Business Markets and the Economy Essay

P6 describe how business markets are regulated in the UK (Case Study) M3 explain why the government needs to regulate business markets P7 explain how EU requirements influence business markets in the UK D2 evaluate the effectiveness of the regulatory regime in a selected market The main purpose of this assignment is to: describe how business markets are regulated in the UK and explain how EU requirements influence business markets in the UK. Scenario: Case study given Task 1 (ALL): Students need to consider how governments intervene in markets to regulate them (can be linked to P4). Intervention can be through taxes and subsidies which are designed to distort the market to achieve specific objectives. The work of the Competition Commission, and the offices of the regulators for the privatised but previously state-owned monopolies, should be examined to see the purpose and effect of government intervention. Topics that can be used in a case study example (do not all need to be covered as covered in P4): market failure; justification for intervention; market regulation; deregulation; unfair competition; competition policy;Â  Competition Commission; privatisation; private finance initiative; government policies; subsidies; taxation This provides evidence for P6 Task 2 (MOST): Students should build on the work for P4 and P6 and explain why governments intervene in markets and what the consequences of market interventions are. There are plenty of examples, reported on regularly where the regulators consider the consequences of industry activity on producers and consumers. For example, rail fares are increased annually and the proposals generate debate about balancing the interests of the train operating companies and passengers. (not to be attempted until completion of P6) This provides evidence for M3 Task 3 (ALL): Students should report on how EU policies and activities impact on UK business markets. One useful area to consider is in relation to aviation policy and how the EU has tried to put national flag carriers into a competitive framework which confronts national governments’ protectionist practices and gives consumers a better deal. Topics that must be covered: European Union; the single market (free trade, harmonisation, capital, labour, technical standards, simplified trading); monetary union; social chapter This provides evidence for P7 Task 4 (SOME): Students should evaluate the effectiveness of the regulatory regime in a selected market. If the banking industry is considered then the role of the Financial Services Authority in the period before the recapitalisation of the banks will provide some contrasting views as to its effectiveness. This provides evidence for D2 Sources of information: Textbooks Gillespie A – Business in Action (Hodder Arnold, 2002) ISBN 0340848200 Mankiw N and Taylor M – Economics (Thomson Learning, 2006) ISBN 1844801330 Marcouse I et al – Business Studies (Hodder Arnold, 2003) ISBN 0340811102 Sawyer M – The UK Economy, 16th Revised Edition (OUP Oxford, 2004) ISBN 0199266514 Sloman J and Sutcliffe M – Economics for Business (Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2004) ISBN 0273683357 Journal The Economist Newspapers Business sections of broadsheet newspapers The Financial Times Websites news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/default.stm The BBC website’s business section. www.bized.co.uk Bized provides a selection of teaching resources. www.direct.gov.uk/en/index.htm This is the UK government’s own site and there are links to a range of relevant data sources. www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/facts/index27.aspx?ComponentId=7102&SourcePageId=7079 The ESRC has current UK data. europa.eu Website of the European Union www.ofgem.gov.uk/Pages/OfgemHome.aspx Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets – the regulatory authority. Each regulator has a similar site. www.statistics.gov.uk The UK Statistics Authority. www.ukpublicspending.co.uk The site has data on public spending both current and historic.

Case Study Part 1 Pinnacle Essay

Cash Ratio: cash and marketable securities/ current liabilities: 6,714,156/25,926,158 =0.03 (2009) 6,369,431/17,605,301 = 0.36 (2008) 7,014,387/16,340,517 = 0.43 (2007) Current Ratio: cash +marketable securities+ net account receivables/ current liabilities: 6,714,156+9,601,883/25,926,158 = 0.63 (2009) 6,369,431+7,495,528/17,605,301 = 0.79 (2008) 7,014,387+6,901,225/16,340,517 =0.85 (2007) Current Ratio: current assets/ current liabilities: 44,497,169/25,926,158 = 1.72 (2009) 36,195,745/17,605,301 = 2.06 (2008) 36,005,390/16,340,517 = 2.20 (2007) Accounts receivable turnover: net sales/ average gross receivables: (9,601,883 + 866,330) + (7,495,528+948,679) + (6,901,225 +862,690) = 26,676,335/3 = 8,892,111.7: average gross receivables 149,245,176/8,892,111.7 = 16.79 (2009) 137,579,664/8,892,111.7 = 15.47 (2008) 125,814,272/8,892,111.7 = 14.15 (2007) Days to collect receivables: 365/accounts receivable turnover 365/16.79 = 21.74 days (2009) 365/15.47 = 23.59 days (2008) 365/14.15 = 25.80 days (2007) Inventory turnover: cost of goods sold/average inventory (28,031,323 +22,206,259 + 21,975,220) = 72,212,802 / 3 = 24,070,934: average inventory 104,807,966/24,070,934 = 4.35 (2009) 96,595,908/24,070,934 = 4.01 (2008) 88,685,361/24,070,934 = 3.68 (2007) Days to sell inventory: 365/inventory turnover 365/4.35 = 83.91 days (2009) 365/4.01 = 91.02 days (2008) 365/3.68 = 99.18 days (2007) Debt to equity: total liabilities/total equity 25,926,158/55,825,756 = 0.46 (2009) 17,605,301/52,758,726 = 0.33 (2008) 16,340,517/50,872,536 = 0.32 (2007) Times interest earned: operating income/interest expense 6,171,502/1,897,346 = 3.25 (2009) 5,998,463/2,128,905 = 2.82 (2008) 4,745,339/2,085,177 = 2.28 (2007) Earning per share: net income/average common shares outstanding 3,260,411/1,000,000 = 3.26 (2009) 2,470,557/1,000,000 = 2.47 (2008) 1,493,609/1,000,000 = .1.49 (2007) Gross profit percent: net sales –cost of goods sold/net sales (149,245,176- 104,807,966)/149,245,176 =29.77% (137,579,664 – 96,595,908)/137,579,664 =29.79% (125,814,272 – 88,685,361)/125,814,272 =29.51% Profit Margin: operating income/net sales 6,171,502/149,245,176 =0.04 5,998,463/137,579,664 =0.04 4,745,339/125,814,272 =0.04 Return on assets: income before taxes/average total assets (102,968,775 + 89,791,858 + 86,673,853)=279374486/3 =93,124,828.7: average total assets 4,274,156/93,124,828.7= 0.05 3,869,558/93,124,828.7=0.04 2,660,162/93,124,828.7=0.03 Return on common equity: income before taxes- preferred dividends/average stock holder equity (55,825,756+52,758,726+50,872,536)=189,457,018/3 =63,152,339.3: average stock holder equity (4,274,156-0)/63,152,339.3 =0.07 (3,869,558 -0)/63,152,339.3 =0.06 (2,660,162 -0) / 63,152,339.3 =0.04 B) Based on your calculations, assess the likelihood (high, medium, or low) that Pinnacle is likely to fail financially in the next 12 months. When reviewing the ratio calculations, it is apparent that the company’s likelihood of failing financially in the next 12 months is low. This is because it is apparent that the short-term debt paying ratios are down from the previous years. For example, the current ratio has decreased from the preceding year concluding that the current assets can cover the current liabilities successfully. Also looking at days to collect receivables is also lowered which presents that it takes less days for the company to collect their receivables implying that the monies owed to them are coming in more quickly. Lastly, in order for a company to succeed they need to have a good turnover rate for the inventory which is just what Pinnacle company has. The inventory turnover ratio is low indicating that it is taking fewer  days than before to sell invent ory. C and D) are on the Excel Spreadsheet labeled Pinnacle Case Study Common-Size Income Statement C) Account Balance Estimate of $ of Potential Misstatement Training37,621 Miscellaneous expenses74,791 Rent125,115 Legal Fees232,798 Miscellaneous office expenses211,874 D) Account BalanceEstimate of $ of Potential Misstatement Welburn Division: Training26,928 Depreciation880,286 Executive salaries174,362 Solar-Electro Division: Legal fees234,669 Miscellaneous office expense202,331 Machine-Tech Division: Depreciation66,596 E) Explain whether you believe the information in requirement c or d provides the most useful data for evaluating the potential for misstatements. Explain why.  I believe that the information in requirement d provides the most useful data for evaluating the potential for misstatements because you can see exactly what each division is claiming in each sub-category. When using the information in requirement c, you are getting an overview of what all the divisions have done and cannot tell which division each misstatement is coming from. Also, by using information from requirement d, the auditor has a better chance of depicting the misstatements because you are focused on one specific division instead of trying to figure out which division the misstatement might have been from. Requirement d is more informative than  using requirement c.

Blood Promise Chapter TwentyFive

I’d had to finally accept my Dimitri’s death. This one was a Strigoi. There was no future with him. I would not join him. That still didn’t make some part of me want to stop and lie down beside him, though, or at the very least see what happened next. After that initial surprise, his features and breathing had gone still, giving the illusion of death. That’s all it was, however-an illusion. I’d seen it before. I probably had five minutes at most before he healed up and shook this off. I had no time to mourn for what was and what might have been. I had to act now. No hesitation. I ran my hands over him, searching his clothes for anything that might be of use. I found a set of keys and some cash. I pocketed the keys and started to leave the cash but realized I might actually need it on the off chance I escaped this place. My own money had been taken when I arrived. I also swept up some of the jewelry on the table. Finding buyers for that kind of thing in big Russian cities wasn’t too difficult. If I made it to said city. I stood up off the bed and gave Dimitri one last pained look. A few of the tears I’d hidden from him earlier now ran down my face. That was all I could allow myself. If I had a later, I’d mourn then. Before leaving, my gaze lingered on the stake. I wanted to take it with me; it was my only weapon. Pulling it out would mean he’d wake up in about a minute. I needed the extra time. With a sigh, I turned my back on him, hoping I’d find a weapon elsewhere. I sprinted over to the suite’s door and punched in the code again. It unlocked, and I stepped into the corridor. Before going to the next door, I examined the one I’d just stepped through. To get into the suite, there was another keypad. Entry also required a code. Backing up a little, I struck and kicked the keypad as hard as I could. I did it twice more, until the tiny red light on it went out. I didn’t know if that would affect the lock on the inside of the suite, but in the movies, damaging electronic locks always seemed to work. Turning my attention to the next lock, I tried to remember the numbers Inna had told me. They weren’t etched as strongly in my head as the first. I punched in seven numbers. The little light stayed red. â€Å"Damn.† It was possible she’d lied about this set, but somehow, I suspected my memory was the culprit here. I tried again, knowing the clock was ticking on how long I had until Dimitri came after me. The red light flashed again. What were those numbers? I tried to visualize them in my head and finally decided I wasn’t entirely sure about the last two. I reversed their order the next time I put in the code. The light flashed green, and the door unlocked. Of course, there was a security system of a different sort outside. A Strigoi. And not just any Strigoi: It was Marlen. The one I’d tortured in the alley. The one who hated me because I’d disgraced him in front of Galina. He was clearly on guard duty and looked as though he’d expected a boring night. Me coming out the door was a shock. That gave me, oh, about a millisecond of surprise. My first thought was to just run at him with as much brute strength as I could. I knew he would do the same to me. In fact†¦ that was exactly what he’d do. I stayed where I was, standing so that I could keep the door propped open. He came at me to stop my escape, and I stepped aside, pulling the door open wider. Now, I was neither skilled enough nor was he inept enough to simply get lured in. He stopped in the doorway, trying to get hold of me. This gave me the difficult task of trying to both fend him off and drag him into the corridor behind the door. I stepped back into the doorway, hoping he’d follow. All the while, I had to keep the door open. It was all complicated, and I would have no time to punch in the code again. We fought in the confined space. The biggest thing I had going for me was that Marlen appeared to be a young Strigoi, which made sense. Galina would want to keep around henchmen she could control. Of course, Strigoi strength and speed compensated for a lack of experience. The fact that he had been a Moroi once also meant he probably had very little training. That also was a bonus for me. Dimitri was a badass Strigoi because he’d trained as a fighter before being turned. This guy had not. So, Marlen got a couple punches in on me, one coming dangerously close to my eye. The other caught me in the stomach, knocking the air out of me for half a second. But most of the time, I was able to dodge him pretty well. This seemed to infuriate him. Getting beat up by a teenage girl didn’t really score you cool points when you were a Strigoi. At one point, I even faked him out in one direction and came at him with a surprise kick -easier to do than I’d expected in that damned dress-that knocked him back a few steps. I just barely managed to keep my hand in the door when I did it, but that was all I needed. His stumble gave me a few seconds to slip out the door and into the main hall. Unfortunately, when I tried to close it, he was already trying to come through. With my hands, I tried to pull the door shut while kicking him back inside. We struggled this way for a while, and thanks to whatever luck I had left, I got the door closed enough so that only his arm was sti cking through. Bracing myself, I pulled the door toward me in one huge, forceful movement. It slammed into Marlen’s wrist. I half expected to see his hand detach and pop into the hall, but he’d jerked it back. Even Strigoi had certain instincts to avoid pain. Gasping-my physical strength still wasn’t all it could be-I backed up. If he knew the code, this had been for nothing. A moment later, the door’s handle shook but didn’t open. I heard a scream of rage, and then his fists beat on the door. Score one for me. No, score one for luck. If he’d known the code, I would have been Thud. Marlen was still beating on the door, and I saw the tiniest dent appear on the metallic surface. â€Å"Oh, crap,† I said. I didn’t stick around to see how many hits it’d take him to break it down. I also realized that even if I’d disabled the first lock, Dimitri would just be able to break that one down too. Dimitri†¦ No. I absolutely couldn’t think of him now. As I ran down the hall, heading toward the stairs Dimitri and I traveled before, an unexpected memory suddenly popped into my head. When Dimitri had last threatened Nathan, he’d mentioned getting my stake out of a vault. What vault was that exactly? Was it here on the premises? If so, I certainly didn’t have time to look. When weighing the option to search a four-story house full of vampires or run off into the countryside before they found you†¦ well, the choice was clear. And it was in the midst of that thought process that I ran into a human at the top of the stairs. He was older than Inna and carrying a stack of linens that he dropped when we collided. With almost no pause, I grabbed hold of him and swung him against the wall. I had no weapon to threaten him with and wondered how I’d assert my will now. Yet as soon as I had him pinned, he threw up his hands in a defensive gesture and began whimpering in Russian. There’d be no attacks on me here. Of course, now I had the problem of communicating what I needed. Marlen was still beating on the door, and Dimitri would be up in a couple of minutes. I glared at the human, hoping I looked terrifying. From his expression, I did. I attempted the caveman talk I had with Inna†¦ only this time the message was a little harder. â€Å"Stick,† I said in Russian. I had no clue what the word for stake was. I pointed at the silver ring I wore and made a slashing motion. â€Å"Stick. Where?† He stared at me in utter confusion and then asked, in perfect English, â€Å"Why are you talking like that?† â€Å"Oh for God’s sake,† I exclaimed. â€Å"Where is the vault?† â€Å"Vault?† â€Å"A place they keep weapons?† He continued staring. â€Å"I’m looking for a silver stake.† â€Å"Oh,† he said. â€Å"That.† Uneasily, he cast his eyes in the direction of the pounding. I pushed him harder against the wall. My heart felt like it would burst out of my chest, but I tried to hide it. I wanted this guy to think I was invincible. â€Å"Ignore him. Take me to the vault. Now!† With a frightened yelp, he nodded eagerly and beckoned me down the stairs. We descended to the second floor and made a sharp turn. The halls here were as twisty as the hedge maze Dimitri had shown me, all decorated in that gold and chandelier style, and I wondered if I’d even be able to get out of the house. Attempting this detour was a risk, but I wasn’t sure if I could get outside without being followed. If I was, there’d be a confrontation. I’d need to defend myself. The human led me down another hall and yet another. Finally, we reached a door that looked like any other. He stopped and peered at me expectantly. â€Å"Open it,† I said. He shook his head. â€Å"I don’t have the key.† â€Å"Well, I certainly don’t-wait.† I reached into my pocket and pulled out the keys I’d lifted from Dimitri. There were five keys on the ring. I tried them one at a time, and on the third one, I got a hit. The door opened. Meanwhile, my guide was casting hasty glances behind him and looked ready to bolt. â€Å"Don’t even think about it,† I warned. He blanched and stayed put. The room before us wasn’t very big, and while its plush white carpet and silver framed paintings made it look elegant, the room was†¦ well, basically, it looked like a junkyard. Boxes and weird objects-a lot of personal items like watches and rings in particular-lay around in no order. â€Å"What is this?† â€Å"Magic,† he said, still obviously scared out of his mind. â€Å"Magic items kept here to fade or be destroyed.† Magic†¦ ah. These were items charmed by Moroi magic. Charms always had some kind of effect on Strigoi-usually unpleasant-with stakes being the worst, since they used all four physical elements. It made sense that Strigoi would want to isolate harmful objects and get rid of â€Å"My stake!† I ran forward and picked it up, nearly dropping it because my hands were so sweaty. The stake was lying on top of a box with a length of cloth and some weird stones. Studying it, I realized it wasn’t actually my stake-not that it made a difference for killing Strigoi. This stake was almost identical, save for a small geometric pattern running around its base. It was something guardians did from time to time if they felt particularly attached to their stake: have a design or initials etched into it. Holding this stake, I felt a momentary pang of sadness. This had belonged to someone who’d wielded it proudly once, someone who was now most likely dead. God only knew how many other dozens of stakes were in here, seized from other unfortunate prisoners, but I had no time to search or mourn those who had died. â€Å"Okay, now I want you to take me to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I hesitated. Even with a stake, it’d be a lot better for me if I didn’t face any more Strigoi. I had to assume there’d still be a guard at the front door. â€Å"†¦ Some room on this floor with a window that actually opens. And is far from the stairs.† The guy thought for a moment and then gave a quick nod. â€Å"This way.† I followed him through another maze of twisting corridors. â€Å"What’s your name?† â€Å"Oleg.† â€Å"You know,† I said. â€Å"I’m getting out of here†¦ if you want†¦ if you want, I could take you with me.† Having someone else-a human, particularly -would definitely slow me down. Yet, my conscience wouldn’t let me leave anyone behind in this place. He gave me an incredulous glance. â€Å"Why would I want to do that?† Sydney had definitely been right about humans making great sacrifices for immortality. Oleg and Inna were living proof. We rounded a corner and came face-to-face with an elaborate set of French doors. Through the etched glass, I could see book-lined shelves, stretching all the way up the walls. A library-a huge one that extended on and on, out of my sight. Better yet, I saw a large bay window opposite me, framed in heavy satin curtains the color of blood. â€Å"Perfect,† I said, pushing open the doors. That was when the nausea hit me. We weren’t alone in the room. Galina sprang up from a chair near the fireplace on the far side of the room. A book dropped from her lap. I had no time to dwell on the oddity of a Strigoi having a fireside read, because she was coming right toward me. I almost might have thought Oleg had set me up, but he was cowering in a corner, his face mirroring the shock I felt. Despite the library’s enormous size, she reached me in seconds. I dodged her initial attack-or tried to, at least. She was fast. Aside from Dimitri, the other Strigoi in this house were clearly the B-team, and I had forgotten just how badass a truly skilled Strigoi was. She caught me by my arm and swung me toward her, mouth open and fangs going straight for my neck. I had the stake in my hand and tried awkwardly to at least scratch her with it, but she was holding me too tightly. At last, I managed to duck a little and move my throat out of her range, but all this did was give her the opportunity to grab hold of my hair. She jerked me upright, and I screamed in pain. How she managed to hold onto my hair without ripping it right out was remarkable. Still gripping it, she shoved me into a wall. When I’d first fought with Dimitri upon my arrival, he’d been rough but hadn’t wanted to kill me. Galina did. She’d taken it on faith from Dimitri that I’d be an asset, but it was obvious now that I was a real pain in the ass. Her amnesty had ended, and she was intent on killing me. I at least had the comfort of knowing she probably wouldn’t turn me into a Strigoi. I’d be lunch. A shout suddenly drew my attention to the door. Dimitri stood there, face blazing with anger. Whatever illusions I’d harbored about him being his former self disappeared. That fury radiated around him, his eyes narrowed and fangs showing. The pale skin and red eyes contrasted sharply against each other. He was like a demon sent straight from hell to destroy me. He strode toward us, and the immediate thought in my head was: Well, at least this’ll end things that much faster. Except†¦ it wasn’t me he attacked. It was Galina. I’m not sure which of us was more surprised, but in that moment, I was totally forgotten. The Strigoi raced toward each other, and I froze, stunned at the terrible beauty of their fight. There was almost a gracefulness to the way they moved, the way they struck out and skillfully dodged each other. I stared a bit longer and then mentally slapped myself into action. This was my chance to get out of here. I couldn’t get distracted. I turned to the bay window, searching frantically for a means to open it. There was none. â€Å"Son of a bitch!† Maybe Oleg had set me up after all. Or maybe there was just some mechanism that wasn’t apparent to me. Regardless, I felt pretty confident there was one way to get it open. I ran to the side of the room where Galina had sat and grabbed an ornate wooden chair. It was obvious this window wasn’t made of the hard-core glass that had been in my room. This stuff was similar to the library’s French doors, delicate and engraved with fanciful designs, even though darkly tinted. It couldn’t require that much force to break. After all that fruitless beating in my room, I took a kind of smug satisfaction in slamming the chair into it with as much force as possible. The impact made a huge hole in one side of the window, glass spraying everywhere. A few shards hit my face, but it was nothing to concern me now. Behind me, the sounds of battle raged on. There were grunts and muffled cries as they fought, as well as the occasional sound of some piece of broken furniture. I yearned to turn around and see what was going on, but I couldn’t. I took the chair and swung again, breaking the other half of the window. There was now a huge hole, perfect for me to get out of. â€Å"Rose!† Dimitri’s voice triggered some instinctive response in me. I glanced back and saw him still grappling with Galina. They were both exhausted, but it was clear he was getting the worst of it. But in their fighting, he kept trying to restrain her in a way that exposed her chest to me. His eyes met mine. Back when he’d been a dhampir, we’d rarely needed words to convey our thoughts. This was one of those times. I knew what he wanted me to do. He wanted me to stake her. I knew I shouldn’t. I needed to hop out that window right now. I needed to let them keep fighting, even though it seemed obvious Galina was about to win. And yet†¦ despite my misgivings, some force drew me across the room, stake poised and ready. Maybe it was because I would never fully lose my pull to Dimitri, no matter what kind of monster he’d become. Maybe it was an unconscious sense of duty, since I knew he’d just saved my life. Or maybe it was because I knew one Strigoi was going to die tonight, and she was the more dangerous. But she wasn’t easy to get hold of. She was fast and strong, and he was having a hard time with her. She kept wriggling around, trying to renew her attack. All she’d need to do was incapacitate him as I had; then it’d just require decapitation or burning to finish him off. I had no doubt she could arrange either. He managed to turn her slightly, giving me the best view of her chest I’d had. I moved forward-and then Dimitri slammed into me. I was addled for a moment, wondering why he’d attack me after saving me, until I realized he’d been pushed-by Nathan. Nathan had just entered the library, along with Marlen. It distracted Dimitri but not me. I still had the opening he’d given me on Galina, and I plunged my stake into her chest. It didn’t go in as deeply as I would have liked, and she still managed to fight me, bucking hard. I grimaced and pushed forward, knowing the silver had to be affecting her. A moment later, I saw the pain twist her face. She faltered, and I pushed my advantage, shoving the stake in all the way. It took several seconds, but she eventually stopped moving, her body crumpling to the ground. If the other Strigoi noticed her death, they didn’t pay attention. Nathan and Marlen were fixated on Dimitri. Another Strigoi-a female I didn’t recognize-soon joined the face-off. I jerked my stake out of Galina and slowly began backing toward the window, hoping I wouldn’t attract too much attention. My heart went out to Dimitri. He was outnumbered. I could possibly lend my strength and help him fight†¦ Of course, my strength was fading. I was still suffering from days of vampire bites and blood loss. I’d fought two Strigoi tonight and killed a powerful one. That had been my good deed, removing her from the world. The next best thing I could do would be to leave and let these Strigoi finish off Dimitri. The surviving ones would be leaderless and less of a threat. Dimitri would be free of this evil state, his soul finally able to move on to better places. And I would live (hopefully), having helped the world by killing more Strigoi. I bumped against the windowsill and looked out. Nighttime-not good. The sheer side of the manor was not ideal for climbing, either. It could be done, but it would be time consuming. I didn’t have any more time. Directly below the window was a thickly leafed bush of some sort. I couldn’t see it clearly and only hoped it wasn’t a rosebush or something equally sharp. A second floor drop wouldn’t kill me, though. Probably wouldn’t even hurt-much. I climbed over the ledge, briefly meeting Dimitri’s gaze as the other Strigoi moved in on him. The words came to me again: Don’t hesitate. Dimitri’s important lesson. But it hadn’t been his first one. His first had been about what to do if I was outnumbered and out of options: Run. Time for me to run. I leapt out the window. Blood Promise Chapter TwentyFive I’d had to finally accept my Dimitri’s death. This one was a Strigoi. There was no future with him. I would not join him. That still didn’t make some part of me want to stop and lie down beside him, though, or at the very least see what happened next. After that initial surprise, his features and breathing had gone still, giving the illusion of death. That’s all it was, however-an illusion. I’d seen it before. I probably had five minutes at most before he healed up and shook this off. I had no time to mourn for what was and what might have been. I had to act now. No hesitation. I ran my hands over him, searching his clothes for anything that might be of use. I found a set of keys and some cash. I pocketed the keys and started to leave the cash but realized I might actually need it on the off chance I escaped this place. My own money had been taken when I arrived. I also swept up some of the jewelry on the table. Finding buyers for that kind of thing in big Russian cities wasn’t too difficult. If I made it to said city. I stood up off the bed and gave Dimitri one last pained look. A few of the tears I’d hidden from him earlier now ran down my face. That was all I could allow myself. If I had a later, I’d mourn then. Before leaving, my gaze lingered on the stake. I wanted to take it with me; it was my only weapon. Pulling it out would mean he’d wake up in about a minute. I needed the extra time. With a sigh, I turned my back on him, hoping I’d find a weapon elsewhere. I sprinted over to the suite’s door and punched in the code again. It unlocked, and I stepped into the corridor. Before going to the next door, I examined the one I’d just stepped through. To get into the suite, there was another keypad. Entry also required a code. Backing up a little, I struck and kicked the keypad as hard as I could. I did it twice more, until the tiny red light on it went out. I didn’t know if that would affect the lock on the inside of the suite, but in the movies, damaging electronic locks always seemed to work. Turning my attention to the next lock, I tried to remember the numbers Inna had told me. They weren’t etched as strongly in my head as the first. I punched in seven numbers. The little light stayed red. â€Å"Damn.† It was possible she’d lied about this set, but somehow, I suspected my memory was the culprit here. I tried again, knowing the clock was ticking on how long I had until Dimitri came after me. The red light flashed again. What were those numbers? I tried to visualize them in my head and finally decided I wasn’t entirely sure about the last two. I reversed their order the next time I put in the code. The light flashed green, and the door unlocked. Of course, there was a security system of a different sort outside. A Strigoi. And not just any Strigoi: It was Marlen. The one I’d tortured in the alley. The one who hated me because I’d disgraced him in front of Galina. He was clearly on guard duty and looked as though he’d expected a boring night. Me coming out the door was a shock. That gave me, oh, about a millisecond of surprise. My first thought was to just run at him with as much brute strength as I could. I knew he would do the same to me. In fact†¦ that was exactly what he’d do. I stayed where I was, standing so that I could keep the door propped open. He came at me to stop my escape, and I stepped aside, pulling the door open wider. Now, I was neither skilled enough nor was he inept enough to simply get lured in. He stopped in the doorway, trying to get hold of me. This gave me the difficult task of trying to both fend him off and drag him into the corridor behind the door. I stepped back into the doorway, hoping he’d follow. All the while, I had to keep the door open. It was all complicated, and I would have no time to punch in the code again. We fought in the confined space. The biggest thing I had going for me was that Marlen appeared to be a young Strigoi, which made sense. Galina would want to keep around henchmen she could control. Of course, Strigoi strength and speed compensated for a lack of experience. The fact that he had been a Moroi once also meant he probably had very little training. That also was a bonus for me. Dimitri was a badass Strigoi because he’d trained as a fighter before being turned. This guy had not. So, Marlen got a couple punches in on me, one coming dangerously close to my eye. The other caught me in the stomach, knocking the air out of me for half a second. But most of the time, I was able to dodge him pretty well. This seemed to infuriate him. Getting beat up by a teenage girl didn’t really score you cool points when you were a Strigoi. At one point, I even faked him out in one direction and came at him with a surprise kick -easier to do than I’d expected in that damned dress-that knocked him back a few steps. I just barely managed to keep my hand in the door when I did it, but that was all I needed. His stumble gave me a few seconds to slip out the door and into the main hall. Unfortunately, when I tried to close it, he was already trying to come through. With my hands, I tried to pull the door shut while kicking him back inside. We struggled this way for a while, and thanks to whatever luck I had left, I got the door closed enough so that only his arm was sti cking through. Bracing myself, I pulled the door toward me in one huge, forceful movement. It slammed into Marlen’s wrist. I half expected to see his hand detach and pop into the hall, but he’d jerked it back. Even Strigoi had certain instincts to avoid pain. Gasping-my physical strength still wasn’t all it could be-I backed up. If he knew the code, this had been for nothing. A moment later, the door’s handle shook but didn’t open. I heard a scream of rage, and then his fists beat on the door. Score one for me. No, score one for luck. If he’d known the code, I would have been Thud. Marlen was still beating on the door, and I saw the tiniest dent appear on the metallic surface. â€Å"Oh, crap,† I said. I didn’t stick around to see how many hits it’d take him to break it down. I also realized that even if I’d disabled the first lock, Dimitri would just be able to break that one down too. Dimitri†¦ No. I absolutely couldn’t think of him now. As I ran down the hall, heading toward the stairs Dimitri and I traveled before, an unexpected memory suddenly popped into my head. When Dimitri had last threatened Nathan, he’d mentioned getting my stake out of a vault. What vault was that exactly? Was it here on the premises? If so, I certainly didn’t have time to look. When weighing the option to search a four-story house full of vampires or run off into the countryside before they found you†¦ well, the choice was clear. And it was in the midst of that thought process that I ran into a human at the top of the stairs. He was older than Inna and carrying a stack of linens that he dropped when we collided. With almost no pause, I grabbed hold of him and swung him against the wall. I had no weapon to threaten him with and wondered how I’d assert my will now. Yet as soon as I had him pinned, he threw up his hands in a defensive gesture and began whimpering in Russian. There’d be no attacks on me here. Of course, now I had the problem of communicating what I needed. Marlen was still beating on the door, and Dimitri would be up in a couple of minutes. I glared at the human, hoping I looked terrifying. From his expression, I did. I attempted the caveman talk I had with Inna†¦ only this time the message was a little harder. â€Å"Stick,† I said in Russian. I had no clue what the word for stake was. I pointed at the silver ring I wore and made a slashing motion. â€Å"Stick. Where?† He stared at me in utter confusion and then asked, in perfect English, â€Å"Why are you talking like that?† â€Å"Oh for God’s sake,† I exclaimed. â€Å"Where is the vault?† â€Å"Vault?† â€Å"A place they keep weapons?† He continued staring. â€Å"I’m looking for a silver stake.† â€Å"Oh,† he said. â€Å"That.† Uneasily, he cast his eyes in the direction of the pounding. I pushed him harder against the wall. My heart felt like it would burst out of my chest, but I tried to hide it. I wanted this guy to think I was invincible. â€Å"Ignore him. Take me to the vault. Now!† With a frightened yelp, he nodded eagerly and beckoned me down the stairs. We descended to the second floor and made a sharp turn. The halls here were as twisty as the hedge maze Dimitri had shown me, all decorated in that gold and chandelier style, and I wondered if I’d even be able to get out of the house. Attempting this detour was a risk, but I wasn’t sure if I could get outside without being followed. If I was, there’d be a confrontation. I’d need to defend myself. The human led me down another hall and yet another. Finally, we reached a door that looked like any other. He stopped and peered at me expectantly. â€Å"Open it,† I said. He shook his head. â€Å"I don’t have the key.† â€Å"Well, I certainly don’t-wait.† I reached into my pocket and pulled out the keys I’d lifted from Dimitri. There were five keys on the ring. I tried them one at a time, and on the third one, I got a hit. The door opened. Meanwhile, my guide was casting hasty glances behind him and looked ready to bolt. â€Å"Don’t even think about it,† I warned. He blanched and stayed put. The room before us wasn’t very big, and while its plush white carpet and silver framed paintings made it look elegant, the room was†¦ well, basically, it looked like a junkyard. Boxes and weird objects-a lot of personal items like watches and rings in particular-lay around in no order. â€Å"What is this?† â€Å"Magic,† he said, still obviously scared out of his mind. â€Å"Magic items kept here to fade or be destroyed.† Magic†¦ ah. These were items charmed by Moroi magic. Charms always had some kind of effect on Strigoi-usually unpleasant-with stakes being the worst, since they used all four physical elements. It made sense that Strigoi would want to isolate harmful objects and get rid of â€Å"My stake!† I ran forward and picked it up, nearly dropping it because my hands were so sweaty. The stake was lying on top of a box with a length of cloth and some weird stones. Studying it, I realized it wasn’t actually my stake-not that it made a difference for killing Strigoi. This stake was almost identical, save for a small geometric pattern running around its base. It was something guardians did from time to time if they felt particularly attached to their stake: have a design or initials etched into it. Holding this stake, I felt a momentary pang of sadness. This had belonged to someone who’d wielded it proudly once, someone who was now most likely dead. God only knew how many other dozens of stakes were in here, seized from other unfortunate prisoners, but I had no time to search or mourn those who had died. â€Å"Okay, now I want you to take me to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I hesitated. Even with a stake, it’d be a lot better for me if I didn’t face any more Strigoi. I had to assume there’d still be a guard at the front door. â€Å"†¦ Some room on this floor with a window that actually opens. And is far from the stairs.† The guy thought for a moment and then gave a quick nod. â€Å"This way.† I followed him through another maze of twisting corridors. â€Å"What’s your name?† â€Å"Oleg.† â€Å"You know,† I said. â€Å"I’m getting out of here†¦ if you want†¦ if you want, I could take you with me.† Having someone else-a human, particularly -would definitely slow me down. Yet, my conscience wouldn’t let me leave anyone behind in this place. He gave me an incredulous glance. â€Å"Why would I want to do that?† Sydney had definitely been right about humans making great sacrifices for immortality. Oleg and Inna were living proof. We rounded a corner and came face-to-face with an elaborate set of French doors. Through the etched glass, I could see book-lined shelves, stretching all the way up the walls. A library-a huge one that extended on and on, out of my sight. Better yet, I saw a large bay window opposite me, framed in heavy satin curtains the color of blood. â€Å"Perfect,† I said, pushing open the doors. That was when the nausea hit me. We weren’t alone in the room. Galina sprang up from a chair near the fireplace on the far side of the room. A book dropped from her lap. I had no time to dwell on the oddity of a Strigoi having a fireside read, because she was coming right toward me. I almost might have thought Oleg had set me up, but he was cowering in a corner, his face mirroring the shock I felt. Despite the library’s enormous size, she reached me in seconds. I dodged her initial attack-or tried to, at least. She was fast. Aside from Dimitri, the other Strigoi in this house were clearly the B-team, and I had forgotten just how badass a truly skilled Strigoi was. She caught me by my arm and swung me toward her, mouth open and fangs going straight for my neck. I had the stake in my hand and tried awkwardly to at least scratch her with it, but she was holding me too tightly. At last, I managed to duck a little and move my throat out of her range, but all this did was give her the opportunity to grab hold of my hair. She jerked me upright, and I screamed in pain. How she managed to hold onto my hair without ripping it right out was remarkable. Still gripping it, she shoved me into a wall. When I’d first fought with Dimitri upon my arrival, he’d been rough but hadn’t wanted to kill me. Galina did. She’d taken it on faith from Dimitri that I’d be an asset, but it was obvious now that I was a real pain in the ass. Her amnesty had ended, and she was intent on killing me. I at least had the comfort of knowing she probably wouldn’t turn me into a Strigoi. I’d be lunch. A shout suddenly drew my attention to the door. Dimitri stood there, face blazing with anger. Whatever illusions I’d harbored about him being his former self disappeared. That fury radiated around him, his eyes narrowed and fangs showing. The pale skin and red eyes contrasted sharply against each other. He was like a demon sent straight from hell to destroy me. He strode toward us, and the immediate thought in my head was: Well, at least this’ll end things that much faster. Except†¦ it wasn’t me he attacked. It was Galina. I’m not sure which of us was more surprised, but in that moment, I was totally forgotten. The Strigoi raced toward each other, and I froze, stunned at the terrible beauty of their fight. There was almost a gracefulness to the way they moved, the way they struck out and skillfully dodged each other. I stared a bit longer and then mentally slapped myself into action. This was my chance to get out of here. I couldn’t get distracted. I turned to the bay window, searching frantically for a means to open it. There was none. â€Å"Son of a bitch!† Maybe Oleg had set me up after all. Or maybe there was just some mechanism that wasn’t apparent to me. Regardless, I felt pretty confident there was one way to get it open. I ran to the side of the room where Galina had sat and grabbed an ornate wooden chair. It was obvious this window wasn’t made of the hard-core glass that had been in my room. This stuff was similar to the library’s French doors, delicate and engraved with fanciful designs, even though darkly tinted. It couldn’t require that much force to break. After all that fruitless beating in my room, I took a kind of smug satisfaction in slamming the chair into it with as much force as possible. The impact made a huge hole in one side of the window, glass spraying everywhere. A few shards hit my face, but it was nothing to concern me now. Behind me, the sounds of battle raged on. There were grunts and muffled cries as they fought, as well as the occasional sound of some piece of broken furniture. I yearned to turn around and see what was going on, but I couldn’t. I took the chair and swung again, breaking the other half of the window. There was now a huge hole, perfect for me to get out of. â€Å"Rose!† Dimitri’s voice triggered some instinctive response in me. I glanced back and saw him still grappling with Galina. They were both exhausted, but it was clear he was getting the worst of it. But in their fighting, he kept trying to restrain her in a way that exposed her chest to me. His eyes met mine. Back when he’d been a dhampir, we’d rarely needed words to convey our thoughts. This was one of those times. I knew what he wanted me to do. He wanted me to stake her. I knew I shouldn’t. I needed to hop out that window right now. I needed to let them keep fighting, even though it seemed obvious Galina was about to win. And yet†¦ despite my misgivings, some force drew me across the room, stake poised and ready. Maybe it was because I would never fully lose my pull to Dimitri, no matter what kind of monster he’d become. Maybe it was an unconscious sense of duty, since I knew he’d just saved my life. Or maybe it was because I knew one Strigoi was going to die tonight, and she was the more dangerous. But she wasn’t easy to get hold of. She was fast and strong, and he was having a hard time with her. She kept wriggling around, trying to renew her attack. All she’d need to do was incapacitate him as I had; then it’d just require decapitation or burning to finish him off. I had no doubt she could arrange either. He managed to turn her slightly, giving me the best view of her chest I’d had. I moved forward-and then Dimitri slammed into me. I was addled for a moment, wondering why he’d attack me after saving me, until I realized he’d been pushed-by Nathan. Nathan had just entered the library, along with Marlen. It distracted Dimitri but not me. I still had the opening he’d given me on Galina, and I plunged my stake into her chest. It didn’t go in as deeply as I would have liked, and she still managed to fight me, bucking hard. I grimaced and pushed forward, knowing the silver had to be affecting her. A moment later, I saw the pain twist her face. She faltered, and I pushed my advantage, shoving the stake in all the way. It took several seconds, but she eventually stopped moving, her body crumpling to the ground. If the other Strigoi noticed her death, they didn’t pay attention. Nathan and Marlen were fixated on Dimitri. Another Strigoi-a female I didn’t recognize-soon joined the face-off. I jerked my stake out of Galina and slowly began backing toward the window, hoping I wouldn’t attract too much attention. My heart went out to Dimitri. He was outnumbered. I could possibly lend my strength and help him fight†¦ Of course, my strength was fading. I was still suffering from days of vampire bites and blood loss. I’d fought two Strigoi tonight and killed a powerful one. That had been my good deed, removing her from the world. The next best thing I could do would be to leave and let these Strigoi finish off Dimitri. The surviving ones would be leaderless and less of a threat. Dimitri would be free of this evil state, his soul finally able to move on to better places. And I would live (hopefully), having helped the world by killing more Strigoi. I bumped against the windowsill and looked out. Nighttime-not good. The sheer side of the manor was not ideal for climbing, either. It could be done, but it would be time consuming. I didn’t have any more time. Directly below the window was a thickly leafed bush of some sort. I couldn’t see it clearly and only hoped it wasn’t a rosebush or something equally sharp. A second floor drop wouldn’t kill me, though. Probably wouldn’t even hurt-much. I climbed over the ledge, briefly meeting Dimitri’s gaze as the other Strigoi moved in on him. The words came to me again: Don’t hesitate. Dimitri’s important lesson. But it hadn’t been his first one. His first had been about what to do if I was outnumbered and out of options: Run. Time for me to run. I leapt out the window.

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Part 1: Internal Controls Requirements Inform the President of any new internal control requirements if the company decides to go public. Internal controls are mechanisms, policies, and procedures used to minimize and monitor operational risks. In order to deter employees from committing a dishonest or fraudulent act the controls must be thorough and comprehensive. However, internal controls by themselves are not enough. They will be effective only if they are reinforced through culture, policies and procedures, information systems, training, and supervision of staff. * The primary objectives of internal controls are to: Internal controls help to provide reliable data by ensuring that information is recorded in a consistent way that will allow for useful financial reports * They also help prevent fraud and loss by safeguarding assets and essential records. * Internal controls promote operational efficiency by reducing unnecessary duplication of effort and guarding against misallocation of resources. * They encourage adherence to management policies and funding source requirements. Internal controls can be broke down into two categories- accounting and administrative controls, which is exactly what the issues are with the LBJ Company. (Internal Controls Checklist) According to the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, all publicly traded U.S. corporations are required to maintain an adequate system of internal control at all times. As LJB Company President, he or she should be aware that a controlled environment must be present at all times, and â€Å"that unethical activity will not be tolerated.† The LBJ Company must identify and analyze the various factors that could create risk for the business and how the team can manage those risks. The overall internal control system needs to show and communicate all appropriate information within the organization, to ensure that the communicated information has reached the organization. According to the textbook, â€Å"It is very important to have testing and auditing of controls to build a long lasting organization. (Kimmel, 2009) Part 2: What the Company is Doing Right? Advise the President of what the company is doing right (they are doing some things well) and also recommend to the President whether or not they should buy the indelible ink machine. When you advise the President, please be sure to reference the applicable internal control principle that applies. The company has been doing well by creating a balanced environment for employees, due to the long-term employees that are currently there is an excellent thing for LBJ Company. From what is being shown, the managers and employees have a great balance, which keeps good control and promotes a team oriented environment within the company. Another good thing is that the accountant is in charge of the checks and also stores them into safe in his office, but the manager should have the only key to the safe to increase the monitoring of the checks and would also create a checks and balance system. Plus if the accountant is not there for whatever reason and an employee needs their check, the manager can handle that and not violate any employment laws by not giving an employee their check in a timely manner. The President of LJB Company, has also done a good thing for wanting the employees to be aware of any new regulations required of the company if they decide to go public. It is incredibly important the President have different individuals serve as an Accountant, Treasurer and Controller which will help streamline many of their processes. This way, the Accountant will not be responsible for all financial dealings and again this will create checks and balances which are required to go public. Part 3: Advise the President of what the company is doing wrong (they are definitely doing some things poorly). Please be sure to include the internal control principle that is being violated along with a recommendation for improvement. (20 points) This situation for LBJ Company has shown that it is in clear violation of the internal control principle and is running significant risks by not including more oversight and checks and balances. First of all, that they have one accountant who plays the role of both Treasurer and Controller is an area of great risk. The Controller and Treasurer are meant to play opposite roles in which they provide oversight and checks and balances to the other. The two positions should be filled by separate employees, and this change should be implemented as soon as possible. In the current setup, the one accountant has too much power over the processes. Another issue is the cash drawer principle also leaves the company vulnerable to fraud and manipulation of funds. For example, even if a company employee were to act independently, an employee could easily remove a substantial amount of unauthorized funds, and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find who did it as any of the company employees could have been culpable. An example of the problems that arise from the anonymity that company employees have within the organization, is clearly exemplified in the case of the worker who was fired for viewing pornography on the company computer. Not only does this introduce risks of damaging corporate reputation, and download viruses, but it also highlights how the lack of individual user accounts and accountability makes it so that one employee can hide their malicious actions with anonymity. Below are some recommendations for the LBJ Company. Recommendat ions: 1) To introduce a culture of corporate responsibility, the CEO should begin to implement individual user accounts for its computers, as well as a formal cash withdrawal system, that requires that company employees register themselves with another person or a computer system. 2) The role of the one accountant who acts as Treasurer and Controller must be separated into two so as not to violate the internal control principle, and in order to minimize the likelihood of fraud. 3) The checks should not just be left at the accountants office, but in a safe where only two people have access such as the accountant and the manager. That way more than one person is responsible. 4) The accountant taking checks home over the weekend is a security issue as well as introduces more opportunity for fraud. This practice must be stopped and more safeguards put in place. This also is an issue regarding personal identifying information on the checks of the employees and if the checks become lost or stolen, then that information is available to the public now. 5) The accountant also being involved in the interview process for new employees is disturbing because of the level of control he has over critical aspects in the companys day to day business. If he were to hire an accomplice, he could easily use that individual and his position in order to manipulate accounts and withdraw significant funds from the company before he is ever caught. 6) The HR Departments should also run more thorough background checks as part of their hiring processes. (Bell, 2010) Conclusion Now that the LBJ Company has received the recommendations to fix the issues with their internal controls, they will no doubt be able to go public and be successful. The LBJ Company should also re-evaluate their processes every so often to make sure that these new systems for their internal controls are successful. They should re-evaluate every so often in case they need to make changes as well.

Habitat and Animals Essay Example for Free

Habitat and Animals Essay Little care or thought was given to wildlife, or the delicate nature of their habitat as Urban Sprawl moved along with the progress of the times. This is supported by the opinion offered by Authors Emel and Wolch, in their book titled Animal Geographies: Place, Politics and Identity’, They state that The 1980s cost of sprawl debate made no mention of wildlife habitat, and the adherents to the so called new urbanism and sustainable cities movements of the 1990s rarely define sustainability in relation to the animals†(5). Quoting statistics researched, compiled, and available at Smart Growth America.com, Authors Hapke, Goodwin, Pulsipher and Pulsipher state that In the United States Urban Sprawl eats up 2 acres a minute- A million acres a year- including 400,000 acres of land that is especially well suited for high quality specialty crops. Urban Sprawl is now an issue in virtually all parts of North America† (6). Quoting Vitousek (1997) and Marzluff and Hamel (2001), authors Johnson and Klemens explain that the destruction of animal habitat occurs because Humans alter the earths natural landscape in three main ways: Through agriculture, natural resource extraction, and urban and rural settlement (7) . There is immediate habitat loss as an area is developed, as noted almost one million acres per year are consumed. As humans take over and develop, the wildlife is displaced, and deprived of the habitat because it has been converted for use, and is no longer suitable to sustain life. Pollution, and the introduction of non indigenous invasive plant species enter the habitat as well, after humans move in to an area. (5) Emel Jody, Wolch Jennifer. Animal Geographies: Place, Politics, and Identity in the Nature-culture Borderlands, Edition: illustrated, Published by Verso, 1998, p. 132. (6) Hapke Holly M, Goodwin Conrad Mac, Pulsipher Lydia Mihelic, Pulsipher Alex. World Regional Geography: Global Patterns, Local Lives. Edition: 3, illustrated, Published by Macmillan, 2005. p. 81. (7) Johnson Elizabeth Ann. Klemens Michael W. Nature in Fragments: The Legacy of Sprawl. Edition: illustrated, Published by Columbia University Press, 2005. p. 19. 3 Many researchers agree with author John Kistler that â€Å" Habitat loss is the single most important factor in the destruction of wild species†(8). Imagine developers go in with big bulldozers, and dump trucks, and destroy the natural landscape without a thought to the population of animals that will be displaced. Without concerns about rare plant and animal species that may be at risk of extinction. It used to be as man moved in, the animals would move out, to nearby untouched areas with sufficient forage and water to survive. Johnson and Klemens point out that today However, as sprawl converts more land to development, there are few or no adjacent undeveloped lands to meet these needs(9). Now a drive along highways that pass close to any major development sites that are currently under construction, will reveal the fate of many of the dislocated inhabitants. Dead deer, coyotes, fox, racoons, hawks, and a multitude of other species are strewn along the roadside daily. Quoting Clevenger and (2001) and Forman (2003), in a paper prepared by professor Michael Starr, and students at Southern Illinois University, attempting to compile data on road kill occurrences states that It is undoubtedly true that the number of road-killed animals has been increasing through the years until the last decade, very few scientific studies had been conducted to assess this assumption(10). Based on data compiled by reported accidents with cars, and quoting Forman (2003), The SIUE paper stated that â€Å" It has been conservatively estimated that 1 million deer alone are killed each year on the nations roads†(11). These numbers are reported road kills involving car damage, the numbers of smaller species no doubt are astronomical, if a number could be assigned. (8) Kistler John. Animal Rights: A Subject Guide, Bibliography, and Internet Companion Edition: illustrated, Published by Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. p 145. (9) Johnson Elizabeth Ann. Klemens Michael W. Nature in Fragments: The Legacy of Sprawl. Edition: illustrated, Published by Columbia University Press, 2005. p. 30. (10) (11) Starr Michael J. Surveying For Small Road-Killed Animals Along Rural Roads And State Highways http://www. siue. edu/GEOGRAPHY/RoadKill. htm. SIUE Department of Geography. Feb. 2006. 4 States with most population growth had largest permanent loss of rural land Average low-population-growth state lost less than a third the rural land as average high-population growth state http://www. sprawlcity. org/charts_usda/us_6. html

The Objectives Of Clinical Management Systems Information Technology Essay

The Objectives Of Clinical Management Systems Information Technology Essay CMS stands for Clinical Management System, including the information integration, inventory control, data processing and tools for medical data exchange. Generally the major user for CMS are physicians, and consist of laboratory information system (LIS), radiology information system (RIS), picture archiving and communication system (PACS). 1In medical fields, the application of new CMS mainly develops in the following stages. Automated medical record (AMR) is mainly used for the automation in medical data processing from paper into e-format. Electronic medical record (EMR) ensures a good communication for paperless and image exchange and sets up foundation of medical terminology. Electronic patient record (EPR) ensures the interoperability networking for the data exchange between CMS or other parties by using a single and standard format. Electronic health record (eHR) sustains the medical decision support system. In the medical support system, it conducts data mining skills from getting multiple data from multiple databases to assure the correct medical decision. Recap above stages, the applications of CMS are useful in medical filed. Objectives Due to the following objectives, our team suggests Town Health co Ltd to implement Clinic Management System (CMS). Increasing business opportunity; Connecting medical record with Hong Kong Government regulation standard; Exchanging medical data with Hong Kong Government centralize database. Company Background Town Health Co Ltd. (The Group) Established in 1985, the group has adopted the managed healthcare model to provide high quality and affordable medical services to our corporate clients. THMN has a full range of medical services, including General and Specialists Services, Dental Services, Physiotherapy Services, Laboratories Imaging Services and other auxiliary medical services. The Group has well developed and became one of the largest healthcare services providers, with about 30 medical clinics and specialist outpatient clinics, in Hong Kong. Company network Figure 1.1 http://www.thmn.com.hk/our_locations.asp Company Workflow The Group was operating a standalone medical management system over 10 years. Many problems occur throughout their daily operation. The basic operation workflow is shown as below figures 1.1. Diagnosis New Patient Registration Consultation Medical Record Transfer to Hospital/Other films Treatment Figures 1.1 For our daily operation, a new patient is required to fill in a registration form for his / her personal information in paper format. Then the duty doctor consults and examines the patient based on the background and situation at that moment. The paper medical record and real time observation by the duty doctor will be used as tools to support the diagnosis of the patient. Finally, the staff or nurses will input the finalize treatment formulated and medical record into the existing medical system. Five Force Analysis For The Group Suppliers Industry Competitions Buyer Potential Entrants Substitutes Threat of New Entrants There are many new entrants in Hong Kong healthcare services industry. It is because of the rapid changing of economical scale, such as new investments from PRC. Threat substitutes Since the market demand is changing recently, many different professionals are willing to join together and run their business to provide a 24*7 (24 hours with 7days) services. Besides, they combine their services into a single business firm, such as Chinese medical services, Dental and out patient services. Therefore they can share resources to reduce the operating cost and increase the revenue. Bargaining power of Suppliers Most of suppliers ally their product price due to the increasing price of most original materials. For a healthcare group, they are required for lots of inventory, like drugs and medicate equipment. This is a main reason for their high operating cost. Bargaining power of Buyers The Government regulation was release as benefit to all Hong Kong elders such as health care voucher, eHealth medical record sharing system, and etc. Industry Competitors There are many strong competitors with increasing and steady revenue. Moreover, most professionals quit their job in public sector (Government Hospital) and join the joint venture of healthcare group to start their own business. SWOT Analysis for The Group Strength The group is established for over 25 years, it is a well-known health care services provider with confidence in providing quality services. A wide spread of clinic coverage is convenience to all patients in Hong Kong. The medical management system assists on keeping patients records that ensures the efficiency on daily data processing. Weakness Performance of existing medical management system becomes slower due to the increasing size of data. Increasing numbers of patient records reduce the performance of accuracy. Thus, many errors were found in daily operation which influences the efficiency. The system will become a bottleneck of the Group for the business expansion. Opportunity Modernize on computer system provided a better management on patients data and prevent error to increase efficiency on operation. Also, connectivity to Hospital Authority (HA) and insurance companies database can get advantages on increasing revenue and convenience of data exchange for the Group. Treats The medical industry competition had a huge impact to the Group due to the decreasing market share and revenue while the running cost for equipment and drugs is increasing. Research Methodology Research method Interview for analyzing the current problems The aim of the interview is gathering information about the understanding for the current system and its process. Our team conducted the interview to narrow down the problems one by one. Web survey for capture the industry strategy Due to the rapid change for the market, this survey is aimed to get the most common strategy for our team. Data Gathering This process is mainly used for identify the existing operation problems through the interview with the company partners, managements and customers. Peoples interviewed: Partners Project mangers Customers The questions for Partners What is your corporate vision and mission? What is your corporate development target in long term / short-term? What is your development strategy in long terms / short terms? Do you agree the change of Hong Kong market decreasing revenue of your company? How many resources had been spent on your strategy development projects? What is / are the existing problem(s) that your company is facing now? And how does your company fix it? The questions for Project Managers How do you carry out the CMS? How long do you planned for your project schedule? How the CMS fulfill the development of your company that you had mentioned before? How many resources had been spent on your strategy development projects? The questions for Customers What service(s) do you mainly used in Town Health Corp? Do you comfortable with the current system of Town Health Corp? 3 Do you have any suggestion(s) for Town Health Corp? Through the interviews, our team recognizes the mission of health care group is providing a comprehensive healthcare service. The short term planning is to develop an effective clinical management system, while the long term objective is to build up an exhaustive service for customers, such as medical decision support analysis. To achieve the short term and long term objectives mentioned above, we have to improve: The duties schedule of physician Communication channels with other insurance companies The inventory control and allocation Standardization of e-health medical record Survey result All interviewee thought that the eHealth is useful as it answered them many questions and as a platform to communicate with others. Whats more, over 80% clients having discussion with professional after a year, which is dangerous if they didnt take annual body check. Almost 80% clients thought the Clinical management system should be connected into Hong Kong centralize database. Due to the elderly dont know how to use the high technology (e.g. computers), thus the respondents refuse to use it. There are only 20% of interviewees think that the Clinical management system cant be effectively the diagnosis processing. Almost 80% of respondents has been used the clinical management system, especially most of them used the Google one. The respondents all are educated above the primary school and most of them are in the age group of 30-39. Values Identified from Interview Objective Schedule Management Insurance interface Inventory control e-medical Record The duties schedule of physician Communication channels with other insurance companies The inventory control and allocation Standardization of e-health medical record Problem Definitions The Group was operating a standalone medical management system over than 10 years. However, there are still many problems occur during daily operation. Data formatting out of date The existing medical system was developed in 1989. All clinic offices were allocated a standalone workstation for operating medical system. The medical system database was developed by FoxPro which could not conduct data mapping with other new technology like Microsoft SQL server, MySQL server. Hence each medical system was all recorded year by year until present. Suffering in medical claim to insurance company Every time when different insurance companies transfer some patients data for inquiry, the staff needs to input the patient data one by one manually in order to get the corresponding data from the database. After all required data have been extracted from the database, the staff needs to enter the corresponding data to different systems that provided by insurance companies. Sometime if the data from insurance companies could not match with the database, the staff needs to notify the insurance company for amendment. After receiving the update data, the staff needs to do the inquiry all over again. Cannot manage resources on inventory Existing medical management system can only handle patients records. Inventory of the Group is recorded by using a logbook. Using of pen and paper cannot fulfill the services standard nowadays. That is not a flexible and efficiency way to keep track and monitor inventory, especially for a medical group which owned over thirty clinics. Manpower that used on inventory is also become a challenge on management and costs. Cannot manage customers appointment effectively Many clinics handle their patient appointments by using telephone bookings and marked on the notebook. However, it always has the contrived mistake, for example, marked down the wrong name or contact number. Sometimes the patients need to wait for a long time to check the appointment time or the medicine stuffs. Furthermore, the doctor may not stay in one single clinic; it is inconvenience for the customers who want to consult the same doctor. Based on problems above, managements decide to carry out a new Clinical Management System (CMS) to replace the existing one. Our learning area: Electric Medical Record, Interfaces with Insurance Company, Inventory Control and Book appointment with web interfaces. Successful Stories 2The Hospital Authority (HA) of Hong Kong 3The Hospital Authority (HA) is one of the successful case of implement CMS in Hong Kong. HA set up 15 Chinese medicine outpatient clinics (CM Centres). These 15 CM Centres are served with a fully computerized Chinese Medicine Information System (CMIS). CMIS is developed by HA for managing a large amount of clinical information. The CMIS is aimed to the support for patient administration (example, appointment, registration and payment), clinical modules (example, diagnosis, consultation notes and prescription) and pharmacy management. It can also treat as a platform for data analysis, planning and researches. The Integrative Medicine Information and Research Manager of HA, Tat Tse said, the system can reduce errors and enhance risk management, for example, the emergence of drug incidents, we can trace the patient and arrange examination as soon as possible. 4Union Hospital in Hong Kong Another successful case for CMS implement is Union Hospital and Union Hospital Polyclinic. Union Hospital was established in the year 1994 while Union Hospital Polyclinic (Tsuen Wan) went into service in January 2007. Hospital and polyclinic have an advanced Customer Management System to provide comprehensive patient data and flexible registration service. It is convenience for the clinic and the hospital to access the patient information and medicine history. It is also expediency for the patient to choose the venue for having the follow-up care thought out the network of Union Hospital. Proposed Solutions With the reference to the above successful cases in Hong Kong, the main purpose for the CMS is easy to deliver medical data. It is a centralized system to control and share the resources, like medical information, to related departments, like Pharmacy, Laboratory and front-end clinics department. Besides, CMS can be synchronized all the medical data to both public and private hospitals and other CMS. A brand new CMS become an important milestone in the IS strategy development. Inventory control To improve the inventory control, the implement of inventory control system is required. It can increase the flexibility and efficiency. The new system will include inventory monitoring, stock transfer, out of stock alert and reporting, and other function like expiry date reminder and search. These functions are the daily tasks which are operating manually every day. The implement of new system can help to reallocate manpower to other tasks. Schedule management The system will renew the data periodically. Old records of patients will be found easily. Clinic staff can handle the patients records and the appointments by using an easier way. Insurance interfaces The system can get requests from different insurance companies and reply those insurance companies automatically. A summary report will generate for checking every day. This can save the manpower of processing insurance companies request and prevent missing or wrong information exchange. E-medical standard Since all the new medical data should be matched with international standard, developers change all the new medical data into  [5]  HL7 format. HL7, an international standard medical system, can exchange data with other systems, which will be the main trend for future development. This action may cost lots of resources in transferring to the new CMS, it is still certainly required for the long term strategy of health care industry. Physical Architecture This section describes the physical architecture of the System. The below diagram shows the physical architecture of the System. The CMS is constructed in 3-tiers web based architecture, which includes web server, application server and database server. Web Server The Web Server will be the primary entry point for all users to access the system. All user activity will be limited within the Web Server. Application Server The Application Server will serve the validation process and the using of the stored data in the Database Server. Users will access these functions through the user interface located at the Web Server. Database Server The Database Server will be the central repository of all data. These data will be using for validation purpose. Software requirements Internet Explorer 5.5 above Java web starter 6.0 above MySQL 10.0.1 above Tomcat web server 6.0 above Hardware requirements IBM X3250 M2, Xeon E3110 3.0GHz/ 1333MHz (DC 65w 6MB L2 cache), 8GB 667MHz SDRAM, 160GB Hot-Swap SATA HDD Tape Drive [Prod Servers] IBM Tape Backup Drive Juniper Netscreen-5GT CableCat5 and Cat6 KVM 1U 15 LCD Monitor w/ 8-port PS/s Solution Budget The solution estimated project costs are shown as below: Items Estimated Costs (HK$) 1. Project team staff/development costs# 500,000 2. Project office set up and running costs including rent, telecom costs, mail/courier, etc. 100,000 3. IT costs including PC, software, printer, fax, LAN set up, etc. 100,000 Grand Total 700,000 Workflow of new CMS E-Medical record standard formats (Health level 7) apply in CMS First of all the medical record (HL7) run across multiple module of CMS, the example shown the workflow of e-medical Record useful in multiple modules of CMS. HL7 is mainly use for data exchange in different multiple module. Such as a single medical record it can be data exchange to doctors in clinical departments then transfer information to other lab departments then the lab result can be generate the medical decision support lab test. Finally the doctor can be made the medical decision and prepared the consultation result. The medical can be claim to insurance company directly for patients. Workflow of appointment in CMS The client calls to book the time with the right doctor. The clinical nurses mark down the information of the client and find out the clinic data from the database. The nurse call to remind the client and confirm the booking. When the client comes, then the appointment is done. Phone in to clinic Mark down the client information Call back and remind the clients Appointment done! Workflow of inventory system 1. Medicine, equipment or office supplies delivered to warehouse, information and amount of each product will be updated into the inventory system 2. Staff in clinics will place order for different items in the inventory system, delivery will be arranged. For some critical items like life-saving medicines, order will be automatically placed once the amount dropped to preset minimum quantity 3. Items delivered to each clinic from warehouse Workflow of Medical Claim Enquiry From Insurance Company Insurance company send medical claim request to CMS, CMS will retrieve data automatically from database and return diagnosis result back to that insurance company. Implementation Schedule The following is the paramilitary schedule of the proposed plan: Date Major Milestone Month 1 Launch of the CMS Project Proposal evaluation Month 2-4 Project Initiation User Requirement Collection Mouth 5-6 System Design and Analysis Procurement and Installation of Hardware and Software Interface with external systems Mouth 7-8 Program Development Mouth 9-11 User Acceptance Test Documentation Training Mouth 9-11 User Feedback Collection User Feedback Analysis System Design Revision Mouth 9-12 Program Modification User Acceptance Test Documentation Training Phase 2 Live Run Conclusion Durng the study topcis,all of us exploer our eye on Hong Kong Helthcare business operations.Due to the market change from previous, Hong Kong became stanadardation with international.The government of HKSAR become the leader role on electric health care stanard and regulations. Hence the team regonzine the implementation of cinical management system just the begin electric health care stages. All the industry stakeholders become more international standardization in future! Project Self-evaluation The study of CMS and its functions team completed the target because we can learn Healthcare knowledge during the project. The project management works are fine and the team conducts many discussion points during preparation. Finally I inspirit our teamwork steps until project closure. Tommy Wong @ Middlesex University 2011 During this project, I got the chance to explore and learn about the medical industry, and the relationship between information technology and medical and how they benefit each other. In my own findings using information technology in medical industry especially the outpatient services, is still in a preliminary stage, which mean more I.T. elements can be used to enhance the perform, more efficiency and profit can be archived. Simon Wong @ Middlesex University 2011 During this project, our division of labor is very balance. Everyone tried the best and put many efforts on it. I in charged the parts of findings, included the survey result, interview result and others. However,  some difficulties  encountered in  investigations, for example,  many respondents were  not sure  what  is eHealth, or  send the mail to people have not reply. I think our team spirit is good. But I should do the project more actively. Whats more, after my self-evaluation, I think my work is fair effective and efficient, due to the fair English grammar, I might need the others group mates help to proofread. At the same time, I think my time management can be better, because of my delay, the schedule of work might postpone. I hope I will do it better next time. Eric Pang @ Middlesex University 2011 Medical topic is a totally new topic to me, but to deal with different industries and departments is one of characteristic for Information Technology. Though this project, my skill for handling an unfamiliar topic is improved, which is equipped me to be an Information Technology professional. In this group project, I responsible for research on medical field business model. I found that even in a field of professionalism, the competition between companies still very great. Therefor price war is not a best way for them to increase the revenue. Before this project, I truly believed that price war is always a way to help companies to develop their business, but now I understand that with the information system support and re-engine the process flow, the company still can increase their productivity and achieve the target of increasing revenue. After this project, doing the analysis on the company background and market background become more and more import to me when designing solutions. This is the first time for me to handle an unfamiliar topic, medical health care industry. I had spent a lot of time to search information and catch up the schedule of my teammates. By having thIs experience, I am sure that I can do better for next time. Ben Wong @ Middlesex University 2011 Appendix 1 Interview Questions with Answer Dr Joseph Lee, Partner of Corporate Development Town health Co Ltd 1 Feb 2011 Dear Dr Lee, We are a group of year 3 undergraduate students of Middlesex University, School of Engineering and Information Sciences. As part of our final year studies, we have been asked to contact and interview a strategic manager on a topic related to the use of Information Technology and Information Systems within the organization. The focus of our approach is to look at the strategic reasons why a particular configuration of IT/IS functionality was adopted assuming that competitive advantage was the prime focus of the implementers. The topic we have selected is Clinical Management System implementation for the chain health care group. We approach you because we believe that our topic represents an important strategic use of IT/IS within your organization. We are requesting a short interview with an appropriate strategic manager within your organization. We should only take a short amount of time at your convenience. However, we do have a deadline of early December for this part of our work. If you are available to help, please reply me by email to [emailprotected] Thank you for your consideration of our request. Yours truly, Tommy Wong Attn: Dr Joseph Lee, Partner of Corporate development, Town Health Co. Interview Questions 1. What is your corporate vision and mission? Our group mission is grouping up all the clinic services to provide a comprehensive healthcare place to the public. 2. What is your corporate development target in long term / short-term? Long -term: Our corporate development target will be emphasized on the elderly mansion. We can provide the periodically body check as elderly easy to have the elderly ill. We would like cooperating with them by contractual in the future 5 years. Whats more, they will enjoy the discount by joining our group elderly program. We hoped that we can have over 30 elderly mansion join us. Short -term: Another our consideration is the doctors who wanted save the rent. They can use the place that share with other doctors, thus they still have their own clinic room but share the rent and human resources. It is because we want to keep increasing our shops (about 10 /year) in different area in HK to enhance our brand image. 3. What is your development strategy in long terms/ short terms? Increase the shops of Town Health is the one of the promotion plan. It increases the brand warranty and customer trusting. When the demand increases, the supply should be increased too. In long term, Town Health has to use personal selling to explain the services to the elderly mansion. Therefore we will recruit more sales to demonstrate our job to the elderly to increase our professional image and increase the corporate opportunities. 4. Do you agree the change of Hong Kong market decreasing revenue of your company? No. It was totally opposite with your question. As the citizens in HK becomes older and older, their requirement of the elderly instruments and healthcare in growth rapidly. In fact the target market in our industry is growing, the revenue of our company is in an enhancement. 5. How many resources had been spent on your strategy development projects? A lot! Human resources and Material resources which includes the instruments, medicines, equipments. I think it will over 100 millions. 6. What is / are your existing problem(s) that your company is facing now? And how does your company fix it? We have to find the Corp target carefully as many of them are not the legal one, whatever the mansion or doctor. We want to enlarge our clinic healthcare by a good quality. We would like asking the existing customers opinions and their past experience. Sometimes we need to find the good doctors by the positive word-of mouth. Thanks for your time and attention. Mr Jackson Tam, Project Manager Town health Co Ltd 1 Feb 2011 Dear Jackson, We are a group of year 3 undergraduate students of Middlesex University, School of Engineering and Information Sciences. As part of our final year studies, we have been asked to contact and interview a strategic manager on a topic related to the use of Information Technology and Information Systems within the organization. The focus of our approach is to look at the strategic reasons why a particular configuration of IT/IS functionality was adopted assuming that competitive advantage was the prime focus of the implementers. The topic we have selected is Clinical Management System implementation for the chain health care group. We approach you because we believe that our topic represents an important strategic use of IT/IS within your organization. We are requesting a short interview with an appropriate strategic manager within your organization. We should only take a short amount of time at your convenience. However, we do have a deadline of early December for this part of our work. If you are available to help, please reply me by email to [emailprotected] Thank you for your consideration of our request. Yours truly, Tommy Wong Attn: Jackson Tam, Project Manager, town health Corp. 1. How do you carry out the CMS? I would set up a project team. Most of the members come from functional team. I also recruit external consultant to be the project adviser. 2. How long do you planned for your project schedule? 2 years 3. How the CMS fulfill the development of your company that you had mentioned before? The functions of CMS commit, electronic medical format as connecting with international standard, the platform connecting with insurance company modules and also control inventory and physicians schedule management. 4.How many resources had been spent on your strategy development projects? Over 2 Millions. All are spent on in-house team development works. Thanks for your time and attention. Ms Eva Ma, Deputy Business Development officer. AIA HK Co Ltd 1 Feb 2011 Dear Eva, We are a group of year 3 undergraduate students of Middlesex University, School of Engineering and Information Sciences. As part of our final year studies, we have been asked to contact and interview a strategic manager on a topic related to the use of Information Technology and Information Systems within the organization. The focus of our approach is to look at the strategic reasons why a particular configuration of IT/IS functionality was adopted assuming that competitive advantage was the prime focus of the implementers. The topic we have selected is Clinical Management System implementation for the chain health care group. We approach you because we believe that our topic represents an important strategic use of IT/IS within your organization. We are requesting a short interview with an appropriate strategic manager within your organization. We should only take a short amount of time at your convenience. However, we do have a deadline of early December for this part of our work. If you are available to help, please reply me by email to [emailprotected] Thank you for your