Discuss the Presentation of the American Dream in John Steinbeck’s Novel, “Of Mice and Men” Essay

â€Å"The American Dream†, the leap from â€Å"rags to riches†, is a dream that has always been thought of as achievable through hard work. To achieve the American dream you must leave all you have and be willing to give up everything for excitement, adventure and a better life. It is a romantic view of life where someone can leave his or her troubles behind and find happiness. The concept of the American Dream is often viewed in conjunction with the Western Frontier. For many years, America was a country with a frontier. Early colonisation took place on the East Coast and the frontier played a pivotal role in American thinking where it stood as a boundary beyond which civilisation ceased to exist. Beyond the frontier lay many miles of land, which was for the taking, and a life of excitement and adventure, where men could have free of the cares of urban or modern life. People rarely took advantage what the frontier lands had to offer, but it acted as a safety valve as people felt they could follow the American Dream if they wanted. The Dream and the frontier could be referred to in any time of need for Americans. Many authors have explored the concept of the American dream in their work, including John Steinbeck. I am going to explore how Steinbeck has presented the American dream in the novel, â€Å"Of Mice and Men†. The novel is set in the great depression of the 1930’s. At this time, the country’s economy was going through a severe drop and thousands found themselves with nothing. Many looked to the American Dream and a vision of the western frontier, as a means for a better life. The novel represents a microcosm of America at this time, with various characters representing a different group of people in the time of the American depression. In the main body of this essay I will study the dreams of George and Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s Wife and how they are employed in the Novel, â€Å"of Mice and Men†. I will explore the functions and general roles that these dreams play to the people concerned. Finally I shall study how and why these dreams go wrong. George Milton and Lennie Small are the main protagonists in the novel, and share the main dream. It is a typical itinerant worker’s dream, where a man can follow the American dream and buy some land to live on and be his own boss. It is a dream focusing on living for oneself as Lennie says, â€Å"An’ live off the fatta the lan'†. The dream is of ten acres of land with a house. Here they can grow what they need to survive with a â€Å"vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens†. This dream would mean they only worked when they wanted to, giving them independence and in general a variable life. This would mean small advantages like not working if the weather wasn’t nice enough or â€Å"if a fren’ came along†¦ we’d say: â€Å"Why don’t you spen’ the night,† an’ by God he would†. The dream offers freedom from the life they know. They could leave all their troubles behind and start out fresh usin g the money they worked for. It gives them pride to think they can do it, and became members of the owners. For George and Lennie, the dream has many features of appeal. The first is that they can reap the fruits of their own labour. This is an ancient, biblical notion where in the Bible it states â€Å"as yes shall reap, so shall ye sow†. This is honest and humble living. The dream offers autonomy and also self-control linking to freedom and the ambition of the self made man, as George says, â€Å"we’d have our own place where we belonged†. The men will feel they belong there as they have environmental ownership so the dream also offers long-term security, â€Å"it would be our own, and nobody could can us†. This means financial security as well as social security, as Lennie can be controlled as George has appointed him to look after the rabbits. Society doesn’t know how to control someone like Lennie, and keeping him isolated and protected will keep him safe. As they consider the dream, they live in a bunkhouse with six other men, and so the dream presents privacy. Overall there would be a role reversal as George and Lennie could control and put limits on manual labour of their own, â€Å"If we don’t like a guy we can say: â€Å"Get the hell out†. They could also have the ability to form relationships and put down solid roots, as they would be stationery, rather than moving around all the time. On the ranch, Crooks and Candy are the only permanent workers and they don’t have any relationships: after all the ranch is a lonely place, and all other men come and go. The dream serves many functions. It doesn’t seem plausible at many points in the novel and we never really feel that it can happen but it’s the thought that it could which directs the way many of the characters think. The dream is a comfort and boosts the morale of George and Lennie when they need solace. Ironically at times when they most need it in this respect, it seems furthest away. The dream is a way to make life more variable and in doing so more bearable: their current lives are all very scheduled. One of the most important roles of the dream in the lives of Lennie and George is that it is used as a tool to keep Lennie under control. Lennie’s focus throughout the novel is on tending the rabbits. For Lennie as a character, the dream represents a place of safety. George uses the story like a bedtime story for Lennie. It’s like a fairy tale showing how subconsciously at least, the dream isn’t feasible. To the shrewd reader, the dream is never presented as realistic. At face value the reader’s mind is guided by the opinion of George and the structure of the novel: whenever the dream seems plausible, something happens to halt it. Conflicts are continuously brewing and it appears impossible for the dream to realise itself as Lennie’s behaviour threatens it at all times. George describes Lennie continuously as a â€Å"liability†. There is constant evidence of this that structurally point forward to Lennie’s behaviour causing the dream to end. Firstly, George tells the story of Weed where Lennie caused trouble when he didn’t mean any harm, and we actually witness Lennie’s liability when we see he has killed the puppy, again when he didn’t mean to. His overwhelming strength is often described as animalistic. The animal imagery used to describe him represents how he is simply not human, and more importantly he is below. His actions are all instinctive with images of his clutch like a â€Å"bear†. Another aspect of Lennie’s character is that he poses such strength and can never be contained because as Slim says, â€Å"he’s like a child, ain’t he†. Lennie is too often underestimated, and George is often seen as culpable as he is the one that underestimates his potential for destruction most. George often turns a blind eye to Lennie’s problems due to the nature of their relationship: it is a rare strong bond of companionship with mutual gain: â€Å"I got you to look after me and you got me to look after you†. The reader is directed by George’s language. His words are always rhythmic and show that subconsciously he doesn’t ever believe in it. Even when it appears they are close to the dream his words have a negative undertone, suggesting the dream is a long way away; â€Å"the future cats which might dare to disturb the future rabbits†. We hear from George at numerous points in the novel of the counter dream. It is the idea that he could live a normal life without the burden of Lennie. This would include making money then blowing it immediately on short, immoral pleasures. The continuous mention of the counter dream shows us a reality rather than a dream that is lived by many of the men. It is just another reminder of how unrealistic the dream is. The ending of the novel consists of the inevitable shattering of the dream. Lennie is eventually killed by George with the same gun that killed Candy’s dog and in the same way, for the same sort of reasons; society can’t deal with certain members. Directly foreboding aspects point forward to the death of the dream. In particular, is the figure of Curley’s Wife with her protective violent husband. Her loneliness caused her to be an underlying problem throughout the novel and her death physically signified the death of the dream because it signified the death of Lennie. This is because the dream could not exist without both George and Lennie due to their long emotional bond. It is a relationship of mutual gain and among other things, both men have companionship unlike any other on the ranch. Without this, George particularly, would live out the counter dream. The novel is circular as suggested in the title which comes from a Burns poem: â€Å"The best laid plans o’mice and men†¦ leave us nought but grief and pain†. At the beginning of the Novel, George makes Lennie remember where to run to if he gets in trouble. Therefore, we know that the novel will come full circle due to Lennie’s behaviour. This is such a problem because society doesn’t know how to deal with the insane, and as Slim comments, the only way society knows how to deal with people like Lennie, â€Å"That ain’t no good†. Therefore what shatters the dream, is Lennie’s death due to Lennie’s character and also subsequently the men’s reactions. All of the men underestimate Lennie’s control over himself including the â€Å"god-like† Slim who says, â€Å"He ain’t a mean guy†. Because he’s underestimated, he can never learn and never has done. Even when he murders Curley’s wife, he thinks he should hide the puppy, which he previously killed. George kills Lennie but leaves in his mind the thought that the dream will still come true, â€Å"You†¦ an’ me.† This means that the dream is never really shattered for Lennie. For George, there is nothing left, and the dream is destroyed, with George only left with the counter dream. Candy becomes caught up with the main dream. It should be noted that it is not his dream so it’s hard to feel that he could ever feel the same way about it as George and Lennie. At the time, Candy had become completely alone, as Carlson had shot his dog, his only companion. Candy felt he should have been the one to shoot the dog, â€Å"I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog†. He is therefore emotionally unstable as he feels he has nothing left. Candy builds up courage to ask if he can be apart of the dream, â€Å"S’pose I went in with you guys†. His offer is a suggestion, but as it is of financial backing it is too great for George to resist. There are many features of appeal for Candy apart from the features he shares that George and Lennie will gain. The land offers Candy a place of safety like for Lennie. But unlike Lennie, Candy’s safety is in retirement. The land will be a peaceful place to live after his retirement. He knows that when he stops swamping he will be â€Å"canned†, just like how his dog was shot. But the dream has other features of appeal for Candy. It gives him a sense of self-respect and dignity. Being thrown out with nothing would kill his self esteem at the end of his life, but owning his own land would restore his confidence in himself so he could die a happy man. The last main feature of appeal for Candy is companionship. He always has people around him on the ranch but because he’s permanent and all the others aren’t, Candy never really gains their friendship. Owning the land with George and Lennie would mean he has people to spend the end of his life with: â€Å"I’d make a will an’ leave my share to you guys†. This is obvious but the fact that he has no one else he could give the money to is proof of his loneliness, a key theme of this novel. Candy’s involvement in the dream no doubt gives it a more realistic dimension. The fact that George’s â€Å"eyes were full of wonder† when Candy becomes involved suggests is more realistic. The time scale involved until the dream’s completion has been decreased and it is in the near future. The problem of Lennie not being able to be kept under control was seemingly dealt with, as Candy ands Lennie could move on to the land and set up the farm whilst George works for the rest of the money needed. It seems as if the dream is very likely, however, we find that the time scale to get the land is a month. This doesn’t seem a long time, but we know there’s no way Lennie can be kept under control for a whole month. Evidence of this is his behaviour in Weed. Therefore, although Candy’s involvement makes the dream much more realistic, it still isn’t really plausible. Candy is the first to discover the body of Curley’s Wife. Subconsciously he is the one that first knows the end of his dream is nigh, â€Å"his face was hard and tight as wood†. When he looks for confirmation he speaks â€Å"his greatest fear†. Candy â€Å"dropped his head† showing how he has been defeated and destroyed psychologically and spiritually. The reader already knows the implications that this has for his future. Indeed, the issue of Candy raises the idea of protest against the treatment of the elderly in the microcosm of the ranch, which represents the bigger macrocosm that is 1930’s America. At this time the elderly were not treated very well, and in the position in which Candy stands, as he grows too old to work, he’ll be â€Å"canned† and will have nothing, not even companionship. We know that Candy will suffer this utilitarian view, suffering the same fate as his dog. Crooks has a cynical view of the dream, he thinks it’s â€Å"crazy†. He says, â€Å"†You’re nuts† Crooks was scornful, â€Å"I seen hundreds of men come by and they all got that same damn thing in their heads.†Ã¢â‚¬  It’s clear that his view has developed over time, as Crooks is one of only two men on the ranch that are permanent. The scornful view is also linked to his bitterness; you get a sense that Crooks doesn’t want people to succeed due to his hard life and his own limited destiny as a black man. He’s always studying his rights as a black man, as seen by the â€Å"mauled copy of the California civil code†. He remembers when he lived on his father’s own land and he had equality in his once innocent mind when he was a child. Now, in his own words, â€Å"If I say something, why it’s just a nigger saying it†. Another issue for Crooks is that he’s living in such a racist time in history, that he suffers severely from loneliness. He’s surrounded by men crippled in some way by society, and he is himself physically crippled, yet he must tend to his own injuries, constantly rubbing ointment into his back. He’s constantly segregated, living in an annex of barn, in a room littered with broken imagery, â€Å"broken harness†¦ a split collar†. He always tries to retain pride, â€Å"he kept his distance and demanded that other people kept theirs†. The truth is that he’s forced to be separated from the other men. It’s these social boundaries that have kept Crooks lonely throughout his life; the way Candy has to break through an emotional threshold to walk into Crooks’ room gives a very small implication that the two â€Å"permanent† men could possibly have been companions in different circumstances. Crooks has suffered so much in his life, that he has no capacity to dream left as he speaks of the al the men he has seen speaking of the same dream of land waiting for them â€Å"Just like heaven†. This biblical imagery refers to how Crooks feels that there is no such thing as paradise; only suffering exists. Despite his deeply negative view of the dream, even Crooks becomes caught up in it. The fact that the cynic is converted directs the reader to once again thinking the dream is possible. The dream has so many features of appeal for Crooks that he cannot help but believe in it. After all he believes he has rights as he studies and speaks of them constantly. The dream would give him rights in many ways, socially and economically. It would give him companionship, something denied to him due to social boundaries. He thirsts for companionship as we see when Candy enters his room; â€Å"It was difficult for Crooks to conceal his pleasure with anger†. The dream offers Crooks many similar aspects as it offers Candy. Safety is one of these. Like Candy, Crooks is crippled and getting older so the dream will give him security when the time where he won’t be able to work will come. The dream will thereafter offer a peaceful resting place after his retirement. One reason why Crooks is so focused on his rights is that rights will give him dignity and a sense of self-respect. He is described as a â€Å"a proud, aloof man† yet in society he has no dignity as he has no rights. The dream will offer him rights in the society that he will be in. The social boundaries are so strong that, as Candy says, â€Å"I been here a long time†¦ an’ Crooks been here a long time. This’s the first time I ever been in his room†. Crooks must therefore be very brave, forgetting the pride he uses as a defence mechanism, to ask if he could be a part of the dream. He knew he was open to rejection yet he has such a huge belief that he could have a better life, that he chooses to risk his proud appearance, the only thing he possesses. It is inevitable that the dream will be shattered for Crooks, as things will never change. When Curley’s Wife enters, the reader’s faith is structurally restored yet trouble appears. Curley’s Wife makes a shrewd observation, â€Å"They left all the weak ones here†. By this she is referring to their relative weakness within the capitalist society. A white woman, especially with the power of being the boss’s daughter in law, would be stronger than a black man, which means Crooks’ dream is bound to be shattered. This is exaggerated by the way Curley’s wife appears to be looking for trouble and then shrugs off Crooks, as â€Å"nigger† whom she threatens to have lynched. â€Å"Crooks had retired into the terrible protective dignity of the Negro† as he always knows that he is powerless. It’s ironic that although Curley’s Wife has more power than Crooks, they are both powerless in their own situations. â€Å"Crooks seemed to grow smaller, and he pressed himself against the wall†. The body language he expresses shows he is humiliated and deflated. His language becomes the deferential kind of a servant: â€Å"Yes, ma’am†. Crooks symbolises the position of blacks in the Novel, which is a macrocosm of 1930’s America. They were nothing, â€Å"Crooks had reduced himself to nothing† and his voice had become â€Å"toneless†. Things cannot change and will not change for Crooks no matter what he does, until society’s opinions towards blacks change. Thus Chapter Four begins and ends with Crooks â€Å"rubbing his back†. The dream has come full circle. In Chapter Five we finally hear Curley’s Wife’s story and her own dream. Up until this point, she is viewed by the reader through the eyes of the men on the ranch. The result of this is that the reader is directed to build up a certain opinion of her that we later find to be distorted. Her behaviour is symptomatic of her loneliness. When we see her for the person she has become, we hear her own dream. It consists of fame and glamour and all privileges that accompany it. She says she â€Å"coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes†. She dreams of looking the part and living the lifestyle of all areas of the media. She wants to sit â€Å"in them big hotels, an’ had pitchers took of me†. This shows how she wants to have people know who she is and that she wants to feel she is loved. Her dream is in moral contrast to the humble dream of the men, supporting the capitalist society that the men wish to escape from and focusing on material aspects of life. It represents an idea of rags to riches, a concept lying within the American dream, but there is a contrast in the perception of â€Å"riches†. Curley’s Wife’s dream is superficial and artificial, promoting the capitalist machine. Her dream offers an easy lifestyle lacking self-effort but still achieving wealth. It lacks moral depth. Fundamentally she desires attention and longs to be in the public eye. She’s always looking for attention and company in general by the way she comes looking for the men, as well as how she talks quickly for fear of loosing her audience. We do not criticise Curley’s Wife for her dream as we see what it promises her, but we still condemn the dream. She is young and uneducated but the dream is still shallow. In realism, forgetting Curley’s Wife, the dream of Hollywood is unrealistic, after all there are many that share the dream and the vast majority don’t make it. Curley’s Wife is unsure herself if she believes in it. You feel that she is very insecure, as she seems to feel the dream is impossible for her by the use of the word â€Å"coulda† but she still tries to live her dream in her situation seen by the way she â€Å"made a small grand gesture†. This shows much pathos and poignancy especially when she says â€Å"Maybe I will yet† as the irony lies in the fact that her impending death is very near. In her own story we see Steinbeck making protest against the treatment of women. She was obviously used with the temptation of living her dream. She was told that she received a letter and when she didn’t she blamed her mother. This was a scapegoat as was marrying Curley who she admits â€Å"I don’ like Curley. He aint a nice fella.† The dream is really an escape from her unhappy life and lacks sincerity. Curley’s Wife’s dream is shattered in her restricted lifestyle and finally in her death. Her death ironically frees her from the cycle she has developed, whereby she tries to escape from her life. The manner of her final escape is therefore poignant and we finally see her for who she really is an innocent young girl: â€Å"She was pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young†. Steinbeck must step in here and portray her in this way because her previous appearance would suggest otherwise. She is seen before through the eyes of the men who use only derogatory terms to describe her such as â€Å"jail bate† and â€Å"tart†. The question remains as to whether to condone or condemn her. Steinbeck steps in to direct us to sympathise with her in case we may have already condemned her. The protest is made by the author against the treatment of women at the time and shows that this along with the resulting characteristics it develops, is a repeating cycle of action then reaction. Steinbeck does more than present dreams; he shows how they are smashed and disintegrated. So does this mean that â€Å"Of Mice and Men† is a pessimistic book? In my opinion, it does not. Dreams are inevitably smashed, or rather; this does not deprive them of value. More importantly the novel raises the issue that American society of the 1930’s was problematic and in some ways corrupt: it represents real groups of people who lead pessimistic lives. At this time in American history, America was suffering depression so the country would be split into optimists and pessimists. In my opinion, Steinbeck is saying that it is hard to reach the dream. Having a burden like Lennie is an extreme of the problems the road to the dream poses. However, it must be remembered that Lennie was half of the reason that the dream was even thought about. Steinbeck is making a statement that the American dream is a goal, and whether it is achievable or not, it is very good incentive for the cap acity to hope and inspire.

Information Technology Management Essay

Information and communication technologies play critical roles in sustaining an organizations growth and profitability (Galliers & Leidner, 2003). If managed properly, investments in information and communication technologies can improve efficiency and effectiveness of business processes and an organization’s competitive posture in the market. Proper management of information and communication technologies investments can also enrich people’s lives in the organization improving job satisfaction and productivity. Galliers & Leidner, 2003). Success in managing information and communication investments depend largely on exercising good management practices like human capital management, staff training management, information technology architecture management and software management (Galliers & Leidner, 2003). However, with all the potential benefits of investments in information and communication projects, they can be risky, costly and unproductive if not managed properly (Galliers & Leidner, 2003). Organizations should therefore strive to attract and retain information technology personnel that are qualified and talented to ensure the success of information and technology investments. This is further complicated by a tight information and technology labor market where qualified information and technology personnel enjoy high mobility. Discussion The position I am required to design is a leadership position intended to provide technical direction and guide an organization in implementing strategic information and communication projects (Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations, 2010). The occupant of this position is expected to be able to handle a wide range of duties and responsibilities. He or she should be able to use his/ her exposure, technical experience and business knowledge in developing an organization’s technical plans and to advise senior management on information technology strategies, standards and governance (Galliers & Leidner, 2003). In addition he or she will be expected to monitor the industry’s trends in information technology and respond appropriately by formulating long term information technology strategies capable of improving an organization’s competitiveness. The senior information technology manager will work under the general supervision of the chief executive officer. In line with work plans and resource allocation coordination provided by the chief executive officer, he or she will be responsible for effective planning, supervision and delivery of assigned functions that fall within an information and communication department (Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations, 2010) so as to ensure that an organization’s requirements for information systems and information technology are effectively and efficiently met. He will also be responsibility for ensuring that an organization’s computer systems have the capacity to meet the business needs of an organization by either upgrading existing systems or developing new systems (Info Tech Employment, 2008). Additional functions will include participation in planning, coordinating and setting policies for the development and implementation of an organization’s information technology strategies, supporting standards, procedures and practices, supervising and coordinating works of external firms in special projects or functions to ensure quality and timely delivery, providing consultant services in regards to procurement of new information technology equipments and computer systems, supervising members of staff assigned to special projects or functions and coordinating their training and development to ensure that they are up to the tasks and finally, developing and monitoring key performance indicators of assigned functions within an information technology department (Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations, 2010). The senior information technology manager is expected to have an excellent working knowledge in information technology and a commitment to keep up to dat e with the latest development (Galliers & Leidner, 2003). He should demonstrate people’s management skills with an ability to motivate staff members, provide a cooperative and productive work environment, manage resources effectively to achieve objectives, organize and coordinate work in the department and explain technical issues clearly (Info Tech Employment, 2008). He or she will be tasked with leading changes that fall within the information technology department, hence must be able to integrate organizational and departmental goals, priorities and values. In addition, he or she should have experience in managing large scale projects in information systems and technology (Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations, 2010). To fulfill these expectations, a university degree in computer science or related fields and appropriate professional certifications are mandatory. Moreover, the candidate of choice should have at least five years management experience in information technology. He should demonstrate experience with standard software applications and data manipulation, analysis and interpretation tools (Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations, 2010). Conclusion Information technology investments can be very beneficial to an organization as a whole if they are managed properly. Organizations should therefore strive to hire and retain qualified, experienced and talented information technology managers. This is not easy given the current information technology labor market. The labor market is characterized by high mobility of qualified labor and organizations must put in place effective measures to ensure they hire the right people. One of the measures an organization should take is defining clear structures and responsibilities of all employees in the information technology department. The senior information technology manager will provide technical direction and guidance to the organization in implementing strategic information technology projects. He will be responsible for ensuring effective and efficient management of resources within the information technology department.

Adversities in of Mice and Men Essay Example for Free

Adversities in of Mice and Men Essay ? SteinbeckIn the novel Of Mice and Men, the problems experienced by the characters are often over looked in favor of the themes of the book. However, by looking at the adversities of all of the characters, one can see the same adversities expressed in our own lives; by examining these said adversities, one can also learn to face such difficulties in the real world and better determine how to handle them. In the novel, Lennie faces difficulty in explaining himself to the rest of the world. Since he is mentally challenged, most people, even George sometimes, underestimated his intelligence and logic skills. In Weed, the ranchers assumed the worst about him and didn’t stop to think of his motives. They chased George and Lennie out of town with a mob of angry ranchers. At the ranch in Soledad, Lennie is given most of the basic tasks. Everyone assumes he cannot do work like a normal ranch hand. And again, after he kills Curly’s wife, everyone, except George and perhaps Slim, assumes he killed her out of pure spite. This lack of interest in his true motives is similar to the lack of interest the world has for our motives for anything. The world focuses more on what we have done than on why we have done it. If one cannot display ones motives or desires, then the world assumes the worst, and often society labels situations in a less than satisfactory manner. George faces a barrier in achieving his dream of owning a ranch of his own. Partially this is his doing, as shown with the wasting of money on cathouses and booze, but there are other factors as well, like the death of Lennie. Also, George seems to abandon any hope in his dream at the end of the novel. In this case, one can see that if ample efforts are not taken in the right direction one cannot achieve his goal to its entirety. Furthermore, the way the workmen take away Candy’s dog is similar to the way the world takes away the joys experienced by some members of the society. Candy’s dog, symbolic of Candy’s life and livelihood, was more important to him than some of the other ranch hands. Carlson, the representative of the world, took Candy’s dog from him and killed it, just as the world will sometimes take what we hold most dear. One can learn from this to hold on to what is most important to them. One should never let the world dictate how to make decisions on how to live life. In conclusion, the problems of the characters in Of Mice and Men are very similar to the problems in the real world. In the novel, however, the difficulties are more apparent than in the world. By applying the experiences of the characters to one’s own life, one can learn how to better himself for his own benefit. Adversities in of Mice and Men. (2018, Nov 10).

Explain why and how firms become multinational enterprises Essay

Explain why and how firms become multinational enterprises - Essay Example re than one country and so linked that they may co-ordinate their operations in various ways† (OECDS, 2008, p.12) It is the most common way among several by which foreign direct investments are transmitted outward by the home country, or invested inward into the host country. At times multinational firms are described in terms of equity proportion; some jurisdictions peg a multinational as one whose voting rights are 10% owned and controlled by a foreign entity; other dispensations say 50%. The OECD definition is thus an interesting one in that it specified no ownership proportion, but stresses the operational link among internationally engaged organizations in different countries. These internationally engaged firms are systematically different from those domestically oriented; they are as a rule larger and have a more complex organizational structure and processes. Multinationals are thus more complex to manage (Yeaple, 2009). A multinational enterprise (MNE) is, simply put, a business organization the operations of which spans different countries and is intricately linked to its subsidiaries or other subsidiaries of the same mother firm. Therefore, what then makes a firm into an MNE is the nature of its activities, that its activities are geographically expanded across borders under a common ownership. There are times when a stage of the firm’s operations is intended to be performed in another country, for any number of reasons such as greater cost-effectiveness or locating closer to raw material or human resources. But rather than outsourcing that stage of operations to another, domestic, firm, the company instead sets up its own subsidiary or unit in that country to perform that stage of the operations. There are several ways how a company can internationalize its operations: In all these methods, a substantial amount of long-term funds is committed in the productive activity, which infusion is called the foreign direct investment, or FDI. Forms

Marketing Spotlight on HSBC Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marketing Spotlight on HSBC - Case Study Example A deeper insight into this strategy reveals that the efforts are directed towards becoming the consumer's expert on cultural knowledge of the nation thus getting deep visibility into financial opportunities in the country hidden in the personality & motivation of the end consumers that is normally invisible to other outsiders (Montgomery. 2008). The localization model of HSBC is supported strongly by their global technology system called Hexagon Infrastructure having foundations laid way back in 1983 and subsequently key enhancements implemented in 1987, 1989, and 1994 (Peffers and Tuunainen. 1999). HSBC owns one of the most sophisticated & efficient banking transactions & customer service management systems of the world. As defined by Hamid and Amin et al. (2007), Internet Banking is a powerful mean of enhancing competitive advantages that should be informative, communicative & transactional as per the local customer needs. As reported by these researchers, HSBC is one of the few foreign banks that are able to compete effectively with the local banks at Malaysia & Thailand pertaining to Internet Banking. Also, this is the only bank in the world that offers secure ID tokens to the customers for Internet Banking (Goodwin. 2006). Another key success factor of HSBC is their focus on some specific customer needs through niche marketing like the example of pet insurance offering in the spotlight document. Lemon and Seiders (2007) presented another niche focus of HSBC servicing fund transfers for immigrants back into their respective countries through HSBC website. This service is specifically very popular in markets like Mexico and Philippines that are not core targets of many multinational banks. As a result of such offerings, HSBC customers perceive the bank to be socially responsible and innovative which adds to the brand equity of the organization. Sirkeci (2008) presented another niche positioning by HSBC whereby they target the needs of ethnic population of developed countries and offer customized products for them. To serve this segment, they have hired frontline staff from the target communities to ensure better customer friendliness. In nutshell the primary competitive advantages of localization competencies and ability to target niche segments has ensured the current global positioning of HSBC as such. Where is HSBC vulnerable and what should they watch for McDonald and Chernatony (2001) reported that while the competency of localization is evident very strongly in the parent brand, the same is not reflected adequately in promotion of individual products like Meridian, Vector, Orchard, etc. Moreover, the benefits of individual products of HSBC are not communicated adequately through product branding exercise. This leads to tight correlation of individual product lines with the parent brand thus risking the HSBC brand equity in a location due to failure of a product line. This is a serious vulnerability that HSBC should watch for. Another vulnerability HSBC might face is pertaining to their sheer size and the

Career Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Career - Essay Example The managers’ pinpoint the job-related experience, knowledge, competencies, and skills required employees to be productive in their positions (Ohlsson, 2010). Additionally, the manager helps the low-skilled workers to define their career development gaps that will support both the objectives of the firm and their career goals. The managers support the development plans of the employees by indicating the specific procedures that need to achieve the learning objectives. The managers also assist the workers to understand the positions that will suit their career growth. In summary, the manager’s role in career development includes listening, leveling, looking ahead, leveraging, and linking. The managers listen by getting the employees talk about their context, interests, values, and skills. They level by getting them reflect on how other view the development and skills areas. They look ahead by making them consider how their career world is changing. The managers leverage employees, by getting them analyze various career moves. Finally, the managers link their workers by getting them to move on their learning techniques. The employer’s role in career development involves providing compensation and job structures that support the firm and the growth of an individual. The employers also enrich the positions at work place to create challenges in the working setting (Hall, 2006). Additionally, they offer funds and time for career development activities. This is done by creating processes to use the skills, abilities, and knowledge of every employee. The employers also carry out pro-active planning of work force to meet the needs of staffing. This is done through employee evaluation and creation of succession criteria for important job positions for the firm. The employers also identify and nurture talents and reward the performance of the employees in a manner that

Diversity Programs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Diversity Programs - Essay Example William Sonnenschein also talks about this problem in his book, The Diversity Toolkit: How You Can Build and Benefit from a Diverse Workforce. â€Å"The demographics of the workplace are changing and will continue change rapidly...Workforce diversity... presents one of the greatest challenges facing todays organization†. As different humans could only create a different working culture, the success rate to form a single working culture will be minimal. But, if a common and winnable working culture is ‘operationalised’, through out the organization, the organization will be a success story. And, the script for this success story can only be scripted, by an effective leader or manager. So, if I have been a manager, I would impose my own assumptions as a form of single work culture and thereby will suppress the prevailing different cultures. One of the important first tasks of a leader in an organization is the creation of a common working culture. That is, the task of the leader is to create a working culture, embed the working culture in the working group and environment, sustain it and also rectify it, when faults occur. As leaders are the man in lead, they usually have a major impact on how the group initially defines and sets into an organization. Typically, the leaders or managers will have strong assumptions about the nature of the world, the role that organizations play in that world, the characteristics that make up human nature and relationships, how truth is arrived at, and how to manage time and space. They will, therefore, be quite comfortable in imposing those views and personal cultures, on their partners and employees as the organization copes with challenges and targets. This imposition of founder’s assumptions, as a form of good culture is one of the good leadership traits. The workers mind will always be receptive to the leaders’ or managers’ views, orders, suggestions etc

Personal Reflection Paper (Ethic class) Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Personal Reflection Paper (Ethic class) - Thesis Example Had hooker chemicals ltd taken into consideration ethics in their decision to sell the site in which toxic waste had been buried. Asserting from Ethics without Sermon it could have been possible to prevent the hazardous implications if this company and the Niagara Fall school. In the examination of ethics of business decision the following questions are crucial before any action of implementation is taken. The question which needs to be addressed before making any business decision among others may include. This question is important because it conceptualizes the expected results and implications of a decision made. Consequences and probable results are outlined, these outlined questions are used to weigh if the decision made have good or hazardous implications. Hooker chemicals intention to sell the site buried with intoxicated waste should have been first examined by this question and the concept of ethics put into consideration (Nash 2010). The company had the knowledge in regard to implication in case of human habitation and settlement and they went ahead with their intention despite the knowledge. Also the board members of Niagara Falls school were also aware with the presence of toxic and went ahead with their intention to buy the site. The decisions made by the two entities did not cross check with the likely results and the implication was that a human and environmental disaster occurred. This question concerning ethics examination demarcates between intentional or non-intentional cause of injury to various stakeholders. In the case of love canal taking into consideration the knowledge limits of the two parties in regard to the presence of buried toxic waste in the site the injury caused to the stakeholders can be asserted to be intentional (Ferrell 2012). Hooker chemicals were unethical in burying toxic waste perfectly

Academic Performance and Personal Growth and Development Essay

Academic Performance and Personal Growth and Development - Essay Example The purpose and goal of any educational institution are to introduce and instal a set of knowledge and skills to the students and together with the parents and/or guardians act as the custodians of personal development through discovering and nurturing talents. A given education institutions will have students from all economic, social and cultural divides; students talented differently, with different perspectives on the education and learning systems and with different post-school aspirations, and it’s the work of the institution and relevant stakeholders (Joyce, 2011) to match these traits to help them achieve maximum in school life. These students may explicitly and/or implicitly depict or showcase their attributes in that some are physically active in both the academic and extra curriculum activities whereas others may be passive in any of them or both (Rayner & Cools, 2011). This will in one way or the other influence their academic performance and personal growth and de velopment both at the college and after college which is similar but different to some extent and this paper seeks to contrast the academic performance, leadership/ administrative roles and post-school lives of active and passive students. Apart from ensuring students cognitively understand the subject matter; institutions are also interested to ensure that graduates can make good leaders, an attributed nurtured within the institution. Active students tend are involved in leadership roles to a greater extent than the passive students but comparatively lack administrative skills; a factor that can be attributed to rationality and perceptions between these students (Scherer, 2010).

Murder of Emmett Till Essay Example for Free

Murder of Emmett Till Essay Emmett Till was a fourteen year old boy who lived in Chicago. He was very outgoing and friendly with everyone he met. After his uncle, Moses (Moh-ss) Wright, came up to visit, he took Emmett and his cousin down to Money, Mississippi. Before he left, his mother informed him that life is very, very different for blacks in the South and the way he acted at home could not be the same as how he acted down there. He didn’t believe her warnings. As Emmett and his mother got to the train station Emmett ran for the train in haste as to not miss his ride. Mamie Till, his mother, yelled to him â€Å"Emmett, aren’t you gonna say good bye? What if I never see you again?† Emmett said, â€Å"Awhh mama.† Then he gave her a kiss on the cheek and handed her his watch so that she had part of him while he was away. She asked about his father’s ring and he said he was, â€Å"going to show it off to the boys† and was on his way without regard to his mother’s warnings. Money, Mississippi was just a stretch of road with a post office on one end and Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market at the other. Bryant’s sold cool drinks to passing field workers and candy to the neighborhood children. So African Americans were often regulars. As Mamie had said, the south was like a whole other world compared to Chicago. In the south, when a white woman would walk down the sidewalk and a black man was walking towards her, he would have to get off the sidewalk and look at the ground because a black male can never look a white woman in the eyes. Blacks weren’t even allowed to enter through the front doors of white businesses. Moses Wright worked on a field picking cotton. He lived in a small shack on the plantation that he worked for. There were only three small rooms in the shack so everyone squeezed in to the available beds. Emmett had to sleep with his cousin in one room; Moses was in another and in the other room, Wheeler Parker, Emmett’s close cousin and the others. While there Emmet and his cousins would help Moses in the field. On August 24, the boys drove into town from the field and went in to Bryant’s Grocery to get candy and drinks. Emmett went in and purchased two cents worth of bubble gum and on the way out turned back to Carolyn Bryant, the wife of the owner of Bryant’s Grocery, and whistled to her. She was furious and ran out to chase the boys, so they got in the car and drove off to their uncle’s house. While driving home Emmett begged his cousins not to tell Moses of the events that occurred. After three days, the boys forgot about the whole scenario. On the fourth night, at about 2:30 am while everyone lay asleep in bed, Roy Bryant, Carolyn’s husband, and his brother J.W. Milam broke into the house. They went into the first room to find Moses sleeping and woke him, shinning a flashlight in his eye and holding a rifle to his head and asked where Emmett was. Moses pleads for them to leave the boy alone but they did not listen and went into Emmett’s room and kidnapped him. Days went by with no word, so as does most blacks when someone goes missing, they started to check around the Tallahassee River, to try to find his body. Days later, a young man fishing in the Tallahatchie reported Emmett’s body floating in the nearby weeds. When Moses went to identify the body, the only way he could verify that it was Emmett, was by his father’s ring that was on his finger. Both men were arrested and set to be tried in the Tallahatchie County Court in September of 1955 for the murder of Emmett Till. The friends of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam as well as other white families collected money to buy every lawyer they could for the two. When it came to the trial the defenses main strategy was that the body could not be identified as Emmett Till. They claimed that Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam let him go alive. Any Black people that came forward with information for the prosecution mysteriously disappeared so most remained neutral to avoid having the same fate. The two men were acquitted and set free, Mamie Till sent to higher courts and even President Eisenhower, who all refused to investigate further. After the trail Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam sold their story about what they did to Look Magazine. They made Emmett carry a 75-pound cotton-gin fan to the bank of the Tallahatchie River and ordered him to take off his clothes. They beat him nearly to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head, and then threw his body in; with the cotton-gin fan tie around his neck with barbed wire, his body sank into the river. After the story was published and the government did nothing about it, Mamie Till and All African Americans in America, realized the magnitude of their predicament. They knew that their rights as humans were at risk. Thus, the murder of Emmett Till became renowned as the spark that began the Civil Rights Movement.

Microbiological transformation of steroids

Microbiological transformation of steroids 1. Introduction 1.1. Microbiological transformation of steroids. Steroids are small organic molecules that are synthesized in steroidogenic tissues and act on target sites to regulate a cascade of physiological functions [1]. Examples of natural occurring steroids include: sterols, steroidal saponins, cardioactive glycosides, bile acids, corticosteroids and mammalian sex hormones [2]. They are based on the steran skeleton which is composed of three six-carbon ring units and one five-carbon ring unit. The rings are labelled A, B, C, and D beginning from the far left (see fig. 1). In naturally occurring steroids, all four rings are in the chair conformation [3] with rings B, C, and D in trans- configuration with respect to each other. For rings A and B the position of the C-19 methyl group attached to C-10 and the hydrogen attached to C-5 determines the structure and their cis-/trans- configuration. Overall, neighbouring substituent are trans- if they are diaxial or diequatorial like in fig. 1a, and are cis- if they are axial-equatorial (fig. 1b). However, the two methyl groups attached to C-10 and C-13 are always axial in relative to rings B and D, with C-10 substituent being the conformational reference point [3]. Hence, the 5ÃŽ ±- steroid skeleton (see fig. 1a) is in the trans-trans-tans- configuration, and thus is broadly planar. The knowledge of the stereochemistry of steroid molecules is highly significant in understanding its biotransformation reactions which is the basis of this study. Steroids represent a class of natural products with diverse therapeutic properties. It has been observed that minor changes in the molecular structure of steroids can affect their biological activity [4,5]. Hence numerous research have been conducted to improve the activity of existing steroid compounds and to synthesize novel steroidal compounds with pharmacological activity, and thus the most significant area of these research is the transformation of steroids using biocatalysts. Biotransformation could be defined as the modification of an organic compound into a recoverable product by chemical reactions catalysed by enzymes originating from a biological system [6]. It should be noted that the organic compound which is the substrate is not involved in the primary or secondary metabolism of the biological system concerned, and thus distinguishes this process from biosynthesis. The biotransformation of steroids is one of the most important microbial processes that are highly regio- and stereospecific, involving chemical modifications (e.g. oxidation, reduction, hydrolysis, isomerisation, epoxidation, etc.) to the parent steroid which are catalysed by the microbial enzymes. In addition, the features which govern their regiospecificity differ from those controlling chemical specificity, and so it is possible to obtain biotransformation at centres that are chemically unreactive [6]. For example, in the study conducted by Peterson and Murray using Rhizopus arrhizu s, it was observed that progesterone was hydroxylated at C-11 which is an ureactive site in this steroid molecule [7]. Therefore, these characteristics alongside the rapid growth and high metabolic rates of microorganisms give biotransformation reactions an advantage over conventional chemical processes as a tool in the production of therapeutic agents (e.g. anti-inflammatory, diuretics, anabolic, contraceptive, anti-cancer, anti-androgenic, postgestational etc.) in the pharmaceutical industry. The ever growing research into the study of microbial transformation of steroids have led to newer technology in this area of science such as: genetically modification of microorganisms to improve their steroid transforming capabilities, the immobilization of whole cells or isolated enzymes in a suitable matrix for repetitive economic utilization of the enzymes, manipulation of culture media to improve product yields by the use of enhancers e.g. cyclodextrin, and the improvement of the solubi lity of substrates are insoluble (or sparingly soluble) in water [8]. Furthermore, the advances in microbial steroid biotransformation have led to the discovery of new microbial reactions and novel metabolites which may be of interest within academia and clinical medicine. 1.2. The mechanism of Hydroxylation The hydroxylation of a compound is a very important metabolic process, in humans; this process is catalysed by cytochrome P450 enzymes and results in products with a higher polarity than the parent compound, and thus aiding its excretion from the body [1,3]. The process of hydroxylation, involves the conversion of a carbon-hydrogen to a carbon-hydroxyl bond, and when catalysed by the enzyme hydroxylase, the reaction is more regio- and stereospecific in contrast to the conventional chemical process [8-12]. As a result, microbial hydroxylation is rather used for the synthesis of hydroxysteroid. Fungal hydroxylation of steroids continues to be the focus of attention at different levels of research and product development. In spite of its popularity this process is not fully understood because few studies have been conducted on the hydroxylase enzyme due to the difficulty in isolating this enzyme [10,11]. However, most studies have shown that the cytochrome P450 enzyme is also responsible for steroid hydroxylation in filamentous fungi [9-11,13,22]. Cytochrome P450 (CYP 450) enzyme is an iron-haem system which carries out a wide range of biocatalytical transformation. These enzymes are also known as monooxygenases because they transfer one atom of molecular oxygen to an organic substrate. The catalytic mechanism for this reaction involves the binding of the substrate to the active site of the enzyme and then the displacement of a water molecule (see fig.2). This is followed by a reduction of the iron in the CYP 450-haem complex to its ferrous state (Iron II) by an electron transfer. The ferrous state then binds to molecular oxygen to form a ferrous-dioxy (Iron (III)-OOH) species. This species then loses a hydroxyl anion to form an iron (IV)-oxygen radical. This radical may withdraw a hydrogen atom from the substrate to generate a carbon radical and an iron (IV)-hydroxyl species. The carbon radical then accepts a hydroxyl radical from the iron (IV)-hydroxyl species to form a hydroxylated product and iron (III). A simple general reaction equation for this process is summarised below: (where R represents the substrate and NADPH is the electron transferring species). RH + NADPH + H+ + O2 → ROH + NADP+ + H2O In other to fully understand the mechanism of fungal hydroxylation of steroids, the relationship between the structure of the CYP 450 hydroxylase enzyme and its regio- and stereoselective characteristic has to be defined. However, as mentioned earlier not much studies have been conducted on the structural features of this enzyme, and so active site models was developed to grasp the concept of the regio- and stereoselective outcome of microbial hydroxylation reactions. The first model, postulated by Brannon et al suggested the possibility for a steroidal substrate to be bound by a single steroid hydroxylase in more than one orientation due to two- sites binding, which could result in hydroxylation taking place at more than one position given the appropriate geometrical relationship between the active site of the enzyme and the carbon atom of the substrate undergoing the reaction [9,14]. These four orientations are represented as normal, reverse, inverted and reverse inverted (see fig. 3) and has been observed in the metabolic handling of 3ÃŽ ²-hydroxy-17a-oxa-D-homo-5ÃŽ ±-androstan-17-one by a filamentous fungus; Aspergillus tamarii [15]. The other model, Jones model takes into account only the normal and reverse binding orientations [6]. It requires the existence of three active centres on the steroid hydroxylase enzyme. These active centres have dual roles and could act both as a binding site or a hydroxylating site [16]. However, these roles are mutually exclusive, and so hydroxylation would occur at the closest nuclear centre to the steroid. Hence the enzyme-substrate interaction proposed by Jones would suggest a triangular location with an approximate spatial correspondence to C-3, C-11 and C-16 atoms of the steroid nucleus [6] (fig. 4). This model could not explain the hydroxylation reactions by some microorganisms. Therefore another theory was developed by McCrindle et al using both models above and taking into account the 3- D nature of the steroid compound and hydroxylase enzyme [17]. In this model, the steroid ring acts as a planar reference point (fig. 5). Binding site A favours oxygen atoms below the plane of the ring and hydroxylation is alpha. Binding site B is similar to A but can also hyroxylate alpha (axial or equatorial) or beta (equatorial) atoms. Whereas, binding site C binds preferentially to oxygen atoms above the plane of the steroid ring and hydroxylate with -beta orientation. Overall, this model tends to fit the hydroxylation pattern of most microorganisms. The hydroxylation outcome of some steroids can be predicted based on the oxygen functions or directing groups on the steroid skeleton. As a rule of thumb mono- oxygenated substrates are dihydroxylated and their transformation products are often in low yields [16]. This is as result of the presence of one oxygen function on the steroid compound making it less polar and thus decreasing its solubility which hinders its permeation into the microbial cell. In addition to this, the presence of only one oxygen function allows the steroid to bind to the enzyme at only one centre, thereby increasing its rotation and oscillation about the active site which makes it more likely to be dihydroxylated. Whereas, di- oxygenated substrates are monohydroxylated because the presence of two oxygen functions reduces the chance of multiple hydroxylations due to the reduction in the possible number of binding orientations [16]. Furthermore, the presence of two binding oxygen groups increases the rate of r eactivity of microbiological transformation as the increased substrate polarity improves solubility and thus permeation into the cell membrane of the microorganism is very likely. A wide variety of organisms have shown this pattern of hydroxylation with a wide range of substrates [15,16]. Hydroxylated steroids possess useful pharmacological activities, for example, C-11 hydroxylation is regarded as essential for anti- inflammatory action, and 16ÃŽ ±- hydroxylated steroids have increased glucocorticoid activity [8,12]. Hence the steroid industry exploits the use of 11ÃŽ ±-, 11ÃŽ ²-, 15ÃŽ ±- and 16ÃŽ ±- hydroxylation mainly for the production of adrenal cortex hormones and their analogues [8]. A range of microorganisms have been observed to affect this type of hydroxylations. For example, 11ÃŽ ±- hydroxylation is performed using Rhizopus sp. Or Aspergillus sp., Cuvularia sp. or Cunninghamella sp. and Streptomyces sp. generates 11ÃŽ ²- and 16ÃŽ ±- hydroxylations respectively [8,18]. Further research has shown other hydroxylations (e.g. 7ÃŽ ±-, 9ÃŽ ±- and 14ÃŽ ±- hydroxylations) of having the potential for industrial exploitation [18]. 1.3. The mechanism of Baeyer- Villiger Oxidation Baeyer- Villiger oxidation is the oxidative cleavage of a carbon-carbon bond adjacent to a carbonyl, which converts ketones to esters and cyclic ketones to lactones [19,20]. The mechanism of this chemical process was originally proposed by Criegee [19]. It involves a two step process: a nucleophillic attack of a carbonyl by a peroxo species resulting in the formation of a Criegee intermediate, which then undergoes rearrangement to the corresponding ester. Commonly used peracids or oxidants include: m-chloroperoxybenzoic acid, hydrogen peroxide, peroxyacetic acid and trifluoroperoxy acetic acid. This chemical process is highly significant, because the products generated are compounds which are intermediates in the synthesis of natural products or bioactive compounds. However, the oxidants used in chemical Baeyer- Villiger oxidation (BVO) are expensive and hazardous and also the reaction generates a large amount of waste products [4]. Hence biological (or enzymatic) BVO offers a green er approach for the production of chiral lactones. Biological Baeyer- Villiger oxidations are mediated by flavin- dependent monooxygenase enzymes i.e. Baeyer- Villiger monooxygenases (BVMOs) [19,21,22]. As a result of the versatile nature of flavoproteins [19], BVMOs have been shown to perform a variety of catalytic reactions including BVO of steroidal systems. The mechanism of microbial Baeyer- Villigers oxidation (fig. 6) is based on results obtained with cyclohexanone monooxygenase (CHMO) isolated from Acinetobacter calcoaceticus [19,22]. This enzyme was shown to possess flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) as a prosthetic group and was also found to be dependent on NADPH and oxygen. The enzymatic process is initiated by the reduction of the tightly bound FAD by NADPH followed by rapid oxidation by molecular oxygen to produce flavin 4a- peroxide anion, which acts as the oxygenating species. Nucleophillic attack of the substrate carbonyl group by the flavin 4a- peroxide anion results in the Criegee intermediate. This intermediate then undergoes rearrangement to form the product lactone and 4a- hydroxy- flavin. The catalytic cycle is terminated by elimination of water to form FAD and the release of the product and co-factor. It should be noted that the mechanism for microbial BVO based on CHMO serves as a model for other BVMOs. However, ther e are some differences such as the co-factor NADPH can be replaced by NADH and the prosthetic group FAD can be replaced by FMN [19]. Overall, there are no significant changes to the mechanism. Microbial Baeyer- Villigers oxidation is highly regio- and stereoselective [4,19-22] and as result it is commonly utilized for the biotransformation of steroidal compounds. It has also been shown in various studies, the ability of microbial BVMOs to attack the different ring systems of the steroid skeleton. Glomerella fusarioides was observed to biotransform eburicoic acid through an attack on the ring- A system by way of BVO to form a lactone, followed by a ring- cleavage to produce carboxylic acid [19]. In addition, 3-ketosteroids were observed to undergo Baeyer- Villigers oxidation with an isolated Baeyer- Villiger monooxygenase enzyme from Pseudomonas sp. attacking the C-3 ketone group on ring- A [4]. Ring- B lactone formation has also been observed in the steroid system using tomato cell suspension cultures to produce 24- epibassinolide [19]. Ring- D lactonization is very common and has been demonstrated by quite a few fungal species such as Pencillium sp., Cylindrocarim sp., M ucor sp. and Aspergillus sp. These fungi were able to biotransform progesterone to testololactone by way of Baeyer- Villigers oxidation via the intermediate steroid androst-4-ene-3,17-dione [19]. So far, ring- C lactonization has not been observed, although studies have been conducted to view this ring attack but none have proven its possibility [4]. Overall, several research have been undertaken and are still been conducted to explore the catalytic repertoire of Baeyer- Villiger monooxygenase enzymes, and these studies have shown the ability of this enzyme to catalyse the oxidation of 3- keto and 17- keto steroids with full control of the regiochemistry of the produced lactone thus allowing its application as an alternative to the conventional chemical process. 1.4. The mechanism of alcohol oxidation Alcohol oxidation is an important reaction in organic chemistry. It leads to the production of aldehydes or carboxylic acids from primary alcohol and ketones from secondary alcohol. Tertiary alcohols are resistant to oxidation because it is impossible to remove a hydrogen ion or add an oxygen atom to the compound without breaking the C-C bond. The commonly used reagents for the oxidation of alcohol are Jones reagent, potassium permanganate and chromium- based reagents. However, the oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes creates a problem for the organic chemist because aldehydes are not stable when produced in the conventional chemical oxidation process thus the use of microbial cells is preferred to overcome this problem [22]. The enzymes used in the oxidation of alcohol by microorganisms are alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH) which are dependent on the co-factors NAD+ or NADP+. The mechanism of this reaction consists of a series of equilibrium where the hydride from the alcohol subs trate is transferred to NAD(P)+ in the ternary complex enzyme- NAD+- alcohol complex [22]. In humans, this process is carried in the same fashion and is extremely important for several endogenous as well as drug metabolism. Therefore, microorganisms could serve as models for human metabolism using this process. An unprecedented level of regioselctivity of microbial oxidation of the alcoholic group in bile acids has been observed [23]. Some fungal species are known to have the ability to oxidise the C-3 and C-17 hydroxyl groups of steroidal compounds. Aspergillus tamarii has been shown to possess the enzyme 3ÃŽ ²- hydroxy- steroid- dehydrogenases which catalyses the 3ÃŽ ²- hydroxyl group to a C-3 ketone [5]. Oxidation of the 17ÃŽ ²- hydroxyl group has also been observed in a number of fungal species e.g. Penicillium sp., Aspergillus sp. and Mucor sp [24,25]. In general, a number of microorganisms have shown the ability to oxidise the alcohol groups on a steroid compound to generate t he ketone analogue, which could serve as an intermediate in the synthesis of lactones. 1.5. The mechanism of carbonyl reduction The reverse reaction of oxidation is reduction. It involves the transfer of one hydride ion to the carbonyl group. In conventional chemical reaction, the catalysts commonly used are sodium borohydride (NaBH4) and Lithium aluminium hydride (LiAlH4), aldehydes are easily reduced to primary alcohols using these catalysts. However, the high stereoselective reduction of ketones to chiral secondary alcohols is better performed with microbial enzymes [20,22]. This process is catalyzed by alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs), requiring the co-enzymes NADH or NADPH which transfers the hydride ion to the Si- or Re- face of the carbonyl group resulting in the formation of the corresponding (S)- or (R)- alcohol [22,25]. Microbial reduction of ketones to secondary alcohols normally proceeds in accordance with Prelogs rule to give secondary alcohols in the main (S)- enantiomer [25,26]. However, only a very limited number of microbial enzyme (ADHs) is available to allow anti- Prelog activity and have bee n demonstrated in the fungus Myceliophthora thermophila [27]. The ability of microorganisms to reduce the carbonyl groups on steroid compounds was reported in 1937 by Mamoli and Vercelloni who described the reduction of the 17- keto group in androst-4-ene-3,17-dione to testosterone by Saccharomyces cerevisiae [25]. Since then this process has been demonstrated for a wide variety of substrates and microorganisms of different species. Carbonyl reduction often accompanies other reactions in steroid biotransformation, and thus acts as one of the processes in the production of hydroxysteroids. 1.6. The microorganism: Myceliophthora thermophila Thermophilic fungi are among the few fungal species of eukaryotic organism that are able to survive at temperatures as high as 60 62oC [28]. However, Cooney and Emersons definition of thermophilic fungi is: fungi that have a growth temperature minimum at or above 20oC and a growth temperature maximum at or above 50oC [29]. These fungi have a widespread distribution in both tropical and temperate regions, inhabiting various types of soil and places where decomposition of plant material and organic matter occur thus providing the warm, humid and aerobic environment which are the basic conditions for their development [28,29]. The enzymes of thermophilic fungi have been studied to explore their contribution in biotechnology, and these studies have identified a remarkable range of extracellular enzymes (e.g. proteases, lipases, ÃŽ ±-amylases, glucoamylases, cellulases, cellobiose dehydrogenases, xylanases, ÃŽ ±- D-glucuronidase, polygalacturonase, laccases, phytase and D-glucosyltransf erase) and intracellular enzymes (e.g. trehalases, invertases, ÃŽ ²-glycosidases, lipoamide dehydrogenases, ATP sulfurylases and protein disulfide isomerases) [28]. The majority of these enzymes are appreciably thermostable which have resulted in its application in sugar and paper industries [30]. So far only two studies to date have been conducted to investigate the steroid biotransformation abilities of thermophilic fungi. The first study used the thermophilic filamentous fungus, Rhizomucor tauricus and it was observed that all transformations were oxidative producing mono- and dihydroxylated products with allylic hydroxylation been the predominant route of attack on the steroid compounds [30]. The second study was conducted using Myceliophthora thermophila [27] on which this present study is based. Myceliophthora thermophla is a thermophilic filamentous fungus classed as an ascomycete within the phyla of fungi [28]. It has another name which is sometimes used, Sporotrichum (Chrysosporium) thermophile [28,29]. However, M. thermophila is the sexual (telomorph) stage of the fungi, while Sporotrichum (Chrysosporium) thermophile is the asexual (anamorph) stage [28]. Its main habitat is in the soil and it is found in the following countries: USA, Canada, India, UK, Japan and Australia [29]. But this fungus can grow on simple media containing carbon, nitrogen and essential mineral salts such as Czapek- dox agar (CDA). The optimum growth temperature for M. thermophila is within the range 45 50oC [28]. It grows rapidly on CDA at 45oC, producing colonies that vary in surface texture from cottony to granular and its colour changes from white to cinnamon brown [29]. This fungus has also been observed to generate extracellular enzymes such as laccases, xylanases, cellulases and phytase wh ich have been exploited for use in the food industry and as biocatalyst in biotechnological processes [27]. This present study is a continuation of the research into steroid biotransformation by M. thermophila. Previously, a series of steroids (progesterone, testosterone acetate, 17ÃŽ ²-acetoxy-5ÃŽ ±-androstan-3-one, testosterone and androst-4-ene-3,17-dione) were incubated with this fungus, and a wide range of biocatalytical activity was observed with enzymatic attack at all four rings of the steroid nucleus and the C-17ÃŽ ² side- chain. This fungus demonstrated an unusual ring- A opening following incubation of the steroid 17ÃŽ ²-acetoxy-5ÃŽ ±-androstan-3-one, and thus generating 4-hydroxy-3,4-seco-pregn-20-one-3-oic acid. It was also identified to be the first thermophilic fungus to cleave the side- chain of progesterone. M. thermophila also demonstrated reversible acetylation and oxidation of the 17ÃŽ ²- alcohol of testosterone [27] (fig. 8). Further investigation into the diverse biocatalytical activity of this organism has led to the incubation of six saturated steroids namely: 17ÃŽ ²-hydroxy-5ÃŽ ±-androstan-3-one, 5ÃŽ ±-prgnane-3,20-dione, 3ÃŽ ²-hydroxy-5ÃŽ ±-androstan-17-one, 3ÃŽ ±-hydroxy-5ÃŽ ±-androstan-17-one, 5ÃŽ ±-androstan-3,6,17-trione and 5ÃŽ ±-androstan-3,17-dione with M. thermophila 1.7. Hypothesis The proposed hypothesis from previous study is outlined as follows: * Presumed lactonohydrolase activity evident from the isolation of an open lactone ring. * Enzymes responsible for the reduction of C3 ketone to a 3ÃŽ ±- alcohol and hydrogenation of the C-4-C-5 alkene are induced by progesterone. * Organisms ability for reverse metabolism, which is evident from the acetylation of testosterone to generate testosterone acetate and the reduction of the C-17 ketone of androst-4-ene-3,17-dione to produce testosterone which further undergoes acetylation. * Preference for stereochemistry of hydroxylation with attack at axial protons (6ÃŽ ², 7ÃŽ ±, 11ÃŽ ², 14ÃŽ ±). Therefore, the main aim of this study is to observe the effect of saturated steroids on the biocatalytical activity of Myceliophthora thermophila CBS 117.65 and to prove the hypothesis from the previous study.

Shooting An Elephant Essay -- essays research papers

The story that my evaluation will be based on is Shooting an Elephant written in 1936. The author George Orwell was born in 1903 in India to a British officer raised in England. He attended Eton College, which introduced him to England’s middle and upper classes. He was denied a scholarship, which led him to become a police officer for the Indian Imperial in 1922. He served in Burma until resigning in 1927 due to the lack of respect for the justice of British Imperialism in Burma and India. He was now determined to become a writer, so at the brink of poverty he began to pay close attention to social outcasts and laborers. This led him to write Down and Out in Paris and London (1933) during the Spanish Civil War. He embodied his hate for totalitarian system in his book Animal Farm (1945). George Orwell fell to the disease of tuberculosis at forty-seven, but not before he released many works. He wrote six novels, three documentary works, over seven hundred reviews and newspaper articles, and a volume of essays (1149). This particular story was very interesting and found it to hold a lot of truth. Shooting an Elephant is about an English man that was a police officer in Burman, who was hated for his race and felt it almost impossible to do his job. He had to deal with a lot of hatred and disrespect, but yet he was expected to do what the town’s people asked of him when they asked. When the elephant got loose the first person the sub-inspector at the opposite end of the town called was the main character, who was to be nameless throughout the entire story. He wanted him to go do something about the loose elephant because the mahout (the keeper and driver of an elephant) was away and no one else could handle a situation such as this. The main character grabbed his 44 rifle and set out to find the elephant. The purpose of the gun was not to kill the elephant but to just scare it with the noise. Little did the officer know the act of grabbing the gun to just scare the elephant would lead to its demise. On the way to find the elephant the officer learned it had destroyed a garden, a bamboo hut, devoured some stock and had trampled a cow. As the officer went further on he found that the elephant had killed a townsman just minutes before. Now thinking that the elephant could be dangerous he asked for a larger and more powerful rifle. He only wanted the bigger gun in... ...t; I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool" (685). This made me feel that he had no real remorse for the killing and that his reputation was winning out over his very own conscious. This story did fit into this particular section very well because of the portrayal of the cultural and identity aspects of life. The officer is forced to deal with and question his identity by the feelings he has when finds and kills the elephant. The culture is represented by the "coolie, yellow faces, and Buddhist" (680-685). It also fits very well with the author’s feelings on imperialism, because the main character states that he feels that it is an evil thing (680). In all consideration I understood why the author had to describe the slaughter of the elephant in such detail. It added to the effectiveness of the story by painting a very clear picture that the actions of the officer were wrong. His point would not have been taken so seriously if he just stated that the el ephant died after many shots or in any other basic way. Overall I did enjoy the message very much and felt that it fit into the section very well, but I did not care for the way the author displayed the message.

Essay --

In recent years, the word â€Å"Media† has become a controversial subject due to the reputation that has been formed surrounding it. When defined, â€Å"Media† can refer to any form of mass communication, designed to convey information around the globe. However, due to the influential nature of broadcasting, large corporations such as the American broadcasting Corporation (ABC) manipulate reality in order to convey a specific ideology. Under certain circumstances, mass-manipulation of such information can vastly impact the perception of the public on issues such as insurgency in the Middle East. An example of this effect is the aftermath of 9/11, the monumental act of aggression and revolt that took place on the morning of September 11th 2001 in New York City, NY. At 9:03 am United Flight 175, a Boeing 757, was flown into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. The aircraft entered the south face at floors 77-85, controlled by several men of Middle Eastern ethnicity (Federal Bureau of Investigation). In the wake of tragedy, the gap between religion and ethnicity was merged. All those of Middle Eastern ethnicity, or Islamic practice (collectively referred to as â€Å"Muslims†), were negatively isolated and integrated into the world of broadcasting. It took mere minutes for reports of the catastrophe to be broadcasted globally and mere days Muslims across the United States to become the central target of discrimination. The imagery, videos and language used to represent innocent civilians of the Middle East have been successful in generating a common sense of fear and uncertainty, in regards to what the future holds, across the country. Corporations such as the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Cable News Network (CNN) devotedly b... ...hysteria† affect (Kellner 45). Mass hysteria is defined to be a large population in which all members exhibit similar mental agitation. In reference to 9/11, employing the technique of hysteria was designed to create a fear that would have previously not existed, by promoting the viewers to make a connection between insurgency and average civilians in the Middle East. In conclusion, a large portion of the stigma we associate with Muslim Americans today can be accredited to the American National News, whom frequently broadcast biased material that conveys nefarious stereotypes and promotes negative attitudes. In order to reverse the false perception, and negative demeanor Americans carry in regards to Muslims, awareness must be raised about the manipulation techniques used by the mass media that influence the public opinion on the controversial subject of terrorism.

Killer Angels Essays -- essays research papers

The Killer Angels The Battle of Gettysburg brought the dueling North and South together to the small town of Gettysburg and on the threshold of splitting the Union. Gettysburg was as close as the United States got to Armageddon and The Killer Angels gives the full day-to-day account of the battle that shaped America’s future. Michael Shaara tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg through the eyes of the generals and men involved in the action of the battle. The historical account of the Battle of Gettysburg gives the reader a chance to experience the battle personally and not the history book manner taught in schools. A historical novel gives the facts straightforward and provides no commentary by the people involved in history. The historical account of the Battle of Gettysburg, as seen in Killer Angels, provides the facts of the battle as seen through the eyes of Generals Robert E. Lee, Joshua Chamberlain, James Longstreet, and John Buford. The feelings and inner-thoughts of each General and the conditions of the battle are seen, heard, and felt by the reader in the historical account. Shaara takes historical license with letters, the words of the men, and documents written during the three hellish days of the battle. Shaara avoids historical opinion and provides his own opinion towards the Civil War and the people. The historical account of the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg specifically, in Killer Angels conveys the attitude to toward war, attitude towards the Civil War, and cause for fighting the war of General Robert E. Lee, Joshua Chamberlain, James Longstreet, and John Buford. General Robert E. Lee gained stoic and legendary status as the heart and soul of the South in the Civil War, but many did not know his reasons and feelings for fighting the war. War and the slaughter of others did not interest Lee and he felt compassion for the Union. Lee had contradictory feelings towards war and says, â€Å"He was not only to serve in it but he was to lead it, to make the plans, and issue the orders to kill and burn and ruin†¦he could not do that† (Shaara 263). The Civil War is not in the taste of General Lee, but feels it is his duty, and he cannot just stand by and watch the war pass him by. Michael Shaara says of Lee’s reason for fighting the Civil War â€Å", He found that he had no choice†¦Lee could not raise his hand against his own. And so what then? T... ...eiving recognition for saving the high ground and perhaps the battle. Colonel Joshua Chamberlain is given a brigade after the battle of Gettysburg but is wounded six times. He is regarded as one of the greatest soldiers in American history, and receives numerous medals for honor during the Battle of Gettysburg. Ulysses Grant gives him the honor of Major General for heroism and is chosen by Grant as the officer to receive the Southern surrender at Appomattox. Chamberlain is elected the governor of Maine and eventually elected President of Bowdoin College. He dies from his wounds in June 1914 at the age of eighty-three. General Longstreet asks to be relieved of command after the Battle of Gettysburg, but Lee makes him stay. After the war he blames Lee for the loss of Gettysburg, and this does not sit well with people. His theory of defensive war is very advanced for the time. He serves as President of Washington College until his death in 1904. General Lee remains the symbol of all that is proud and noble in the South. He asks to be relieved of his command but it is denied. After the war he asks for pardon from Congress and it is denied until 1970. Lee dies of heart disease in 1870.

Swot Analysis of the Green Directory

SWOT Analysis Of The Green Directory Strengths: –The Green Directory (â€Å"GD†) allows unlimited access for all users and no fee is required. –The relevant information is available to all visitors. –GD recommends and presents only classified, selected and specialised companies –Website presentation is clearly structured and designed. –Provides ‘one-stop service’ website, as well as the leading ‘green’ guides within Australia. –Easy to find directory – GD provides direct links to its partners, sponsors and advertisers. -Wide range of services and products as well as topics has made the website easy for user to find anything related ‘Green’. Weaknesses: — Unclear information on the support and recommendations by the Australian Government. — GD is just facilitator which means that interested visitors have to contact the listed companies directly. –The benefits for adverti sing are not clearly shown in the website. –Online enquiry form is not available – Interested visitors in ‘green’ products and services have to contact the listed companies directly. -Certain information provided in the web page is not up to date. –Poor maintenance of the website as there are few missing links found in the website. –Limited information about local events, fairs and exhibitions. –No contact number or hotline number for customer enquiry Opportunities: –Increase the profile of GD by cooperation with nationwide and regional publishers (such as Yellow Pages, newspaper, magazine) as well as popular ‘green’ institutions. -It is a green awareness happening all over the world and it’s about social responsibility and ethic of environmental friendly. –Further enhance the website by placing more latest offers and products photos to attract more users. –Send frequent e-mail to users to keep them updated with the latest information. –Provide a hotline number to handle real-time customer call-in enquiry to improve the customer service –Provide hardcopy brochure when requested by user so as not only limit the usage to internet users only Threats: -People without internet access have not the opportunity to receive the requested information. –Unavailable/ inaccurate information to users due to the missing/ outdated contents might cause reputational risk to the GD. –Easy to copy by competitor to create new business/ competition. –Green products price usually higher than normal product that would cause very big investment to the users. Thus there is a challenge in convincing user to purchase without much attractive promotion/ offer. –Data security is not clarified and this might affects customer confidence.

Race and Ethnicity in the US Education System Essay

The United States has a strong history of immigration. As a result it has become a nation composed of different races and different peoples coming from different ethnic backgrounds. This has impacted American society in terms of the economy, the peace and order situation, employment, and the education system. These things are constantly interacting to create opportunities and problems for all US citizens. But in recent decades – in spite of the rhetoric on equal opportunity for all Americans – numerous studies show that minorities are in a disadvantage. Two major ethnic groups, the African Americans and Hispanics are finding it hard to succeed in a highly competitive world and the root cause why many of them are poor, unemployed and involved in a life of crime is the lack of access to quality education. Background The United States was founded by immigrants coming from Europe. After a few centuries these immigrants had taken over major portions of the United States, that it is no longer proper to call them immigrants. But in recent decades there was a new wave of immigration that swept across America; it was an influx of migrants coming from Asia, Latin America, and Mexico. The last two will comprise the second largest minority group in the US – the Hispanics. In May 2006 the US Census Bureau provided the following statistics: Hispanics are the largest subgroup (42. 7 million) roughly half of all the minorities in the US (Sullivan, 2007). Furthermore, according to experts, â€Å"The terms ‘Hispanic’ and ‘Latino’ are used interchangeably by the U. S. Census Bureau †¦ to identify persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central and South American, Dominican, Spanish, and other Hispanic descent; they may be of any race† (Kohler & Lazarin, 2007). In this paper the terms â€Å"Hispanic† and â€Å"Latinos† will also be used interchangeably. African Americans on the other hand are also a part of the minority group but they achieve that status via a different route. African Americans did not arrive in America through traditional means of migration. They were forcefully taken from their homeland and sold to American plantation owners as slaves. At any rate, when both African American and Hispanic groups entered America they started from a disadvantageous position and that is why even today they find it hard to experience upward mobility in American society. In spite of the rhetoric on equality and civil liberties there are many Americans who are living like second-class citizens in their own country. In order to improve the lives of those who belonged to minority groups there is a need for assimilation; an increase in funding in areas where there is a high concentration of African Americans and Hispanics; and to change the mindset of the members of these minority groups so that they will value the importance of education in their lives and the lives of their children.

Kindergarten Education Act Essay

On January 20, 2012, Republic Act 10157 also known as Kindergar ten Education Act, was being approved. This Act is in relation with the Millennium Development Goals on achieving Education for All (EFA) by the year 2015. Wherein the policy provide an equal opportunities for all children to avail of accessible mandatory and compulsory kindergarten education that effectively promotes the physical, social, intellectual, emotional and skills stimulation and values formation to sufficiently prepare them for formal elementary schooling. It is prerequisite then, for the children that they will pass through kindergarten, the first stage of elementary education system before going to Grade 1. It is also stated in this Act that the Mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE) will be implemented as the medium of instruction to kindergarten pupils. Reaction: Kindergarten before is somewhat optional to acquire. And not all have the privilege, the capacity, the money and the chances to take this formative stage in education. With or without it, when a child reaches the age of formal schooling, he can start his elementary education. The R.A.10157, Kindergarten Education Act, is a one good feat in bridging the gap of literacy and economic stability of our country. Though it is quite long way yet to see its effectiveness but what matters is a step forward has been made towards a better future. With this Act, every child of our country will have an equal right to be molded during his formative stage in life regardless of who or what he is in the society. Kindergarten is of great aid in shaping and building young ones a strong learning foundation in preparation for their next step to their formal education. With proper trainings and programs for teachers in honing their skills in teaching, right approaches such as using the MTB-MLE, and strategies and appropriate learning tools, kindergarten students would be much ready to take the challenge of leveling up to the next ladder of their formal elementary education. Being a language teacher myself, I personally experienced and still experiencing the effect of teaching many, but not all, fresh high school students with a meager elementary education foundation. No matter how much teachers will be pointing fingers to who’s who is to be blamed, it boils down to one factor†¦ inadequate knowledge foundation of students. With this R.A. 10157, I believe it is of great help in patching the hole of the crisis. With a good start having a strong foundation in education, the process would then continue as they level up their knowledge and eventually our country will produce more equipped, effective and productive men and women of the society. Recommendation: Whatever policies, programs and projects of our government such as this R.A. 10157 if it is closely monitored and supervised properly by the concern agencies and people behind it, nothing will put into waste and that the common goal will be achieved†¦to build a stronger and a more productive nation.

The Castle Creative Writing

I walked down the narrow, moonlight lane on my way to the park. I was meeting Summer, Leon and Tiffany. It was really cold and it was beginning to get dark. I felt nervous walking down the lane as there were no lights. Eventually I got to the end of the lane and as I turned the corner I could see the park in the distance. I could hear summer laughing like a hyena. I carried on walking. Leon was shining the bright torch in my face. My eyes stung and I grabbed the torch from his plump, sticky hand. He grabbed it back holding it in one hand while holding a chocolate bar in the other. I explained why I was so late and asked what they were planning to do now that I had arrived. â€Å"We have just been playing dares and Tiffany dared one of us to go in the castle up on the hill at Florence's Gardens, but we're all scared!† explained Summer. She continued, â€Å"Why don't you go in there, Ryan?† Ryan, look ever so slightly scared, refused outright reminding us of all the stories about that castle, especially the one about the boy who went in almost twenty years ago and still hasn't been found. â€Å"Oh, they're just myths and rumours, you're not telling me you actually believe them, are you?† said Summer. â€Å"Well if you don't believe them, then you go in there, as you're so sure they're not true!† I shouted. Summer's smile dropped which made me wonder if she might be beginning to regret what she had just said, but Summer isn't the type of person to back down from a dare so she replied, â€Å"Fine, I will then. I'll prove to you it's all lies.† The castle was tall up on the hill overlooking long stretches of green fields. The walls of the castle were jet black and looked dull and dreary. Some of the windows were smashed and through them it was possible to see a glimpse of the dirty looking rooms inside, which were covered in dust and cobwebs. We began to make our way up the hill. By now it was pitch black and we were all extremely cold. The wind was blowing and the leaves on the trees were rustling and the wind gushed past. I was starting to feel scared. I could sense a creepy atmosphere around the castle; it reminded me of something out of a scary movie. I was beginning to think that I would prefer to be back at home, snuggled up in bed with a warm cup of hot chocolate. I don't know if the others felt the same but I definitely didn't want them to think I was scared so I just kept my feelings to myself and kept walking up the hill towards the castle. When we finally reached the huge wooden door Leon turned to Summer and pointed at it. â€Å"Go on then. If you're so brave, you go in there and come back and tell us what you find.† â€Å"Ok,† she whispered. There was a slight tremble in her voice, even though on the outside she was trying to look confident. As she gently pushed the door open, it creaked loudly. She turned back. Tiffany pushed her forward. â€Å"Go on!† she shouted. Summer turned back and began to make her entrance into the castle. Leon, Tiffany and I looked at one another. We stood in silence listening while we could hear Summer's footsteps as she journeyed further into the castle. The footsteps faded and Tiffany began to laugh. â€Å"I can't believe she is actually in there. I though that when we got here she would change her mind!† â€Å"Me, too,† agreed Leon. We sat down on the damp grass and began to discuss what we all thought Summer would find in there. All caught up in our conversation, we didn't realise how long she had been gone when we heard a long, high pitched scream. We all jumped up. Tiffany had a look of horror on her now pale face. â€Å"What's happened?† Leon exclaimed. I began to shout Summer's name hoping, that she would shout back, laughing, saying she was winding us up, and just trying to scare us. But there was no reply. â€Å"We should never have let her go in there.† I began to say. â€Å"I wonder if she's ok?† â€Å"One of us has to go in there,† said Tiffany sternly. â€Å"We have to go and rescue her. She is obviously in trouble.† Leon looked brave and agreed that he would go in and find Summer. I was extremely scared and nervous as I watched Leon go in the same door as Summer had gone in around half an hour ago. But I knew we had to do something, we couldn't just leave Summer in there. I know it was selfish but at that moment I just thought how glad I was that it was Leon going into the castle and not me. The next 10 minutes passed. Nothing. Leon and Summer were now in the house and neither Tiffany or I knew what was going on or if they were alright. â€Å"We've got to go in there!† whispered Tiffany. â€Å"Give it another 5 minutes† I began. But before I could even finish my sentence, she was running towards the doors and into the castle. I hesitated. I was so nervous it was unbelievable. I was shaking – I don't know whether it was because of the ice cold weather or because I was so scared, but I knew no matter how frightened I was I had to go in there. I slowly pushed open the door and peeked inside. It was pitch black. All I could see were the flickering lights ahead at the end of the long straight corridor that I was approaching. I slowly and carefully made my way towards the light. When I finally arrived at the end of the creepy corridor I was faced with two doors. One on my right and the other on the left. I went with my first instinct and choose the door on my right. I quietly pushed the door open and stepped through. It was another long corridor. There were cobwebs all over the place. Dust covered the dirty walls and carpet. I walked down the second corridor. Palms sweating with the fear of not knowing if I was going to get out of this castle alive. But I knew I couldn't go back now and I just had to keep walking. I must have only been walking for a minute or so, but it seemed like forever, when I caught a glimpse of another door ahead. As I approached it, so many thoughts were running through my head of what could be behind it. I hesitated for a second, then reached out to the door and pushed it hard. I was shocked when I saw darkness and felt a bitter cold come over me. I was in the outside world again! Suddenly, I heard a crash as the door slammed loudly behind me. I turned around and it was then I noticed that I was standing right where I was standing before I went in the castle and the door I came out of was the door I went in. I felt relieved and safe but then it dawned on me that I was alone. I still didn't know where the others were. They weren't anywhere around. I thought for a moment and came to the conclusion that they must still be in the house. Then I remembered there had been 2 doors when I had come to the end of the first corridor. They must have gone into the door on the left whereas I had chosen the door on the right. I had to go back and go through the door and try and find them, but as I tugged on the door handle to enter the castle for the second time something was wrong. The door was jammed. I pulled harder and harder on the door handle but it wouldn't budge. It's now a week on and I haven't seen my friends since. I hate thinking that they are going to be stuck in that castle for the rest of there lives – if they even are still alive.