Rationale for Landmines Ban

Interacting Systems of the Hum essays

Interacting Systems of the Hum essays Today people strive to great lengths to keep their body in a good, healthy condition. Every system in the body, let it be digestion, circulatory (of blood), immune, respiratory, cellular respiratory or kidneys and excretion are all vital. Each have their separate roles, but not one works separately. The human body works as a whole in order to survive, even though not all goes well all the time. The digestive system is in charge of breaking down complex food particles into small molecules that can be transported in the blood plasma. It involves ingestion (taking in food), digestion (breaking down food), and absorption (passing nutrients from the digestive tract to blood stream). Chemicals such as mucin (which line the walls of the stomach to protect it from the acid) and rennin (which aids in the coagulation and digestion of milk proteins) are involved in this complex process. The end result is urine and solid waste. Circulation of blood allows the transportation of some waste products. The liver takes excessive amino acids from the excess protein out of the blood and removes the amino groups in order to convert the rest of the molecule into a useful form for energy production by body cells. Pancreatic hormones such as insulin, increase the removal of glucose from the blood stream; glucagon that stimulates the release of glucose into the blood stream and somatostatin that inhibits the action of insulin and other hormones. Without a proper digestive system, the immune system would not be able to fight off diseases that try and sometimes do infect the body. Vitamins, such as the fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) are important for the performance of the immune system. Other vitamins such as Vitamin C and B diffuse across the intestinal lining and move directly into the capillaries. Iron is a very important mineral that is required for the production of hemoglobin which is part of the red blood cell (important for immunity). The...

E-marketing in the library of Birmingham Report Essay

E-marketing in the library of Birmingham Report - Essay Example E marketing, the use of digital technologies on the internet to achieve marketing objectives such as customer relationships, understanding market needs and satisfying consumers through value formation, is the rule of the day, and not the exception. The internet platform offers a massive potential for marketers to market their products and services to global populations in the most efficient and effective way, therefore, reducing business costs incurred in direct traditional advertising option. This paper presents a report on the E marketing in the Library of Birmingham, using the SOSTAC e-marketing analysis model, with an aim of establishing the library of Birmingham’s online marketing current situation, objectives of the online marketing strategies, online marketing strategies, online marketing tactics, online marketing actions, and the control metrics. In addition to that, this report will evaluate the effectiveness of online marketing strategies of the library, goals of onl ine marketing, and recommendations for the future strategic direction of the library. E marketing offers great opportunities for the library of Birmingham, which if explored to the maximum have an incredible capacity of enhancing the library experience and increasing attendance accordingly. For instance, e-marketing increases the library’s visibility to the general population in Birmingham thus creating awareness of the library and its services to the prospective service consumers. Besides creating awareness, e-marketing strategies create value for the library and its services by highlighting its major attracting features such as online catalogues, online search services, and exciting web contents, among others. Exciting content displays, and organization offers the readers enhanced ways of finding books in the library and evaluating particular resources in the library through reviews through an interactive online channel. Overall, e marketing is a crucial strategic managemen t decision for the library of Birmingham because it will fit the library in the modern library situation that has changed drastically due to technological advancements (Von and Jung, 2003). E marketing has the potential of enhancing not only service delivery, but also creating value for the library in terms of increased library visitation, increased market access and enhanced returns on investment. Introduction E-marketing has emerged to be one of the fast growing revolutionary concepts in the business world today (Chaffey et al, 2008), with many global businesses and corporations, in response to the pressures of a fast changing global environment, seeking to provide value that meets customer expectations (Palmer, Cockton and Cooper, 2007). E-marketing is the use of digital technologies of the internet to achieve marketing objectives, to establish close, good and everlasting relationships with customers, understand their needs, satisfy these needs both effectively and efficiently, a nd to keep them happy while online (Chaffey, n.d). The main purpose of marketing is to communicate information, and to increase awareness of products and services to the prospective customers in the market (Housden and Thomas, 2002). The crucial role of e-marketing in today’s business world cannot be underrated, especially given the statistics that UK E-Commerce sales reached 121 billion pounds in 2010, while according to eMA, UK B2C E-Commerce reached 4.2 billion pounds by the end of 2012, and are further expected to rise to total value of ?221 billion by 2016. Overall, the internet has gained massive recognition as a dominant business platform (Linh and Tung, 2008), and literally transformed the expression ‘

Deontology, Utilitarianism, and Virtue Ethics Essay

Deontology, Utilitarianism, and Virtue Ethics - Essay Example Decisions and actions should be geared towards fulfilling obligations and existing laws. Consequently, acts that meet the expectations are considered ethical and those that do not meet the expectations are considered unethical. The theory therefore offers no regards to people’s immediate welfare, may subject actors to conflict of interest, and it is not based on rationale. Utilitarianism, however, focuses on consequences of an action or decision, instead of existing rules and obligation that a person has to others. According to utilitarian theory, negative and positive effects of a decision or actions are considered and net effects used to determine morality. Those acts and decisions that yield net benefits are considered ethical, unlike those that offer net harm. This establishes the basis of determining morality as a difference between deontology and utilitarianism as deontology relies on rules and obligations while utilitarianism relies on effects of an act or a decision. U tilitarianism also remedies deontology’s weakness of lack of rationale and this identifies a difference. Focusing on consequences also establishes consistency and therefore minimizes conflicts. However, the two theories aims at determining morality in actions and decisions (Manias, E., Manias, N., & Monroe, 2013). Analysis of virtue ethics, with the other two theories, also identifies both similarities and differences. The theory distinguishes rights and wrongs, just as deontology and utilitarianism.

Fashion at the Royal Wedding Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fashion at the Royal Wedding - Essay Example This essay follows the magnificent events of the Royal Wedding day, that occured in London, United Kingdom on 29th of April, 2011. As the world watched the most awaited day of 2011, the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton filled the screens not only of television sets around the world but of computers as well. This essay suggests that the romance that filled the air could be the top reason for billions of people to have taken a break, to witness and share the joy of witnessing a modern fairytale come alive. But it is also undeniable that among the top reasons of watching the wedding was to have a look at the unveiling of the wedding gown and dress of the bride. Interestingly, it was not only the bride’s ensemble that proved to have been anticipated during the day but reviews of the affair show that the royal fashion has been expected to be a sight awaited not only by fashion designers and experts but by the general public as well. Talk about the brideâ€⠄¢s gown was all over social networking sites like ‘facebook’ and ‘twitter’ as well as news reports around the world through air and paper. This essay also focuses on description and analysis of the dresses of Queen Elizabeth, Prince William, bride's maids and other honourable guests fashion appereances, such as Queen Sofia of Spain and princess Letizia. In conclusion of the essay, the researcher describes his opinion that as for the men on the ceremony, not much fuss the mass-media gave to their garbs as compared to those of the women’s.... s’ dress were similarly designed to that of the bride’s in accordance to tradition, made from the same fabric but sewn by another designer, Nicki Macfarlane (omg.yahoo). Both dresses worn by the sisters was the handy works of Sarah Burton, a 36 year old fashion designer from Manchester who worked alongside the famous fashion designer and owner of the company named after him, Alexander McQueen. She has proven to have the potentials of a creative modern fashion designer first by being appointed the head of women’s wear of McQueen, a pretty flattering position for a person who worked for a world renowned fashion designer for only four years. After the legend’s death in February of last year, Burton succeeded her patron as the creative director of McQueen (White). Creating the wedding gown of the newest member of the royal family, Burton now faces a greater responsibility and challenge as the most famous fashion designer of this age. The royal fashion is not g oing to be complete without looking at the queen whose fashion designer is a close confidant, Angela Kelly who made a bright yellow outfit for Queen Elizabeth. Her dress was simple, matched with a yellow hat and accessorized with the Queen Mary’s lover’s knot brooch. Speaking of hats, the guests displayed a variety of them so that the hats made quite a buzz. Probably the most disdained headdress was that worn by princess Beatrice who looked like she had an octopus on her head. It was a Philip Treacy hat, the same designer of her sister’s hat as well as that of Victoria Beckham’s and the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla’s without the outrageous reactions. Princess Eugenie received an identically negative comment about her attire which was not impressive at all with her blue seemingly disheveled dress and

Strategic Planning in the Australian Coffee market

Strategic Planning in the Australian Coffee market Industry/Market definition The Australian Coffee Industry comprises all the firms that offer products for sale that are derived from coffee beans. There are pure coffee products, ie whole and ground coffee beans, and instant coffee products. Each kind of product has its own target market. A market is the set of all actual and potential buyers of a product (Kotler et al 1998, p885). The pure coffee market consists of all the actual and potential buyers of whole or ground coffee beans. The instant coffee market consists of all the actual and potential buyers of instant coffee. For the purposes of this assignment, I will focus on the instant coffee market in Australia. Part1 Macroenvironment The marketing environment within which a company operates is dynamic. Its consists of a microenvironment, and a macroenvironment. The microenvironment is the forces close to the company that affect its ability to serve its customers. The macroenvironment is the larger societal forces that affect the whole microenvironment, (Kotler et al 1998, pp885-886) The macroenvironment consists of six types of forces: demographic, economic, natural, technological, political and cultural forces. A companys marketing strategy must take into account changes and trends in these environments that can present opportunities or pose threats. A successful firm is one that regularly modifies it marketing mix and strategies to adapt to these changes (Czinkota et al 2000, p17). Below I will outline the six macroenvironmental forces, and how they may affect the instant coffee market in Australia. Demographic environment Demographics are the study of human populations in terms of size, density, location, age, sex, race, occupations and other statistics (Kotler et al 1998, p105). The demographic environment consists of all the aforementioned demographic variables, and their ability to affect the Australian instant coffee market. The importance of the demographic environment lies in the fact that all demand for a product derives ultimately from people (Cannon 1998, p41). Kotler et al (1998, p113) noted that demographic developments have transformed the Australian marketplace from a mass market into more fragmented micro-markets differentiated by age, sex, geography, lifestyle, ethic background, education and other factors. Recent demographic trends in Australia are a better-educated and more white-collar population, increasing ethnic diversity, and changing age structures. The implications of such changes are that organisations must now design products and marketing programs for the specific micro-markets they wish to target. While all demographic variables have the potential to affect the instant coffee market in Australia, the area of particular significance is the emergence of ethnic micro-markets. Ethnic communities now make up a significant and growing part of the Australian population, who have clear product and brand preferences (Bradmore et al 1997, p88). Thus, there is now demand for a wider variety of coffee styles to suit ethnic tastes, which requires the development of new products and marketing strategies. For example, since ninety-five percent of all coffee drunk by Italians is espresso, (Barton 2000), many companies have developed instant espresso products. Economic environment The economic environment consists of the factors that affect consumer buying power and spending patterns (Kotler et al 1998, p113). Factor include income and employment levels, inflation levels, savings and credit conditions, the value of the Australian dollar and so on. This aspect of the macroenvironment is important to the Australian instant coffee market, as it is to any market, because consumers must have the purchasing power to back up their desire for the products. However, since non-price factors, such as branding, are a significant basis for competition for coffee products (IBIS World 2000, p8), changes in retail coffee prices will not have a huge effect on the market share of any one manufacturer. Despite that, economic factors that do affect the Australian coffee market include the value of the Australian dollar. Virtually all coffee beans are imported, and their prices vary with changes in the relative exchange rates (IBIS World 2000, p15). A low value of the Australian dollar, as is the present case, drives up input prices for manufacturers, which may be passed onto consumers. Furthermore, the Association of Coffee Producing Countries, which accounts for three quarters of world coffee-bean production, has announced plans to restrict the output of beans, which would mean it could control prices (Crawford 2000, p1). The effect of this possible price control is not yet known, but it could drive smaller manufacturers out of the market if the price increases are too high. Also, another issue is the level of disposable income of Australians. With an increase in income, consumers are increasingly likely to purchase higher quality products rather than to simply purchase more. Thus there is a growing market for higher quality and priced instant coffee. As noted in the IBIS World Report for C2179 Food Manufacturing, higher income facilitated the successful introduction of specialtycoffee products. (IBIS World 2000, p7). The GST is not applicable to coffee products, but GST on pure coffee products served at commercial premises could increase the market potential for instant coffee. Natural environment The natural environment concerns the natural resources that are needed as inputs by marketers or that are affected by marketing activities (Kotler et al 1998, p116). Today, there is a growing awareness of the need to preserve our planet, and that includes the need to protect our natural environment from the potentially harmful affects of industrial activities. Since coffee producers make use of the natural environment, there is a potential for this aspect of the macroenvironment to be quite significant to the Australian coffee industry. Consumers, more than ever, are beginning to boycott products that have been manufactured in such a way as to damage the environment. This is putting pressure on manufactures to ensure all procedures are environmentally friendly, or risk losing market share. Such issues that involve coffee manufacturing are the use of pesticides and chemicals, pollution from manufacturing plants, excessive water use in the production stage, and the effect of farming the land in regard to future erosion and depletion of natural minerals. Also, the supply and price of coffee beans to the Australian Coffee market is at the mercy of the natural elements. The IBIS World (2000, p27) Industry Report stated that coffee bean prices are forecast to increase sharply(as)the result of poor seasonal conditions in Central America and low stocks. Technological environment The technological environment is the forces that affect new technologies, creating new product and market opportunities (Kotler et al 1998, p889). Since coffee was discovered in around 1000AD (Nescafà © 2000), the methods used to grow, harvest, process and manufacture coffee products has certainly evolved. The use of irrigation systems, fertilisers, machinery in the harvest process, and the introduction of automated, computer controlled equipment (in Australian processing plants) has raised efficiency and, in many cases, has also improved product quality (IBIS World 2000, p25). However, the most recent influential forces concern advances in manufacturing processes, and developments of new coffee machines for home use. New technologies had made it possible for Australian instant coffee manufacturers to produce a wider range of products, of higher quality. For example, Nescafà © have recently introduced a new instant Cafà © Latte range, and also new instant Espresso. Also, using freeze-dried technology, instant coffee has a significantly longer shelf life than any product in the pure coffee market, which is a significant advantage. However, over the past few decades, the development of inexpensive coffee perculators and plungers has increased the attractiveness of pure coffee products, often at the expense of the instant coffee market. For example, Melitta House of Coffee recently introduced a coffee maker that makes 10-15 cups of coffee as quickly as boiling a jug. Lastly, the advent Internet shopping is allowing consumers to make purchases on-line, and from foreign suppliers, thus posing a threat to the size and profitability of the Australian coffee market. Political environment The political environment consists of the laws, government agencies and pressure groups that influence and limit various organisations and individuals in the society (Kotler et al 1998, p887). Like in all markets, organisations that operate in the Australian instant coffee market are subject to laws that regulate virtually all aspects of their business, including such areas as food and health safety, pollution emissions, and advertising and labelling requirements. However, the political environment does not have large impact on the Australian coffee market. Cultural environment The cultural environment consists of the institutions and forces that affect societys basic values, perceptions and behaviours (Kotler et al 1998, p882). Changes in Australian culture, and the emergence of varied sub-cultures can have a large impact on the instant coffee market in Australia. As Hugh Mackay, chairman of Mackay Research Pty Ltd stated: Anyone who is serious about communicating with contemporary Australiansneeds to understand the most contemporary trends in attitudes and behaviour. (Bradmore et al 1997, p62) Recent trends in Australia that are having a particular affect on the instant coffee market are the redefinition of health and associated anxieties about diet, fitness and stress, and the recent emergence of a young Australian coffee culture. Australians are, more than ever, concerned about their health. There is a wealth of research linking caffeine to many ailments, and thus, this is increasing demand for the healthy alternative decaffeinated products. There is also the threat the consumers could boycott coffee products all together, and switch to another beverage, such as tea, which is well known for its positive health benefits. In addition, the market for all types of coffee is benefiting from an era of coffee in AustraliaA real coffee culture is growing. (Miller 2000, p3) People are not only drinking more coffee, but becoming coffee connoisseurs. Coffee is no longer just a product, but a means of self-expression. As a society we are placing the emphasis on quality, not quantity, and as such consumers are buying more exotic instant coffees (Bannister 2000, p17). There has also been an emergence of many different subcultures. A subculture is a group of people with shared value systems based on common life experiences or situations (Kotler et al 1998, p123). Today, there is wide range of subcultures, particularly those based on nationalities, which is leading to demand for a wider variety of products. Part2 The marketing mix: How it is used by two companies to target the australian instant coffee market. There are many organisations that operate within the instant coffee market in Australia. Each company positions themselves with a unique marketing mix that is aimed at specific segments of the market. Kotler et al (1998, p57) defines the marketing mix as the set of controllable marketing variables that the company blends to produce the response it wants in the target market. The variables of the marketing mix are the four Ps: Product: the goods-and-service combination the company offers to the target market (Kotler et al 1998, p57). Price: the amount of money customers have to pay to obtain the product (Kotler et al 1998, p58). Place (Distribution): involves company logistics and marketing activities concerned with the making and distributing the final product (Kotler et al 1998, p58). Promotion: the activities that communicate the merits of the product and persuade the target customers to buy it (Kotler et al 1998, p58). This includes advertising, publicity, sales promotions, personal selling, direct marketing and sponsorship. I will focus on the marketing mix of Nescafà © and of Robert Timms. Nescafà © Nescafe products are produced by Nestle. Necafe holds a vary large share of the instant coffee market in Australia. Marketing mix outline Product There is a range of Nescafà © products available (see Table 1 below). Price The prices of the Nescafà © products have been listed in Table1: Nescafà © products and price. Place (Distribution) The Nescafà © product range is available in all large supermarket chains (Safeway, Coles etc). Smaller, independent grocers or stockists generally have a smaller range that would include Nescafà © Blend 43. Promotion a variety of promotional techniques. This includes: Large scale advertising They advertise their products in a wide variety of print, broadcast and display media. Their most recent nation wide advertising campaigns were the Open up with Nescafà © series, and the Nescafà © in the morning series. Sales promotions Nescafà © regularly runs contests that coincide with new product launches or advertising campaigns. Recent promotions were * win $1000 every morning for a month * Win the Nescafà © Latte Lounge to promote the new latte range Nescafà © also use point of sale promotions, have cash-back offers, and have give-aways. Eg. a free Nescafà © mug was given away with every purchase of 500g of Blend 43. The mug was the same type as that used in the Nescafà © in the morning advertisement series. Sponsorship: Nescafà © sponsors the * Nescafà © Big Break competition which will give away $180,000 to young people (aged 16-21) with original and achievable ideas. * Nescafà © Short Film Awards which offers a total of A$50,000 in cash awards to short film makers. There is a student category in this competition. Nescafà © also has an Australian website (www.cafe43.com.au) where information on all products, competitions and events can be accessed. Marketing mix analysis Nescafà ©s marketing mix is aimed at a large and varied segment of the instant coffee market. They could be considered the Myer of the instant coffee industry. The most obvious segments of the market they target are: * Young adult cafà © culture segment: They target this segment with their new latte range, along with the advertising, sales promotion and the competition to win the lounge seen in the advertisements. * Upscale, quality driven, higher income consumers: Their Nescafà © Gold range, and exotic tastes such as Alta Rice are aimed towards such consumers, where the price and qaulity are higher than that of the general blends. * Middle-class consumer (no age target): Nescafà © targets such a large segment with their Blend 43, Mild Roast and Espresso products. The consumer gets an economical benefit, as well as a quality product. Furthermore, Nescafà © attempts to tap into the ethnic segment using their Espresso and exotic blends. In their advertisements for espresso, they use local Italian actor, Nick Giannopoulos. In general, since Nescafà © has the largest range of instant coffee products in Australia, and has such a powerful brand name, they have a consumer franchise they gain brand recognition and demand consumer loyalty. In particular, their most popular product, Nescafà © Blend 43, is seen as the peoples coffee. In their advertisements, they use actors of varied age, gender, occupations and ethnicity. Robert Timms: Robert Timms is Australias oldest coffee company. It is the leader in the coffee bean market (Bannister 2000, p17), and has only entered the instant coffee market over the last couple of years. Marketing mix outline Product Robert Timms offers coffee bags (which work in the same manner as a tea bag) in four styles: Cafà © Style Espresso Italian Style Espresso Mocha Kenya Style Royal Special The coffee bags are a mix of ground and instant coffee. They also have: * Presmoto: Gourmet Freeze Dried Coffee. * Molto: Gourmet Granulated Coffee Price Robert Timms coffee bags are sold in: * packs of 8 for $2.35, or * packs of 18 for $4.83 I was not able to find the price of Presmoto and Molto soluble coffee as I could not find an outlet that stocks it. Place Robert Timms coffee bags are available in all large supermarket chains, but sporadically in independent stores. I am not aware of where the gourmet soluble coffee can be purchased. It was not available in any large supermarket I have visited. Promotion Robert Timms has only begun extensive promotion since early 2000, after remaining relatively low in profile. They do not promote the coffee bags or gourmet instant coffee specifically, but rather they promote the brand name. Promotional tools used by Robert Timms are: Large scale advertising Robert Timms most recent nation wide advertising campaign was the Think it over with Robert Timms series, which is seen on broadcast, print and display media. Sponsorship Robert Timms is the official coffee supplier to the 2000 Olympic Games. Robert Timms also has a web site (www.reoberttimms.com). It mainly has information on the history of the company and it products. Marketing mix analysis Robert Timms positions itself in the instant coffee market as a provider of the very highest quality coffee products. The company prides itself on its heritage. As it states on its web-site: We are a dedicated group of Australians producing coffee, coffee related products and services that are comparable to the very best in the world. http://www.roberttimms.com/about/index.html Opens in a new window The company has targeted its instant coffee products to the high income, quality driven segment of the instant coffee market. The quality of their products is reflected in the prices, which are expensive, and the packaging, which uses the stylish combination of black and gold. Furthermore, through their role as official coffee supplier to the Olympics, they are also associating themselves with the pursuit of excellence and the Australian spirit. Their promotional campaign Think it Overwith Robert Timmsà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ creates a relaxed, yet sophisticated feel about the company and their products. The premise behind the campaign is best summed up on their web-site: Take some time out of your busy day to enjoy our coffee and you too can Think it Overwith Robert Timmsà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ Reflect on the day, make the right decision at work or just decide to relax. Its up to you. http://www.roberttimms.com/think_it_over/index.html Opens in a new window Thus, while their marketing mix is targeted at high-income consumers who want high quality, they made sure they did not exclude a large share of the market by appearing overly elitist. Nescafà © vs. Robert Timms The marketing mix of Nescafà © and the marketing mix of Robert Timms are quite different. These differences reflect the different positioning of the two companies, and the segments of the market they were aiming to capture. Whereas Nescafe has targeted a larger percentage of the market, with quality but affordable products, Robert Timms has targeted a narrower segment with gourmet, expensive products. Generally, Robert Timms and Nescafà © are no real direct threat to each other. While they do both compete in the high quality, gourmet end of the instant coffee market, Robert Timms is clearly the highest quality product, and consumers must pay for this. What Nescafà © is offering is a more affordable alternative. Conclusion The instant coffee market in Australia is subject to the demographic, economic, political, cultural, natural and technological forces of the wider macroenvironment that it operates within. Each of these forces has the potential to change the marketing environment, and create opportunities and pose threats to the market and those who operate within it. What companies must do is monitor these environments to adapt its marketing mix accordingly. In the Australian instant coffee market, different companies have quite different marketing mixes, as can be seen when comparing Nescafà © and Robert Timms. These differences do not mean that one is more effective than the other, but rather they reflect the different marketing strategies adopted by each company to capture the market segments they feel the company can best serve.

My Interest in Optometry :: Career in Optometry

The sense of sight is very complex, yet fascinating. Optometrists have the amazing opportunity to further explore this sense and help patients feel their mere existence to be nothing less than a miracle. The onset of illnesses of the body also manifest in the eyes and can be diagnosed through changes that occur within them. Upon screening for changes in the eyes, diseases such as Alzheimer’s and diabetes can be diagnosed. Given that I already have a background in vision care, I ultimately find no other rewarding career for myself than one that serves patients to see and appreciate the simple pleasures around them. I treasure my experiences because I learn how to be more attentive. It is important for one to be skillfully unique; which can be achieved by holding the capacity to mold from personal experiences as well as consider opinions of others. I believe a person’s identity is refined by strong values that stem from education, religion, and culture. My background in vision care and volunteer experience demonstrates my appreciation and interest in optometry. I have always been drawn towards the health care field and had opportunities to be exposed to a range of optometric work. I have graduated from the Vision Care Technology Program at City College. The course work offered by the program has helped me come to the conclusion that optometry is the professional field I wish to pursue. It gave insight into both the medical and business aspects of the optical world. I wanted to surpass my vision care knowledge and excel by becoming an optometrist. As I rotated at the on-sight clinic in college, I worked with patients alongside optometrists and learned how to function optometric equipment. I wanted an optometrist’s perspective about the profession so I spoke to my professors. One professor was a young optometrist who had just graduated from optometry school. I was impressed at her flexible timings because she taught and also p racticed. Teaching is also something I will look into in the near future. After graduating with honors in Ophthalmic Dispensing, I transferred to State University. I am currently in the B.S/M.S program and will complete my Master’s in Biology by May 2016. The B.S/ M.S program requires taking graduate courses along with undergraduate courses, a challenge I have taken head on. Being a full-time student and taking the maximum amount of credits can be overwhelming at times but not once has it discouraged me.

Abandoned – Creative Writing

Private Michael Thompson was at the front, holding his assault rifle which he had trained with so much, hoping it would help him against what they were fighting. They were called in for riot control, but they soon realised it was no ordinary riot. These guys took twenty bullets, and kept coming. Other soldiers who were attacked were joining them. The only option left was to hold them in the town, until a tactical nuclear strike could be prepared. The barricades were in front of him and he looked around nervously, memorizing the faces of the other forty soldiers around him, They were nervous as well. All of them. They had just escorted one survivor to an evacuation vehicle. He was the only survivor that had heeded their calls. He was screaming, â€Å"They're coming! They're coming!-Just blow the city up. You can't stop them!† That hadn't helped anyone's nerves. They had been given orders to shoot to kill on any target they deemed hazardous. He could hear the wind blowing, and some birds singing behind him. Worst of all, he could hear the riot, the shuffling of thousands of feet, the screams that sounded inhuman-More like groans. Suddenly there was silence. All the soldiers tensed. They readied their rifles as one. They had a man set up with tear gas to break the crowd. Everyone raised their rifles. Their commanding officer, began barking out orders. He heard, and moved to his assigned spot. The shuffling started again, quicker than before, and they all knew the riot was headed towards them. They waited, listening. The crowd appeared about a third of a mile down the road. The Sergeant immediately ordered the rifle man to open fire. They argued about opening fire on civilians, but not for long. They started firing into the crowd. The ones they hit didn't go down. They just kept coming, just as reported in the briefing. The sergeant started yelling,†Hit them in the head, you morons, the head!† The sharpshooters adjusted their aims, and started dropping people in the crowd. They never screamed, they didn't even flinch. They just kept shuffling towards the barricade, silently. Everyone was a little afraid when the things came within easy firing range. They opened up in small bursts, bringing down many of the people. There were so many of them. The things were beating on the steel barricade, and reaching through the slots. Michael just kept shooting like he was ordered to. One to the left, one to the right, he didn't realise he was crying with fear, until the sergeant pulled him away as the barricade toppled. They began running. The sergeant was screaming for everyone to form around him, but no-one listened. They were smart, they kept running. Twenty men had died at the barricade, and no-one else wanted to join them. Michael followed the Sergeant through a couple of alleyways, and out into an empty street. The sergeant pulled out his portable radio, and started radioing for backup, heavy backup. The only response he got was the one that sealed their fate,†Red Wings, you're on your own on this mission.† Michael looked around at the grotesque caricatures of humanity closing in from both sides of the street, and he began running too. The Sergeant screamed his last scream as he was pulled down and Michael came close, but he broke away from the gruesome crowd, running like he never knew he could. He ran, they were still right behind him, not the same ones, different ones. There were so many of them. He ducked down an alley to run to the next street, but it was a dead end. Nowhere else to run! He hid in a bin and it was only a minute before he heard them surrounding it. They pounded on it with such ferocity he feared they'd break in, but they didn't. He sat in the bin and cried, knowing he'd never leave this place. Sally, his wife would never even learn he was dead. The things had breached the borders of the city and were spilling out in every direction now. He thought back to that civilian. He understood now and he hoped to god they would nuke the town and surrounding areas. The lives sacrificed would be small compared to how many would be lost if they didn't The bin was sliding, but he knew they'd never flip it. He had plenty of bullets left, so he sighed his last sigh, climbed on top of the dumpster and began firing on them, tears clouding his vision. He mowed down more than any other soldier had and when his ammunition ran out in his assault rifle, he drew his pistol. He fired 13 shots with it, killing twelve zombies. It was the end for him and he knew it. He stood still in the street, thinking about sally and how he would never see her again. He did not scream in pain as the grotesque things attacked him, he was a true solider to his last breath.

Summer Book Report essays

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