile grew, an evil smile that promised even more evil things. I could have been facing Eden's serpent himself. â€Å"I knew you had it in you,† he continued, stepping toward me. His voice stayed soft. â€Å"I knew it the minute I saw you. I can't wait to find out firsthand just how†¦experienced you've become.† My defenses snapped into place, and I stepped back. â€Å"Touch me, and I'll break your fucking neck.† â€Å"Such ingratitude, considering I made you what you are.† â€Å"Stay away from me.† He started to move forward again, and my heart leapt to a pace that would have killed most humans. Suddenly, Jerome's voice fell over us, and I realized the room had become silent. â€Å"Leave her alone, Niphon. She said no.† The imp paused and made a pleading face. â€Å"Aw, come on, Jerome. What kind of demon doesn't share his goods?† â€Å"You aren't here to fuck my succubus. If you can't do your job, I can replace you.† Jerome's voice held a warning note that even an asshole like Niphon couldn't ignore. Maybe someone would be consigned to Hell tonight after all. Disappointingly, the imp inclined his head in obeisance and backed off. The look he gave me warned we would have a later conversation. I walked over to Jerome. â€Å"Maybe you should have given me a heads up earlier.† â€Å"And ruin things for you lovebirds? Hardly something a die-hard romantic like me could do. Besides, I told you to come early.† Hugh snapped his cell phone shut and wandered over to join us. He kissed my cheek. â€Å"Hey, sweetie. Big things going on here.† My already enormous sense of dread grew by leaps and bounds. â€Å"Such as?† â€Å"Re-org. Seattle's lines have been redrawn. We're getting another succubus. Or, well, we've got one.† My jaw dropped, and I replayed Niphon's earlier words. â€Å"You are so joking.† â€Å"Afraid not. This is Tawny.† Robo-Blonde pranced over on her stiletto heels and tried to shake my hand again. I kept it out of reach, fearing for my bones. I forced a smile. â€Å"Hi, Tawny.† I turned back to Jerome and jerked my head at Niphon. â€Å"Why is he here then?† â€Å"I acquired her,† the imp explained. â€Å"Acquired† was a nice way of saying he'd bought her soul for Hell, just as he'd purchased mine. â€Å"It's my job to stay and watch her until she's settled in and taken her first victim.† â€Å"No one ever did that for me,† I recalled. â€Å"You sort of threw me to the wolves.† I'd had to be some innkeeper's sex toy in Constantinople for a few years until I'd learned the succubus ropes. Niphon shrugged. â€Å"HR's new policy. Just think of all the time it'll give us to catch up.† Giving Tawny a sidelong glance, I hoped her adamant desire to destroy men everywhere meant she'd be a quick study. Eyeing her leopard-skin skirt, I had my doubts. â€Å"Well. Fantastic. Now that I'm up to speed, I guess there's no need to stay – â€Å" Hugh shook his head, suddenly becoming my-friend-the-imp as opposed to the all-business imp. I could tell from his expression that I wouldn't like what he had to say next. â€Å"There's something else you need to know. For the next year or so, you have to be her†¦uh, mentor.† â€Å"Mentor,† I repeated flatly. He nodded, looking sympathetic. Jerome watched our exchange with amusement. â€Å"What, um, does that mean for me exactly?† Hugh set his briefcase on a coffee table and pulled out what looked like the kind of copied-and-bound manual Kinko's would run off. He tossed it to me. I caught it and nearly keeled over. The thing had about eight-hundred pages. Mentor's Official and Complete Procedural Handbook on Initial Succubus Intake and Probationary Period (Abridged). â€Å"Abridged?† I spun toward Jerome. â€Å"Tell me you're getting back at me for the time I accused you of wearing Old Spice.† â€Å"That one's still coming,† said the demon. â€Å"This one's for real.† â€Å"I can't do this, Jerome. I don't have the time! Do you know how much stuff I've got going on? I'm still training the new assistant manager at work – â€Å" He stood up with speed a vampire might have admired. He leaned toward me, the amusement gone from his face. â€Å"Oh gee, Georgie. How inconsiderate of me to take you away from your human boyfriend and your crucial-to-the-world bookstore job and all the other fucking absurdity in your life! Let me just go ahead and tell my superiors that you've got more important things to do than answer to the powers who control your immortal soul and could wipe out your existence in the blink of an eye.† Heat flooded my cheeks. I didn't really appreciate being verbally bitch-slapped in front of Niphon and Seattle's entire dream team of evil. â€Å"I didn't mean it like that. I just – â€Å" â€Å"It's not up for debate any longer.† His words crawled over my skin. I swallowed. â€Å"Yes, Jerome.† Even I knew when to back down. Silence fell. A smirk played over Niphon's face. â€Å"A human boyfriend. How terribly quaint. I can't wait to hear all about it.† â€Å"I think it's cute,† said Tawny. â€Å"I hope you're making him suffer.† â€Å"Their romance is a great tale of self-exploration,† remarked Hugh, straight-faced. I shot him a glare. As a sexual workaround, Seth and I found we could do unto ourselves what we couldn't do to each other. I'd never actually told my friends about this solution, but they'd kind of figured it out. With the drama complete, the rest of the room lost interest in me. Tawny did not, however, and immediately began talking to me about the joys of ripping out men's hearts and watching them cry. I left her as quickly as I could, working the room and talking to those I hadn't seen in a while. I was good at smiling and making people laugh while all the while, my mind spun and processed this new complication. When I finally found Cody, Peter, and Hugh huddled in a corner, I breathed a sigh of relief. I could tell from the looks on their faces that this was the most hilarious thing they'd seen in a while. Cody, young for a vampire but ancient compared to Tawny, threw an arm around me. His shaggy blond hair was tamed into a short stub of a ponytail. He was perpetually laidback and upbeat, and his â€Å"youth† always made the rest of us want to baby him. â€Å"Oh, man. This is going to be great. You are so screwed.† â€Å"As if,† I said, squirming away. â€Å"You think I'm afraid of her?† â€Å"I am,† said Peter with a shiver. He had thinning brown hair and wore casual yet exquisitely coordinated clothes, all the way down to his argyle socks. He was an old vampire, close to my age, and was Cody's mentor. I'd never thought much about their mentor-apprentice relationship before. It always seemed pretty effortless, but then, Cody was no Tawny. I followed Peter's gaze to where the new succubus animatedly told a story to a stone-faced demoness named Grace. From the dangerous jiggling of Tawny's breasts, it looked as though the structural integrity of her shirt could only last so long. â€Å"I don't think you're afraid,† said Hugh slyly. â€Å"I think you're jealous.† â€Å"Of what exactly? Bad fashion sense? An ergonomically unsound bustline? I have nothing to be jealous of.† â€Å"Whatever. I saw your face when you heard we were getting a new succubus. Looks like someone isn't going to be the only girl in our little clique anymore.† â€Å"So?† â€Å"So, we'll have a new little sister to fawn and fret over. You'll have to share the spotlight.† â€Å"I'm not sharing anything,† I said huffily. Peter laughed. â€Å"So it does bother you. Can't wait until the fur starts flying.† â€Å"Her fate is in your hands,† said Cody. â€Å"You should make her call you ‘Miss Georgina,'† added Hugh with a mocking southern drawl. â€Å"Or at least ‘ma'am.'† Niphon's presence and Jerome's lecture had put me in a grouchy mood. â€Å"I'm not doing any mentoring. She's so gungho to take on the world's male population, she doesn't even need me.† The three men exchanged more smirks. Cody made some hissing and meowing sounds, scratching at the air. â€Å"This isn't funny,† I said. â€Å"Sure it is,† said Cody. â€Å"Besides, don't you want to help others? Where's your sense of goodness and charity?† â€Å"I think I cashed that in when I, you know, sold my soul to Hell.† Peter waved his hand. â€Å"Details, details. ‘Tis the season to put aside petty rivalries and animosity. You've got to get into the holiday spirit. You probably haven't even put up your Christmas tree yet.† â€Å"I'm not getting a tree this year.† The smile slipped from Peter's face. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Oh, shit. You've done it now,† said Hugh. â€Å"I already got lectured earlier for not having one.† â€Å"You're a Scrooge,† Peter told him while still looking at me. â€Å"No one expects that kind of festive cheer from you. But Georgina†¦didn't you have a Christmas tree last year?† â€Å"Yeah. Somebody burned it down. At my Christmas Eve Martini Party.† â€Å"I was there,† said Peter. â€Å"I don't remember that.† â€Å"You were drunk. You'd already passed out.† â€Å"What kind of sick bastard burns down a Christmas tree?† Hugh and I exchanged glances. â€Å"That's an excellent question,† I said dryly. Peter looked startled. â€Å"Was it you?† he asked Hugh. â€Å"No,† said the imp. â€Å"It was Carter.† â€Å"Your Christmas tree was burned down by an angel?† asked Cody. He hadn't been with our group last December, so this was all new to him. And Peter too, apparently. â€Å"Yup. The irony isn't lost on me,† I said. â€Å"He had his ashtray too close to where a branch was hanging down.† â€Å"Well, I think he did you a favor,† said Hugh. â€Å"You can get a fake one now. They're easier. No watering. No woodland animals. Besides, you can get them to match your d? ¦cor. Did you notice Peter's is ‘pissed-off ocean green'?† Peter sighed. â€Å"It's ‘jaded sea green.'† I followed their gazes to Peter's monstrosity of a Christmas tree. Nine feet of perfectly shaped needles draped in gold tinsel and red glass ornaments. Everything on it coordinated. In fact, I suddenly realized, it matched Peter's outfit. The tree looked like a display model from a department store. The green in the multicolored bejeweled star on top even seemed to bring out the blue in the ‘jaded sea green.' â€Å"At least you don't have an angel on top,† I said. â€Å"Because that would have been kind of wrong. And possibly a fire hazard.† â€Å"Joke all you want,† the vampire said, â€Å"but you have to have a Christmas tree. Oh, yeah – you also have to draw a name for Secret Santas.† I groaned. â€Å"Are we doing that again?† â€Å"Let me go get the cup,† he said, trotting to the other side of the kitchen. I looked at the other two. â€Å"A vampire obsessed with Christmas. That has to be the weirdest thing I've ever heard.† â€Å"No weirder than an angel burning down a Christmas tree,† pointed out Cody. Peter returned with a reindeer mug that held a few folded pieces of paper. He held it out to me. â€Å"Not many left. Pick.† I pulled out a slip and opened it. Carter. â€Å"Son of a bitch,† I swore. â€Å"I hate Christmas.† â€Å"You do not,† said Peter. â€Å"You just have to get a tree. Then you'll feel better.† My eyes drifted from the star, down to Tawny and Niphon. â€Å"What I have to do is get out of here,† I told them, setting my glass on the counter. I made my good-byes to them and endured a bit more teasing about my new mentoring job. As I walked to the door, I overheard Jerome saying to Grace, â€Å"†¦but I'll be out of town for a few days.† I suddenly realized I needed to ask him something. â€Å"Hey, Jerome.† He turned from the demoness, shooting me an impatient look. In as few words as possible, I recapped how I'd woken up without the energy I'd stolen the previous night. Jerome listened, looking bored. â€Å"What'd you do last night? Bursts of shape-shifting? Rocket science? Heavy lifting?† I didn't need him to tell me what sorts of things would burn through my energy. â€Å"I didn't do any of those things. I just slept. I did dream, though.† â€Å"Dreams only suck the life out of humans, not us,† he remarked dryly. â€Å"It's what keeps Hell in business.† Seeing my expression, he sighed. â€Å"It's probably nothing, Georgie. Mental exhaustion'll do it. You probably spent the whole night unconsciously wrestling with sexual temptation.† I didn't appreciate his flippant answer, but there was nothing I could do about it. I left the party, driving home at a reasonable speed limit this time. As soon as I cleared the door, I tossed that ridiculous manual to the floor. It landed with a ground-shaking thump that made my cat Aubrey puff up her tail. â€Å"Sorry,† I mumbled, scratching her black-speckled head in consolation. Traipsing to the bedroom, I promptly dialed Seth on my cell phone. â€Å"Hey,† he said. â€Å"Hey. You have to come over here tonight.† A pause. â€Å"Well, I could, but†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Oh, come on! You won't believe what I just went through. We're getting another succubus.† He paused again. â€Å"I'm not really sure how to respond to that.† â€Å"Respond by getting your ass over here. I need you.† â€Å"Thetis†¦I'm so close to the end here. Four chapters away. And I got this idea while we were having breakfast†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I groaned. Cady and O'Neill had defeated me again. Before actually meeting Seth, I'd worshipped him from afar as a literary genius, reading his novels over and over. Now I knew the dark truth about being a bestselling author's girlfriend. Hearing my silence, he reluctantly added: â€Å"But, I mean, if you really need me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"No, no. Don't worry about it. It's okay.† â€Å"You don't sound like it's okay. I know how women work. You say that, then you'll hold a grudge against me forever. Literally.† â€Å"No, really. It's fine. I'll be seeing you tomorrow anyway. Besides, as soon as I get out of this dress, I'm just going to pass out anyway.† No way was I starting that procedural tome. â€Å"You're wearing a dress?† â€Å"Yup.† â€Å"You weren't wearing one earlier. What's it look like?† I started laughing. â€Å"Ooh†¦are you trying to have phone sex with me?† â€Å"Phone sex? Hardly. We haven't even had a phone first date.† â€Å"It's not that hard. You see, I tell you how the dress has a really low neckline with nothing underneath. Then, you tell me how you'll reach out and peel it off and stroke my – â€Å" â€Å"Oh my God. No. We are not doing this.† Typical Seth. He could write sex scenes that set the page on fire or dialogue clever enough to impress even me. Make him vocalize any of it, and he choked up. He was shy around others, fearful in large groups, and much happier staying an unnoticed listener. I sympathized but sometimes had trouble really comprehending it, considering how often I became the center of attention. I liked to think he'd improved a bit since we got together, but he had a long way to go. â€Å"It just takes practice. Here, I'll help you. Picture it. I'm getting on my knees and slowly unfastening your pants – â€Å" â€Å"Okay, look. If you really want to go through with this, I'd be happy to, you know, go get on my computer and IM it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Oh good grief. Go work on your book.† I hung up the phone and sat down on my bed. Good Lord. My weekend had taken an abrupt U-turn. Like it or not, I supposed it had been only a matter of time before a new succubus joined the ranks here. Seattle had grown significantly over the years, and I could only do so much. But a green succubus? One I had to train up? If I hadn't known such administrative decisions were out of the demon's hands, I would have accused Jerome of doing it on purpose. It was on par with his sense of humor. Why couldn't we have just gotten some antisocial pro who did her job without ever interacting with me? And Niphon†¦well, that was the coup de gras. I didn't like being reminded of my past, and I didn't like him. Something told me he had it in for me, though I couldn't entirely fathom why. He'd bought my soul and recruited my eternal services. What more was there? Wait and see, a warning voice whispered in my head. I shivered. Tawny couldn't make her first score a moment too soon. Suddenly, I didn't feel like passing out after all. I wanted to go out. Not for a victim or anything†¦just to, well, be out. Grab a drink. Do a little flirting. It might salvage the train wreck I'd just endured. I headed downtown to the Cellar, a favorite watering hole for local immortals. After Tawny's coming-out party tonight, I doubted anyone I knew would be there. A little alone time suited me just fine. Yet, as I entered the crowded bar and slipped through the drinking, laughing patrons, I felt a cool sensation tickle my immortal senses. It made me think of crystal and ozone. Scanning around, I finally found Carter sitting across the room at a round table. Seattle's most powerful angel – and the one who had burned down my Christmas tree – had sensed me too, and a slight smile curled his lips in greeting. Although he naturally hadn't been at Hell's all staff meeting, he did have a tendency to hang out with my little clique. It had weirded me out at first, but I'd since come to view him as a normal fixture in my life, albeit a strange and badly dressed one. More startling than seeing him out tonight, however, was his assortment of companions. Three angels and a human – none of whom I'd ever met before. All of them watched me, displaying curiosity and – for one of them – scorn at my presence. Whatever. He could scorn all he wanted. It would take more than an angel posse to get to me after everything I'd experienced today. Carter's company did strike me as odd; I'd never known him to work with others. A grudging curiosity rose up within me, wondering what could have brought them all together – with a human, no less. Noting my scrutiny, Carter winked and made a small gesture of invitation, much to the astonishment of two of the angels. I nodded back in acknowledgement, first stopping by the bar to get a vodka gimlet. When I walked over a minute later, I put on my best saucy succubus attitude and pulled up a chair beside Carter. â€Å"Well, well,† I said. â€Å"I feel like it's Rush weekend or something. We're all entertaining guests, huh?† â€Å"So I hear,† he said. He absentmindedly ran a hand through his chin-length blond hair. Unless I was mistaken, it had been washed for the first time in six months. These guests must be serious. â€Å"I also hear one of yours is of a more permanent nature.† I pulled a face. â€Å"I don't really want to talk about that, if it's all the same to you.† â€Å"Can we expect a cat fight soon?† â€Å"That joke is so one hour ago. You want to introduce me to the rest of the class?† This made one of the angels laugh. She had deeply tanned skin and black hair that shone like silk. A merry glitter danced in her eyes as she extended a hand to me. â€Å"Yasmine. And you're Georgina.† I nodded back, unable to help a smile. The one she gave me in return filled me with warmth and joy. Maybe some angels weren't so bad after all. It was a good thing, too, because her companions seemed less thrilled to make my acquaintance. â€Å"I'm Whitney,† said another slowly, a pretty black woman whose hair consisted of myriad tiny braids. She dressed with a fashion sense that met my standards and wore cat-eye glasses that made her look both cute and wise. Her handshake took a moment in coming, but it did come. I glanced at the last angel expectantly. He had dark brown hair and blue eyes, paired with a long and narrow face. His expression conveyed clear disapproval and a haughty coldness. Now that was behavior I associated with angels. For a moment, I didn't think he'd speak at all. Then, with great stiffness, he said, â€Å"I'm Joel.† No handshake followed. I turned to the human. He grinned back with as much enthusiasm as Yasmine and flipped his longish dark hair out of his eyes. â€Å"Vincent Damiani. Nice to meet you.† â€Å"You too.† I cut Carter a sly look. â€Å"And all this time, I didn't think you had any friends.† â€Å"You're jumping to conclusions, Daughter of Lilith.† He sipped from what looked like whiskey straight up. â€Å"They're here on business.† â€Å"Ooh. Top secret angel business, huh? What're you going to do? Dance on a pinhead? Lobby for National Cute Puppy Day?† Joel's cold look dropped another ten degrees. â€Å"As if we would discuss our affairs with a dark seductress of evil.† Yasmine elbowed him with an eye roll. â€Å"She's joking.† â€Å"That's what she wants you to think,† he warned ominously. â€Å"I for one am not going to let my guard down while she attempts to use her wily and sinister powers of seduction on us.† Fixing him with a slow, languid smile, I leaned back in the chair, crossing my legs so the skirt rode up my thighs. â€Å"Baby, if I were using my wily and sinister powers of seduction, you'd be the first to know.† A dark flush stained his cheeks. He fixed his gaze on Carter. â€Å"I don't know what game you think you're playing, but you need to get rid of her.† Carter stayed unfazed. â€Å"She's harmless – unless you're a drug-pushing god or a nephilim. Or an introverted writer.† Yasmine flinched, her cheerful countenance becoming sober. â€Å"Don't joke about nephilim.† â€Å"In fact,† Carter obliviously continued, â€Å"she might fix that little logistical problem. Georgina, I don't suppose you'd mind playing hostess, would you? Vincent needs a place to stay while he's in town.† I arched an eyebrow in surprise. Misinterpreting my silence, Vincent hastily added, â€Å"It's okay if you don't want to. I mean, you don't even know me. I can see how that'd be weird.† â€Å"I don't know,† I told him, even more curious as to what was transpiring with this odd group. â€Å"If angels vouch for you†¦well, you can't really get a better recommendation than that. If you don't mind sleeping on the couch, it's fine by me.† â€Å"You're a pearl among succubi,† Carter declared. Joel nearly choked on his drink. Considering his stick-up-the-ass attitude, I doubted he had anything alcoholic. Probably Kool-Aid or Pepsi. Diet Pepsi, at that. â€Å"Are you out of your mind?† he exclaimed. â€Å"She's a succubus. You can't subject him to that. Think about his soul.† â€Å"She's not really into nice guys,† Carter said. â€Å"Usually. You won't have a problem.† Yasmine offered Vincent a playful look. â€Å"He's not that nice anyway.† â€Å"Carter – † began Joel. â€Å"I told you, she's fine. Let it go. You have my word. Besides, she won't ask any questions, and it'll give him an accessible place to stay while you guys search.† I jumped on the word â€Å"search.† Now we were getting somewhere. â€Å"What are you guys looking for?† Dead silence met me. Whitney crossed her arms. Vincent sipped his drink. â€Å"Okay, I get it.† I finished the gimlet with a gulp. â€Å"Need to know basis. Mum's the word. Hush-hush and all that.† Yasmine's easy grin returned. â€Å"I love her, Carter. No wonder you keep her around.† She then started talking about another succubus she'd met in Boston, smoothly changing subjects as deftly as Carter could. Guessing what I was thinking, Carter caught my eye and grinned. I rolled my own eyes in exasperation. Nonetheless, as the evening progressed, I found myself liking Yasmine immensely. She, Vincent, and Carter carried most of the conversation, and while angels weren't nearly as fun as the rest of my friends, I found this group entertaining in their own way. They also swore and drank a lot less, but well, nobody's perfect. When the bar closed, I took Vincent with me, but not before Joel issued warnings about the sanctity of the human soul. Vincent listened to it with a patient face, nodding along at the key parts. â€Å"Is he always like that?† I asked on the drive home. Vincent laughed. â€Å"He can't help it. He means well. He's just worried about me.† â€Å"Are you worried?† â€Å"Nah. You're pretty cute, but no, I'm not worried. I'm already in love with someone.† I started to joke that that was no protection against anything, that I'd seduced plenty of guys who thought they were in love. Something in his voice stopped my quip. The way he spoke implied that being in love was indeed protection from me and all the other evils of the world. He spoke like one who was invincible. I suddenly felt sad. â€Å"Good for you,† I said softly. He cut me a sidelong look. â€Å"You're okay for a succubus.† â€Å"Okay enough to tell me what you and the Super Friends are doing in town?† A smile flashed back over his face. â€Å"No.† At home, I set him up on the couch, producing piles of blankets to keep him warm. I kept my apartment at a steamy temperature most of the time, but it was December, and the part of me that still remembered huddling around meager fires in days gone by felt one could never have enough blankets. I soon went to bed, buried under my own stash of covers. This time, I didn't dream.