Psychological Critical Perspective Essay Example for Free

Psychological Critical Perspective Essay The utilization of a psychological critical perspective in literature entails the utilization of a specific psychological perspective to be used in the assessment of the various elements within the text as they are related to both the author and the intended audience of the work. Bernard Paris (1997) states that the use of psychology in the analysis of a literary text enables us â€Å"to understand the behavior of characters in literature from the past, to enter into their feelings, and to enrich our knowledge of ourselves and others through an understanding of their inner conflicts and relationships† (p. xii). In line with this, what follows is a psychological analysis of the representations of life and death in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Susan Glaspell’s Trifles. Within Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, the psychological representation of death is evident in the representation of the sphinx. The sphinx, as a mythical creature, represents perplexity and death. In its many versions, the sphinx may be said to be a representation of perplexity in its employment of riddles in its interaction with human beings. Furthermore, it may be said to be a representation f death since it is depicted as a creature that brings death [or at least bad luck or misfortune] to those who cannot solve its riddles. In Greek mythology and drama, this creature is depicted as a beast with a feminine gender. Though generally regarded as an unhappy monster, the sphinx also serves as a symbol of femininity, power and confusion. In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, one may infer that in Greek tragedy, sufferings and tribulations are intertwined with the hero’s existence. To a certain extent, one may say that in the case of Oedipus Rex, the sphinx defines the existence of Oedipus; his ‘being a hero’, so to speak. The same holds true for the sphinx. In other words, the hero and the villain define each others’ being. Note for example that within the text itself, Oedipus’ existence is intertwined with the Sphinx in the sense that the Sphinx and hero are twin-born. In terms of its monstrosity, the sphinx is depicted in many ways. These depictions are as follows. In Oedipus Rex, she is depicted as a singing sphinx that has permitted the oversight of dark secrets as well as a winged maiden with crooked talons who sang darkly. Oedipus’ incapacity to discern both the oracle at Delphi and the true nature of the sphinx and its closeness to himself present us with a rather different view about human nature and the ancient Greeks’ belief in fate. The sphinx reminds us of two things. First, it reminds us of our inability to fully know ourselves because of human nature’s enigmatic character. Second, it poses significant questions with regards to human freedom and our capacity for choice. In other words, it toys on the idea whether freedom and choice are mere illusions that human beings would like to think that they possess when in fact, they do not. Within this context, life and death are represented within Oedipus Rex in such a way that it places emphasis on the difficulty of discerning the conditions of life. Such a difficulty is mirrored in the portrayal of the Sphinx as well as the Sphinx’s relation with the hero of the text. As opposed to this, Susan Glaspell portrays life and death differently in Trifles. Trifles recounts the tragedy that occurs within marriage during instances wherein there is an absence of homosocial dimensions in a woman’s life. Within the text, life and death are represented in such a way that they are made to be seen within the context of a masculine gaze. The reason for this lies in the subjectivity of the portrayal of both freedom and objectivity within the text. Consider for example the case of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter who both tried to conceal the evidence of Minnie’s crime. One might note that such a decision mirrors a certain amount of freedom on both characters’ part. Both characters may be said to possess freedom in the negative sense that they may choose to omit specific information that they have however the subjectivity of this freedom is evident if one considers that the psychological reason for omitting such an information may be traced to their embeddedness within a masculine point of view that requires them to maintain the existence of order within their immediate surroundings. Life and death, within Trifles, may be said to be determined by a patriarchal point of view. Such a point of view, however continuously contradicts the feminists perspective as can be seen in the controversies that arose as a result of Minnie’s death. References Bernard, P. (1997). Imagined Human Beings: A Psychological Approach to Character and Conflict in Literature. New York: NYU P. Glaspell, S. (2003). Trifles. Np: Thomson Wadsworth. Sophocles (1991). Oedipus the King: Oedipus Rex. Trans. George Young. London: Dover.

Fresh Water Distillate Pump

Fresh Water Distillate Pump INTRODUCTION . There was MOD vessel on the port and this vessel required a fresh water for the 50 crew on the ship. So i have to make a system to produce fresh water on that ship. But the problem is that the ship is at port and there is lot of waste present in the port sea water such as organic waste which contain mainly garbage ,untreated sewage which can discharge directly or indirectly in the sea.treaces of heavy metals also present mercury,cadmium,,chromium these heavy metals are dangerous to health and also to the environment.heavy metals such as zinc and lead may causes corrosion .beside of these there was sone anthropogenic source of waste present which are listed below. Mining effluents Domestic effluents Industrial effluents Shipping activities including those of motorised boats and canoes. Fertilizers pesticides Atmospheric sources such as gas flaring, incineration of domestic waste manly garbage. Petroleum industries activities. According to uk water regulation the perctange of some heavy metals must be at certain level CALCULATION Before choosing any generator I have to calculate the water which fulfil the requirement of 50 persons. In a ship one person can MAXIUM 600 to 800 litres per day. A person can use the fresh water for washing clothes, washing utensils, wash room, drinking, cooking, bathing, and etc. If we calculate the fresh water for the 50 persons isà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦! 800*50= 40000 litres per day so i have to chose a system which is capable for the production of minim 40000 liter per day TYPES OF FREH WATER GENERATOR in an efficient engine, only about half of the heat in the fuel is converted into useful work some of the Heat energy is lost in the cooling systems and exhaust gas. but some of the heat lost is recovered . the Modern highly pressure charged engines have a large amount of energy in scavenge air cooling wateer and this can be provide as the source of heating to the bunkering .an other source of heat is jacket water cooling and it also contain considerable amount of heat and this heat can be recovered in the fresh water evaporator system which operate at the pressure giving a corresponding saturation temperature fo water lower the the jacket water entering in to the heating medium .gasses dissolved when water is heated to its saturation temperature. There are two methods for generating fresh water, 1.Reverse Osmosis 2. distillation. is generally used were large quantities of relatively low quality water is required. Typical examples of water produced are; Treatment Total Hardness Calcium Hardness Silica Sodium Chloride TDS Sea Water 250 200 14 15000 15000 Evaporator Reverse Osmosis 20 5 After Demineraliser 0 Trace . Distillation The most commonly use freshwater generation is evaporative distillation, which uses engine jacket cooling water or steam heat from exhaust or gas fired boilers to evaporate sea water, which is then condensed into fresh water. Evaporation distillers comes in two main forms, 1.multistage flash 2 multi effect evaporators. Simple single effect evaporator The system above shows an evaporator typically heated by Main Engine Jacket water with means to supply steam when the engine is shut down Single and multi stage tube distillation was one of the early types of fresh water generation. It uses heat passing through submerged coils or tube bundles immersed in sea water to produce the distillate, which when condensed becomes the fresh water. Single Stage Flash Evaporator flash evapourator it consist of two parts 1.condensor 2.evaporator generally the heating method used is main engine heat or by heating oil usually the water boils at 100 degree. But in the freshwater generator the water inside the system usually boiled at 60 to 70 degree. By using ejector or edecutor.basically an alternative arrangement to the shell evaporator is the flash evaporator were heating takes place externally, the hot brine enters the low pressure chamber into a weir where some of the water flashes off. Water overflowing the weir is either out or passed on to a second stage. Multi stage units with each stage maintained at a lower pressure allow improved efficiency and high outputs. to check the percentage of salt salinoemetre is used. its is important to use salinometere because if the percentage of salt in water became high then it can detect it and raised the alarm Multi Stage Flash Evaporator flash flow diagramr in this process we use two evaporation stages in order to get a better typical multi stage flash system is based upon preheating of a pressurised sea water stream, or more typically a recycle brine stream to which the feed sea water is added the stream is heated in the heat input section brine heater. Double stage FWG is similar to the single stage FWG, the only difference being that the whole single stage process is repeated twice in 2-stage generator From here the recycle stream is passed into the first stage of a series of flash chambers. Here the pressure is released, permitting a portion of the brine stream to flash to form salt-free vapour which is condensed to give the fresh water. In condensing the vapour gives off its latent heat to the recycle brine stream. From the first stage the flashing brine stream is passed to the second stage which is kept at a slightly lower pressure more vapour flashes off. In the same way the flashing brine stream passes to the next stage and so o n through the plant with a portion of the vapour flashing off at each stage. A heat balance shows that the heat supplied in the brine heater has to be rejected. This is done in the last two stages of the plant which are cooled by a sea water stream which subsequently passes to waste. Modern Developments. Large Multi-effect Alfa laval evaporator In 1990 Alfa-Laval Desalt introduced its D-TU concept-a ME desalination system based on tube type distillers, by using the evaporation under vacuum with the rising film principle. This is thath means the inner surfaces of the tube are always covered with a then film of the feed water . heating medium is circulates on the outside of the tubes in the heat exchangerss.and The vacuum is created by water ejectors connected to each effects. A controlled amount of sea water is led to the bottom of each of the effect. where it is mixes with the brine from the previous effect and into the tubes in the heat exchanger, where it is heated. The generated vapours enter a separator where the brine droplets from the wet vapour are separated. The dry vapour pass through the separator to the following effect where they condense. The remaining sea water which has been converted to brine, flows to the next effect as feed water. The brine is taken out and discharged overboard. The latent heat in the vapo urs from the previous effect is used as a heating medium in the following effects. The process continues until the last effect where the generated vapours condense cooled by sea water. The condensate vapours flow from one effect to the next, and are retained in a collecting tank as distilled water. If a low temperature evaporator is to be used for domestic purposes certain restrictions apply. Operation is not allowed within 25 miles of the coast or 50 miles of an estuary. Chromate jacket water treatment must never be used. The condensate must be treated in order to destroy bacteria. Care must be taken if chemicals are used to inhibit marine growth in pipe work. Vapour Compression The boiler section is initially filled with fresh water. When the system is operating feed water is supplied via the level control valve. Hot steam is created in the boiler which passes over into the main section. Here the steam is mixed with a brine spray. Some of the steam is condensed and some of the brine spray is flashed off. The combined steam passes over to the vapour section via a scrubber. Flow of vapour occurs due to the action of the compressor which increases the vapour pressure increaseing its saturation temperature. Reverse Osmosis Osmosis describes the process whereby a fluid will pass from a more dense to a less dense solution through a semi-permeable membrane. It is very important to the water absorption processes of plants. RO is a process which uses a semi permeable membrane which retains both salt and impurities from sea water while allowing water molecules to pass. Filtration of up to 90% is possible thus making the produced water unsuitable for boiler feed without further conditioning. Improved quality is possible using a two or more pass system. diagram showing osmotic headThe parchment paper acts as the semi-permeable membrane and allows the water molecules to pass but not the larger salt molecules. Reverse osmosis is the process whereby a pressure greater than the osmotic head pressure is applied to a solution of high density. Fluid is forced from the high density side to the less dense side. For desalination plants the pressure is applied to sea water and the water is forced through the semi-permeable membrane. The semi permeable membrane which is typically made of polyamide membrane sheets wrapped in a spiral form around a perforated tube resembling a loosely wound toilet roll. Design of the cartridges is therefore such that the sea water feed passes over the membrane sheets so that the washing action keeps the surfaces clear of deposits. A dosing chemical is also injected to assist the action. Make up of membrane The two membranes sealed on the outer three edges, enclose porous under-layer through which the permeate spirals to central collecting tube Schematic of RO plant Pressurised feed water passes lengthways through the tubular spiral wound membrane element. Freshwater permeate travels through the membrane layers as directed along a spiral bath inot a central perforated tube, while brine is discharged out the end of the membrane element.. The fluid could be water and the solutions sea water. Under normal conditions the water would pass from the less saline solution to the more saline solution until the salinity was the same. This process will cease however if the level in the more saline side raises to give a difference greater than the Osmotic height. For practical use to allow the generation of large quantities of water. It is necessary to have a large surface area of membrane which has sufficient mechanical strength to resist the pressurised sea water.. The material used for sea water purification is spirally wound polyamide or polysulphonate sheets. One problem with any filtration system is that deposits accumulate and gradually blocks the filter. The sea water is supplied at a pressure of 60bar, a relief valve is fitted to the system. The Osmosis production plant is best suited to the production of large quantities of water rather than smaller quantities of steam plant feed quality. Pre-treatment and post treatment. Sea water feed for reverse osmosis plant is pre-treated before being passed through. The chemical sodium hexa phosphate is added to assist wash through of salt deposits on the surface of the elements and the sea water is sterilised to remove bacteria which could otherwise become resident in the filter. Chlorine is reduced by compressed carbon filter while solids are removed by other filters. Treatment is also necessary to make the water drinkable. The disc tube module is supposed to have the main advantage over the spiral wound type in that it avoids the need for the difficult cleaning processes required. With long lasting membranes, typically 5 years and in built cleaning system the unit will recover 30% as pure water from sea water passing through it Coil or Tube Seawater Evaporator This is a modern version of the type used when I was at sea in the 1960s; they used heating coils in those days as opposed to the pipe nest heaters of today. The coils used to become scaled in salt, with the attendant loss in output of distillate. I was in charge of the vaps and I remember the old chief coming down to the engine room on my watch and balling me out for the downturn in distillate. We were having problems with the boiler feed water purity (next article will cover the testing and treatment of boiler feed water) so I was blowing down the boiler regularly with the associated make-up requirement meant we needed more water pronto. Anyway I took him up to the vaps and showed him the scaling on the heating coils, reminding him that I was pumping Foss chemicals into the beast to try and break this away. He pushed me aside and shut off the seawater supply opening up the steam supply which rapidly dried the salt layer on the coils. He then opened the seawater inlet and hey presto the salt scale cracked and fell of the coils. I used this system several times until I was up for Seconds ticket and examiner wasnt too pleased to hear of this method, called the old Chief several unprintable names. Today we dont have to resort to these measures as there is an innovative device which uses a material that emits oscillations counteracting the natural seawater oscillations, thereby altering its properties and preventing calcium carbonate scale. (I will note the website address in the relevant section; I am too old for this new technology). A tube and coil evaporator consists of a steel vessel which has a nest of heating pipes near the bottom of the vessel being fed by steam or, hot water from the main engine. There is a tube condenser cooled by seawater installed near the top of the vessel. A vacuum is drawn in the vessel by air ejectors operated by steam or pressurised seawater. Seawater is fed into the evaporator just covering the heating pipes. Heat is supplied to the pipes and, this combined with the vacuum conditions begins to boil the seawater producing steam. The steam rises up through a demister into the tube condenser where it is evaporated to distilled water. This is collected and pumped via the salinometer to the storage EVAPORATOR SCALE. There are numerous types of evaporators all working to produce pure water with concentrated sea-water as waste. This concentration effect can lead to the formation of damaging scales within the evaporator. Over concentration is usually prevented by having a continuous stream of sea-water passing through the unit thus maintaining a satisfactory dilution of the sea-water side of the evaporator. However, because of the high salt content, when sea-water is elevated to temperatures above 30 C scales can begin to form on heat transfer surfaces. Additionally as the majority of evaporators operate under vacuum there is a tendency for the make-up water side to foam, which can give rise to carry-over and contamination of the pure water stream. Four scales which are principally found in evaporators are; Calcium Sulphate (CaSO4)-1200ppm, scale formation is principally on density, remains in solution below 140oC and/or 96000ppm.The worst scale forming salt forming a thin hard grey scale Magnesium Hydroxide Mg(OH)2 remains in solution below 90oC Magnesium Bi-Carbonate 150ppm soluble below 90oC, forms a soft scale, prevention by keeping operating temperature of evaporator below 90oC Above 90oC breaks down to form MgCO3 and CO2 and then Mg(OH)2 and CO2 Calcium bicarbonate Ca(HCO3)2 180ppm Slightly solube, above 65oC breaks down to form insuluble calcium carbonate forming a soft white scale. scale formation prevented by chemical treatment Ca(HCO3)2 = Ca + 2HCO3 2HCO3 = CO3 + H20 + CO2 If heated up to approximately 80oC CO3 + Ca = CaCO3 If heated above 800C CO3 + H20 = HCO3 + OH Mg + 2OH = Mg(OH)2 Hence if sea water in the evaporator is heated to a temperature below 80oC calcium carbonate predominates. If it is heated above 80oC then magnesium hydroxide scale is deposited. Sodium Chloride 32230 to 25600ppm -generally ignored Soluble below 225000ppm forms a soft encrustation, free ions promote galvanic action. It is unlikely to precipitate and is easily removed Supersaturation This is where the concentration of dissolved salts exceed their solubility at the particular temperature encountered and precipitation begins to occur. When deposition occurs under these conditions heavy scale deposits can rapidly build up and lead to a loss of heat transfer efficiency. Scale deposition due to supersaturation is often localised in areas of elevated temperature such as heat transfer surfaces in heat-exchangers. This is because of localised over concentration of salts with respect to the temperature of the thin water layer at the surface of the metal. Scale deposition can therefore occur on heat-exchange surfaces even when the conditions in the bulk of the water are not scale forming. FINALLY SELECTED GENERATOR VACCUM VAPOUR COMPRESSION FRESHWATER GENERATOR MAKER.. ALFA LAVAL TYPE.. ORCA OFFSHORE SERIES CAPACITY20-70m3/per day vacuum vapour compression is the efficient method of production of fresh water for both drinking and other use. by using this method we can convert the sea water in to fresh water by vacuum distillation process using electricity. The system has simple compact designee made from titanium heat exchanger plates with combined fresh water and feed water system. the system has low maintance cost any work on start and forget operation .and can produced very high quality of fresh water . BASIC Equipment. titanium plate heat exchanger for the combination evaporator and condenser stainless steel distiller shell, air ejector freshwater pump compressor UL approved panel built in freshwater quality monitoring system. ADDITIONAL Equipment fresh water pH adjustment filter. silver-ion or we can say UV sterilisers VACCUME DISTILLATION PROCESS. vacuum distillation is the process use to convert sea water in to fresh water. by this process constant supply of fresh water with low salinity level and be achieved with continuous controlling the water quantity. WORKING PRINCIPAL . 0feed water enter in to the lower section of the plate packs. plates is warmed by heating medium, heating medium is either a jacket water cooling medium or a closed circuit heating medium water is then evaporated at 40-60 degree centigrade in the vacuum of 85-95 % the vapour produces is raised between the plates in the middle section of plate pack. At this point seawater is almost completely removed. these droplet falls back in to the brain sump by the gravity at the bottom of the fresh water generator. only the clean fresh water can enter in to the condenser section and the water is cooled by flow of sea water. at that point vapour is condensed in to fresh water and pumped out by the fresh water pump. GHARP SHOWS THE % TONS PER DAY PRODUCTION Technical specifications (standard units without optional equipment) Water maker type ORCA Offshore 20 ORCA Offshore 30 ORCA Offshore 40 ORCA Offshore 50 ORCA Offshore 60 ORCA Offshore 70 Length (L) mm/inch Width (W) mm/inch Height (H) mm/inch Dry weight kg/lbs Operating weight kg/lbs FW pump motor kW/hp Brine pump motor kW/hp SW pump motor kW/hp (option) Circ. pump motor Electric power (kW installed) Power consumption kwh/m3 fresh water Fresh water quality Dimensions *) THE DRAWING SHOWS ORCA OFFSHOREE SERIES WITHOUT OPTIONS 2450 / 96 2150 / 85 2400 / 94 3700 / 8175 3865 / 8521 1.3 / 1.7 1.3 / 1.7 12.5 / 1 1.9 / 2.6 78.5 18 WHO standard, less than 5 ppm NaCl 2800 / 110 2150 / 85 2400/94 4000 / 8818 4185 / 9226 1.3 / 1.7 1.8 / 2.4 12.5 / 17 3.6 / 4.9 81 18 SLOW SAND FILTER (SSF) FOR THE REMOVAL OF HEAVY METAL. Slow sand filters (SSFs) are probably the most effective, simplest and least expensive water treatment process. Micro-organisms and other particulate materials are effectively removed by SSFs. Considerable development has been done on SSFs with respect to particle removal, but only a few works have been reported in the context of the removal of heavy metals which are a severely toxic pollutant of surface waters. No extensive laboratory or pilot studies have been carried out to determine the performance or the mechanisms of removal of heavy metals by SSFs. This research is concerned with an experimental investigation of the removal of heavy metals from surface water by SSFs. Four laboratory scale SSFs were built and run according to standard design criteria. Removal of four common heavy metals [copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd)] were monitored. The filters were fed synthetic water made from tap water mixed with settled sewage, and each filter was dosed with one of the heavy metal salts. The concentrations of Cu, Cr, Pb and Cd in the influent were selected as 10 mg/l, 100 ÃŽÂ ¼g/l, 60 ÃŽÂ ¼g/l, and 100 ÃŽÂ ¼g/l respectively considering their relative toxicity and WHO guidelines in drinking water. Settled sewage was added to vary the total organic carbon (TOC) of the feed water. The reduction of heavy metal concentrations were monitored at various TOCs, filtration rates and filter bed depths. The results showed that SSFs succeeded in removing heavy metals from water. The removals of Cu, Cr, Pb and Cd at the conventional flow rate and filter depth are 99.6,97.2,100 and 96.6 % respectively. The results also showed that an increase in TOC in the feed water improved metal removal while increases of flow rates caused a decrease of the removal of metals. The removal of heavy metals also decreased with a reduction in sand bed depth. The optimisation of design parameters for SSFs for the removal of heavy metals depends on the individual heavy metal and on the TOC content of the feed water. Model equations were developed for, and linear correlation was observed between each of the three control parameters and the removal of the selected metal. The removal of heavy metal by SSFs was achieved through the combination of a number of mechanisms. Settlement, adsorption to both sand and organic matter and microbial WORKING PRCEDURE slow and sand filter work through the formation of a layer know as hypogeal layer or schmutzdecke .hypogeal layer contain microorganism that remove bacteria and trap condiments particles.it consist of bacteria,fungi,portozoa,rotera and a range of aquatic insect larva. the hypogal layer provides effective purification in potable water treatment. as the water passes through the hypogeal layer particles of foreign matter are trapped in the mucilaginous matrix and dissolved organic material is adsorbed and metabolised by bacteria, fungi and protozoa. Water produced form a well managed slow sand filter is free from heavy metals and other hazards. Slow sand filter are simple, are easily used by small systems, and have been adapted to package plant construction . Slow sand filter are similar to single media rapid-rate filters in some respects, but there are crucial differences in functional mechanisms(other than the obvious difference in flow rate): the schmutzdecke removes suspended organic materials and microorganisms by biodegradation and other biological processes, instead of relying solely on simple filtration or physic-chemical sorption. Advantages of slow sand filtration include its low maintenance requirements (since it does not require backwashing and requires less frequent cleaning) and the fact that its efficiency does not depend on actions of the operator. However, slow sand filters do require time for the schmutzdecke to develop after cleaning, during which the filtration performance steadily improves; this interval is called the ripening period. The ripening period can last from six hours to two weeks, but typically requires less than two days. A two day filter-to-waste period is recommended for typical sand filters . Since few remedies are available to an operator when the process is ineffective, slow sand filtration should be used with caution and should not be used without pre treatment or process modifications unless the raw water is low in turbidity, algae, and colour . Package plant versions with a granular activated carbon layer located beneath the slow sand filter can absorb organic materials that are resistant enough to biodegradation to pass through the schmutzdecke. When used with source water of the appropriate quality, slow sand filtration may be the most suitable filtration techno logy for small systems (6). Slow sand filtration has demonstrated removal efficiencies in the 90 to 99.9999% range for viruses and greater than 99.99% for Guardia FILTER DISCRUPTION. Square tank Media depth: 2-3 ft Surface area: Filtration rate: 2-10 gal/min-ft2 Flow through filter: 350-3,500 gpm Backwash frequency: every 24 houre CALCULATION We have required maximum 40000 litter per day production per day. and the filtration rate of this filter is max 51000 litter per day which fulfil our requirement. and we have to put two filter in parellal for the standby and maintaince purpose. So that if one filter stop working we can use the other standby filter to run the system as per requirement. IMPORTANT POINTs there is one bypass line in slow sand filter before the water enter in to the sand filters. and this bypass meet the discharge line of distilled pump. The reason for this bypass is that if the ship is in the sea we can open the bypass valve and the fresh water then straight go to the mineraliser unit. because in the roiling and pitching condition the slow sand filter does not work properly the sand filter unit is completely fixed with proper fitting. so that when the main engine runs it does not move from his place. one the important is that the system will take at least 2 day to start working .so for days the ship master has to arrange some external sources of drinking water. CLEANING METHOD There is two method of cleaning of sand filter 1. the top few millimetres of fine sand is scraped off to expose a new layer of clean sand. Water is then decanted back into the filter and re-circulated for a few hours to allow a new Schmutzdecke to develop. The filter is then filled to full depth and brought back into service 2. The second method, sometimes called wet harrowing, involves lowering the water level to just above the Schmutzdecke, stirring the sand and thereby suspending any solids held in that layer and then running the water to waste. The filter is then filled to full depth and brought back into service. Wet harrowing can allow the filter to be brought back into service more quickly. POSITION. we can fit the sand filter before the discharge of distilled pump. CHEMICAL TREATMENT. VAPTREAT. chemical known as vaptreat is add in to the system before the point where sea water is going inside the system .because this chemical make the sea water soft. IMPORTANT PROPERTIES Odour: Odourless Appearance: Liquid, pale yellow, soluble in water Contact with eyes: Mildly irritating to eyes Contact with skin: In cases of severe exposure, irritation may develop Inhalation: Vapours or aerosols may cause irritation of eyes, nose and respiratory tract Ingestion: May cause gastro-intestinal disturbances MINERALISER AND CHLORINE UNIT After the discharge of distilled pump the water then pass through the mineraliser after the mineraliser chlorine is added to the water. capacity of mineraliser=3800liter/hour capacity of chlorine unit.=3800liter/hour PUMPS REQUIREMENTS Ejector Pump The ejector pump is a single-stage centrifugal pump which supplies the condenser with sea water and the brine/air ejector with jet water as well as feed water for evaporation. Fresh Water/Distillate Pump The single-stage centrifugal fresh water pump extracts the distillate from the condenser and pumps it to the fresh water tank. POSITION OF EJECTOR PUMP The pump is fitted after the suction of low sea chest. because at the low sea chest suction there is no oil present .and is the best point of taking the main sea water suction . TYPE OF PUMP. TEHNICAL DATA CASING.. Cast iron, Nodular cast iron, Bronze, Stainless steel IMPELLER.. Cast iron, Bronze, Stainless steel MAXIMUM CAPACITY.850m3 per hour MAXIMUM DELIVER HEAD105M MAXIMUM LIQUID TEMPERATURE120 CENTIGRADE MAXIMUM PRESSURE.1000KPa MAXIMUM SPEED3600 rpm Salinometer The salinometer continuously checks the salinity of the produced water. The alarm set point is adjustable. salinometer continuously check the quality of the distillate, a salinometer is provided at the outlet side of the distillate pump. If the salinity of the produced fresh water exceeds the chosen maximum value, the solenoid valve is activated to automatically dump the distillate to the bilge and an alarm is sounded Control Panel The control panel contains motor starters, running lights, salinometer and contacts for remote alarm. DISTILLED WATER TRANSFER AND DISTRIBUTION Each fresh water generator distillate pump discharges through a salinometer and a flow meter. Positioned before the flow meter is a solenoid valve. This opens when the salinometer detects too high a salinity level, diverting the distillate pump output to the bilge. The discharge from the FW generators flows to either the distilled water tank which is situated in the steering gear room on the starboard side though inlet valve or to the fresh water tanks which are both situated on the port and starboard sides of the steering gear room. The distilled water tank supplies water to the boiler feed water tank via valve Fresh water produced in the generator that is to be used for domestic purposes is directed through a mineraliser and a chlorination sterilising unit before entering the fresh water tanks. The fresh water tanks supply water to the d

Employee Performance Analysis

Employee Performance Analysis Project Outline: This research is about the Employee performance in an organization. Data related to several factors such as Employee Productivity, Customer Satisfactions Scores, Accuracy Scores, Experience and Age of Employees is taken into consideration. Statistical methods are used to identify if there is any impact of Age and Experience of Employees on factors such as Productivity, Customer Satisfaction and Accuracy. Theoretical Framework: XYZ Corporation operating out of Illinois, US want to find out if the age and experience of employees have an impact on his/her performance. They have hired an external consultant to study the impact of these two factors (age and experience) on the performance metrics of the employees. According to the results of the research conducted by this external consultant, XYZ Corporate will design a strategy of recruiting the right talent which will have maximum performance. Design and Methodology: Design and Methodology used by the external consultant include identifying the various performance factors common across different businesses within XYZ Corporation. The performance measures common for all businesses included: Customer Satisfaction Scores Accuracy Scores Productivity The consultants decided to study the impact of age of employees and their experience on the above factors by using statistical methods. Details on participants and sampling methods: Sampling Methods: Sampling is the process of selecting a small number of elements from a larger defined target group of elements. Population is the total group of elements we want to study. Sample is the subgroup of the population we actually study. Sample would mean a group of ‘n’ employees chosen randomly from organization of population ‘N’. Sampling is done in situations like: We sample when the process involves destructive testing, e.g. taste tests, car crash tests, etc. We sample when there are constraints of time and costs We sample when the populations cannot be easily captured Sampling is NOT done in situations like: We cannot sample when the events and products are unique and cannot be replicable Sampling can be done by using several methods including: Simple random sampling, Stratified random sampling, Systematic sampling and Cluster sampling. These are Probability Sampling Methods. Sampling can also be done using methods such as Convenience sampling, Judgment sampling, Quota sampling and Snowball sampling. These are non-probability methods of sampling. Simple random sampling is a method of sampling in which every unit has equal chance of being selected. Stratified random sampling is a method of sampling in which stratum/groups are created and then units are picked randomly. Systematic sampling is a method of sampling in which every nth unit is selected from the population. Cluster sampling is a method of sampling in which clusters are sampled every tth time. For the non-probability methods, Convenience sampling relies upon convenience and access. Judgment sampling relies upon belief that participants fit characteristics. Quota sampling emphasizes representation of specific characteristics. Snowball sampling relies upon respondent referrals of others with like characteristics. In our research, the consultant organization used a Simple Random Sampling method to conduct the study where they chose about 75 random employees and gathered data of age, experience, their Customer Satisfaction scores, their Accuracy Scores and their Productivity scores. The employees were bifurcated into 3 age groups, namely, 20 – 30 years, 30 – 40 years and 40 – 50 years. Similarly, they were also bifurcated into 3 experience groups, namely, 0 – 10 years, 10 – 20 years and 20 – 30 years. Data Analysis: Below are the different data analysis options used by the consultant: Impact of Age on Accuracy Impact of Experience on Accuracy Impact of Age on Customer Satisfaction Impact of Experience on Customer Satisfaction Impact of Age on Productivity Impact of Experience on Productivity For each of the above statistical analysis, we will need to use Hypothesis testing methods. Hypothesis testing tells us whether there exists statistically significant difference between the data sets for us to consider to represent different distribution. The difference that can be detected using hypothesis testing is: Continuous Data Difference in Average Difference in Variation Discrete Data Difference in Proportion Defective We follow the below steps for Hypothesis testing: Step 1 : Determine appropriate Hypothesis test Step 2 : State the Null Hypothesis Ho and Alternate Hypothesis Ha Step 3 : Calculate Test Statistics / P-value against table value of test statistic Step 4 : Interpret results – Accept or reject Ho The mechanism of Hypothesis testing involves the following: Ho = Null Hypothesis – There is No statistically significant difference between the two groups Ha = Alternate Hypothesis – There is statistically significant difference between the two groups We also have different types of errors that can be caused if we are using hypothesis testing. The errors are as noted below: Type I Error – P (Reject Ho when Ho is true) = ÃŽ ± Type II Error P (Accept Ho when Ho is false) = ÃŽ ² P Value – Statistical Measure which indicates the probability of making an ÃŽ ± error. The value ranges between 0 and 1. We normally work with 5% alpha risk, a p value lower than 0.05 means that we reject the Null hypothesis and accept alternate hypothesis. Let’s talk a little about p-value. It is a Statistical Measure which indicates the probability of making an ÃŽ ± error. The value ranges between 0 and 1. We normally work with 5% alpha risk. ÃŽ ± should be specified before the hypothesis test is conducted. If the p-value is > 0.05, then Ho is true and there is no difference in the groups (Accept Ho). If the p-value is < 0.05, then Ho is false and there is a statistically significant difference in the groups (Reject Ho). We will also discuss about the types of hypothesis testing: 1-Sample t-test: It’s used when we have Normal Continuous Y and Discrete X. It is used for comparing a population mean against a given standard. For example: Is the mean Turn Around Time of thread à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ £15 minutes. 2-Sample t-test: It’s used when we have Normal Continuous Y and Discrete X. It is used for comparing means of two different populations. For example: Is the mean performance of morning shift = mean performance of night shift. ANOVA: It’s used when we have Normal Continuous Y and Discrete X. It is used for comparing the means of more than two populations. For example: Is the mean performance of staff A = mean performance of staff B = mean performance of staff C. Homogeneity Of Variance: It’s used when we have Normal Continuous Y and Discrete X. It is used for comparing the variance of two or more than two populations. For example: Is the variation of staff A = variation of staff B = variation of staff C. Mood’s Median Test: It’s used when we have Non-normal Continuous Y and Discrete X. It is used for Comparing the medians of two or more than two populations. For example: Is the median of staff A = median of staff B = median of staff C. Simple Linear Regression: It’s used when we have Continuous Y and Continuous X. It is used to see how output (Y) changes as the input (X) changes. For example: If we need to find out how staff A’s accuracy is related to his number of years spent in the process. Chi-square Test of Independence: It’s used when we have Discrete Y and Discrete X. It is used to see how output counts (Y) from two or more sub-groups (X) differ. For example: If we want to find out whether defects from morning shift are significantly different from defects in the evening shift. Let’s look at each of the analysis for our research: Impact of Age on Accuracy Practical Problem Hypothesis Statistical Tool Used Conclusion Is Accuracy impacted by Age of Employees H0: Accuracy is independent of the Age of Employees H1: Accuracy is impacted by Age of Employees One-Way ANOVA p-value < 0.05 indicates that performance measure of accuracy is impacted by age factor One-way ANOVA: Accuracy versus Age Bucket Source DF SS MS F P Age Bucket 2 0.50616 0.25308 67.62 0.000 Error 72 0.26946 0.00374 Total 74 0.77562 S = 0.06118 R-Sq = 65.26% R-Sq(adj) = 64.29% Individual 95% CIs For Mean Based on Pooled StDev Level N Mean StDev ++++ 20 30 years 26 0.75448 0.06376 (*) 30 40 years 26 0.85078 0.07069 (*) 40 50 years 23 0.95813 0.04416 (*) ++++ 0.770 0.840 0.910 0.980 Pooled StDev = 0.06118 Boxplot of Accuracy by Age Bucket Conclusion: P-value of the above analysis < 0.05 which indicates that we reject the null hypothesis and thus, the performance measure of accuracy is impacted by age of employees. As the age increases, we observe that the accuracy of the employees also increases. Impact of Experience on Accuracy Practical Problem Hypothesis Statistical Tool Used Conclusion Is Accuracy impacted by Experience of Employees H0: Accuracy is independent of the Experience of Employees H1: Accuracy is impacted by Experience of Employees One-Way ANOVA p-value < 0.05 indicates that performance measure of accuracy is impacted by experience factor One-way ANOVA: Accuracy versus Experience Bucket Source DF SS MS F P Experience Bucke 2 0.53371 0.26685 79.42 0.000 Error 72 0.24191 0.00336 Total 74 0.77562 S = 0.05796 R-Sq = 68.81% R-Sq(adj) = 67.94% Individual 95% CIs For Mean Based on Pooled StDev Level N Mean StDev -++++ 0 10 years 24 0.74403 0.05069 (*) 10 20 years 23 0.84357 0.05354 (*) 20 30 years 28 0.94696 0.06660 (*) -++++ 0.770 0.840 0.910 0.980 Pooled StDev = 0.05796 Boxplot of Accuracy by Experience Bucket Conclusion: P-value of the above analysis < 0.05 which indicates that we reject the null hypothesis and thus, the performance measure of accuracy is impacted by experience of employees. As the experience increases, we observe that the accuracy of the employees also increases. Impact of Age on Customer Satisfaction Practical Problem Hypothesis Statistical Tool Used Conclusion Is Customer Satisfaction Score impacted by Age of Employees H0: Customer Satisfaction Score is independent of the Age of Employees H1: Customer Satisfaction Score is impacted by Age of Employees One-Way ANOVA p-value < 0.05 indicates that performance measure of Customer Satisfaction score is impacted by age factor One-way ANOVA: Customer Satisfaction versus Age Bucket Source DF SS MS F P Age Bucket 2 49.51 24.75 18.92 0.000 Error 72 94.23 1.31 Total 74 143.74 S = 1.144 R-Sq = 34.44% R-Sq(adj) = 32.62% Individual 95% CIs For Mean Based on Pooled StDev Level N Mean StDev ++++ 20 30 years 26 6.906 1.164 (-*) 30 40 years 26 8.041 1.156 (*-) 40 50 years 23 8.907 1.107 (*) ++++ 7.20 8.00 8.80 9.60 Pooled StDev = 1.144 Boxplot of Customer Satisfaction by Age Bucket Conclusion: P-value of the above analysis < 0.05 which indicates that we reject the null hypothesis and thus, the performance measure of Customer Satisfaction Score is impacted by age of employees. As the age increases, we observe that the Customer Satisfaction Score of the employees also increases. Impact of Experience on Customer Satisfaction Practical Problem Hypothesis Statistical Tool Used Conclusion Is Customer Satisfaction Score impacted by Experience of Employees H0: Customer Satisfaction Score is independent of the Experience of Employees H1: Customer Satisfaction Score is impacted by Experience of Employees One-Way ANOVA p-value < 0.05 indicates that performance measure of Customer Satisfaction score is impacted by experience factor One-way ANOVA: Customer Satisfaction versus Experience Bucket Source DF SS MS F P Experience Bucke 2 51.20 25.60 19.92 0.000 Error 72 92.54 1.29 Total 74 143.74 S = 1.134 R-Sq = 35.62% R-Sq(adj) = 33.83% Individual 95% CIs For Mean Based on Pooled StDev Level N Mean StDev ++++- 0 10 years 24 7.035 1.277 (*) 10 20 years 23 7.570 0.922 (*) 20 30 years 28 8.948 1.160 (-*-) ++++- 7.20 8.00 8.80 9.60 Pooled StDev = 1.134 Boxplot of Customer Satisfaction by Experience Bucket Conclusion: P-value of the above analysis < 0.05 which indicates that we reject the null hypothesis and thus, the performance measure of Customer Satisfaction Score is impacted by experience of employees. As the experience increases, we observe that the Customer Satisfaction Score of the employees also increases. Impact of Age on Productivity Practical Problem Hypothesis Statistical Tool Used Conclusion Is Productivity impacted by Age of Employees H0: Productivity is independent of the Age of Employees H1: Productivity is impacted by Age of Employees One-Way ANOVA p-value < 0.05 indicates that performance measure of Productivity is impacted by experience factor One-way ANOVA: Productivity versus Age Bucket Source DF SS MS F P Age Bucket 2 0.74389 0.37194 194.56 0.000 Error 72 0.13765 0.00191 Total 74 0.88153 S = 0.04372 R-Sq = 84.39% R-Sq(adj) = 83.95% Individual 95% CIs For Mean Based on Pooled StDev Level N Mean StDev ++++ 20 30 years 26 0.93959 0.04287 (-*) 30 40 years 26 0.81511 0.05831 (-*-) 40 50 years 23 0.69291 0.01747 (*-) ++++ 0.720 0.800 0.880 0.960 Pooled StDev = 0.04372 Boxplot of Productivity by Age Bucket Conclusion: P-value of the above analysis < 0.05 which indicates that we reject the null hypothesis and thus, the performance measure of Productivity is impacted by age of employees. As the age increases, we observe that the Productivity of the employees decreases. Impact of Experience on Productivity Practical Problem Hypothesis Statistical Tool Used Conclusion Is Productivity impacted by Experience of Employees H0: Productivity is independent of the Experience of Employees H1: Productivity is impacted by Experience of Employees One-Way ANOVA p-value < 0.05 indicates that performance measure of Productivity is impacted by experience factor One-way ANOVA: Productivity versus Experience Bucket Source DF SS MS F P Experience Bucke 2 0.74024 0.37012 188.61 0.000 Error 72 0.14129 0.00196 Total 74 0.88153 S = 0.04430 R-Sq = 83.97% R-Sq(adj) = 83.53% Individual 95% CIs For Mean Based on Pooled StDev Level N Mean StDev ++++- 0 10 years 24 0.94474 0.03139 (*) 10 20 years 23 0.83120 0.05754 (*-) 20 30 years 28 0.70599 0.04118 (*-) ++++- 0.700 0.770 0.840 0.910 Pooled StDev = 0.04430 Boxplot of Productivity by Experience Bucket Conclusion: P-value of the above analysis < 0.05 which indicates that we reject the null hypothesis and thus, the performance measure of Productivity is impacted by experience of employees. As the experience increases, we observe that the Productivity of the employees decreases. Conclusion of the Analysis: As Age and Experience increases, the Accuracy and Customer Satisfaction Scores of Employees increases As Age and Experience increases, the Productivity of Employees decreases Bibliography: The data used in this analysis is self-created data using statistical software.      Research Schedule (Gantt Chart) of the Project:

Influenzas Impacts on Manchesters Society :: Journalism Media Studies Health Essays

Influenza's Impacts on Manchester's Society Society Shaken Like countless cities across the globe, Manchester, England has had a difficult time adjusting to the impact of influenza. Countless residents are ill. Numerous schools have been closed. A recent decree has banned children under the age of 13 from "picture-houses and all places licensed for amusement." Now, public discussion has begun which could impede upon personal liberties in defense of the public health. A proposed Health Ministry would have the power to compel individuals to medical examinations and quarantines. One proponent within the Ministry of National Service has argued that such powers would mean that "not only influenza, but consumption, venereal disease, and many other of our most deadly plagues could be banished form the land in a few decades." Still, others wonder if such powers could actually be effective enough to warrant the invasion of privacy which they require. "It ain't the government's job to go looking down your throat and up your knickers" complained Manchester native Ms. Winston. Within the judicial system, the strain of influenza has required the easing of some legal precedent. In one example, a recently arrested lady doctor was quickly released from custody per the instruction of the Lord Mayor so that she may aid in the fight against the influenza. This leniency is understandable given the great toll which the extremely contagious disease has had upon health care workers. Recent reports indicate that within Manchester, over 300 nurses are infected, 10 have died, and one half of the ambulance staff is infected with influenza. Gravediggers, too, have been overburdened by the epidemic. The government has recently required that the City Engineer's department lend workers to aid with the required grave digging. Advertisement Epidemic? While the doctors and nurses of Manchester battle vigorously and daily against the influenza outbreak, another struggle rages on within the local papers. Advertising firms have seized upon a boom in local sales of influenza-related products. Companies are capitalizing on the public's increased interest in news reports in order to promote various, competing preventions and remedies for the disease. "'Tis only natural," reports Mr. Robert Thompson, maker of one product claiming to aid in the fight against influenza, "that we provide the people with the critical information of how one might best guard himself or herself against the Influenza. And, it so happens that my Thompson's Pure Phenol is irrefutably the best qualified product to do so. Influenza's Impacts on Manchester's Society :: Journalism Media Studies Health Essays Influenza's Impacts on Manchester's Society Society Shaken Like countless cities across the globe, Manchester, England has had a difficult time adjusting to the impact of influenza. Countless residents are ill. Numerous schools have been closed. A recent decree has banned children under the age of 13 from "picture-houses and all places licensed for amusement." Now, public discussion has begun which could impede upon personal liberties in defense of the public health. A proposed Health Ministry would have the power to compel individuals to medical examinations and quarantines. One proponent within the Ministry of National Service has argued that such powers would mean that "not only influenza, but consumption, venereal disease, and many other of our most deadly plagues could be banished form the land in a few decades." Still, others wonder if such powers could actually be effective enough to warrant the invasion of privacy which they require. "It ain't the government's job to go looking down your throat and up your knickers" complained Manchester native Ms. Winston. Within the judicial system, the strain of influenza has required the easing of some legal precedent. In one example, a recently arrested lady doctor was quickly released from custody per the instruction of the Lord Mayor so that she may aid in the fight against the influenza. This leniency is understandable given the great toll which the extremely contagious disease has had upon health care workers. Recent reports indicate that within Manchester, over 300 nurses are infected, 10 have died, and one half of the ambulance staff is infected with influenza. Gravediggers, too, have been overburdened by the epidemic. The government has recently required that the City Engineer's department lend workers to aid with the required grave digging. Advertisement Epidemic? While the doctors and nurses of Manchester battle vigorously and daily against the influenza outbreak, another struggle rages on within the local papers. Advertising firms have seized upon a boom in local sales of influenza-related products. Companies are capitalizing on the public's increased interest in news reports in order to promote various, competing preventions and remedies for the disease. "'Tis only natural," reports Mr. Robert Thompson, maker of one product claiming to aid in the fight against influenza, "that we provide the people with the critical information of how one might best guard himself or herself against the Influenza. And, it so happens that my Thompson's Pure Phenol is irrefutably the best qualified product to do so.

Love and Hate in Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet :: Free Romeo and Juliet Essays

'Romeo and Juliet' is a play written by William Shakespeare. A prologue is included at the start of the play, which portrays the tragedy between 'star-cross'd lovers'. Elizabethans believed that their fate is in the stars and the prologue increases the anticipation as it shows the way they are destined. Shakespeare has also included devices to dramatise the themes of love and hate throughout the play. In Elizabethan times the audience were involved in the ongoing play. Shakespeare involves the audience in scenes such as the ballroom scene (Act 1, Scene 5.) In Act 1, Scene 5 Romeo enters an enemy?s ball where he and Juliet fall in love for the first time, which angers Tybalt. At the end of Act 1, Scene 4 the mood is foreboding as Romeo believes that things could go wrong at the ball which he was to intrude on. He shows his fear by saying: ?I fear to early, for my mind misgive some consequences yet hanging in the stars? Romeo shows his fear by saying ?fear too early?. This suggests that he believes something there was something not right which made him highly anxious. There is a use of dramatic irony as the audience already know that there was to be problems because of the prologue, which makes keeps the interest from the audience. Elizabethans believed that their fate and destiny is written in the stars. The phrase ?hanging in the stars? which Romeo commented to himself, implies his destiny is in the stars, and it also suggests that because it is in the stars then the Elizabethan audience know definitely that here are going to be ?consequences?. In the beginning of Act, Scene 5 the mood changes from worrying to joyful, as the guests begin to enter the ball which is held by Capulet who is welcoming them. The mood is uplifting because the party is ready to start. The joyful mood is shown when Capulet says: ?Welcome, Gentlemen! Ladies that have toes Unplagu?d with corns will walk a bout with you.? The mood has changed quite drastically from the end of Act 1, Scene 4 to Act 1, Scene 5. This is show by when Capulet is welcoming people to the ball, ?Welcome, Gentlemen!? His excitement showed through the exclamation mark, which suggests that Capulet is full of energy which would lift the spirits of anyone who was to enter. The quotation creates the image of people bustling in, smiling and ready for the party.

Practical Demonkeeping Chapter 1-2

PART ONE SATURDAY NIGHT Like one that on that lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turned round walks on, And no more turns his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 1 THE BREEZE The Breeze blew into San Junipero in the shotgun seat of Billy Winston's Pinto wagon. The Pinto lurched dangerously from shoulder to centerline, the result of Billy trying to roll a joint one-handed while balancing a Coors tallboy and bopping to the Bob Marley song that crackled through the stereo. â€Å"We be jammin' now, mon!† Billy said, toasting The Breeze with a slosh of the Coors. The Breeze shook his head balefully. â€Å"Keep the can down, watch the road, let me roll the doobie,† he said. â€Å"Sorry, Breeze,† Billy said. â€Å"I'm just stoked that we're on the road.† Billy's admiration for The Breeze was boundless. The Breeze was truly cool, a party renaissance man. He spent his days at the beach and his nights in a cloud of sinsemilla. The Breeze could smoke all night, polish off a bottle of tequila, maintain well enough to drive the forty miles back to Pine Cove without arousing the suspicion of a single cop, and be on the beach by nine the next morning acting as if the term hangover were too abstract to be considered. On Billy Winston's private list of personal heroes The Breeze ranked second only to David Bowie. The Breeze twisted the joint, lit it, and handed it to Billy for the first hit. â€Å"What are we celebrating?† Billy croaked, trying to hold in the smoke. The Breeze held up a finger to mark the question, while he dug the Dionysian Book of Days: An Occasion for Every Party from the pocket of his Hawaiian shirt. He flipped through the pages until he found the correct date. â€Å"Nambian Independence Day,† he announced. â€Å"Bitchin',† Billy said. â€Å"Party down for Nambian Independence.† â€Å"It says,† The Breeze continued, â€Å"that the Nambians celebrate their independence by roasting and eating a whole giraffe and drinking a mixture of fermented guava juice and the extract of certain tree frogs that are thought to have magical powers. At the height of the celebration, all the boys who have come of age are circumcised with a sharp stone.† â€Å"Maybe we can circumcise a few Techies tonight if it gets boring,† Billy said. Techies was the term The Breeze used to refer to the male students of San Junipero Technical College. For the most part, they were ultraconservative, crew-cut youths who were perfectly satisfied with their role as bulk stock to be turned into tools for industrial America by the rigid curricular lathe of San Junipero Tech. To The Breeze, the Techies' way of thinking was so foreign that he couldn't even muster a healthy loathing for them. They were simply nonentities. On the other hand, the coeds of S.J. Tech occupied a special place in The Breeze's heart. In fact, finding a few moments of blissful escape between the legs of a nubile coed was the only reason he was subjecting himself to a forty-mile sojourn in the company of Billy Winston. Billy Winston was tall, painfully thin, ugly, smelled bad, and had a particular talent for saying the wrong thing in almost any situation. On top of it all, The Breeze suspected that Billy was gay. The idea had been reinforced one night when he dropped in on Billy at his job as night desk clerk at the Rooms-R-Us motel and found him leafing through a Playgirl magazine. In Breeze's business one got used to running across the skeletons in people's closets. If Billy's skeleton wore women's underwear, it didn't really matter. Homosexuality on Billy Winston was like acne on a leper. The up side of Billy Winston was that he had a car that ran and would take The Breeze anywhere he wanted to go. The Breeze's van was currently being held by some Big Sur growers as collateral against the forty pounds of sinsemilla buds he had stashed in a suitcase at his trailer. â€Å"The way I see it,† said Billy, â€Å"we hit the Mad Bull first. Do a pitcher of margaritas at Jose's, dance a little at the Nuked Whale, and if we don't find any nookie, we head back home for a nightcap at the Slug.† â€Å"Let's hit the Whale first and see what's shakin',† The Breeze said. The Nuked Whale was San Junipero's premier college dance club. If The Breeze was going to find a coed to cuddle, it would be at the Whale. He had no intention of making the drive with Billy back to Pine Cove for a nightcap at the Head of the Slug. Closing up the Slug was tantamount to having a losing night, and The Breeze was through with being a loser. Tomorrow when he sold the forty pounds of grass he would pocket twenty grand. After twenty years blowing up and down the coast, living on nickle-dime deals to make rent, The Breeze was, at last, stepping into the winners' circle, and there was no room for a loser like Billy Winston. Billy parked the Pinto in a yellow zone a block away from the Nuked Whale. From the sidewalk they could hear the throbbing rhythms of the latest techno-pop dance music. The unlikely pair covered the block in a few seconds, Billy striding ahead while The Breeze brought up the rear with a laid-back shuffle. As Billy slipped under the neon whale tail and into the club, the doorman – a fresh-faced slab of muscle and crew cut – caught him by the arm. â€Å"Let's see some I.D.† Billy flashed an expired driver's license as Breeze caught up to him and began digging into the pocket of his Day-Glo green surf shorts for his wallet. The doorman raised a hand in dismissal. â€Å"That's okay, buddy, with that hairline you don't need any.† The Breeze ran his hand over his forehead self-consciously. Last month he had turned forty, a dubious achievement for a man who had once vowed never to trust anyone over thirty. Billy reached around him and slapped two dollar bills into the doorman's hand. â€Å"Here,† he said, â€Å"buy yourself a night with an Inflate-A-Date.† â€Å"What!† The doorman vaulted off his stool and puffed himself up for combat, but Billy had already scampered away into the crowded club. The Breeze stepped in front of the doorman and raised his hands in surrender. â€Å"Cut him some slack, man. He's got problems.† â€Å"He's going to have some problems,† the doorman bristled. â€Å"No, really,† The Breeze continued, wishing that Billy had spared him the loyal gesture and therefore the responsibility of pacifying this collegiate cave man. â€Å"He's on medication. Psychological problems.† The doorman was unsure. â€Å"If this guy is dangerous, get him out of here.† â€Å"Not dangerous, just a little squirrelly – he's bipolar Oedipal,† The Breeze said with uncharacteristic pomposity. â€Å"Oh,† the doorman said, as if it had all become clear. â€Å"Well, keep him in line or you're both out.† â€Å"No problem.† The Breeze turned and joined Billy at the bar amid a crunch of beer-drinking students. Billy handed him a Heineken. Billy said, â€Å"What did you say to that asshole to calm him down?† â€Å"I told him you wanted to fuck your mom and kill your dad.† â€Å"Cool. Thanks, Breeze.† â€Å"No charge.† The Breeze tipped his beer in salute. Things were not going well for him. Somehow he had been snared into this male-bonding bullshit with Billy Winston, when all he wanted to do was ditch him and get laid. The Breeze turned and leaned back, scanning the club for a likely candidate. He had set his sights on a homely but tight-assed little blond in leather pants when Billy broke his concentration. â€Å"You got any blow, man?† Billy had shouted to be heard over the music, but his timing was off; the song had ended. Everyone at the bar turned toward The Breeze and waited, as if the next few words he spoke would reveal the true meaning of life, the winning numbers in the state lottery, and the unlisted phone number of God. The Breeze grabbed Billy by the front of the shirt and hustled him to the back of the club, where a group of Techies were pounding a pinball machine, oblivious to anything but buzzers and bells. Billy looked like a frightened child who had been dragged from a movie theater for shouting out the ending. â€Å"First,† The Breeze hissed, waving a trembling finger under Billy's nose to enumerate his point, â€Å"first, I do not use or sell cocaine.† This was half true. He did not sell since he had done six months in Soledad for dealing – and would go up for five years if he was busted again. He used it only when it was offered or when he needed bait when trolling for women. Tonight he was holding a gram. â€Å"Second, if I did use, I wouldn't want it announced to everybody in San Junipero.† â€Å"I'm sorry, Breeze.† Billy tried to look small and weak. â€Å"Third,† The Breeze shook three stubby fingers in Billy's face, â€Å"we have an agreement. If one of us scores, the other one gets cut loose. Well, I think I found someone, so cut loose.† Billy started to shuffle toward the door, head down, his lower lip hanging, like the bloated victim of a lynch mob. After a few steps he turned. â€Å"If you need a ride – if things don't work out – I'll be at the Mad Bull.† The Breeze, as he watched the injured Billy skulk away, felt a twinge of remorse. Forget it, he thought, Billy had it coming. After the deal tomorrow he wouldn't need Billy or any of the quarter-ounce-a-week buyers of his ilk. The Breeze was eager for the time when he could afford to be without friends. He strutted across the dance floor toward the blond in the leather pants. Having wafted through most of his forty years as a single man, The Breeze had come to recognize the importance of the pickup line. At best, it should be original, charming, concise but lyrical – a catalyst to invoke curiosity and lust. Knowing this, he approached his quarry with the calm of a well-armed man. â€Å"Yo, babe,† he said, â€Å"I've got a gram of prime Peruvian marching powder. You want to go for a walk?† â€Å"Pardon me?† the girl said, somewhere between astonishment and disgust. The Breeze noticed that she had a wide-eyed, fawnlike look – Bambi with too much mascara. He gave her his best surfer-boy smile. â€Å"I was wondering if you'd like to powder your nose.† â€Å"You're old enough to be my father,† she said. The Breeze was staggered by the rejection. As the girl escaped onto the crowded dance floor, he fell back to the bar to consider strategy. Go on to the next one? Everybody gets tubed now and then; you just have to climb back on the board and wait for the next wave. He scanned the dance floor looking for a chance at the wild ride. Nothing but sorority girls with absolutely perfect hair. No chance. His fantasy of jumping one and using her until her perfect hair was tangled into a hopeless knot at the back of her head had been relegated long ago to the realm of fairy tales and free money. The energy in San Junipero was all wrong. It didn't matter – he'd be a rich man tomorrow. Best to catch a ride back to Pine Cove. With luck he could get to the Head of the Slug Saloon before last call and pick up one of the standby bitches who still valued good company and didn't require a hundred bucks worth of blow to get upside down with you. As he stepped into the street a chill wind bit at his bare legs and swept through his thin shirt. Thumbing the forty miles back to Pine Cove was going to suck, big time. Maybe Billy was still at the Mad Bull? No, The Breeze told himself, there are worse things than freezing your ass off. He shrugged off the cold and fell into a steady stride toward the highway, his new fluorescent yellow deck shoes squeaking with every step. They rubbed his little toe when he walked. After five blocks he felt the blister break and go raw. He cursed himself for becoming another slave to fashion. Half a mile outside of San Junipero the streetlights ended. Darkness added to The Breeze's list of mounting aggravations. Without trees and buildings to break its momentum, the cold Pacific wind increased and whipped his clothes around him like torn battle flags. Blood from his damaged toe was beginning to spot the canvas of his deck shoe. A mile out of town The Breeze abandoned the dancing, smiling, and tipping of a ghost-hat that was supposed to charm drivers into stopping to give a ride to a poor, lost surfer. Now he trudged, head down in the dark, his back to traffic, a single frozen thumb thrust into the air beaconing, then changing into a middle finger of defiance as each car passed without slowing. â€Å"Fuck you! You heartless assholes!† His throat was sore from screaming. He tried to think of the money – sweet, liberating cash, crispy and green – but again and again he was brought back to the cold, the pain in his feet, and the increasingly dismal chance of getting a ride home. It was late, and the traffic was thinning to a car every five minutes or so. Hopelessness circled in his mind like a vulture. He considered doing the cocaine, but the idea of entering a too-fast jangle on a lonely, dark road and crashing into a paranoid, teeth-chattering shiver seemed somewhat insane. Think about the money. The money. It was all Billy Winston's fault. And the guys in Big Sur; they didn't have to take his van. It wasn't like he had ever ripped anyone off on a big deal before. It wasn't like he was a bad guy. Hadn't he let Robert move into his trailer, rent free, when his old lady threw him out? Didn't he help Robert put a new head gasket in his truck? Hadn't he always played square – let people try the product before buying? Didn't he advance his regulars a quarter-ounce until payday? In a business that was supposed to be fast and loose, wasn't he a pillar of virtue? Right as rain? Straight as an arrow†¦. A car pulled up twenty yards behind him and hit the brights. He didn't turn. Years of experience told him that anyone using that approach was only offering a ride to one place, the Iron-bar Hotel. The Breeze walked on, as if he didn't notice the car. He shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his surf shorts, as if fighting the cold, found the cocaine and slipped it into his mouth, paper and all. Instantly his tongue went numb. He raised his hands in surrender and turned, expecting to see the flashing reds and blues of a county sheriff cruiser. But it wasn't a cop. It was just two guys in an old Chevy, playing games. He could make out their figures past the headlights. The Breeze swallowed the paper the cocaine had been wrapped in. Taken by a burning anger, fueled by blow and blood-lust, he stormed toward the Chevy. â€Å"C'mon out, you fucking clowns.† Someone crawled out of the passenger side. It looked like a child – no, thicker – a dwarf. The Breeze blew on. â€Å"Bring a tire iron, you little shit. You'll need it.† â€Å"Wrong,† said the dwarf, the voice was low and gravely. The Breeze pulled up and squinted into the headlights. It wasn't a dwarf, it was a big dude, a giant. Huge, getting bigger as it moved toward him. Too fast. The Breeze turned and started to run. He got three steps before the jaws clamped over his head and shoulders, crunching through his bones as if they were peppermint sticks. When the Chevy pulled back onto the highway, the only thing left of The Breeze was a single fluorescent-yellow deck shoe. It would be a fleeting mystery to passers-by for two days until a hungry crow carried it away. No one would notice that there was still a foot inside. PART TWO SUNDAY All mystical experience is coincidence; and vice versa, of course. – Tom Stoppard, Jumpers 2 PINE COVE The village of Pine Cove lay in a coastal pine forest just south of the great Big Sur wilderness area, on a small natural harbor. The village was established in the 1880s by a dairy farmer from Ohio who found verdant hills around the cove provided perfect fodder for his cows. The settlement, such as it was – two families and a hundred cows – went nameless until the 1890s, when the whalers came to town and christened it Harpooner's Cove. With a cove to shelter their small whaling boats and the hills from which they could sight the migrating gray whales far out to sea, the whalers prospered and the village grew. For thirty years a greasy haze of death blew overhead from the five-hundred-gallon rendering pots where thousands of whales were boiled down to oil. When the whale population dwindled and electricity and kerosene became an alternative to whale oil, the whalers abandoned Harpooner's Cove, leaving behind mountains of whale bone and the rusting hulks of their rendering kettles. To this day many of the town's driveways are lined with the bleached arches of whale ribs, and even now, when the great gray whales pass, they rise out of the water a bit and cast a suspicious eye toward the little cove, as if expecting the slaughter to begin again. After the whalers left, the village survived on cattle ranching and the mining of mercury, which had been discovered in the nearby hills. The mercury ran out about the same time the coastal highway was completed through Big Sur, and Harpooner's Cove became a tourist town. Passers-through who wanted a little piece of California's burgeoning tourist industry but didn't want to deal with the stress of life in San Francisco or Los Angeles, stopped and built motels, souvenir shops, restaurants, and real estate offices. The hills around Pine Cove were subdivided. Pine forests and pastures became ocean-view lots, sold for a song to tourists from California's central valley who wanted to retire on the coast. Again the village grew, populated by retirees and young couples who eschewed the hustle of the city to raise their children in a quiet coastal town. Harpooner's Cove became a village of the newly wed and the nearly dead. In the 1960s the young, environmentally conscious residents decided that the name Harpooner's Cove hearkened back to a time of shame for the village and that the name Pine Cove was more appropriate to the quaint, bucolic image the town had come to depend on. And so, with the stroke of a pen and the posting of a sign – WELCOME TO PINE COVE, GATEWAY TO BIG SUR – history was whitewashed. The business district was confined to an eight-block section of Cypress Street, which ran parallel to the coast highway. Most of the buildings on Cypress sported facades of English Tudor half-timbering, which made Pine Cove an anomaly among the coastal communities of California with their predominantly Spanish-Moorish architecture. A few of the original structures still stood, and these, with their raw timbers and feel of the Old West, were a thorn in the side of the Chamber of Commerce, who played on the village's English look to promote tourism. In a half-assed attempt at thematic consistency, several pseudo-authentic, Ole English restaurants opened along Cypress Street to lure tourists with the promise of tasteless English cuisine. (There had even been an attempt by one entrepreneur to establish an authentic English pizza place, but the enterprise was abandoned with the realization that boiled pizza lost most of its character.) Pine Cove's locals avoided patronage of these restaurants with the duplicity of a Hindu cattle rancher: willing to reap the profits without sampling the product. Locals dined at the few, out-of-the-way cafes that were content with carving a niche out of the hometown market with good food and service rather than gouging an eye out of the swollen skull of the tourist market with overpriced, pretentious charm. The shops along Cypress Street were functional only in that they moved money from the pockets of the tourists into the local economy. From the standpoint of the villagers, there was nothing of practical use for sale in any of the stores. For the tourist, immersed in the oblivion of vacation spending, Cypress Street provided a bonanza of curious gifts to prove to the folks back home that they had been somewhere. Somewhere where they had obviously forgotten that soon they would return home to a mortgage, dental bills, and an American Express bill that would descend at the end of the month like a financial Angel of Death. And they bought. They bought effigies of whales and sea otters carved in wood, cast in plastic, brass, or pewter, stamped on key chains, printed on postcards, posters, book covers, and condoms. They bought all sorts of useless junk imprinted with: Pine Cove, Gateway to Big Sur, from bookmarks to bath soap. Over the years it became a challenge to the Pine Cove shopowners to come up with an item so tacky that it would not sell. Gus Brine, owner of the local general store, suggested once at a Chamber of Commerce meeting that the merchants, without compromising their high standards, might put cow manure into jars, imprint the label with Pine Cove, Gateway to Big Sur, and market it as authentic gray whale feces. As often happens with matters of money, the irony of Brine's suggestion was lost, a motion was carried, a plan was laid, and if it had not been for a lack of volunteers to do the actual packaging, the shelves of Cypress Street would have displayed numbered, limited-edition jars of Genuine Whale Waste. The residents of Pine Cove went about their work of fleecing the tourists with a slow, methodical resolve that involved more waiting than activity. Life, in general, was slow in Pine Cove. Even the wind that came in off the Pacific each evening crept slowly through the trees, allowing the villagers ample time to bring in wood and stoke their fires against the damp cold. In the morning, down on Cypress Street, the Open signs flipped with a languid disregard for the times posted on the doors. Some shops opened early, some late, and some not at all, especially if it was a nice day for a walk on the beach. It was as if the villagers, having found their little bit of peace, were waiting for something to happen. And it did. Around midnight on the night that The Breeze disappeared, every dog in Pine Cove began barking. During the following fifteen minutes, shoes were thrown, threats were made, and the sheriff was called and called again. Wives were beaten, pistols were loaded, pillows were pounded, and Mrs. Feldstein's thirty-two cats simultaneously coughed up hairballs on her porch. Blood pressure went up, aspirin was opened, and Milo Tobin, the town's evil developer, looked out the front window to see his young neighbor, Rosa Cruz, in the nude, chasing twin Pomeranians around her front yard. The strain was too much for his chain-smoker's heart, and he flopped on the floor like a fish and died. On another hill, Van Williams, the tree surgeon, had reached the limit of his patience with his neighbors, a family of born-again dog breeders whose six Labrador retrievers barked all night long with or without supernatural provocation. With his professional-model chain saw he dropped a hundred-foot Monterey pine tree on their new Dodge Evangeline van. A few minutes later, a family of raccoons who normally roamed the streets of Pine Cove breaking into garbage cans, were taken, temporarily, with a strange sapience and ignored their normal activities to steal the stereo out of the ruined van and install it in their den that lay in the trunk of a hollow tree. An hour after the cacophony began, it stopped. The dogs had delivered their message, and as it goes in cases where dogs warn of coming earthquakes, tornadoes, or volcanic eruptions, the message was completely misconstrued. What was left the next morning was a very sleepy, grumpy village brimming with lawsuits and insurance claims, but without a single clue that something was coming. At six that morning a cadre of old men gathered outside the general store to discuss the events of the night before, never once letting their ignorance of what had happened interfere with a good bull session. A new, four-wheel-drive pickup pulled into the small parking lot, and Augustus Brine crawled out, jangling his huge key ring as if it were a talisman of power sent down by the janitor god. He was a big man, sixty years old, white haired and bearded, with shoulders like a mountain gorilla. People alternately compared him to Santa Claus and the Norse god Odin. â€Å"Morning, boys,† Brine grumbled to the old men, who gathered behind him as he unlocked the door and let them into the dark interior of Brine's Bait, Tackle, and Fine Wines. As he switched on the lights and started brewing the first two pots of his special, secret, dark-roast coffee, Brine was assaulted by a salvo of questions. â€Å"Gus, did you hear the dogs last night?† â€Å"We heard a tree went down on your hill. You hear anything about it?† â€Å"Can you brew some decaf? Doctor says I've got to cut the caffeine.† â€Å"Bill thinks it was a bitch in heat started the barking, but it was all over town.† â€Å"Did you get any sleep? I couldn't get back to sleep.† Brine raised a big paw to signal that he was going to speak, and the old men fell silent. It was like that every morning: Brine arrived in the middle of a discussion and was immediately elected to the role of expert and mediator. â€Å"Gentlemen, the coffee's on. In regard to the events of last night, I must claim ignorance.† â€Å"You mean it didn't wake you up?† Jim Whatley asked from under the brim of a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cap. â€Å"I retired early last night with two lovely teenage bottles of cabernet, Jim. Anything that happened after that did so without my knowledge or consent.† Jim was miffed with Brine's detachment. â€Å"Well, every goddamn dog in town started barking last night like the end of the world was coming.† â€Å"Dogs bark,† Brine stated. He left off the â€Å"big deal† – it was understood from his tone. â€Å"Not every dog in town. Not all at once. George thinks it's supernatural or something.† Brine raised a white eyebrow toward George Peters, who stood by the coffee machine sporting a dazzling denture grin. â€Å"And what, George, leads you to the conclusion that the cause of this disturbance was supernatural?† â€Å"Woke up with a hard-on for the first time in twenty years. It got me right up. I thought I'd rolled over on the flashlight I keep by the bed for midnight emergencies.† â€Å"How were the batteries, Georgie?† someone interjected. â€Å"I tried to wake up the wife. Whacked her on the leg with it just to get her attention. I told her the bear was charging and I have one bullet left.† â€Å"And?† Brine filled the pause. â€Å"She told me to put some ice on it to make the swelling go down.† â€Å"Well,† Brine said, stroking his beard, â€Å"that certainly sounds like a supernatural experience to me.† He turned to the rest of the group and announced his judgment. â€Å"Gents, I agree with George. As with Lazarus rising from the dead, this unexplained erection is hard evidence of the supernatural at work. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have cash customers to attend to.† The last remark was not meant as a dig toward the old men, whom Brine allowed to drink coffee all day free of charge. Augustus Brine had long ago won their loyalty, and it would have been absurd for any one of them to think of going anywhere else to purchase wine, or cheese, or bait, or gasoline, even though Brine's prices were a good thirty percent higher than the Thrifty-Mart down the street. Could the pimple-faced clerks at the Thrifty-Mart give advice on which bait was best for rock cod, a recipe for an elegant dill sauce for that same fish, recommend a fine wine to complement the meal, and at the same time ask after the well-being of every family member for three generations by name? They could not! And therein lay the secret of Augustus Brine's ability to run a successful business based entirely on the patronage of locals in an economy catering to tourists. Brine made his way to the counter, where an attractive woman in a waitress apron awaited, impatiently worrying a five-dollar bill. â€Å"Five dollars worth of unleaded, Gus.† She thrust the bill at Brine. â€Å"Rough night, Jenny?† â€Å"Does it show?† Jenny made a show of fixing her shoulder-length auburn hair and smoothing her apron. â€Å"A safe assumption, only,† Brine said with a smile that revealed teeth permanently stained by years of coffee and pipe smoke. â€Å"The boys tell me there was a citywide disturbance last night.† â€Å"Oh, the dogs. I thought it was just my neighborhood. I didn't get to sleep until four in the morning, then the phone rang and woke me up.† â€Å"I heard about you and Robert splitting up,† Brine said. â€Å"Did someone send out a newsletter or something? We've only been separated a few days.† Irritation put an unattractive rasp in her voice. â€Å"It's a small town,† Brine said softly. â€Å"I wasn't trying to be nosy.† â€Å"I'm sorry, Gus. It's just the lack of sleep. I'm so tired I was hallucinating on the way down here. I thought I heard Wayne Newton singing ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus.'† â€Å"Maybe you did.† â€Å"The music was coming from a pine tree. I'm telling you, I've been a basket case all week.† Brine reached across the counter and patted her hand. â€Å"The only constant in this life is change, but that doesn't mean it's easy. Give yourself a break.† Just then Vance McNally, the local ambulance driver, burst through the door. The radio on his belt made a sizzling sound as if he'd just stepped out of a deep fryer. â€Å"Guess who vapor locked last night?† he said, obviously hoping that no one would know. Everyone turned and waited for his announcement. Vance basked in their attention for a moment to confirm his self-importance. â€Å"Milo Tobin,† he said, finally. â€Å"The evil developer?† George asked. â€Å"That's him. Sometime around midnight. We just bagged him,† Vance said to the group. Then to Brine, â€Å"Can I get a pack of Marlboros?† The old men searched each other's faces for the right reaction to Vance's news. Each was waiting for another to say what they were all thinking, which was, â€Å"It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy,† or even, â€Å"Good riddance,† but as they were all aware that Vance's next rude announcement could be about them, they tried to think of something nice to say. You don't park in the handicapped space lest the forces of irony give you a reason to, and you don't speak ill of the dead unless you want to get bagged next. Jenny saved them. â€Å"He sure kept that Chrysler of his clean, didn't he?† â€Å"Sure did.† â€Å"The thing sparkled.† â€Å"He kept it like new, he did.† Vance smiled at the discomfort he had caused. â€Å"See you boys later.† He turned to leave and bumped straight into the little man standing behind him. â€Å"Excuse me, fella,† Vance said. No one had seen him come in or had heard the bell over the door. He was an Arab, dark, with a long, hooked nose and old; his skin hung around his piercing gray-blue eyes in folds. He wore a wrinkled, gray flannel suit that was at least two sizes too big. A red stocking cap rode high on the back of his bald head. His rumpled appearance combined with this diminutive size made him look like a ventriloquist's dummy that had spent a long time in a small suitcase. The little man brandished a craggy hand under Vance's nose and let loose with a string of angry Arabic that swirled through the air like blue on a Damascus blade. Vance backed out the door, jumped into his ambulance, and motored away. Everyone stood stunned by the ferocity of the little man's anger. Had they really seen blue swirls? Were the Arab's teeth really filed to points? Were, for that moment, his eyes glowing white-hot? It would never be discussed. Augustus Brine was the first to recover. â€Å"Can I help you with something, sir?† The unnatural light in the Arab's eyes dimmed, and in a humble, obsequious manner he said, â€Å"Excuse me, please, but could I trouble you for a small quantity of salt?†

Auto management services

The automotive dealership General Manager ensures the profitability of the dealership by overseeing the various departments which include variable operations (sales & financing), fixed operations (service & parts), and the business office (accounting & administration). Duties of the general manager include, but certainly not limited to, planning, motivating and coordinating the dealership's management through leadership and solid business practices.Job Duties Job duties for a general manger include: Hiring all management positions, completing performance evaluations regularly and eveloping short and long-term goals for each department manager (includes administrative, sales, parts, collision and service departments). Planning and developing short and long-term goals and objectives annually, and submitting time projections to corporate management for approval. Effectively communicating with the comptroller/office manager on a weekly basis to review departmental forecasts and ensure co nsistency with annual projections.Paying close attention to daily operations, recommending and creating improved courses of action where necessary. Explaining the policies and procedures of the dealership to all employees nd following up with employees to ensure that these issues are understood and followed. Providing dealership management with weekly reports on the financial condition of the dealership. Overseeing the monthly financial statement to ensure it is complete, accurate and submitted on time to the management/dealership owners. Coordinating with the business/administrative office to ensure that records and analyses are correctly maintained.Creating a good working relationship with lending institutions and manufacturer personnel and maintaining these relationships. Coordinating regular meetings with the managers of each department to ensure heir profitability and efficiency. Overseeing the hiring and training of all department managers. Maintaining an enthusiastic attitude to build positive employee attitudes and morale. Overseeing and maintaining compensation plans for all employees. Creating cost-effective advertising programs and merchandising strategies for the dealership.Focusing on any customer complaints that department managers are unable to rectify and taking the necessary steps to resolve these complaints. Job Requirements General managers should have at least two years of dealership sales and five years in a supervisory position. Experience in other dealership departments is a plus. They must have strong leadership and organizational skills, and the ability to understand profit and loss statements and manage a large, diverse staff. General managers also must possess strong communication skills to deal with customers, employees and vendors.Managers are required to stay abreast of the federal, state, and local regulations attecting their operations and comply witn them, including hazardous waste disposal and OSHA Right-to-Know regulations. A lso they must provide the necessary training on regulations and ethical practices. AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE MANAGER SUMMARY Directs and coordinates activities concerned with acquisition of automotive equipment and operation and maintenance of automotive fleet repair and storage facilities by performing the following duties personally or through subordinate supervisors.ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. other duties may be assigned. Coordinates activities of personnel conducting research and testing program on automotive equipment considered for acquisition based on such factors as operational performance, costs of operation and maintenance, operational safety, and compliance with environmental laws and regulations. Reviews and submits staff proposals for modifications to vendor or manufacturer.Directs procurement of all types of company owned and operated automotive equipment and materials, supplies, and parts required to maintain automotive equipment, garages, a nd storage facilities. Coordinates automotive repair and maintenance services to obtain maximum utilization of automotive equipment and prevent operational delays in other departments. SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES Manages total of 7 employees in the Automotive Department. Carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization's policies and applicable laws.Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems. QUALIFICATIONS To perform this Job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.LANGUAGE SKILLS Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and aintenance instructions, and procedure manuals. Ability to write routine reports and correspondence. Ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of organization. MATHEMATICAL SKILLS Ability to calculate fgures and amounts such as discounts, interest, commissions, proportions, percentages, area, circumference, and volume. Ability to apply concepts of basic algebra and geometry.REASONING ABILITY Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of nstructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form. PHYSICAL DEMANDS While performing the duties of this Job the employee is regularly required to stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to sit; climb or balance and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.The employee is regularly required to lift up to 10 pounds and up to 25 pounds. The employee is frequently required to lift up to 50 pounds. The employee is occasionally required to litt up to 00 pounds. The vision requirements include: close vision. While performing the duties of this Job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to walk and sit. The employee is occasionally required to stand; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; and reach with hands and arms.WORK ENVIRONMENT While performing the duties of this Job the employee is regularly exposed to moving mechanical parts and fumes or airborne particles. The employee is frequently exposed to outside weather conditions. The employee is occasionally exposed to high, precarious places; toxic or caustic chemicals and risk of electrical shock. Finance Manager Sells new and used car buyers financing and insurance programs. managers also work with financial lenders to give fair interest rates to buyers a nd programs. As with all positions within dealerships, managers are expected to uphold the highest ethical standards.Job Duties Offering vehicle financing and insurance to customers and providing them with a thorough explanation of aftermarket products and extended warranties and a complete explanation of manufacturer and dealership service procedures and policies. Seeking new lending institutions and maintaining good working elationships to secure competitive interest rates and financing programs. Processing financing and leasing deals accurately and securing approval through financial sources to secure approval and through the proper federal, state and corporate channels.Understanding and complying with federal, state and local regulations that affect the new and used-vehicle and finance departments. Creating and maintaining a program with the sales department that will ensure all new sales are referred to the department. Training and providing the sales team with information on f inance and lease programs and the benefits of the dealership's financing and xtended service programs. Job Requirements It is recommended that the finance and insurance manager is recommended has two years of automotive sales experience and one year in a dealership management position.Managerial positions are required to maintain the profitability of their department while controlling expenses and maintaining customer satisfaction. Managers are required to not only understand and keep abreast of the federal, state, and local regulations that affect their operations. F ; I personnel require strong communication skills in order to work with customers, employees and finance and nsurance vendors as they represent the dealership. People working within the automotive retail industry often have to work extended hours, evenings and weekends to achieve their goals.HUMAN RESOURCES Job description Human resource (HR) managers are involved with recruitment, training, career development, compens ation and benefits, employee relations, industrial relations, employment law, compliance, disciplinary and grievance issues, redundancies etc. The Job involves keeping up to date with areas such as employment law, which change often. Generalist HR roles are usually found in small and medium sized ompanies, where the HR manager will deal with the whole range of HR activities. In large multinationals you will otten tind specialists, tor example in learning and development, recruitment or employee relations.Work activities Developing HR planning strategies with line managers by considering immediate and long-term staff requirements Recruiting staff by preparing Job descriptions and Job adverts; deciding on how best to advertise Shortlisting applicants for interview using a variety of selection techniques including psychometric testing Interviewing shortlisted candidates Advising on pay and other issues, including promotion and enefits; administer payroll and maintain staff records Inte rpreting and advising on employment legislation; develop and implement policies on a variety of workplace issues eg disciplinary procedures, absence management, working conditions, performance management and equal opportunities Listening to grievances and implementing disciplinary proceduresAnalysing training needs in conjunction with line managers; planning and delivering training, including staff inductions. Functional Organizations and Product Organization Functional Organizations This is the traditional type of organization. Under functional departments, employees ith closely related skills and responsibilities (functions) are located in the same department. Workers in each of these functions specialized in their tasks and knowledge. For example, senior management set rules and procedures as how to transfer the sales orders into the production schedule, how the customer service deal with complaints and warranty issues. They also have large input in the production process. The ma in advantage of functional organization is efficiency.It works best in small to medium-sized firms that offer relatively few product lines or services. Example of this functional organization will be for a company that anufactured outdoor BBQ stoves. The Sales people get the orders from the customers; the orders are transfer to the production department for production. Products are made and shipping department ships them to customers. Each department is rated by their department performance. Quality department could delay shipment if they feel the product is not meeting specification, affecting Sales target and their commission. Product Organizations Product organizations are formed based on a particular product, or service. Each of these departments can operate fairly autonomously.A key advantage is better oordination and fewer barriers to communication among the functional specialists who work on a particular product. , Therefore, able to response to customers in a timely way. On the other hand, the disadvantage is that product-oriented departments might actually work at cross purposes. For Example, Toyota has a luxury nigh end line ot automobiles called Lexus in addition to their Toyota Brand . Dealer either sells Toyota or Lexus but not both. Each dealer has the same Sales and Service department. The logic behind this split is Toyota management believe the customers who buy the Lexus brand are more affluent and demand higher