The Dairy Science Department at Cal Poly :: Agriculture

The Dairy Science Department at Cal Poly The Eugene and Rachel Boone Dairy Science Complex at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo contains a fully-operational dairy and research facilities for students in the Dairy Science department. This complex is located on Mt. Bishop Road, past the Crops Unit and Veterinary Hospital, and sits in the scenic foothills of Bishop’s Peak. Cal Poly has one of the largest Dairy Science departments in the country and it is the only university on the west coast to offer a specific Dairy Science major. The first-rate facilities at Cal Poly allow students to learn about feeding, milking, calf raising, artificial insemination, and the management of dairies in the classroom and then practice what they have learned on the purebred Jerseys and Holsteins. The Dairy Cattle Instructional Unit was built in 1992 and is used for a wide range of instructional activities. The first floor of this unit contains two classrooms, a computer room, a nutrition and physiology laboratory, and a microbiology laboratory. Numerous plaques and awards from local cattle shows dot the white walls. Cal Poly has bred some of the top-rated cows in the nation for type and production and individual cows have won many awards for the rich content and amount of milk produced. Industrial-like stairs along one wall lead up to the second floor where visitors can view the milking process. Cows are milked at the milking parlor daily from 4 to 6 am and 4 to 6 pm. This immaculate parlor can milk 16 cows at one time and contains state of the art milking equipment including an energy-efficient pre-cooling system, which the milk passes through before being stored in two 3,000-gallon bulk tanks. The physiology laboratory is used for artificial insemination, feed a nalysis, and dairy biotechnology courses. Students perform experiments such as embryo manipulations and transfer techniques in this laboratory. Beyond the Instructional Unit are the barns where all the cows reside.

Analysis of the immigration problem :: essays research papers

Analysis of the Immigration Problem The world has gone through a revolution and it has changed a lot. We have cut the death rates around the world with modern medicine and new farming methods. For example, we sprayed to destroy mosquitoes in Sri Lanka in the 1950s. In one year, the average life of everyone in Sri Lanka was extended by eight years because the number of people dying from malaria suddenly declined. This was a great human achievement. But we cut the death rate without cutting the birth rate. Now population is soaring. There were about one billion people living in the world when the Statue of Liberty was built. There are 4.5 billion today. World population is growing at an enormous rate. The world is going to add a billion people in the next eleven years, that's 224,000 every day! Experts say there will be at least 1.65 billion more people living in the world in the next twenty years. We must understand what these numbers mean for the U.S. Let's look at the question of jobs. The International Labor organization projects a twenty-year increase of 600 to 700 million people who will be seeking jobs. Eighty-eight percent of the world's population growth takes place in the Third World. More than a billion people today are paid about 150 dollars a year, which is less than the average American earns in a week. And growing numbers of these poorly paid Third World citizens want to come to the United States. In the 1970s, all other countries that accept immigrants started controlling the number of people they would allow into their countries. The United States did not. This means that the huge numbers of immigrants who are turned down elsewhere will turn to the United States. The number of immigrants is staggering. The human suffering they represent is a nightmare. Latin America's population is now 390 million people. It will be 800 million in the year 2025. Mexico's population has tripled since the Second World War. One third of the population of Mexico is under ten years of age, as a result, in just ten years, Mexico's unemployment rate will increase 30 percent, as these children become young adults, in search of work. There were in 1990 an estimated four million illegal aliens in the United States, and about 55 percent of them were from Mexico. These people look to the United States.

The Internet. Essay -- Design and Technology

The Internet. The Development of the Internet The Internet had started as a research project that was funded by the US Military. There were only three computers that were linked up to this network at this time. After 1969 a total of four computers were linked to this network, but nowadays there are billions. To link onto the internet everybody had a dial up connection which was a connection through your telephone line, when you wanted to go onto the internet a analogue signal would have been sent to your telephone provider and you would have been billed by them according to what your pay package was. The disadvantage of this was that you couldn’t accept telephone calls that were being made to your phone numbers but now the latest technology allows telephone calls to be accepted regardless if you are on the internet and now a new digital signal is being used instead of the old analogue one. Before simple information was displayed on the internet for example reviews and news and membership clubs were common, but now anything can be found on the internet. The internet also has a long way to go before it is 100% safe in the future; internet developers are working on improving the search engines, privacy and the security of the internet. Spam Spam is the name given to unwanted e-mails. This could be things advertising new products, or get rich prize draws, credit schemes and pornography. Spam can cost businesses as much as a couple of million pounds to send out computers. Spam can be sent to home computers as well as business computers. Businesses try to filter Spam by using blockers but these attempts may fail, because Spam is sent out in its millions this can clog up the internet network causing computers to rum slow or even crash. E-mail E-mail is short for electronic mail. E-mail is not only for fun but plays a large part in effective communication between major businesses. Almost everybody connected on the internet has an e-mail account. Accounts are free and can be achieved by singing up with companies such as yahoo, AOL and hotmail. Due to e-mail accounts being free storage space is limited. If you wish to have more storage space to keep more e-mails then the providers of your account offer you the chance to purchase a bigger account at a small price which you normally have to pay each month. Depending on ... ... should only contain material that is relevant and suitable for them. Ø Any pages that are likely to offend people should have a warning on them e.g. racist pages. Ø Links should not connect people to inappropriate sites when they are unaware of it. Ø People should not send Spam Ø Adverts on the internet should be true and not just joking about Ø If it is a purchasing site any extra cost such as VAT should clearly be shown Ø The advertisers name should be shown clearly Ø Information on web sites should not encourage illegal acts Ø Private data can’t be shown without the person knowing about it. Conclusion Overall the internet is a fast way to obtain information from a lot of different sources it is a good time killer if you are bored as it has billions and billions of different websites to explore. The internet is also a good way of advertising and selling and equally purchasing items. Although there are many draw backs the internet has more advantages than disadvantages. The fact that there are billions of people connected to the internet opposed to four computers when it was first set up means that it must be a good place to visit.

1:45 British Time, 11th September 2001 Was When the Unthinkable Happened Essay

1:45 British time, 11th September 2001 was when the unthinkable happened. One of the tallest buildings in the world was hit by a passenger jet. The people on the streets of New York could only watch in shock, horror and disbelief as the low-flying aircraft headed straight for the northern tower of the world trade centre. The jet headed for roughly the 65th to 70th floor of the tower. In a split second, the jet disappeared into the side of the tower, exploding as it did so. Only ten minutes later, when television crews had been alerted to the scene by the first incident, another low-flying aircraft was spotted. Live on US television, the jet banked left and disappeared into the southern tower, exploding as the first one had. As I stated in the first sentence, this all happened at about a quarter to two in the afternoon. On arriving home from school, I still wasn’t aware of what had happened a couple of hours ago. I went down to the newsagents down the road to buy a magazine. I noticed that the shop assistants were paying very close attention to the radio, yet it still didn’t come to me that something was up. At around half past four I turned on the television and couldn’t believe what I saw. There were images of the disaster, being shown over and over again. It didn’t come to me immediately how serious the incident was. As I carried on watching, I began to understand more clearly the significance of the disaster. And seeing images of people coming out of the buildings with blood all over them made me wonder who on earth would want to do a thing like that. The slow motion replays of the crashes showed how the jets simply tore through the walls of the towers like cardboard, and exploding as they went through the walls. It was painful to watch, and sickening to think of all the people on board the plane and inside the buildings. These terrorist attacks had been extremely well planned. Both of the jets were on domestic flights, where the security is not as tight as international flights are. It would be easy, experts say, to take a knife on board. In addition to this, both the flights would have been 6 hours long had the disaster not happened, so there was a lot of fuel on board which would have aided the fire spreading down through the building. It really hit home to me how dreadful it must have been inside the buildings as television pictures showed numerous people jumping to their death from the towers. How desperate must the situation inside have been to jump from 80 floors up? I dread to think. Soon the situation worsened. I gasped with horror as pictures of one of the towers collapsing to the ground were broadcasted by the English stations. It was simply horrible to see, and the dust created was so thick that some of the pictures showed nothing because of the dust in front of the camera. A few minutes later the other tower disappeared from that famous New York skyline as well, and the terrorists had fully succeeded. The terrorists must have also been able to fly the aircrafts. Surly no American pilot (or any nationality pilot for that matter) would fly an aircraft into the Twin Towers, whether threatened with a knife or not. I can’t believe that American Airlines would be so careless, as the crime rate in America is extremely high anyway. Of course I am not saying that any normal American would want to fly a plane into a major building in their own country, but if there was a mentally disabled person who got on a plane with a knife you never know what they might do. If security on these flights had been tighter none of this would have happened, surly. The disbelief was still around for many days after the disaster actually happened, and fire fighters were still searching through the rubble, hoping to find a few survivors among the mess. A few days after the crashes, it was thought that the person responsible was Asuma Bin Laden. As time went on it became more and more certain that Bin Laden was responsible, and eventually the man himself admitted as much on Afghan television. He is now the most sought after person in the world, with George W. Bush offering a $25,000,000 reward for anyone who can tell the USA where Bin Laden is hidden. Even thought I’m not American, everytime I see Bin Laden on the news, anger builds up inside me. How could someone do what he did? He doesn’t look like someone who has killed thousands, but he has, and he’s possibly the most hated man in the world. Having been to New York, (and incidentally, opting to go up the Empire State Building rather than one of the Twin Towers, which I now slightly regret), I feel that I can relate more to what has happened than I would have been able to otherwise. The photos I have of the skyline of New York obviously include the Twin Towers, and I can imagine how wrong the skyline now looks. When I look back on the photos, it makes me wonder why those buildings, which fitted into the skyline so well, are nolonger there. Why did Bin Laden do this? In conclusion, my feelings now, compared to my feelings right after it happened haven’t really changed. Having found out who was responsible, I now know what direction to put my hate towards, and the initial shock has faded, gradually. But when September 11th is mentioned, I still spare a thought for the people in the buildings and on the aircrafts and their families. I dearly hope that nothing of this nature ever happens again. And to finish I think that it is worth asking the question: If God does exist, where on earth was he on September 11th?

Night World : Black Dawn Chapter 11

The bushes stirred again. Maggie's searching fingers found only acorns and licorice fern, so she made a fist instead, sliding out from underneath Cady and holding herself ready. A form emerged from the underbrush. Maggiestared so hard she saw gray dots but she couldn'ttell anything about it. There was a long, tense moment, and then a voice came to her. â€Å"I told you you'd never make it.† Maggie almost fainted with relief. At the same moment the moon came out frombehind a cloud. It shone down into the clearingand over the slender figure standing with a hand on one hip. The pale silvery light turned red hairalmost black, but the angular face and narrowed skeptical eyes were unmistakable. Not to mention the sour expression. Maggieletout along, shuddering breath. â€Å"Jeanne!† â€Å"You didn't get very far, did you? The road's justover there. What happened? Did she drop deadon you?† It wasamazinghow good that irritable, acerbicvoice sounded to Maggie. She laughed shakily. â€Å"No, Cady's not dead. Bern's dead-you know, the bigslave trader guy. But – â€Å" â€Å"You're joking.† Jeanne's voice sharpened with respect and she moved forward. `†You killed hunt' â€Å"No. It waslook, I'll explain later. First, can youhelp me get her to somewhere more protected? It's really getting freezing out here, and she's completely out.† Jeanne leaned down, looking at Arcadia. â€Å"I toldyou before I wasn't going to help you if you gotin trouble.† â€Å"I know,† Maggie said. â€Å"Can you sort of pick herup from that side? If we both get an arm under her shouldersshemight be able to walk a little.† . `Bull,† Jeanne said shortly. â€Å"We'd better chaircarry her. Link hands and we can get her up.† Maggie clasped a cold, slender hand with calluses and a surprisingly firm grip. She heavedweight, and then they were carrying the unconscious girl. â€Å"You're strong,† she grunted. â€Å"Yeah, well, that's one of the side benefits ofbeing a slave. The road's this way.† It was awkward, slow work, but Maggie wasstrong, too, and Jeanne seemed to be able to guide them around the worst of the underbrush. And it was so good just to be with another human being who was healthy and clear headed and didn't want to kill her, that Maggie felt almost lighthearted. â€Å"What aboutP.J.? Is she okay?† â€Å"She's fine. She's in a place I know-it's notmuch, but it's shelter. That's where we're going.† â€Å"You took care of her,† Maggie said. She shook her head in the darkness and laughed. â€Å"What are you snickering about?† Jeanne paused and they spent a few minutes maneuvering arounda fallen log covered with spongy moss. â€Å"Nothing,† Maggie said. â€Å"It's justyou're prettynice, aren't you? Underneath.† â€Å"I look out for myself first. That's the rule aroundhere. And don't you forget it,† Jeanne said in a threatening mutter. Then she cursed as her foot sank into a swampy bit of ground. â€Å"Okay,† Maggie said. But she could still feel awry and wondering smile tugging up the corner ofher mouth. Neither of them had much breath for talkingafter that. Maggie was in a sort of daze of tirednessthat wasn't completely unpleasant. Her mindwandered. Delos†¦she had never met anyone so confus ing. Her entire body reacted just at the thought ofhim, with frustration and anger and a longing that she didn't understand. It was a physical pang. But then everything was so confusing. Things had happened so fast since last night that she'd neverhad time to get her mental balance. Delos and the incredible thing that had happened between themwas only one part of the whole mess. He said he'd killed Miles†¦. But that couldn't be true. Miles couldn't be dead.And Delos wasn't capable of anything like that†¦.Was he? She found that she didn't want to think aboutthat. It was like a huge dark cloud that she didn'twant to enter. Wherever Jeanne was taking her, it was a long,cold trek. And a painful one. After about fifteenminutes Maggie's arms began to feelasif they werebeing pulled out of the sockets, and a hot spot of pain flared at the back of her neck. Her sweat wasclammy running down her back and her feetwere numb. But she wouldn't give up, and Jeanne didn't either. Somehow they kept going. They had traveledfor maybe about forty-five minutes, with breaks,when Jeanne said, â€Å"Here it is.† A clearing opened in front of them, and moonlight shone on a crude little shack made of weathered wood. It leaned dangerously to one side andseveral boards were missing, but it had a ceilingand walls. It was shelter. To Maggie, it looked beautiful. â€Å"Runaway slaves built it,† Jeanne said breathlesslyas they took the last few steps to the cabin. â€Å"The Night People hunted them down, of course, but they didn't find this place. All the slaves at the castle know about it.† Then she called in a slightlylouder tone, â€Å"It's me! Open the door!† A long pause, and then there was the sound of awooden bolt sliding and the door opened. Maggiecould see the pale blob of a small face. P.J. Penob scot, with her red plaid baseballcap still on backwardand herslightbodytense,wasblinkingsleepy, frightened eyes. Then she focused and her face changed.†Maggie! You're okay!† She flung herself at Maggie like a small javelin. â€Å"Ow-hey!† Maggie swayed and Cady's limp bodydipped perilously. â€Å"I'm glad to see you, too,† Maggie said. To herown surprise, she found herself blinking back tears.†But I've got to put this girl down or I'm going todrop her.† â€Å"Back here,† Jeanne said. The back of the cabinwas piled with straw. She and Maggie eased Arcadia down onto it and then P.J. hugged Maggie again. â€Å"You got us out. We got away,† P.J. said, hersharp little chin digging into Maggie's shoulder. Maggie squeezed her. â€Å"Wellwe all got us out,and Jeanne helped get you away. But I'm glad everybody made it.† â€Å"Is she†¦all right?† P.J. pulled back and lookeddown at Arcadia. â€Å"I don't know.† Cady's forehead felt hot underMaggie's hand, and her breathing was regular butwith a rough, wheezy undertone Maggie didn'tlike. â€Å"Here's a cover,† Jeanne said, dragging up a pieceof heavy, incredibly coarse material. It seemed asbig as a sail and so rigid it hardly sagged or folded.†If we all get under it, we can keep warm.† They put Cady in the middle, Maggie and P.J. onone side of her and Jeanne on the other. The cover was more than big enough to spread over them. And the hay smelled nice. It was prickly, butMaggie's long sleeves and jeans protected her. There was a strange comfort in P.J.'s slight bodycuddled up next to herlike a kitten, Maggiethought. And it was so blessedly good to not bemoving, to not be carrying anyone, but just to sit still and relax her sore muscles. â€Å"There was a little food stashed here,† Jeannesaid, digging under the hay and pulling out a smallpacket. â€Å"Dried meat strips and oatcakes with salalberries. We'd better save some for tomorrow,though.† Maggie tore into the dried meat hungrily. Itdidn't taste like beef jerky; it was tougher and gam ier, but right at the moment it seemed delicious.She tried to get Cady to eat some, but it was nouse. Cady just turned her head away. She and Jeanne and P.J. finished the meal offwith a drink of water, and then they lay back onthe bed of hay. Maggie felt almost happy. The gnawing in her stomach was gone, her muscles were loosening up,and she could feel a warm heavinesssettlingoverher. â€Å"You were going†¦ to tell me about Bern †¦Ã¢â‚¬ Jeanne said from the other side of Cady. The wordstrailed off into a giant yawn. â€Å"Yeah.† Maggie's brain was fuzzy and her eyeswouldn't stay open. â€Å"Tomorrow †¦Ã¢â‚¬  And then, lying on a pile of hay in a tiny shack ina strange kingdom, with three girls who had been strangers to her before this afternoon and who nowseemed a little like sisters, she was fast asleep. Maggie woke up with her nose cold and her feettoo hot. Pale light was coming in all the cracks inthe boards of the cabin. For one instant she stared at the rough weathered-silver boards and the hayon the floor and wondered where she was. Thenshe remembered everything. â€Å"Cady.† She sat up and looked at the girl beside her. Cady didn't look well. Her face had the waxyinner glow of somebody with a fever, and there were little tendrils of dark hair curled damply onher forehead. But at Maggie's voice her eyelashes fluttered, then her eyes opened. â€Å"Maggie?† â€Å"How are you feeling? Want some water?† Shehelped Cady drink from the leather bag. â€Å"I'm all right. Thanks to you, I think. Youbrought me here, didn't you?† Cady's face turnedas if she were looking around the room with herwide, unfocused eyes. She spoke in short sentences, as if she were conserving her strength, but hervoice was more gentle than weak. â€Å"And Jeanne, too.Thank you both.† She must have heard us talkinglast night, Maggie thought. Jeanne was sitting up, straw in her red hair, her green eyes narrow and alert instantly. P.J.was stirring and making grumpy noises. â€Å"Morning,† Maggie said. â€Å"Is everybody okay?' â€Å"Yeah,† P.J. said in a small, husky voice. Therewas a loud rumble from her stomach. â€Å"I guess I'mstill a little hungry,† she admitted. â€Å"There're a couple oatcakes left,† Jeanne said.†And one strip of meat. We might as well finishit off.† They made Cady eat the meat, although she triedto refuse it. Then they divided the oatcakes solemnly into four parts and ate them, chewing dog gedly on dry, flaky mouthfuls. â€Å"We're going to need more water, too,† Maggiesaid, after they'd each had a drink. The leather bagwas almost empty. â€Å"But I think the first thing is tofigure out what we're going to do now. What our plan is.† â€Å"The first thing,† Jeanne said, â€Å"is to tell us whathappened to Bern.† â€Å"Oh.†Maggie blinked, but she could see whyJeanne would want to know. â€Å"Well, he's definitely dead.† She sketched in what had happened aftershe and Cady had started running through thewoods. How Gavin and Bern had chased them andhad finally driven them into a corner on the boulder pile.How Bern hadclimbedup andchanged†¦ â€Å"He was a shapeshifter, you know,† she said. Jeanne nodded, unsurprised. â€Å"Bern means bear.They usually have names that mean what they are.But you're saying you tried to fight thatguy off with a stick? You're dumber than I thought.† Still,her green eyes were gleaming with something likewry admiration, and P.J. was listening with awe. â€Å"And then-there was this lightning,† Maggiesaid. â€Å"And it killed Bern and Gavin ran away.† Sherealized, even asshe said it, that she didn't wantto tell everything that had happened with Delos.She didn't think Jeanne would understand. So she left out the way their minds had linked when theytouched, and the way she'd seen his memories-and the fact that she'd dreamed about him beforeever coming to this valley. â€Å"Then I filled the water bag and we heard Sylviacoming and he went out to make sure she didn'tfind me or Cady,† she finished. She realized thatthey were all staring at her. Cady's facewasthoughtful and serene as always, P.J. was scaredbut interested in the story-but Jeanne was rivetedwith disbelief and horror. â€Å"You're saying Prince Delossaved your life? Withthe blue fire? You're saying he didn't turn you overto the hunting party?† She said it as if she were talking about Dracula. â€Å"It's the truth.† Good thing I didn't tell her aboutthe kiss, Maggie thought. â€Å"It's impossible. Delos hates everybody. He's themost dangerous of all of them.† â€Å"Yeah, that's what he kept telling me.† Maggieshook her head. The way Jeanne was looking at hermade her uncomfortable,as if she were defendingsomeone unredeemably evil. â€Å"He also said at one point that he killed my brother,† she said slowly.†But I didn't know whether to believeit†¦.† â€Å"Believe it.† Jeanne's nostrils were flared and herlip curledasif she were looking at something disgusting. â€Å"He's the head of this whole place and everything that goes on here. There's nothing hewouldn't do. I can't believe he let you go.† She considered for a moment, then said grimly, â€Å"Unless he's got something special in mind. Letting you go and then hunting you down later. It's the kind ofthing he'd enjoy.† Maggie had a strange feeling of void in her stomach that had nothing to do with hunger. She triedto speak calmly. â€Å"I don't think so. I think-he justdidn't care if I got away.† â€Å"You're fooling yourself. You don't understandabout these people because you haven't been here. None of youhave been here.† Jeanne looked at P.J.,who was watching with wide blue ‘eyes, and atCady, who was listening silently, her head slightlybowed. â€Å"The Night People are monsters.And theones here in the Dark Kingdom are the worst of all. Some of them have been alive for hundreds of years-some of them were here when Delos'sgrandfather founded the place. They've been holedup in this valley all that time †¦ and allthey do ishunt.It's their only sport. It's all they care about. It's all they do.† Maggie's skin was prickling. Part of her didn'twant to pursue this subject any further. But she had to know. â€Å"Last night I noticed something weird,† she said.†I was standing outside and listening, but I couldn'thear any animal sounds anywhere. None at all.† â€Å"They've wiped them out. Alltheanimalsin the wild are gone.† P.J.'s thin little hand clutched at Maggie's armnervously. ‘But then what do they hunt?† â€Å"Animals they breed and release. I've been a slavehere for three years, and at first I only saw them breeding local animaLs-cougars and black bears wolverines and stuff. But in the last couple ofyears they've started bringing in exotics. Leopardstigers and things.† Maggie let out her breath and patted P.J.'s hand.`But not humans.† â€Å"Don't make me laugh. Of course humans-butonly when they can get an excuse. The laws say the vampires can't hunt slaves to death because they'retoo precious-pretty soon the food supply wouldbe gone. But if slaves get loose, they at least get to hunt them down and bring them back to the castle. And if a slave has to be executed, they do a death hunt.† â€Å"I see.† The void in Maggie's stomach had become a yawning chasm. â€Å"But-2†² â€Å"If he let you go, it was so he could come backand hunt you,† Jeanne said flatly. â€Å"I'm telling you,he's bad. It was three years ago that the old kingdied and Delos took over, okay? And it was threeyears ago that they started bringing new slaves in.Not just grabbing people off the mountain if theygot too close, but actuallygoing down and kidnapping girls off the streets. That's why I'm here.That'swhy P.J.'s here.† Beside Maggie, P.J. shivered. Maggie put an armaround her and felt the slight body shaking againsthers. She gulped, her other hand clenching into afist. â€Å"Hey, kiddo. You've been really brave so far, sojust hang on, okay? Things are going to work out.† She could feel Jeanne's sarcastic eyes on herfrom beyond Cady, daring her to explain exactly howthings were going to work out. She ignoredthem. â€Å"Was it the same for you, Cady?† she asked. Shewas glad to get off the subject of Delos, and shewas remembering the strange thing Cady had saidlast night. I was coming here for a reason†¦. â€Å"No. They got me on the mountain.† But the wayCady spoke alarmed Maggie. It was slowly and with obvious effort, the voice of someone who had touse all their strength just to concentrate. Maggie forgot all about Delos and the slave tradeand put a hand to Cady's forehead. â€Å"Oh, God,† she said. â€Å"You're burning up. You're totally on fire.† Cady blinked slowly. â€Å"Yes-it's the poison,† shesaid in a foggy voice. â€Å"They injected me with something when they caught me-but I had a bad reaction to it. My system can't take it.† Adrenaline flicked through Maggie. â€Å"And you'regetting worse.† When Cady nodded reluctantly, shesaid, â€Å"Right. Then there's no choice. We have to getto the castle because that's where the healingwomen are, right? If anybody can help, they can, right?† â€Å"Wait a minute,† Jeanne said. â€Å"We can't go downto the castle. We'd be walking right into their arms.And we can't get out of the valley. I found the passbefore, but that was by accident. I couldn't find itagain â€Å"I could,† Maggie said. When Jeanne stared at her, she said, â€Å"Never mind how. I just can. But going that way means climbing down a mountainon the other side and Cady can't make it. And I don't think she'll make it if we leave her alone hereand go look for help.† Jeanne's narrow green eyes were on her again,and Maggie knew what they were saying. So we'vegot to give up on her. It's the only thing thatmakessense. But Maggie bulldozed on in determination. â€Å"Youcan take P.J. to thepass-I can tellyou howto get there-and Ill take Cady to the castle. How about that? If you can tell me how to get to it.† â€Å"Itstinks,†Jeanne said flatly. â€Å"Even if you make it to the castle with her hanging on you, you won'tknow how to get in. And if you doget in, you'll be committing suicide-â€Å" She broke off, and everyone started. For an instant Maggie didn't understand why-all she knewwas that she had a sudden feeling of alarm andalertness. Then she realized that Cady had turnedsuddenly toward the door. It was the quick, instinctive gesture of a cat who has heard something dangerous, and it triggered fear in the girls who werelearning to live by their own instincts. And now that Maggie sat frozen, she could hearit, too, faraway but distinct. The sound of peoplecalling, yelling back and forth. And another sound, one that she'd only heard in movies, but that sherecognized instantly. Hounds baying. â€Å"It's them,† Jeanne whispered into the dead silence of the shack. â€Å"I told you. They're hunting us.† â€Å"With dogs?†Maggie said, shock tingling throughher body. â€Å"It's all over,† Jeanne said. â€Å"We're dead.†

Evolution of Management Thinking Essay

It was an era where so many alterations in the world Economy took place. In the closing decades of the 19th century there was a quest of seeking innovative ways to increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness. The Scientific Management Theory initiated on the basis of that. In this period of time crafts production was substituted by large factories in which a lot of technical revolutions have been taking place. The owners and managers were not capable of coping to these challenges therefore they hunted for advanced techniques to overcome this situation. As a solution the concepts of Job Specialization and division of labour came about. In this scenario workers who specialized in their respective tasks became more skilled. The Scientific Management Theory Fredrick W. Taylor was the architecture of the concept Scientific Management, â€Å"The systematic study of relationships between people and tasks for the purpose of redesigning the work process to increase efficiency†. It was believed that the most effective and efficient division of labour could best be determined by the concept of Scientific Management. There were four core principles in this concept. * Investigation and experimentation on organization performance * Codification of new methods/standards * Selection of employees according to codified standards * Establishing a level of performance and a pay system with rewards In 1910 most of the organizations were using this concept but selectively. Even though there was an increase in performance some disputes about this concept lead to an increase in trade union involvement. There were some major issues in this concept. * Availability of fewer jobs * Job dissatisfaction * Distrust among employees and employers. Some organizations redesigned the principles according to their vision. For example introduction of moving conveyer belts in Henry Ford’s factory can be taken in to consideration. However these approaches were not able to solve the emerged issues. Nevertheless Taylor’s work had a lasting effect on management production systems. Frank Gilbreth and Lillian Gilbreth who were the successors of Taylor studied how the working environment influences the performance of the employees. They made a heavy contribution in time-and-motion study. They demonstrated that by following arrangements organizations can solve their issues effectively. * Breaking up each job action into its components. * Finding better ways to perform the action. * Reorganizing each job action to be more efficient Administrative Management Theory Researchers attempted to discover how to create an organizational structure that leads to high efficiency and effectiveness. Theory of Bureaucracy was developed by Max Weber as a succession of these researches. Bureaucracy is basically a formal system of organization and administration designed to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. There were several principles in this theory. Weber identified several factors there should be in a bureaucracy system. Simultaneously Henry Fayol identified 14 principles that should be vital to increasing the efficiency of the management process according to his perspective. These studies of Fayol and Weber laid the foundation of modern management theory. Behavioural Management Theory This is the study of how managers should behave in order to motivate employees and encourage them to strive towards high levels of performance as an organization. In the previous theory there wasn’t a major concern about the employee viewpoint. Thus Mary Farker Follett explained why it is important to think about the human side of management. According to the studies of Follett managers should behave as coaches and facilitators –not as monitors and supervisors and the importance of direct inter communication between managers of different departments to make speedy decisions. She also promoted the concept of â€Å"cross functioning† which has been used in a great scale at present. Hawthorne effect is the discovery that a manager’s behaviour and leadership approach can affect the level of performance of employees. From this study emerged the concept of human relations movement. It is basically how the supervisors should be behaviourally trained to spice up worker’s motivation, cooperation and increase their productivity. Informal organization is one of the implications of Hawthorne effect. This is the system of behavioural rules and norms that come out in a group. The study of factors that have an impact on how individuals and groups react to in organizations has been identified as the organizational behaviour. Apart from these mentioned here the most significant approach was developed by Douglas McGregor. He supposed two different sets of assumptions which were named as Theory X and Theory Y. Management Science Theory This is a modern extension of Scientific Management Theory in this approach describes how precise quantitative techniques can be used in order to make the best use of organizational resources. Quantitative management emphasises on how arithmetic can be manipulated to achieve best practises in inventory and financial capital control. Operations management presents a set of techniques that can be utilized to improve production efficiency Total quality management focuses on the art of how the whole can be managed to achieve excellence. Management information systems provide the managers with adequate information about internal and external events of an organization to effective decision making. Organizational Environment Theory This is the set of conditions and forces that functions externally to the organization but affect a manger’s capability to acquire and utilize resources. This clearly stresses on how important it is to study the environment. The open systems theory and contingency theory developed in 1960 ascertains the importance of the importance of studying the environment. The Open –Systems View This is a system where external resources are acquired and converted into goods and services then sent back to customers for purchasing. And the cycle carries on. This system is considered as an open system. Organizations which use a closed system are likely to experience entropy, the tendency of a system to lose its ability to control itself and thus to dissolve and collapse. Contigency Theory It discloses that there is no best way to organize therefore characteristics of the environment affect an organization’s ability to obtain resources. Types of structures Above describes the differences between the structures. In conclusion managers in a Mechanistic structure can obtain inputs at a lower cost preferably in a stable environment and managers in an organic environment can react more quickly in a rapidly changing environment. These contributions constructed the foundation of modern management theories. References: New Era of Management Concepts and Applications 2nd Edition Richard L. Daft, Vanderbilt University Contemporary Management fifth edition Gareth R. Jones, Texas A & M University Jennifer M. George, Rice University

Counselor Role in Special Education Essay

My perception of the school counselor’s role in special education is that it largely mirrors the role embodied for all students, but with some added considerations and collaborations for the special needs student. My understanding is that a school counselor should be available to all students for personal, ethical, academic, career, and social advice; to listen to a student’s point of view; to deal with any mental health issues that may arise for a student; to help a student prepare for transitions; to advocate for a student in a given situation, and to whatever degree possible, teach the student to advocate for himself. A counselor must be committed to helping all students reach their full potential; but for students with disabilities and other special needs, a school counselor needs to accomplish this in the face of extra challenges. These tasks and trials are not limited to those presented by the varying disabilities of a child, but include the demands of satisfying the administrative and legal requirements of a counselor serving students with special needs. Today’s school counselor is likely to be involved in a student’s individualized education program (IEP) when one is warranted. According to the Ohio Department of Education’s Office for Exceptional Children, at least one of the IEP team members needs to be an individual who has knowledge or special expertise regarding the child. This person is in addition to the child’s regular and special education teachers, a principal/assistant principal or other senior staff member, the parents, the school psychologist, and the child (if appropriate) required to participate on the team. The school counselor, at the discretion of the parent or the school district, may be included as a member of the IEP team if they have special insight regarding the child. A school counselor will work as part of a multidisciplinary team within the school and community in aligning and providing services for the special needs student. Without yet having been exposed to a practicum or internship experience as a school counselor, I perceive this piece of the workload to be potentially delicate and complex. A parent may have a viewpoint divergent from that which is covered in the Evaluation Team Report (ETR), resulting in an extended identification process. School staff members may have contrasting opinions as to whether a child is in need of special education and an IEP, or just accommodations covered under a 504 Plan. The bottom line is that the identification team must work collaboratively, with a lack of ego, in assessing and determining what measures are in the best interests of helping the child to be successful in school. It seems that the most difficult aspect of a school counselor’s job is to find a balance in managing so many responsibilities in each given day. Responding to the unique challenges of special needs students can both intensify and complement the workload. I think much can be gained professionally, personally, and emotionally by embracing that responsibility. A good counselor should teach the special education students attending her school about resiliency, inner strength, positive identity, and a sense of purpose. In the general terms of the professional school counselor’s role, I believe that the most valuable services to be provided in the special education realm are: †¢ Individual Student Planning – communicate high expectations and help disabled students establish personal goals for each school year and their future success. Familiarize oneself with the varying learning styles of the students who have disabilities, and work consultatively with teachers to improve their performance behaviorally and academically. Be a staunch advocate for these students and their post-secondary options; help create opportunities for them. †¢ Responsive Services – implement prevention and/or intervention activities like individual and group counseling, provide referrals, facilitate better peer relations, and advocate for them. Conduct needs assessments to identify potential systematic, programmatic, and attitudinal areas for change in order to create positive environments for their learning. Assist teachers in staying on top of 504 and IEP accommodations/interventions, being prepared to troubleshoot if certain measures are not enabling student to perform optimally. †¢ School Guidance Curriculum – developing and delivering a curriculum of structured lessons to help each identified student achieve desired social and academic outcomes. A counselor could implement a student development curriculum aimed to improve typical students’ understanding of and sensitivity to their special needs’ peers.