Interpreting Managed Client Order Briefings

Interpreting Managed Client Order Briefings When youre writing for a Managed Client, it means you wont be directly communicating with the client. Instead, youll be communicating with editorial staff and Account Managers at Textbroker who act according to the wishes of the client. MichellaTextbroker Author Services Rep Managed Client orders make up a big part of the order pool at Textbroker. When youre writing for a Managed Client, it means you wont be directly communicating with the client. Instead, youll be communicating with editorial staff and Account Managers at Textbroker who act according to the wishes of the client. In many ways, writing MC orders is similar to writing any other order at Textbroker, and youll want to follow the same best practices in terms of punctuation, syntax and overall quality of writing. There are, however, a few key things you might want to know along the way. How to Interpret Revision Requests There are two types of revision requests that you can receive for orders from a Managed Client: a revis ion request from one of the editorial staff at Textbroker or a revision request that has been passed along from the client. Often, these revision requests are sent for orders that dont adhere to specific order instructions.Many orders for Managed Clients have long and detailed instructions. This is actually a benefit because it is much easier to know exactly what it takes to have your order accepted. A revision request might remind you of a key piece of the order instructions that you missed, so you should adjust your writing with that in mind. These revision requests also ensure that you write future orders for the Managed Client correctly and help you brush up on grammar skills. When to Reach Out to Support Managed Client orders require you to reach out to support at Textbroker rather than the client. If you have any concerns about the order instructions or even a revision request, reach out to the Account Manager for the project or the Author Services team. They are often able to get back to you very quickly so you can continue writing your order, meet the deadline and pick up your next order soon after.The exception to this rule might be if you are under a tight deadline and have just a short time until the order expires. If youre pushed for time, complete the order to the best of your abilities and submit it. Then, contact support and let them know what your concerns were. What to Know About Order Acceptance and Payment A big difference between Managed Client orders and traditional orders is the timeline for order acceptance. While standard Direct Orders are accepted within four days, orders from Managed Clients may not be. However, you might be surprised by how quickly Textbrokers editorial staff can get through orders and accept them. You may also notice that Managed Client orders tend to be accepted in bulk. This is due to the clients deadline. Although you might not have an order accepted for a few days, youll often see a big addition to your pay out all at once. Check the order briefing carefully for a date and time by which the order should be submitted. If included, this may give you an idea of how soon the order will be accepted. HTML, Lists and Other Features Along with instructions for the preferred style and tone, many Managed Client orders come with specific requirements for formatting. Once again, dont be put off by these instructions. They simply ensure that you deliver orders the client is happy with.Formatting guidelines may require using basic HTML like header tags, bulleted or ordered lists and hyperlinks. Fortunately, this is easier than ever to incorporate into your orders. Simple, convenient buttons in the Textbroker word processor add HTML to your writing, which means you dont have to be a coding expert to deliver what clients request.Occasionally, Managed Clients might have you use a template for an order or even an author mask, which streamlines the writing process and cuts down on revision requests for autho rs. You should thoroughly read the instructions to ensure you understand the order requirements and catch any tips or tools that may make writing easier for you.Managed Client orders can be a great way to earn more income at Textbroker. Although some authors are nervous about taking them on, they are often straightforward and easy to understand. With clear, specific instructions, they become simpler to write as you go. The more articles you write for a Managed Client, the faster youll get.

Definition and Examples of Asymmetry in Communication

Definition and Examples of Asymmetry in Communication In conversation analysis, asymmetry is an imbalance in the relationship between speaker and hearer(s) as a result of social and institutional factors. Also called conversational asymmetry and language asymmetry. In Conversation Analysis (2008), Hutchby and Wooffitt point out that one of the features of arguments in ordinary conversation is that there may be struggles over who sets their opinion on the line first and who gets to go second. . . . [T]hose in second position . . . are able to choose if and when they will set out their own argument, as opposed to simply attacking the others. Examples and Observation: Comrades . . . he said, using the official title.We arent your comrades, interrupted Comrade Cherepin. You are a defendant here!And who is asking the questions here? Petro shot back. I thought Sydir was the judge.Someone burst into laughter. Sydir, the judge, who all this time was sitting as straight as a ramrod in his chair, now gazed at the members of the court and found them looking at him and then at each other.But this atmosphere of confusion did not last long. Comrade Cherepin jumped to his feet.I am asking the questions here! he shouted with arrogance. And what I am asking must be answered, for I am the representative of the Party.(Miron Dolot, Execution by Hunger: The Hidden Holocaust. W.W. Norton, 1985) Asymmetry and Power: Doctors and Patients [E]mpirical analysis has repeatedly revealed fundamental ways in which institutional forms of discourse indeed exhibit systematic asymmetries that mark them out from ordinary conversation. To take an example, in medical encounters, which have been the subject of a vast amount of research documenting asymmetries in institutional interaction (Maynard, 1991), one way of tracing the power relationship between doctors and their patients is by counting the number of questions that are asked by each participant, looking at the type of questions asked by doctors and patients, and/or counting the number of times a doctor interrupts a patient and vice versa. Large-scale asymmetries emerge from such exercises from which it may be concluded that doctors exert control over the concerns expressed within the consultation, and patients defer to the authority of the doctor by refraining from battling for such control themselves.(Ian Hutchby, Confrontation Talk: Arguments, Asymmetries, and Power on Ta lk Radio. Lawrence Erlbaum, 1996) Concealed Asymmetries at Work If a performance is to be effective it will be likely that the extent and character of the cooperation that makes this possible will be concealed and kept secret.([Erving] Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. 1959: 104) The suggestion made in Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, above is reiterated in Goffmans 1983 paper, in which he again reminds us that service relations are a matter of tacit cooperation between asymmetries that must remain unmarked. In spite of the collaboration of the new workplace activities, there remains an essential tension or asymmetry between worker and customer/client or between workers in different positions and contexts of work. The social work that the participants must do requires them to cooperate in concealing the existence of this asymmetry for the purpose of preserved order. When differentials are recognized, repair work has to be part of the encounter. Goffman suggests that to preserve the interaction order persons need to act as if the principle of symmetry was in place.(Jenny Cook-Gumperz, Cooperation, Collaboration and Pleasure in Work: Issues for Intercultural Communication at Work. Culture in Communication: Analyses of Intercultural Situations, ed. by Aldo Di Luzio, Susanne Gà ¼nthner, and Franca Orletti. John Benjamins, 2001) Sources of Asymmetry in Communication Status provides a mechanism for giving values to the variables of appropriateness and effectiveness and relativizing these across different types of social relation and cultural setting. Both enchrony and status are sources of asymmetry in communication. From enchrony, there is asymmetry in preference relations and in the associated one-way notion of response. From status, there is an unequalness of social relations, readily seen in relationships like father-son, shopkeeper-customer or speaker-hearer. There now remains a third source of asymmetry in communication . . .- the distributed nature of responsibility and commitment concerning knowledge and information in communication.(N.J. Enfield, Sources of Asymmetry in Human Interaction: Enchrony, Status, Knowledge and Agency. The Morality of Knowledge in Conversation, ed. by Tanya Stivers, Lorenza Mondada, and Jakob Steensig. Cambridge University Press, 2011) The Lighter of Asymmetry   Let me tell you something. Its every coachs dream to experience the highest level of idiocy that his team can muster, and gentlemen, collectively us coaches, we are living a dream.(Kyle Chandler as Coach Eric Taylor, addressing his high school football team in Swerve. ​Friday Night Lights, 2011)- Okay, shut up! Ill do the talking. You just stand there and try to look like youre doing something besides just standing there.​(Jeff Dunham as Peanut in Jeff Dunham: Minding the Monsters, 2012)

Management & Organisational Behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Management & Organisational Behaviour - Essay Example â€Å"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.†-Henry Ford This adage is especially relevant for prevailing times where the significance of collective efforts and notions like decision making by mutual consensus, strategy formulation after consideration of all possible ideas, encouragement of a free-flowing structure are practices not only being enthusiastically embraced by organizations, but also being implemented and promoted. With the advent of new concepts, organizations are recognizing that a mechanistic structure has been rendered obsolete by the dynamics of the global world and by the variability in nature, preferences and demands with time. They now realize that the most favorable organization structure to boost their productivity is an organistic structure which is defined by few regulations, and inspires working of employees as teams, their coordination with each other as well as the unbounded exchange of knowledge and thoughts between employees and the management. Generally, two forms of groups operate within an organization; members of a formal groups work together to reflect the goals of the organization, on the contrary, informal groups involve pursuit of social and other common interests of the members which are not directly linked with the task assignments of the organization. (Robbins and Coulter, 2003) A formal group development is a comprehensive phenomenon; the activities of the groups are influenced by the fluctuation in aspects as well as the change in entities of the external and internal environment. It comprises of stages of forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.

Language Aquisition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Language Aquisition - Essay Example The process further advances to a stage where a child learns language agreement rule. For instance, it is through an English agreement rule that a child learns a verb for third-person, singular subjects are added ‘s’. Language acquisition also involves creativity; it is through creativity that children manage to use their derivational rules knowledge in creating novel words. For example, it is through knowledge of derivational rules that a child manages to derive a verb from a noun, â€Å"broom-broom it†, and use it in his utterance, â€Å"I broomed it up† (â€Å"Language Acquisition† 344). Language acquisition is also enhanced by acquaintance of syntactic rules knowledge (â€Å"Language Acquisition† 346). It is the knowledge of the syntactic rule that enables a child to utter complex words. It is also the same knowledge that enables very young children to understand the word-order rules, and as a result, differentiate sentences. The ability of children to put words together is as a result of them developing the ability of relating syntactic and semantic rules. At this stage, children utterance appears telegraphic because of the level of their linguistic capacity. However, this is later solved by the children categorizing and segmenting words through learning their

Importance of the Oregon Trail Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Importance of the Oregon Trail - Essay Example In 1846 a compromise was worked out with Britain and a treaty signed that gave the United States rights to the land south of the 49th parallel and Britain the lan north fom 49th to 54th 40'. The Whitmans were instrumental in the establishment of the Oregon Trail. Mrs. Narcissa Whitman and Mrs. Eliza Spalding demonstrated that women could make the overland journey. Dr. Marcus Whitman strongly promoted the ability of wagons to complete the journey. The Whitmans' mission at Waiilatpu provided necessary aid and supplies to the weary travelers. Narcissa and Eliza became the first white women to make the journey across the continent. Articles about this trip appeared in eastern newspapers. These two women became role models for the women and families who would eventually travel the Oregon Trail. Ironically, although the Whitmans helped to establish the Oregon Trail, they themselves were not able to bring their wagons to their mission site. Even though his initial attempt failed, Marcus never lost faith that wagons would eventually make the trip. In 1842 Marcus traveled east to speak directly with members of the American Board about decisions they had made concerning the Oregon Country missions. Marcus traveled home with the large wagon train of 1843, "The Great Migration." Under his guidance this wagon train became the first to take their wagons all the way to the Columbia River. Following in the footsteps of the fur trappers, a number of missionary families ventured into the Oregon Territory by overland routes in the 1830s for the purpose of ministering to the native tribes. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman established their mission in the Walla Walla Valley in 1836, an endeavor that eventually ended in tragedy. Early missionaries were important in providing information and assistance to later migrating families. The Oregon Trail was not a single path to the West, but a series of trails leading to the Columbia River and the Willamette Valley. The point of origination was in Missouri, frequently from Independence and sometimes from Westport and St. Joseph. The main trail pushed across present-day Kansas and Nebraska, following the North Platt River to Fort Laramie. This journey was a real test of the settlers' perseverance. Threats were posed by severe weather conditions, both extreme heat and cold; by disease with cholera a particular concern; by deprivation since supplies of both food and water were uncertain; and by other natural disasters such as landslides, flooding, and prairie fires. The most intense use of the trail was in the mid-1840s, but wagon trains continued to use this conduit for another 10 years. The coming of the railroads to the West ended the importance of the Oregon Trail as a major transportation route by wagon train. REFERENCES: Hixon, Adrietta Applegate, On to Oregon: 1973, Ye Galleon Press Lee, Daniel and Joseph H. Frost, Ten Years in Oregon: [1844, New York] 1968, Ye Galleon Press, Fairfield,

Business Ethics And Cross Cultural Management Commerce Essay

Business Ethics And Cross Cultural Management Commerce Essay Ethics, or more accurately, the lack of ethics, on the part of business and government leaders has lately received significant attention in the mass media and has been a topic of discussion among the public, as well as the different organizations in the world (Peppas 2002). Business ethics has gained the attention of many scholars and executives in both private and public sectors because of many unethical practices that are being reported. This includes the cases of large multinational organizations including Enron (Rashid Ibrahim 2007). This is the reason why many studies about cultural differences and business ethics have been implemented in the past years. This literature review is conducted in order to analyze and evaluate the arguments regarding the different aspects that are related with business ethics and differences in cultures. Implications of Business Ethics The concept about ethics is considered as a complex matter because it is predicated on an interchange of views regarding the belief systems of individual among the citizens of any culture (Svensson Wood 2003). The study of business ethics and its connection for the stakeholders of organizations have experienced fast growth in the past few decades. The literature about business ethics is divided on its views regarding the motivation and the cause for organizations to have their ethical dimension. The study of Harrison (2001) showed that there are two main schools of thoughts first are those who suggest that firms are operating in order to generate profit, therefore, business ethics is considered as another means of attracting the customers, while the second are those who supported some corporate conscience as well as inherent motivation for the implementation of business ethics. On the other hand, Paul (2001) considered business ethics are very subjective in nature because it is a function of time and culture therefore, the business ethics have changed, together with the cultural values and norms motivated the business ethics in the national and regional boundaries. The study of Hofstede (1983) is considered as one of the most important studies which show the differences of countries or nations in terms of cultures and values. The study showed that there are 4 vital indicators which include individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity which shows great differences in the culture among different nations. The study of Vinten (1991) divided the issues of business ethics in different degree, which include international business, domestic business and professional ethics. Each level constitute for different level of some unethical activities perform by organizations and businesses. Even though, there are many studies which show importance of ethics, and even though it is being followed by different organizations, there are still many reasons and disapproval of adoption of ethics in the world of business. This is connected to the study of Stemberg (1994) which focuses on the case of rejected relativism. It stated that ethics is seen as excessively theoretical, at the same time, contradict the primary reason of any business and it is also lacking of direction in terms of harmony across the different cultures. Business Ethics and Cultural Differences One of the challenges that business ethics is facing is the impact of globalization. As a result, it is common nowadays, for business managers and employees to work with and for people from different nations and races which represents many different cultural values. It is important to consider that culture affects virtually all of the aspects of the business relationship. This is because one aspect, that of business ethics, can cause huge conflict and gross misunderstanding between individuals who do not share the same backgrounds (Sims 2006). With this, the attitudes of individual towards the business ethics may be different greatly even within one culture that trying to come to an agreement across cultures can become nearly impossible. Thus, it may be that an agreement on ethics across cultures is not even recommended (Donaldson Dunfee 1999). Furthermore, in culturally homogenous groups, there is a greater possibility that values of individual members of the team will match. Howev er, because the because of the growing number of cross-cultural organizations, it is important to focus on this subject. Business ethics can be seen as a function of culture because the evolution of culture in the environment of the business will surely affect the acceptable and unacceptable actions inside and outside the organization. Different studies across cultures have been performed in the literature of ethics on the international level such as: Jakubowski et al., 2002; Fisher et al., 2001; Seitz, 2001; and Singhapakdi et al., 1999; and the national level which include Peppas Peppas, 2000; and Fernandez-Fernandez et al., 1999 (Svensson Wood 2003). The study of Singhapakdi Rawwas (1999) shows that the business ethics are considered as essential in the international business, because the culture of individual affect their ethical decisions. It presented that there are some vital differences between the countries, thus it is important to focus on those in order to ensure success of organizations. In connection, Vinten (1998) argues that business ethics has the possibility to become a vital factor of corporate strategy and culture, thus it must be considered in internal and external ethical audit. On the other hand, the study of Hood and Longsdon (2002) showed the similarities and differences of cultural values of managers in three countries. The result showed that one of the vital components of culture is ethics. Therefore, this factor of culture survives as a possible strong influence towards the success of the organizations in the entire marketplace. Bucar Glas (2002) expand a conceptual framework for the evaluation of the cross-cultural differences in the ethical attitudes of business people that are based on the theory of social contract. The result of the study showed that prognostic of the degree of the ethical attitudes among the societies and they focus on the more delicate influence of many social institutions on the ethical attitudes of different groups within the society. On the other hand, according to Sen (1997), in the concept of the role of cultures in the m otivating norms of the behavior of business, it is important to be familiar with the compound structures of principles of business, at the same time, focuses on the wide-ranging contact of sentiments. Business Ethics Theory and Practice Gap The article of Stark (1993) presented the gap between the theory and practice in business ethics. According to Stark (1993) academic researches about business ethics failed to present useful guidance towards the managerial decision-making regarding the different ethical issues. Particularly, this applies on the added urgency that some of the most complex ethical issues which happen in the international arena. This was supported by Dean (1998) who stated that the field of business ethics must also include a service aspect if it is to be considered as the profession of business ethics. This focuses on the qualification of business ethics as profession. Thus, the question lies on the capability of the business ethics as the leading or conducting behavior in the business world, thus, it pertains on whom the field of business ethics is focusing. In addition, the international business ethics can only be deemed a profession based on its tangible and existing advantage towards the actual or real-world risks and threats. Conclusion Business ethics is a vital aspect in any organization and business. This is because it enables them to focus on planning and implementing rules and regulations, standards and policies that will be beneficial to everyone by applying what is right and what is with accordance to the law. However, because of globalization, business ethics is facing different criticism and possible problem. This is because of the fact that culture affects how an individual or group perceives one thing or situation as good or bad. Therefore, it is important to focus on the different cultural factors in order to ensure future success of business world. Annotated Bibliography Morgan, E 1998, Navigating Cross-Cultural Ethics: What Global Managers Do Right To Keep From Going Wrong, Butterworth-Heinemann. This is a textbook which shows the personal stories of managers who are running global business. It focuses on analyzing the different dilemmas that global managers are facing in terms of ethical leadership in international business. Svensson, G Wood, G 2003, The Dynamics of Business Ethics: a Function of Time and Culture Case and Models, Management Decision, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 350 361. This is a journal which examines the construct of ethics as a whole and of the business ethics in specific manner. Furthermore, it also offers a theoretical discussion of the dynamics of ethics in the society and in the marketplace. Gannon, M Newman, K 2002, The Blackwell Handbook of Cross-Cultural Management, Wiley-Blackwell. This textbook offer an overview of the different major research perspectives about cross-cultural management and ethics, it includes theories about ethics and cultures, together with how it can be applied in the real-world. Ferrell, O C, Fraedrich, J Ferrell, L 2006, Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases, Cengage Learning. This textbook presents complex environment where in the managers face different ethical decision making. This include how cultural differences can affect how managers and members of the company perceive changes and decisions inside the company. Weiss, J 2008, Business Ethics: A Stakeholder and Issues Management Approach, Cengage Learning. This textbook presented the different issues that are related with the business ethics. This includes information about the impact of differences in cultures among different nations working in the business environment. Katsioloudes, M Hadjidakis, S 2007, International Business: A Global Perspective, Butterworth-Heinemann. This textbook enables to present the different theories and changes going on in the business environment in international arena. This will be helpful in order to locate information which pertains on the different challenges which global managers will be facing in terms of decision-making.

The Battle of the Pacific Essay -- Military History

Introduction April 1, 1945 the United States Military had its sights set on a small island chain known as the Ryukyu Islands. The main island of Okinawa would be the primary target. Sixty miles long and two to eighteen miles wide, this island was only three hundred and forty miles from mainland Japan. This island would put U.S. forces in air bombing range of mainland Japan. The Tenth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Butler, consisted of two Army divisions and Two Marine divisions. Also the United States Navy 5th Fleet commanded by Admiral Raymond Spruance. The thirty second Japanese Army, commanded by General Mitsuru Ushijima, would try to defend Okinawa. United States forces were met with little resistance during the invasion however this battle would prove to be one of the fiercest in the Pacific. A cost that did not have to be paid considering the atomic bomb would end the war weeks after the fighting had halted. History On December 7th 1941, the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor and Americans were caught completely off guard. Eight United States Navy ships were damaged and five were sunk. 2,403 Americans lost their lives with 1,178 wounded. This incident thrust the U.S. military into World War 2. The next three years the United States found themselves in fierce battles throughout the Pacific. The technique used is referred to as island hopping. After Midway, the Philippines, the Marianas, and Iwo Jima it was now time for Okinawa. Okinawa its self is a territory of Japan. The civilian populous, once a monarchy, was caught in the middle of a bloody battle. Planning and Preparation The original plan was to take the Island of Formosa, or Taiwan as it is commonly known. After... ... The staggering cost of this battle was one that didn’t necessarily have to be paid. On August 6th the first atomic bomb named Little Boy, was dropped on Hiroshima. Three days later a second atomic bomb, named Fat Man, was dropped on Nagasaki. On August 15th, just six weeks after the fighting on Okinawa was over, Japan announced its surrender. On September 2nd the official declaration of surrender was signed by the Japanese. References Fiefer, George Tennozan the Battle of Okinawa and the Atomic Bomb, Ticnor and Fields 1992 Leckie, Robert Okinawa the Last Battle of World War II, Viking Penguin 1995 Pryce, Richard O.K.K.A. â€Å"The Battle of Okinawa†, www.okka.co.uk/battleofokinawa.html Thomas, Evan Sea of Thunder, Simon and Schuster 2006 â€Å"World war II in Europe†, History Place 1997, www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/pearl.html

A Dirty Job Chapter 18

18 YO MOMMA SO DEAD THAT†¦ On her last day, Lois Asher rallied. After not having even been able to get up to go to the breakfast table, or into the living room to sit and watch TV for three weeks, got up and danced with Buddy to an old Ink Spots song. She was playful and full of laughter, she teased her children and hugged them, she ate a chocolate-marshmallow sundae, and she brushed and flossed afterward. She put on her favorite silver jewelry and wore it to the dinner table, and when she couldn't find her squash-blossom necklace she shrugged it off like it was a minor thing – she must have misplaced it. Oh, well. Charlie knew what was happening because he had seen it before, and Buddy and Jane knew because Grace, the hospice nurse, explained it to them. â€Å"It happens again and again. I've seen people come out of a coma and sing their favorite songs, and all I can tell you is to enjoy it. People see the light come back into eyes that have been dull for months, and they start to place hope on it. It's not a sign of getting well, it's an opportunity to say good-bye. It's a gift.† Charlie had also learned by observing that it really helped everyone to let go if they were at least mildly medicated, so he and Jane took some antianxiety pills that Jane's therapist had prescribed and Buddy washed down a time-released morphine pill with some scotch. Medication and forgiveness can make for joyous moments with the dying – it's like they get to return to childhood – and because nothing in the future matters, because you don't have to train them for life, teach lessons, forge applicable and practical memories, all the joy can be wicked from those last moments and stored in the heart. It was the best and closest time Charlie had ever had with his mother and his sister, and Buddy, in the sharing, became family as well. Lois Asher went to bed at nine and died at midnight. I can't stay for the funeral,† Charlie said to his sister the next morning. â€Å"What do you mean you can't stay for the funeral?† Charlie looked out the window at the giant ice pick of a shadow that had made its way down the mountain toward his mother's house. Charlie could see it churning at the edges, like flocks of birds or swarming insects. The point was less than a half mile away. â€Å"I have something I have to do at home, Jane. I mean, I forgot to do it and I really, really can't stay.† â€Å"Don't be mysterious. What the hell do you need to do that you can't attend your own mother's funeral?† Charlie was pressing his Beta Male imagination to the breaking point to come up with something credible on the spot. Then a light went on. â€Å"The other night, when you sent me out to get laid?† â€Å"Yeah?† â€Å"Well, it was an adventure, to be sure, but when I went to get my scalp sewed up, I also had a test. I talked to the doctor today, and I have to go get treatment. Right now.† â€Å"You moron, I didn't send you out to have unsafe sex. What were you thinking?† â€Å"It was safe sex.† Right, sure, he thought, he almost scoffed at himself. â€Å"It's the wounds they're worried about. But if I get on these drugs right away, there's a good chance that I'll be okay.† â€Å"They're putting you on the cocktail? As a preventative?† Sure, that's it, the cocktail! Charlie thought. He nodded gravely. â€Å"Okay, then, go.† Jane turned and hid her face. â€Å"Maybe I can get back in time for the funeral,† Charlie said. Could he? He had to retrieve two overdue soul vessels in less than a week, and hope that no new names had appeared in his date book. â€Å"We'll do it a week from today,† Jane said, turning back around, tears blinked away. â€Å"You go home, get treated, come back. Buddy and I will handle the arrangements.† â€Å"I'm sorry,† Charlie said. He put his arms around his sister. â€Å"Don't you die on me, too, you fucker,† Jane said. â€Å"I'll be fine. I'll be back as soon as I can.† â€Å"Bring back that charcoal Armani of yours for me to wear to the funeral, and Cassie's strappy black pumps, okay?† â€Å"You? In strappy black pumps?† â€Å"It's what Mom would have wanted,† Jane said. When Charlie landed in San Francisco there were four frantic messages on his cell phone from Cassandra. She had always seemed so calm, composed – a stable counterpoint to his sister's flights of fancy. She sounded a wreck on the phone. â€Å"Charlie, she's got him trapped and they're going to eat him and I don't know what to do. I don't want to call the cops. Call me when you land.† Charlie did call, all the way into the city in the shuttle van he called, but kept getting transferred to voice messaging. When he got out of the van in front of his store he heard a hiss coming out of the storm drain at the corner. â€Å"I missed finishing with you, lover,† came the voice. â€Å"No time,† Charlie said, hopping over the curb and running into the store. â€Å"You never called,† purred the Morrigan. Ray was behind the counter mousing through Asian cuties when Charlie came storming through. â€Å"You'd better get upstairs,† Ray said. â€Å"They're freaking out up there.† â€Å"No kidding,† Charlie said as he passed. He took the stairs two at a time. He was fumbling his key into the lock when Cassandra threw the door open and pulled him into his apartment. â€Å"She won't let him go. I'm afraid they're going to eat him.† â€Å"Who, what? That's what you said on my voice mail. Where is Sophie?† Cassandra dragged him to Sophie's room, where he was met in the doorway by a growling Mohammed. â€Å"Daddy!† Sophie shrieked. She ran across the room and leapt into his arms. She gave him a big hug and a sloppy kiss that left a chocolate Sophie-print on his cheek. â€Å"Down,† she said. â€Å"Down, down.† Charlie put her down and she ran back into her room, but Mohammed prevented Charlie from entering, pushed his nose into Charlie's shirt, leaving a giant dog-nose print in chocolate. Evidently there had been a chocolate orgy going on in his absence. â€Å"His mother is supposed to pick him up at one,† Cassandra said. â€Å"I don't know what to do.† Charlie strained to see around the hellhound and saw Sophie standing with her hand on Alvin's collar while he menaced a little boy who was crouched in the corner. The little boy was a little wide-eyed, but otherwise unhurt, and he didn't seem that frightened. In fact, he was hugging a box of Crunchy Cheese Newts, and was eating one, then feeding the next one to Alvin, who was dripping hellish dog drool onto the kid's shoes in anticipation of the next newt. â€Å"I love him,† Sophie said. She went to the little boy and kissed him on the cheek, leaving a chocolate smear. Not the first. It appeared that this little guy had been suffering Sophie's affections for quite some time, for he was covered with chocolaty goodness and orange Cheese-Newt dust. â€Å"I want to keep him.† The little boy grinned. â€Å"He came over for a playdate. I guess you scheduled it before you left,† Cassandra said. â€Å"I thought it would be okay. I tried to get him out of there, but the dogs won't let me by. What are we going to tell his mother?† â€Å"I want to keep him,† Sophie said. Big kiss. â€Å"His name is Matthew,† Cassie said. â€Å"I know his name. He goes to Sophie's school.† Charlie started into the room. Mohammed blocked the doorway. â€Å"Matty, are you all right?† Charlie said. â€Å"Uh-huh,† said the chocolate-, cheese-, and dog-drool-sodden kid. â€Å"I want him to stay, Dad,† Sophie said. â€Å"Alvin and Mohammed want him to stay, too.† Charlie thought that perhaps he had not been strict enough in setting limits for his daughter. Maybe after losing her mother, he just hadn't had the heart to say no to her, and now she was taking hostages. â€Å"Honey, Matty has to get cleaned up. His mommy is coming to get him so he can go be traumatized in his own house.† â€Å"No! He's mine.† â€Å"Honey, tell Mohammed to let me in. If we don't get Matty cleaned up, he won't be able to come back.† â€Å"He can sleep in your room,† Sophie said. â€Å"I'll take care of him.† â€Å"No, young lady, you tell Mohammed to get – â€Å" â€Å"I have to pee,† Matthew said. He climbed to his feet and skipped by Alvin, who followed him, then under Mohammed and past Charlie and Cassandra to the bathroom. â€Å"Hi,† he said as he went by. He closed the door and they could hear the sound of tinkle. Alvin and Mohammed bullied their way through the doorway and waited outside the bathroom. Sophie sat down hard, her feet splayed out, her lower lip pushed out like the cowcatcher on a steam engine. Her shoulders started heaving before he could hear the sob – like she was saving up breath – then the wailing and the tears. Charlie went to her and picked her up. â€Å"I?CI – I?CI, he – he – he – he – â€Å" â€Å"It's okay, honey. It's okay.† â€Å"But I love him.† â€Å"I know you do, honey. It'll be okay. He'll go to his house and you can still love him.† â€Å"Noooooooooooooooooooooo – â€Å" She buried her face in his jacket, and as much as his heart was breaking for his daughter, he was also thinking about how much Three Fingered Wu was going to ding him for getting the chocolate stain out of his jacket. â€Å"They just let him go pee,† Cassandra said, staring at the hellhounds. â€Å"Just like that. I thought they were going to eat him. They wouldn't let me near him.† â€Å"It's okay,† Charlie said. â€Å"You didn't know.† â€Å"Know what?† â€Å"They love the Crunchy Cheese Newts.† â€Å"You're kidding?† â€Å"Sorry. Look, Cassie, can you clean up Sophie and Matty and take care of this? I have some stuff in my date book I have to take care of right away.† â€Å"Sure, but – â€Å" â€Å"Sophie will be fine. Won't you, honey?† Sophie nodded sadly and wiped her eyes on his coat. â€Å"I missed you, Daddy.† â€Å"I missed you, too, sweetie. I'll be home tonight.† He kissed her, got his date book from the bedroom, and ran around the apartment collecting his keys, cane, hat, and man purse. â€Å"Thanks, Cassie. You have no idea how grateful I am.† â€Å"Sorry about your mother, Charlie,† Cassandra said as he passed. â€Å"Yeah, thanks,† Charlie said, quickly checking the edge of the sword in his cane as he went by. â€Å"Charlie, your life is out of control,† Cassandra said, now slipping back into the unflappable persona that they were all used to. â€Å"Okay, I'll need to borrow your strappy black pumps, too,† Charlie said as he headed out the door. â€Å"I think I've made my point,† Cassie called after him. Ray stopped Charlie at the bottom of the stairs. â€Å"You got a minute, boss?† â€Å"Not really, Ray. I'm in a hurry.† â€Å"Well, I just wanted to apologize.† â€Å"For what?† â€Å"Well, it seems silly now, but I kind of suspected you of being a serial killer.† Charlie nodded as if he were considering the grave consequences of Ray's confession, when, in fact, he was trying to remember if there was any gas in the van. â€Å"Well, Ray, I accept your apology, and I'm sorry I ever gave you that impression.† â€Å"I think all those years on the force made me suspicious, but Inspector Rivera stopped by and set me straight.† â€Å"He did, did he? What exactly did he say?† â€Å"He said that you had been checking some stuff out for him, getting into places he couldn't get without a warrant and so forth, stuff that you'd both get in a lot of trouble for if anyone found out, but was helping to put the bad guys away. He said that's why you're so secretive.† â€Å"Yes,† Charlie said solemnly, â€Å"I have been fighting crime in my spare time, Ray. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you.† â€Å"I understand,† Ray said, backing away from the stairway. â€Å"Again, I'm sorry. I feel like a traitor.† â€Å"It's okay, Ray. But I really have to go. You know, fighting the Forces of Darkness and all.† Charlie held his cane out as if it were a sword and he was charging into action, which, bizarrely, it was and he was. Charlie had six days to retrieve three soul vessels if he was going to get caught up before he returned to Arizona for his mother's funeral. Two, the names that had appeared in his date book the same day as Madison McKerny were seriously overdue. The last had appeared in the book only a couple of days ago, when he was in Arizona – yet it was in his own handwriting. He'd always thought that he had been doing some kind of sleep writing, but now, this was a whole new twist. He promised himself he would freak out about it as soon as he had some time. Meanwhile, with the near-death hand job and the dead-mom thing, he hadn't even done the preliminary research on the first of the two, Esther Johnson and Irena Posokovanovich, and both were now past their pickup date – one by three days. What if the sewer harpies had already gotten there? As strong as they'd become already, he didn't even want to think about what they could do if they got hold of another soul. He considered calling Rivera to watch his back when he went to the house, but what would he say he was doing? The sharp-faced cop knew there was something supernatural going on, and he'd taken Charlie's word that he was one of the good guys (not a hard sell when he'd seen the sewer harpy driving a three-inch claw up his nostril only to survive nine rounds of 9 mm in the torso and still fly away). Charlie was driving with no destination, heading into Pacific Heights just because the traffic was lighter in that direction. He pulled over to the curb and called information. â€Å"I need a number and address for an Esther Johnson.† â€Å"There's no Esther Johnson, sir, but I have three E. Johnsons.† â€Å"Can you give me the addresses?† She gave him the two who had addresses. A recording offered to dial the number for him for an additional charge of fifty cents. â€Å"Yeah, how much to drive me there?† Charlie asked the computer voice. Then he hung up and dialed the E. Johnson with no address. â€Å"Hi, could I speak with Esther Johnson,† Charlie said cheerfully. â€Å"There's no Esther Johnson here,† said a man's voice. â€Å"I'm afraid you have the wrong number.† â€Å"Wait. Was there an Esther Johnson there, until maybe three days ago?† Charlie asked. â€Å"I saw the E. Johnson in the phone book.† â€Å"That's me,† said the man, â€Å"I'm Ed Johnson.† â€Å"Sorry to bother you, Mr. Johnson.† Charlie disconnected and dialed the next E. Johnson. â€Å"Hello,† a woman's voice. â€Å"Hi, could I speak to Esther Johnson, please?† A deep breath. â€Å"Who is calling?† Charlie used a ruse that had worked a dozen times before. â€Å"This is Charlie Asher, of Asher's Secondhand. We've taken in some merchandise that has Esther Johnson's name on it and we wanted to make sure it's not stolen.† â€Å"Well, Mr. Asher, I'm sorry to tell you that my aunt passed away three days ago.† â€Å"Bingo!† Charlie said. â€Å"Pardon?† â€Å"Sorry,† Charlie said. â€Å"My associate is playing a scratch-off lotto ticket here in the shop, and he's just won ten thousand dollars.† â€Å"Mr. Asher, this isn't really a good time. Is this merchandise you have valuable?† â€Å"No, just some old clothes.† â€Å"Another time, then?† The woman sounded not so much bereaved as harried. â€Å"If you don't mind.† â€Å"No, I'm sorry for your loss,† Charlie said. He disconnected, checked the address, and headed up toward Golden Gate Park and the Haight. The Haight: mecca for the Free Love movement of the sixties, where the Beat Generation begat the Flower Children, where kids from all over the country had come to tune in, turn on, and drop out – and had kept coming, even as the neighborhood went through alternating waves of renewal and decline. Now, as Charlie drove down Haight Street, amid the head shops, vegetarian restaurants, hippie boutiques, music stores, and coffeehouses, he saw hippies that ranged in age from fifteen to seventy. Grizzled oldsters panhandling or passing out pamphlets, and young, white-Rastafarian dreadlocked teenagers in flowing skirts or hemp drawstring trousers, with shining piercings and vacant pot-blissed stares. He passed brown-toothed crackheads barking at cars as they passed, a spiky holdover here and there from the punk movement, old guys in berets and wayfarers who might have stepped out of a jazz club in 1953. It wasn't so much like the hands of time had stood still here, more like they'd bee n thrown in the air in exasperation, the clock declaring, â€Å"Whatever! I'm outta here.† Esther Johnson's house was just a couple of blocks off Haight, and Charlie was lucky enough to find parking in a twenty-minute green zone nearby. (If the time came that he ever got to talk to someone in charge, he was going to make a case for special parking privileges for Death Merchants, for while it was nice that no one could see him when he was retrieving a soul vessel, some cool Death plates or â€Å"black† parking zones would be even better.) The house was a small bungalow, unusual for this neighborhood, where most everything was three stories tall and painted in whatever color would contrast most with the house next to it. Charlie had taught Sophie her colors here, using grand Victorians as color swatches. â€Å"Orange, Daddy. Orange.† â€Å"Yes, honey, the man barfed up orange. Look at that house, Sophie, it's purple.† The block did have its share of transients, so he knew the doors of the Johnson house would be locked. Ring the bell and try to sneak through, or wait? He really couldn't afford to wait – the sewer harpies had hissed at him from a grate as he approached the house. He rang the bell, then quickstepped to the side. A pretty, dark-haired woman of about thirty, wearing jeans and a peasant blouse, opened the door, looked around, and said, â€Å"Hello, can I help you?† Charlie nearly fell through a window. He looked behind his back, then back at the woman. No, she was looking right at him. â€Å"Yes, you rang the bell?† â€Å"Oh, me? Yes,† Charlie said. â€Å"I'm, uh – you meant me, right?† The woman stepped back into the house. â€Å"What can I do for you?† she said, a bit stern now. â€Å"Oh, sorry – Charlie Asher – I own a secondhand store over in North Beach, I just talked to you on the phone, I think.† â€Å"Yes. But I told you that it wasn't important.† â€Å"Right, right, right. You did, but I was in the neighborhood, and I thought, well, I'd just drop by.† â€Å"I got the impression you were calling from your shop. You got all the way across town in five minutes?† â€Å"Oh, right, well, the van is like a mobile shop to me.† â€Å"So the person who won the lotto is with you?† â€Å"Right, no, he quit. I had to kick him out of the van. New money, you know? All full of himself. Will probably buy a big rock of cocaine and a half-dozen hookers and he'll be broke by the weekend. Good riddance, I say.† The woman backed another step into the house and pulled the door partway shut. â€Å"Well, if you have the clothes with you, I suppose I can take a look at them.† â€Å"Clothes?† Charlie couldn't believe she could see him. He was completely screwed now. He'd never get the soul vessel and then – well, he didn't want to think of what would happen then. â€Å"The clothes you said you thought might belong to my aunt. I could look at them.† â€Å"Oh, I don't have those with me.† Now she had the door closed to the point where he could see just one blue eye, the embroidery around the neckline of her blouse, the button on her jeans, and two toes. (She was barefoot.) â€Å"Maybe you'd better check another time. I'm trying to get my aunt's things together, and I'm doing it all by myself, so it's a little hectic. She was in this house for forty-two years. I'm overwhelmed.† â€Å"That's why I'm here,† Charlie said, thinking, What the hell am I talking about? â€Å"I do this all the time, uh, Ms. – â€Å" â€Å"Mrs., actually. Mrs. Elizabeth Sarkoff.† â€Å"Well, Mrs. Sarkoff, I do this sort of thing a lot, and sometimes it can get overwhelming going through the possessions of a loved one, especially if they've been in one place for a long time like your aunt. It helps to have someone who doesn't have an emotional attachment to help sort things out. Plus, I have a pretty good eye for what's valuable and what's not.† Charlie wanted to give himself a high five for coming up with that on the spur of the moment. â€Å"And do you charge for this service?† â€Å"No, no, no, but I may make an offer to buy items you'd like to get rid of, or you can place them in my shop on consignment if you'd prefer.† Elizabeth Sarkoff sighed heavily and hung her head. â€Å"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to take advantage.† â€Å"It would be my pleasure,† he said. Mrs. Sarkoff swung the door wide. â€Å"Thank God you showed up, Mr. Asher. I just spent an hour trying to figure out which set of elephant salt-and-pepper shakers to keep and which to throw away. She has ten pairs! Ten! Please come in.† Charlie sauntered through the door feeling very proud of himself. Six hours later, when he was waist deep in porcelain-cow figurines, and he still hadn't located the soul vessel, he lost all sense of accomplishment. â€Å"So she had a special connection to Holsteins?† Charlie called to Mrs. Sarkoff, who was in the next room, inside a walk-in closet, sorting through yet another huge pile of collectible crap. â€Å"No, I don't think so. Lived her whole life here in the City. I'm not sure if she ever saw a cow outside of those talking ones that sell cheese on TV.† â€Å"Swell,† Charlie said. He'd been through every inch of the house except the closet where Elizabeth Sarkoff was working and he hadn't found the soul vessel. He'd peeked into the closet a couple of times, taking a fast inventory of the contents, and didn't see anything glowing red. He was starting to suspect that either he was too late, and the Underworlders had gotten the soul vessel, or it had been buried with Esther Johnson. He was heading down toward the basement again when his cell phone rang. â€Å"Charlie Asher's phone,† Charlie said. â€Å"Charlie, it's Cassie. Sophie wants to know if you're going to come home in time to tell her a story and tuck her in. I gave her dinner and her bath.† Charlie ran up the stairs and looked out the front windows. It had gotten dark and he hadn't even noticed. â€Å"Crap, Cassie, I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was so late. I'm with an estate client. Tell her I'll be home to tuck her in.† â€Å"Okay, I will,† Cassandra said, sounding exhausted. â€Å"And, Charlie, you can clean up the bathroom floor. You've got to do something about those dogs getting in the tub with her. There are drifts of Mr. Bubble suds all over your apartment.† â€Å"They do enjoy their bath.† â€Å"That's cute, Charlie. If I didn't love your sister I'd hire someone to break your legs.† â€Å"My mom just died, Cassie.† â€Å"You're playing the dead-mom card? Now? Charlie Asher, you – â€Å" â€Å"Gotta go,† Charlie said. â€Å"Be home soon.† Charlie pushed the disconnect button four times, then one more time, just to be sure. Cassandra had been such a sweet woman, only days ago. What happened to people? Charlie bounded into the bedroom. â€Å"Mrs. Sarkoff?† â€Å"Yes, still in here,† came a voice from the closet. â€Å"I'm going to have to be going. My daughter needs me.† â€Å"I hope everything is all right.† â€Å"Yes, not an emergency, I've just been gone for a couple of days. Look, if you need any more help – â€Å" â€Å"No, I wouldn't think of it. Why don't you give me a few days to sort things out and I'll bring some items by your shop.† â€Å"I don't mind, really.† Charlie felt silly yelling to someone who was in a closet. â€Å"No, I'll be in touch, I promise.† Charlie couldn't think of any way of pressing the situation right now, and he needed to get home. â€Å"Okay, then. I'll be going.† â€Å"Thank you, Mr. Asher. You've been a lifesaver.† â€Å"You're welcome. Bye.† Charlie let himself out and the front door locked behind him with a click. He could hear stirring below the street – the rustling of feathers, the distant calls of ravens – as he made his way back to where he had parked his van. And when he got there, of course, it had been towed. When she heard the front door lock, Audrey went to the back of the closet and moved the big cardboard wardrobe box aside to reveal an elderly woman who was sitting calmly in a folding lawn chair, knitting. â€Å"He's gone, Esther. You can come out now.† â€Å"Well, help me up, dear, I think I'm stuck like this,† Esther said. â€Å"I'm sorry,† Audrey said. â€Å"I had no idea he'd stay that long.† â€Å"I don't understand why you let him in in the first place,† Esther said, creaky but on her feet now. â€Å"So he could satisfy his curiosity. See for himself.† â€Å"And where did you get that Elizabeth Sarkoff name?† â€Å"My second-grade teacher. It was the first thing I could think of.† â€Å"Well, I guess you fooled him. I don't know how to thank you.† â€Å"He'll be back. You know that, right?† Audrey said. â€Å"I hope not too soon,† Esther said. â€Å"I really need to visit the powder room.† Where is it, lover?† hissed the Morrigan from the grate on Haight Street, near where Charlie was trying to flag down a cab. â€Å"You're slipping, Meat,† said the hellish chorus. Charlie looked around to see if anyone else had heard, but passersby seemed very intent on their own conversations, or if alone, were staring intently at a point only twelve feet in front of them on the sidewalk, both strategies to avoid eye contact with the panhandlers and crazy people who lined the sidewalk. Not even the crazy people seemed to notice. â€Å"Fuck off,† Charlie said, in a furious whisper at the curb. â€Å"Fucking harpies.† â€Å"Oh, lover, this teasing is so delicious. The little one's blood will be so delicious!† The young homeless guy sitting just down the curb looked up at Charlie. â€Å"Dude, get the clinic to up your lithium and they'll go away. It worked for me.† Charlie nodded and gave the guy a dollar. â€Å"Thanks, I'll look into that.† He'd have to call Jane in Arizona in the morning and find out how far the shadow had moved down the mesa, if it had moved. Why would what he did or didn't do in San Francisco affect what was happening in Sedona? All this time he'd been trying to convince himself that it wasn't about him, and now it appeared that it very much was about him. The Luminatus will rise in the City of Two Bridges, Vern had said. What kind of dependable prophecy can you get from a guy named Vern, anyway? (Come on down to Vern's Discount Prophecy – The Nostradamus with the Low-Price Promise.) It was absurd. He had to keep going forward, doing his part, and doing his best to collect the soul vessels that came to him. And if he didn't, well, the Forces of Darkness would rise and rule over the world. So what. Bring it on, sewer hoes! Big deal. But his inner Beta Male, the gene that had kept his kind alive for three million years, spoke up: Forces of Darkness ruling the world? Okay, that would be bad, it said. She so loved the smell of Pine-Sol,† said the third woman that day to claim to have been Charlie's mother's best friend. The funeral hadn't been so bad, but now there was a potluck in the clubhouse of a nearby gated senior community where Buddy had lived before he moved in with Charlie's mom. The couple had returned there often to play cards and socialize with Buddy's old crew. â€Å"Did you get some sloppy joe?† asked best friend number three. Despite the hundred-degree heat, she wore a pink sweatsuit emblazoned with rhinestone poodles and carried a nervous little black poodle under her arm everywhere she went. The dog licked her potato salad while she was distracted by talking to Charlie. â€Å"I don't know if your mother ever ate sloppy joe. Only thing I ever saw her take in was an old-fashioned. She did enjoy her cocktails.† â€Å"Yes, she did,† Charlie said. â€Å"And I think I'm going to go enjoy one myself, right now.† Charlie had flown into Sedona that morning after spending the night in San Francisco trying to find the two overdue soul vessels. Although he couldn't find a burial notice for Esther Johnson, the pretty brunette woman at her house had told him that she had been interred the day after he'd first gone to the house in the Haight, and he assumed that the soul vessel had been, once again, buried with her. (Was the brunette's name Elizabeth? Of course it was Elizabeth, he was fooling himself to even pretend to forget. Beta Males do not forget the names of pretty women. Charlie could remember the name of the centerfold of the first Playboy he'd ever swiped from the shelves in his dad's shop. He even remembered that her turnoffs were bad breath, mean people, and genocide, and resolved that he would never have, be, or commit any of those things, just in case he ran into her sometime when she was casually sunning her breasts on the hood of a car.) There was no trace of the other woman, Irena P osokovanovich, who was supposed to have died days ago. No notice, no records at hospitals, no one living in her house. It was as if she'd evaporated, and taken her soul vessel with her. He had a couple more weeks to get to the third name in his date book, but he wasn't sure what he was going to have to deal with to get to it. Darkness was rising. Someone beside him said, â€Å"Small talk doesn't really get any smaller than when you've lost a loved one, huh?† Charlie turned toward the voice, surprised to see Vern Glover, diminutive Death Merchant, munching some coleslaw and ranch beans. â€Å"Thanks for coming,† Charlie said automatically. Vern waved off the thanks with his plastic fork. â€Å"You saw the shadow?† Charlie nodded. When he'd gotten to his mother's house this morning, the shadow of the mesa had reached his mother's front yard, and the calls of the carrion birds that churned in its edges were deafening. â€Å"You didn't tell me that no one else could see it. I called my sister from San Francisco to check the progress, but she didn't see anything.† â€Å"Sorry, they can't see it – at least as far as I've ever been able to tell they can't. It was gone for five days. It came back this morning.† â€Å"When I came back?† â€Å"I guess. Did we cause this? Doughnuts and coffee and it's the end of the world?† â€Å"I missed two souls back home,† Charlie said, smiling at a gentleman in burgundy golf wear who held his hand to his heart in sympathy as he passed them. â€Å"Missed? Did the – what did you call them – the sewer harpies get them?† â€Å"Could be,† Charlie said. â€Å"But whatever is happening, it seems to be following me.† â€Å"Sorry,† Vern said. â€Å"I'm glad we talked, though. I don't feel so alone.† â€Å"Yeah,† Charlie said. â€Å"And sorry about your mother,† Vern added quickly. â€Å"You okay?† â€Å"Hasn't even hit me yet,† Charlie said. â€Å"I guess I'm an orphan.† â€Å"I'll make sure and check out whoever gets her necklace,† Vern said. â€Å"I'll be careful with it.† â€Å"Thanks,† Charlie said. â€Å"You think we have any control over who gets the soul next? I mean really. The Great Big Book says it will move on as it should.† â€Å"I guess,† Vern said. â€Å"Every time I've sold one the glow has gone out right away. If it wasn't the right person, that wouldn't happen, right?† â€Å"Yeah, I guess so,† Charlie said. â€Å"So there is some order to this.† â€Å"You're the expert,† Vern said – then he dropped his fork. â€Å"Who is that? She's so hot.† â€Å"That's my sister,† Charlie said. Jane was coming across the room toward them. She was wearing Charlie's charcoal double-breasted Armani and the strappy black pumps; her platinum hair was lacquered into thirties finger waves, which flowed out from under a small black hat with a veil that covered her face down to her lips, which shone like red Ferraris. To Charlie, she looked, as usual, like the cross between a robot assassin and a Dr. Seuss character, but if he tried to squint past the fact that she was his sister, and a lesbian, and his sister, then he could possibly see how the hair, lips, and sheer linear altitude of her might strike someone as hot. Especially someone like Vern, who would require climbing equipment and oxygen to scale a woman Jane's height. â€Å"Vern, I'd like you to meet my incredibly hot sister, Jane. Jane, this is Vern.† â€Å"Hi, Vern.† Jane took Vern's hand and the Death Merchant winced at her grip. â€Å"Sorry for your loss,† Vern said. â€Å"Thanks,† Jane said. â€Å"Did you know our mother?† â€Å"Vern knew her very well,† Charlie said. â€Å"In fact, it was one of Mom's dying wishes that you let Vern buy you a doughnut. Wasn't it, Vern?† Vern nodded so hard that Charlie thought he could hear vertebrae cracking. â€Å"Her dying wish,† Vern said. Jane didn't move, or say anything. Because her eyes were covered, Charlie couldn't see her expression, but he guessed that she might be trying to burn holes in his aorta with her laser-beam vision. â€Å"You know, Vern, that would be lovely, but could I take a rain check? We just buried my mother and I have some things to go over with my brother.† â€Å"That's fine,† Vern said. â€Å"And it doesn't have to be a doughnut, if you're watching your figure. You know, a salad, coffee, anything.† â€Å"Sure,† Jane said. â€Å"Since it's what Mom wanted. I'll give you a call. Charlie told you I'm a lesbian, though, right?† â€Å"Oh my God,† Vern said. He almost doubled over with excitement before he remembered that he was at a postfuneral potluck and he was openly imagining a mnage trois with the deceased's daughter. â€Å"Sorry,† he squealed. â€Å"See you, Vern,† Charlie said as his sister hustled him toward the kitchen cubicle of the clubhouse. â€Å"I'll e-mail you about that other thing.† As soon as they rounded the corner into the kitchen Jane punched Charlie in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. â€Å"What were you thinking?† Jane hissed. She flipped back her veil so he could see just how pissed off she was, just in case the punch in the breadbasket hadn't conveyed the message. Charlie was gasping and laughing at the same time. â€Å"It's what Mom would have wanted.† â€Å"My mom just died, Charlie.† â€Å"Yeah,† Charlie said. â€Å"But you have no idea what you've just done for that guy in there.† â€Å"Really?† Jane raised an eyebrow. â€Å"He will remember this day always,† Charlie said. â€Å"That guy will never again have a sexual fantasy in which you do not walk through, probably wearing borrowed shoes.† â€Å"And you don't find that creepy?† â€Å"Well, yes, you're my sister, but it's a seminal moment for Vern.† Jane nodded. â€Å"You're a pretty good guy, Charlie, looking out for a tiny stranger like that.† â€Å"Yeah, well, you know – â€Å" â€Å"For an ass bag!† Jane said as she sank a fist into Charlie's solar plexus. Strangely, as he gasped for breath, Charlie felt that wherever his mother was right now, she was pleased with him. Bye, Mom, he thought. PART THREE BATTLEGROUND Tomorrow we shall meet, Death and I – And he shall thrust his sword Into one who is wide awake. – Dag Hammarskj;ld

Thesis Customer Satisfaction

CHAPTER II Review of Related Literature This chapter presents the literature related to this study. This will be conducted with the assessment of related literature to show the relevance of the literature to the study. RELATED LITERATURE Customer satisfaction is the most fundamental requirement for being in business. Therefore, every organization should plan the right strategies for dealing with customers, communicating with them, providing pleasant services and retaining them forever with specially chosen customer contact employees, all leading to their delight.Since most of the quality problems arise due to misunderstood requirements, it is essential to take steps to correctly understand, both the stated and implied requirements of the customers. The organization should not only fulfill the contracted requirements, but also make it appoint to provide unanticipated additional services to delight the customers and retaining them forever. The most important point is that organizations should provide COMFORT to the customers while serving them. Thus, the business should be oriented towards satisfying customers. (Subburaj Ramasamy; TQM-Int’l Edition 2012)Customer satisfaction is the state of mind that customers have about a company when their expectations have been met or exceeded over the lifetime of the product or service. The achievement of customer satisfaction leads to company loyalty and product repurchase. Customer satisfaction measurement must be undertaken with an understanding of the gap between customer expectations and attribute performance perceptions. Clearly defining and understanding customer satisfaction can help any company identify opportunities for product and service innovation and serve as the basis for performance appraisal and reward systems. Kevin Cacioppo; Measuring and Managing Customer Satisfaction) Customer satisfaction has been a popular topic in marketing practice and academic research since Cardozo's (1965) initial study of c ustomer effort, expectations and satisfaction. Despite many attempts to measure and explain customer satisfaction, there still does not appear to be a consensus regarding its definition (Giese and Cote, 2000). Customer satisfaction is typically defined as a post consumption evaluative judgement concerning a specific product or service (Gundersen, Heide and Olsson, 1996).It is the result of an evaluative process that contrasts prepurchase expectations with perceptions of performance during and after the consumption experience (Oliver, 1980). The most widely accepted conceptualization of the customer satisfaction concept is the expectancy disconfirmation theory (Barsky, 1992; Oh and Parks, 1997; McQuitty, Finn and Wiley, 2000). The theory was developed by Oliver (1980), who proposed that satisfaction level is a result of the difference between expected and perceived performance. Satisfaction (positive disconfirmation) occurs when product or service is better than expected.On the other hand, a performance worse than expected results with dissatisfaction (negative disconfirmation). Studies show that customer satisfaction may have direct and indirect impact on business results. Anderson et al. (1994), Yeung et al. (2002), and Luo and Homburg (2007) concluded that customer satisfaction positively affects business profitability. The majority of studies have investigated the relationship with customer behaviour patterns (Soderlund, 1998; Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000; Dimitriades, 2006; Olorunniwo et al. 2006; Chi and Qu, 2008; Faullant et al. , 2008). According to these findings, customer satisfaction increases customer loyalty, influences repurchase intentions and leads to positive word-of-mouth. Given the vital role of customer satisfaction, it is not surprising that a variety of research has been devoted to investigating the determinants of satisfaction (Churchill and Surprenant, 1982; Oliver, 1980; Barsky, 1995; Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003). Satisfaction can be determined by subjective (e. g. customer needs, emotions) and objective factors (e. . product and service features). Applying to the hospitality industry, there have been numerous studies that examine attributes that travellers may find important regarding customer satisfaction. Atkinson (1988) found out that cleanliness, security, value for money and courtesy of staff determine customer satisfaction. Knutson (1988) revealed that room cleanliness and comfort, convenience of location, prompt service, safety and security, and friendliness of employees are important. Barsky and Labagh (1992) stated that employee attitude, location nd rooms are likely to influence travellers' satisfaction. A study conducted by Akan (1995) showed that the main determinants of hotel guest satisfaction are the behaviour of employees, cleanliness and timeliness. Choi and Chu (2001) concluded that staff quality, room qualities and value are the top three hotel factors that determine travellers' satisfaction. Providing services those customers prefer is a starting point for providing customer satisfaction. A relatively easy way to determine what services customer prefers is simply to ask them.According to Gilbert and Horsnell (1998), and Su (2004), guest comment cards (GCCs) are most commonly used for determining hotel guest satisfaction. GCCs are usually distributed in hotel rooms, at the reception desk or in some other visible place. However, studies reveal that numerous hotel chains use guest satisfaction evaluating methods based on inadequate practices to make important and complex managerial decisions (Barsky, 1992; Barsky and Huxley, 1992; Jones and Ioannou, 1993, Gilbert and Horsnell, 1998; Su, 2004).The most commonly made faults can be divided into three main areas, namely, quality of the sample, design of the GCCs, and data collection and analysis (Gilbert and Horsnell, 1998). In order to improve the validity of hotel guest satisfaction measurement practice, Barsky and Huxley ( 1992) proposed a new sampling procedure that is a „quality sampleâ€Å". It reduces nonresponse bias by offering incentives for completing the questionnaires. The components of their questionnaire are based on disconfirmation paradigm and expectancy-value theory.In this manner, guests can indicate whether service was above or below their expectations and whether they considered a particular service important or not. Furthermore, Gilbert and Horsnell (1998) developed a list of criteria for GCC content analysis, which is adopted in this study as well. Schall (2003) discusses the issues of question clarity, scaling, validity, survey timing, question order and sample size. Customers’ requirements for satisfaction are difficult to comprehend. They have different preference when it comes to availing services from providers.Same with hospitality industry – for establishments like Bayleaf hotel of Intramuros there’s a lot of effort to make, creative thinking and strategy to stay in the competition. To be the only hotel in Intramuros, a great expectation among visitors is always present. Unless an organization evolves specific methods for measuring customer satisfaction and quantify the results, it may be difficult to say whether the customers are satisfied or not; whether customer satisfaction is improving or not it also vey essentials to measure customer satisfaction so as to stay ahead of competition.Each business unit has to conduct its business in such a way that it is able to achieve more customer satisfaction than its competitors at all times. Therefore, to face and win the competition, every organization should continue to improve their products and services and attain higher levels of customer satisfaction. Regarding on customer satisfaction, the following statement could indicate that the establishment has a lot of services to offer. Statement of the experienced customers will prove that Bayleaf Hotel can stand in a competition as a boutique hotel yet can provide 5-star experience to its valued customers.According to Dr. Deo Baraan the owner of the website (thegrandeurtraveler. com) â€Å"If you are looking for a new hotel that will show you Manila's rich history, lost magic and inimitable views, nothing would be more perfect than the Bayleaf Hotel. † In addition to what he says, â€Å"Everyone can now have a taste of an upscale accommodation in the heart of Manila's historic district†. When it comes to money issues, Vic Nair of Kuala Lumpur (tripadvisory. com) stated â€Å"Bayleaf is a great hotel with value for money.Excellent service from their young staff members. † Another statement that we got from redheelsinthecity (tripadvisory. com) â€Å"Manila, in general, is a busy, polluted and messy city. Finding a place like this is close to impossible. 9 spoons restaurant has the best food and ambiance. However what I love about the place is the Sky Deck View Bar. Especially on a cold nig ht, having a beer absolutely scratches your stress away. Not to mention you get even more amazed by the view around, very conducive for unwinding.The place can immensely cater a good service especially for occasions. Most of all, it stands in the heart of the old city called Intramuros, which I think is the best location in manila. Service of the staff and management is impeccably wonderful and impressive. â€Å" It is certainly not easy, at least to start with, to compute indices for customer satisfaction. It requires innovative people, a determined management and additional efforts by the organization for this purpose. This will pay for more than itself in the ultimate analysis.Therefore, the chief executive of the organization should be committed and persuasive in measuring customer satisfaction in the interest of the organization and provide resources for this task. A feedback or a complaint criticizing the organization should be taken as a blessing in disguise and in the right spirit. If there is no direct feedback or complaint, then the organization should look for other ways for finding out the same, since feedback is one of the most important triggers for improvement.If complaints are made, the organization should seriously make efforts to see that the complaints are result to the satisfaction of the customers. (Subburaj Ramasamy; 2012) According to Ms. Glenda G. one of the experienced customer of the Bayleaf Hotel â€Å"We booked ; paid the rooms 6 months ago ; requested a queen beds but we got 2 twin separate beds, it's also a terrible service at the roof top restaurant they're so slow in accommodating. We even said give us a wash cloth will clean the tables† Another experienced customer (tripadvisory. om) WWWorkes of Vilnius state that â€Å"All in all, this is a clean, comfortable hotel in a great location – but don't expect to be able to spend any amount of time relaxing in it – it has little to offer and generally doesn't m eet its potential† VIP on Bangkok also commented on the website regarding in his experience on the hotel – â€Å"I like its surrounding and location, but ventilation need improvement to get rid of damp smell in the room. Towels smell too strong chemical† Every complaint should lead to determine efforts by the organization to make improvements so as the result in non-reoccurrence of such complaints in the future.In short, the service provider should have a system to solicit feedbacks and complaints, deal with them dispassionately, rectify the defects immediately, compensate where not possible to rectify and analyze such mistakes to find out measures for their non- reoccurrence and implement the measures strictly. The above is also known as complaint recovery process. Every organization should have a well-defined process and procedure for getting feedback and receiving complaints from the customers and use every complaint as an instrument for improvements. SYNTHESI SChapter 2 is about the review of related literature; it is about the purpose of the review to analyze critically a segment of a published book of knowledge through summary, classification and comparison of prior research studies, reviews of literature, and theoretical articles. We have the foreign and local literature. In foreign literature we based on the research book. What we had is the article of Subburaj Ramasamy, Kevin Cacioppo, Cardozo's (1965), Giese and Cote, (2000), Gundersen, Heide and Olsson, (1996), Oliver, (1980), Anderson et al. (1994), Yeung et al. 2002), and Luo and Homburg (2007), Barsky, 1992; Oh and Parks, 1997; McQuitty, Finn and Wiley, 2000, Soderlund, 1998; Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000; Dimitriades, 2006; Olorunniwo et al. , 2006; Chi and Qu, 2008; Faullant et al. , 2008, Churchill and Surprenant, 1982; Oliver, 1980; Barsky, 1995; Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003), Atkinson (1988), Knutson (1988), Barsky and Labagh (1992), Akan (1995), Choi and Chu (2001),Gilber t and Horsnell (1998), and Su (2004), and those books associates some knowledge and ideas regarding customer satisfaction and hospitality industry.For instance we also got statements from foreign customers who had an experience in staying at Bayleaf Hotel namely; Redheelsinthecity, WWWorkers, and VIP on Bangkok. For local literature we have Ms. Glenda G. and Dr. Deo Baraan, who experienced Bayleaf Hotel as well. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to analyze critically a segment of a published body of knowledge through these articles. INPUT: Bayleaf Hotel, Intramuros as the focus of the study and as a new hotel caters to satisfy tourists within and outside Intramuros.CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK PROCESS: * Surveying through questionaires * Interview OUTPUT: Determine the level of customer satisfaction in Bayleaf Hotel and competitiveness of the establishment. The conceptual framework above shows that the input in Bayleaf Hotel, Intramuros as the focus of the study and as a new hotel ca ters to satisfy tourists within and outside Intramuros. The process of the study is done by giving survey through questionnaire and conducting interview to determine the level of customer satisfaction and competitiveness of Bayleaf Hotel.

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buy custom Breastfeeding Research Paper essay 1.0 Introduction Breastfeeding is the nourishing of ababy or young child with milk from her mothers breasts. Breast milk is the healthiest form of milk babies could have. The World Health Organization has endorsed breastfeeding as the best way of feeding infants. Years of research have shown that there are not just benefits for the infants, but for the mothers as well (Kakuma 2002). For the infants, breast milk protects against acute and chronic diseases and supports optimal development. It also promotes a psychological attachment with the mother, which is very important for them as they grow. For the mothers, breastfeeding helps them not only recover from the pregnancy and childbirth experience, but also has some lifelong health advantages (Aarts 2001). 2.0 Literature Review Infants have a sucking impulse that allows them to suck and swallow milk. Along with some exclusion, (e.g. presence of HIV in mother) human breast milk is the greatest source of nutrition for human babies. Some scientists, however, differ on the optimal breastfeed period in order to reap the greatest value. Another fundamental question is how much more risk is involved in utilizing artificial formulas rather than breast milk. Despite there being conflicting arguments about the relative value of formula feeding, Riordan (2004) asserts that formula feeding is mediocre to breastfeeding for both premature and full-term infants. International organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), endorse breastfeeding as the best way of feeding babies in their first year and beyond. There are abundant examples of studies promoting exclusive breastfeeding i.e. when a newborn receives no other food or drink, as well as water, besides breast milk, and the use of human breast milk. Regul atory establishments are aware of the superiority of breastfeeding, but are also working to make artificial feeding benign. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) also encourages exclusive breastfeeding and the use of colostrum as the best technique of feeding babies. International guidelines indorse that all newborns be breastfed wholly for the initial six months of life. The American Association of Pediatricsendorses this so that the baby receives the perfect amount of nutrients essential for ideal growth and development. Breastfeeding may carry on with the addition of suitable foods for two years or more. The WHO suggests that in those few health circumstances where babies cannot or should not be breastfed, the following substitutes should be taken: breast milk from a healthy milk bank, expressed milk from the babys own mother, or a breast milk auxiliary fed to the baby with a cup. The selection of any of these options is reliant on on individual conditions. Newborns, who are not breastfed, should be accorded special consideration from the social welfare and health system as they are part of a risk group. This means that, babies who are not breastfed are likely to be predisposed to to infections. Breastfeeding assists both mother and child psychologically, physically and emotionally. The preferment of breastfeeding and the use of colostrums for baby feeding leads to a number of profits, including; nutritional, health, psychological, developmental, economic, social and environmental benefits. Timely breast feeding of the kid helps to fight the attack of certain maladies and improves the physical well-being and sound brain growth of the kid. Exclusive breastfeeding has vividly reduced newborn deaths in developing countries by decreasing cases of infectious diseases and diarrhea. Breastfed children also have a reduced risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). During the course of breastfeeding, the antibodies, nutrients and beneficial hormones in the mothers body are distributed to her baby. Breast milk comprises the amino acids taurine and cystine that are crucial for the growth of an infants nervous system and brain. Breast milk also has numerous anti-infective factors, suc h as the anti-malarial factor para-amino benzoic acid. Sucking boosts the proper growth of the infants teeth and speech organs and helps avert impediments. In addition, breastfeeding strengthens the tie between mother and baby, since breastfeeding releases the hormones prolactin andoxytocin, which eases the mother and causes her to feel a sense of comfort and compassion for the baby during breastfeeding. Since fat amassed during pregnancy is utilized to create milk, breastfeeding may aid mothers drop weight. Exclusive breastfeeding can also defer the reoccurrence of ovulation. Even though some mothers may experience pain after breastfeeding due to staphylococcal infection of the nipple, this problem can be easily treated with continued breastfeeding. Mothers who breastfeed their infants face a lower risk of endometrial and breast cancer. Babies who are breastfed solely feed anywhere from seven to fifteen times per day, with infants consuming between 40 mL and 100 mL of milk every day. After the age of five weeks, children ingest around 11 mL per feed. Every baby is different, but as he or she develops the volume of milk ingested normally increases. It is significant to identify the babys hunger indicators since it is presumed that the infant knows how much milk they require and it is thus advised to let the baby direct the incidence and length of each feed. The quantity of colostrums from the breast is decided by the length and number of these feeds or the volume of milk conveyed, among other factors. An infants birth weight might also have impact on their feeding habits and mothers may be prejudiced by what they observe the babys requirements to be. For instance, a babywho weighs less than their recommended weight for their gestational age, might lead a mother to think that her kid needs to feed more than if her chi ld was larger; nevertheless, mothers should survey the needs of the baby instead of what they assume to be necessary. Even though it can be challenging to measure how much food a breastfed child ingests, babies typically feed to meet their own needs. Toddlers should also be weighed before and after breastfeeding in order to regulate the result of their feeding habits on their development. Exclusive breastfeeding is providing an infant with the mothers breast milk directly from the breast instead of a baby bottle (Ehiri 2009). Infants have no problem doing this because they are born with a natural suckling reflex. Mothers are advised to do exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months without feeding the infant any supplements. This paper aims at answering the following question; is exclusive breastfeeding important for infants? The paper achieves this goal by investigating the wide ranging benefits of exclusive breastfeeding for infants below the age of seven months. Breastfeeding is vital because of the health, nutritional, developmental, immunological, and psychological benefits that breast milk offers infants and children. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding as the preeminent type of nutrition for babies. Studies show that newborns who are breastfed are not likely to suffer from urinary tract infectionsear infections, lower respiratory infections, diarrhea, andbacterial meningitis. Breast milk could also help shield against allergies, digestive disorders and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Breastfed toddlers are highly unlikely to need visits to doctors offices and hospitals and are less likely to need pharmaceuticals. Science has also discovered the long-term merits of breastfeeding, proposing that breastfeeding may increase long-term immunological reaction. Furthermore, breastfeeding may have health benefits for the mother, with one research discovering that moms who breastfeed for a longer period were not likely to dev elop type 2 diabetes, even when controlling for other risk factors. In consideration of cognitive and developmental benefits, studies have shown a positive link between longer breastfeeding and enhanced school performance in offspring and adolescents and higher IQ in adults. Finally, the act of breastfeeding has emotional merits for both the mother and infant. Breastfeeding is a time of bodily contact and intimacy, nurturing the bond amid mother and child. The effect of breastfeeding on the superior cognitive and emotional development of the child and later Intelligent Quotient (IQ) has been documented by several studies. Breast fed infants versus artificially fed have been shown to have higher IQs and more advanced social and cognitive development relative to their hereditary makeup, the social, nutritional and environmental background. The benefits of breastfeeding to the nursing mother in the first few months after delivery have also been shown, attributed to mother infant bonding. Early mother-infant bonding induces a series of changes in the brain cells with the release of chemical neurotransmitters activating of the hormones of lactation. The ensuing increase in prolactin hormone creates a state of tranquility in the mother and allows her to withstand the strain of childcare and the additional burden of transition to parental role. The psychological status of mothers impacts the health and well-being of their children in so many ways. Of particular importance is the psychological status of mothers who are breastfeeding, since their infants are passing through a critical stage of their growth and development. Earlier studies have shown the impact of maternal deprivation on the development of inorganic failure to thrive, autism and other forms of cognitive dysfunction. Moreover, mothers who have been exposed to abuse in their early childhood tend to have high rates of affective disorders as parents. However during the second year of life it not known whether the psychological benefits of breastfeeding are still present. It is well documented that extended breastfeeding of infants into the second year of life have immunological advantages to the baby whereby shielding the newborn from the recurrentinfective incidents in this stage of life. Breast milk is a good source of calories, protein and micronutrients for children living in deprived conditions. However the effects of continued breastfeeding into the seco nd year on child development and behavior are not clear. Moreover it is not clear whether the psychological status of mothers benefit from the extended breastfeeding. The interaction of factors influencing continuity of breastfeeding into the second year of lifemakes it challenging for us to define clear cut behaviors that affect stability. Use of optimal development as a criterion for optimal feeding practices in that period is not possible since so many factors influence child's development in this period as nutritional status, iron deficiency, exposure to lead, prematurity and breastfeeding practices in the first year, also environmental and socio-cultural factors. Whereas the psychological status of the mother is influenced by many factors such as working status, social support, medication, chronic illness and hereditary tendency to development of affective disorder. The research was guided by Erik Eriksons Psychosocial Theory of Development. He believed development occurs throughout the lifespan, and his theory provides new light into the formulation of a healthy personality (Ding and Littleton 2005). His theory includes eight stages and at each stage, conflict or crisis occurs. This study focuses on the first stage, Trust vs. Mistrust, which occurs during the first eighteen months of life. At this stage, children learn to trust or mistrust the environment where they are in and to trust it, they need to have warm, consistent, predictable and attentive care (Ding and Littleton 2005). They need living physical contact and nourishment. Mistrust occurs when the infant is handled harshly and experiences an unpredictable world. The psychosocial theory will guide me in finding out if exclusive breastfeeding plays any role in the wholesome personal development of infants. 3.0Methods Stage I: Qualitative research: Preceding to the research we piloted three focus group discussions with mother-infant pairs in the second year postpartum. The aim of the FG was to design appropriate questionnaire forms for assessing breastfeeding practices, mother-infant interactions and other factors that may be relevant to this community that could be worth considering during the quantitative analysis stage of the study. Stage II: Quantitative research Sampling: Selection was done from the pediatric outpatient clinic XXX hospital that is located in XXX urban regional community. The sample consisted of eight mother-infant pairs whose infants were aged zero to six months and were free of any major clinical illness, developmental delay or chronic disability. Stage III: Evaluation: 3.01 Interviews: 1. All mothers were interviewed to assess their socio-demographic background, breastfeeding practices in the first year, mother infant interaction, infant's development and behavior. 2. Assessment for Affective trait in themothers: The mothers were assessed for melancholy using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and for anxiety scores using the STAI for anxiety state and trait. 3. Assessment of Infants: The infants were assessed for growth, nutritional status, behavior and development. Growth wasassessed by measurement and charting of weight and supine length measurement to the nearest gram for weight and cm for length according to WHO standard methods for anthropometry. The charts used were the NCHS/WHO/CDC reference child growth charts for developing countries. The growthindicators were evaluated using the Denver developmental screening test (DDST-R), in which the screener identifies and administers the three items immediately to the left of the age line for a total of 12 items. If any of the items failed or refused this indicates delay or potential delay respectively. Behavior disorders were diagnosed based on history taking, mother's description of the disorder, and by observation. The child was observed during the visit to assess speech, vision and hearing using the classic tests described for this age, also for mother-infant interactions, behavior, so cialization and play. Stage IV: Statistical Analysis: This was conducted using chi-square, computer software, one-way ANOVA testandT-test. 3.02 Ethical guidelines. Handling data can be quite tricky and the various data protection principles that are stipulated in the data protection act must be observed. Various guidelines were followed in order to ensure that the research was conducted in an ethical manner. The first guideline followed was the anonymity guideline. The survey forms were designed in a way that, the respondents were anonymous (Linden, 2005). The survey forms did not have an option, whereby the respondents were going to identify themselves by their names. This was in a bid to ensure respondent anonymity. This is important in the sense that, knowing the respondents identification might, leads to victimization. Also, another ethical guideline that was followed is the informed consent guideline. The informed consent basically states that respondents should voluntary participate in a survey, and they must be informed of the research objectives. The respondents should not be forced into participating in a research. Their participation in the survey should be voluntary and at their own discretion. Students were informed of the objectives of the study, and the goals of the research. This was explicitly explained in the cover letter of the survey forms. Also, on the cover page of the survey forms, students were informed that the participation in the surveys is voluntary, and if they feel that they do not want to participate in the survey, then they could withdraw their participation. Besides, students were guaranteed that the data, and information collected was going to be specifically used for the intended purpose. The data and information obtained will not be used for any other purposes apart from the research objectives. Students were also guaranteed that the collected data will not be disclosed to another third part apart from the authorized individuals, who are undertaking the research. Students were given the assurance that, the data and information gathered will be destroyed once the research objectives have been achieved. 3.04 Findings Findings of Study The discoveries were separated in to three main categories: 1. Results associated to the infants' health, growth and nutritional status, developmental indicators' progress and behavior conditions going by the absence orpresence of breastfeeding in the 4 to 6 months aged babies. 2. Results related to the mother's breastfeeding practices, socio-demographic status, outcomes for affective trait disorder, of anxiety and depression and their circumcision status according to their persistence of breastfeeding. 3. Results related to support given to mother with child care and house-work, paternal socio-demographic statistics, violence with mother in mother-infant pairs who were breastfeeding currently compared to those who had stopped. 1) Outcomes in infants: * Growth Mean weight for newborns fell within the range of 5.4-8.3 kg in group I and 10.5- 12.4 kg in group II. Average supine length was within the range of 72.2-76 cm in group I and 73.7-78.4 cm in group II. * Health and nutritional status The recurrent episodes of respiratory tract infections and diarrhea over three times during the first six months were expressively higher in the group II (76%) and (45%) paralleled to group I (3.5%) and (4.9%) correspondingly at P0.001. Nonetheless, the mean body mass index (BMI) presented no noteworthy dissimilarity between both groups rising from 17.5 to 20.5 between ages 4 to 6 months. * Developmental assessment The average mark of the DDST-R for growth status was 65.47% in group I and 57.4% in group II for fine motor, 70.7% for group I and 55.53 for group II for personal-social, 76% in group I and 65.14 in group II and lastly 70.25% in group I and 56.3% in group II for language,. Therefore, all four sets of development were poorer in the group of infants who were deprived of breastfeeding persistence up to six months of life. The dissimilarity was statistically noteworthy for personal-social and communication or mental development P 0.5. * Behavior syndromes detected Thumb sucking (11%), Pica (14.3%), temper tantrums (10.16%), titubation (8.5%), sleep disorders (9.3%), extreme attachment (6.8%) and head banging (7.8%).Behavior disorders were pointedly higher in group II (76%) compared to (47.3%) in group I at P 0.05. High mother-infant contact scores of 6-7 had considerably lower incidence rates of behavior syndromes (1.37%) paralleled to those with contact scores of 2-3 and 1-2 of (30.6%) and (27.3%) correspondingly at P 0.05. High mother-infant contact results (MIS) were suggestively linked with a higher percent of growth achievers at P 0.003 for gross motor, P0.0001 for cognition and communication and P 0.0002 for fine motor abilities. 2) Findings in mothers: Socio-demographic data: There were no obvious dissimilarities between mothers in group I and those in group II in terms of age, occupation and residence. Nevertheless, mothers who breastfed well into the sixth month of life had a higher likelihood of being highly educated, 27.7% received university education and 57% secondary education compared to 7.3% and 33.7% in group II, the variance was noteworthy at P 0.0002. Although mothers who withdrew breastfeeding earlier were mostly primiparous mothers (75%) in comparison to (45%) in the respective group, with a statistically noteworthy difference at P0.0001. Many of the babies of mothers with higher education (secondary and uuniversity)(95.5%) did not have any behavior disorders in comparison to only 7.5% of toddlers whose mothers were of a lower level of edification at P0.002. Breastfeeding practices: * Early exclusive breastfeeding at birth: Mothers who persisted to breastfeed for up to six months were introduced no pre-lacteals or enhancements in the first week of post-delivery (69%), or nipples in that retro paralleled to group II mothers, whose use of enhancements was 58.7% and nipples was 59.7%. The dissimilarity was statistically momentous at chi-square= 7.7 P 0.006for enhancements given and chi-square= 19.28, P 0.0002 for nipples presented. * Exclusive breastfeeding during the first 6 months: More mothers in group I persisted to exclusively breastfeed for the leading 4 months (38.7%) matched to group II mothers (13.7%) at chi-square = 13.5P0.001. Many mothers in group I did not introduce bottles (89.3%) or pacifiers (85%) for the first six months whereas 68.3% of group II mothers gave bottles chi-square = 38.7, P0.0001 and 65.7% gave pacifiers to their babies before six months of age chi-square=25.5, P0.0001. Other milk formulas were presented to babies before 4 months by 70.3% by group II mothers in comparison to 23.3% of group I mothers, the variance was substantial at chi-square = 16.7, P 0.0001. Many mothers of both groups had started to present foods by 4 months of age (85.7%) of group I and (71.3%) of group II, with no statistical dissimilarity amid both groups. * Affective trait disorders in mothers Nervousness scores were expressively higher in 85% of group II mothers in comparison to 13% of group I mothers at chi-square = 14.5 with P 0.0001. Melancholy scores were likely to to be high in both group I mothers (54.22%) and group II mothers (44.98%) at chi square = 0.7 with P=0.34. High outcomes of melancholy in mothers seemed to be associated with lower scales of mental and communication developmental classes in their babies at P0.05. High apprehension results were ominously related with lower developmental scales in the fields of intellect (personal-social) (66.37%) and communication (language) (68.46%) and fine motor (65.88%) in their babies in comparison to mothers with lower nervousness scores (45%, 47% and 51%) respectively. 4.0 Discussion In this research, we have revealed how unrelenting breastfeeding for up to six months is advantageous to the communication and cognitive features of development of toddlers at that age. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that the psychological condition of mothers and the manifestation of affective disorder in the parent in the form of anxiety or depression may be harmful to the toddler's behavior and development. This study is reinforced by the discoveries of other scientists who have demonstrated superior cognitive development amongst breastfed babies. Studies disclose that in preterm infants, mother's choice to offer colostrums was linked with higher developmental scores at 6 months. They also testified superiority of intelligence quotient (IQ) in the same kids seen at seven to eight years with an 8.5 point benefit in IQ continued even after modification for differences among groups in mother's social class and education. Pollock (1994), stated that some features of intellectual ac hievement at five and ten years of age can be established to be inferior amid children who were formula-fed in comparison to those who were entirely breastfed for at least four months. Gomez-Sanchez et al. (2004), testified that results on the Bayley Scales of kids' capabilities were considerably higher as the period of breastfeeding increased. Morrow-Tlucak et al. (1988)reported a noteworthy dissimilarity between bottle-fed kids, children breastfed less than or equal to four months and those breastfed more than four months using Mental Development Index of the Bayley Scales at ages 1 and 2 years, backing the breastfed children. Lucas et al. reported that formula-fed preterm infants had inferior Bayley Mental Development scores at 6 months, even after fine-tuning for demographic and social impact. Oddy et al. revealed that cognitive growth of breastfed children is superior on the performance on developmental tests at the age of four years. Further studies revealed the positive outco me of continued breastfeeding on the later psychosocial correction during adolescence. Quinn et al. (2001) demonstrated the superior influence of continuous breastfeeding on the mental development at age 1 and five years. This research also validates the precise effect of continuity of breastfeeding up to six months on the advance of behavior disorders. Nonetheless, it is contentious whether breastfeeding alone or the incidence of anxiety too heightened the manifestation of such conditions among these babies. Fisher and Mitchell (1992)assert that some behavior conditions might be as a result of the mother's psychological state and labeled it "Munchausen's Syndrome by proxy or factitious illness by proxy". The steadiness of breastfeeding in this research was affected by numerous influences including social status, education of the mother and breastfeeding practices after birth and during the first six months of life. Houston (2004)verified that the early breastfeeding does and social class inclined the duration of breastfeeding. Another momentous discovery was the high percent of parental apprehension in those who were not breastfeeding. The high percentage of apprehension amongst those mothers, in this research, might have been as a result of the child's frequent illness, low social standards, and fathers violence with mother or child, with superimposed social factors of poverty, occupation of father and low levels of education. Furthermore, those children of mothers with high nervousness scores had deprived growth outcomes. Due to the fact that many of these mothers were also not breastfeeding, therefore, the developmental result was due to the collective consequence of cessation of breastfeeding and parental unease. Melancholy also had harmful effects on child growth. However, in this study we observed that the persistence of breastfeeding appeared to modify this effect, as the children who were breastfeeding had higher tallies of development. It could thus be assumed that breastfeeding can protect the baby from the perils of affective disorder in the mother. The means by which breastfeeding could be defensive is unclear, but it could be hypothesized that high mother-infant relations present in the cluster of mothers who continued to breastfeed might be the protective aspect. Mothers with emotional disorders may elude interaction with their babies as a stigma of their condition. Nevertheless, breastfeeding coerces them to relate with their children, thus sustaining continued inspiration of their toddlers needed for sufficient development predominantly in the social, intellectual and emotional fields. Through the study we have displayed through focus group discussions that mothers who are exposed to tension from ill treatment by their extended family members or husband frequently found mitigation of their sorrow by playing and intermingling with their children. Anxiety and depression and are connected with conciliations in infant emot ional and social functioning and relations of mother particularly midst infants who are not breastfed or deprived of early interaction at birth with their mothers. Fathers had a weighty role on the development of the baby and the behavior pattern. It is unclear whether his influence was straight on the child, or through his part in supporting the mother in childcare and housework. It was obvious that father's backing was linked with high mother-infant communication scores. Highly educated fathers were more empathetic to mothers by being supportive in housework and cooperative with their kids. Fathers, as childcare providers, have substantial effects on their child growth as revealed by other scientists. Studies on early mother pleasure with care set at delivery and support with breastfeeding from health staff and family have exposed the women's needs for psychosocial, informational, tangible and medical care sustenance during the first six months after delivery. Concrete support mostly cited was that in the form of maintenance with childcare and housework. When the womens passionate needs from their husbands were not met, they were inclined to compensate for it by looking for relaxation through relations with their kids. Increasing stress made women react by being violent with their offspring. Lacks of husbands sensitive backing, troubleshooting in-laws were triggering reasons. Husbands undoubtedly play a critical role by supporting mothers during deli very and thus facilitating successful breastfeeding and bonding. Limitations: Sometimes the mothers may not be able to meet me for observation. Being an outsider, some mothers may fail to confide fully in me concerning the development of their infants. In case an infant is admitted in a hospital due to sickness, I may not be able to continue collecting the necessary data. Some infants may develop conditions that are beyond the scope of my study. Delimitations: I am choosing not to observe mothers that reside outside XXX Division because of distance and travel costs. I will not user closed-ended questionnaires in my study to allow the respondents provide as much information as possible. 5.0 Conclusion It is concluded that breastfeeding up to six months is vital for the developmental outcome, health and behavior patterns of infants at that age. Women's psychosocial wellbeing and health should be supported as they affect breastfeeding stability and the health and wellbeing, emotional and intellectual growth of their children. Husbands and fathers play significant roles in the result of their children's development and health by offering the needed emotional and tangible support for the breastfeeding mothers. Study recommends a comprehensive primary method to women and family care. We, consequently, strongly endorse that health care groups and women support organizations should set strategies or protocols for the sustenance of breastfeeding during the initial months of life. Buy custom Breastfeeding Research Paper essay