Straight foward book review of Martin Lindstroms Buy

So much controversy had been brewing in the business world as to the reason why consumers often settle for certain goods and services in the market with various scholars expressing their views on the subject matter from individual points of view.Advertising We will write a custom book review sample on Straight foward book review of Martin Lindstrom’s Buy-ology specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This state of affairs influenced Martin Lindstrom’s decision to try and bring the various reasons why people buy into perspective. In his two hundred and fifty four page book; Buy-ology: Truth and lies about why we buy, Martin puts this highly speculated issue under sharp scrutiny to come up with the much sort after answers which had been very elusive. He also seeks to explain the rational with which purchasing decision making is always done beyond any reasonable doubt. The introductory phase of this book basically poses mind bo ggling questions mainly concerning the reasons which propel individuals to buy certain products as opposed to their alternatives in the market. Martin tries to draw the audience’s attention to some shocking revelations which he had come across during his three year marketing research study that coasted a whooping three million dollars. Basing his arguments on the research findings that were arrived at after critically analyzing responses from two thousand individuals from all over the world, he was able to cast so much skepticism on the reasons which for a long time have been believed to actuate purchasing interests.Advertising Looking for book review on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More He also focuses a considerable amount of energy substantiating weather sex can effectively influence an individual’s decision to buy an item or not. In a rather shocking revelation, he point out that sex can in deed trigger a prospective buyer’s urge to go for an item. He backs his argument which insists that an individual’s sub conscience may to a large extent be influence to purchase a product by the mere sight of an attractive lady posing suggestively by citing the increasing marketing trend of using skimpily dressed ladies to promote consumer products, he argues that this case scenario is as such since it has proved to be a viable one by producing the desired result of enhancing sales. Another striking revelation which has been captured quite tentatively is the spiritualization of certain behaviors among consumer groups. Citing the case of drinking Corona with Lime, he puts emphasis on the notion held by marketers which dictates that creating trends and rituals in consumer behavior would also influence their purchasing preferences ultimately. With respect to this state of affairs, he mentions that companies from all over the globe have hence invested heavily in trying to ensure that their brands become house hold names. He also argues that advertising greatly influences decision making among prospective buyers since if done in an appropriate manner by highlighting the advantages and benefits of these products, consumption is generally swayed towards the product in focus. With that in mind, marketers have over the years come up with various methods of advertisements which vary from the use of billboards to visual media in televisions. He also mentions the fact that despite the government’s ban on subliminal advertising, this very elusive practice is still with us and its perpetrators have continuously exercised extreme caution so as to avoid being caught on the wrong side of the law. All these effort are put to enhance the consumption of the products in question.Advertising We will write a custom book review sample on Straight foward book review of Martin Lindstrom’s Buy-ology specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The norms in advertising and marketing in general dictate a lot of emphasis on the satisfaction of the sense of sight or rather appeasing the eyes with utter disregard to the other senses. In retrospect, he points out that the other senses like those of smell, touch and even sound can also be quite handy in advertisements since these senses can also play an important role in arousing certain desires in prospective buyers. Depending on the product in question, he emphasizes that capitalizing on its most appropriate sense while carrying out its advertisement would greatly enhance its sales since the prospective buyers are treated to a one on one experience with the product even before purchasing it. Despite the fact that this book sheds light on most of the truths and lies about why people buy certain products, it however contradicts some of the widely accepted phenomena on marketing, purchasing and advertising in general. While he emphasizes on the fact tha t sex sells and hence the use of attractive women to enhance sales is considered viable, this situation clashes with my view of the world since this method would target a particular market group which would be mainly constituted of young and middle aged male consumers. Female and elderly prospective consumers may not be influenced by this antic and hence it would not influence the consumption of the said products as expressed in this book. Taking into account the nicely elaborated instances where he explains how consumers more often than not respond quite positively to well known brands like Nokia, Calvin Klein and even Ford just to mention a few, I would attest to the fact that consumers are mesmerized by renown trademark labels that they do not question the quality and authenticity of products from these labels. It is however not true to say that the sales of a certain commodity depends on the marketer’s seduction prowess since some commodities often gain a vast repute henc e despite the competitor’s marketing abilities, swaying the consumer’s preference to their favor would be next to impossible.Advertising Looking for book review on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More My views especially on shopping has been changed since from a general view which relates one’s urge to buy certain products with his or her needs, the book has pointed out a whole knew dimension on this theory emphasizing the fact that shopping psychology is basically interest based and that an individual may settle for a certain product not because he or she needs the product but because it interests them. An evident contributor to impulse buying, this observation is however very accurate and hence introduces a whole new notion in purchasing. Advertising being pointed out as a key contributor towards the improvement of the sales of commodities can also be adequately affirmed from my point of view. This is since advertising helps create awareness among prospective consumers and hence encourages them to try out the commodities in question. This book also addresses the important aspect of winning a consumer’s loyalty. This is the most important aim of marketing since by so doing, a marketer is guaranteed that their products will be in business for a long time by ultimately winning the consumer’s mind and finances. In conclusion, it is however important to reiterate the fact that this book is quite factual and objective. Based on daily life experiences, the book explores all the possible avenues to drive its intended agenda home. The book is also quite engaging since it takes its audience down memory lane and enables them to reflect and relate the instances mentioned in the book with those that happen in real life. I would hence recommend this book to marketers so as to assist them in their daily routine of devising new techniques in the marketing field. Eventually, I would give this book a six out of ten. References Lindstrom, M. and Paco, Underhill. (2010). Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We  Buy. San Fransisco: Broadway Books. This book review on Straight foward book review of Martin Lindstrom’s Buy-ology was written and submitted by user Aryana P. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Digital TV essays

Digital TV essays Broadcasting, the transmission of information by radio or television, is a major factor affecting the television industry today. Broadcasting is currently achieved through analogue, a system that has existed since television began in the 1940s and 50s. "Analogue converts sound and pictures into waves, which are then transmitted through the air and picked up by our rooftops or indoor aerials." But, because of rapid technological advances in the modern era, analogue will soon be obsolete, and is presently in the process of being replaced by digital broadcasting, the new form of broadcasting that "turns pictures and sound into computer language, which changes ones television into a form of computer, so that it can connect to the Internet, take interactive programs, and carry many more channels," all of which cannot be accomplished through analogue. As modern technology grows, the television industry is introduced to major issues, such as low consumer confidence, a! nalogue switch-off difficulties, and the lack of technical skills. And unless these problems are resolved soon, they will lead to the collapse of the television industry. Concerns associated with employee technical skills is becoming very common in the digital TV industry. The industry fears that its employees may lack the advanced technical knowledge required for the future. Its major concern right now is to find the right people with the right skills to effectively implement future strategies. Digital TV companies must become much more competent, innovative and creative, which means that its employees must be willing to develop themselves and their company in order to sustain the industry. As many are aware, IT skills will be very essential to the well-being of the industry. Because a number of shoppers today are already purchasing products online and Internet access via digital TV exists, advanced IT skills are definitel...

Job description of ICTbusiness and systems analysts in organisations Thesis

Job description of ICTbusiness and systems analysts in organisations and different countries - Thesis Example . 36 2.10.1 Viruses, worms, and malwares †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 39 2.11 Range of business analyst’s role †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 41 2.11.1 Information systems planning †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 42 2.11.2 Software planning †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 44 2.11.3 Feasibility study †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 44 2.11.4 Risk management in software development †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 45 2.11.5 Designing IT in or ganisations †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 46 2.12 IT systems analysts †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 47 2.12.1 IT project manager †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 49 2.13 Business/systems analysts in different countries†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 51 2.13.1 IT User †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...†¦. 51 2.13.2 S2P Analyst/ BA †¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...†¦. 51 2.13.3 Systems Designer †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦52 2.13.4 IT Procurement Director †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.52 2.13.5 IT Procurement Administrator†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.52 2.13.6 Software Development Support Specialist†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...†¦... 53 2.14 Chapter analysis †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 54 3 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 55 3.1 The Research... This paper illustrates that the information revolution has spawned numerous technologies geared towards automating the office. Information systems have created new paradigm shifts in organisational processes. The trend in organisations is to implement office information systems solutions such as groupware and enterprise applications, databases or shared repositories, intranets, workflow, imaging systems, and other customised applications. All these need a specialized skill possessed by business and systems analysts. Internal and external environments in organisations are becoming complicated. These processes and new applications have to be handled by an experienced and specialized workforce composed of analysts who must bewell versed in technology and the business functions. Business analysis encompasses assessments, studies, and analysis of the business functions applied with IT and software applications. Business analysis reconciles the traditional business functions and the techno logy or software so that without it the whole thing will crumble – for example, an organisation conducting outsourcing of human resource has to incorporate the traditional functions with the new personnel who will be handling human resource management. The organisational knowledge and functions have to be ‘transferred’ to the outsourcing company, and this process has to be handled by an analysis team (or an executive team) to analyse the business functions. This is how the business and IT analysts evolved.

Critical evaluation of leadership values, attitudes and behaviours and Essay

Critical evaluation of leadership values, attitudes and behaviours and their impact on others and the organisation - Essay Example Leadership, unlike management, is about identifying with the intangibles of human behaviour and attitude and attempting to apply empathetic and considerate policies and procedures to improve interpersonal relationship development and to facilitate individual development, thus improving human capital advantages within the organisation, through such practices as coaching and mentoring. Having provided an understanding of leadership and its primary definition, it should be reinforced that only a reflective leader is one that will consistently improve and be able to identify with the diverse psychological, sociological, and tangible needs of employees as it pertains to their role within the organisation. One methodology of ensuring reflection as ongoing, cyclical practice is the 360 degree feedback system, a process of engaging multiple stakeholders to provide meaningful feedback about attitude, behaviour and performance of a peer or subordinate to give a broader and more accurate view o f where an individual requires development or improvement. ... This project attempts, based on research findings and personal reflection, to establish a best practice model of leadership through engagement with multi-rater feedback processes that can provide benefit to the organisation and its staff population. Nature of current leadership agenda The NHS has established a quality agenda that underpins success for health care professionals. According to the NHS, this includes â€Å"lifelong learning for health professionals and modern systems of professional self-regulation† (NHS 2012, p.2). Quality, as it pertains to leadership development, therefore involves being able to continuously improve and engage in reflective practice to improve health care delivery and reduce variations that impact quality of care. The NHS recognises that effective and competent leadership is a fundamental aspect of building efficiencies and productivity in health care delivery and building capacity for quality outputs. Before establishing a competency framework for effectual leadership practices, it is necessary to define leadership at its foundation. â€Å"A leader is one who selects, equips, trains, and influences one or more follower(s) who have diverse gifts, abilities, and skills and focuses the follower(s) to the organization’s mission and objectives causing the follower(s) to willingly and enthusiastically expend spiritual, emotional, and physical energy in a concerted coordinated effort to achieve the organizational mission and objectives† (Winston and Patterson 2006, p.7). By this definition, a competency framework for leadership development is achievable, through first understanding that leadership is about maintaining influence to engage stakeholder behavioural changes or improvements,

Visages of Two Stories Essay Example for Free

Visages of Two Stories Essay Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find and Tobias Wolff’s Bullet in the Brain are two short stories each having unlikeable lead characters. Both stories revolved around the lives of the lead characters which were shown using humor and twists and turns. Flannery O’Connor, an American writer, was known for her Southern Gothic writing style. Her literary works are indicative of her beliefs of the Roman Catholic. Tobias Wolff, also an American writer, was known for his short stories and memoirs. A Good Man is Hard to Find is a story of a family going for a vacation. It began with the Grandmother explaining to her son Bailey about the murderous Misfit who was on the loose so she wouldn’t have to go to Florida for vacation and would instead have go to Tennessee. She was not able to persuade her son and the rest of the family. The next morning they drove off to Florida. The Grandmother portrayed the image of someone who was self-centered and unpleasant. She also seemed to be more concerned on how she would look like a Christian than act like one. In the end, the family was murdered by the Misfit and his two cohorts. The Bullet in the Brain, on the other hand, began in with a book critic named Anders who was on a bank one day. Similar to the Grandmother from O’Connor’s story, Anders was also one character who is unlikeable. He depicted someone who was ill-tempered and sardonic. While waiting in a long line of customers, two bank robbers entered the scene and threatened the people. Anders was someone who was not intimidated by anyone, even by bank robbers. And here is where the trouble for the protagonist began. Instead of doing the right thing, he ridiculed the robbers which resulted to his death. The Grandmother and Anders were two comical people who talked too much. Before the two died, they presented their own sentiments which the readers would have, undoubtedly, felt. There was an unexpected turn of events when the Grandmother was about to be killed. She suddenly claimed that the Misfit was a good man. This was contrary to what she had mentioned about the Misfit at the beginning of the story. She mentioned that would not take her children to a place with an unconfined criminal. She said her conscience would not be able to bear it if she did. The position she was in at the end of the story, seemed to have taken out the goodness and the true Christian from her. Because of the fear and the pressure she felt, she was able to see the goodness in the hands of something or someone so evil. What happened to Anders was another thing. Before he died, Wolff presented the things that the protagonist did not think of: the disappointments in his relationship with his family, the boredom he felt towards his work, etc. And by the time the readers were building inside then the sadness and the sympathy towards Anders, the author provided what Anders was thinking at that crucial moment. And boom, it was really unexpected because at that very moment before he died what he thought of was his sarcasm in his early years. And the seemingly sad ending of the story turned out to be odd and amusing. The evil in the two stories have had similar and contrasting effects to the lead characters. The Grandmother and Anders had their share of insight with regards to the incident. The Grandmother may only be saving herself from death or she could have really realized the Misfit had goodness in him and that her prejudices were untrue. Nevertheless, it was too late for her. In Anders case, what he remembered before he died was what he was truly about. The last scenario substantiated the fact about Anders’ attitude. In the stories, varying prejudices can be observed and this shows that each one of us is entitled to own opinions and sets of truths. References: OConnor, Flannery. A Good Man Is Hard to Find. 1955. Wolff, Tobias. Bullet in the Brain. 1995.

Mesos and Kubernetes : A Comparative Analysis

Mesos and Kubernetes : A Comparative Analysis Abstract Containers and application containerization have fast gained traction as the most promising aspects of Cloud Computing. A massive increase in the number and variety of applications has created a need for smooth integration between developer and live environments with quick service time. The amount of user data being handled by todays applications requires heavy computing resources which further require large clusters of hosts. Management of these large clusters is very challenging and containers provide a viable solution. Containers provide an operating system level virtualization for deploying and running applications in a distributed node topology, eliminating the need for configuration of a complete VM per application. Open source technologies like Docker have developed a method that provides better portability for containers. This paper presents a proposal for performance evaluation of two of the most widely used open source orchestration systems Kubernetes and Mesos for cloud native applications. We also provide a brief overview of the importance of choosing the right container orchestration tool to deploy and manage cloud-native applications. Keywords: Kubernetes, Mesos, Cloud native applications, Locust, GCE. With the fast spread of internet hegemony, the conventional and niche web applications are increasing in number. Deployment and maintenance of each of such applications requires a myriad of hardware and associated software designed to perform several generic activities. Rapid progress of cloud computing technologies have aided in decentralizing the implementations, leading to distributed systems. Docker technology provides containers for easy deployment and management of applications. Carefully managed by cluster management tools like Kubernetes and Mesos, replication, failovers, as well as APIs can automate integration and lead to a seamless deployment over clusters of host machines, thereby eliminating disruption of service caused by inherent downtime. Kubernetes: Kubernetes is an open source cluster manager project that integrates cluster management capabilities into a system of virtual machines. It is a lightweight, portable, modular, responsive and fault-tolerant orchestration tool that is written in Go and comes with built-in service discovery and replication utilities. Fig 1.1 shows the architecture and important concepts of Kubernetes. Fig 1 Kubernetes Architecture Important components of kubernetes are : Pods : Pod is the building block for schedul- ing, deployment, horizontal scaling and replication. It is a group of tightly coupled containers that are located on the same host and sharing the same IP address, ports, resources and the same localhost.[7] Kubelet is the agent that runs on the worker nodes that manages Pods, their containers, container images and the volumes if any. Replication Controllers : They control and monitor the number of running pods for a service, and provide fault tolerance.It is the high availability solution of Kubernetes. Kubectl : The command to control the kubernetes cluster once its running. Kubectl runs on the master node. Kubernetes has a policy driven scheduler (Kube-scheduler) which considers availability, performance and capacity constraints,quality of service requirements, and workload. kubernetes can also work with multiple schedulers. Users can add their own schedulers if other constraints are required.[7] Mesos: Apache Mesos is an open-source cluster manager, developed by Benjamin Hindman, Andy Konwinski, and Matei Zaharia at the University of California, Berkeley as a research project along with professor Ion Stoica. Its designed to scale to very large clusters involving hundreds or thousands of hosts such as hadoop tasks, cloud native applications, etc. It enables resource sharing in a fine-grained manner thus improving cluster utilization.To deploy and manage applications in large-scale clustered environments more efficiently, Mesos plays role between the application layer and the operating system and makes it easier. It can run many applications on a dynamically shared pool of nodes. The major components in a Mesos cluster are: Fig 2 Mesos Architecture [6] Mesos follows 2 level scheduling. Each framework asks Mesos for a certain amount of resources it requires, in response Mesos offers a set of resources. Framework scheduler evaluates the offered resources based on its own criteria and accepts or refuses.[7] Apache ZooKeeper acts as a central coordination service to achieve high availability. The design comprises multiple masters, where one is an active leader and ZooKeeper handles the leader election. For high availability setting, a minimum of 3 master nodes is needed. Marathon is a framework that is designed to launch long-running applications, and serves as a replacement for a traditional init system. It provides many features such as high availability, application health checks, node constraints, fault -tolerance and an easy to use web UI for long running application. Marathon Framework is composed of executor and scheduler. The UI of marathon provides an option to start, stop and scale the long running applications. Kubernetes and Mesos makes the process of setting up multiple virtual clusters simpler, allowing for stack management to shed unwanted layers of software which bog down systems. Using Kubernetes and Mesos for cluster management allows for high-level task monitoring, resource allocation and application scaling, whilst offering the control needed to ensure applications run smoothly. Setting up of either Mesos or Kubernetes on Windows means developers and organizations that work between Linux and Windows platforms may use their own tools without requiring heavy resource management. A. Container Orchestration tools and its importance: With the usage of containers, running cloud-native applications on physical or virtual infrastructure is made easy. Containers facilitate easier application management to dynamically adapt to the changing needs of service. It also enables seamless migration of application instances to different environments. Multiple containers need effective management utilities that manage the resources and enable running of containers on different environments, over multiple hosts. Orchestration tools manage applications of different complexities that are distributed for computing over cluster of machines. These tools abstract the cluster systems as a single entity for deployment of application and managing the resources. Orchestrations tools can handle configuration, scheduling and deploying of applications, along with maintenance and support for automatic failovers and scaling. Kubernetes acts primarily as a container orchestration tool whereas Mesos provides a platform to run orchestration frameworks like Marathon or Aurora to manage applications, which may or may not be containerized. Comparing the stand alone Kubernetes orchestration and Marathon with Mesos is effective in understanding the right choice for implementation. B. Proposed solution on Google Compute Engine: There are no synthetic benchmarks that exist to evaluate the performance of Kubernetes and Mesos. This paper aims at evaluating orchestration methods on Google Compute Engine (GCE) for hosted cluster installation and management. A single cluster in GCE for all purposes will have a master VM and four worker VMs. Setting a baseline comparison through a simple cloud application deployment . This is the first proposed benchmark which analyses user experience with minimal containers on Kubernetes cluster and Mesos . Having a Google Cloud Platform account and installing Google Cloud SDK is the first step for this. Cloud application is then deployed on the created cluster to compare their respective processes of deployment. Streaming Engine using Docker clusters on GCE to check the delivery speed , scheduling , and scalability of container orchestrations. This is also to test the feature of pods on Kubernetes where all containers in a pod have single networking point. Standalone analysis using existing tools to test performance and known limitations of both these systems. cAdvisor that collects data about running containers, Heapster which gives the basic resource utilization metrics on Kubernetes and marathon-lb tools on Mesos marathon. This paper aims to provide qualitative as well quantitative metrics to compare and contrast the working of Kubernetes and Mesos. The objective is to compile a substantive list of criteria analysing the performance of both the orchestration tools. The study intends to bring to light comparative results that hitherto do not exist in related literature and also to build upon the existing knowledge through the results of the experiments in this paper. Some of the comparative points are:Load balancing, Scalability, User experience . Kubernetes Mesos Distinctive features Offers a combination of pods which are controlled by replications controllers . IPC between pods systemv semaphores or posix shared memory . Do not support colocation of multiple containers on same mesos. Application distribution Supports master-worker nodes , where the applications are deployed on pods on worker nodes. Supports master-agent nodes , and applications are deployed on different agent nodes. Resource schedulers Has a policy driven scheduler (Kube-Scheduler) Has a 2 levels scheduling approach. Scalability Kubernetes 1.3 supports 2000 node clusters Mesos has been simulated to scale up to 50,000 nodes [9] Load Balancing Supports both internal and external load balancing.. Mesos DNS (rudimentary load balancer), Marathon-lb (haproxy based load balancer for Mesos marathon) Monitoring tools Heapster, cAdvisor and Google Cloud Monitoring .InfluxDB and Grafana as backend tools for visualization. Sysdig and Sysdig Cloud (full metrics and metadata support for Apache Mesos and Mesosphere Marathon framework) The implementation was done on Google cloud platform, using the Google Compute Engine (GCE). Under the scope of the account setup for implementation, following are the details of the resources available. For this implementation, two of the available 4 machines have been used. Resource Machine Names n1-standard-1 n1-standard-2 Virtual CPU 1 2 Memory (GB) 3.75 7.50 Max No of Persistent Disks (PD) 16 16 Max PD Size (TB) 64 64 A. Kubernetes ecosystem Kubernetes ecosystem is spread over two setups as shown below. Two Node Setup Four Node setup Master node VMs 1 1 CPU 1 1 Machine type N1-standard-1 N1-standard-1 Worker nodes VMs 1 3 CPU 2 each 2 each Machine type N1-standard-1 N1-standard-1 Table 3 Kubernetes ecosystem Production grade kubernetes is available open source and can be installed from its official page [10]. After the installation of kubernetes , start up script kube-up.sh can be used to spin up a cluster. A cluster consists of a single master instance and a set of worker nodes each of which is a Computer engine virtual machine.This process takes about ten minutes to bring up a cluster and once the cluster is running , IP addresses of all the nodes can be obtained from the computer engine. Cluster specifications can be specified using environment variables like NUM_NODES , MASTER_SIZE, NODE_SIZE or can also be specified in config_default.sh. kubectl is the command line interface for kubernetes clusters. It supports command types like create, apply, attach , config, get, describe, and delete and resource types like pods, deployment, and services. B. Mesos ecosystem Different approaches were used to implement a Mesos cluster system as per the available resources. The procedure followed for each implementation and the associated complexities are described briefly. The third implementation method, which was incorporated into this project, is described in detail. Single master Single Slave In the first method that was tried for setup, the system was formulated as a single node cluster consisting of zookeeper, marathon, a single master and a single agent processes. The images for these were pulled from the Docker hub, using Docker installed on the GCE shell. Four containers, one each for the process listed were started. The Mesos master UI was accessible through the browser on its designated IP address, at port 5050. Marathon UI was accessed through its external IP address at port 8080. This implementation posed two constraints for successful implementation. The set up used up all the available CPU and a multinode configuration could not be implemented. Further, a public Docker image poses trust issues for a system implementation. It was, therefore, decided to explore other options. Datacenter / Operating System (DC/OS) DCOS is a product of a company called Mesosphere which makes applications and solutions based on Apache Mesos. DCOS is designed as a distributed operating system with Apache Mesos serving as its kernel. The intent is to abstract the different functionalities of multiple machines so as to club them as a single computing resource. DCOS can offer container orchestration as it has Marathon scheduler built into its design at the backend. [11] Installation of DCOS on the Google Compute Engine requires the setting up of a primary bootstrap node on which the GCE scripts shall be run to create the cluster nodes. A yaml format installation file is to be run via Ansible playbook to create and configure the cluster nodes with DCOS running on them. Several environment variables have to be customized such as setting up RSA public/private key pairs that shall allow for a SSH based login into the cluster nodes. The team was unsuccessful in setting up a DCOS running cluster on GCE. The support community for DCOS is not very mature and the installation issues faced by the team could not be resolved. Exploring the services of DCOS has been included as one the future work possibilities in this paper as DCOS promises great potential in terms of effective container orchestration. Installing VMs on GCE In this method, Mesos ecosystem implementation is over 6 virtual machines, using four n1-standard-1 and two n1-standard-2 machine types. The system consists of 3 master nodes and 3 agents, with the Marathon and Zookeeper processes running on VMs 1, 2 and 3, as shown in the figure below. The VMs with two CPUs indicates n1-standard-2 machines. Fig 3 Mesos Implementation Diagram The following processes are run on each of these VMs to establish a self sufficient ecosystem. Marathon Marathon runs as a scheduling framework on Mesos and is deployed over VM1. Zookeeper Zookeeper is a process that manages which master process to run as active and which to keep as standby. Zookeeper processes are run on VM1, VM2 and VM3, to keep a backup zookeeper process running to facilitate automatic failover of a master process. Mesos Master Three mesos master processes are run, each in VM1, VM2 and VM3. The quorum associated with Zookeeper selects one of these three masters to be active and the rest to be standby. Mesos Agents Mesos Agents processes run on VM4, VM5 and VM6. Mesos agent on VM6 runs on an n1-standard-1 machine, as compared to agents on VMs 4 and 5. The Kubernetes and Mesos Cluster systems were set up as described in the implementation section. Each ecosystem was evaluated in different scenarios and the behaviour of the systems were analysed for each of the scenarios in terms of scalability, load balancing and failover capabilities. Kubernetes System: Creating and deploying the application on kubernetes is primarily carried out by the specifications on pod.yaml , deployment.yaml , and service.yaml files. pod.yaml deployment.yaml service.yaml Operations Group of containers tied together for networking Used to schedule the creation of pods and check their health. To expose the created deployment to the outside of clusters. arguments specified -docker image -shared volumes -CPU restrictions on single pod -LivenessProbe -ReadinessProbe -replicas : to ensure the minimum number of pods that needs to be running at all times. -loadbalancer -clusterIP Table 4 Kubernetes :application deployment components Kubernetes Scalability : Setup used for understanding scalability in kubernetes is described in the kubernetes ecosystem section. This process is aimed at gauging kubernetes scalability against the CPU resource utilization of clusters, auto scaling of pods , and API responsiveness. Web based WordPress application was chosen for this purpose. Scaling in kubernetes is achieved by horizontal auto scaling of pods .It dynamically adjusts the number of pods in deployment to meet the load/traffic. Horizontal Pod Autoscaler(HPA) can be created via the kubectl command kubectl autoscale deployment wordpress cpu-percent=14 min=1 -max=10 . This means that the horizontal autoscaler will increase and decrease the number of pods to maintain an average CPU utilization of 14% across all Pods. It also facilitates automatic failover of pods. Locust was used for creating load on WordPress application. Locust is an easy-to-use python based load testing tool which is used to find out how many concurrent users a system can handle . It swarms the web applications with a number of users which is specified by using the web UI. Once the application was hosted by kubernetes , load was initiated to its load balancer ingress IP using locust .The intention was to learn how the auto scalers react on the load as generated by locust. The results of the experiment can be better explained using the tabular format as below. The parameters like minimum and maximum number of pods , target CPU utilization were kept similar to both the setups. Number of requests in the table suggests the total number of users created by locust. Two node setup (Total 7 CPUs) Number of Pods 10 50 150 Target CPU 14 14 8 Max Number of requests 575 966 3158 Failure % 23% 23% 41% Table 5 Kubernetes: Scalability in two node system Four Node setup (Total 3 CPUs) Number of Pods 10 50 150 Target CPU 14 14 8 Max Number of requests 611 1433 7513 Failure % 24% 20% 2% Table 6 Kubernetes: Scalability in four node system Observations from the above tabulated results : The number of pods from 1-10 did not have any significant impact on the failure percentage . The significant difference in the results were spotted as the number of pods were increased. As number of requests increased , the increase in the number of pods was witnessed. And with the load going down pods were downsized automatically. Fig 4 Kubernetes pods in running and terminating states The failure percentage was drastically reduced between the two setups with high load and higher number of pods . The failure percentage is almost similar between the two setups with less load. Setup was benchmarked at 150 for maximum number of pods. It was observed that going beyond this value left many pods in pending state for longer than seven minutes. Starting a pod takes lesser than four seconds in other cases . More number of pods will be created when the target CPU percentage specified in the horizontal auto scaler command is less. CPU resource utilization of four node cluster is as shown below .This shows that the newly created pods were allocated equally across the worker nodes.The below graph is as seen from stackdriver utility. Fig 5 CPU usage of a Kubernetes cluster Fig 6 Load distribution over the worker nodes. Mesos System: Application scalability, in terms of Mesos using Marathon is represented as number of instances that are created and successfully run on the active agent nodes. Marathon provides an option to simulate application instances to be distributed over the agent nodes through the Scale option in the User Interface Dashboard. Applications are specified as JSON files, either through the Create Application option of the Marathon UI or through a JSON file in Git which is imported, built and deployed over Marathon for distribution and scheduling, through the use of continuous integration tool called Jenkins. Deploying an application: Mesos using Marathon forms an orchestration tool for managing application instances on the different active agent nodes. These nodes are managed by a master instance, which is effectively managed by the Zookeeper processes. Distribution of application instances on agent nodes depends on the resources allocated to each of the agents. For this implementation, we consider an application that is not CPU intensive. This application abstracts any data intensive application, that is based on a request response model. Following table summarizes the different scenarios simulated to test scalability of the application, each with the different configurations employed. Cluster configuration represents number of active agent nodes, as number of masters remain at 3. Sl No Cluster Configuration Effective CPUs available CPU Usage per instance (%) Memory usage per application instance (MB) Maximum instances scaled for the CPU available 1 2 Agents 4 10 32 40 2 3 Agents 5 10 32 50 3 2 Agents 4 2 10 200 4 3 Agents 5 2 10 250 Table 7: Scalability analysis with a Data Intensive application The tabulated results indicate the effective operation of Mesos cluster with Marathon scheduling framework, which suggest the easy scalable property of a Mesos cluster system. When there are more number of instances of application that need servicing, a mesos cluster starts new agent process and effectively distributes the application load over the running agents. Load Balancing Increase in number of application instances require more number of agent nodes running to service all the requests. However, the request handling is not efficient, if all of the requests are directed to a single agent. The workload is distributed effectively among all the agent nodes. For the scaling test scenarios described in the previous section, CPU usage was monitored using Google Stack Driver utility. The graph below shows CPU usage at different timelines. The rapid rise or fall of the usage attributes to the increasing/decreasing number of application instances that need servicing. Fig 7 CPU usage of a Mesos cluster with changes in application instances The distribution of workload on all the processes is tabulated, using the Stack Driver utility, as illustrated by the figure below. Fig 8 Load distribution over the six processes There is a significant workload over master node 3, as the marathon process utilizes the core of VM3, even though the process is run on VM1. Master nodes have least CPU usage, owing to the fact that the only operation performed by the nodes is distribution of application tasks over the agents. The agents are represented as three processes named mesos-slave-1, mesos-slave-2 and mesos-slave-3. The workload distributed on these appear even. However, the agent-3 runs only on a single core and it uses 22.9% of the total allocated core. This summarizes the effective load balancing that a Mesos system incorporates. Failover Mesos Cluster system runs additional master processes as standby to facilitate automatic failover of the system. In this experiment, as an initial condition, the quorum of Zookeepers elected Mesos-master-2 to be primary and Mesos-Master-1 and Mesos-Master-3 as secondary. Application deployment was initiated as per the previous procedure, using a JSON file through Marathon. The active tasks on Mesos-master-2 were checked at port 5050 of the master-2 external IP address to check the delegation of tasks to the active agent nodes. To test failover, the mesos-master-2 process was killed. It was observed that the presence of Zookeeper effectively switched the application deployments over the agents through mesos-master-1. The delegation of tasks to slave was now observed through the browser on the external IP address of mesos-master-1 at port 5050. With this project, the implementation and experimentation enabled a better understanding of the concepts related to orchestration, containerization, scalability and load balancing properties of a cluster based environment. This will ease the initial understanding of deployment and management of cloud native applications, and to better setup and environment that houses them. With the help of this documentation, along with the link provided through github, it would be easier to setup an orchestration environment, as the team has tried to collate the steps involved in implementing a cluster with orchestration tools. Through research and experimentation, the team was able to put together enough literature to understand, compare, contrast and conclude on various aspects of orchestration systems and understand the major difference between Kubernetes and Mesos based systems. Lack of resources for implementation of Mesos based systems, and equivocal distinction among the several example implementation required for a better compilation of materials, which was achieved through this project work. In a survey conducted by P Heidari et al [7] on some of the well known orchestration tools with a primary focus on QoS capabilities, the authors have concluded that not all of the solution tools provide a guaranteed healthy running replicas to effectively maintain the quality of service. They have cited that tools like Marathon and Fleet tend to go into a state of unprecedented wait due to the need for appropriate resources. There is a need of an elasticity e

Courage Mother and her Children critique Essay

â€Å"Mother Courage and Her Children† by Bertolt Brecht took place during the 30 Years’ War in Europe. The whole play revolved around the survival of a lower class family, trying to live through the harsh war with their canteen wagon business. Each scene in the play contained the factors of religious, honesty, war, loyalty, and family. The theme of â€Å"Mother Courage and Her Children† was maternity, due to the fact that Mother Courage’s sense of coldhearted business caused her become unable to protect her children, which led to their deaths, leaving her all alone in the end. Mother Courage was always doing business while each of her children died during the play. This shows that she was more interested in her business and money than her own children, and an example of this can be seen when her thirst for money had caused Swiss to die because she took too long to decide whether or not to trade her money in for her son’s life. Mother Courage was the protagonist in the play, while the war was the antagonist. The war caused Mother Courage to base her living on it. Due to the fact that they were living during a war, this caused Mother Courage to be so focused on making money, that she ended up neglecting her children. It also caused her to be unable to watch her daughter get married, since Kattrin could only get married when peace returned and the war ended. War is also the antagonist, due to the fact that is also caused Mother Courage to lose her sons as well. The play was a tragedy because in it, Mother Courage’s children all perished, and she was left all alone in the end. In the play, Bretch assigned each of Mother Courage’s children with a â€Å"tragic flaw† as a result of her failure to learn to choose family over business. The tragedies that Mother Courage’s children suffered throughout the play were Swiss, with honesty, Eilif, with arrogance, and Kattrin, with pity. Mother Courage had to go through suffering of the death of each of her children one by one and was unable to do anything about it. The set of the play was a major contribution to the play. The use of a proscenium stage was the best fit for this type of play since it allowed the audiences to focus on the center of the stage where Mother Courage’s wagon was. Mother Courage’s family always moved around. However, their wagon was still placed at nearly the same spot on the stage, which tells the audience that they were not moving anywhere because no matter where they moved to, they still faced the same struggles and hardships. Even though the setting mostly remained the same from scene to  scene, backgrounds changed from one scene to another, which allowed the audience to know that the scene was taking place in a different location. There was almost always the same lighting throughout the whole play. The only thing that changed about the lights was the brightness; the lights were brighter during the day and dimmer at night. There were some spotlights. However, it only appeared upon the actors who came before each scene, in order to tell the audience what will happen in the upcoming scene. The lighting of â€Å"Mother Courage Mother and Her Children,† was different from the other play that I went to. Usually lights would go off when changing from one scene to another, so that characters were able to get on and off stage, in order to prepare the set for the scene. However, in this play, the lights were still on during scene transitions. Bretch made pulling the wagon in and out of the stage as an exit and enter for each scene, which didn’t require the actors to quickly change settings for different scenes. The background sound of gunshots and bombs that were playing throughout the play allowed the audience to feel as if the war was actually taking place during the play. The gunshots sounded very loud, making the audience feel as if it was nearby. Without the sounds, the audience would not have been able to feel the mood of the war. Sounds of gunshots added more effects to the mood of war, giving the audience an the image of how deadly the war was. The play was a musical play, since there were many parts where Mother Courage and some singers in the background sang and played instruments. The entrance to the play was also a song that expressed the mood and feeling of the war. Mother courage sang in almost every scene, to express her feelings. She also sang in the last part of the play when Kattrin died. The costumes of the play reflected the life of the characters in the play. The costumes did not really tell the time period in which the play took place because the characters were just wearing normal types of rural clothes that had many layers, and were attached with many pieces of fabric. The characters in the play had the same outfit throughout the whole play, and this outfit not only showed their poverty, but also the condition of life during the war, due to the fact that they were unable to have clothes to change into. The many layers of clothes worn were everything that the characters owned, and this showed their struggles, due to the fact that they are unable to buy any new clothes. Overall, the play was easy to understand because it was in modern  English and there were no accent in the characters’ pronunciation, which allowed the audience to understand what the characters were saying. Mother Courage struggled throughout her life with her business and children, but ended up with nothing due to the war, in which she was favoring. The war had brought Mother Courage the business she needed, but took away her children one by one.

Blood Promise Chapter Twenty-Four

Avery was a spirit user. â€Å"Oh shit.† I sat back down on the bed, my mind reeling. I'd never seen it coming. Hell, no one had. Avery had made a good show of being an air user. Each Moroi had a very low level of control in each element. She'd just barely done enough with air to make it seem like that was her specialization. No one had questioned her further because honestly, who would have ever expected another spirit user around? And since she was out of school, she had no reason to be tested anymore or forced to demonstrate her ability. No one was there to call her on it. The more I thought about it, the more the little signs were there. The charming personality, the way she could talk people into anything. How many of her interactions were spirit controlled? And was it possible†¦ was it possible that Adrian's attraction had been compulsion on her part? I had no reason to feel happy about that, but†¦ well, I did. More to the point, what did Avery want with Lissa? Avery compelling Adrian into liking her wasn't too out there. He was good-looking and came from an important family. He was the queen's great-nephew, and although family members of the current monarch could never inherit the throne immediately afterward, he'd have a good future, one that would always keep him in the highest circles of society. But Lissa? What was Avery's game there? What did she have to gain? Lissa's behavior all made sense now-the uncharacteristic partying, weird moods, jealousy, fights with Christian†¦ Avery was pushing Lissa over the edge, causing her to make horrible choices. Avery was using some sort of compulsion to spin Lissa out of control, alienating her and putting her life in danger. Why? What did Avery want? It didn't matter. The why wasn't important. The how was, as in how I was going to get out of here and back to my best friend. I looked down at myself, at the delicate silk dress I wore. Suddenly, I hated it. It was a sign of how I'd been, weak and useless. I hastily took it off and ransacked my closet. They'd taken away my jeans and T-shirt, but I'd at least been allowed to keep my hoodie. I put on the green sweater dress, seeing as it was the sturdiest thing I had, feeling moderately more capable. I slipped the hoodie on over it. It hardly made me feel like a badass warrior, but I did feel more competent. Sufficiently dressed for action, I returned to the living room and started that pacing that tended to help me think better-not that I had any reason to believe I was going to come up with new ideas. I'd been trying to for days and days with no luck. Nothing was going to change. â€Å"Damn it!† I yelled, feeling better with the outburst. Angry, I flounced into the desk chair, amazed that I hadn't simply thrown it against the wall in my frustration. The chair wobbled, ever so slightly. Frowning, I stood up and looked at it. Everything else in this place was state-of-the-art. Odd that I'd have a faulty chair. I knelt down and examined it more closely. There, on one of the legs, was a crack near where the leg joined with the seat. I stared. All of the furniture here was industrial strength, with no obvious joints. I should know, seeing how long I'd beat this chair against the wall when I first arrived. I hadn't even dented it. Where had this crack come from? Slamming it over and over had done nothing. But I hadn't been the only one to hit it. That very first day, I'd fought with Dimitri and come after him with the chair. He'd taken it from me and thrown it against the wall. I'd never paid attention to it again, having given up on breaking it. When I'd later tried cracking the window, I'd used an end table because it was heavier. My strength hadn't been able to damage the chair-but his had. I picked up the chair and immediately slammed it into that diamond-hard window, half-hoping I might kill two birds with one stone. Nope. Both remained intact. So I did it again. And again. I lost track of how many times I slammed that chair into the glass. My hands hurt, and I knew despite my recovery, I still wasn't at full strength. It was infuriating. Finally, on what felt like my gazillionth try, I looked at the chair and saw the crack had grown bigger. The progress renewed my will and strength. I hit and hit, ignoring the pain as the wood bit into my hands. At long last, I heard a crack, and the leg broke off. I picked it up and stared in amazement. The break hadn't been clean. It was splintered and sharp. Sharp enough to be a stake? I wasn't sure. But I knew for a fact that wood was hard, and if I used enough force, I might be able to hit a Strigoi's heart. It wouldn't kill one, but the blow would stun. I didn't know if it'd be enough to get me out of here, but it was all I had now. And it was a hell of a lot more than I'd had one hour ago. I sat back on the bed, recovering from my battle with the chair and tossing the makeshift stake back and forth. Okay. I had a weapon now. But what could I do with it? Dimitri's face flashed in my mind's eye. Damn it. There was no question about it. He was the obvious target, the one I'd have to deal with first. The door suddenly clicked open, and I looked up with alarm. Quickly, I shoved the chair into a dark corner as panic raced through me. No, no. I wasn't ready. I hadn't fully convinced myself to stake him. It was Inna. She carried a tray but didn't wear her usual subservient expression. The brief look she gave me was filled with hate. I didn't know what she had to be pissed off about. It wasn't like I'd caused her any damage. Yet. I strode over like I was going to examine the tray. Lifting the lid, I saw a ham sandwich and french fries. It looked good-I hadn't eaten in a while -but the adrenaline running through me had shoved any appetite I might have to the background. I glanced back up at her, smiling sweetly. She shot me daggers. Don't hesitate, Dimitri had always said. I didn't. I jumped at Inna, throwing her so hard against the floor that her head slammed back. She looked dazed, but quickly recovered and tried to fight back. I wasn't drugged up this time-well, not much-and my years of training and natural strength finally showed themselves again. I pressed my body against her, keeping her firmly in place. Then, I produced the stake I'd had concealed and pressed those sharp points against her neck. It was like being back in the days of pinning Strigoi in alleys. She couldn't see that my weapon was a chair leg, but the sharp points got her attention as I dug them into her throat. â€Å"The code,† I said. â€Å"What is the code?† Her only response was a string of obscenities in Russian. Okay, not a surprise, considering she probably didn't understand me. I flipped through the meager Russian-English dictionary in my head. I'd been in the country long enough to pick up some vocabulary. Admittedly, it was equivalent to a two-year-old's, but even they could communicate. â€Å"Numbers,† I said in Russian. â€Å"Door.† At least, that's what I hoped I said. She said more impolite things to me, her expression defiant. It really was the Strigoi interrogation all over. My stake bit harder, drawing blood, and I forcibly restrained myself. I might question whether I had the strength to pierce a Strigoi heart with this, but severing a human's vein? Cake. She faltered a little, apparently realizing the same thing. Again, I attempted my broken Russian. â€Å"Kill you. No Nathan. Never†¦Ã¢â‚¬  What was the word? The church service came back to me, and I hoped I had it right. â€Å"Never eternal life.† It got her attention. Nathan and eternal life. The things most important to her. She bit her lip, still angry, but her tirade had stopped. â€Å"Numbers. Door,† I repeated. I pushed the stake in harder, and she cried out in pain. At last she spoke, rattling off a series of digits. Russian numbers were something I had memorized pretty solidly, at least. They were essential for addresses and phone numbers. She cited seven numbers. â€Å"Again,† I said. I made her say it three times and hoped I had it. But there was more. I was pretty sure the outer door had a different code. â€Å"Numbers. Door. Two.† I felt like a caveman. Inna stared, not quite getting it. â€Å"Door. Two.† Understanding glinted in her eyes, and she looked mad. I think she'd hoped I wouldn't realize the other door had its own code. More cutting with the stake made her scream seven more numbers. Again, I made her repeat them, realizing I had no way to know if she was telling me the truth at least until I tried the numbers. For that reason, I decided to keep her around. I felt guilty about what I did next, but these were desperate times. In guardian training, I'd been taught both to kill and to incapacitate. I did the latter this time, slamming her head back against the floor and rendering her unconscious. Her expression went slack, her eyelids drooping. Damn. I was reduced to hurting teenage humans. Standing up, I moved to the door and punched in the first set of numbers, hoping I had them right. To my complete and utter astonishment, I did. The electronic lock clicked, but before I could open the door, I just barely made out another click. Someone had unlocked the outer door. â€Å"Shit,† I muttered. I pulled away from the door immediately, picked up Inna's unconscious body, and hurried to the bathroom. I set her in the tub as gently as possible and had just shut the bathroom door when I heard the main door open. I felt the telltale nausea that signaled a Strigoi was nearby. I knew one of the Strigoi could smell a human, and I hoped shutting her away would be enough to mute Inna's scent. I emerged from the hall and found Dimitri in the living room. I grinned at him and ran into his arms. â€Å"You're back,† I said happily. He held me briefly and then stepped back. â€Å"Yes.† He seemed slightly pleased at the greeting, but soon his face was all business. â€Å"Have you made your decision?† No hello. No how are you feeling? My heart sank. This wasn't Dimitri. â€Å"I have more questions.† I went over to the bed and lay down in a casual way, just like we always did. He followed a few moments later and sat on the edge, looking down at me. â€Å"How long will it take?† I asked. â€Å"When you awaken me? Is it instantaneous?† Once more, I launched into an interrogation session. Honestly, I was running out of questions, and at this point, I didn't really want to know the intricacies of becoming Strigoi. I was becoming more and more agitated with each passing moment. I had to act. I had to make use of my fleeting opportunity here. And yet†¦ before I could act, I had to reassure myself that this really wasn't Dimitri. It was stupid. I should know by now. I could see the physical changes. I'd seen his coldness, the brutality. I'd seen him come fresh from a kill. This wasn't the man I'd loved. And yet†¦ for that one fleeting moment earlier†¦ With a sigh, Dimitri stretched out beside me. â€Å"Rose,† he interrupted, â€Å"if I didn't know better, I'd say you were stalling for time.† Yeah, even as a Strigoi, Dimitri knew how I thought and schemed. I realized if I was going to be convincing, I had to stop playing dumb and remember to be Rose Hathaway. I put on a look of outrage. â€Å"Of course I am! This is a big deal. I came here to kill you, and now you're asking me to join you. You think this is easy for me to do?† â€Å"Do you think it's been easy for me to wait this long?† he asked. â€Å"The only ones who get choices are Moroi who willingly kill, like the Ozeras. No one else gets a choice. I didn't get a choice.† â€Å"And don't you regret that?† â€Å"No, not now. Now that I'm who I was meant to be.† He frowned. â€Å"The only thing hurt is my pride-that Nathan forced me and that he acts as though I'm indebted to him. Which is why I'm being kind enough to give you the choice now, for the sake of your pride.† Kind, huh? I looked at him and felt my heart breaking all over again. It was like hearing the news of his death once more. I suddenly grew afraid I might cry. No. No tears. Dimitri always talked about prey and predators. I had to be the predator. â€Å"You're sweating,† he said suddenly. â€Å"Why?† Damn, damn, damn. Of course I was sweating. I was contemplating staking the man I loved-or thought I'd loved. And along with sweat, I was sure I was giving off pheromones of my agitation. Strigoi could smell all of those things, too. â€Å"Because I'm scared,† I whispered. I propped myself up and stroked the edge of his face, trying to memorize all of his features. The eyes. The hair. The shape of his cheekbones. In my imagination, I overlaid the things I remembered. Dark eyes. Tanned skin. Sweet smile. â€Å"I†¦ I think I'm ready, but it's†¦ I don't know. It's such a big thing.† â€Å"It'll be the best decision of your life, Roza.† My breathing was growing rapid, and I prayed he'd think it was because of my fear of being turned. â€Å"Tell me again. One more time. Why do you want to awaken me so badly?† A slightly weary look crossed his face. â€Å"Because I want you. I've always wanted you.† And that's when I knew. I finally realized the problem. He'd given that same answer over and over, and each time, something about it had bothered me. I'd never been able to pinpoint it, though. Now I could. He wanted me. Wanted me in the way people wanted possessions or collectibles. The Dimitri I'd known†¦ the one I'd fallen for and slept with†¦ that Dimitri would have said he wanted us to be together because he loved me. There was no love here. I smiled at him. Leaning down, I kissed him gently. He probably thought I was doing it for the reasons I always did, out of attraction and desire. In truth, it was a goodbye kiss. His mouth answered mine, his lips warm and eager. I held out the kiss a little longer, both to fight back the tears leaking out of my eyes and to lull him into an unsuspecting state. My hand closed around the chair leg, which I'd hidden in my hoodie pocket. I would never forget Dimitri, not for the rest of my life. And this time, I wouldn't forget his lessons. With a speed he wasn't ready for, I struck out and plunged the stake through his chest. My strength was there-sliding the stake past the ribs and straight into his heart. And as I did it, it was like piercing my own heart at the same time.

President George W. Bush is preparing for war with Iraq. essays

President George W. Bush is preparing for war with Iraq. essays President George W. Bush is preparing for war with Iraq. Before he goes to war he has to address the issue with Congress and with NATO. My opinion is that we should go to war with Iraq and Saddam Hussein. He has been in power for a while and continues to pose a threat to the world. Saddam Hussein is a threat to the world. As leader of Iraq, he poses a threat with neighboring countries as well as the rest of the world. Hussein is believed to be crazy enough to do anything to get what he wants. He has used chemical weapons before in war and there is nothing to stop him from doing it again. He used them in the war with Iran. He also has an oil embargo on the U.S. and his country contains most of the oil in the world. Hussein is also jeopardizing national security in the U.S. and in other countries as well. The events of "September 11 could have just as easily happened in London or Paris" says Prime Minister of Great Britian Tony Blair. He is absolutely correct. Investigations have shown that Hussein has supplied the al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan. He is threatening other countries when he threatens the U.S. and those other countries are in danger of him too. There is evidence that Saddam Hussein is building nuclear weapons. If he succeeds then it is likely that he will use them. With possession of nuclear weapons, Hussein could start a nuclear war and with all of the deadly weapons in the world today, this war could end the existence of earth. There is nothing to stop him from using weapons of mass destruction in war. There is also a nuclear arms treaty that he violating. He has been keeping inspectors out of his country since 1998. Why would he keep them out if he has nothing to hide? He is building nukes and he doesn't want anybody to take them away, that's why. Hussein is crazy enough to start a nuclear war. Hussein should be kicked out of power. He is a threat to...

Essay about Insanity

Essay about Insanity Essay about Insanity The literally works by Sylvia (The Bell Jar) and by Ken Kesey (One flew over the cuckoo’s nest) made significant impact on the field of literature. The work that was done in the 1960s marked a major milestone in development and advancement of literally work. The two books were able to advance the theme of insanity and are still relevant event to date. The main characters in the books make the reader of the books to understand the true meaning of insanity in a society. Insanity which sometimes may also be referred to as craziness is behavioral spectrum that is characterized by some specific abnormal mental or behavioral tendencies. The two books have been able to advance the theme through the conduct of the main characters in the books. The fundamental meaning of the literally work by the two authors The literally work by Sylvia (The Bell Jar) is more than just a confessional novel. It depicts a comic but painful sentiment of what happens to a lady’s aspirations in a society that does not take them seriously. The setting of the book represent a society expects electroshock to remedy the despair of a sensitive, inquisitive young artist whose search for self identity degenerate to terrifying descent nearing to madness (Bloom, Harold 33). It’s a piece of work that highlights the life of a young who is vulnerable wins a dream assignment on a big-time New York magazine and finds that she is plunged into a nightmare. Sylvia’s work is basically a fine novel as bitter and remorseless as her previous poem. Its most significant quality is an astonishing closeness, like a series of snapshots taken at high mid-day. The work can also be described as special poignancy that is a special force and shows the vulnerability of persons of hope and goodwill. The other book by Ken Kesey (One flew over the cuckoo’s nest) is also an interesting piece of literally work. His work is arguably one of the most fantastic novels of an individual pitted against the depersonalization of an industrial society (Bloom, Harold 63). His work has been able to demonstrate the challenges that are faced by people in modern civilization. The author is able to convey some of his ideas through some rich imagery, for instance the line the inclusion of the sentence that indicates the truth, even if it never happened, sets the reader of book up from the initial stages for an interesting story where the reader perceives the situation more accurately as it reflects the truth more than the outward appearance of things. The reader would be interested to find out what the truth was and what happened instead. That notwithstanding, the story can however be a bit confusing at some points since the narrator is a paranoid schizophrenic and this poses some challenges as it is hard to differentiate between reality and hallucinations of the narrator. The book is a unique literal work as it is told from the point of view of a paranoid schizophrenic and resonates very well in analysis of the theme of insanity. Literary devices used by the authors in the two books The two books have employed distinct literary devices. Sylvia’s books have some quite interesting characters. Esther Greenwood is the protagonist in the story who became mentally unstable. She became tormented after the death of her father coupled with the feelings that she does not fit into culturally acceptable task of womanhood and subsequently attempt to commit suicide (Bryfonski, Dedria 45). Doreen is the other conspicuous character in the story and she portrays a rebellious young lady. Esther the main protagonist finds Doreen’s confident personality very enticing albeit troublesome. The theme of insanity in the story is demonstrated more in by the character named Joan who apparently is an old friend of Esther. She joined Esther in the asylum but eventually commit suicide. There are two doctors that Esther encounters while at the asylum. Doctor Nolan is a beautiful and caring lady. Because of her societally-praised femininity and her professional capability facilit ated her to perform a therapy on Esther that yielded positive results. Doctor Gordon is the very first doctor Esther encounter in the asylum. The story depicts him as self-obsessed and somehow patronizing. His treatment services to her are complete contrast of the one offered by Doctor Nolan since he administered shock treatment that finally leave her haunted. Ken Kesey in his book One flew over the cuckoo’s nest also has some interesting characters. One of the main characters is Chief Bromden who is the narrator who has been with the mental hospital since the conclusion of World War II. This character pretend to be deaf and mute and it is through this guise that he has been able to become privy to some to the dirtiest secrets in the ward. A series of events that included humiliation of his father by the US government as well as his white wife led him to descend to schizophrenia (Bloom, Harold 73). He believes that, a large mechanized system control the society. He calls this system – the combined. It shows how member of society suffering from insanity perceive the world and the predicament they go through. Randle McMurphy is a rebellious convict who is sent from normal prison. He has been found guilty of battery as well as gambling. Although he has never been of statutory rape, he has been charged often. The highlight of th is character is that, he is transferred from prison work farm to the hospital and although he thought is was an easy way of serving his term, he end up turning violent with the nurse thereby costing him his freedom, health and also his life. Nurse Ratched represents the face of staffs of the hospital. She is the tyrannical head nurse of the institution and her exercise total control over those under her care. One of the most significant aspects that represent how male in society is demonstrated when McMrphy failed to lift a heavy shower room control that he had claimed he can lift and due to embarrassment remarked that, at least he tried. This shows how men get incentive to stand up for themselves in certain situations. The imageries used by Sylvia in the book at the initial stages set raises the interest of the reader. The sentiments use of words such as queer, sultry summer creates a mental picture that arouses the reader’s interest to study the book (Bloom, Harold 33). Analysis on Comparison of the two books and how they contrast each other The two books have advanced the theme of insanity very well. The characters in the two books have advanced the theme. The setting of under which the books are established is in a hospital which help the reader to fathom the theme of the stories. The books however differ in some aspect of the characters. Ken Kesey story uses a pretentious character that pretends to be damp and as he interacts with other people in the hospital, he becomes privy to some of the secrets in the ward. Sylvia’s story does not adopt this style. Sylvia’s story advances the theme from a woman’ perspective while Ken’s story advances the theme from a man’s point of view. If you need a professional essay writer to get your essay paper written from scratch, just contact our professional custom writing company .

Why Was the Nile River Important for the Rise of Successful States in Essay

Why Was the Nile River Important for the Rise of Successful States in North Africa - Essay Example Most of the history of Nile River has a connection to Egyptian civilization. Were it, not for river Nile, there would not be the rise of successful states in North Africa and particularly Egypt. The river originates1 from the Blue Nile and White Nile tributaries originating from Ethiopian highlands and Lake Victoria respectively. The river flows in the northern direction for about 2000 kilometers through the Sahara. Nile River is 10 kilometers wide and supports thousands of people in strips of arable land. The river Nile valley can be regarded as a narrow and long oasis where human beings live, thanks to the river. It is the longest river so far in the world. There are several ways through which Nile River was crucial for the rise of successful states in North Africa. This paper will discuss the importance of river Nile in the rise of successful states in Northern Africa. First, due to River Nile, the people living on both banks of the river can be able to produce abundant harvests. There was a myth of the miracle in river Nile. The annual flooding of the river was much beneficial to farmers along the river. Annual flooding was advantageous to the farmers around the river as there was silt deposit after the flooding. When the river flooded, it left nutrients to the farms which were essential for growing healthy crops. The river was rising in the summer from the rains in Ethiopian highlands and central Africa between September and October. The flooding was recurrent, and farmers could predict the seasons of agriculture (Erik & Reynolds,  2012). The deposits of silt left by the river enriched the soil. This land was referred to as the fertile land. The flooding of the river could not be seen as life threatening but life enhancing. Unlike the flooding of Mesopotamia Rivers, Nile’s flooding could be predicted and used to be gradual. Although an organized irrigation system was still necessary, the villages along the Nile River made an effort without state i nterventions. Abundant supply of the food was one of the factors that led to civilization. The civilization in Egypt was rural with a majority of small population centers located along the narrow band of river Nile. The river splits 2into two branches before emptying into Mediterranean Sea. River Nile forms a delta which is a triangular shaped territory, commonly referred to as the Lower Egypt. The river created a large area; several miles wide at the banks. The created area was capable of producing plenty of harvests. The most famous cities in Egypt developed at the delta of river Nile. Up to date, a large population of people in Egypt is crowded at the banks of river Nile. The surplus food, grown along river Nile, led to prosperity of cities. Trade was established between cities, and leading trade items included agricultural products, fish, goats, sheep and cattle (Keim, 2009). The flooding enabled the Egyptians to grow wheat, beans, barley, lentils, leeks, peas, and onions. They were also able to grow fruits such as figs, dates, grapes and melons. This is an indication that the Egyptians were able to enjoy bread, wine and beer in abundance. The presence of fish in river Nile improved the food security along the river. The other reason as to why Nile River was vital for the rise of successful states in North Africa is that it served as a unifying factor. It was used as a means of transport along the cities near the river. In the ancient times, using river Nile was one of the fastest ways of travelling through the land. The river helped to make transport and communication along the states developed in North Africa. The winds originating from the north helped to push the sail boats south. Most travelers headed downstream. When people were travelling downstream, they used paddles or long poles

Prevalence of Asthma and its associated factors in two different areas Essay

Prevalence of Asthma and its associated factors in two different areas of Saudi Arabia - Essay Example The narrowing or obstruction of the airways is caused by airway inflammation and broncho-constriction. Its prevalence has been reported to be increasing everywhere in the world. Asthma is a considerable burden, not only in terms of health care costs but also of decreased productivity and diminished participation in family life. While for children who were asthmatic, the condition attributed significantly in causing absenteeism of these children as compared to those who were not asthmatic; asthmatic children showed higher mean period of school absenteeism (1) During the past two decades, we have witnessed many scientific advances that have improved our understanding of asthma and our ability to manage it effectively. Still, the variation of national health care systems and of asthma therapies necessitates that recommendations for asthma care should be adapted to local conditions throughout the global community. Saudi Arabia has been one of the nations that had seen an increase in the prevalence of asthma. The country is located in the Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, north of Yemen; the terrain is mostly uninhabited sandy desert. Generally the climate is harsh with a dry desert and with great temperature extremes. Saudi Arabia's 2005 population is estimated to be about 26.5 million; including about 5.5 million resident foreigners. Until the 1960s, most of the population was nomadic or semi nomadic; due to rapid economic and urban growth, more than 95% of the population now is settled. Some cities and oases have densities of more than 1,000 people per square kilometer (2,600/mile) (2). The estimated birth and death rates for 2005 were .29.56-births/1,000 population 2.62 deaths/1,000 population. The age structure of the population for the same year for age group 0-14 years: 38.2% (male 5,149,960/female 4,952,138), 15-64 years: 59.4% (male 8,992,348/female 6,698,633), and 65 years and over: 2.4% (male 334,694/female 289,826) (3). Asthma has been rising in prevalence for the past two to three decades in the country and even in different parts of the globe. A survey conducted for the number of asthma cases among children between the ages of 8 and 16 for a 9-year period revealed that there was a significant increase in the prevalence of bronchial asthma from 8% in 1986 to 23% in 1995 (4). Moreover, another study comparing the symptoms of asthma in urban and rural Saudi Arabia in 1998 showed that a greater number of allergic symptoms were found in urban than in rural children and in Saudi than non-Saudi Arab children (5). Likewise, a survey of the socioclinical profile of children with asthma in Al-Majmaah province showed that male children represented 69% of the sample and children under one year of age manifested significantly severe degree of asthma (6). In the United Kingdom, a number of studies have shown a rising incidence of asthma up to 32.2% (7). Similarly, in the United States of America the prevalence of self-reported asthma has increased by 42% (8). Literature Review Factors associated with asthma are countless. They have been categorized in many groups based on some common characteristics. In the following paragraphs the matter is discussed under specific topics as it is concerned with asthma. Genetic Factors Role of genetics in this regard has been universal and it attributes to a