Net Zero Buildings Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Net Zero Buildings - Research Paper Example These sort of structures or structures are alluded to as net zero vitality structures. Ordinarily, these structures produce vitality which is equivalent to the measure of vitality utilized for consistently. Despite the fact that this innovation is new, it is picking up fame as individuals understand the need to move from vitality dependence to green economy. Net zero vitality structures are productive in that they are vitality proficient, yet in addition financially savvy over the long haul. Net zero vitality is another term that comes up short on an unequivocal definition. In any case, the essential idea is that all definitions suggest that this innovation is vitality productive. It is essential to see a portion of the fundamental meanings of zero net vitality working to fathom how they work as far as vitality use. Normally, net zero vitality can be depicted from various perspectives. Net vitality is the vitality expended or created at a specific site regardless of the sources of th e vitality. In a net zero site fabricating, the vitality expended in one year is equivalent to the vitality created in a given year. Then again, source vitality is the vitality required to remove and convey vitality to the source, which must be represented while figuring the zero vitality net structures (Architecture and Sustainable Development, 44). Net zero vitality costs alludes to the sum paid by the utility which is equivalent to the measure of cash that the proprietor pays for the vitality benefits just as vitality utilized consistently. The other significant idea that is vital in characterizing zero vitality structures is the net zero vitality discharges. Here, the structures produce free sustainable power source outflows that is equivalent to discharges created in vitality sources. Effective zero vitality guarantees that all advances that guarantee vitality productivity are introduced. The structure is made so that vitality prerequisites decline space for warming and cooling of water. In like manner, the structure expands the proficiency of the heater and forced air system with the end goal that they utilize less vitality. Likewise, a nearby planetary group for high temp water, which goes about as a reinforcement for water radiator, is guaranteed in such structures. Effective lighting installations and vitality preserving efficiencies like photovoltaic are likewise used to improve the productivity further (Papadopoulou, 87). Anything that utilizes less vitality utilization while utilizing the inexhaustible sources simultaneously is helpful for this structure. A careful examination on the structure of the structure is finished by specialists to guarantee that all materials spent for the structure devour less vitality no matter what. Regularly, execution of the plan requires particular aptitudes and mastery to guarantee that all prospects of saving money on nonrenewable vitality are limited however much as could be expected while wellsprings of sustainab le sources are boosted. All the talked about structure is extremely effective as far as vitality utilization later on. It is significant that zero vitality structures have improved solace through temperature guideline forms. This is accomplished by the procedure of invasion and protection through an assortment of procedures. Protection encases structures and improves the protection from heat all through the structure. This permits the structure to stay cool in summer seasons and caution throughout the winter season. The R esteem quantifies in structures connote a superior protection framework. Similarly, these structures are solid on the grounds that

Hospice Programs Essay -- Papers

Hospice Programs Hospice Programs; A Dignified Death In the Middle Ages, hospice was where wiped out or exhausted explorers would remain while a long excursion. Today hospice administrations are accessible to individuals who can not, at this point profit by healing medications. As the medicinal services condition is changing at pace that couple of could have anticipated, hospice is a lot of part of that change (Stair, 1998). For a long time our general public and the media has set a picture of death in our minds, of an excruciating encounter, one that is dreaded by everybody. In spite of the fact that demise can be sincerely depleting, likewise can be an elevating experience. Giving solace and love and the affirmation that life will proceed, is genuinely the greatest blessing. Hospices are assigned to offer touchy help for individuals in the last period of terminal ailment. ). The average hospice quiet has a future of a half year or less. Hospice care attempts to support the patient and relatives to carry on a modify, torment free life to oversee different manifestations so their last days might be gone through with pride and quality at home or in a home-like setting (http:/www.cmcric.org/homecare.html, 2000) Hospice ought to be seen as forte and is centered around palliative consideration standards. Clinical consideration is outfitted towards side effects the board, not healing treatment (Homecare and Hospices Resources, 2000). It is center around living as opposed to passing on, and an approach to make the finish of life as agreeable and important as could be expected under the circumstances. The reason for hospice isn't to constrain what social insurance is accessible to the patient, yet improve their life by controlling indications and offering help for everybody included. Hospice programs offer patients various degrees of care and expert administrations that incorporate; Nursin... ...ir families. This program causes numerous patients to be alert, agreeable, and most significant liberated from torment as they live their last days in a natural spot encompassed by individuals they know and love. In this way, giving them a stately demise. References Step, J. (1998). Understanding the Challenges for Hospice: Fundamental for the Future. Oncology Issues [Online]. 13(2): pages 22-25. *http://ehostweb6.Epnet.com: (2000, October 13). Home Health Care Hospice Services. *http://www.cmcric.org/homecare.html. (2000, October 13) National Hospice Organization. Activities Manual. (1999). [Online]. *http://oncology.mescape.com (2000, October 13). Byrock, I. (1995) The Changing Face of Hospice [Online] 14, pages 7-11. *http://oncology.medscape.com (2000, October 13) Homecare and Hospice Resources (2000). [Online]. http://envoy journal.com (2000, October 14).

The Blogs Turn 10 Looking Back, Looking Ahead

The Blogs Turn 10 Looking Back, Looking Ahead Cruftblogging 2014 Last week the blogs turned ten. We celebrated by asking a bunch of former bloggers to come back and blog for us. In case you missed it, heres an index of their entries: 50 Reflections by Ben Jones Right back where we started from by Mollie B. 06 Cue the montage music by Melis A. 08 I Remember by Anthony R. 09 Reflecting on 10 Years  by Kim D. 09 Fake it til you make it  by Laura N. 09 How To Fumble Your Way Through MIT and Still Turn Out Pretty Okay by Keri G. 10 Thank you for reading by Jess K. 10 ADMIT ME PLZ? by Chris S. 11 Life slows down a bit if you let it  by Snively 11 MIT: Round 2 by Becca H. 12 Imbibing the Nostalgia Punch by Rachel F. 12 Do I have a story for you by Chris M. 12 The Re-Froshening by Piper 13 Alum FAQs by Elizabeth C. 13 Not Farewell After All  by Hamsika C. 13 Blogging My Way to a Passionate Life by Jenny X. 13 Leaving a Mark by Kate R. 14 Perspectives from Deutschland by Anna H. 14 Flux and Flow by Emad T. 14 Bumps, slumps, trips, and by Cam T. 13 There and Back by Mitra L. 07, Sam M. 07, and Bryan O. 07 These are, in my opinion, some of the best blogs that have ever been written for MITAdmissions. If I could assign reading to prospective students like I can assign it to my students, I would have any serious applicant read all of these. I feel like I have learned so much about MIT, about myself by doing so. The whole idea behind the blogs is to open a window into the lives of MIT students: what they do, think, and feel. These blog posts do a spectacular job at telling the many different stories of MIT as experienced by some of its most thoughtful students. I couldnt be prouder. When Ben and Matt founded the blogs, it was not clear what would happen, or what they would be. Certainly it wasnt clear that the blogs would keep going strong for more than a decade, that they would one day be featured on the front page the New York Times, or that dozens (hundreds?) of colleges would start their own blogs based on the MITAdmissions model. Theyve had a tremendous impact. In advance of this anniversary, I decided to write some code that would help me grok the scope and impact of the blogs quantitatively and computationally. Put simply: I scraped a lot of data from the blogs so that I could begin to wrap my arms around what weve done. You can download it here. Its not perfectly accurate and you should keep that in mind while reading the following findings but it is fascinating! 10 Years Of Blogdata In ten years, our bloggers published 4640 posts, totaling approximately 3.2 million words. If the blogs were printed out and bound together as a book (which we wont do, because: trees), it would be longer than all of these legendarily long books, combined: Crime and Punishment: 211,591 words + War and Peace: ~587,287 words + The King James Bible: ~788,280 words + The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy: ~455,125 words + All 7 Harry Potter Books: ~1,085,000 words Since August 2009, these 4640 posts have been viewed approximately 7.2 million unique times, but these pageviews are not evenly distributed. The five most viewed blog posts over the last five years are: Summer by Snively at ~424k views 50 Things by Ben at ~352k views Selection? by Anthony at ~329k views Meeting Neil DeGrasse Tyson by Anna at ~189k views How To Do Everything Wrong And Still Get Into MIT by Mollie at ~98k views Bens post is almost certainly the most read in our history once you factor in the late start date of the blogs. I am not surprised by Anna or Mollies posts being this high up, as they are famous and often referenced by applicants. I *am* surprised by Snivelys and Anthonys, and so are they; we dont know what to attribute this to other than weird Google stuff. Of course, these are outliers: of the 4640 blog posts, only a dozen or so have exceeded 50,000 unique pageviews since August 2009. These posts dominate any a simple time-series of blog traffic: If you exclude these outliers, then there appears to be a very slight upward trend in unique blog pageviews, albeit somewhat confounded by the fact that a) anything before Aug 2009 was visited long after it was posted and b) when we redesigned the site in 2011 we changed the URL path. And by somewhat confounded I mean completely confounded and we honestly probably cant say anything of any real consistent meaning with the data we have but I will anyway because thats what blogs are for: Over the last decade, more than 19,000 different users have left more than 108,000 comments. Our most commented entries are consistently the open threads we post during Early Action and Regular Action decision time, and these can receive hundreds of comments. The 95 percentile, however, is 71 comments, and if you exclude the top 5%, then both the chart and the trendline suggest decreasing comment activity over time: In 2012, we switched our comment system to Disqus. The hope was to facilitate contemporary comment practices (threaded conversations, @replies, and so on) while retaining our characteristic freedom to comment (including anonymously if desired). The upshot is that, since we switched, the average number of comments left on any given blog entry has dropped from 25 per entry under the legacy system to 19  per entry under Disqus. Its really, really hard to separate correlation from causation here: did comment activity drop over the last two years (partially) because of Disqus, or did our introduction of Disqus coincide with other factors? Someone better at stats than I might be able to build a model with the data Ive gathered, but I am not that person. Part of the decrease in comment activity, I suspect, is because at least some of the commentary is moving to Facebook and other spaces where links are shared and discussed. The blogs have received more than 51,000 engagements (== sum of total shares + total comments upon shared links) on Facebook since it started keeping records. The blogs with the most Facebook engagement are: 50 Things by Ben at ~21k Meltdown by Lydia at ~4400 Stephen, Im Putting You On Notice! by Stu at ~1900 Its More Than A Job by Ben at ~1200 Invasion MIT! by me at ~1200 So theres a tremendous dropoff with Facebook engagement as well; Bens 50 Things post accounts for almost half of all Facebook engagement, ever! Heres how much of an outlier it is: although the mean Facebook engagement for any blog post is 11, the 90th percentile is only 8, and the median is 0. In fact, 3433 (~74%) of blog posts have never been engaged with on Facebook. There is a slight but evident uptick in Facebook engagement over time, but probably not enough to account by itself for the drop in comments: So what have we been talking about with all of these words, that all of these readers have been viewing and commenting upon and sharing? Lots of stuff! Too much, in fact, to do anything more than a distant reading of the blogs (at least, for this particular post), powered by the CLIFF entity extraction and geoparsing engine. According to CLIFF, the blogs have talked about ~4500 distinct organizations and ~8200 distinct people. The five most discussed organizational entities were: MIT at ~3100 mentions IAP at 290 mentions Harvard at 244 mentions Google at 152 mentions ECs at 137 mentions (keep in mind that these are specific formulations of an entity: i.e., it does not recognize that IAP and Independent Activities Period are the same thing) As for people, well, were a navel-gazing bunch: of the 10 most talked about people on the blogs, 9 of them are bloggers, and one of them is a bloggers husband (the only thing Mollie loves talking about more than MIT is Adam, apparently!). Of somewhat more interest (to me, anyway) are the geoparsing results, which allow us to plot which bloggers (and blog entries) mentioned which places in the world in their entries: As you can see, were a cosmopolitan bunch! If you simplify this map to color in countries that weve blogged about, you can see weve mentioned almost all of them! The Next 10 Years Weve spent the last week celebrating where the blogs came from and where the blogs have been over the last ten years. But theres another question thats just as if not even more important: where are the blogs going? The straightforward, initial answer is nowhere. We love the blogs, and so do our applicants; we have tremendous support for the blogs within and without MIT, and we could easily keep on as weve been keeping on for the last ten years into the indefinite future. But I would be lying if I werent concerned about the next ten years of the blogs or, more specifically, how we help current MIT students tell their stories to prospective MIT students. The problem, as I see it, isnt whether we can continue running the blogs (we can) or continue finding bloggers (we will). The problem is whether or not the audience will continue to be there, and whether that audience will just be the people who already know and love MIT, or whether we can continue to help reach out and introduce well-matched students to MIT. As Ben noted, the web has changed so, so, so much since the blogs were founded. Anyone reading this post I suspect is familiar with the fundamental dynamics Im describing so I wont belabor them here. Suffice to say that, in 2004, there were barely any social network sites as we know them today, and so a college admissions site with a) student-written blogs and b) open comments was a kind of godsend for those who might want to get a sense of what life was like at that particular campus. In 2014, those conversations and connections are overwhelmingly occuring through a few social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, etc); instead of being centralized around and faciliated by a given institution, they are facilited by those channels and decentralized to friends and peers. And, frankly, our bloggers post a lot more to Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and so on than they do to the blogs, because thats where their friends are. College admissions officers are often described using the metaphor of gatekeepers. For almost ten years, we ran a little social club out in front of our gate, where people could gather and talk and hear stories and learn about what was behind the gate. Every year a few of them would try to pass through the gate; only some of them would make it, but even if they didnt, they could still (and often did) keep chatting with the folks hanging out in front of the gate. Now, were still keeping the gate, and still hosting a little club in front of it, but the conversations are mostly happening elsewhere. Now, when people come to the gate, it is often headlong as an applicant, and perhaps without even the knowledge that there is the opportunity to learn about MIT ahead of time. Ill be dead honest: I dont know what to do. I have some ideas. Weve talked about redesigning the homepage so that, in addition to the blogs, you also get a firehose of blogger Instagram pictures, tweets, and tumblr posts. Weve even talked about transitioning the blogs entirely over to tumblr (or whatever) and just using the homepage to link out to completely decentralized blogger tumblrs. Were not going to do either of these in the immediate term (or maybe ever). But I have come to the conclusion that, for a variety of (mostly exogenous) reasons, the blogs need to adapt to the changing digital ecosystem in which they are embedded. What form that adaptation should or could or needs to take, Im not sure. And I want to emphasize that our strategy/values (open, student-led communication to and with prospective students) remain the same theyve always been. The question is how we tactically implement that strategy to make sure that a someone of the Class of 2019 finds whatever is at MITAdmissions.org as useful and meaningful and relevant as someone from the Class of 2009 did. And if you have suggestions about how to do that then please let me know. Mostly, though, Im just incredibly happy to have had the opportunity to help lead the blogs through almost half their life, to work with the students and staff who make it possible, to speak with the applicants for whom it was built, and generally to be a part of this ongoing whatever-it-is. Even though (because?) the next five, or ten, or twenty are uncertain, I cant wait to see what they bring.

In Defense of Politicians Stephen Medvic - 1672 Words

Stephen Medvic, In Defense of Politicians, discusses why Americans feel that politicians are dishonest. In 2007, a Gallup poll about honesty and ethical standards for occupations, showed that only 12 and 9 percent of people felt that Congressmen and State office holders held high standards, (Medvic p. 2). In addition, Americans tend to like their representatives more than the members of Congress because they view them as actual people. Americans view Congress as a group of politicians who are greedy and not representing their interests, (Medvic p. 4). Popular culture also plays a role in why Americans do not trust politicians. Late-night television shows use politicians in their comedy skits, where their mistakes are punch lines for†¦show more content†¦They wanted two parties to be ideologically distinct, but polarity is just the result of the distinctness. Medvic also defends politicians on the public’s charges about how they are liars and cheats. Medvic contends th at we do not know how many liars and cheaters there are in politics. However, politicians are under more scrutiny and would more than likely be caught. In addition, politicians are consistent in what they say and attempt to keep their promises, as supported by Tracy Sulkin study, (Medvic p. 112). J. Patrick Dobel, in Public Integrity, argues that political prudence provides a basic ethical resource for public officials. Prudence means to see ahead and the ability to think clearly before one acts. An individual needs to think about the short and long-term consequences of their actions. Political prudence is attached to excellent achievement in politics, which consists of outcomes that â€Å"gain legitimacy, endure over time, strengthen the political community, unleash minimum unforeseen consequences, require reasonable use of power resources and do not require great violence or coercion to enforce the outcome,† (Dobel p. 199). In addition, a prudent leader needs to be open to experience and knowledge, (Dobel p. 211). An example of someone who is politically prudent is William D. Ruckelshaus. In 1970, President Richard Nixon appointed Ruckelshaus the first administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The reason Nixon appointed him wasShow MoreRelatedStephen Medvic s Defense Of Politicians Essay1565 Words   |  7 PagesStephen Medvic in his book, â€Å"In Defense of Politicians: The Expectations Trap and Its Threat to Democracy† reflects the problems of policies that affect the majority of society’s democratic contemporary: the discrediting of the class policy. As a reaction to the continuous vilification of the politicians, the author defends the hypothesis that much of the arguments condemning the policy professionals are unfair and undeserved. Although there are example of politicians corrupt or lacking in ethics

Last Sacrifice Chapter Eight Free Essays

string(71) " words out loud made them real in a way they hadn’t been before\." IT TURNED OUT I WAS wrong about the local police department comprising of one guy and a dog. When Dimitri and I walked back to the motel, we saw flashing red and blue lights in the parking lot and a few bystanders trying to see what was happening. â€Å"The whole town turned out,’ I said. We will write a custom essay sample on Last Sacrifice Chapter Eight or any similar topic only for you Order Now Dimitri sighed. â€Å"You just had to say something to the desk clerk, didn’t you?’ We’d stopped some distance away, hidden in the shadow of a run-down building. â€Å"I thought it would slow you down.’ â€Å"It’s going to slow us down now.’ His eyes did a sweep of the scene, taking in all the details in the flickering light. â€Å"Sydney’s car is gone. That’s something, at least.’ My earlier cockiness faded. â€Å"Is it? We just lost our ride!’ â€Å"She wouldn’t leave us, but she was smart enough to get out before the police came knocking on her door.’ He turned and surveyed the town’s one main road. â€Å"Come on. She has to be close, and there’s a good chance the police might actually start searching around if they thought some defenseless girl was being chased down.’ The tone he used for â€Å"defenseless’ spoke legions. Dimitri made an executive decision to walk back toward the road that had led us into town, assuming Sydney would want to get out of there now that I’d blown our cover. Getting the police involved had created complications, but I felt little regret over what I’d done. I was excited about the plan that had occurred to me in the woods and wanted, as usual, to get moving on it right away. If I’d helped get us out of this hole of a town, so much the better. Dimitri’s instincts about Sydney were right. About a half-mile outside of town, we spotted a CR-V pulled off on the road’s shoulder. The engine was off, the lights dark, but I could see well enough to identify the Louisiana plates. I walked over to the driver side window and knocked on the glass. Inside, Sydney flinched. She rolled down the window, face incredulous. â€Å"What did you do? Never mind. Don’t bother. Just get in.’ Dimitri and I complied. I felt like a naughty child under her disapproving glare. She started the car without a word and began driving in the direction we’d originally come from, eventually merging with the small state highway that led back to the interstate. That was promising. Only, once we’d driven a few miles, she pulled off again, this time at a dark exit that didn’t seem to have anything at it. She turned off the car and turned to peer at me in the backseat. â€Å"You ran, didn’t you?’ â€Å"Yeah, but I got this–‘ Sydney held up a hand to silence me. â€Å"No, don’t. Not yet. I wish you could have pulled off your daring escape without attracting the authorities.’ â€Å"Me too,’ said Dimitri. I scowled at them both. â€Å"Hey, I came back, didn’t I?’ Dimitri arched an eyebrow at that, apparently questioning just how voluntary that had been. â€Å"And now I know what we have to do to help Lissa.’ â€Å"What we have to do,’ said Sydney, â€Å"is find a safe place to stay.’ â€Å"Just go back to civilization and pick a hotel. One with room service. We can make that our base of operation while we work on the next plan.’ â€Å"We researched that town specifically!’ she said. â€Å"We can’t go to some random place–at least not nearby. I doubt they took down my plates, but they could put out a call to look for this kind of car. If they’ve got that and our descriptions, and it gets to the state police, it’ll get to the Alchemists and then it’ll–‘ â€Å"Calm down,’ said Dimitri, touching her arm. There was nothing intimate about that, but I still felt a spark of envy, particularly after the tough love I’d just had being nearly dragged through the woods. â€Å"We don’t know that any of that’s going to happen. Why don’t you just call Abe?’ â€Å"Yeah,’ she said glumly. â€Å"That’s exactly what I want. To tell him I messed up the plan in less than twenty-four hours.’ â€Å"Well,’ I said, â€Å"if it makes you feel better, the plan’s about to change anyway–‘ â€Å"Be quiet,’ she snapped. â€Å"Both of you. I need to think.’ Dimitri and I exchanged glances, but stayed silent. When I’d told him I knew a way to seriously help Lissa, he’d been intrigued. I knew he wanted details now, but we both had to wait for Sydney. She flipped on the dome light and produced a paper map of the state. After studying it for a minute, she folded it back up and simply stared ahead. I couldn’t see her face but suspected she was frowning. Finally, she sighed in that woeful way of hers, turned off the light, and started the car. I watched as she punched in Altswood, West Virginia into her GPS. â€Å"What’s in Altswood?’ I asked, disappointed she hadn’t entered something like Atlantic City. â€Å"Nothing,’ she said, pulling back onto the road. â€Å"But it’s the closest place to where we’re going that the GPS can find.’ A passing car’s headlights briefly illuminated Dimitri’s profile, and I saw curiosity on his face too. So. I wasn’t the only one out of the loop anymore. The GPS read almost an hour and a half to our destination. He didn’t question her choice, though, and turned back to me. â€Å"So what’s going on with Lissa? What’s this great plan of yours?’ He glanced at Sydney. â€Å"Rose says there’s something important we have to do.’ â€Å"So I gathered,’ said Sydney dryly. Dimitri looked back at me expectantly. I took a deep breath. It was time to reveal the secret I’d been holding since my hearing. â€Å"So, it, um, turns out Lissa has a brother or sister. And I think we should find them.’ I managed to sound cool and casual as I spoke. Inside me, my heart lurched. Even though I’d had plenty of time to process Tatiana’s note, saying the words out loud made them real in a way they hadn’t been before. You read "Last Sacrifice Chapter Eight" in category "Essay examples" It shocked me, hitting me with the full impact of what this information truly meant and how it changed everything we’d all come to believe. Of course, my shock was nothing compared to the others’. Score one for Rose and the element of surprise. Sydney made no attempt to hide her astonishment and gasped. Even Dimitri seemed a little taken aback. Once they recovered, I could see them preparing their protests. They would either demand evidence or simply dismiss the idea as ridiculous. I immediately jumped into action before the arguments could start. I produced Tatiana’s note, reading it aloud and then letting Dimitri look at it. I told them about my ghostly encounter, where the queen’s troubled spirit made me believe there was truth to this. Nonetheless, my companions were skeptical. â€Å"You have no proof Tatiana wrote the note,’ said Dimitri. â€Å"The Alchemists have no records of another Dragomir,’ said Sydney. They each said exactly what I thought they would. Dimitri was the kind of guy always ready for a trick or trap. He suspected anything without hard proof. Sydney lived in a world of facts and data and had total faith in the Alchemists and their information. If the Alchemists didn’t believe it, neither did she. Ghostly evidence didn’t convince either of them. â€Å"I don’t really see why Tatiana’s spirit would want to deceive me,’ I argued. â€Å"And the Alchemists aren’t all-knowing. The note says this is a pretty heavily guarded secret from Moroi–it makes sense it would be secret from the Alchemists too.’ Sydney scoffed, not liking my â€Å"all-knowing’ comment, but otherwise remained silent. It was Dimitri who pushed forward, refusing to take anything on faith without more evidence. â€Å"You’ve said before that it’s not always clear what the ghosts are trying to say,’ he pointed out. â€Å"Maybe you misread her.’ â€Å"I don’t know †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ I thought again about her solemn, translucent face. â€Å"I think she did write this note. My gut says she did.’ I narrowed my eyes. â€Å"You know it’s been right before. Can you trust me on this?’ He stared at me for several moments, and I held that gaze steadily. In that uncanny way of ours, I could guess what was going on. The whole situation was far-fetched, but he knew I was right about my instincts. They’d proven true in the past. No matter what he’d been through, no matter the current antagonism between us, he still knew me enough to trust in this. Slowly, almost reluctantly, he nodded. â€Å"But if we decided to search for this alleged sibling, we’d be going against Lissa’s instructions to stay put.’ â€Å"You believe that note?’ exclaimed Sydney. â€Å"You’re considering listening to it?’ A flash of anger lit up within me, one I worked to hide. Of course. Of course this would be the next obstacle: Dimitri’s inability to disobey Lissa. Sydney feared Abe, which I could kind of understand, but Dimitri’s concern was still the lofty vow of chivalry he’d made to Lissa. I took a deep breath. Telling him how ridiculous I thought he was behaving wouldn’t accomplish what I needed. â€Å"Technically, yes. But if we could actually prove she wasn’t the last in her family, it would help her a lot. We can’t ignore the chance, and if you manage to keep me out of trouble while we do it’–I tried not to grimace at that–‘then there shouldn’t be a problem.’ Dimitri considered this. He knew me. He also knew I would use roundabout logic if need be to get my way. â€Å"Okay,’ he said at last. I saw the shift in his features. The decision was made, and he’d stick to it now. â€Å"But where do we start? You have no other clues, aside from a mysterious note.’ It was deja vu and reminded me of Lissa and Christian’s earlier conversation with Abe when they were figuring out where to start their investigation. She and I lived parallel lives, it seemed, both pursuing an impossible puzzle with a sketchy trail. As I replayed their discussion, I attempted the same reasoning Abe had used: without clues, start working through obvious conclusions. â€Å"Obviously, this is a secret,’ I said. â€Å"A big one. One people have apparently wanted to cover up–enough that they’d try to steal records about it and keep the Dragomirs out of power.’ Someone had broken into an Alchemist building and taken papers indicating Eric Dragomir had indeed been funding a mystery woman. I pointed out to my companions that it seemed very likely to me this woman was the mother of his love child. â€Å"You could look into that case some more.’ Those last words were spoken toward Sydney. Maybe she didn’t care about another Dragomir, but the Alchemists still wanted to know who had stolen from them. â€Å"Whoa, hey. How was I not even part of this decision process? † She still hadn’t recovered from our conversation suddenly running away without her. After the way our night had gone so far, she didn’t look too pleased about being sucked into another of my rogue schemes. â€Å"Maybe breaking Lissa’s orders is no big deal for you two, but I’d be going against Abe. He might not be so lenient.’ It was a fair point. â€Å"I’ll pull in a daughterly favor,’ I assured her. â€Å"Besides, the old man loves secrets. He’d be into this, believe me. And you’ve already found the biggest clue of all. I mean, if Eric was giving money to some anonymous woman, then why wouldn’t it be for his secret mistress and child?’ â€Å"Anonymous is the key word,’ Sydney said, still clearly skeptical of Zmey’s â€Å"leniency.’ â€Å"If your theory’s right–and it’s kind of a leap–we still have no idea who this mistress is. The stolen documents didn’t say.’ â€Å"Are there other records that tie into the stolen ones? Or could you investigate the bank he was sending money to?’ The Alchemists’ initial concern had simply been that someone had stolen hard copies of their records. Her colleagues had discovered which items were taken but hadn’t given much thought to the content. I was willing to bet they hadn’t searched for any other documents related to the same topic. She affirmed as much. â€Å"You really have no idea how â€Å"researching records’ works, do you? It’s not that easy,’ she said. â€Å"It could take a while.’ â€Å"Well †¦ I guess that’s why it’s good we’re going somewhere, um, secure, right?’ I asked. Struck with the realization that we might need time to put our next step together, I could kind of see the disadvantage of having lost our out-of-the-way hideout. â€Å"Secure †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ She shook her head. â€Å"Well, we’ll see. I hope I’m not doing something stupid.’ With those ominous words, silence fell. I wanted to know more about where we were going but felt I shouldn’t push the small victory I’d made. The victory I thought I’d made, at least. I wasn’t entirely sure Sydney was 100 percent on board but felt certain Dimitri had been convinced. Best not to agitate her right now. I looked at the GPS. Almost an hour. Enough time to check back on Lissa. It took me a minute to recognize where Lissa was, probably because I’d been expecting her to return to her room. But no, she was in a location I’d only been once: Adrian’s parents’ home. Surprising. In a few moments, though, I read the reasoning from her mind. Her current suite was in guest housing, and in the ensuing panic over my escape, her building was swarming with visitors now trying to leave. The Ivashkov townhouse, situated in a permanent residential area, was a bit quieter–not that there weren’t a few fleeing neighbors there too. Adrian sat back in an armchair, feet carelessly resting on an expensive coffee table that some interior designer had probably helped his mother choose. Lissa and Christian had just arrived, and she caught a whiff of smoke in the air that made her think Adrian had been sneaking in some bad behavior beforehand. â€Å"If we’re lucky,’ he was telling Lissa and Christian, â€Å"the parental units will be tied up for a while and give us some peace and quiet. How rough was your questioning?’ Lissa and Christian sat on a couch that was prettier than it was comfortable. She leaned into him and sighed. â€Å"Not so bad. I don’t know if they’re fully convinced we had nothing to do with Rose’s escape †¦ but they definitely don’t have any proof.’ â€Å"I think we got in more trouble with Aunt Tasha,’ said Christian. â€Å"She was kind of pissed off that we didn’t tell her what was going on. I think she probably wanted to blow up the statues herself.’IT â€Å"I think she’s more upset that we got Dimitri involved’ pointed out Lissa. â€Å"She thinks we screwed up his chances of ever being accepted again.’ â€Å"Shes right,’ said Adrian. He picked up a remote control and turned on a large, plasma screen TV. He muted the sound and flipped randomly through channels. â€Å"But no one forced him.’ Lissa nodded but secretly wondered if she had forced Dimitri inadvertently. His dedicated vow to protect her was no secret. Christian seemed to pick up on her worry. â€Å"Hey, for all we know, he never would have–‘ A knock interrupted him. â€Å"Damn,’ said Adrian, standing up. â€Å"So much for peace and quiet.’ â€Å"Your parents wouldn’t knock,’ said Christian. â€Å"True, but it’s probably one of their friends wanting to sip port and gossip about the terrible state of today’s murderous youth,’ Adrian called back. Lissa heard the door open and a muffled conversation. A few moments later, Adrian returned with a young Moroi guy that Lissa didn’t recognize. â€Å"Look,’ the guy was saying, glancing around uneasily, â€Å"I can come back.’ He caught sight of Lissa and Christian and froze. â€Å"No, no,’ said Adrian. His transformation from grumpy to cordial had happened as quickly as a light switch being flipped. â€Å"I’m sure she’ll be back any minute. Do you guys all know each other?’ The guy nodded, eyes darting from face to face. â€Å"Of course.’ Lissa frowned. â€Å"I don’t know you.’ The smile never left Adrian’s face, but Lissa picked up quickly that something important was going on. â€Å"This is Joe. Joe’s the janitor who helped me out by testifying that I wasn’t with Rose when Aunt Tatiana was murdered. The one who was working in Rose’s building.’ Both Lissa and Christian straightened up. â€Å"It was a lucky thing you turned up before the hearing,’ said Christian carefully. For a while, there’d been panic that Adrian might be implicated with me, but Joe had come forward just in time to testify about when he’d seen both me and Adrian in my building. Joe took a few steps back toward the foyer. â€Å"I really should go. Just tell Lady Ivashkov that I came by–and that I’m leaving Court. But that everything’s set.’ â€Å"What’s set?’ asked Lissa, slowly standing up. â€Å"She–she’ll know.’ Lissa, I knew, didn’t look intimidating. She was cute and slim and pretty, but from the fear on Joe’s face–well. She must have been giving him a scary look. It reminded me of the earlier encounter with Abe. â€Å"Really,’ he added. â€Å"I need to go.’ He started to move again, but suddenly, I felt a surge of spirit burn through Lissa. Joe came to a halt, and she strode toward him. â€Å"What did you need to talk to Lady Ivashkov about?’ demanded Lissa. â€Å"Easy, cousin,’ murmured Adrian. â€Å"You don’t need that much spirit to get answers.’ Lissa was using compulsion on Joe, so much that he might as well have been a puppet on strings. â€Å"The money,’ Joe gasped, eyes wide. â€Å"The money’s set.’ â€Å"What money?’ she asked. Joe hesitated, as though he might resist, but soon gave in. He couldn’t fight that much compulsion, not from a spirit user. â€Å"The money †¦ the money to testify †¦ about where he was.’ Joe jerked his head toward Adrian. Adrian’s cool expression faltered a little. â€Å"What do you mean where I was? The night my aunt died? Are you saying †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Christian picked up where Adrian couldn’t. â€Å"Is Lady Ivashkov paying you off to say you saw Adrian?’ â€Å"I did see him,’ cried Joe. He was visibly sweating. Adrian had been right: Lissa was using too much spirit. It was physically hurting Joe. â€Å"I just †¦ I just †¦ I don’t remember the time †¦ I don’t remember any of the times. That’s what I told the other guy, too. She paid me to put a time on when you were there.’ Adrian didn’t like that, not at all. To his credit, he remained calm. â€Å"What do you mean you told â€Å"the other guy’?’ â€Å"Who else?’ repeated Lissa. â€Å"Who else was with her?’ â€Å"No one! Lady Ivashkov just wanted to make sure her son was clear. I fudged the details for her. It was the guy †¦ the other guy who came later †¦ who wanted to know when Hathaway was around.’ There was a click from the foyer, the sound of the front door opening. Lissa leaned forward, cranking up the compulsion. â€Å"Who? Who was he? What did he want?’ Joe looked like he was in serious pain now. He swallowed. â€Å"I don’t know who he was! No one I’d seen. Some Moroi. Just wanted me to testify about when I’d seen Hathaway. Paid me more than Lady Ivashkov. No harm †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ He looked at Lissa desperately. â€Å"No harm in helping them both †¦ especially since Hathaway did it †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ â€Å"Adrian?’ Daniella’s voice rang down the hall. â€Å"Are you here?’ â€Å"Back off,’ Adrian warned Lissa in a low voice. There was no joking in it. Her voice was just as soft, her attention still on Joe. â€Å"What did he look like? The Moroi? Describe him.’ The sound of high heels clicked on the hall’s wooden floor. â€Å"Like no one!’ said Joe. â€Å"I swear! Plain. Ordinary. Except the hand †¦ please let me go †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Adrian shoved Lissa aside, breaking the contact between her and Joe. Joe nearly sagged to the ground and then went rigid as he locked gazes with Adrian. More compulsion–but much less than Lissa had used. â€Å"Forget this,’ hissed Adrian. â€Å"We never had this conversation.’ â€Å"Adrian, what are you–‘ Daniella stopped in the living room’s doorway, taking in the strange sights. Christian was still on the couch, but Adrian and Lissa were inches from Joe, whose shirt was soaked with sweat. â€Å"What’s going on?’ Daniella exclaimed. Adrian stepped back and gave his mother one of those charming smiles that captivated so many women. â€Å"This guy came by to see you, Mom. We told him we’d wait until you got back. We’re going to head out now.’ Daniella glanced between her son and Joe. She was clearly uneasy about the scenario and also confused. Lissa was surprised at the â€Å"heading out’ comment but followed Adrian’s lead. Christian did too. â€Å"It was nice seeing you,’ said Lissa, attempting a smile to match Adrian’s. Joe looked totally dazed. After Adrian’s last command, the poor janitor had also probably forgotten how he’d ended up at the Ivashkov home. Lissa and Christian hastily followed Adrian out before Daniella could say much more. â€Å"What the hell was that?’ asked Christian, once they were outside. I wasn’t sure if he meant Lissa’s scary compulsion or what Joe had revealed. â€Å"Not sure,’ said Adrian, expression dark. No more cheery smile. â€Å"But we should talk to Mikhail.’ â€Å"Rose.’ Dimitri’s voice was gentle, bringing me back to him, Sydney, and the car. He’d undoubtedly recognized the expression on my face and knew where I’d been. â€Å"Everything okay back there?’ he asked. I knew â€Å"back there’ meant Court and not the backseat. I nodded, though â€Å"okay’ wasn’t quite the right word for what I’d just witnessed. What had I just witnessed? An admission of false testimony. An admission that contradicted some of the evidence against me. I didn’t care so much that Joe had lied to keep Adrian safe. Adrian hadn’t been involved with Tatiana’s murder. I wanted him free and clear. But what about the other part? Some â€Å"ordinary’ Moroi who’d paid Joe to lie about when I’d been around, leaving me without an alibi during the murder window? Before I could fully process the implications, I noticed the car had stopped. Forcing the Joe-info to the back of my mind, I tried to take stock of our new situation. Sydney’s laptop glowed in the front seat as she scrolled through something. â€Å"Where are we?’ I peered out the window. In the headlights, I saw a sad, closed gas station. â€Å"Altswood,’ said Dimitri. By my estimation, there was nothing else but the gas station. â€Å"Makes our last town look like New York.’ Sydney shut her laptop. She handed it back, and I set it on the seat beside me, near the backpacks she’d miraculously grabbed when leaving the motel. She shifted the car into drive and pulled out of the parking lot. Not too far away, I could see the highway and expected her to turn toward it. Instead, she drove past the gas station, deeper into darkness. Like the last place, we were surrounded by mountains and forests. We crept along at a snail’s pace until Sydney spotted a tiny gravel road disappearing into the woods. It was only big enough for one car to go down, but somehow, I didn’t expect we’d run into much traffic out here. A similar road took us in deeper and deeper, and although I couldn’t see her face, Sydney’s anxiety was palpable in the car. Minutes felt like hours until our narrow path opened up into a large, dirt-packed clearing. Other vehicles–pretty oldlooking–were parked there. It was a strange place for a parking lot, considering all I could see around us was dark forest. Sydney shut off the car. â€Å"Are we at a campground?’ I asked. She didn’t answer. Instead, she looked at Dimitri. â€Å"Are you as good as they say you are?’ â€Å"What?’ he asked, startled. â€Å"Fighting. Everyone keeps talking about how dangerous you are. Is it true? Are you that good?’ Dimitri considered. â€Å"Pretty good.’ I scoffed. â€Å"Very good.’ â€Å"I hope it’s enough,’ said Sydney, reaching for the door’s handle. I opened my door as well. â€Å"Aren’t you going to ask about me?’ â€Å"I already know you’re dangerous,’ she said. â€Å"I’ve seen it.’ Her compliment offered little comfort as we walked out across the rural parking lot. â€Å"Why’d we stop?’ â€Å"Because we have to go on foot now.’ She turned on a flashlight and shone it along the lot’s perimeter. At last, it flickered across a footpath snaking through the trees. The path was small and easy to miss because weeds and other plants were encroaching on it. â€Å"There.’ She began to move toward it. â€Å"Wait,’ said Dimitri. He moved in front of her, leading the way, and I immediately took up the back position in our group. It was a standard guardian formation. We were flanking her the way we would a Moroi. All earlier thoughts of Lissa flitted from my mind. My attention was totally on the situation at hand, all my senses alert to the potential danger. I could see Dimitri was in the same mode, both of us holding our stakes. â€Å"Where are we going?’ I asked as we carefully avoided roots and holes along the path. Branches scraped along my arms. â€Å"To people I guarantee won’t turn you in,’ she said, voice grim. More questions were on my lips when brilliant light suddenly blinded me. My eyes had grown attuned to the darkness, and the unexpected brightness was too abrupt a change. There was a rustling in the trees, a sense of many bodies around us, and as my vision returned, I saw vampire faces everywhere. How to cite Last Sacrifice Chapter Eight, Essay examples

Juveniles In Prison Essays - Criminology, Penology,

Juveniles In Prison Juveniles in Adult Prisons Term Project Abstract A deep look into juveniles in adult prisons. Touch bases on several smaller issues that contribute to juveniles being in and effects of adult prisons. The United States Bureau of Prisons handles two hundred and thirty-nine juveniles and their average age is seventeen. Execution of juveniles, The United States is one of only six countries to execute juveniles. There are sixty-eight juveniles sitting on death row for crimes committed as juveniles. Forty-three of those inmates are minorities. People, who are too young to vote, drink alcohol, or drive are held to the same standard of responsibility as adults. In prisons, they argue that the juveniles become targets of older, more hardened criminals. Brian Stevenson, Director of the Alabama Capital Resource Center said, ?We have totally given up in the idea of reform of rehabilitation for the very young. We are basically saying we will throw those kids away. Leading To Prison Juvenile Justi ce Bulletin Report shows that two-thirds of juveniles apprehended for violent offenses were released or put on probation. Only slightly more than one-third of youths charged with homicide was transferred to adult criminal court. Little more than one out of every one hundred New York youths arrested for muggings, beatings, rape and murder ended up in a correctional institution. Another report showed a delinquent boy has to be arrested on average thirteen times before the court will act more restrictive than probation. Laws began changing as early as 1978 in New York to try juveniles over 12 who commit violent crimes as adults did. However, even since the laws changed only twenty percent of serious offenders served any time. The decision of whether to waive a juvenile to the adult or criminal court is made in a transfer hearing. The two major criteria for waiver are the age of the child and type of offense alleged in the petition. Some jurisdictions require the child to be over a cert ain age and charged with a felony, while others permit waiver if the child is over a certain age regardless of offense. Still yet, others have no conditions. Juveniles can be tried in all stated in one of three ways: 1. Concurrent Jurisdiction: the prosecutor has the discretion of filing charge offenses in either juvenile or criminal court. 2. Excluded offenses: the legislature excludes from juvenile court jurisdiction certain offenses that are either very minor, such as traffic or fishing violations, or very serious, such as murder or rape. 3. Judicial waiver: the juvenile court waives its jurisdiction and transfers the case to criminal court. Barry Feld, Juvenile Law Scholar, suggests that waivers to adult court be mandatory for serious crimes. Those espousing the crime control model believe that the overriding purpose is protection of the public, deterrence or violent juvenile behavior, and the incarceration of serious youthful offenders in the adult criminal justice system. The rehabilitative justice model view this as an attack on the juvenile justice system, but crime control advocates consider such steps a necessary response to a rising juvenile violence rate. Life in Adult Prison The Southwest Multi County Corrections Center, a two-story adult jail is the largest maximum-security program for juveniles under federal authority. The BOP pays $99.80 a day for each juvenile. About half of the juveniles are over two hundred and fifty miles from home. Distance is on the main criticisms of putting juveniles in the BOP system. Most experts agree that for rehabilitation to succeed, families of jailed youths should be involved in their therapy and lives. Larry Beredtro, President of Reclaiming Youth International, address ?Obviously, the government needs to cease using nonregional placement for kids. My concern has been with the issue of the federal government placing kids hundreds or thousands of miles away from home. The facility Director Norbert Sickler says ? the facility helps pay travel expenses for some families and offers free accommodations in the area. We do encourage the kids to keep family connections both by writing and telephone also.? The BOP does plan to house all federal juveniles within two hundred and fifty miles of their homes by fiscal year 2000. Staff attorney for the Youth Law Center says

Polonium Facts - Elements Are Interesting

Polonium Facts - Elements Are Interesting Polonium is a rare radioactive semi-metal or metalloid. The toxic element is believed to have caused the death of former intelligence agent, Alexander Litvinenko, in November 2006. Polonium is a radioactive element that occurs naturally in the environment at very low levels or can be produced in a nuclear reactor. PhysicalProperties of Polonium Polonium-210 emits alpha particles, which can damage or destroy genetic material inside of cells. Isotopes that emit alpha particles are toxic if they are ingested or inhaled because the alpha particles are very reactive, but polonium isnt absorbed through the skin, nor does the alpha radiation penetrate deeply. Polonium generally is considered toxic only if taken internally (breathing, eating, through an open wound). Marie and Pierre Curie discovered polonium in 1897.  Marie Curie  named polonium for her homeland, Poland. Polonium dissolves readily in dilute acids. Po-210 readily becomes airborne and is soluble enough to circulate through body tissues.  Polonium is the only component of cigarette smoke to produce cancer in laboratory animals. The polonium in tobacco is absorbed from phosphate fertilizers. A lethal amount of ingested polonium is 0.03 microcuries, which is a particle weighing 6.8 x 10-12 g (very small). Pure polonium is a silvery-colored solid. Mixed or alloyed with beryllium, polonium can be used as a portable neutron source. Polonium is used as a neutron trigger for nuclear weapons, in making photographic plates, and to reduce static charges in industrial applications such as textile mills.