Cultures and Traditions Essay Example for Free

Cultures and Traditions Essay She doesnt seem to be ashamed and there is no emotion in her voice. Is he dead? Of course. They are still trying to make light of a bad situation. Their history has been described because nobody would go up to a person and say I have just killed one of my guests and I would make sense if she told this to someone closer to her. She has a very bold approach, is not afraid to say what she thinks, she doesnt think before she acts. Her devotion is very strong for her son and is a very independent woman and has a sense of discipline. For example, she applied to him the same norms of discipline and She did not want anyone to be able to say she had brought him up badly. Riad suggests that she should start a guest house. He is like her saviour in a way. She seems to be a very forthright person, Girls brought their boyfriends for her approval. She isnt afraid to speak her mind and can be a very blunt person at times. When she says, In one of the back rooms. she shows no fear of being caught, she doesnt even lower her voice. Ines must have had a very strong stomach shown by the description of the murder. For example, his head hanging by a strip of ashen flesh. The conversation between Halabi and Ines shows Ines does not have much respect for the authorities, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, She seems to think along the terms that someone killed her son and she is going to kill the murderer. Riad always seems to be taking care of the situation, for example, calming the people to prevent them from tearing the perpetrator limb from limb. and I think Ines likes that quality in him. Ines had scrubbed the walls and furniture, It is just like a chore for Ines to do, something to keep her occupied while the body was being taken care of. Ines thought the murder wasnt particularly barbaric compared to the latest cockfights. Near the end you see a more soft side to Ines, you are the person I love you should have been the father of my son. She might think that all of this might not of happened if Riad was the father of her child. The community of Agua Santa seem to be like a cult. Riad had to prevent them tearing the perpetrator limb from limb. This shows they are behind Ines every step of the way, for example, All the inhabitants of Agua Santa had spent the day hauling mangoes, which they throw through the windows until the house was filled floor to ceiling. Ines is a very powerful figure in the town. She was higher than the doctor, the priest and the police. The community looked up to her. They turned the perpetrator house into an enormous beast in the process of putrefaction It gives the house a very grotesque form. Its like its had the life sucked out of it and has been turned into a ferocious beast. The people of Agua Santa seem to liven up once something started happening in their insignificant backwater town. The Lieutenant and his men even arrived so you might it was important but they accepted an invitation of the girls at the who were celebrating a birthday, they said it makes it seem deceiving. There were more people on the street than on All Saints Day, this shows that even a spark of activity can cause big difference the peoples attitudes and lift their spirits. they seemed to be practising a part in a movie its like the whole scene was surreal and this could not really be happening. The priest lighted up the lamps but no one was in the mood for that type of devotion. Everybody is so excited and that they dont concentrate on anything else, not even their religion, just on the news they heard. The body was stuffed in to a canvas sack, wrestled out into the street, unceremoniously thrown into a sack and put into the back of Riads truck. The body didnt seem to have been shown respect at all since it was the killer of Ines son. The house had further developed into a monstrosity and no one could get through the impenetrable jungle. When they got back to at midnight, they found no one had gone to bed. Everybody seemed to be so ecstatic and full of energy that the perpetrator was gone. Agua Santa returned to their usual chores exalted by a magnificent complicity, by a secret kept by good neighbours, the community know they can trust each other and work together in any situation. Both mothers know what they want and how to get it and both have a level of determination. Their love for their sons is a strong motive to their revenge and are ruthless in their ways of dealing with it. Both mothers dont show a lot of emotion throughout the stories until the very end because they finally know they have done what they needed to do. The endings of the stories are both effective because they are both short and straight to the point and they both end on a happy note and the mothers can live their lives since both of them get their revenge. The characters are firmly rooted in time and place. For example, I think Vendetta had a strong belief about family but not about the community while The Schoolteachers Guest was the opposite. The communities reacted to the killings in different ways. The people of Agua Santa supported Ines and were right behind her and resulted in violent behaviour by vandalising the perpetrators house whilst in Vendetta , the community thought nothing of it and just continued with their lives and took no interest. Ines waits and speculates for things to start up while Widow Saverini gets right on with the task of dealing with the problem. In all, the stories both symbolise revenge and on how the mothers deal with the same situation. By Rio Small 10K1 Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Miscellaneous section.

Relationship Between Customer Satisfaction And Loyalty Business Essay

Relationship Between Customer Satisfaction And Loyalty Business Essay Customer loyalty is an emotional rather than a rational thing. It is typically based on customer interest in maintaining a relationship with one organization. Often, customer interest is created and maintained through one or more positive experiences which lead to a relationship. Relationship is built on trust the most important thing to remember about trust is that without it, one have no relationship. This applies to all human situations, not just the customer service environment, for customers to continue long business with one and ones organization, trust has to be earned, and it does not happen overnight. Only through continued positive efforts on the part of everyone in organization can anyone demonstrate to customers that one can be worthy of their trust and thereby positively affect customer retention. Through actions and deeds, one must deliver quality products, services, and information that satisfy the needs of ones customers. Even when one wins trust, it is very fragile. And inappropriate one, a missed appointment, failure to follow through on a promise, a lie, of misleading statements to a customer are just some of the ways one can destroy trust quickly. (Robert W. Lucas, 2005, p.318) Customer satisfaction In general, satisfaction is a persons feelings of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing products perceived performance (or outcome) in relation to his or her expectations. If the performance falls short of expectations, the customer is dissatisfied, if the performance matches the expectations, the customer is satisfied, if the performance exceeds expectations, and the customer is highly satisfied or delighted. Relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty The link between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is not proportional suppose customer satisfaction is rated on a scale from one to five, at a very low level of customer satisfaction (level one), customers are likely to abandon the company and even bad mouth it. At levels two to four, customers are fairly satisfied but still find it easy to switch when a better offer comes along, at level five, the customer is very likely to repurchase and even spread good work of mouth about the company. High satisfaction or delight creates an emotional bond with the brand of company, not just a rational preference. For example, Xeroxs senor management found out that its completely satisfied customers are six times more likely to repurchase Xerox products over the following 18 months than its very satisfied customers. (Philip Kotler, Keven Lane Keller, 2003 p.60) Up to Level four there is a chance of customer to leave the brand but from level five customer satisfactions is proportional to the customer loyalty The disloyalty at current rates would stunt the corporate performance by 25 to 50 percent, and sometimes even more, by contrast, the business enterprises that concentrate on finding and retaining good customers, productive employees and supportive investors still continue to generate superior results the loyalty factor remains one of the day elements in the success of a business enterprise. In fact, the principles of loyalty and business strategy. Loyalty Effect In simple terms, loyalty is best defined as a state of mind, a set of attitude, beliefs, and desires. Most of the companies benefit from the customers loyal behavior, which is an end-result of the positive state of mind shown by the business enterprises in serving their customers. To make customer loyal to the product company should focus on some significant things. Consumers can be divided into steps of a ladder. More marketing effort should be given for the people on the top step of the ladder. These kinds of peoples are who are more likely to spend huge money for the product. (Shahjahan, 2004, p.125) Profitability of the Loyal Customer Several reasons could be pointed out to show why the loyal customers repurchase a high proportion of their needs from the same source are much more profitable. Lower costs of service The loyal customers are easier and cheaper to service. Since they are familiar with the products and services, because they would not have as many questions are less likely to make mistakes, and would have adjusted their behaviour to simplify their relations with the supplier. Increased purchases: The loyal customer tend to buy more as the time progresses, either because they learn about part of the product line of they give a higher proportion of their spending to the favoured source. Less price Sensitivity: They tend to become fewer prices sensitive and may pay a premium. Al the relationship strengthens over time, they are less susceptible to the competitors appeal, and since they are satisfied by what they are receiving from the enterprise, they are prepared to pay more. Favorable word of mouth: Finally, the loyal buyers are more likely to pass on favourable recommendations to others who also tend to be higher quality prospects. This helps in reducing the high costs of new customer acquisition. Sustainable Advantages: Another reason for the rising interest in the market relationship is the durability factor involved in a committed relationship. In fact the proper chemistry of positive relationship is hard to understand copy or displace, this is a persuasive argument, in cases where the product-based advantages are short-lived and new competitors are posing challenges on all sides. Furthermore, with network technologies that could enable the addressability, interactivity and demand chain coordination, business firms are currently better equipped with both the motive and means for moving closer to their customers. (Shahjahan, 2004, p.126) Degree of Loyalty The degree of customer loyalty varies among three levels (Shahjahan, 2004) Overview of Nestlà © company Nestlà © is the worlds largest food and beverage company, founded and headed puartered in vevey, Switzerland. It employs in excess of 250,000 has almost 500 factories situated in around 90 countries and its products are on sale everywhere. It has contract with many co-manufactures, some of whom wouk exclusively for Nestlà ©. In recent years, Nestlà © has focused on becoming a nutrition, health and wellness company through its existing brands and knew acquisitions. The Nestlà © brand portfolio covers practically all food and beverage categories, milk and dairy products, nutrition (infant, healthcare, perfomadnce and weigaht management), ice cream, breakfast cereals, coffee and beverage, culinary products (prepare dishes, cooking aids, sauces, etc.) chocolate, confectionery, pet care, and bottled water. Many brands have category leadership, both globally and in local markets. The best known global brands include Nescafe, Nesta Maggi,Buitoni Purina, and, of course Nestlà © itself. In 2007, Nestlà ©s revenues exceeded 107 billion Swiss France (about 100 billion USD at prevailing exchange rates) Nestlà © is run as a decentralized group of companies which foster and rely on organizational learning within the Group. Headquarters provides leadership, guidance, and consultancy to the regional and local organizations. Central competence units identify opportunities within market and Business and assist local management in improving business performance. Supply chain management Organization Corporate operation- Supply Chain is one of the corporate functional units hosted at Headquarters and is responsible for Global Supply Chain Strategy Governance Best Practices Compliance Market Assistance and Guidance, and Reporting Standards and Guidance, and Reporting Standards and Guidance (http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=L8nLFFt5G1MCpg=PA180lpg=PA181ots=8_SlcjIvPDdq=Nestlà ©+companies+chain+management+system#v=onepageqf=false) Contribution to the society as a part of corporate Social Responsibility As the part of corporate social responsibility Nestlà © took parts in the sixth Womens Forum Global Meeting on October 21, 2010 and deliver their opinion to the discussion and exchanged ideas on important social and economic issue. Participation in many Seminar On world Development Issue Nestlà © took part both the sponsorship and various debates, brainstorm meeting and session highlighting on this years theme change; make it happen. On combat against malnutrition On Thursday, October 15.  Paul Bulcke, Nestlà © CEO, deliver a keynote speech about how to combat malnutrition during changing in Global health. On how to become successful in green revolution to ensure food security Nestlà © also took place another brainstorming session highlighting on how can Africa succeed in its green revolution against the challenges of food security on the continent. What are the potential obstacles, political, social, environmental and ethical, and how can these be overcome? On how to decrease gender discrimination Nestlà © also participated in the forum and highlighted about gender balance in order to promote the environment, culture and leadership to facilitate a balanced gender mix. of activities Nestlà © tried to transfer that their objective of doing business is not only create value for the shareholder but also for society at large. Presenting new pump: Nestlà © presented a new water pump to the community of Deputekro in Cà ´te dIvoire to ensure safe drinking water to the community. On September 18 in the Deputekro village 40 kilometers from the countrys capital Yamoussoukro Nestlà © donate this. Previously the villagers had to collect clean water from two hours journey distance but now around 400 members can collect this from around their area. Providing huge amount of coca seeds During the crop season of coca in this year Nestlà © has given premium of 300 tonnes of good quality coca. Nestlà © keep on donating to the organizations work for people nutrition and safe drinking water. As the part of this activity they donate 1.5 million to the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) over the next three years in order to improve access to clean water in plantations and basic sanitation in rural schools. (http://www.Nestlà ©.com/MediaCenter/NewsandFeatures/AllNewsFeatures/New-water-pump-in-Cote-dIvoire-to-sustain-The-Cocoa-Plan.htmheath) Good Food, Good Life is main strategy of Nestlà © Nestlà © strategy directs its Nutrition, Heath, and wellness. Their motive is to make aware people about their healthy choices of food and beverage.(http://www.Nestlà ©.com/NutritionHealthAndWellness/Introduction/NutritionHealthAndWellness.htm) Nestlà ©s goal is not only make consumer life more pleasurable by providing tasty food but also make their life healthy by providing nutritious food. Reference Book Philip Kotler and Keven Lane keller (2003) Marketing Management, 11th Edition, Pearson education publication, India, p60-p88 Robert, W.Lucas (2005) customer service, 3rd Edition, Mc Graw Hill Irwin, India, p318-p322 Shahjahan (2004) Relationship Marketing, Tata McGraw Hill 2nd Edition, p125-p135 Building customer satisfaction, value and retention Internet http://www.nestle.com/ (20 October 2010) Women Welfare (17 October 2010) http://www.nestle.com/MediaCenter/NewsandFeatures/AllNewsFeatures/Nestle-presence-at-the-2010-Womens-Forum-Deauville.htm Giving water plan as a corporate social responsibility(12 October 2010) http://www.nestle.com/MediaCenter/NewsandFeatures/AllNewsFeatures/New-water-pump-in-Cote-dIvoire-to-sustain-The-Cocoa-Plan.htm Heath (20 April 2010) http://www.nestle.com/InvestorRelations/Events/AllEvents/NHS.htm Nestle nutrition and health (22 October 2010) http://www.nestle.com/NutritionHealthAndWellness/Introduction/NutritionHealthAndWellness.htm Research and development (20 October 2010) http://www.nestle.com/NestleResearch/NestleResearchHome.htm Supply chain management (17 April 2010 ) http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=L8nLFFt5G1MCpg=PA180lpg=PA181ots=8_SlcjIvPDdq=Nestle+companies+chain+management+system#v=onepageqf=false

Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Sons :: essays `papers

Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Sons Pieter Bruegel , usually known as Pieter Bruegel the Elder to distinguish him from his elder son, was the first in a family of Flemish painters. He spelled his name Brueghel until 1559, and his sons retained the "h" in the spelling of their names. Pieter Bruegel the Elder, generally considered the greatest Flemish painter of the 16th century, is by far the most important member of the family. He was probably born 1529, in Breda in the Duchy of Brabant, now in The Netherlands. He was accepted as a master in the Antwerp painters' guild in 1551, and was apprenticed to Coecke van Aelst, a leading Antwerp artist, sculptor, architect, and designer of tapestry and stained glass. Bruegel traveled to Italy in 1551 or 1552, completing a number of paintings, mostly landscapes, there. Returning home in 1553, he settled in Antwerp. Ten years later, Bruegel moved permanently to Brussels. He married van Aelst's daughter, Mayken, in 1563. His association with the van Aelst family drew Bruegel to the artistic traditions of the Mechelen region in which allegorical and peasant themes run strongly. Dated paintings have survived from each year of the period except for 1558 and 1561. Within this decade falls Bruegel's marriage to Mayken Coecke in the Church of Notre-Dame de la Chapelle in Brussels. His paintings, including his landscapes and scenes of peasant life, stress the absurd and vulgar, yet are full of zest and fine detail. They also expose human weaknesses and follies. He was sometimes called the "peasant Bruegel" from such works as Peasant Wedding Feast (1567). It was in Rome, in 1553, that Bruegel produced his earliest signed and dated painting, Landscape with Christ and the Apostles at the Sea of Tiberias. The holy figures in this painting were probably done by Maarten de Vos, a painter from Antwerp then working in Italy. Among his patrons was Cardinal Antione Perrenot de Granvelle. Granville was president of the council of state in the Netherlands, in whose palace in Brussels the sculptor Jacques Jonghelinck had a studio. He and Bruegel had traveled in Italy at the same time, and his brother, a rich Antwerp collector, Niclaes, was Bruegel's greatest patron, having by 1566 acquired sixteen of his paintings. Another patron was Abraham Ortelius, who in a memorable obituary called Bruegel the most perfect artist of the century.

Rosalind and the Masks in Shakespeares As You Like It :: Shakespeare As You Like It Essays

Rosalind and the Masks In this essay I would like to focus on Rosalind's - or rather Ganymede's - preoccupation with the outward show of things. Whether this is a result of her cross-dressing, the reason for the same, or the playwright's way of revealing his presence is not as yet clear to me, but Rosalind's constant insistence on the truth of masks and on the other hand her readiness to doubt this same truth fascinates me. When she decides to dress up as a boy, Rosalind seems to think a mannish outside sufficient to convince the world at large (I.iii.111-118). She is "more than common tall" and therefore all she needs is a "gallant curtle-axe", a "boar spear" and a "swashing and a martial outside" to hide her feminine anxiousness. Taking it for granted that noone will have the hunch to look beyond her male costume, she reasons that since cowardly men are able to hide these feminine qualities, she should be able to pass off as a man, simply by behaving mannishly. Being so totally dependent on her own disguise not being found out, it is funny how she proceeds to doubt anyone who does not put on an outward show fitting to their claims to feeling. The first to be put on the stand in this fashion is Orlando. As Ganymede Rosalind refuses to accept Orlando's claim to being the desperate author of the love-verses (s)he has found hanging on the trees on the grounds that he has no visible marks of love upon him. A lean cheek, which you have not; a blue eye and sunken, which you have not; an unquestionable spirit, which you have not; a beard neglected, which you have not (...) Then your hose should be ungartered, your bonnet unbanded, your sleeve unbuttoned, your shoe untied, and everything about you demonstrating careless desolation. (III.ii.363-371) He is, in other words, not exactly the picture of the despairing suitor. Neither does Jaques measure up to Rosalind's expectations of the melancholy traveller. She greets him with a "they say you are" (IV.i.3), and sends him off with the order of: Look you lisp, and wear strange suits; disable all the benefits of your own country; be out of love with your nativity, and almost chide God for making that countenance you are; or I will scarce think you have swam in a gondola.

U-2 Incident :: essays research papers

On May 1, 1960, two weeks prior to the United States-Soviet Summit in Paris, a U-2 high altitude reconnaissance airplane was shot down while flying a spy mission over the Soviet Union. The Eisenhower administration was forced to own up to the mission, and Khrushchev canceled the Paris Summit. As a result, The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union continued for over 30 years. Shortly after the end of World War II, United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the two superpowers. These two former wartime allies found themselves locked in a struggle that came to be known as the Cold War. Eisenhower saw the Cold War in stark moral terms: "This is a war of light against darkness, freedom against slavery, Godliness against atheism." But the President refused to undertake an effort to "roll back" Soviet gains in the years after WW II. Early in his administration he embraced a policy of containment as the cornerstone of his administration's Soviet policy. Eisenhower rejected the notion of a "fortress America" isolated from the rest of the world, safe behind its nuclear shield. He believed that active US engagement in world affairs was the best means of presenting the promise of democracy to nations susceptible to the encroachment of Soviet-sponsored communism. Additionally, Eisenhower maintained that dialogue between the US and the Soviet Union was crucial to the security of the entire globe, even if, in the process, each side was adding to its pile of nuclear weapons. The death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, two months into the Eisenhower presidency, gave rise to hopes of a more flexible, accommodating Soviet leadership. In 1953, Eisenhower delivered a speech underscoring the potential human cost of the Cold War to both sides. Hoping to strike a more compatible tone with Georgi Malenkov, Stalin's successor, Eisenhower suggested the Soviets cease their brazen expansion of territory and influence in exchange for American cooperation and goodwill. The Soviets responded coolly to the speech, especially to the US's insistence on free elections for German unification, self-determination for Eastern Europe, and a Korean armistice. The two sides would not meet face-to-face until the Geneva Summit of 1955. At the Summit, Eisenhower asserted, "I came to Geneva because I believe mankind longs for freedom from war and the rumors of war. I came here because my lasting faith in the decent instincts and good sense of the people who populate this world of ours." In this spirit of good will, Eisenhower presented the Soviets with his Open Skies proposal. In it he proposed that each side provide full descriptions of all their military facilities and allow for aerial inspections to insure the information was correct. The Soviets rejected the proposal.

The Return: Midnight Chapter 11

When M. le Princess Jessalyn D'Aubigne had drunk her fil of Damon's blood – and she was thirsty for such a fragile thing – it was Damon's turn. He forced himself to remain patient when Jessalyn flinched and frowned at the sight of his ironwood knife. But Damon teased her and joked with her and played chasing games up and down the enormous bed, and when he final y caught her, she scarcely felt the knife's sting at her throat. Damon, though, had his mouth on the dark red blood that wel ed out immediately. Everything he'd done, from pouring Black Magic for Bonnie to pouring out the star bal ‘s liquid at the four corners of the Gate to making his way through the defenses of this tiny gem of a castle had been for this. For this moment, when his human palate could savor the nectar that was vampire blood. And it was†¦heavenly! This was only the second time in his life that he'd tasted it as a human. Katerina – Katherine, as he thought of her in English – had been the first, of course. And how she could have crept off after that and gone, wearing just her short muslin shift, to the wide-eyed, inexperienced little boy who was his brother, he would never understand. His disquiet was spreading to Jessalyn. That mustn't happen. She had to stay calm and tranquil as he took as much as he could of her blood. It wouldn't hurt her at al , and it meant al the difference to him. Forcing his consciousness away from the sheer elemental pleasure of what he was doing, he began, very careful y, very delicately, to infiltrate her mind. It wasn't difficult to get to the nub of it. Whoever had wrenched this delicate, fragile-boned girl from the human world and had endowed her with a vampire's nature hadn't done her any favors. It wasn't that she had any moral objections to vampirism. She'd taken to the life easily, enjoying it. She would have made a good huntress in the wild. But in this castle? With these servants? It was like having a hundred snooty waiters and two hundred condescending sommeliers staring her down as soon as she opened her mouth to give an order. This room, for instance. She had wanted some color in it – just a splash of violet here, a little mauve there – natural y, she realized, a vampire princess's bedchamber had to be mostly black. But when she'd timidly mentioned the subject of colors to one of the parlor maids, the girl had sniffed and looked down her nostrils at Jessalyn as if she'd asked for an elephant to be instal ed just beside her bed. The princess had not had the courage to bring up the matter with the housekeeper, but within a week three baskets ful of black-and-off-black throw pil ows had arrived. There was her â€Å"color.†And in the future would her highness be so good as to consult her housekeeper before querying the staff as to her household whims? She actually said that about my â€Å"whims,† Jessalyn thought as she arched her neck back and ran sharp fingernails through Damon's thick soft hair. And – oh, it's no good. I'm no good. I'm a vampire princess, and I can look the part, but I can't play it. You're every bit a princess, your highness, Damon soothed. You just need someone to enforce your orders. Someone who has no doubts about your superiority. Are your servants slaves? No, they're all free. Well, that makes it a little trickier, but you can always yell louder at them. Damon felt swol en with vampire blood. Two more days of this and he would be, if not his old self, then at least almost his old self: a ful vampire, free to walk about the city as he liked. And with the Power and status of a vampire prince. It was almost enough to balance out the horrors he'd gone through in the last couple of days. At least, he could tel himself that and try to believe it. â€Å"Listen,†he said abruptly, letting go of Jessalyn's slight body, the better to look her in the eye. â€Å"Your glorious highness, let me do one favor for you before I die of love or you have me kil ed for impudence. Let me bring you ‘color' – and then let me stand beside you if any of your menials grumble about it.† Jessalyn wasn't used to this kind of sudden decision, but couldn't help but be carried along with Damon's fiery excitement. She arched her head back again. When he final y left the bijoux palace, Damon went out the front door. He had with him a little of the money left over from pawning the gems, but this was more than enough for the purpose he had in mind. He was quite certain that the next time he went out, it would be from the flying portico. He stopped at a dozen shops and spent until his last coin was gone. He'd meant to sneak in a visit to Bonnie as wel while doing his errands, but the market was in the opposite direction from the inn where he'd left her, and in the end there just wasn't time. He didn't worry much as he walked back to the bijoux castle. Bonnie, soft and fragile as she seemed, had a wiry core that he was sure would keep her inside the room for three days. She could take it. Damon knew she could. He banged on the little castle's gate until a surly guard opened it. â€Å"What do you want?†the guard spat. Bonnie was bored out of her mind. It had only been a day since Damon had left her – a day she could only count by the number of meals brought to her, since the enormous red sun stood forever on the horizon and the blood-red light never varied unless it was raining. Bonnie wished it was raining. She wished it was snowing, or that there would be a fire or a hurricane or a smal tsunami. She had given one of the star bal s a try, and found it a ridiculous soap opera that she couldn't understand in the least. She wished, now, that she had never tried to stop Damon from coming here. She wished that he had pried her off before they had both fal en into the hole. She wished that she had grabbed Meredith's hand and just let go of Damon. And this was only the first day. Damon smiled at the surly guard. â€Å"What do I want? Only what I already have. An open gate.†He didn't go inside, however. He asked what M. le Princess was doing and heard that she was at a luncheon. On a donor. Perfect. Soon there came a deferential knock at the gate, which Damon demanded be opened wider. The guards clearly didn't like him; they had properly put together the disappearance of what turned out to be their captain of guard and the intrusion of this strange human. But there was something menacing about him even in this menacing world. They obeyed him. Soon after that there came another quiet knock and then another, and another and so on until twelve men and women with arms ful of damp and fragrant brown paper had quietly fol owed Damon up the stairs and into M. le Princess's black bedchamber. Jessalyn, meanwhile, had had a long and stuffy post-luncheon meeting, entertaining some of her financial advisors, who both seemed very old to her, although they had been changed in their twenties. Their muscles were soft with lack of use, she found herself thinking. And, natural y, they were dressed in ful -sleeved, wide-legged black except for a fril at their throats, white inside by gaslight, scarlet outside by the eternal blood-red sun. The princess had just seen them bow out of her presence when she inquired, rather irritably, where the human Damon was. Several servants with malice behind their smiles explained that he had gone with a dozen†¦humans†¦up to her bedchamber. Jessalyn almost flew to the stairs and climbed very quickly with the gliding motion that she knew was expected of proper female vampires. She reached the Gothic doors, and heard the hushed sounds of indignant spite as her ladies-in-waiting al whispered together. But before the princess could even ask what was going on, she was engulfed in a great warm wave of scent. Not the luscious and life-sustaining scent of blood, but something lighter, sweeter, and at the moment, while her bloodlust was sated, even headier and more dizzying. She pushed open the double doors. She took a step into her bedchamber and then stopped in astonishment. The cathedral-like black room was ful of flowers. There were banks of lilies, vases ful of roses, tulips in every color and shade, and riots of daffodils and narcissus, while fragrant honeysuckle and freesia lay in bowers. The flower peddlers had converted the gloomy, conventional black room into this fanciful extravaganza. The wiser and more farsighted of M. le Princess's retainers were actively helping them by bringing in large, ornate urns. Damon, upon seeing Jessalyn enter the room, immediately went to kneel at her feet. â€Å"You were gone when I woke!†the princess said crossly, and Damon smiled, very faintly. â€Å"Forgive me, your highness. But since I am dying anyway, I thought that I should be up and securing these flowers for you. Are the colors and scents satisfactory?† â€Å"The scents?†Jessalyn's whole body seemed to melt. â€Å"It's†¦ like†¦an orchestra for my nose! And the colors are like nothing I've ever seen!†She burst into laughter, her green eyes lightening, her straight red hair a waterfal around her shoulders. Then she began to stalk Damon back into the gloom in one corner. Damon had to control himself or he would have laughed; it was so much like a kitten stalking an autumn leaf. But once they got into the corner, tangled in the black hangings and nowhere near a window, Jessalyn assumed a deadly serious expression. â€Å"I'm going to have a dress made, just the color of those deep, dark purple carnations,†she whispered. â€Å"Not black.† â€Å"Your highness wil look wonderful in it,†Damon whispered in her ear. â€Å"So striking, so daring – â€Å" â€Å"I may even wear my corsets on the inside of my dress.†She looked up at him through heavy lashes. â€Å"Or – would that be too much?† â€Å"Nothing is too much for you, my princess,†Damon whispered back. He stopped a moment to think seriously. â€Å"The corsets – would they match the dress or be black?† Jessalyn considered. â€Å"Same color?†she ventured. Damon nodded, pleased. He himself wouldn't be caught dead in any color other than black, but he was wil ing to put up with – even encourage – Jessalyn's oddities. They might get him made a vampire faster. â€Å"I want your blood,†the princess whispered, as if to prove him right. â€Å"Here? Now?†Damon whispered back. â€Å"In front of al your servants?† Jessalyn surprised him then. She, who had been so timid before, stepped out of the curtains and clapped her hands for silence. It fel immediately. â€Å"Everyone out!†she said peremptorily. â€Å"You have made me a beautiful garden in my room, and I am grateful. The steward† – she nodded toward a young man who was dressed in black, but who had wisely placed a dark red rose in his buttonhole – â€Å"wil see to it that you're al given food – and drink – before you go!†At this there was a murmur of praise that made the princess blush. â€Å"I'l ring the bel pul when I need you† – to the steward. In fact, it wasn't until two days later that she reached up and, a little reluctantly, rang the bel pul . And that was merely to give the order that a uniform be made for Damon as quickly as possible. The uniform of captain of her guard. By the second day, Bonnie had to turn to the star bal s as her only source of entertainment. After going through her twenty-eight orbs she found that twenty-five of them were soap operas from beginning to end, and two were ful of experiences so frightening and hideous that she labeled them in her own mind as Never Ever. The last one was cal ed Five Hundred Stories for Young Ones, and Bonnie quickly found that these immersion stories could be useful, for they specified the names of things a person would find around the house and the city. The sphere's connecting thread was a series about a family of werewolves named the Dz-Aht-Bhi'iens. Bonnie promptly christened them the Dustbins. The series consisted of episodes showing how the family lived each day: how they bought a new slave at the market to replace one who had died, and where they went to hunt human prey, and how Mers Dustbin played in an important bashik tournament at school. Today the last story was almost providential. It showed little Marit Dustbin walking to a Sweetmeat Shop and getting a sugarplum. The candy cost exactly five soli. Bonnie got to experience eating part of it with Marit, and it was good. After reading the story, Bonnie very careful y peeked through the edge of the window blind and saw a sign on a shop below that she'd often watched. Then she held the star bal to her temple. Yes! Exactly the same kind of sign. And she knew not only what she wanted, but how much it should cost. She was dying to get out of her tiny room and try what she had just learned. But before her eyes, the lights in the sweetshop went dark. It must be closing time. Bonnie threw the star bal across the room. She turned the gas lamp down to just the faintest glow, and then flung herself on her rush-fil ed bed, pul ed the covers up†¦and discovered that she couldn't sleep. Groping in ruby twilight, she found the star bal with her fingers and put it to her temple again. Interspersed with clusters of stories about the Dustbin family's daily adventures were fairy tales. Most of them were so gruesome that Bonnie couldn't experience them al the way through, and when it was time to sleep, she lay shivering on her pal et. But this time the story seemed different. After the title, The Gatehouse of the Seven Kitsune Treasures, she heard a little rhyme: Amid a plain of snow and ice There lies kitsune paradise. And close beside, forbidden pleasure: Six gates more of kitsune treasure. The very word kitsune was frightening. But, Bonnie thought, the story might prove relevant somehow. I can do this, she thought and put the star bal to her temple. The story didn't start with anything gruesome. It was about a young girl and boy kitsune who went on a quest to find the most sacred and secret of the â€Å"seven kitsune treasures,†the kitsune paradise. A treasure, Bonnie learned, could be something as smal as a single gem or as large as an entire world. This one, going by the story, was in the middle range, because a â€Å"paradise†was a kind of garden, with exotic flowers blooming everywhere, and little streams bubbling down smal waterfal s into clear, deep pools. It was al wonderful, Bonnie thought, experiencing the story as if she were watching a movie al around her, but a movie that included the sensations of touch, taste, and smel . The paradise was a bit like Warm Springs, where they sometimes had picnics back at home. In the story, the boy and girl kitsune had to go to â€Å"the top of the world†where there was some kind of fracture in the crust of the highest Dark Dimension – the one Bonnie was in right now. They managed somehow to travel down, and even farther down, and passed through various tests of courage and wit before they got into the next lowest dimension, the Nether World. The Nether World was completely different from the Dark Dimension. It was a world of ice and slippery snow, of glaciers and rifts, al bathed in a blue twilight from three moons that shone from above. The kitsune children almost starved in the Nether World because there was so little for a fox to hunt. They made do with the tiny animals of the cold: mice and smal white voles, and the occasional insect (Oh, yuck, Bonnie thought). They survived until, through the fog and mist, they saw a towering black wal . They fol owed the wal until final y they came to a Gatehouse with tal spires hidden in the clouds. Written above the door in an old language they could hardly read were the words: The Seven Gates. They entered a room in which there were eight doorways or exits. One was the door through which they had just entered. And as they watched, each door brightened so they could see that the other seven doors led to seven different worlds, one of which was the kitsune paradise. Yet another gate led to a field of magical flowers, and another showed butterflies flittering around a splashing fountain. Another dropped to a dark cavern fil ed with bottles of the mystical wine Clarion Loess Black Magic. One gate led to a deep mine, with jewels the size of a fist. And then there was a gate which showed the prize of al flowers: the Royal Radhika. It changed its shape from moment to moment, from a rose to a cluster of carnations to an orchid. Through the last door they could see only a gigantic tree, but the final treasure was rumored to be an immense star bal . Now the boy and girl forgot al about the kitsune paradise. Each of them wanted something from another of the gates, but they couldn't agree on what. The rule was that any party or group who reached the gates could enter one and then return. But while the girl wanted a sprig of the Royal Radhika, to show that they'd completed their quest, the boy wanted some Black Magic wine, to sustain them on the way back. No matter how they argued they couldn't reach an agreement. So final y they decided to cheat. They would simultaneously open a door and jump through, snatch what they wanted, and then jump back out and be out of the Gatehouse before they could be caught. Just as they were about to do so, a voice warned them against it, saying, â€Å"One gate alone may you twain enter, and then return from whence you came.† But the boy and the girl chose to ignore the voice. Immediately, the boy entered the door that led to the bottles of Black Magic wine and at the same instant the girl stepped into the Royal Radhika door. But when each turned around there was no longer any sign of a door or gate behind them. The boy had plenty to drink but he was left forever in the dark and cold and his tears froze upon his cheeks. The girl had the beautiful flower to look at but nothing to eat or drink and so under the glowing yel ow sun she wasted away. Bonnie shivered, the delicious shiver of a reader who had gotten what she expected. The fairy tale, with its moral of â€Å"don't be greedy†was like the stories she'd heard from the Red and the Blue Fairy Books when she was a child sitting on her grandmother's lap. She missed Elena and Meredith, badly. She had a story to tel , but no one to tel it to.

Software Developing

The software was developed iteratively by submitting module by module. The requirements were changing time-to-time and the software had to go many changes throughout the development. Small chunks were developing from time-to-time which required some changes to be incorporated in the system. In the meanwhile the developed modules were tested and the feedback was collected continuously to incorporate in our system. The initial version of the software was released with some simple functionalities and the changes and feedback and requirements were updated which added some advancement to the software we developed. 2.2 Architectural Strategies 2.2.1 Programming Language Python- As python is one of the world's powerful programming languages it gives some of the built-in modules for development which makes system faster and easy for development. The classes and methods are developed using python. The prediction model uses some of the libraries in python. PromQL- The query for extraction and generation of the graphs has been written in PromQL query language 2.2.2 Future Plans As it comes to the future it will be taking the corrective actions automatically which means using AI agents for handling all the aspects of failure and recovery of the system. The enhancement includes chatbot implementation for limited set of queries about the usage stats and analysis of the data. 2.2.3 User Interface Paradigm The user will be provided with the dashboard for the results and reports generated. The dashboard provides various features like querying on the data and stats about the usage of resources and various functionalities. The predictive analysis will be shown in a console of the IDE PyCharm. The user will be given set of values through which the user get an idea about the usage. 2.2.4 Error Detection and Recovery ErrorDetection is carried out by user testing and slack bot has been setup to report the bug in the system. The different datasets are used for testing the ARIMA model has been carried out to test the efficiency of the system.Recovery has been done by alerting the user about the crash in the system using slack automated system and the systems stable state (previous state) will be restored. 2.2.5 Data Storage Management The data are extracted from the exporters and stored in a csv file. The extraction happens between an interval of 5 sec. As the data will be not accessed frequently and modified the data is stored on the stable storage within the machine running the programs. 2.2.6 Communication Mechanism Prometheus used http protocol to communicate with its client system and members. Message passing mechanism will be used to communicate with the exporters for the extraction of the raw data about usage of the resources. Grafana uses http protocol for extraction of the data from prometheus. The data will be passed by prometheus to grafana using the endpoint ‘/metrics'. 2.2.7 Graph Generation Mechanism The prometheus tool uses a query language called PromQL used for aggregating the extracted data and based on those factors the graphs will be generated. 2.3 System Architecture As it comes to system architecture typical style has been used which is separate modules and microservices has been used to build the system.Figure 2.2 System Architecture 2.4 Data Flow Diagrams2. 4.1 Data Flow Diagram – Level 0 Figure 2.3 Data Flow Diagram – Level 0 Initial step is to collect the data from the system (AWS) and the data are stored in CSV file for further analysis. Prometheus is used for real time monitoring of the AWS instances and generation of usage graphs. 2.4.2 Data Flow Diagram – Level 1Figure 2.4 Data Flow Diagram – Level 1 Exporters are installed for extracting the metrics from the AWS instances , which is then used by Prometheus monitoring tool for the usage graph generation and the extracted data will be stored in the CSV for further analysis 2.4.3 Data Flow Diagram – Level 2Figure 2.5 Data Flow Diagram – Level 2 Different exporters are installed to get the metrics from different instances, where each exporter will be used by Prometheus to get the data for graph and usage stats generation.Predictive analysis will be done on the stored data using the ARIMA model.