The Psychodynamics of Depression

Depression – Psychodynamic Theory I have been interested in the mechanics of depression since childhood, when my mother ‘suffered with her nerves’ – her explanation of what I now recognise as a very severe melancholia defined by Burton in 1621 as â€Å"a kind of dotage without a fever, having for his ordinary companions fear and sadness, without any apparent occasion† (p739). My interest was further compounded by my clients, Valerie and Jo, when it become apparent to me that depression is one of the most common and debilitating phenomenon that I will probably have to encounter in my role as a Counsellor. Before beginning, it may be useful to briefly consider Freud’s warning that depression is not a homogenous group of conditions and that it probably involves more than one aetiology (Freud 1917). It can reflect underlying cultural and environmental trends in addition to physiological factors. (Desjerlais et al. 1995) A review of the literature reveals that research relating to the nature and origins of the psychodynamic theory of depression is rich in contributions to the theme, thus this essay of necessity represents a high-altitude skim over a massive topic. I will concentrate on authors who have made some of the most seminal contributions to the development of the theory, namely Abraham, Freud, Jacobson, Klein and Mahler. (There are, in actuality, numerous other pioneers in the cultivation of this theory, such as Malan, Sandler, Spiz, Bibring, Rado, Blatt, Benedek, Lindemann, Kohut, some of which, due to word limit, I have not included). Bowlby‘s theory of attachment, although not psychodynamic per se, is also considered, because the way in which people relate to loss of attachment appears relevant to our understanding of depression. Schore, who describes the neuroscience of attachment and how the brain of the parent and infant interact, has also been included The first thing we need to do is to be clear about four quite different ways that we may talk about depression. Jacobson referred to them as normal, neurotic, psychotic and grief reactions (1971 p19). What Jacobson (1971) referred to as normal depression, appears to be akin to what Klein referred to as the depressive position (Segal 1973). She, who it appears from my literature search (Klein 1940, Meltzer 1989, Spillius 1983, Money Kyle 1964), more than any other psychoanalytic pioneer viewed the infant as a miniature adult, found evidence of a â€Å"depressive position† from birth (Klein 1932 in Meltzer 1989 p37). This is essentially a state of health, a capacity to bear guilt, stay in touch with mental pain and emotional problems and bring thinking to bear on situations (Meltzer 1998). According to Klein we oscillate between our ability to stay with painful situations or seek temporary relief through splitting and projection (defence mechanisms), returning to the paranoid-schizoid position – the state of mind existing in babies ; one that is constantly returned to throughout life to greater or lesser degrees (Klein 1932 in Money Kyle 1964). Defence mechanisms are defined as tactics which the Ego develops to help deal with the ID and the Super Ego (Freud 1923). Freud introduced the term ‘ego' in â€Å"The Ego and The Id† (1923). He holds that only a portion of the mind is conscious and the rest lies hidden deep within the subconscious, ruled by conflicting forces of a super-strong libido (id) and super-controlling morality (superego) all translated through the ego, which attempts to balance the two through rationality (1923). Libido is described as the ‘energy of the sexual instincts‘ (Frued 1925). Neurotic depression or reactive depression can be understood as an exaggerated response to stress due to a weak state of ego strength combined with a failure of the external support system. Neurotic depression consists of a fall in self esteem after the ego has been abandoned by its ideal (Sandler 1965)). In modern day terminology, Jacobson's psychotic depression could be termed a severe depressive episode with psychotic symptoms (WHO 1992). Brown and Harris’ studies state that early loss appears tied to the emergence of psychotic versus neurotic symptom patterns (1986). Bowlby thought a mother-child attachment could not be broken in the first years of life without permanent and serious damage to the child’s future development (Bowlby 1973). Jacobson said there is fusion of the self and the object[1] epresentation within the ego and superego, â€Å"calling forth attack from an extremely pathological sadistic and idealised superego on a fused and highly devalued selfâ€Å" (Lund 1991, p533). The capacity for sadness is absent because the object and its representation are â€Å"devalued and united with the devalued representation of selfâ€Å" (p534). Th is appears to be evidenced by Jo who was referred for treatment of â€Å"severe anxiety and panic attacks,† and whose symptoms include extreme suspiciousness and intolerance of her peers, and delusional ideas relative to her mother. These psychotic-like symptoms could be related to the treatment she received from her mother who maltreated her and ultimately abandoned her when she was a toddler. Freud contrasted the mental processes involved in mourning with those of depression which he termed melancholia (1917); the latter could now be referred to as a severe depressive episode (WHO 1992). He regarded both mourning and depression as grief reactions to the loss of someone or something loved (1917). The distinction between the two conditions he described with the statement that in contrast to the mourner, the melancholic suffers â€Å"an extraordinary diminution in his self regard, and impoverishment of his ego on a grand scale† (1917 p 153). The explanation of this key difference appears to rest on the psychological concept of identification. Freud argued that part of the self had undergone a change in depression through its becoming identified with the lost object (1917). Object loss refers to traumatic separation from significant objects of attachment, usually mother (Bowlby 1973). In relation to the regressive identification Freud said â€Å"Thus the shadow of the object fell upon the ego†¦. † implying that the low self esteem of the melancholic is directly related to the condition of the introjected[2] object (Freud 1917 p243 ). Abraham also stressed the importance of introjection in melancholia (1911). Whereas mourning recognises the loss of an object that was â€Å"good† and â€Å"loved,† the melancholic’s relationship to the lost object is necessarily more ambivalent, i. e. a dense complex of love and hate (Klein 1940 in Money-Kyle 1998 p 142). Freud stressed the importance of heightened ambivalence in melancholia. He suggests that melancholia involves a regression to the oral narcissism phase of the libido, when an identification with the lost object occurs (1917). At the very early oral stage, described by Freud as primary narcissism ( 1914) and by Fairbairn as â€Å"mouth ego with a breast,† (1952 p87 ), the mouth feeds on the breast and is temporarily content. However, disturbances in feeding and other related irritations generate the agony of want and pains of anxiety. Consequently, fixation at the early oral phase results in the registration of a painful (bad) internal wanting and a nourishing (good) something somewhere in the vague uncharted outside of the child. Narcissism is described as an orientation towards internal objects, characterised by self-preoccupation, lack of empathy, and unconscious deficits in self-esteem (Kernburg 1969). Jo’s refusal to eat when in a severely depressed state could be viewed as her regression to oral narcissism. Freud also believed too many positive experiences during the first year of life could set an individual up for developing depression later on in life (Comer, 1992). He posited that if an individual is nurtured too much as an infant, she will not develop beyond the oral stage of development because there was never a need to. Although his theories emphasised the importance of early experience on later development, I understand from the literature it was Abraham (1911) who first made this distinction. He defined melancholia as an ambivalent feeling of love and hate toward the self that arises from an early infantile disappointment in love (1911). He too connected loss at the oral stage to maladaptive coping during subsequent losses later in life (1924). Abraham tells us that melancholic clients are inaccessible to any criticism of their mode of thinking (1924). In them can be seen the narcissistic character of thought and disregard for people who confront them with reality as in the case of Jo who missed a session following my interpretation about her eating habits. Expanding on this theme, Abraham summarised the dynamic factors underlying depression, as follows (1924): 1. A constitutional factor of an over accentuation of oral eroticism. 2. A special fixation of the libido at the oral stage. 3. A severe injury to infantile narcissism. 4. Occurrence of the primary disappointment pre-oedipal. [3] 5. Repetition of the primary disappointment in later life. These points appear to be evidenced by Valerie, my client in her late forties. Her husband died four years ago and she was referred by her GP because of â€Å"troublesome feelings of depression, isolation and lack of identityâ€Å". Her developmental history revealed that her mother had always been a source of tension, and had been severely depressed while Valerie was growing up. Valerie felt neglected and abandoned by her. She had been left with a negligent nanny after she was born and was ill with jaundice and gastro-enteritis. It took three months for the neglect to be discovered and for her to be returned home. Throughout her childhood, her mother remained predominantly in a withdrawn state in bed. However, she remained very dominating and ridiculing in manner of her daughter. In response to Valerie’s traumatic bereavement, her mother again seemed preoccupied and self-absorbed. Valerie’s opening remark to me was striking, â€Å"I want to be a calm sensible person with no feelingsâ€Å". Since her mother spent her time criticising Valerie and ridiculing her separate thinking (her mother resented Valerie’s creativity having thrown the contents of the rubbish bin on one of her prize paintings), this comment appears to represent her wish to conform to her mother's requirements. However, this statement appears to underline the central dynamic to understanding depression, for with the desire for identification with an ideal object, there appears no room for separate thinking or expression of needy feelings (Jacobson 1964). All tensions related to one’s own needs and how the idealised object is ignoring them gets projected and then experienced somatically (Abraham 1924). The lack of availability of a containing mother[4] was graphically illustrated in a dream, where Valerie went to get food from a supermarket. There was no basket and she came out, arms full of tin cans. Suddenly, her mother's sister shouted from a house window: â€Å"Where is your mother? † Valerie dropped the cans and opened her mouth to speak. It was full of blood and bits of glass. Valerie also reported to me another dream where she swallowed two â€Å"tablets of stones† that lay heavy on her stomach. This could be symbolic of the unresponsive stone breasts of her mother. Also it reminds me of the Ten Commandments, two tablets of stone not to be disobeyed (her mother). The oral origins seem apparent, with the brittleness of the breast and the aggressiveness to it. This history seems to confirm all Abraham's points. The constitutionally inherited family history of depression, her mother having a breakdown when Valerie was born; The fixation of the libido at the oral level, with the sensation of having swallowed the tablets of stone breasts when depressed and also the oral aggressiveness, with the cut glass in the mouth. The severe injury to infantile narcissism was evidenced by her mother's unresponsiveness. The first disappointment pre-oedipally, starting at birth with being left with the neglectful nanny; with the repetition of the primary disappointment in later life and with her mother's lack of support at the time of her husband’s bereavement. Valerie told me she felt ‘guilt and shame’ about ‘being depressed‘. To explain the peculiar intensity of the sense of guilt in melancholia, Freud suggested that the destructive component of the instincts had entered the superego and turned against it (1917). He also noted in some depressed people a high proneness to guilt; ‘that tendency toward self-reproach which death invariably leaves among the survivors. ’ (Freud 1925 in Stengel 1969 p 237). He pointed out the increased severity of moral judgement that occurs in depression, and described the setting up of a ‘critical agency’ as part of child development, which ‘henceforth will judge the ego’ (Freud 1923 in O'Shaughnessy 1999 p861). This is the superego and Freud suggested that â€Å"the relationship between the ego and the superego (see definition page 1) becomes completely intelligible if they are carried back to the child’s attitude towards his parentsâ€Å" (p861). The superego is coloured by the child’s own hostile and rivalrous feelings, so that ‘the more a child controls his aggression towards another, the more tyrannical does his superego subsequently become’ (p862). The self-recriminations seen clinically are recriminations made of a loved object that has been displaced (Freud 1923) as the following exchange between Valerie and myself appears to illustrate: V. Life sucks T. It sucks? V. Yeah, but then why should it be any different? I’m so ghastly and useless – I don’t deserve to be happy. When Valerie announces ‘I’m so ghastly and useless – I don’t deserve to be happy,’ she is perhaps not really criticising herself, but a purported ideal that has let her down. The self-tormenting is then a tormenting of the ideal object (mother) that had abandoned her at a time of need. The sadomasochistic process of self-criticism, that so dominates depression, goes on in a relentless fashion. No true mourning, with relinquishment of the object, can occur because of the unresolved ambivalent dependence on an ideal object (Freud 1923). Valerie’s grief at her husband’s death could be seen as an extension of her more hidden yearning for her mother’s love. Her unrealistic hopes based on compensatory exaggerations of unsatisfied wishes and needs, may have laid down a vulnerability to depressive illness because these are unsustainable in adulthood. Klein described an early ore-oedipal stage to the formation of the superego, with a very harsh superego in evidence at the oral stage, which becomes modified over time, with experiences, to becoming more benign, less demanding and more tolerant towards human frailities (Money-Kyle 1964). She comments on clinging to the pathological early severe superego as: â€Å"the idea of perfection is so compelling as it disproves the idea of disintegration† (Klein 1932 in Meltzer 1989 p270). In healthy development the superego may take on, over time, a benign guiding role, but in those with a predisposition to depression, the superego can be â€Å"a pure culture of the death instinct which often succeeds in driving the ego into death† (Freud 1917, p332). This may have been the case with Valerie’s deceased husband who was also diagnosed as depressed; she feels his death may have been suicide. It is interesting that he told her his body was â€Å"tired of livingâ€Å", perhaps suggesting that the ego was located in the body awaiting to be attacked by the superego. The ego can only kill itself if, as a result of a return to the object-cathexis, it can treat itself as an object (1917). Object cathexis occurs in the Id and is the investment of energy in the image of an object. Suicide also harbours murderous feelings towards others (Campbell & Hale 1991). Kohut viewed depression as coming from a lack of good experiences with what he termed the mirroring self-object[5], such as having interested and involved parents (1971); this results in problems with self-esteem regulation. Parkin considers that a fall in self esteem is the hallmark of ‘all simple depression’ (by this, I imagine, he means what Jacobson referred to as neurotic depression), and a heightening of self criticism to be the hallmark of melancholia (I imagine, he is referring to Freud’s theory. ) (Parkin 1976). It is the loss of self-esteem, many psychodynamic theorists claim, that starts a person down the path of depression (Comer, 1992). Jacobson stresses the crucial importance in depression of the loss of self esteem and the feelings of impoverishment, helplessness, weakness and inferiority (1971). Freud believed feelings of anger and self-hatred develop from thoughts about unresolved conflicts. As a result of feelings of self-hatred, the individual feels shameful and worthless and loses her self-esteem (Comer, 1992). Jo suffers shameful feelings about herself including taking anxiolytic medication to ‘dampen down my distress‘. She commented that her self esteem is ‘as low as my socks. ’ She lost her job as a result of her panic attacks. Gaylin (1968) reasons, if a person is depressed over the loss of a job it is not because the job symbolizes a loved object but, like a loved object, â€Å"it can symbolize one's self-esteem† (p. 7). Klein said that whether an individual loses her self-esteem depends on the quality of her relationship as an infant with her caregiver during the first year of life (Wetzel 1984). She claimed the Oedipus Complex to be a part of the depressive position, occurring at the oral stage of development (Segal, 1984). Her work was criticized, especially by Anna Freud, but the significance of her theory appears to be that, if individuals have not had the early experiences that enable them to internalise a good object, then mourning as adults will be complicated by significant depression (Wetzel 1984). Klein's interpretation to the origin of depression closely resembles that of Abraham and Freud's theories that an individual can develop a predisposition for the illness, but her contributions appear to have been criticised on the grounds of seeking to establish an exact parallel between the child’s developmental stages and adult depressive illness (Spillius 1983). I understand from the literature that most psychoanalysts accept infantile precursors to depressive illness but stop short of Klein’s view. Mahler acknowledged that the mother-child relationship is crucial in the development of basic moods, including depression (1966). However, in contrast to Klein, she believed the depressive position does not occur at the oral stage, but later in toddler-hood, during the separation-individuation period[6] (1966). More recently other authors have been trying to differentiate two types of depression basing themselves in part on the writings of Freud on the processes of oral incorporation and superego formation, and considering that it would not be fruitful to integrate these two mechanisms from such distinct phases of psychic development (Spitz 1947 p 723). Blatt subsequently conceptualised depression in accordance with the child’s level of object representations and made the distinction between anaclitic depression and introjective depression. Anaclitic is oral where there is relatively low evidence of guilt. Introjective depression is more oedipal based where the sufferer may harbour intense feelings of guilt because the superego is overly harsh (Blatt 1974). Bowlby thought depression resulted from a failure of secure attachment early in life (1973). He described a series of attachment and protest behaviours which, if not responded to, would proceed to a state of despair in infants and finally to states of detachment. This work has burgeoned into the field now known as attachment research. To summarize this extensive body of research very briefly, we now know the attachment that the child establishes with the caregiver during development may be the prototype for all subsequent bonds with other objects (1973). The capacity to develop close and loving relationships in adulthood protects against depression and this is influenced by the attachment patterns developed in childhood. Anxiously attached individuals seek interpersonal contact and are excessively dependant on others. Compulsively self-reliant individuals are excessively autonomous and avoid close intimate interpersonal relationships (1973). Both of these preoccupations can create a vulnerability to depression. In agreement with Klein, Bowlby suggests that anger and guilt are part of mourning reactions. It is not the presence of anger or guilt that is pathological in mourning but their appropriateness that is the crucial issue (1969). Schore describes the neuroscience of attachment and how the brain of the parent and infant interact (2003 ). He speaks in depth about the neurobiology of the developing mind during the first three years of life and how the right brain processes are integrally involved in attachments and the development of the self. He spells out very clearly how insensitive parenting leads to emotion dysregulation patterns in childhood and later in adulthood. He understands insecure attachment as emotion dysregulation and that psychotherapy is the process of changing neural patterns in the brain, the right brain in particular. There are clear points of contact between the attachment perspective and some psychodynamic ideas. As mentioned, one of Klein’s hypotheses was that the reaction to loss occurring later in the life cycle will be influenced by revived aspects of losses experienced at the earliest stages in development (Segal 1973). The early loss of the maternal object may result in depression later in life if the infant has not yet been able to establish a representation of a loved object securely within herself (Segal 1973). There appear to be clear parallels between this formulation and the idea of maladaptive internal working models of attachment in Bowlby’s thinking about early loss and depression. Evaluation Each of the theories probably has a contribution to make to the overall picture especially when we recollect that depression is a complex rather than a unitary phenomenon (Freud 1917). Common to all these theories is their invoking of the crucial role of the infantile phase of development. Each of them asserts that problems in the trajectory to eventual adulthood commence in early childhood and can constitute a vulnerability to depression. Following my research, I am hopefully better placed to help my clients. For instance during our sessions Valerie is able to reflect how her deceased husband had provided her with an experience of being loved and cared for that she had longed for from her mother. Working through unresolved feelings of loss arising from initial losses and disentangling them from feelings related to present losses may be invaluable in the resolution of her depression As for Jo, we have spent considerable time exploring her panic attacks and her fear of expressing her depressive feelings. She fears that ‘If I start crying, I may never stop’ and that nobody will be able to bear her pain. This links with Bion’s concept of containment (Bion 1962) as defined on page 5. If I can contain her pain and grief then this may help Jo internalise a sense that her pain can be borne and thought about. Finally, I am reminded that my own experiences of depression can either interfere with or enhance my capacity to help. Self reflection and supervision are crucial if I am to make the best use of my humanity. REFERENCES ICD-10. Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders: Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines: World Health Organization, 1992. Abraham K. 1911-1968)Selected papers of Karl Abraham. New York: Basic Books Inc. Bion WR. (1962)Learning from Experience. London: Karnac. 97. Blatt S. (1974). Levels of object representation in anaclitic and introjective depression. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 29, 107-157. Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss, Vol. 1: Attachment. New York: Basic Books. Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss, Vol. 2: Separation -anxiety and anger. New York: Basic Books Brown & Harris (1986). Life events and illness. New York: The Guilford Press. Burton R. (1920)Anatomy of Melancholy. New York: Tudor Campbell & Hale (1991). Suicidal acts. In J. Holmes (Ed. ), Textbook of psychotherapy in psychiatric practice (pp. 287-306). Comer R. (1992). Abnormal psychology. New York: W. H. Freeman & Company Desjerlais et al (1995) World Mental Health: Problems and Priorities in Low-Income Countries. London: Oxford University Press. Fairbairn W. (1952)Psychoanalytic Studies of the Personality. London: Routledge Freud S. (1917). Mourning and melancholia. In J. Strachey (Ed. ), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud London: Hogarth Press Freud S. (1914). On Narcisism. The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud V. 14. London: Hogarth Press Freud S. (1923/1960). The ego and the id. J. Riviere (Trans. ), J. Strachey (Ed. ). New York: W. W. Norton. Freud S. (1914). Beyond the Pleasure Principle. The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud V. 14. London: Hogarth Press Freud S. (1925)(trans. J. Riviere) Collected Papers. Vol. I. , London: Hogarth. Jacobson, E. (1964) The Self and the Object World. New York, International Universities Press Jacobson E. 1971)Depression: Comparative Studies of Normal, Neurotic & Psychotic Conditions. New York: International Universities Press Kernberg O, (1969)A contribution to the Ego-psychological critique of the Kleinian school. Int J Psychoanal 50: 317 – 33 Klein M. (1940). Writings of Melanie Klein. London: Hogarth. Vol. 1. p344-369. Klein M. (1932). The psycho-analysis of children. London: Hogarth Press. Roger Money-Kyl e The Writings of Melanie Klein. (Ed. ). 4 Vols. New York, Free (1964-75)Press. Kohut H. (1971)The Analysis of the Self. New York, International Universities Press Lund C (1991)Psychotic depression: psychoanalytic psychopathology in relation to treatment and management, B J Psychiatry 158: 523 – 8 Mahler M. (1966). Some preliminary notes on the development of basic moods, including depression. Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal, 250-258. Meltzer, D. (1998)The Kleinian Development (New Edition). London: Karnac Books O'Shaughnessy E. (1999)Relating to the Superego. Int. J. Psychoanal; 80, p861-870. Parkin A (1976)Melancholia: A reconsideration, J Am Psychoanalytical Assoc. 24: 123 – 39 Parkes C. 1972) Bereavement: Studies of grief in adult life. New York: International Universities Press. Rubin R 1989Neuroendocrine aspects of primary endogenous depressiion VIII. Psychoneuroendocrinology; 14(3):217–29. Sandler J (1965)Notes on childhood depression. Int J Psychoanal 46: 88 – 96 Schore A (2003)Affect Regulation and The Repair of the Self New York: WW Norton & Co, Inc. Segal H. (1973)Introduction to the work of Melan ie Klein. London: Hogarth Press. Spitz R. (1946) Anaclitic depression: An inquiry into the genesis of psychiatric conditions in early childhood II. Psychoanalytical Study of the Child, 2, 53. Spillius, E. (1983). Some developments from the work of Melanie Klein. , Int. J. Psychoanal. , 64:321-332. Stengel E (1969). Suicide and Attempted Suicide. Harmondsworth: Pelican Books. Wetzel, J. W. (1984). Clinical handbook of depression. New York: Gardner Press. ———————– [1]Objects are primarily formed from early interactions with (usually) parents. (Klein 1940) [2] introjection means to incorporate (characteristics of a person or object) into one’s own psychic unconsciously (Klein 1940). 3] Oedipal can be described as unconscious sexual desire in a child, especially a male child, for the parent of the opposite sex, usually occurring around the age of 3 – 5 years and accompanied by hostility to the parent of the same sex. Pre-oedipal means prior to the oedipal phase in development (Freud 1923). [4] containing mother refers to the process whereby the infant’s emo tions can be held in mind and ‘digested’ by the mother, who can then return them in a more manageable form. Infants need repeated experiences of containment (Bion 1962), in order to develop ways of dealing with their own distress, i. . before they can introject the containing ‘good enough mother’ (Winnicott 1960a) and feel the mother as a definite internalized presence (Bion 1962). [5] â€Å"mirroring self object† is loosely translated as â€Å"mother,† for in the external world it is most often the mother who performs the function. The gleam in her eye mirrors the infant’s self. (Bion 1962). [6] Mahler described separation-individuation as the steps through which the infant passes in developing a more stable awareness of separateness from the mother (1966).

Home video game Essay

1: Why the rapid growth of Atari? Why the 1982-85 collapse? How did Nintendo rebuild the industry? What was its strategy? After Bushnell settled on Atari, his first built was the simplest game, which people knew the rules immediately, and this game could be played with only one hand. Then, Bushnell talked his way into a $ 50000 line of credit from a local bank to start his business. By 1974, 100,000 Pong-like games were sold worldwide, and although Atari manufactured only 10 percent of the game, the company still made $3. 2 million that year. Atari had a rapid growth because it is a new industry, and Atari does not have any competitor at that time. So, Atari is the only company in this home video game industry, and it has a huge power of supplier with no competitors and substitutes. After 1976, about twenty different companies were crowding into the home videogame market, Atari still has more than 50% market share in the industry. Until 1978, Atari estimated that total demand would reach 2 million units. In 1982, Atari lost $500 in the first nine months of the year. Part of the blame for the collapse was laid at the feet of an enormous inventory overhang of unsold games. With more and more new games hit the market, the average price would goes down and the profits goes down as well. Nintendo established a commanding worldwide position by the end of the decade. The first step of Nintendo was to license video game technology from Magnavox. Then, Nintendo tried to develop its own video game machine (Famicom) that combined superior graphics processing capabilities and low cost. In the US, Nintendo established a subsidiary named as Nintendo of America (NOA) by 1980, and Nintendo repositioned the market in U. S. NOA spent about 2% of sales budget for advertising and also sought out promotion partner, and it practiced careful inventory management in releasing its new games. In conclusion, Nintendo made an innovative new game system which had some competitive advantages such as cheaper, superior image quality, faster hardware processing and a connector that can be used for future addition of a modem and keyboard. 2: How was Nintendo able to capture value from the home video game business? First of all, with the video game industry’s collapse, none of the company seems to have anything to do with the with the home video business except Nintendo. So, it was a big chance for Nintendo to monopolize the video game business, and it was a good chance to negotiate and license other companies to develop games for its system. Secondly, Nintendo has good market position and distribution in United Stated. Thirdly, Nintendo has good game designing and technology, and it uses the regulation, contract and patent license to limit the market share of other game companies. 3: How was Sega able to gain market share from Nintendo? With Sega’s first game Periscope, Sega built up a respectable export business. Then, Sega realized that great games drove sales and more powerful technology gave game developers the tools to develop more appealing games. Sega also licensed other companies to develop games for the Genesis platform, but asked for lower royalty rates than Nintendo. Despite aggressive marketing in the 80s, it wasn’t until the introduction of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 as a direct competitor to Nintendo’s Mario character that Sega was able to capture a meaningful amount of the market with its Genesis console. The key point was Genesis does what Nintendo don’t, and Sega version out sold Nintendo’s two to one. 4: Evaluate the competitive strategy of 3DO. What flaws can you see in 3DO’s approach? The vision for 3DO was to shift the home video game business away from the existing cartridge-based format and toward a CD-ROM-based platform. The belief at 3DO is that the superior storage and graphics processing capabilities of the 3DO system would prove very attractive to game developers, allowing them to be far more creative. In turn, better games would attract customers away from Nintendo and Sega. The 3DO’s strategy was to license its hardware technology for free. However, only a few 3DO titles were available by the Christmas period where reports suggested 150 titles, and sales of the hardware were slow. As can be seen, 3DO did good at its software, but bad at its hardware. As a result, 3DO announced that it would either sell its hardware system or move into joint venture. 5: How come the Sony Play Station has succeeded where 3DO failed? Sony set up a retail channel separate from its consumer electronics sales force, and Sony has a good communication with retailers before the launch to find out how it could help them sell the play station. Sony targets its advertising for PlayStation at specific generation and age range. So, Sony focused on it retailers and customers, and it has a good market position. On the other side, 3DO only focused on its products but lack of the communication with its retailers and customers. 6: What drove Microsoft’s decision to enter the industry with its X-box offering? Because before Microsoft entered the home video game industry, it was no stranger to games. Microsoft had long participated in the PC gaming industry and was one of the largest publishers of PC games. X-box was based on Microsoft’s PC technology, and it would be much easier for software developers to write game for. Microsoft enter the industry because with annual revenues in excess of $20 billion worldwide, the home video game industry is huge and an important source of potential growth for Microsoft. 7: What lessons can be learned from the history of the home video game industry that has been used to help launch the Sony PlayStation II and Microsoft’s X-Box? Do Microsoft and Sony appear to have learned and applied these lessons? The lesson can be learned from the history of the home video industry was to focus on R&D, market positioning, cost leadership, innovation, technology and communications. Sony PlayStation II has consumed about 1. 3 billion in R&D, and Sony actually loses money on Sony PlayStation machine but gain from game CDs. On the other side, Microsoft’s X-Box cut X-box price over time but guaranteed a profit margin. There are three technical factors determined the quality of a video game: data width (in bits), clock speed (in MHz), and the amount of RAM (in bytes). Both Sony PlayStation II and Microsoft’s X-Box have their own competitive advantage in these technologies, and they also both are good game designers.

The small crowd beside the bus had an atmosphere of excitement

The small crowd beside the bus had an atmosphere of excitement. I was one of them. We just got down the busy train, leaving us with another 5 hours of our journey to our destination. The trip was to the southern part of the Indian rainforest. The air was moist and there was a sudden drizzle. So we quickly got inside the bus. After every one was inside there was check to see whether anyone was left behind. The bus was noisy, every one were talking to each other about the thrill. We began our long journey into the rainforest. Every one felt irritated due to the humidity in the air. The teachers who came with were also excited about the trip. After a while there was no sign of any people as we entered into the rainforest; there was no trace of any other vehicle either except a motorcycle, leading us. It was a totally deserted area. The trees and bushes on either side of the road were monstrous and they spread wide. In some places they were steep slopes, which were so deep and dark that we couldn't see the ground below. We unexpectedly stopped. I didn't know why at first then they told it was because we had to have lunch. The lunch was horrible as it was cold. After that we got into the bus. Then slowly we all settled and the bus was again on the road. On the way we saw many waterfalls but we couldn't define its beauty because they were very far away. Then a boy suddenly shouted out ‘Dam' no one understood him at first then he repeated it by saying there is a dam. Every one gazed it for a long time. Some took snaps of it. It was huge and its reflections looked beautiful. We were then told that there was another hour of our journey left. Most of them slept including me due to the tiredness of journeying. After a while my friend woke me up saying that we arrived at the destination. I was excited as well as exhausted like everyone. I had to get up. We took our bags and started to walk towards the tents, which were situated in a plateau. I had a heavy luggage behind my back like most of them. The ground was uneven in the beginning then it was a sudden steep slope upwards. We had to walk very carefully otherwise we would slip and fall. They made a path by few slates of shapeless granite. Beside the path were wild bushes. It took us more than 5minutes to reach to the top. When we reached it was very dark and we could hardly see the ground clearly. They told us to form a queue and then we were separated into four groups. We were taken inside the house, which was beside the tents. It just had a big hall and a kitchen in the corner. We were told about the rules and regulations. Then we all were shown our way to the tents though we didn't sleep in the tents, as it was the first night. We changed into night ware and left our baggages in the tents. The ground was muddy making our bags very dirty underneath. After every one had their dinner we were immediately send to sleep. Though no one did as every one had the excitement in their minds thinking what was going to happen in the next few days. We all slept together. At first it was very noisy then slowly it became pin drop silence. Everyone was made to get up by 5 in the morning and was told to freshen up. We couldn't see much as the sun did not rise completely by that time. And when it did it become foggy. There were five tents in total as there were many girls and boys. There was a water tank opposite to the tents. Behind the house were the toilets. In between the toilets and the tents there was a small house which contained things required for canoeing, rock climbing, treasure hunting, nature trivia and camping. Surrounding us were trees and bushes, which were so thick that we couldn't see through. Later we were told briefly of our plan for the days beyond.

Women Heads of States in Latin America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Women Heads of States in Latin America - Essay Example More so, there were virtually no female heads of state in Latin America as late as the 1980s. Nevertheless, beginning the 1990s to present, the number of women in executive positions and especially as presidents in Latin America has increased drastically. In this essay we look at two women who have made political impact in Latin America, both in the 20th and 21st centuries. We briefly look at Evita Peron, a 20th century woman and the role she played in shaping the future for Latin American women of the 21st century. Secondly, we look more extensively at Michelle Bachelet, her presidency in Chile and how she has continually championed for women rights. Evita Peron was the most influential woman in Latin American history until the late 20th century. Although Evita never officially held a post in the executive, she was a powerful advocate of women rights in the political arena. Until her death in 1952, Evita was actively engaged in designing policies intended to benefit women in Argenti na. In association with other feminists, Evita formed the â€Å"Peronist Feminist Party† that was designed to help women ascend the political ladder and occupy important political posts (Keen & Haynes, pp. 383). In the social sector, Evita founded a charitable organization that gave financial and legal aid to disadvantaged women in Argentina.

Shakespeare's Hamlet- Consider the significance and importance of the Essay

Shakespeare's Hamlet- Consider the significance and importance of the ghost to the play, to the other characters and to the audience, both contemporary and eliz - Essay Example The ghost may be the main reason for Hamlet’s continuing popularity. It is â€Å"the linchpin of Hamlet; remove it and the play falls to pieces† (Wilson 1935). The ghost drives the plot of the play, is a full-blown character in its own right, and it profoundly affects all the characters that encountered it. In addition to this, the ghost attracted the interest of the Elizabethan audience, for which the drama was first performed, and it continues to be the object of many current works of literary criticism. The ghost of Hamlet’s father appears in four scenes of the play. In two of these scenes (Act 1, Scene 1 and Act 1, Scene 4), the ghost appears to people other than Hamlet, specifically Horatio and Marcellus. Barnardo sees the ghost in the first scene, but he is not present in the fourth, or anywhere else in the play. In the other two scenes (Act 1, Scene 5 and Act 3, Scene 4), the ghost appears to Hamlet alone. It is interesting that only Hamlet can see the ghost in the fourth scene of Act 3, even though he is with his mother, in her bedchamber, at the time. Could it be that his contrived â€Å"antic disposition† (Jenkins 1982), the purpose of which was to help him discern the truth of what happened to his father, really did lead to an actual madness? Was he merely imagining the ghost’s presence, or was the ghost really there? It is true enough that at the beginning of the play, the ghost has every appearance of being real. Its presence is even enough to convince Horatio, the scholarly sceptic, that spirits exist. In his own words, â€Å"Before my God, I might not this believe without the sensible and true avouch of mine own eyes† (Jenkins 1982). Not only does Horatio believe that it really is a ghost he sees, but he is also convinced that the ghost is the spectre of Hamlet’s late father. He believes this because of the ghost’s costume. â€Å"Such was the very armour he had on when he

China's Aging Population Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

China's Aging Population - Research Paper Example The advances in health care that has raised the life expectancy to about 78 years have caused the china to change into an aging population. The high nutritional values in conjunction with the one child policy assumed by the modern day families in the country are also catalyst to aging population in China. The shift of China’s population to old age oriented might have a profound effect on her economy for the adults to be. The Chinese government will have to alter its budgetary policy in favor of the current situation and allow for heightened expenses. According to the international standards of population and demographic distribution, if more than ten percent of the county’s population is above sixty years of age, then this population is described as an ageing population. The Chinese government announced in 2000 that those beyond sixty-five years make about seven per cent of the national population. However, the expectation was that this trend would continue and expected that by 2050 more than thirty per cent of the country’s population would be more than sixty years. The basis of china’s aging population are just as those found anywhere in any other country (Robinson 231). The country has low infertility rate, the life expectancy has risen, and there has been cumulative effect in changes of birth and death rates. The country is and will continue to experience a decline in fertility rate due to the one-child policy. The government has been advocating for the adoption of this policy, thus it has been the main contributor to the changing structure of the Chinese population. The future of the Chinese economy is likely to be very prudent if measures to counteract the negative economic effects that may come along with the aging population are not set. The country may have to change the legal retirement age in order to facilitate work for a continuous production round the year. The Chinese economy is likely to have a great effect in the fut ure. Take for instance the education system that receives a lot of emphasis in the Chinese families. The education system currently has great effect from the large swaths of population where even the secondary education has no guarantee and the technical training as well (Uhlenberg 157). However, improving the education system and the skills of the workers may have a positive effect in improving the economy and compensate the impending decline in the share of the working age. Improving the skills of labor that is absorbed in to the production sector improves the productivity of the country. China has been on the long run to lay strategies that would mobilize the portion of the potential workforce, which is dormant or poorly utilized. The reserve labor force of china lays the concerns that china may not have enough workers in the future (England 5). As the population ages, the country will have to devote most of the resources to the care of the elderly people. The government will hav e to increase the pension rates in order to benefit the elderly. The increasing ration of the old people in the Chinese population has diverse economic implication for its society and thus impromptu policies and measures to counteract the future effect have to be laid. As the proportion of the elderly people, grow higher in relation to the overall population, the proportion of the young workers drops (Robinson 238). For example in china the active labor force aged

Marine Fisheries Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marine Fisheries - Research Paper Example Due to marine fishing, the number of stock that is available for the fish breed to ensure their sustainability for the next years has always reduced. Therefore, there is need to ascertain whether marine fishing has reached to a point where it threatens the extinction of some species of marine fish and relate these to environmental ethical issues. The main aim of the study is to ascertain the impact of marine fisheries and how it relates to some of the environmental ethical theories. The following research questions will assist in attaining these research objectives. Is the level of marine fisheries threatening the sustainability of some marine fish? How does these relate to the environmental ethical theories like utilitarianism? Any entity that is engaged in harvesting or rising of fish is referred to as a fishery. The terms that typically define a fishery are types of fish or species, individuals involved, the area of seabed or water, fishing method, the activities, purpose or the class of the boats. Fishers as well as fish are usually combined in the definition with the latter utilizing similar gear types to fish similar species. Aquatic culture, fish farming or capturing wild fish may be involved in a fishery. Fish stocks are continuously being reduced due to overfishing that has led to fish being taken beyond sustainable levels. (Jennings et al, 78)

Economic Impacts of Tourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Economic Impacts of Tourism - Essay Example The economic impacts in the tourism sector immediately ask for grants, loans and stipends to be given to the people who have an indirect or for that matter direct role in the building up of structures, buildings, and pathways – all of which come under the tourist attraction cycle. (Jafari, 2000) The economy gets a facelift and there are changes in the lines of commerce and industry since the country realizes its true potential elsewhere. Consequently, people come to terms with the advancements and technological changes that start to happen within such lands and thus hail the efforts undertaken by the related ministries. It builds a bridge between the different publics which are playing an active role in this impacting cause – tourism development and management within a country. The publics comprise of the locals who would be more than willing to offer hotel/motel services, transport facilities and the like; as well as the foreigners which come towards this region in ord er to enjoy and learn a bit more about the scenery. Tourism is a vast field that has immense economic advantages. The need is to understand the right kinds of interactivity regimes and reject the negative image and propaganda, however, it is wise and in the best interest of building public relations that the government and the authorities always speak unanimously the truth that exists. Shortcomings related to the region and the problems that could happen for the tourists must be educated in advance so that the tourists are given a choice as per their respective undertakings and journeys. The effects of tourism on the region are apparent but what it brings to the country’s foreign reserves is important. It opens up the path that leads towards success since the government finds out the cash cow – the tourism industry.

Research and Litereture review Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

And Litereture review - Research Paper Example In this context, the study has been undertaken among 700 Thai undergraduate students among the six different faculties and four different institutions as the sample to view the perception of varied students. Moreover, in order to compare the rate of plagiarism across the different facility, one-way ANOVA test has been performed. Also, as the study has been undertaken from the prospective of six different faculties thus, the one-way AVONA test has been conducted to measure the similarity and dissimilarity in the mean values of the statistics. Furthermore, the result of mean values derived from AVONA test helps to address the question that the rate of plagiarism differs among the faculties, which signifies that the attitudes of students towards different faculty are not similar (University of Vermont, 2014; Songsriwittaya et. al. 2009). Schrimsher et.al. (2011) conducted their study with the goal of determining the attitude of students towards plagiarism as well as misconducts in the academic activities in the context of Samford University. Additionally, this research has been conducted using the primary data collection method from 681 Samford University students with the help of close ended question in yes/no form and rating based on Likert scales. In order to derive the aforesaid aim of the research, different research questions have been framed and the responses of the survey respondents have been analyzed using the Chi square test. Chi square method for the analysis of data significantly assists in determining the differences in the attitudes of the students, which is included in the survey. Moreover, the result derived from Chi square signifies in the research that majority of the students have the perception that if one submits others written work it will be termed as an act of plagiarism. Nevertheless, it al so signifies with the test that students have extremely disregarded the high amount of cheating at Samford University. Ryan et. al.

Video Production Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Video Production - Essay Example could be defined as "a reconstruction or a re-enactment of another or place for a different audience, a graphing of history in and through the cinematic image and taped sound onto the present" (Rabinowitz 16) has proven useful a few years ago in reportage documentary but its usefulness has been superseded by other forms of documentary. For this reason, critics are of the view that reportage documentary has become obsolete while others argue its value still stands the test of time. In the following section, the researcher shall explore the challenges facing reportage documentary, and prove that reportage documentary has become obsolete in the face of changing mass media and depreciation of factual sustenance. Contemporary documentary practices are strived with the rhetoric of truth, and the strategies for authenticity. In modern environment, where reality TV, camcorder autobiography, and YouTube’s are prevalent, the value of documentaries has become lost within the amateur images of "real life" stories. The essence of documentary could only be found in certain segments of the media where authenticity and reportage are still appreciated, and necessary. According to Maria Lind documentary film production mechanisms has transferred from the hands of the professionals with focused goals to reconstruct reality, to the ambivalent amateur teenagers. While journalism continues to be a mainstream reportage mechanism, documentaries has waned in value and content due to the culture of "truth production" sponsored by reality TV production houses (Lind 15). Indeed, Rabinowitz (2) is of the view that the bizarre movements from reportage to reality documentary have degraded the value of true doc umentary works. Instead, documentaries are nowadays reserved for creating notorious video films. More simply, documentaries are being used as the means for creating commercial projects on reels. For example Bonny Kleins Not a Love Story is a documentary which has been designed to

Corporate Finance Company Profile of PepsiCo Essay

Corporate Finance Company Profile of PepsiCo - Essay Example Pepsi is working on heightened regulatory and market scrutiny of corporate governance practices in order to communicate and represent the organization in a manner that pleases the shareholders, utilizing resources in a new and evolving compliance environment. Management should be eyeing the macro factors like Government’s policies, competition and tax rates where they operate a business because local, national or international jurisdictions and new or changing regulations might create hurdle in their way. Company’s strong point is that they have sharpened their focus on sales, service and customer orientation and are eagerly looking forward to improving its product and service quality. In order to retain its market share in every possible manner, the management is keen on maintaining the performance momentum and competitive advantage in the marketplace. There has been a positive increment in cash and cash equivalent in the year 2008 in comparison with the year 2007 and 2006. The sole reason behind this is the decrease in investment in the securities .Moreover, holding of the short-term borrowing makes an impression on cash and cash equivalents. Pepsi utilizes its reserve or liquid cash in a profitable manner because Pepsi makes an investment in securities, which in the end makes a profit for the company. The utilization of cash for investment purposes also shows in the current and quick ratio, and is a healthy sign for the company’s future prospect. In the year 2008 and 2007 no significant moment is observed in fixed assets of the Pepsi. Pepsi has applied proper inventory management techniques and policies. Due to the high demand of the company product, less percentage of inventories is in hand, and the inventory turnover is also evidence of proper inventory system adopted by the Pepsi throughout these three years (Myers, Bre aley and Marcus, 2001). Pepsi is primarily financing their activities through debt.

Licensed Occupational Therapist in New York State Essay Example for Free

Licensed Occupational Therapist in New York State Essay Currently, I am a licensed Occupational Therapist in New York State. I work with developmentally disabled and autistic children in both a private capacity and within the public school system. As an occupational therapist for children, I have to draw on the knowledge of a number of disciplines such as cultural studies, medicine, sociology, and even architecture to best serve the needs of each individual. Most of this knowledge helps me to prepare the children for futures in the classroom and society in general. Each discipline area allows me to give the children the physical and psychological tools they will need. However, there is also a very important emotional preparation that the children need even more than their physical needs that goes into my work. Developmentally disabled and autistic children often respond to touch in order to learn. Developmentally disabled children need touch because often verbal communication fails them. Physical contact through massage techniques can teach them how to use the processes they don’t lack in to strengthen the areas they fall behind. Autistic children on the other hand need to learn to accept touch/physical contact as a means of communication. For both areas of my work, I hope to use the knowledge I gain through Finger Lakes School of Massage to integrate techniques that will benefit children as they navigate a world that is often frustrating for them as they learn to adapt. Professional massage training provides me with further tools to utilize in helping children lead fulfilling lives. The techniques that I learn will be applied in early intervention therapy, which provides these special children a head start on preparing for the classroom and other social, academic, and medical situations they may/will encounter in their lives. 2. The world is becoming a smaller place, or so the cliche indicates. Yet I have found within my own community that though the world may grow more connected technologically, people grow farther apart. Many individuals go through whole days, weeks, even months without human physical contact. We are social animals by nature; we were not made to live solitary lives devoid of touch. Human touch is necessary to our well being physically and emotionally, so without this needed touch, we grow more stressed, distant, and irritable. In addition to my work as an occupational therapist in early intervention with developmentally disabled and autistic children, I hope to use the expertise I gain at Finger Lakes School of Massage to serve my community. In both my occupational therapy work with very young children and as a message therapist for adults, I firmly believe that the combination of physical touch and massage provides my clients an opportunity to relax overused muscles and make use of long dormant muscles. Therefore, I would like to be able to offer my services as a massage therapist to the people around me. I have found that despite the vast need for such services, most communities including my own have very few massage therapists or simply none at all. Those few often find themselves exceedingly busy trying to fulfill the need of their communities because so many people seek out message therapy to ease the demands on their bodies and minds. The time used to deliver a massage is time individuals can use to slow down and care for their personal health and well being. Massage is a growing discipline that is attempting to fill the essential need of human socialization that includes necessary touch, physical release of tension, and an opportunity to just stop and relax.

The Social And Legal Factors Economics Essay

The Social And Legal Factors Economics Essay Barratt Development plc, a national house builder in the UK construction industry, listed in the FTSE 250, is the second largest house builder in the UK by revenue and by market size (LSE 2010). Like its two biggest competitors, Taylor Wimpey plc and Persimmon plc, it has within the last two years been badly affected by the recession which hit the UK economy in 2008. Before then the company, which was founded in 1958 in Newcastle upon Tyne, had enjoyed relative boom in the UK house building sector, culminating in the acquisition of Wilson Bowden plc in 2007. This acquisition enabled the company to effectively expand its commercial property development arm. As at present, Barratt Developments is represented in all house sectors in the UK, with Barratt Homes in the residential housing market, David Wilson Homes in the up-scale housing market, Ward Homes (a regional brand operating in Kent and south-east), and Wilson Bowden Developments in the social housing and commercial property deve lopment market. The onset of the recession has however presented unprecedented challenges to Barratts operations, causing it to have to rethink strategies and policies in a bid to reduce mounting debts and cope with falling house prices and a drop in sales due to falling demand for new homes. Business-related events Political Factors Political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors in the UK have in the past determined strategies adopted by Barratt Developments plc and will continue to do so. Political decisions determine economic and regulatory policies which have to consider in formulating strategy. For example, the governments Home Owners Mortgage Support Policy Scheme assists home owners who have met certain criteria and are unable to meet their mortgage commitments to pay off their mortgages by providing up to 80% of total interest guaranteed (Communities and Local Government 2010). This policy will in some way determine part of Barratts strategy because the more people who can afford mortgages, the more houses developers like Barratt will sell. Social and Legal Factors Social and legal factors also affect the strategies Barratt adopts because change in patterns of living may dictate what type of houses become more in demand, (for example, family style houses as opposed to flats or vice versa), while changing laws and regulations also have to be satisfied in the course of carrying out their core business activity. Economic Factors The main focus here however is on the prevalent economic factors and how Barratt responds in term of strategy. Lets look into the GDP and unemployment rate, the GDP has been fall even seriously compared to the previous recessions, most sectors of the economy are still struggling with the effects of the down-turn. The result, coupled with high unemployment rates, is that people have less money to spend, and tend to spend their limited resources on essential commodities. This invariably means that the high end market where Barratt is represented by the David Wilson brand may suffer. However, the government has made efforts to ensure that more credit is available for people through the banks by issuing bailout funds. These measures may yet still be inadequate, as depicted in a recent Financial Times Online article, where Barratt called for banks to increase lending and review current stringent mortgage criteria (FT 2010). These developments also means that Barratt may have to sell its c onsiderable stock of built houses at prices far lower than were originally estimated, in order to raise cash and improve liquidity. Porters 5 Forces Buyer Power Depends on individual buyers. Barratt sells to individuals and groups and the government. Individual customers have less bargaining power, while groups and government have more bargaining power. Supplier Power Many suppliers and therefore high competition, several alternative materials are available. Suppliers depend on the major house building firms like Barratt for repeat work and are likely to agree price discounts. Threat of substitute products Most products in the market are known already. Barratt is at the forefront of developing new products, so the threat of new products is relatively low for now. Barratts competitors Taylor Wimpey: Largest sales revenue, market size of 130,000 Persimmon Group: 3rd largest sales revenue, market size of 12,000 Berkeley Group: 4th largest sales revenue, market size of 6,000 Threat of new entrants to the market Barriers to entry: High capital requirement, land acquisition expertise, economies of scale, depresses property market. SWOT Analysis Strengths (internal positive factors) These will include Barratts diverse product portfolio which allows it to switch products with demand. The board of Barratt consists of five executive and five non-executive members from diverse. Barratts leading role in innovative house building technology is an advantage. Weaknesses (internal negative factors) Lack of adequate finance and debt is a continual setback to the survival of the company. Timing of merger with the Wilson Bowden brand has affected Barratt negatively in terms of finance within the last few years. Unsold stock of houses is still a problem as it ties up much needed cash. Opportunities (external positive factors) Advancement in technology and emphasis on sustainability means that Barratt can take advantage of its innovativeness to gain competitive advantage. The underdeveloped nature of the specialized retirement home market means that Barratt can expand to that market. The economic forecasts show that the recession has technically come to an end. Barratt can position itself to take advantage of the recovering economy when it fully sets in. Threats (external negative factors) Government plans to cut spending in future could hamper Barratts ability to reach full recovery. While is still tries to return to profitability, some of Barratts competitors are already profitable. This could pose challenges to Barratts progress. Consumer confidence in the market may not return to pre-recession levels long after the recession reverses.

Impact of foreign aid on the economic growth of Nigeria

Impact of foreign aid on the economic growth of Nigeria Foreign aid can be simply put to be a flow of assistance which can take the form of funds, infrastructure, trade openness from high income countries to low income countries. The debate till date has been centred around the significance of this aid on the economic growth of these countries. To a large extent, several researches have shown a positive impact of foreign aid on the economic growth of LDCs with the exception of a few factors which may affect this positive impact on growth, while some others have shown a negative impact on economic growth of these LDCs. According to Burnside and Dollar (1997), the positive impact of foreign aid on growth in LDCs is subject to the country having good fiscal, monetary and trade policies, thus, the introduction of economic policies into their economic equation. This was included, to see if aid was allocated to these countries in favour of good policies. Durbarry et al (1998) argue that an important limitation of much of this literature is the incompleteness of the underlying growth models, according to them, irrespective of the fact that Burnside and Dollar were among the first to take into account economic policies, they have not been able to examine the impact of aid in general including only aggregate savings and investment variables. Most of these researches have based the framework of their research on the neoclassical growth model such as the Solow growth model and the Ramsey-cass-koopmans growth model which suggests that poor countries should have a high return to capital and a fast growth rate in transition to the steady state ( Burnside and Dollar, 1997). According to Chenery and Strout (1966), in the case of a country seeking a transformation of its existing economy and hoping not to rely on more advanced countries (i.e. foreign aid), such a country must be able to meet the necessary demands for her rapid growth from either her own resources or from her net exports. The case of foreign aid and economic growth has proven to be a continuous learning process, in that, while some studies base their findings on macroeconomic factors such as economic policies, others have recommended the use of human well being factors such as infant mortality, literacy, life expectancy and employment level ( Burnside and Dollar 1997; Fayissa and El-Kaissy 1999). While the results of Durbarry et al (1998) supports the results of Burnside and Dollar (1997) which shows foreign aid to have a positive impact on growth where there is a good macroeconomic policy environment, but with some exceptions which were based on income level, levels of aid allocation and geographical location. According to him, aid has been tested econometrically based on a macro and micro level, the results of some these tests by some researchers show that aid works at the micro level while at the macro level the results as ambiguous ( Durbarry et al, 1998). So far, most research have dwelt on macroeconomic factors as well as physical factors which in their opinions either shows that growth is fostered positively by aid or negatively by aid. One interesting contribution to the subject matter in question is the contribution by Douglas C. Dacy, which looked at foreign aid and economic growth from a totally different point of view, his paper aimed showing the possibility of an aid receiving country having its post-aid growth rate to be lower than it would have been in a situation of not receiving aid under certain conditions. According to Dacy (1975), his paper viewed the subject of foreign aid and economic growth with respect to consumption on the side of the government as well as domestic savings. Contrary to other researches, Dacy in his paper viewed foreign aid as a substitute for domestic savings, saying that there would not be an increase in total savings by the full amount of foreign savings. Thus, LDCs will increase consumption as well as investment if foreign aid is made available. Papanek (1973) in his paper, studied the relationship between aid, savings, foreign investment and growth in thirty-four LDCs for the 1950s and fifty-one LDCs for the 1960s, applying cross-country regression analysis. Treating each of these components as separate explanatory variables, he found out that over a third of GDP growth is explained b y domestic savings and foreign inflows. Also the effect foreign aid has relative to other variables is considerably higher, his results also suggests no inverse relationship between aid and foreign private investment as well as showing a non-correlation between growth and factors such as; exports, education, country size or per capita income. Unlike Chenery and Strouts result which showed that Countrys size and per capita income has a positive relationship with growth, Papaneks result did not show such positive relationship as said earlier. This is because Papaneks work had savings as one of the independent variables and this was seen to be si gnificantly correlated with per capita income. Concluding his paper, Papanek (1973), suggests from his results that foreign aid is distributed disproportionately to LDCs experiencing low savings rates as well as severe balance of payments problems. And that this disproportionate aid has a more positive effect on growth than domestic savings and other sources of foreign inflows. Chenery and Strouts results are criticised by Papanek as not being very stable and also in his results, foreign source of inflows are not disaggregated compared to the results of Papanek. Papanek (1973) and Burnside Dollar (2000) share similar opinions on the allocation of foreign aid to low income countries. As Papanek is of the view that foreign aid is disproportionately distributed to low income countries who are experiencing low savings rate. While Burnside and Dollar is of the view that though this is allocated to low income countries, it is also influenced by population, i.e. aid donors tend to allocate more aid to smaller countries in size within the Low Income Countries, and also there are variables that reflect their own strategies. Generally speaking, from researches done so far, it is evident that foreign aid has a positive relationship (or impact) on economic growth in LDCs. But this could show a different result when the countries are sampled individually, such that, though aid may be positively related to economic growth based on some macroeconomic factors, it may also a negative relationship influenced by some other factors. According to Levy (1988), his paper aimed at showing some level of quantitative evidence on the impact of foreign aid on economic growth. This he showed using a sample of 22 Low Income Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with the exception of a few African countries which to him had their level of development similar to that of middle income countries. Using time series data for his analysis, Levy found two important things; which is a positively significant relationship between aid, investment and economic growth in Africa. The second important finding is that there is a significant contribution by fixed capital formation to the rate of economic growth. Although the exclusion of some African countries which he classified as similar to middle income countries from his analysis seems questionable, Levys contribution to the subject matter is very significant. According to Burnside and Dollar (1997), most researches such as that of Levy (1988) and a few others who made an attempt to measure the impact of aid on domestic savings, investment and growth in developing countries, have had results which faced several econometric difficulties. Taking another close look at the work of Dacy (1975) which questioned the desirability of aid, according to him, even if aid is used in a way that contributes to a decline in the long term growth rate, it will almost always be true that the capital stock income and consumption will be higher at the end of the period of aid, and for a number of years afterward, than it would have been without aid. To this end he agrees with Papanek (1973) view which argues that the inverse relationship shown in most statistical research between domestic savings and foreign aid might be greatly misleading. This view is due to Papaneks objections from his observations from previous studies, thus, Papaneks results which show that there is a positive relationship between aid and economic growth as well as aid having an inverse relationship with domestic savings is largely accepted by Dacy. Durbarry et al (1998) in their paper made reference to the work of Hadjimicheal et al (1995) as being a more advanced piece of research compared to most of the researches before it. This is because of their effort to show the potential secondary effect of foreign aid such as the Dutch Disease as well as other policy related variables that are speculated to have an effect on growth. Ekanayake and chatrna (2010) in their paper, criticised the work of Karras (2006) which concluded that there is a positive statistically significant and permanent impact of foreign aid on economic growth. In which they gave a statistical analysis by per person result as well as the growth rate of real GDP per capita, but in all this, they did not take into consideration the effect of policies. According to the research carried out by Ekanayake and Chatrna (2010), their results showed mixed effects of foreign aid on economic growth in LDCs, their research was carried out using annual data on a group of 85 developing countries cutting across continents. The models that were specified in their work were estimated using panel least squares estimation method. Malik (2008) described the poverty of people in the poorest African Countries to be on the increase despite the many years of development assistance. According to him, there has remained a stagnant or declining real per capita income since the 1960s, thus the disturbing question is why could these countries not break the poverty trap despite receiving large inflows of foreign aid?. This question he sought to answer using the co-integration analysis for six poorest African Countries, the results from this analysis showed the existence of a long run relationship between real GDP, aid and investment as a percentage of GP and trade openness. But showing the effect of foreign aid on growth, the result indicated a long run negative relationship for most of these countries. Easterly (2003) went ahead in his paper to discuss the historical research on the relationship between foreign aid and Economic growth. This he did, citing the work of Burnside and Dollar as being an early research that was widely accepted by the World Bank and economies of the world, and thus, created the platform for further research. According to Easterly (2003), data availability was one of the main limitations to having a conclusive and reasonable literature on the subject matter i.e. foreign aid and economic growth in the 1960s and onwards, as well as the reasonable arguments on the specific factors and ways through which foreign aid can affect growth. In his paper, Easterly (2003) cited the paper by Boone (1996) as being noted for its aim to address the issues of reverse causality through the introduction of political factors that determine aid, and thus, using them as instruments in addressing these problems. He also discussed the paper by Burnside and Dollar (2000) as being well known for addressing the disbelief shown by Boone and also the lack of agreement from previous studies. In another paper by Papanek (1972) titled The Effect of Aid and other Resource Transfers on Savings and Growth in Less Developed Countries, he analysed the recent challenge to past assumptions with respect to aid, savings and growth, where he termed some past literatures as Revisionists. His concern is based on their argument that the contribution to economic growth by foreign aid is little or insignificant, in which a number of factors were taken into consideration to support this claim. He went further to expand their argument saying Aid may ease the lot of the recipient countrys citizens by permitting higher consumption which is considered desirable if the analysts humanitarian instincts outweigh his Calvinist conviction that people should struggle for their economic salvation, but does little for growth (Papanek, 1972). Amongst these, are other literatures done by several researchers in which different methods were implemented such as the Autoregressive Distributed lag (ARDL) model used by Gounder (2001), in which his results showed a positive relationship between foreign aid and economic growth in Fiji. There has been other literatures that have also tried to show this relationship in individual countries, some have found a positive relationship but a long- run negative relationship using the Co-integration and error correction analysis, while others found a co-integration between saving rate, real gross domestic product and aid therefore showing a long-run positive effects (Murty et al, 1994; Nyoni, 1998). Taking a closer look at the problem of causality which Boone tried to address, Dacy (1975) concurs that the issue of causality is a tough knot to tie. He also suggests that the debate on if foreign aid contributes largely to economic growth is one that cannot be fully decided, as there would be a need to take into consideration the response of individuals as well as groups. Such consideration includes checking if these individuals or groups behave in a certain way where there is an increase in aid compared to where there is no aid. From the above literatures and many more, it is obvious that the issue of foreign aid and its impact on economic growth is inconclusive and is also a continuous learning process. Depending on the different types of data and methodology used in previous studies, several results have been achieved; some depict positive and significant relationship while others indicate negative long-run relationships based on different factors. This paper in the next section would be using time series data and applying the Ordinary Least Squares method (OLS) as well as the co-integration method to see what impact foreign aid has on the economic growth of Nigeria. Section 3. Data and Methodology In testing for the impact of foreign aid on the economic growth of Nigeria, I am using annual time series data which has its period from 1960 2009 and which is gotten from World Bank World Development Indicators. Thus, the focus of this analysis is on Nigeria as a developing country and a recipient of aid from advanced countries which are known as donors. Due to the limited availability of data with respect to the proposed variables, the observations are 49 running from 1960-2009. The table below shows the variables that are included in this study as well as the source they were gotten from: Table 1: Variable Unit source Gross Domestic product Growth Rate World Bank Foreign Direct Investment Percentage of GDP World Bank Trade(Openness; exports plus imports as a percentage of GDP Percentage of GDP World Bank Population Growth Per Cent (%) World Bank Net ODA per capita Current US$ World Bank Most of my variables were gotten from the work of Ekanayake and Chatrna (2010), where he used things like investment as proxy for growth rate of capital stock and also population growth as proxy for labour force. This study also uses population growth as a proxy for labour force as well as including trade to represent openness which as shown in the table above is made up of exports plus imports as a percentage of GDP. Net ODA per capita is a proxy for aid alongside Foreign Direct Investment, as earlier said, this study would be adopting the use of Ordinary Least Squares method (OLS) for its analysis. To ensure that the study is academically robust, I will also be employing the use of co-integration tests, to check the long run relationship between Foreign aid and Economic growth in Nigeria.

Pollution on the Family Farm Threatens the Environment :: Water Polluting Essays Papers

Pollution on the Family Farm When you think of pollution you think of industrial pollution running down a river, or smoke coming out of a factory’s smokestack rising up into the environment. These are all concerns in the world today; however, in this paper will talk about pollution that hits a little closer to home. This paper will discuss about pollution on family run farms in rural America. These pollutions range from private well water contamination to fecal pollution run-off into streams by dairy and beef farms. One of the major concerns in today’s Agricultural system is the use of water, and the short supply of water. A more immediate problem is nitrate contamination in millions of private well around the country. As one can imagine most of these wells are found on private farms around the United States. Nationally 1.4 million households drink water from private wells with nitrate levels that exceed the federal drinking water standard of 10 parts per million (ppm)( Ready, R., & Henken, K.). There is an estimated damage to a household from drinking water from a nitrate contaminated well to be $635 per year, with a total damage of almost $900 million per year to private well owners (Ready, R., & Henken, K.). Over 25% of the water used by households in the United States comes from groundwater. One of the major sources of nitrates in groundwater is caused by agricultural activities, including chemicals applied to crops and waste from livestock production (Ready, R., & Henken, K.). The main problem with livestock waste and chemicals is their tendency to diffuse in water, which means they cannot be easily contained or pinpointed to the source. According to a study by the Great Plains Agricultural Council, agricultural land is the largest contributor of non-point source pollution to natural water resources in the High Plains region and throughout the United States. In this survey they found that Nitrate-N was the most commonly detected agricultural chemical in surface and groundwater (Elrashidi, M., Mays, M., Peaslee, S., & Hooper, D.) Another topic that ties into pollution and threatens water resources is agricultural subsidies provided by the government. A report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says that â€Å"Agricultural subsidies threaten land and water resources and create artificial incentives to expand farm production† (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). Pollution on the Family Farm Threatens the Environment :: Water Polluting Essays Papers Pollution on the Family Farm When you think of pollution you think of industrial pollution running down a river, or smoke coming out of a factory’s smokestack rising up into the environment. These are all concerns in the world today; however, in this paper will talk about pollution that hits a little closer to home. This paper will discuss about pollution on family run farms in rural America. These pollutions range from private well water contamination to fecal pollution run-off into streams by dairy and beef farms. One of the major concerns in today’s Agricultural system is the use of water, and the short supply of water. A more immediate problem is nitrate contamination in millions of private well around the country. As one can imagine most of these wells are found on private farms around the United States. Nationally 1.4 million households drink water from private wells with nitrate levels that exceed the federal drinking water standard of 10 parts per million (ppm)( Ready, R., & Henken, K.). There is an estimated damage to a household from drinking water from a nitrate contaminated well to be $635 per year, with a total damage of almost $900 million per year to private well owners (Ready, R., & Henken, K.). Over 25% of the water used by households in the United States comes from groundwater. One of the major sources of nitrates in groundwater is caused by agricultural activities, including chemicals applied to crops and waste from livestock production (Ready, R., & Henken, K.). The main problem with livestock waste and chemicals is their tendency to diffuse in water, which means they cannot be easily contained or pinpointed to the source. According to a study by the Great Plains Agricultural Council, agricultural land is the largest contributor of non-point source pollution to natural water resources in the High Plains region and throughout the United States. In this survey they found that Nitrate-N was the most commonly detected agricultural chemical in surface and groundwater (Elrashidi, M., Mays, M., Peaslee, S., & Hooper, D.) Another topic that ties into pollution and threatens water resources is agricultural subsidies provided by the government. A report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says that â€Å"Agricultural subsidies threaten land and water resources and create artificial incentives to expand farm production† (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development).

Behind The Scenes :: essays research papers fc

BEHIND THE SCENES In the aftermath of the untimely death of Princess Diana a timeworn issue re-plays itself like a tired re-run of “The Honeymooners.'; Does the media go too far? Maybe. But like any other commodity, supply and demand go hand and glove. Whether a high profile celebrity or an every-day Joe, we sit glued to our chairs as the nightly news somberly announces society’s latest barbarity. We eagerly snatch up the tabloids as these mudslingers breathlessly divulge their version of the most recent Hollywood gossip. The fact is that America has become obsessed with the goings on in other people’s lives. Greedy consumers of the First Amendment, we march defiantly under the banner of our “right to know';, but do we have just cause? Differences and difficulties in interpretation have characterized much of the later history of the First Amendment and historians continue to debate what the nation’s founders meant to include when they wrote that there shall be “no l aw'; abridging the freedom of speech or press. Today the U. S. Supreme Court blindly inches its way across the tightrope of censorship. Laws prohibiting obscenity and indecency have been successfully incorporated and public sentiment has historically served to curtail the over-zealous journalist. However the moral fiber of society has degenerated from its once prim and proper past, and the press now vulgarly oversteps the boundaries of decency with little retribution. In the words of Chief Justice Warren Burger, “The First Amendment should not be interpreted to include the protection of frivolous gossip that “lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value'; (Grolier Encyclopedia 1996, Miller v. California). The People’s “right to know'; does not justify the growing abuse of our right to Freedom of the Press. The negative effect upon today’s society is only beginning. Tabloids not only thrive on; they encourage the invasion of privacy. In an era defined by celebrity worship, Americans have become increasingly tolerant of what is acceptable concerning media coverage of celebrities’ private lives. It is unfortunate that Princess Diana died for a blurry picture, a pointless snap from a speeding motorcycle. Dodging tabloid photographers she was simply trying to preserve some privacy by holding back the media intrusion. In the sixteen years since her marriage, she became not only the most famous woman in the world, but the only personality who consistently sold big in the global marketplace (Alter, Dying 39).

Persuasive Paper on Paintball - Original Writing -- Sports Paintball P

Persuasive Paper on Paintball- Original Writing You were just running, the leaves crush under your feet and are not sure if anyone is following you, but a gut felling keeps you going. Then you come to a quick halt. There you stand unprotected and vulnerable to any one, as the trees close in around you. Then a twig snaps you avert your eyes to the origin of the sound. As you frantically look about; you hear leaves shuffle around, knowing someone is stalking you. You begin to panic, your heart beating faster and faster and your breathing increases. It is unbearable to withstand. In a blind furry you let loose a barrage of paintballs in every direction. You look around at the surrounding trees painted by your gun. BAM! You cringe, feeling a stinging sensation in your back. This is, because you have just become a victim of someone’s paintball gun. You walk off the field feeling miserable, but you smile knowing the war is not over. That was a scenario that I hoped you enjoyed. I am going to address the topic of why should you should try paintball as a sport. First you are going to need standard equipment for paintball. I will talk to you in three areas: first, the best equipment for you, second standard equipment, and third where to purchase your equipment. This will help you understand why you should play the sport. To choose the best equipment for you is to first find your main style, there are two main paintball styles: â€Å"Turtle and Rabbit.† The turtle style consists of finding a safe location and then taking the enemy, but while doing so you must not let your location be known. To be a turtle you must have great patience. For... ... their equipment. The internet website: www.xpaintball.com , www.anythingextreme.com, and www.walmart.com. This website and my internet browsing helped me on where to purchase my equipment. To refresh you on my main topics: First, You need to know what your style is in paintball whether turtle or rabbit. Second, when you know your style, get your equipment based on your style and try out of different type’s equipment. Finally when you decide to buy your equipment use the internet and get multiple types of equipment to compare and read reviews on the equipment you choose to buy. I want to thank for listening to my speech and you were just informed about standard equipment for paintball. I also encourage everyone to go and at least try paintball, because this sport is excellent for people who like to just have fun. Persuasive Paper on Paintball - Original Writing -- Sports Paintball P Persuasive Paper on Paintball- Original Writing You were just running, the leaves crush under your feet and are not sure if anyone is following you, but a gut felling keeps you going. Then you come to a quick halt. There you stand unprotected and vulnerable to any one, as the trees close in around you. Then a twig snaps you avert your eyes to the origin of the sound. As you frantically look about; you hear leaves shuffle around, knowing someone is stalking you. You begin to panic, your heart beating faster and faster and your breathing increases. It is unbearable to withstand. In a blind furry you let loose a barrage of paintballs in every direction. You look around at the surrounding trees painted by your gun. BAM! You cringe, feeling a stinging sensation in your back. This is, because you have just become a victim of someone’s paintball gun. You walk off the field feeling miserable, but you smile knowing the war is not over. That was a scenario that I hoped you enjoyed. I am going to address the topic of why should you should try paintball as a sport. First you are going to need standard equipment for paintball. I will talk to you in three areas: first, the best equipment for you, second standard equipment, and third where to purchase your equipment. This will help you understand why you should play the sport. To choose the best equipment for you is to first find your main style, there are two main paintball styles: â€Å"Turtle and Rabbit.† The turtle style consists of finding a safe location and then taking the enemy, but while doing so you must not let your location be known. To be a turtle you must have great patience. For... ... their equipment. The internet website: www.xpaintball.com , www.anythingextreme.com, and www.walmart.com. This website and my internet browsing helped me on where to purchase my equipment. To refresh you on my main topics: First, You need to know what your style is in paintball whether turtle or rabbit. Second, when you know your style, get your equipment based on your style and try out of different type’s equipment. Finally when you decide to buy your equipment use the internet and get multiple types of equipment to compare and read reviews on the equipment you choose to buy. I want to thank for listening to my speech and you were just informed about standard equipment for paintball. I also encourage everyone to go and at least try paintball, because this sport is excellent for people who like to just have fun.

Iron Crowned Chapter 11

â€Å"Cute,† I said. Kiyo turned to me, giving me the same assessment I'd just given him. â€Å"You okay?† â€Å"A little venom and probably some bruising tomorrow.† He nodded, relieved, and then did a double take. â€Å"You're bleeding.† â€Å"Am I?† I asked, almost as surprised as he was. He hurried over to me. â€Å"Your shoulder.† â€Å"Oh, shit,† I said, craning my neck to look back. â€Å"That's the table injury.† â€Å"Take off your shirt. And don't even start with some ridiculous modesty spiel,† he added, seeing me start to protest. I knew he was right and gingerly lifted off the M;tley Cre shirt. He helped me part of the way, saving me from raising my arms too far. Examining the shirt, I saw blood soaked in it. â€Å"Bad?† I asked. â€Å"I'll know once I take the bandages off. Please tell me you have more and that we don't have to reuse these.† â€Å"I've got more. I told you I brought supplies.† Carefully, he peeled off the gash's cloth coverings and tossed them to the ground. In the firelight and dim glow of sunrise, I could see the fabric was completely red with blood. â€Å"You broke some stitches,† he said wearily. â€Å"I don't have the tools to fix it.† I'd once been kind of freaked out that he used his veterinarian skills to patch battle wounds, but now I kind of took it in stride. â€Å"Pain aside, is that going to matter?† I asked. â€Å"You'll bleed more, though I'll wrap it as much as I can. You'll risk a scar too if you don't get it stitched again. Once we finish this craziness up, I can do it for you back in Tucson if you don't want to explain it to your doctor.† â€Å"My regular one's kind of used to this,† I said. He snorted. â€Å"I imagine so.† I fetched my pack, and we both sat on the ground. The light was increasing, making it easier for him to work as he tidied up my back. The old bandages were tossed away, and I winced as he swabbed everything with antiseptic wipes. â€Å"I thought the danger didn't start until we were in the crown's cave,† I muttered. â€Å"As often happens, mistress, you've made an incorrect assumption,† said Volusian. â€Å"The legends say the path to the crown is perilous. We are on the path. Your testing has begun.† â€Å"Fantastic. Ow!† â€Å"I'm saving you from infection,† chastised Kiyo. That seemed to be the last of the sanitizing, thankfully, and from there he began layering gauze and tape. What he did was far from erotic, but it amazed me how gentle and steady his hands could be after seeing him savagely fight and rip things apart. I glanced over at Deanna, who had simply observed the fight. She'd said nothing, but I thought I caught a glimpse of relief on her face. My death would have put a serious hitch in our bargain. â€Å"How long until the entrance? When we lose you guys?† I asked. Annoying or not, Volusian would be missed – especially if these snakes were just the warm-up act. â€Å"A few hours,† said Deanna. I frowned, unsure if I should dread it or not. We'd lose our backup but be that much closer to finishing this anti-vacation. â€Å"I suppose it'd be too much to hope you've brought any painkillers?† asked Kiyo, still layering me up. I felt like I had a quilt on my back. â€Å"Vicodin probably isn't the best asset for impending battle.† â€Å"I was thinking more like aspirin.† â€Å"Nope.† But it did remind me I was due for another antibiotic dose. I'd arrogantly thought I didn't need them but now was glad for my mom's vigilance. Not that I wanted to admit any of this to Kiyo. The thing about dating a doctor was that he'd always been on me about taking better care of myself. I didn't want to hear any I-told-you-so's now. And unsurprisingly, there was more advice to come. He finished the last of the tape and helped me put on the clean shirt I'd packed. â€Å"Eugenie, wrapping this is a nuisance, but any gentry healer could have fixed this up in their sleep. Dorian's got great healers. Why didn't he have one of them take care of this? He should know better.† I shifted around so I faced him. â€Å"How on earth did this suddenly become Dorian's fault? Why is he responsible for everything evil? Of course he offered to get a healer. I refused because I figured other people needed it more.† I'd also totally forgotten to ask Shaya. Kiyo's expression relaxed and actually grew apologetic. He looked away. â€Å"Of course you did. I'm sorry.† â€Å"Sorry for accusing Dorian or for forgetting I'd be foolishly altruistic?† Kiyo turned back, a small smile on his lips. â€Å"What do you think? There's very little I feel apologetic for when it comes to Dorian, especially when I'm still convinced he wants to father Storm King's heir.† I smiled back. â€Å"I'm sure he does too. But it's a moot point. I've still got birth control pills. I still don't want any kids. My life's stressful enough.† Belatedly, I recalled his adoration of Luisa. â€Å"No offense.† â€Å"None taken,† he said, still smiling. â€Å"Really †¦ I should be better about trusting you. I just keep thinking †¦Ã¢â‚¬  The smile dimmed a little. â€Å"Thinking what?† â€Å"I don't know. That one day this will all get to you. And I don't mean about Storm King. I mean just †¦ everything. You'll totally give yourself over to this world. I'll lose the Eugenie I know.† I grabbed his hand without thinking and squeezed it. â€Å"Hey, stop that. You said it yourself: trust me. I'm the same Eugenie. Still split between identities †¦ but nothing can change that.† â€Å"I know.† He continued holding my hand. The touch of his fingers, which had been so objectively medical minutes ago, now took on another feel †¦ something warmer. Something that made my body feel strange, as those dark eyes stayed fixed on me. I found myself falling into them like I used to, into those sexy, smoky depths†¦. I abruptly stood up, breaking that dangerous touch. â€Å"Well,† I said awkwardly, â€Å"seeing as it's already light out and we're up, we might as well get going. Breakfast in the saddle?† Kiyo rose too, looking troubled. â€Å"Sure. The sooner we're moving, the sooner we're past any snake threats.† As we packed up and got back on the horses, I wondered if we were riding toward something much worse than snakes. Don't get me wrong: they'd been bad. But I fought supernatural creatures all the time. There'd been so much hype about the crown. Was it simply going to involve a monster buffet? I kept those thoughts to myself as we traveled, having plenty of other things to preoccupy me. My meager breakfast. Kiyo's presence. The pain in my back. The meaning behind the scattered holes in the terrain. On the road went, just as it would through any part of the Otherworld. I wondered how far it went. To infinity? Or would a traveler simply fall off the edge, like on those maps made back when people believed the world was flat? â€Å"This is it.† Deanna's voice, though soft, seemed harsh in the emptiness around us. We came to a halt, and I glanced around, searching for what she'd found. At last, I spotted a small, dark opening tucked in one of the iron mountains. â€Å"That's it? It seems so †¦ small.† â€Å"Out here it does,† said Kiyo. â€Å"We don't know what's inside †¦ except that it's going to completely enclose us in iron. Remember – that'd kill most gentry. It's a test you're lucky enough to skip. Hopefully.† â€Å"True,† I murmured. I still felt no ostensible effects from this land, but what would happen inside the mountain? â€Å"I can't go inside,† said Deanna. â€Å"I'll just wait here for you to come out.† â€Å"I too shall wait,† said Volusian, â€Å"in the hopes that you meet your death and that it is your spirit that emerges, so that I may torment it for all eternity.† I pushed away the desire to order him away. Even if he couldn't follow us, I'd feel better having him right here for defense when we came out. And we would come out, I decided fiercely. There was no if here. I left my bag and gun outside, seeing as I had no ammunition left. Fucking snakes. Surveying the rest of my arsenal, I left the iron athame in my belt, putting the silver athame in my right hand and the wand in my left. I glanced at Kiyo. â€Å"Ready?† He nodded. â€Å"I'll go first.† It was a very manly thing to do. I let him lead and faintly heard Deanna wishing us luck. The cave we entered was pitch black and cramped. I could just barely get through without ducking and knew Kiyo had to walk slightly hunched. We followed the twists and turns, scraping against the close, rough walls. We spoke occasionally to check location, and I'd sometimes touch his back as well. The deeper we went, the more I could feel the iron around us. Again, I had no indications of weakness †¦ just an awareness. â€Å"Light,† said Kiyo suddenly. I blinked. He was right. I saw no light source, but something farther ahead was casting light down the tunnel. It started as only faint illumination, just giving me a glimpse of his silhouette. Soon, the light increased †¦ as did the heat. A roaring sound came to my ears. â€Å"I have a bad feeling about this,† I said. We rounded a corner, and my jaw nearly dropped. The path ahead was blocked by fire. To be precise, it was blocked by sheets of very neatly contained fire, giving the impression of giant blades – particularly since they swung from the ceiling. Magically flattened into sheets or not, the flames burned intensely, and the heat radiating through the corridor left no doubt that these bastards would incinerate us. â€Å"I think I saw this in a video game,† I muttered. Kiyo's gaze was fixed unwaveringly on the fire blades. There were five of them. His face was blank, but the concentration in his eyes told me what he was doing. He was timing them, studying their patterns. â€Å"They're staggered in a way that would let us get through,† he said. â€Å"We just have to watch the timing.† â€Å"You can get through. I don't know about me.† I wasn't being defeatist; I was just stating the truth. Kiyo possessed reflexes I didn't have. I could sit here for hours and probably not learn their patterns like he could. He frowned. â€Å"Maybe I can just hold your hand. Or put you on my back.† â€Å"What? No. That's ridiculous. It'd affect your speed – throw you off.† I studied the flames, hypnotized by the swinging patterns. There were spaces between each sheet. â€Å"Maybe I can wing it, take them one at a time.† â€Å"Now that's a ridiculous idea.† Frustration lined his brow. â€Å"And to think, I would have given anything for heat last night. We should have camped in here†¦.† My joke trailed off as an idea came to me. â€Å"I'll just walk through.† The look he gave me required no words to convey his opinion. â€Å"Seriously,† I said. I put my weapons away and drew on the magic within me. The iron wasn't affecting me. I toyed with the elements of air and water, testing and weaving them like a scarf. Kiyo could feel the shift in temperature near us. â€Å"What are you thinking?† â€Å"I can protect myself,† I said. â€Å"The cave's damp enough – aside from here – for me to draw water. I'll make a shield for me and use air to blow out against the fire.† â€Å"The air could feed the flames.† â€Å"Not if I do it right.† Our eyes met. He didn't like this idea, not at all. â€Å"This'll work,† I told him. â€Å"I know for a fact it will.† â€Å"For a fact, huh? I still think I should carry you.† â€Å"And I still think that's idiotic. You've gotta trust me, Kiyo. I can do this. I can feel it.† He didn't answer immediately, but I knew I had him. â€Å"If I watch you get burned alive, I'm not going to be happy.† â€Å"Volusian'll be happy,† I said. â€Å"At least someone comes out on top.† â€Å"Eugenie!† â€Å"Sorry.† I gave Kiyo what I hoped was a reassuring smile. â€Å"This'll work. You go first.† He hesitated a few moments more and then transformed into a fox. For fighting, he often chose a powerful, larger than life one. Now, he was small and quick like any ordinary red fox. He turned toward the flames, the human part – and probably animal too – again gauging timing. Then – he sprang forward. I'd piled assurances on him, but it was my own breath that caught while watching him. He ran without stopping, stride smooth and consistent as he flawlessly ran through empty space caused by the flames' swinging to the opposite side of the cave. In seconds, he reached the end, on the other side of the fifth sheet. I exhaled. He transformed back to Kiyo and peered at me through the sporadic gaps, worry all over him. I gave him another confident smile, hoping my earlier argument would hold true. I stared at the flames, not to time them but simply to muster my own courage. Magic welled up within me as I pulled moisture around my body, creating a spinning, almost cyclone-like cocoon – that instantly soaked me. That was the least of my worries. Then, I called on the air, drawing it to me and forcing it to blast away from my body. As I stepped forward, my mind suddenly ran through a hundred other scenarios. Maybe I could have just sucked out the oxygen here and killed the fire. Of course, that'd likely render me unconscious. And would ordinary physics even work against magic fire? That question came to me too late, along with the realization that magic fire might similarly be immune to air and water. Woosh! I lacked Kiyo's timing. The first fiery sheet flew at me – and went around me. My fan-effect blew it away and the scalding heat that would have still reached me was mitigated by the water. I picked up my pace, walking through the second one in a similar way. Lucky timing made me miss the third altogether. The fourth nailed me – or would have – and then I just barely sidestepped the fifth. I reached Kiyo's side and dropped the magic. â€Å"Three out of five ain't bad,† I said cheerfully. To my surprise he hugged me, in spite of my dripping clothes and hair. â€Å"Jesus Christ that was scary, Eug. When I saw you walk through that first wall †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"†¦ you thought it was pretty cool?† He pulled back and shook his head, watching as I wrung water from my shirt. â€Å"You sure are making an awful lot of jokes about some pretty serious stuff.† â€Å"Hey, you're the one who made the Dune reference.† I sighed and let my hands fall to my sides. â€Å"Besides, if I wasn't making jokes, I'd probably come to my senses and be running straight back to the Thorn Land.† I drew air to me, taking along some of the heat, to sort of blow-dry me off. I stopped when I was semi-dry, not wanting to use up the magic. â€Å"I understand,† he said. He gently touched my arm, smiled weakly, and then tilted his head toward the darkness ahead. â€Å"Ready for more?† I nodded, following him once again. We walked farther and farther from the flames, losing the light as we did. A strange flashback came to me, a trip to the Underworld where I'd walked through similar caves and faced tests to bring back Kiyo's soul. How could I have nearly forgotten about that? I'd loved him so much, I'd faced Death herself. How did love like that change? More tunnel crawling followed, and I wondered if perhaps this was a test for claustrophobic gentry. Gradually, though, the tunnel began to expand and expand until it suddenly dead-ended into a large cavernous room. Much like the tunnel, everything here was simply rough rock with occasional glimpses of iron. A few torches lit the chamber, revealing its centerpiece: an elegant marble pedestal with an iron crown sitting on it. â€Å"Seriously?† I said. Kiyo and I hovered near the room's opening, wary of entering. Yet, as I stared at the crown, it wasn't any potential trap that sent a chill down my spine. Another test in my trip to the Underworld replayed in my mind: I'd been forced to wear my father's crown, despite my protests. That crown had been platinum, but it and the one before me both had a similar silvery sheen. Both were adorned with purple jewels. Both had a harsh, martial feel to them. The one in the vision had been a little more delicate, though, with a bit more artistic flair. Designer planning had also clearly gone into this one, with its circle of jeweled spikes alternating in size, but my feel was that it was meant to be impressive, not pretty. â€Å"It's an illusion,† I said to Kiyo. â€Å"We can't have reached it already. We've hardly done anything.† He didn't take his eyes off the crown as he spoke. â€Å"Snakes and walking through fire are nothing?† â€Å"Well, no. But I expected more, considering all the hype.† â€Å"The iron,† Kiyo reminded me. â€Å"You used magic to get through the fire. Most gentry would too – but imagine what it would be like for them in all this iron. If they even got this far. You're †¦ not cheating, exactly, but you're bypassing a lot of the challenges here.† â€Å"If it's meant to be for gentry, then maybe the crown is too. Maybe I'm too human and won't be able to claim it.† Man, that would suck. â€Å"One way to find out.† I stared at the crown, noticing how little light reflected off it. Was this it? Did I really just go up and claim it? Time to find out. I took a few steps forward †¦ and the room abruptly became cold. A dark feeling, a feeling of power and pure evil filled the small space. What does evil feel like? You just know. I hastily returned to Kiyo's side, but it was too late. A male figure materialized before us, clad in beautiful purple velvet robes, embroidered and tailored in a way Dorian might have envied. This guy's hair was nearly as beautiful, a pale white blond that shone in the torchlight and grazed his shoulders. Yes, definitely an impressively attired figure. The only thing that really detracted from it all was that he was a skeleton. â€Å"Oh, fuck,† I said. â€Å"What is it?† asked Kiyo, moving close to me. â€Å"A lich. Like a †¦ I don't know. An undead necromancer or magic user.† My mind was frantically spinning. Liches used magic before their deaths to purposely keep themselves from the Underworld. It made them very hard to banish, according to Roland. I'd only ever heard of them in stories. â€Å"Like a zombie?† â€Å"No. Smarter. And they can also do – duck!† Kiyo, always a hair faster than me, had already dropped down and taken me with him as the lich hurled a ball of blue fire at us. It hit the wall above us, dispersing and blasting us with heat but otherwise doing no harm. More of that fire was already forming in its skeletal hand, and I knew it would aim low. Kiyo transformed to his largest fox form and leapt at the lich, attacking the best way he knew how. His jaws started to close around the lich's robe-encased leg, but a small gesture from the lich sent Kiyo flying. He hit a wall, shook it off, and growled, pacing and planning what to do next in light of this new development. During their split-second encounter, I had just enough time to send my senses out through the wand. I touched the Underworld and attempted to form a connection. The butterfly on my arm burned like the snake's venom, but I couldn't open the way. It was like beating on a heavy locked door. More effort might have helped me break through, but I had no chance to try before another fireball came toward me. I dodged and rolled away. Seeing the lich deflect Kiyo again made me think an athame attack wasn't going to be much help either. The lich seemed to recognize my problems and laughed, a low, guttural sound that echoed unnaturally in the chamber. â€Å"You will not wear the Iron Crown. You do not possess the power to wear the Iron Crown.† I was ready to evade another fireball, but a flick of the lich's hand threw me back against the wall. I didn't even have time to process the agony that caused to my wounds because the unseen force that pinned me there hurt too much. It was like a million invisible needles were piercing my skin, going straight through me, and lodging in the stone to hold me in place. I screamed at the pain, and Kiyo instantly raced toward the lich again. The larger the fox form, the more animal he was, and I had a feeling this was just a gut reaction at seeing me attacked. The lich threw him off again with that invisible force – only harder this time. Kiyo slammed against the wall, slumping down to the cave's floor. Weakly, he tried to stand up on all four legs but was too disoriented and injured. The lich turned back to me, and I saw death in his eyes. Had I really joked about this being easy? The only one this had been easy for was the lich. He'd taken us out with just a few spells, and now I would die. This was why those who wore the Iron Crown were feared. If you could survive this, you could survive anything. â€Å"You will not wear the Iron Crown,† he repeated, lifting his hands for the final spell. â€Å"You are not worthy.† I summoned my magic, despite the pain. A gale force wind blasted into him, making him stagger back. So. He wasn't totally impervious to physical force. Calling the magic was difficult, but when Dorian had first trained me, we'd practiced casting spells in a number of uncomfortable positions. I increased the force of the wind, pushing the lich back a couple more steps. The Iron Crown didn't budge, but the wind had pinned Kiyo up against the wall, almost making him go flat. I nearly hesitated, fearing I'd hurt him. He was still alive from the last hit. Surely he could handle this. And that added force was a good call. It distracted the lich so that when I mentally pushed back against his spell, he couldn't hold it. The invisible pins vanished, and I slid to the floor, landing shakily but upright. I still hurt and already felt worn out but held strong to my magic. It kept the lich away, but it also didn't knock him into the walls the way he could us. His skull-face wore a perpetual grin, making this all that much more annoying. â€Å"You don't have the power,† he said, seeing I couldn't do much more with the wind. â€Å"You are not worthy of the crown.† White light began glowing between his hands. No fireballs this time. It was lightning. It flew from his hands with incredible speed – say, like, the speed of light – but I evaded it, with almost no thought. Lightning was in my skill set. My body was attuned to it, able to anticipate and avoid it even with its speed. Nonetheless, the lightning blasted away half of the cave wall and the thunder that accompanied the bolt nearly left me deaf. Rocks and debris from the shattered stone were swept up in my windstorm, flying around the room like shrapnel. A few of them hit me. One cut my arm. In spite of it all, I laughed, sounding slightly crazy even to myself. â€Å"You're going to fight me with lightning?† I yelled above the raging wind, which I had managed to kick up a notch after all. â€Å"Do you know who I am?† â€Å"I know you will never have the crown,† the lich replied, summoning more lightning. His words dug into me, and not just because my life was on the line here. It was the meaning behind them. You are not worthy. A dismissal of me. Of my power. He really didn't know who he was dealing with, though. He had no idea of the power I could wield, even in this iron dungeon. No one would say it directly, but I was beginning to suspect I was the most powerful magic user since my father. This bastard lich was about to find that out. He'd see my power. I'd destroy him and take his fucking crown. â€Å"You call that lightning?† I yelled, after dodging the next bolt. My magical senses touched the molecules in the room, the positive and negative charges. The scent of ozone was everywhere. â€Å"This is lightning.† I didn't need my hands. I could create lightning from the air. It blasted into the lich and should have disintegrated him. He stayed intact, unfortunately, but the way he wobbled and didn't instantly go for another bolt told me I'd made progress. The magic burned within me, filling every ounce of my being as I held onto the surrounding air. The wind still blew, the ions stayed readied. In the center of it all was the crown, the crown I was going to walk out of here with. I would stop this war and show Katrice and everyone else not to screw with me. But first, I needed to finish this. I considered continually blasting the lich with bolts, but another idea came to mind. It would bring all of this to an end quickly. Scientists have long debated the existence of ball lightning, but I knew it was real. I'd never really used it in a serious way but had experimented. Some of the principles of its formation were like those of â€Å"regular† lightning, but a few quirks were what made it unique – and so hard to study. I knew how to summon it. I knew what it could do in here. Whereas the magically created bolts the lich and I had wielded had been shaped and controlled, ball lightning was huge and radiating. It would fill this cave, incinerating the lich. I wouldn't be surprised if it melted the walls. And the crown? The crown would survive – as would I, being the magic's mistress. The power blasted out of me, lightning forming an orb in the cave that exploded outward, blinding even my eyes. The walls shook, heat washed over me, and a roaring filled my ears. I heard the lich scream, a horrible, raspy sound. I didn't let go of the spell until his cry faded to silence. The ball lightning disappeared instantly, almost startlingly so. My own control of such power surprised me a little. My ears rang in the silence. The crown stood unharmed, as expected. The pile of bones I'd expected was not there, however. Instead, a small, wizened man stood before me, dressed in the same purple robes. I reached out and readied my magic for this new threat. He didn't move, though. To my astonishment, he smiled and gave me a small bow. â€Å"Congratulations,† he said. He gestured to the crown. â€Å"You are worthy – if you can wear it, of course. And something tells me you can, if you've survived this much iron.† I glanced back and forth between him and the crown, unbelieving. â€Å"I did it†¦. I won through. Won the crown. I defeated the lich †¦ er, you †¦ or whatever.† â€Å"Certainly the lich was part of the test. It takes great magic to defeat one. But the test was about more than your power,† said the old man slyly. â€Å"It was about your determination. Your will. Your ruthlessness to get to the crown, no matter the cost.† He stepped aside, waving his hand over at the cave's side. I gasped. Kiyo – in human form – lay against the wall. His dark eyes were open, and I saw no obvious injuries. He was simply watching the interaction. I flew to his side, kneeling down. â€Å"Oh my God. Are you okay?† I asked, helping him sit up. His breathing was even, though he looked a little addled. â€Å"Please †¦ talk to me. Kiyo. Are you okay?† â€Å"Yeah, yeah †¦Ã¢â‚¬  He lightly touched his forehead and winced. â€Å"Hell of a headache.† I could scarcely breathe. I felt numb all over. â€Å"You shouldn't be alive,† I whispered. â€Å"You should have died.† That ball lightning had eradiated the room. That had been my plan, after all. Destroy everything except me and the crown – and everything would have included Kiyo. In the moment, I had forgotten. I had forgotten all about him. I'd been too fixated on the crown, on proving to the lich who the real badass around here was. Kiyo hadn't mattered in that moment, and it had nothing to do with our rocky relationship. I had the horrible, terrifying feeling that it wouldn't have mattered who was in the room. â€Å"Oh, God,† I said again, pulling his head against my chest. Tears stung my eyes. â€Å"Oh God oh God. I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I don't know what †¦ I don't know what I was thinking†¦.† A nasty voice spoke inside my head. Didn't you? â€Å"Hey, Eug, calm down,† said Kiyo, patting the back of my head. â€Å"I'm okay, don't worry. You did it. You defeated it.† He didn't get it. He didn't get what I'd done – or nearly done. Clearly, whatever crazy, powerful magic was involved here had protected him for the sake of the test. But if it hadn't †¦ â€Å"Seriously,† said Kiyo, still not understanding my distress. â€Å"I'm fine. Just got tossed around too much. Now go get the crown. He said it's yours.† I pulled away and looked into Kiyo's eyes, eyes full of fondness and pride. I didn't deserve that look, but we needed the crown, and we needed to get out of here. I rose unsteadily and walked over to the pedestal. The crown sat there ominously, and I glanced at the old man. He nodded encouragingly. If you can wear it. I supposed there was one more test, one I might fail. When my fingers touched the crown, I felt nothing, only cold metal. I lifted it gingerly, almost afraid of what I did. It was heavy – far heavier than my crown of state or fashionable ones. Yet, it fit my head perfectly, which was weird. When I'd first seen it, I'd been overwhelmed by its size. I'd been certain it would fall right off. The old man beamed and bowed again. â€Å"And now it is yours. Its powers are yours. You can make armies tremble. You can rip away lands and subdue them. The world can be yours.† Hoping I'd proven myself, I removed the crown. â€Å"I just hope I can end a war.† Kiyo rose shakily to his feet. He no longer smiled. â€Å"What do you mean she can rip away lands?† The old man spread his hands out wide. â€Å"That is the crown's power.† â€Å"The crown has no power,† I said, frowning. â€Å"It's a prize, a status symbol for enduring all this.† â€Å"A prize?† The old man's eyebrows rose, and he gave a great belly laugh. â€Å"Do you believe all of that was just for a prize? For some bauble?† Kiyo and I exchanged uneasy looks. â€Å"Then what does it do?† I asked. â€Å"The Iron Crown allows you to break the bond between a monarch and his or her kingdom, thus freeing it. If you have the strength, you can then claim it.† The old man shrugged. â€Å"Why, with enough power, you could control half the kingdoms in this world.†