DRINKING AND DRIVING OFFENCES Essays - Driving Under The Influence

1 Driving under the influence Offenses My article is on Driving under the influence Offenses. In my article I will disclose to you the different sorts of driving under the influence offenses, the punishments, what's more, the resistances you can make in the event that you are found driving under the influence. Let me inform you concerning the various offenses. There are six offenses in driving drunk. They are driving while debilitated, Having care what's more, control of a vehicle while debilitated, Driving while at the same time surpassing 80 m.g., Having care and control of a vehicle while surpassing 80 m.g., Cannot to give a breath test, and declining to submit to a side of the road screen test. These are on the whole Criminal Code Offenses. Presently lets talk about the punishments of driving under the influence. The sentence for declining to give a breath test is typically higher than both of the surpassing 80 m.g. offenses. Thusly it is as a rule simpler over the long haul for you to give a breath test whenever inquired. On the off chance that, for model you are sentenced for Denying ato give a breath test for the first time, however was prior sentenced for Driving while debilitated, your conviction for Can't will consider a subsequent conviction, not a first, furthermore, will get the stiffer punishment for second offenses. For the main offense here is the punishment and the guards you can make. Driving a vehicle while your capacity to drive is hindered by liquor or then again medicates is one of the offenses. Proof of your condition can be utilized to convict you. This can incorporate proof of your general direct, discourse, capacity to walk a straight line or get objects. The punishment of the first offenses is a fine of $50.00 to $2000.00 or potentially detainment of up to a half year, and programmed suspension of permit for 3 months. The second offense punishment is detainment for 14 days to 1 year and programmed suspen- sion of permit for a half year. The third offense punishment is detainment 2 for 3 months to 2 years (or more) and programmed suspension of permit for a half year. These punishments are the equivalent for the accompanying offenses. Having Care and Control of a Motor Vehicle while Impaired is another offense. Having care and control of a vehicle doesn't necessitate that you be driving it. Possessing the driver's seat, regardless of whether you didn't have the keys, is adequate. Strolling towards the vehicle with the keys could be suffi- cient. A few barriers are you were not impeded, or you didn't have care and control since you were not in the driver's seat, didn't have the keys, and so forth. It's anything but a guard that you enrolled beneath 80 m.g. on the breath- ayzer test. Having care and control relies upon all conditions. Driving While Exceeding 80 m.g. is the following offense. Driving a vehicle, having expended liquor in such an amount, that the extent of liquor in your blood surpasses 80 miligrams of liquor in 100 mililitres of blood. A few barriers are the test was controlled inappropriately, or the breathalyzer machine was not working appropriately. Having Care and control of a Motor Vehicle while Exceeding 80 m.g. is the following offense I will discuss. This offense implies having care and control of a vehicle whether it is moving or not, having devoured liquor in such an amount, that the extent of liquor in your blood surpasses 80 miligrams of liquor in 100 mililitres of blood. The barriers are the test was managed inappropriately, or the breathalyzer machine was not working appropriately. To shield against breathalyzer proof you should see how the test ought to be managed. The correct technique for a breathalyzer test is as per the following. Heating up the machine until the thermometer registers 50 degrees centigrade. This should take in any event 10 minutes. The machine should then be gone to zero (by utilizing the change zero control) and a correlation ampoulel (of typical air) embedded. on the off chance that the meter stays at zero, the test can continue. An ampoule with a standard arrangement is then embedded. 3 In the event that the meter understands high or low by over .02% on two progressive tests, the machine ought not be utilized. In the event that the preliminary is legitimate, the machine ought to be flushed with room air and the pointer set at start. You will at that point be requested to give two breath tests, around fifteen minutes separated. Regularly they will take the consequence of the most reduced outcome and use it as proof against you. Declining to Give a

Free Essays on Special Education

Specialized curriculum started in 1965. The inclusion of the government in training began in 1965 with the development of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). This demonstration set up for holding government assets for the training of kids in the U.S. open basic and optional schools. One year after the death of the ESEA it was corrected to the unequivocally offer government help for teaching youngsters with incapacities. The ESEA’s Title VI alteration approved the utilization of government assets to help states in the beginning, expansion and improvement of projects to teach youngsters with incapacities. The Civil Rights Movement and the U.S. Incomparable Courts milestone choice in Brown versus Leading group of Education in 1954 set the expansion of lawful rights to training for youngsters with incapacities and their folks. There are two progressively significant cases that helped produce a solid legitimate and political help for extending government oversight of the instruction of youngsters with handicaps and they are the Pennsylvania for Retarded Children (PARC) versus Federation of Pennsylvania in 1968 and Mills versus Leading body of Education of the District of Columbia in 1968. The PARC versus Ward of Pennsylvania case was on the grounds that slow-witted youngsters were being prohibited from government funded schools; the decision for this situation halted that. The Mills versus Leading group of Education of the District of Columbia case was to let youngsters with less serious inabilities enter government funded schools too it was an expansion of the PARC versus Federation of Pennsylvania. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) was marked into law on November 29, 1975 by President Ford. The law was passed by Congress for these three reasons 1. It guarantees that kids with inabilities get a free proper government funded instruction. 2. It secures the rights understudies and their folks. 3. It helps states and areas in their endeavors to offer such types of assistance. The EAH... Free Essays on Special Education Free Essays on Special Education Specialized curriculum started in 1965. The contribution of the government in instruction began in 1965 with the development of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). This demonstration set up for holding government assets for the training of kids in the U.S. open basic and auxiliary schools. One year after the death of the ESEA it was changed to the unequivocally offer government help for teaching kids with incapacities. The ESEA’s Title VI revision approved the utilization of government assets to help states in the beginning, extension and improvement of projects to instruct kids with incapacities. The Civil Rights Movement and the U.S. Preeminent Courts milestone choice in Brown versus Leading group of Education in 1954 set the augmentation of legitimate rights to instruction for kids with handicaps and their folks. There are two increasingly significant cases that helped produce a solid legitimate and political help for extending government oversight of the training of kids with handicaps and they are the Pennsylvania for Retarded Children (PARC) versus Federation of Pennsylvania in 1968 and Mills versus Leading body of Education of the District of Columbia in 1968. The PARC versus Province of Pennsylvania case was on the grounds that simple-minded kids were being avoided from state funded schools; the decision for this situation halted that. The Mills versus Leading group of Education of the District of Columbia case was to let kids with less extreme inabilities enter state funded schools too it was an augmentation of the PARC versus Federation of Pennsylvania. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) was marked into law on November 29, 1975 by President Ford. The law was passed by Congress for these three reasons 1. It guarantees that youngsters with handicaps get a free proper state funded training. 2. It secures the rights understudies and their folks. 3. It helps states and regions in their endeavors to offer such types of assistance. The EAH...

Introduction To MIT World

Introduction To MIT World My first blog entry! Let me begin by introducing you to MIT World, a free and open on-demand video streaming web site that features public lectures at MIT. MIT World has been in operation since 2001 and today has a collection of almost 400 videos in its online collection (you can also find it on the MIT home page under Education â€" click on video). This primary source of unmediated content reflects a wide range of ideas that are discussed every day at MIT. Inside you will find more than 20 Nobel Laureates, leaders of many companies who have changed our world, who tell their first hand accounts of start up days (Amazon, Akamai), or amazing histories of longer established companies that have led innovation (UPS, Xerox, HP), as well as a vast assortment of engineers, technologists, innovators, poets, peacemakers, and scientists and even a physicist who is a poet â€" Frank Wilczek. With a collection of almost 400 videos, its a little daunting to pick one to be the first one to reflect on in this new forum. So, I thought it best to start with a modern day adventure story about a company that has changed the world, told by one of the founders of the company. Check out The Akamai Story: From Theory to Practice by Tom Leighton. Akamais founders entered the MIT $50k competition (and lost) and today the company delivers tens of billions of daily web interactions on the web, (including MIT Worlds videos and MIT OpenCourseWares courses) on 20,000 servers in 71 countries. Leighton, who is co-founder and Chief Scientist at Akamai and a Professor of Applied Mathematics at MIT, tells it all the $50k competition, the business plans, the start up, the bubble, the personal tragedy of September 11th and the loss of co-founder Danny Lewin, the bubble bursting, and recovery. Akamai means clever and cool in Hawaiian â€" another thing they got right.

Child Abuse Prevention And Treatment Act - 1017 Words

There are many reports in the news media everyday reporting missing children, sexual abused children or children killed at the hands of the parents. Every parent or caregiver at some point in time get upset, disappointed, or exhausted, but should they result in hurting our children. There are far too many children unprotected in the world today, unexplained and often the intervention too late. Abuse and maltreatment of children have similar faces that may go unknown, silent or unseen. Is child abuse different from the today that n the past, which caused an increase of this type of abuse? Many children are unprotected form physical, sexual or emotional abuse, and by parents and friends. Is the problem with the Child Abuse†¦show more content†¦While physical abuse might be the most visible, other types of abuse, such as emotional abuse and neglect, also leave deep, lasting scars.† There are multiple problem in detecting child abuse and neglect. The firs t problem is distinguishing the types of child abuse and the affect or impact it has on a child. We must realize the importance of our role learn how to help protect a child in danger of abuse. There are four recognized forms of abuse, physical, sexual, neglect and mental. By understanding and identifying the types of child abuse will help with the mental growth of a child in becoming an adult. Child physical abuse happens when a child receives non-accidental physical injuries that may result in bruises, broken bones, sprains lifelong injury and death. Child sexual abuse occurs when there are contacts for sexual purposes, molestation, statutory rape, prostitution, pornography, exposure, incest, or other sexually exploitative activities. Sex abuse also includes children older or more powerful using another child for sexual gratification or excitement. Emotional abuse happens over time with a behavior, which can result in severe emotional harm or drama. Shaming or calli ng a child a name, criticizing, feeling unwanted, uninterested parents, bad language aim at the child causes some emotional abuse. This type of emotional abuse could result in obesity, low self-esteem, health problems, withdrawn and other physical and

Gram, Gram And C. Gram - 895 Words

Gram’s Stain was discovered in 1882, but published in 1884 by a Danish Bacteriologist Doctor by the name of Hans Christian Gram. Gram stumbled upon this method while he was examining some lung tissue from patients that had died of pneumonia. While examining this lung tissue Gram discovered that certain stains were more favorable and retained by the bacterial cells. It was only a few years later that Gram produced a staining procedure that he divided into two groups. The two groups divided almost all bacteria into what he called Gram positive (purple) and Gram negative (pink). The Gram’s staining procedure is still used today and is the method that forms the basis for identifying bacteria. In order to perform this procedure, you will need a Bunsen Burner or a Tirrill burner, alcohol- cleaned microscope slide, and water. You will also need The following reagents: Crystal violet, Gram’s iodine solution, 95% alcohol, and safranin. These stain reagents are important because they are used to determine the Gram reaction for microorganisms’ identification. Crystal violet will stain the bacterial cell, and Iodine will bind the stain. The alcohol differentiates bacteria retaining or not the crystal violet within the cell wall, and the safranin will be used as a counterstain to stain the bacteria. You are now ready to start you process. First you will need to light your burner to the hottest part of the flame before starting your gram stain. After the burner is lit you will move toShow MoreRelatedIdentify And Describe Three Groups Of Low G + C Gram Positive Bacteria1579 Words   |  7 PagesIdentify and describe three groups of low G+C Gram-positive bacteria. Clostridia: rod-shaped, obligate anaerobes, some form endospores, produce potent toxins that cause a variety of diseases in humans. Important in medicine industry (Botox oral plaque). Examples of clostridia include C. tetani (cause tetanus), C. perfringens ( causes gangrene), C. botulinum ( causes botulism) and C. difficle (severe diarrhea). Microbes related to Clostridium include: Epulopiscium - a giant bacterium that canRead MoreA Study On Nutrient Agar1078 Words   |  5 Pages37 ° C for 48 hours. This allowed for observation of the colony morphology. Separation of Gram-positive and Gram-negative The original unknown culture was streaked for isolation on Columbia CNA agar and MacConkey agar using a quadrant streak, inverted, and placed in a 37 ° C incubator for 48 hours. CNA agar contains a mix of colistin and nalidixic acid, as well as sheep blood. If there is poor or no growth on CNA agar, then the organism was inhibited by colistin and nalidixic acid and is Gram-negativeRead MoreDiffusion And Osmosis Lab Report1012 Words   |  5 Pageshypertonic, and isotonic hypothesis for the solution   made during the study,   four samples of sucrose were taken and placed into two different beakers each containing a different concentration. Then dialysis tubing A was placed into beaker 1 with B, C, and D placed into beaker 2 for 45 minutes and weighted at 15 minute intervals. My finding in the study was that each of the four samples changed from their initial weight and for the most part accurately proved the hypothesis. Introduction The studyRead MoreHealthy Nutrition Personal Food Intake Evaluation1003 Words   |  4 Pageswas 29 grams, 3 grams, and 21 grams; my respective breakfast intake of Carbohydrates was 80 grams, 11 grams, and 12 grams; and my respective breakfast intake of total Lipids was 53 grams, 36 grams, and 21 grams (Rinzler, 2004). On the three consecutive recorded days, my respective lunch intake of Protein was 17 grams, 28 grams, and 31 grams; my respective lunch intake of Carbohydrates was 27 grams, 38 grams, and 49 grams; and my respective lunch intake of total Lipids was 33 grams, 56 grams, and 22Read MoreOrganisms Of Two Unknown Bacterial Cultures Essay1700 Words   |  7 Pagesidentify the organisms of two unknown bacterial cultures. Students must identify the species of the unknown bacteria by utilizing the techniques and information learned in previous laboratory exercises. These techniques include streaking for isolation, Gram staining, and specific biochemical tests. Students are giv en a map known as a dichotomous key, a guide in determining the identity of their unknown sample. Identifying microbes using a series of biochemical tests, like those performed by studentsRead MoreLab Report : The Laboratory Experiment1277 Words   |  6 Pagesexpected to be able to correctly isolate and identify the two microorganisms, one Gram-positive and one Gram-negative, from a mixed culture the student receives. The mixed culture I received was number 21. From this unknown mixed culture, the possible Gram-positive organisms include: Clostridium perfringens, Corynebacterium xerosis, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Staphylococcus epidermis. The possible Gram-negative organisms include: Enterobacter aerogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, NeisseriaRead MoreSample Assignment1280 Words   |  6 Pagesoperator from decimal import * def get_top_most_frequent_ngrams(n_grams, f): Get the top f most frequent n-grams sorted_n_grams = sorted(n_grams.items(), key=operator.itemgetter(1)) sorted_n_grams.reverse() return sorted_n_grams[0:f - 1] def extract_character_n_grams(doctext, n): Parse a document text and get all the character n-grams along with their frequencies as a dictionary n_gram_dict = {} i = 0 while (i + n) len(doctext):Read MoreIdentification Of Bacteria Is Important For A Verity Of Reasons1459 Words   |  6 PagesStaphylococcus aureus is a gram-positive cocci although it is not usually harmful infections can occur especially in healthcare settings. This certain strains of this bacteria are resistant to some antibiotics this strain is called MRSA. Staphylococcus epidermidis also a gram-positive cocci and normally does not cause any maladies (Otto). Streptococcus pyogenes is a gram-positive cocci bacteria. Medical implications include necrotising facetious and sore throat. Bacillus subtilis is a gram positive rod bacteriaRead MoreTechniques Used For All Procedures During The Unknowns Exercise906 Words   |  4 Pagesthe quadrant streak technique on two Trypticase Soy Agar (TSA) plates. One of the plates was incubated aerobically and the other was incubated anaerobically, both at 37 ° C for twenty-four hours. Aseptic technique was used for all procedures du ring the unknowns exercise. All incubations during this experiment were set at 37  °C. On the second day of the unknowns experiment, the TSA plates were observed and their results were recorded. The aerobic TSA plate had a medium amount of growth and the coloniesRead MoreNormal Distribution and Multiple Vitamin1319 Words   |  6 Pagesskewed-right with mean = 10 minutes and standard error = 0.8 minutes. b) Distribution is skewed-right with mean = 10 minutes and standard error = 8 minutes. c) Distribution is approximately normal with mean = 10 minutes and standard error = 0.8 minutes. d) Distribution is approximately normal with mean = 10 minutes and standard error = 8 minutes. ANSWER: c 2. Suppose the ages of students in Statistics 101 follow a skewed-right distribution with a mean of 23 years and a standard deviation of 3 years. If we

Chapter 10 The Marauder’s Map Free Essays

Madam Pomfrey insisted on keeping Harry in the hospital wing for the rest of the weekend. He didn’t argue or complain, but he wouldn’t let her throw away the shattered remnants of his Nimbus Two Thousand. He knew he was being stupid, knew that the Nimbus was beyond repair, but Harry couldn’t help it; he felt as though he’d lost one of his best friends. We will write a custom essay sample on Chapter 10 The Marauder’s Map or any similar topic only for you Order Now He had a stream of visitors, all intent on cheering him up. Hagrid sent him a bunch of earwiggy flowers that looked like yellow cabbages, and Ginny Weasley, blushing furiously, turned up with a get-well card she had made herself, which sang shrilly unless Harry kept it shut under his bowl of fruit. The Gryffindor team visited again on Sunday morning, this time accompanied by Wood, who told Harry (in a hollow, dead sort of voice) that he didn’t blame him in the slightest. Ron and Hermione left Harry’s bedside only at night. But nothing anyone said or did could make Harry feel any better, because they knew only half of what was troubling him. He hadn’t told anyone about the Grim, not even Ron and Hermione, because he knew Ron would panic and Hermione would scoff. The fact remained, however, that it had now appeared twice, and both appearances had been followed by near-fatal accidents; the first time, he had nearly been run over by the Knight Bus; the second, fallen fifty feet from his broomstick. Was the Grim going to haunt him until he actually died? Was he going to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder for the beast? And then there were the Dementors. Harry felt sick and humiliated every time he thought of them. Everyone said the Dementors were horrible, but no one else collapsed every time they went near one. No one else heard echoes in their head of their dying parents. Because Harry knew who that screaming voice belonged to now. He had heard her words, heard them over and over again during the night hours in the hospital wing while he lay awake, staring at the strips of moonlight on the ceiling. When the Dementors approached him, he heard the last moments of his mother’s life, her attempts to protect him, Harry, from Lord Voldemort, and Voldemort’s laughter before he murdered her†¦Harry dozed fitfully, sinking into dreams full of clammy, rotted hands and petrified pleading, jerking awake to dwell again on his mother’s voice. It was a relief to return to the noise and bustle of the main school on Monday, where he was forced to think about other things, even if he had to endure Draco Malfoy’s taunting. Malfoy was almost beside himself with glee at Gryffindor’s defeat. He had finally taken off his bandages, and celebrated having the full use of both arms again by doing spirited imitations of Harry falling off his broom. Malfoy spent much of their next Potions class doing Dementor imitations across the dungeon; Ron finally cracked and flung a large, slippery crocodile heart at Malfoy, which hit him in the face and caused Snape to take fifty points from Gryffindor. â€Å"If Snape’s teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again, I’m skiving off,† said Ron as they headed toward Lupin’s classroom after lunch. â€Å"Check who’s in there, Hermione.† Hermione peered around the classroom door. â€Å"It’s okay!† Professor Lupin was back at work. It certainly looked as though he had been ill. His old robes were hanging more loosely on him and there were dark shadows beneath his eyes; nevertheless, he smiled at the class as they took their seats, and they burst at once into an explosion of complaints about Snape’s behavior while Lupin had been ill. â€Å"It’s not fair, he was only filling in, why should he give us homework?† â€Å"We don’t know anything about werewolves –â€Å" â€Å"– two rolls of parchment!† â€Å"Did you tell Professor Snape we haven’t covered them yet?† Lupin asked, frowning slightly. The babble broke out again. â€Å"Yes, but he said we were really behind –â€Å" â€Å"– he wouldn’t listen –â€Å" â€Å"– two rolls of parchment!† Professor Lupin smiled at the look of indignation on every face. â€Å"Don’t worry. I’ll speak to Professor Snape. You don’t have to do the essay.† â€Å"Oh no,† said Hermione, looking very disappointed. â€Å"I’ve already finished it!† They had a very enjoyable lesson. Professor Lupin had brought along a glass box containing a Hinkypunk, a little one-legged creature who looked as though he were made of wisps of smoke, rather frail and harmless looking. â€Å"Lures travelers into bogs,† said Professor Lupin as they took notes. â€Å"You notice the lantern dangling from his hand? Hops ahead — people follow the light — then –â€Å" The Hinkypunk made a horrible squelching noise against the glass. When the bell rang, everyone gathered up their things and headed for the door, Harry among them, but — â€Å"Wait a moment, Harry,† Lupin called. â€Å"I’d like a word.† Harry doubled back and watched Professor Lupin covering the Hinkypunk’s box with a cloth. â€Å"I heard about the match,† said Lupin, turning back to his desk and starting to pile books into his briefcase, â€Å"and I’m sorry about your broomstick. Is there any chance of fixing it?† â€Å"No,† said Harry. â€Å"The tree smashed it to bits.† Lupin sighed. â€Å"They planted the Whomping Willow the same year that I arrived at Hogwarts. People used to play a game, trying to get near enough to touch the trunk. In the end, a boy called Davey Gudgeon nearly lost an eye, and we were forbidden to go near it. No broomstick would have a chance.† â€Å"Did you hear about the Dementors too?† said Harry with difficulty. Lupin looked at him quickly. â€Å"Yes, I did. I don’t think any of us have seen Professor Dumbledore that angry. They have been growing restless for some time†¦furious at his refusal to let them inside the grounds†¦I suppose they were the reason you fell?† â€Å"Yes,† said Harry. He hesitated, and then the question he had to ask burst from him before he could stop himself. â€Å"Why? Why do they affect me like that? Am I just –?† â€Å"It has nothing to do with weakness,† said Professor Lupin sharply, as though he had read Harry’s mind. â€Å"The Dementors affect you worse than the others because there are horrors in your past that the others don’t have.† A ray of wintry sunlight fell across the classroom, illuminating Lupin’s gray hairs and the lines on his young face. â€Å"Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them. Even Muggles feel their presence, though they can’t see them. Get too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you. If it can, the Dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself — soul-less and evil. You’ll be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life. And the worst that happened to you, Harry, is enough to make anyone fall off their broom. You have nothing to feel ashamed of.† â€Å"When they get near me –† Harry stared at Lupin’s desk, his throat tight. â€Å"I can hear Voldemort murdering my mum.† Lupin made a sudden motion with his arm as though to grip Harry’s shoulder, but thought better of it. There was a moment’s silence, then — â€Å"Why did they have to come to the match?† said Harry bitterly. â€Å"They’re getting hungry,† said Lupin coolly, shutting his briefcase with a snap. â€Å"Dumbledore won’t let them into the school, so their supply of human prey has dried up†¦I don’t think they could resist the large crowd around the Quidditch field. All that excitement†¦emotions running high†¦it was their idea of a feast.† â€Å"Azkaban must be terrible,† Harry muttered. Lupin nodded grimly. â€Å"The fortress is set on a tiny island, way out to sea, but they don’t need walls and water to keep the prisoners in, not when they’re all trapped inside their own heads, incapable of a single cheery thought. Most of them go mad within weeks.† â€Å"But Sirius Black escaped from them,† Harry said slowly. â€Å"He got away†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Lupin’s briefcase slipped from the desk; he had to stoop quickly to catch it. â€Å"Yes,† he said, straightening up, â€Å"Black must have found a way to fight them. I wouldn’t have believed it possible†¦Dementors are supposed to drain a wizard of his powers if he is left with them too long†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"You made that Dementor on the train back off,† said Harry suddenly. â€Å"There are — certain defenses one can use,† said Lupin. â€Å"But there was only one Dementor on the train. The more there are, the more difficult it becomes to resist.† â€Å"What defenses?† said Harry at once. â€Å"Can you teach me?† â€Å"I don’t pretend to be an expert at fighting Dementors, Harry — quite the contrary†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"But if the Dementors come to another Quidditch match, I need to be able to fight them –â€Å" Lupin looked into Harry’s determined face, hesitated, then said, â€Å"Well†¦all right. I’ll try and help. But it’ll have to wait until next term, I’m afraid. I have a lot to do before the holidays. I chose a very inconvenient time to fall ill.† ****** What with the promise of anti-Dementor lessons from Lupin, the thought that he might never have to hear his mother’s death again, and the fact that Ravenclaw flattened Hufflepuff in their Quidditch match at the end of November, Harry’s mood took a definite upturn. Gryffindor were not out of the running after all, although they could not afford to lose another match. Wood became repossessed of his manic energy, and worked his team as hard as ever in the chilly haze of rain that persisted into December. Harry saw no hint of a Dementor within the grounds. Dumbledore’s anger seemed to be keeping them at their stations at the entrances. Two weeks before the end of the term, the sky lightened suddenly to a dazzling, opaline white and the muddy grounds were revealed one morning covered in glittering frost. Inside the castle, there was a buzz of Christmas in the air. Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, had already decorated his classroom with shimmering lights that turned out to be real, fluttering fairies. The students were all happily discussing their plans for the holidays. Both Ron and Hermione had decided to remain at Hogwarts, and though Ron said it was because he couldn’t stand two weeks with Percy, and Hermione insisted she needed to use the library, Harry wasn’t fooled; they were doing it to keep him company, and he was very grateful. To everyone’s delight except Harry’s, there was to be another Hogsmeade trip on the very last weekend of the term. â€Å"We can do all our Christmas shopping there!† said Hermione. â€Å"Mum and Dad would really love those Toothflossing Stringmints from Honeydukes!† Resigned to the fact that he would be the only third year staying behind again, Harry borrowed a copy of Which Broomstick from Wood, and decided to spend the day reading up on the different makes. He had been riding one of the school brooms at team practice, an ancient Shooting Star, which was very slow and jerky; he definitely needed a new broom of his own. On the Saturday morning of the Hogsmeade trip, Harry bid good-bye to Ron and Hermione, who were wrapped in cloaks and scarves, then turned up the marble staircase alone, and headed back toward Gryffindor Tower. Snow had started to fall outside the windows, and the castle was very still and quiet. â€Å"Psst — Harry!† He turned, halfway along the third-floor corridor, to see Fred and George peering out at him from behind a statue of a humpbacked, one-eyed witch. â€Å"What are you doing?† said Harry curiously. â€Å"How come you’re not going to Hogsmeade?† â€Å"We’ve come to give you a bit of festive cheer before we go,† said Fred, with a mysterious wink. â€Å"Come in here†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He nodded toward an empty classroom to the left of the one-eyed statue. Harry followed Fred and George inside. George closed the door quietly and then turned, beaming, to look at Harry. â€Å"Early Christmas present for you, Harry,† he said. Fred pulled something from inside his cloak with a flourish and laid it on one of the desks. It was a large, square, very worn piece of parchment with nothing written on it. Harry, suspecting one of Fred and George’s jokes, stared at it. â€Å"What’s that supposed to be?† â€Å"This, Harry, is the secret of our success,† said George, patting the parchment fondly. â€Å"It’s a wrench, giving it to you,† said Fred, â€Å"but we decided last night, your need’s greater than ours.† â€Å"Anyway, we know it by heart,† said George. â€Å"We bequeath it to you. We don’t really need it anymore.† â€Å"And what do I need with a bit of old parchment?† said Harry. â€Å"A bit of old parchment!† said Fred, closing his eyes with a grimace as though Harry had mortally offended him. â€Å"Explain, George.† â€Å"Well†¦when we were in our first year, Harry — young, carefree, and innocent –â€Å" Harry snorted. He doubted whether Fred and George had ever been innocent. â€Å"?C well, more innocent than we are now — we got into a spot of bother with Filch.† â€Å"We let off a Dungbomb in the corridor and it upset him for some reason –â€Å" â€Å"So he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual –â€Å" â€Å"– detention –â€Å" â€Å"– disembowelment –â€Å" â€Å"– and we couldn’t help noticing a drawer in one of his filing cabinets marked Confiscated and Highly Dangerous.† â€Å"Don’t tell me –† said Harry, starting to grin. â€Å"Well, what would you’ve done?† said Fred. â€Å"George caused a diversion by dropping another Dungbomb, I whipped the drawer open, and grabbed — this.† â€Å"It’s not as bad as it sounds, you know,† said George. â€Å"We don’t reckon Filch ever found out how to work it. He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn’t have confiscated it.† â€Å"And you know how to work it?† â€Å"Oh yes,† said Fred, smirking. â€Å"This little beauty’s taught us more than all the teachers in this school.† â€Å"You’re winding me up,† said Harry, looking at the ragged old bit of parchment. â€Å"Oh, are we?† said George. He took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly, and said, â€Å"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.† And at once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider’s web from the point that George’s wand had touched. They joined each other, they crisscrossed, they fanned into every corner of the parchment; then words began to blossom across the top, great, curly green words, that proclaimed: Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present THE MARAUDER’S MAP It was a map showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. But the truly remarkable thing were the tiny ink dots moving around it, each labeled with a name in minuscule writing. Astounded, Harry bent over it. A labeled dot in the top left corner showed that Professor Dumbledore was pacing his study; the caretaker’s cat, Mrs. Norris, was prowling the second floor; and Peeves the Poltergeist was currently bouncing around the trophy room. And as Harry’s eyes traveled up and down the familiar corridors, he noticed something else. This map showed a set of passages he had never entered. And many of them seemed to lead — â€Å"Right into Hogsmeade,† said Fred, tracing one of them with his finger. â€Å"There are seven in all. Now, Filch knows about these four† — he pointed them out — â€Å"but we’re sure we’re the only ones who know about these. Don’t bother with the one behind the mirror on the fourth floor. We used it until last winter, but it’s caved in — completely blocked. And we don’t reckon anyone’s ever used this one, because the Whomping Willow’s planted right over the entrance. But this one here, this one leads right into the cellar of Honeydukes. We’ve used it loads of times. And as you might’ve noticed, the entrance is right outside this room, through that one-eyed old crone’s hump.† â€Å"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs,† sighed George, patting the heading of the map. â€Å"We owe them so much.† â€Å"Noble men, working tirelessly to help a new generation of lawbreakers,† said Fred solemnly. â€Å"Right,† said George briskly. â€Å"Don’t forget to wipe it after you’ve used it –â€Å" â€Å"– or anyone can read it,† Fred said warningly. â€Å"Just tap it again and say, â€Å"Mischief managed!† And it’ll go blank.† â€Å"So, young Harry,† said Fred, in an uncanny impersonation of Percy, â€Å"mind you behave yourself.† â€Å"See you in Honeydukes,† said George, winking. They left the room, both smirking in a satisfied sort of way. Harry stood there, gazing at the miraculous map. He watched the tiny ink Mrs. Norris turn left and pause to sniff at something on the floor. If Filch really didn’t know†¦he wouldn’t have to pass the Dementors at all†¦. But even as he stood there, flooded with excitement, something Harry had once heard Mr. Weasley say came floating out of his memory. Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can’t see where it keeps its brain. This map was one of those dangerous magical objects Mr. Weasley had been warning against†¦Aids for Magical Mischief Makers†¦but then, Harry reasoned, he only wanted to use it to get into Hogsmeade, it wasn’t as though he wanted to steal anything or attack anyone†¦and Fred and George had been using it for years without anything horrible happening†¦ Harry traced the secret passage to Honeydukes with his finger. Then, quite suddenly, as though following orders, he rolled up the map, stuffed it inside his robes, and hurried to the door of the classroom. He opened it a couple of inches. There was no one outside. Very carefully, he edged out of the room and behind the statue of the one-eyed witch. What did he have to do? He pulled out the map again and saw to his astonishment, that a new ink figure had appeared upon it, labeled ‘Harry Potter’. This figure was standing exactly where the real Harry was standing, about halfway down the third-floor corridor. Harry watched carefully. His little Ink self appeared to be tapping the witch with his minute wand. Harry quickly took out his real wand and tapped the statue. Nothing happened. He looked back at the map. The tiniest speech bubble had appeared next to his figure. The word inside said, ‘Dissendium.’ â€Å"Dissendium!† Harry whispered, tapping the stone witch again. At once, the statue’s hump opened wide enough to admit a fairly thin person. Harry glanced quickly up and down the corridor, then tucked the map away again, hoisted himself into the hole headfirst, and pushed himself forward. He slid a considerable way down what felt like a stone slide, then landed on cold, damp earth. He stood up, looking around. It was pitch dark. He held up his wand, muttered, â€Å"Lumos!† and saw that he was in a very narrow, low, earthy passageway. He raised the map, tapped it with the tip of his wand, and muttered, â€Å"Mischief managed!† The map went blank at once. He folded it carefully, tucked it inside his robes, then, heart beating fast, both excited and apprehensive, he set off. The passage twisted and turned, more like the burrow of a giant rabbit than anything else. Harry hurried along it, stumbling now and then on the uneven floor, holding his wand out in front of him. It took ages, but Harry had the thought of Honeydukes to sustain him. After what felt like an hour, the passage began to rise. Panting, Harry sped up, his face hot, his feet very cold. Ten minutes later, he came to the foot of some worn stone steps, which rose out of sight above him. Careful not to make any noise, Harry began to climb. A hundred steps, two hundred steps, he lost count as he climbed, watching his feet†¦then, without warning, his head hit something hard. It seemed to be a trapdoor. Harry stood there, massaging the top of his head, listening. He couldn’t hear any sounds above him. Very slowly, he pushed the trapdoor open and peered over the edge. He was in a cellar, which was full of wooden crates and boxes. Harry climbed out of the trapdoor and replaced it — it blended so perfectly with the dusty floor that it was impossible to tell it was there. Harry crept slowly toward the wooden staircase that led upstairs. Now he could definitely hear voices, not to mention the tinkle of a bell and the opening and shutting of a door. Wondering what he ought to do, he suddenly heard a door open much closer at hand; somebody was about to come downstairs. â€Å"And get another box of Jelly Slugs, dear, they’ve nearly cleaned us out –† said a woman’s voice. A pair of feet was coming down the staircase. Harry leapt behind an enormous crate and waited for the footsteps to pass. He heard the man shifting boxes against the opposite wall. He might not get another chance — Quickly and silently, Harry dodged out from his hiding place and climbed the stairs; looking back, he saw an enormous backside and shiny bald head, buried in a box. Harry reached the door at the top of the stairs, slipped through it, and found himself behind the counter of Honeydukes — he ducked, crept sideways, and then straightened up. Honeydukes was so crowded with Hogwarts students that no one looked twice at Harry. He edged among them, looking around, and suppressed a laugh as he imagined the look that would spread over Dudley’s piggy face if he could see where Harry was now. There were shelves upon shelves of the most succulent-looking sweets imaginable. Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-colored toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavor Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizbees, the levitating sherbet balls that Ron had mentioned; along yet another wall were ‘Special Effects’ — sweets: Droobles Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell-colored bubbles that refused to pop for days), the strange, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps (‘breathe fire for your friends!’), Ice Mice (‘hear your teeth chatter and squeak!’), peppermint creams shaped like toads (‘hop realistically in the stomach!’), fragile sugar-spun quills, and exploding bonbons. Harry squeezed himself through a crowd of sixth years and saw a sign hanging in the farthest corner of the shop (UNUSUAL TASTES). Ron and Hermione were standing underneath it, examining a tray of blood-flavored lollipops. Harry sneaked up behind them. â€Å"Ugh, no, Harry won’t want one of those, they’re for vampires, I expect,† Hermione was saying. â€Å"How about these?† said Ron, shoving a jar of Cockroach Clusters under Hermione’s nose. â€Å"Definitely not,† said Harry. Ron nearly dropped the jar. â€Å"Harry!† squealed Hermione. â€Å"What are you doing here? How — how did you –?† â€Å"Wow!† said Ron, looking very impressed, â€Å"you’ve learned to Apparate!† â€Å"‘Course I haven’t,† said Harry. He dropped his voice so that none of the sixth years could hear him and told them all about the Marauder’s Map. â€Å"How come Fred and George never gave it to me!† said Ron, outraged. â€Å"I’m their brother!† â€Å"But Harry isn’t going to keep it!† said Hermione, as though the idea were ludicrous. â€Å"He’s going to hand it in to Professor McGonagall, aren’t you, Harry?† â€Å"No, I’m not!† said Harry. â€Å"Are you mad?† said Ron, goggling at Hermione. â€Å"Hand in something that good?† â€Å"If I hand it in, I’ll have to say where I got it! Filch would know Fred and George had nicked it!† â€Å"But what about Sirius Black?† Hermione hissed. â€Å"He could be using one of the passages on that map to get into the castle! The teachers have got to know!† â€Å"He can’t be getting in through a passage,† said Harry quickly. â€Å"There are seven secret tunnels on the map, right? Fred and George reckon Filch already knows about four of them. And of the other three — one of them’s caved in, so no one can get through it. One of them’s got the Whomping Willow planted over the entrance, so you can’t get out of it. And the one I just came through — well — it’s really hard to see the entrance to it down in the cellar — so unless he knew it was there –â€Å" Harry hesitated. What if Black did know the passage was there? Ron, however, cleared his throat significantly, and pointed to a notice pasted on the inside of the sweetshop door. BY ORDER OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC Customers are reminded that until further notice, Dementors will be patrolling the streets of Hogsmeade every night after sundown. This measure has been put in place for the safety of Hogsmeade residents and will be lifted upon the recapture of Sirius Black. It is therefore advisable that you complete your shopping well before nightfall. Merry Christmas! â€Å"See?† said Ron quietly. â€Å"I’d like to see Black try and break into Honeydukes with Dementors swarming all over the village. Anyway, Hermione, the Honeydukes owners would hear a break-in, wouldn’t they? They live over the shop!† â€Å"Yes, but — but –† Heroine seemed to be struggling to find another problem. â€Å"Look, Harry still shouldn’t be coming into Hogsmeade. He hasn’t got a signed form! If anyone finds out, he’ll be in so much trouble! And it’s not nightfall yet — what if Sirius Black turns up today? Now?† â€Å"He’d have a job spotting Harry in this,† said Ron, nodding through the mullioned windows at the thick, swirling snow. â€Å"Come on, Hermione, it’s Christmas. Harry deserves a break.† Hermione bit her lip, looking extremely worried. â€Å"Are you going to report me?† Harry asked her, grinning. â€Å"Oh — of course not — but honestly, Harry –â€Å" â€Å"Seen the Fizzing Whizbees, Harry?† said Ron, grabbing him and leading him over to their barrel. â€Å"And the Jelly Slugs? And the Acid Pops? Fred gave me one of those when I was seven — it burnt a hole right through my tongue. I remember Mum walloping him with her broomstick.† Ron stared broodingly into the Acid Pop box. â€Å"Reckon Fred’d take a bite of Cockroach Cluster if I told him they were peanuts?† When Ron and Hermione had paid for all their sweets, the three of them left Honeydukes for the blizzard outside. Hogsmeade looked like a Christmas card; the little thatched cottages and shops were all covered in a layer of crisp snow; there were holly wreaths on the doors and strings of enchanted candles hanging in the trees. Harry shivered; unlike the other two, he didn’t have his cloak. They headed up the street, heads bowed against the wind, Ron and Hermione shouting through their scarves. â€Å"That’s the post office –â€Å" â€Å"Zonko’s is up there –â€Å" â€Å"We could go up to the Shrieking Shack –â€Å" â€Å"Tell you what,† said Ron, his teeth chattering, â€Å"shall we go for a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks?† Harry was more than willing; the wind was fierce and his hands were freezing, so they crossed the road, and in a few minutes were entering the tiny inn. It was extremely crowded, noisy, warm, and smoky. A curvy sort of woman with a pretty face was serving a bunch of rowdy warlocks up at the bar. â€Å"That’s Madam Rosmerta,† said Ron. â€Å"I’ll get the drinks, shall I?† he added, going slightly red. Harry and Hermione made their way to the back of the room, where there was a small, vacant table between the window and a handsome Christmas tree, which stood next to the fireplace. Ron came back five minutes later, carrying three foaming tankards of hot butterbeer. â€Å"Merry Christmas!† he said happily, raising his tankard. Harry drank deeply. It was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted and seemed to heat every bit of him from the inside. A sudden breeze ruffled his hair. The door of the Three Broomsticks had opened again. Harry looked over the rim of his tankard and choked. Professors McGonagall and Flitwick had just entered the pub with a flurry of snowflakes, shortly followed by Hagrid, who was deep in conversation with a portly man in a lime-green bowler hat and a pinstriped cloak — Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic. In an instant, Ron and Hermione had both placed hands on the top of Harry’s head and forced him off his stool and under the table. Dripping with butterbeer and crouching out of sight, Harry clutched his empty tankard and watched the teachers’ and Fudge’s feet move toward the bar, pause, then turn and walk right toward him. Somewhere above him, Hermione whispered, â€Å"Mobiliarbus!† The Christmas tree beside their table rose a few inches off the ground, drifted sideways, and landed with a soft thump right in front of their table, hiding them from view. Staring through the dense lower branches, Harry saw four sets of chair legs move back from the table right beside theirs, then heard the grunts and sighs of the teachers and minister as they sat down. Next he saw another pair of feet, wearing sparkly turquoise high heels, and heard a woman’s voice. â€Å"A small gillywater –â€Å" â€Å"Mine,† said Professor McGonagall’s voice. â€Å"Four pints of mulled mead –â€Å" â€Å"Ta, Rosmerta,† said Hagrid. â€Å"A cherry syrup and soda with ice and umbrella –â€Å" â€Å"Mmm!† said Professor Flitwick, smacking his lips. â€Å"So you’ll be the red currant rum, Minister.† â€Å"Thank you, Rosmerta, m’dear,† said Fudge’s voice. â€Å"Lovely to see you again, I must say. Have one yourself, won’t you? Come and join us†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Well, thank you very much, Minister.† Harry watched the glittering heels march away and back again. His heart was pounding uncomfortably in his throat. Why hadn’t it occurred to him that this was the last weekend of term for the teachers too? And how long were they going to sit there? He needed time to sneak back into Honeydukes if he wanted to return to school tonight †¦ Hermione’s leg gave a nervous twitch next to him. â€Å"So, what brings you to this neck of the woods, Minister?† came Madam Rosmerta’s voice. Harry saw the lower part of Fudge’s thick body twist in his chair as though he were checking for eavesdroppers. Then he said in a quiet voice, â€Å"What else, m’dear, but Sirius Black? I daresay you heard what happened up at the school at Halloween?† â€Å"I did hear a rumor,† admitted Madam Rosmerta. â€Å"Did you tell the whole pub, Hagrid?† said Professor McGonagall exasperatedly. â€Å"Do you think Black’s still in the area, Minister?† whispered Madam Rosmerta. â€Å"I’m sure of it,† said Fudge shortly. â€Å"You know that the Dementors have searched the whole village twice?† said Madam Rosmerta, a slight edge to her voice. â€Å"Scared all my customers away†¦It’s very bad for business, Minister.† â€Å"Rosmerta, dear, I don’t like them any more than you do,† said Fudge uncomfortably. â€Å"Necessary precaution†¦ unfortunate, but there you are†¦I’ve just met some of them. They’re in a fury against Dumbledore — he won’t let them inside the castle grounds.† â€Å"I should think not,† said Professor McGonagall sharply. â€Å"How are we supposed to teach with those horrors floating around?† â€Å"Hear, hear!† squeaked tiny Professor Flitwick, whose feet were dangling a foot from the ground. â€Å"All the same,† demurred Fudge, â€Å"they are here to protect you all from something much worse†¦We all know what Black’s capable of†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Do you know, I still have trouble believing it,† said Madam Rosmerta thoughtfully. â€Å"Of all the people to go over to the Dark Side, Sirius Black was the last I’d have thought†¦I mean, I remember him when he was a boy at Hogwarts. If you’d told me then what he was going to become, I’d have said you’d had too much mead.† â€Å"You don’t know the half of it, Rosmerta,† said Fudge gruffly. â€Å"The worst he did isn’t widely known.† â€Å"The worst?† said Madam Rosmerta, her voice alive with curiosity. â€Å"Worse than murdering all those poor people, you mean?† â€Å"I certainly do,† said Fudge. â€Å"I can’t believe that. What could possibly be worse?† â€Å"You say you remember him at Hogwarts, Rosmerta,† murmured Professor McGonagall. â€Å"Do you remember who his best friend was?† â€Å"Naturally,† said Madam Rosmerta, with a small laugh. â€Å"Never saw one without the other, did you? The number of times I had them in here — ooh, they used to make me laugh. Quite the double act, Sirius Black and James Potter!† Harry dropped his tankard with a loud clunk. Ron kicked him. â€Å"Precisely,† said Professor McGonagall. â€Å"Black and Potter. Ringleaders of their little gang. Both very bright, of course — exceptionally bright, in fact — but I don’t think we’ve ever had such a pair of troublemakers –â€Å" â€Å"I dunno,† chuckled Hagrid. â€Å"Fred and George Weasley could give ’em a run fer their money.† â€Å"You’d have thought Black and Potter were brothers!† chimed in Professor Flitwick. â€Å"Inseparable!† â€Å"Of course they were,† said Fudge. â€Å"Potter trusted Black beyond all his other friends. Nothing changed when they left school. Black was best man when James married Lily. Then they named him godfather to Harry. Harry has no idea, of course. You can imagine how the idea would torment him.† â€Å"Because Black turned out to be in league with You-Know-Who?† whispered Madam Rosmerta. â€Å"Worse even than that, m’dear†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Fudge dropped his voice and proceeded in a sort of low rumble. â€Å"Not many people are aware that the Potters knew You-Know-Who was after them. Dumbledore, who was of course working tirelessly against You-Know-Who, had a number of useful spies. One of them tipped him off, and he alerted James and Lily at once. He advised them to go into hiding. Well, of course, You-Know-Who wasn’t an easy person to hide from. Dumbledore told them that their best chance was the Fidelius Charm.† â€Å"How does that work?† said Madam Rosmerta, breathless with interest. Professor Flitwick cleared his throat. â€Å"An immensely complex spell,† he said squeakily, â€Å"involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret-Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find — unless, of course, the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it. As long as the Secret-Keeper refused to speak, You-Know-Who could search the village where Lily and James were staying for years and never find them, not even if he had his nose pressed against their sitting room window!† â€Å"So Black was the Potters’ Secret-Keeper?† whispered Madam Rosmerta. â€Å"Naturally,† said Professor McGonagall. â€Å"James Potter told Dumbledore that Black would die rather than tell where they were, that Black was planning to go into hiding himself†¦and yet, Dumbledore remained worried. I remember him offering to be the Potters’ Secret-Keeper himself.† â€Å"He suspected Black?† gasped Madam Rosmerta. â€Å"He was sure that somebody close to the Potters had been keeping You-Know-Who informed of their movements,† said Professor McGonagall darkly. â€Å"Indeed, he had suspected for some time that someone on our side had turned traitor and was passing a lot of information to You-Know-Who.† â€Å"But James Potter insisted on using Black?† â€Å"He did,† said Fudge heavily. â€Å"And then, barely a week after the Fidelius Charm had been performed –â€Å" â€Å"Black betrayed them?† breathed Madam Rosmerta. â€Å"He did indeed. Black was tired of his double-agent role, he was ready to declare his support openly for You-Know-Who, and he seems to have planned this for the moment of the Potters’ death. But, as we all know, You-Know-Who met his downfall in little Harry Potter. Powers gone, horribly weakened, he fled. And this left Black in a very nasty position indeed. His master had fallen at the very moment when he, Black, had shown his true colors as a traitor. He had no choice but to run for it –â€Å" â€Å"Filthy, stinkin’ turncoat!† Hagrid said, so loudly that half the bar went quiet. â€Å"Shh!† said Professor McGonagall. â€Å"I met him!† growled Hagrid. â€Å"I musta bin the last ter see him before he killed all them people! It was me what rescued Harry from Lily an’ James’s house after they was killed! Jus’ got him outta the ruins, poor little thing, with a great slash across his forehead, an’ his parents dead†¦an’ Sirius Black turns up, on that flyin’ motorbike he used ter ride. Never occurred ter me what he was doin’ there. I didn’ know he’d bin Lily an’ James’s Secret-Keeper. Thought he’d jus’ heard the news o’ You-Know-Who’s attack an’ come ter see what he could do. White an’ shakin’, he was. An’ yeh know what I did? I COMFORTED THE MURDERIN’ TRAITOR!† Hagrid roared. â€Å"Hagrid, please!† said Professor McGonagall. â€Å"Keep your voice down!† â€Å"How was I ter know he wasn’ upset abou’ Lily an’ James? It was You-Know-Who he cared abou’! An’ then he says, â€Å"Give Harry ter me, Hagrid, I’m his godfather, I’ll look after him –† Ha! But I’d had me orders from Dumbledore, an’ I told Black no, Dumbledore said Harry was ter go ter his aunt an’ uncle’s. Black argued, but in the end he gave in. Told me ter take his motorbike ter get Harry there. â€Å"I won’t need it anymore,† he says. â€Å"I shoulda known there was somethin’ fishy goin’ on then. He loved that motorbike, what was he givin’ it ter me for? Why wouldn’ he need it anymore? Fact was, it was too easy ter trace. Dumbledore knew he’d bin the Potters’ Secret-Keeper. Black knew he was goin’ ter have ter run fer it that night, knew it was a matter o’ hours before the Ministry was after him. â€Å"But what if I’d given Harry to him, eh? I bet he’d’ve pitched him off the bike halfway out ter sea. His bes’ friends’ son! But when a wizard goes over ter the Dark Side, there’s nothin’ and no one that matters to em anymore†¦Ã¢â‚¬  A long silence followed Hagrid’s story. Then Madam Rosmerta said with some satisfaction, â€Å"But he didn’t manage to disappear, did he? The Ministry of Magic caught up with him next day!† â€Å"Alas, if only we had,† said Fudge bitterly. â€Å"It was not we who found him. It was little Peter Pettigrew — another of the Potters’ friends. Maddened by grief, no doubt, and knowing that Black had been the Potters’ Secret-Keeper, he went after Black himself.† â€Å"Pettigrew†¦that fat little boy who was always tagging around after them at Hogwarts?† said Madam Rosmerta. â€Å"Hero-worshipped Black and Potter,† said Professor McGonagall. â€Å"Never quite in their league, talent-wise. I was often rather sharp with him. You can imagine how I — how I regret that now†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She sounded as though she had a sudden head cold. â€Å"There, now, Minerva,† said Fudge kindly, â€Å"Pettigrew died a hero’s death. Eyewitnesses — Muggles, of course, we wiped their memories later — told us how Pettigrew cornered Black. They say he was sobbing, ‘Lily and James, Sirius! How could you?’ And then he went for his wand. Well, of course, Black was quicker. Blew Pettigrew to smithereens†¦.† Professor McGonagall blew her nose and said thickly, â€Å"Stupid boy†¦foolish boy†¦he was always hopeless at dueling†¦should have left it to the Ministry †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I tell yeh, if I’d got ter Black before little Pettigrew did, I wouldn’t’ve messed around with wands — I’d ‘ve ripped him limb — from — limb,† Hagrid growled. â€Å"You don’t know what you’re talking about, Hagrid,† said Fudge sharply. â€Å"Nobody but trained Hit Wizards from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad would have stood a chance against Black once he was cornered. I was Junior Minister in the Department of Magical Catastrophes at the time, and I was one of the first on the scene after Black murdered all those people. I — I will never forget it. I still dream about it sometimes. A crater in the middle of the street, so deep it had cracked the sewer below. Bodies everywhere. Muggles screaming. And Black standing there laughing, with what was left of Pettigrew in front of him†¦a heap of bloodstained robes and a few — a few fragments –â€Å" Fudge’s voice stopped abruptly. There was the sound of five noses being blown. â€Å"Well, there you have it, Rosmerta,† said Fudge thickly. â€Å"Black was taken away by twenty members of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad and Pettigrew received the Order of Merlin, First Class, which I think was some comfort to his poor mother. Black’s been in Azkaban ever since.† Madam Rosmerta let out a long sigh. â€Å"Is it true he’s mad, Minister?† â€Å"I wish I could say that he was,† said Fudge slowly. â€Å"I certainly believe his master’s defeat unhinged him for a while. The murder of Pettigrew and all those Muggles was the action of a cornered and desperate man — cruel†¦ pointless. Yet I met Black on my last inspection of Azkaban. You know, most of the prisoners in there sit muttering to themselves in the dark; there’s no sense in them†¦but I was shocked at how normal Black seemed. He spoke quite rationally to me. It was unnerving. You’d have thought he was merely bored — asked if I’d finished with my newspaper, cool as you please, said he missed doing the crossword. Yes, I was astounded at how little effect the Dementors seemed to be having on him — and he was one of the most heavily guarded in the place, you know. Dementors outside his door day and night.† â€Å"But what do you think he’s broken out to do?† said Madam Rosmerta. â€Å"Good gracious, Minister, he isn’t trying to rejoin You-Know-Who, is he?† â€Å"I daresay that is his — er — eventual plan,† said Fudge evasively. â€Å"But we hope to catch Black long before that. I must say, You-Know-Who alone and friendless is one thing†¦but give him back his most devoted servant, and I shudder to think how quickly he’ll rise again†¦Ã¢â‚¬  There was a small chink of glass on wood. Someone had set down their glass. â€Å"You know, Cornelius, if you’re dining with the headmaster, we’d better head back up to the castle,† said Professor McGonagall. One by one, the pairs of feet in front of Harry took the weight of their owners once more; hems of cloaks swung into sight, and Madam Rosmerta’s glittering heels disappeared behind the bar. The door of the Three Broomsticks opened again, there was another flurry of snow, and the teachers had disappeared. â€Å"Harry?† Ron’s and Hermione’s faces appeared under the table. They were both staring at him, lost for words. How to cite Chapter 10 The Marauder’s Map, Essay examples

Surviving Teenage Year Agenda Question free essay sample

What would you do if you discovered your teenager was using drugs or alcohol? * I would educate my teen about drugs through facts. Living the same standards of not using any drugs myself, would help the cooperation of my teen. Lastly I would notice my teen that I am worried about their condition. 2. What would you do if your teen spoke rudely to you? * Behavior such as this will not be tolerated. I will work to understand my teen’s frustration in my own behavior. It is also important to not show any negativity to the child. 3. What would you do if you did not like the way your teen dressed? * Understanding their perspective would be most important in this condition. As I know, soon they will be an adult; I will understand that they are expanding their relationship from me. Instead of confronting them immediately, I will try to understand the style of clothing teens appeal to during that period of time. We will write a custom essay sample on Surviving Teenage Year Agenda Question or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 4. What would you do if you notice that your teen was depressed for a long period of time? Being present in their depression would improve teen’s trust towards your, making you an available choice for love and comfort. Listening to a teen is also important as they are willing to share. Their expression should not be ignored but instead, understood. 5. What kind of conflicts do you have with your parents? What can your parents do to improve the situation? What can you do? * Conflicts cross when I am judged by my characteristics. I think it’s important for my parents to give me some room to explore. If this deal is met I will try my best to cooperate to their demands.

Visa para recibir tratamiento médico en Estados Unidos

Visa para recibir tratamiento mà ©dico en Estados Unidos Las personas extranjeras que residen habitualmente fuera de los Estados Unidos y que desean ingresar al paà ­s para recibir tratamiento mà ©dico  deben  hacerlo con estatus de turista. Es decir, no hay una visa mà ©dica o una visa humanitaria. En este artà ­culo se informa sobre las diferentes opciones para ingresar como turista en los Estados Unidos y los problemas que pueden surgir tanto a la hora de solicitar una visa como cuando ya se tiene y se debe evitar situaciones que den lugar a su cancelacià ³n,   incluidos los casos especà ­ficos de tener un bebà © en Estados Unidos cuando la mam tiene estatus migratorio de turista. Ingresar como turista en Estados Unidos para recibir tratamiento mà ©dico Las siguientes opciones no aplican a los ciudadanos canadienses, para quienes estn previstas otras   reglas. Para el resto de extranjeros estas son las opciones para ingresar como turista a los Estados Unidos: La primera opcià ³n y que va a aplicar a la mayorà ­a de los extranjeros, es sacar la visa de turista.  tambià ©n conocida como visa B2,   de paseo o placer.  En casos de urgencia para recibir el tratamiento mà ©dico, hay un protocolo previsto en los consulados para resolver estas solicitudes cuanto antes. Es muy comà ºn que cuando se ingresa con esta visa se reciba autorizacià ³n para permanecer en los Estados Unidos 180 dà ­as, pero no siempre es asà ­. Por ello es importante verificar la fecha fijada en el I-94, conocido tambià ©n como registro de ingreso y de salida. Nunca fiarse por la fecha de expiracià ³n del visado, que realmente significa otra cosa. Si una vez que se est en el hospital la estancia necesita alargarse, puede pedirse una extensià ³n. Los hospitales generalmente ayudan con este trmite. Si por razones de causa mayor no se salià ³ de Estados Unidos a tiempo ni se pidià ³ la extensià ³n, podrà ­a en algunos casos pedirse la restauracià ³n de estatus. Una segunda posibilidad sà ³lo posible para mexicanos o residentes permanentes en Mà ©xico que viven a lo largo de la frontera con Estados Unidos es ingresar con una visa lser, tambià ©n conocida como tarjeta de cruce. En estos casos el lugar donde se puede recibir el tratamiento est limitado a un nà ºmero de millas a contar desde la là ­nea fronteriza y tambià ©n est restringido el nà ºmero de dà ­as que se puede permanecer en Estados Unidos. Y finalmente, una tercera posibilidad es entrar como turista sin visa, por un mximo no extensible de 90 dà ­as. Para ello es necesario ser ciudadano de uno de la treintena de paà ­ses que pertenecen al Programa de Exencià ³n de Visas (VWP, por sus siglas en inglà ©s). Pero hay que tener muy claro que la estancia no se puede alargar, bajo ninguna circunstancia, ms de tres meses a contar desde el dà ­a de entrada a EEUU.   Si se llega por avià ³n hay que solicitar previamente una autorizacià ³n para volar, que se conoce como ESTA. En estos momentos esta opcià ³n solo aplica a chilenos, espaà ±oles y tambià ©n a algunas personas con doble nacionalidad y que por esa circunstancia uno de sus pasaportes es de un paà ­s incluido en el VWP. Problemas para ingresar a Estados Unidos como turista para recibir tratamiento mà ©dico En el caso de viajar sin visa por el programa que dispensa a los ciudadanos de 38 paà ­ses de este requisito los problemas pueden surgir de 2 formas. En primer lugar si un oficial de migracià ³n en un puerto de entrada considera que no se tienen ingresos suficientes para recibir el tratamiento y existe un riesgo de que esa persona se convierta en una carga pà ºblica.  En este caso se puede negar la entrada a Estados Unidos por ser inadmisible. El segundo problema puede surgir si los 90 dà ­as no son suficientes para completar el tratamiento mà ©dico y es que bajo ninguna circunstancia se puede sacar una visa en Estados Unidos o extender esa estancia de 3 meses. Por esta razà ³n se debe solicitar una visa de turista si el tratamiento va a durar ms tiempo, ya que debe evitarse quedar ms tiempo del permitido debido a sus graves consecuencias. En el caso de tener que solicitar una visa de turista los problemas pueden surgir ya al solicitarla. Es necesario ser considerado elegible para el visado y tambià ©n admisible para ingresar a los Estados Unidos. Respecto a esto à ºltimo, es importante poder demostrar ingresos o recursos para costear el tratamiento. Hay que evitar crear la sospecha de que se va a ser una carga econà ³mica para el gobierno de los Estados Unidos si la visa es aprobada.    Por lo tanto, estar en condicià ³n de acreditar uno o varios de los siguientes medios de pago: Seguro mà ©dicoIngresos o patrimonio propio o familiarDinero aportado por el gobierno del paà ­s al que uno pertenece, una ONG nacional o extranjera, etc. Ni las oficinas consulares de los Estados Unidos estn autorizadas a conceder visas para recibir tratamiento mà ©dico a personas que no pueden sufragar gastos mà ©dicos ni los hospitales van ha admitir ingresos sin  asegurarse el pago. Una vez que se tiene la visa de turista, à ©sta puede ser cancelada o revocada por muchas causas. Pero la ms comà ºn es quedarse ms tiempo del permitido.   Asimismo, puede haber problemas por ingresar con demasiada frecuencia. Para evitarlo, llevar siempre prueba que acredite el tratamiento mà ©dico y el pago de facturas. El caso comà ºn de ingresar  a Estados Unidos a tener un hijo Todos los dà ­as entran a EEUU decenas de mujeres extranjeras en las à ºltimas fases de sus embarazos para dar a luz, o como dicen en algunos paà ­ses, a aliviarse. Es una prctica comà ºn y legal que brinda un gran beneficio: la ciudadanà ­a estadounidense para el bebà © que nace en Estados Unidos. Pero hay que tener en cuenta ciertas circunstancias, para evitar problemas con el gobierno.   De interà ©s para los pacientes de cncer y sus familiares Las estadà ­sticas muestran que uno de los tratamientos que ms reciben en Estados Unidos los pacientes extranjeros tiene que ver con el cncer. Estos son los top  10 hospitales  para tratamiento de esta enfermedad.  Muchos de ellos tienen un departamento dedicado a ayudar a los pacientes internacionales en sus gestiones y un servicio que habla espaà ±ol. Este es un artà ­culo informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal.

Definition and Examples of Degree Modifiers in English

Definition and Examples of Degree Modifiers in English In English grammar, a degree modifier is a word (such as very, rather, fairly, quite, somewhat, pretty, sort of, and  kind of) that can precede adjectives and adverbs to indicate the degree or extent to which they apply. Also known as a  degree adverb(ial) and a degree word. The degree modifiers are adverbs that normally modify gradable words and answer the question How? How far? or How much? See Examples and Observations below. Also see: Adverb of EmphasisDowntonerIndirectnessIntensifierModification Modifier and  Premodifier QualifierSubmodifierTotally Overworked WordsVerbal Hedge Examples and Observations The good thing about Camp Catoctin was that it was  pretty small  overall. It was fairly easy to find your way around, even in the dark.(Beth Harbison, Thin, Rich, Pretty. St. Martins Press, 2010) Susie Van Berg was  awfully pretty, and  awfully kind.(Patricia Wentworth, Outrageous Fortune, 1933)Young love is a flame; very pretty, often very hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. The love of the older and disciplined heart is as coals, deep-burning, unquenchable.(Henry Ward Beecher, Notes from Plymouth Pulpit, 1859)I addressed a question to him but he shook his head without speaking and gave me a  sort of sad smile- a lost world of a smile.(Lawrence Durrell, Tunc, 1968) His uniform was  a little too big, his black shoes a little too shiny, the crease in his troopers hat a little too perfect.(Scott Smith, A Simple Plan. Knopf, 1993) When a man asks himself what is meant by action he proves that he isnt a man of action. Action is a lack of balance. In order to act you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking.(Georges Clemenceau, 1928) Intensifiers and DowntonersAdverbs of degree describe the extent of a characteristic. They can be used to emphasize that a characteristic is either greater or less than some typical level: Its insulated slightly with polystyrene behind. (CONV) They thoroughly deserved a draw last night. (NEWS)Degree adverbs that increase intensity are called amplifiers or intensifiers. Some of these modify gradable adjectives and indicate degrees on a scale. They include more, very, so, extremely. . . .Degree adverbs which decrease the effect of the modified item are called diminishers or downtoners. As with intensifiers, these adverbs indicate degrees on a scale and are used with gradable adjectives. They include less, slightly, somewhat, rather, and quite (in the sense of to some extent.) . . . Downtoners are related to hedges (like kind of). That is, they indicate that the modified item is not being used precisely. . . .Other degree adverbs that lessen the impact of the modified item are almost, nearly, pretty, and far from.(Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad, and Geoffrey Leech, Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Pearson, 2002) Context Dependency of Degree ModifiersDegree modifiers . . . give specifications of degree concerning  the adjectives they modify. Adverbs such as very, extremely, absolutely  scale  adjectival properties upwards,  whereas other adverbs, such as slightly, a little, somewhat scale adjectival properties downwards. Rather, quite, fairly, and pretty set the qualities that gradable adjectives denote to a moderate level. Along with moderately and relatively, these degree modifiers are known as moderators (Paradis 1997).Like most degree modifiers,  rather, quite, fairly, and  pretty  are typologically unstable because they do not always neatly fit in the functional categories that linguists have assigned them. For example, quite is likely to be interpreted as a maximizer when it modifies an extreme/absolutive adjective (this novel is quite excellent) or a telic/limit/liminal adjective (quite sufficient), but it is likely to be a moderator when it modifies a scalar adjective ( quite big) (Paradis 1997:87). Past research has shown that context dependency  between adverbs and adjectives is not always decisive. It is often impossible to decide whether quite is a maximizer or a moderator. For example, quite is ambiguous when it modifies the adjective different (Allerton 1987:25). . . . Similarly, rather, pretty, and fairly can scale upwards or downwards . . ..(Guillaume Desagulier, Visualizing Distances in a Set of Near-Synonyms: Rather, Quite, Fairly, and Pretty.  Corpus Methods for Semantics: Quantitative Studies in Polysemy and Synonymy, ed. by  Dylan Glynn and Justyna A. Robinson. John Benjamins, 2014) Positioning Degree Modifiers- The word quite [as in the phrase The quite white house] belongs to the word class degree modifier.  A degree modifier is positioned  relative to an adjective, irrespective of the surrounding words, just as the article the is positioned relative to a noun, irrespective of the surrounding words. We can understand this by saying that quite and white are in the same adjective phrase, and that a degree modifier must come at the beginning of an adjective phrase.(Nigel Fabb, Sentence Structure, 2nd ed. Routledge, 2005)- Youre either very modest or  quite stupid. Take your choice.†(May Sarton, Anger, 1982)   The Fixed Class of Degree Words[An] example of words that dont fit neatly into one category or another is degree words. Degree words are traditionally classified as adverbs, but actually behave differently syntactically, always modifying adverbs or adjectives and expressing a degree: very, rather, so, too. This is a relatively fixed class and new members do not enter it frequently.(Kristin Denham and Anne Lobeck, Linguistics for Everyone. Wadsworth, 2010)

Ku Klux Klan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ku Klux Klan - Research Paper Example The original name of the club was from the Greek word Kuklos meaning ‘for circle and cycle are formed’. The confederates later modified the word to Kuklux adding the word clan at the end since all the founders were of Scottish descent. Kuklux Clan became the name of the organization, later it was divided into three words and a ‘K’ used for each word. The name therefore changed to Ku Klux Klan. There are other suggestions about the origin of the name. Romine states that members of the Klan could have become familiar with the mythology of the ‘God of Light’ who was called Cukulcan since many volunteer troops went to the Mexican War from Tennessee and members of the early Klan sometimes called themselves the sons of light(Quarles 32). Another story told that the name did not come from a Greek word meaning circle but from the two phased cocking sound of a shotgun. Many different stories have been told and written creating mystery about the organizat ion which later came to be known as the ‘Invisible Empire’. The six former confederate members met in the law office of Judge Thomas M. Jones located eighty miles south of Nashville in Pulaski, south central Tennessee. One of the town’s prewar buildings has a plaque marking the occasion. The Klan is an American institution though it has been exported to other lands by racists. The formation of the club was not a major historical event; the group was informally constituted during the first meeting. Directing and planning of the Klan activities began later as further meetings developed goals and objectives, leadership titles were chosen and organizational rules instituted (Quarles 30). All evidence supports the fact that the founding of the Klan was innocent with no ulterior motive or effect. Many scholars also believe that the beginning was innocent; this is because of the tricks that the early Klansmen performed. The first noted activity of the Klan was that it was a brotherly association. Some members used childish methods of pursuing victims. The original purpose of the young confederate veterans was to scare black adults and cause trouble as an amusing way of passing time in a southern society that was altered and a destroyed economy. Klansmen dressed in white sheets and covered their horsemen in the same way. The Ku Klux Klan members believed that racial integration and racial equality of society was a threat and could destroy the white race. The Klan opposed public policies that promote social and political equality for historically disadvantaged groups like the blacks through antidiscrimination laws and affirmative action. Their beliefs were that the nature of mankind is unequal therefore hierarchical. Ku Klux Klan members described themselves as white Protestant Christians. Their primary objection was initially against blacks’ freedom and extension of rights to include blacks. This was after slavery in the United States was brought to an end. In terms of their strength in the political history of th e United States, the Klan has had three specific periods. The first Klan blossomed in the South in

Judgement and decision making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Judgement and decision making - Essay Example This tool is also essential, non-egocentric social propriety; thus, Madoff should use this tool to win investors’ trust on their $50 billion. Notably, Bernie Madoff might have capitalized on this tool to influence that belief and trust of investors that he could manage the $50 billion economically and profitably (Kramer, 1998). On this note, Madoff should use the Cialdini’s principle that includes the mode of dress, education, physical characteristics (age, posture), and level of education and experience in handling the entire investment persuasions. Additionally, Madoff could have removed the self-interest from the investment (Connolly, Hammond, and Arkes, 1999). The principle of removal of self-interest from the persuasion often increases the perception of other interested parties in the discussion. However, there are chances that Madoff can fail to convince the investors to entrust him with $50 billion. This might happen if he lacks the expertise or rather the miss-entitlement to allocate incentives. Notably, the decision can only be taken in the self-interest of Madoff but not that of the business (Connolly, Hammond, and Arkes, 1999). In such a case, some of the investors may suspect his own judgment in the persuasion deal and fail to follow his authority’s instructions. Therefore, if Madoff remain faithful and persuades the investors at the interest of the business, there are high chances that the investors may entrust him with their $50 billion worth of investment. In addition, Madoff should apply the liking or the affect as a persuasion mechanism to note that the things that make people feel valued are things that are equally beneficial to those people. The approach also has a strong motivating power, love, anger, pride, and attraction among others. Well articulation of this principle shall overwhelm reason that eventually become extraordinarily difficult to change

Cutting Room Management System Economics Essay

Cutting Room Management System Economics Essay In todays highly competitive global market, manufacturers face constant pressure to reduce costs, offer greater product selection, and deliver products faster. Like many domestic manufacturers competing in todays international marketplace, the apparel industry has been forced to upgrade its responsiveness to customer needs. As a result, smaller orders are placed in a more dynamic fashion, requiring the efficient production of smaller lot sizes. Effective and economical production thus depends upon the interaction of many system components, one of the most critical being an efficient workflow control system. The cutting room maintains documents and books for the various cutting operations they perform. Generally the books and registers they maintain are require a lot of manual entries and the timely retrieval of previous records is a problem as these records are very vast. The focus of this project is on the means employed by the cutting room manager to instruct, monitor and control the processing of fabric cutting room and personnel. Documentation during and after cutting is designed to authorize the issuing of materials from store ,control the spreading, cutting and bundling activities, facilitate the analysis of losses and quantify losses against costed values. Cutting room is constantly challenged to cut costs on material usage. A small percentage of fabric saved during cutting can reflect a decent savings in the financial records of the company. The Marker making solutions are used constantly to minimize fabric usage while making markers. Another area where cost cutting can be done is by making an effective cut plan. An effective cut plan will make sure that garments are cut within the limits of the accepted quantity (as 5% extra delivery is allowed by the buyer against ordered goods), the required quantities are cut with minimum number of cuts (saving labor time). In most apparel industries, size mix i.e. how many and which sizes should be combined, in a marker is actually a very complex set of permutation combination. The number of variables possible combinations in most cutting problems exceeds human abilities. This projects aims to defining a system for effective management of cutting room and at the same time connecting it to fabric inventory so that track of the fabric in inventory can be made as most of the times the roll wise information of the fabric in inventory is not known and fabric issue is not made against a cutting instruction. Most of the time the fabric sent from fabric store is more than actual requirement of cutting instruction for a particular day so effective track of the consumption of fabric is not made in case there is no provision of returns of excess from cutting room. So designing of the system for effective flow is a need. OBJECTIVE To design a system which manages the activities that happen in a cutting room. The system should represent a model of cutting room and activities are recorded into the system. SUB OBJECTIVES The system is to be connected to the fabric inventory or database thereby maintaining record of each roll which is fed for cutting. To generate roll allocation plan for the cutting schedule to minimize remnants. To issue fabric against a cutting instruction. Proper Roll allocation comparing the actual material requirement for a production order against the roll in the inventory. Effective management of end bits form of end bits, minimizing it also tracking end bits. Storing and keep record of the remnants generated in the cutting room after the spreading and making them available for further use. Generating of effective reports from the cutting room. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Cut your losses: practical  tips to improve fabric yield  in the  cutting room. Fabric accounts for 25-40 per cent of the cost of making a garment, so controlling or negotiating fabric consumption has a significant impact on the bottom line. In this article Robert Broadhead addresses the process of estimating fabric yields, the complications involved in offshore contracting, and how to be as accurate as possible in predicting/negotiating fabric costs. Fabric accounts for 25-40 per cent of the cost of manufacturing a garment, so accuracy in this area is critical. Its been said a lot over the years, but is worth repeating here: no other single refinement in production can provide substantial cost savings as easily as fabric control. Controlling or negotiating fabric costs has become more complicated as overseas manufacturing and cut-make-trim (CMT)/package programs have grown. Before work went offshore, in-house fabric yield estimates and final production consumption reflected the efforts of the cutting department (either the manufacturers or a local contractors) and was readily known and monitored. However, it is surprising that many businesses do not track the variance between the actual cost of fabric at the end of production and the estimated cost of fabric on the bill of materials. This can significantly impact the bottom line. To have a truly effective material utilization, one need to look at all the factors that can contribute to fabric losses in cutting room. It would be impossible to eliminate all losses in the cutting room, but incremental improvements in material utilization could significantly improve the bottom line. Width Utilization careful measurement of the actual fabric received at a factory typically will show that more than 50% is at least  ½ inch to 1 inch wider than the minimum purchased width. This excess fabric width almost always goes into the trash yet it is usable and, if utilized properly, can save money. It requires the following actions: Measure the width of sort fabric when it is received. . Plan markers by fabric width. Issue cutting orders by fabric width. Marker Marker copies while copying the marker, regardless of the process used, length and/or width growth or shrinkage can occur. Marker growth can be more than 2% in extreme cases, but can be reduced to less than  ½ % with proper machine adjustment. Following points should be taken care of for accurate marker marker copies: In case of computer plotted original makers, keep the marker paper the plotting of the marker in the same environment where the cloth will be cut. Maintain a check marker, plot it at least once a week, measure it accurately to do the required adjustments. While using the ammonia or alcohol method, allow the marker copy to air dry, laid flat for 2-3 hrs, before using I to mark the table. Spread planning It is an analysis of the rolls of fabric available to be spread on existing sectional markers. The result is a plan of how many pairs/plies from each roll should be placed on each marker to minimize remnants. The requirements of this type of system to work properly are: Three or more marker plus remnant marker must be used on each cutting order. The markers must be different in lengths. Fabric flaw cutouts will require recalculation of the remaining fabric roll a resulting change in the spreading chart. The remnant marker is newly included in the chart calculations. It only is used for remnants remaining from the main sections. Table Marking More fabric is wasted in marking the table than in any other aspect of the spreading process. Tables constantly are being marked for spreading where unnecessary gaps are allowed between markers, start/finish line are purposely moved outward and splice marks are elongated. It is strongly urged that markers be prepared off-line by taping the individual marker sections together line-on-line with wide adhesive tape. End Bit Monitoring An end bit is a piece of cloth that is longer than the length required to lay up one complete size. End bits of course will come in all different lengths, and unless you splice there will be pieces of fabric which are shorter than the length of the lay being layed, these pieces should be treated with great respect. They should be measured, have a sticky label attached with the length on it, and then folded and put into piles of similar length to be used on smaller markers later. There is no point in keeping fabric for panel replacement unless there are important reasons to do so, so one must produce garments from all of the available fabric. The off cuts (pieces too small to make a garment) will be used to replace smaller parts of the garments that need replacement. The logic behind this is that if a large panel in a garment is replced then all of the profit on that garment is lost. Cut order planning The dot com way stitchworld It is interesting to note that size mix (how many what size in combined) in a marker is a mind boggling permutation computation but actually decided by the CAD operator or cutting master hypothetically and not through any scientific process. Generally the size mix marker combinations (how many different types of markers are needed for a given order quantity) are generated based on factors like size color ratio. There are some infrastructural constraints like lay height, lay length, working out the most optimum cut plan There are many optimal Cut Plan solutions, induced by interplay of many dimensions. The different, but often conflicting, dimensions are: Less Fabric Maximizing the extreme size-mixing. This is emphasized upon when the order quantity is high the fabric is also expensive. Less Labor Time Minimizing the no. of lays, leading to saving in spreading cost. Fewer Markers Minimizing distinct ratio, i.e. minimizing the no. of markers to be prepared. This is especially useful when one need to commit constant no. of sewing machines workmen for order completion. More Balanced Production Minimizing deviation in layer height across lays. This needs to be done when the order quantity is low the time cost involved in marker making process is more compared to spreading cutting. More Balanced Packing Simultaneous production of garments of all sizes. At times of urgency, interim lots can be sent to the purchaser without waiting till the whole order complete. Heuristics Algorithm The term  heuristic  is used for algorithms which find solutions among all possible ones,but they do not guarantee that the best will be found,therefore they may be considered as approximately and not accurate algorithms. These algorithms, usually find a solution close to the best one and they find it fast and easily.Sometimes these algorithms can be accurate,that is they actually find the best solution, but the algorithm is still called heuristic until this best solution is proven to be the best.The method used from a heuristic algorithm is one of the known methods,such as greediness,but in order to be easy and fast the algorithm ignores or even suppresses some of the problems demands.( http://students.ceid.upatras) Alternative formulations for layout problems in garment industry Before cutting, several layers of cloth are put on a cutting table and several templates, indicating how to cut all material for a specific size, are fixed on top of the stack. The problem consists of finding good combinations of templates and the associated height of the stack of cloth to satisfy demand while minimizing total excess production. considering high fashion clothing which is made by specialized designers in small quantities. It is sold only in exclusive shops. Typically, extremely expensive fabrics are used. The high cost together with the limited demand make it worthwhile to produce with minimal excess production, which is defined as the number of pieces which are produced above demand. Before production, demand data is gathered both from placed orders and forecasts. A demand set for a specific piece of clothing is composed of the demands for all the different sizes. The cloth is spread out in several layers on a cutting table. The number of layers of cloth is limited b y the length of the knives and the thickness of the cloth. For each size a stencil or template is made where all the different parts of the article are placed in the most economic way, such that they can be cut with minimal loss of exclusive fabric A good overview of solution approaches forgenerating good stencils can be found in Dowsland and Dowsland (1995). An application of the apparel trim placement problem is described by Grinde and Daniels (1999). After the spreading, the selected stencils are fixed on top The number of stencils which can be cut in the same operation is limited by the length of the cutting table. Since all the stencils have approximately the same length, the maximal number of stencils on the table is independent of the combination of the stencils used. A feasible combination of stencils is called a cutting pattern. It is quite possible that such a pattern contains several times the same stencil. After the cloth is spread on the table and the stencils are fixed on top, the cutting operation can start. For these high fashion and very expensive garments, spreading of the cloth, fixing of the stencils and cutting are time consuming and costly operations. Consequently we want to keep them at a minimum. The problem is now to find cutting patterns and associated stack heights which minimize total excess production for a given demand. The original layout problem is very similar to the fixed charge cutting stock problem (FCCSP). Haessler (1975) and Farley and Richardson (1984) proposed heuristics for solving FCCSP. However, the second part of the objectivefunction is different. In the FCCSP, the cost of trim loss is minimized, whereas we minimize the cost of overproduction. We need to stress that for our low-demand, high fashion clothing the cost of being near optimal, i.e. too much overproduction, can be very high, whereas for the high demand clothing industry this is not so much a problem. This cost issue, together with the fact that we are dealing with real life problems, justifies our search for better optimal solutions. Farley (1988) described a planning model for a cutting stock problem in the clothing industry. He argues that this problem differs from the traditional cutting stock problem because of the unique characteristics of the production process such as the laying, stacking, cutting and sewing operatio ns. Farley also makes an explicit distinction between high-turnover garment, for which overproduction and stock is allowable, and high fashion clothing, for which stock and overproduction should be kept at a minimum. He noticed that the planning model he described is effective for high turnover garment, but not for the made-to-order garments because too much oversupply is generated. The model proposed here is explicitly focused on the high fashion clothing with little demand. Farleys model maximizes the total contribution margin and takes into account demand and capacity constraints. It is used as a planning tool but it cannot be used for solving our scheduling problem. A problem closely related to this is the cut order planning (COP) for apparel manufacturing, described by Jacobs-Blecha et al. (1998). The problem consists of finding how to spread the fabric, determining how many layers to use and assigning various sizes to sections of the spread. The underlying assumptions, however , are not the same as those here and hence a direct comparison is not possible. COP allows for example different stack heights on one cutting table. The authors adopt a minimal cost approach. They consider the actual fabric cost, spreading cost, cutting cost and the marker making cost. The following constraints are taken into account: demand, a limit on the table length and an upper bound on the ply height. As it is very difficult to solve their model optimally, they resort to heuristics. Their test data consist of 20 orders, with 1-6 sizes per order and are based on real life problems. They conclude that one of their heuristics is as good as or better than the commercial packages. Elomri et al. (1994) also consider a cutting problem in the clothing industry. Their problem consists in choosing cutting patterns and associated heights from a small library of available patterns. The objective is to minimize total operating costs while satisfying demand. A linear approximation of the co st function is used. The most important costs in the objective are the costs for cutting and fabric. Documentation and control of fabric usage. The cutting room maintains documents and books for the various cutting operations they perform. Generally the books and registers they maintain are require a lot of manual entries and the timely retrieval of previous records is a problem as these records are very vast. The focus on the means employed by the cutting room manager to instruct, monitor and control the processing of fabric cutting room and personnel. Documentation during and after cutting is designed to authorize the issuing of materials from store ,control the spreading, cutting and bundling activities, facilitate the analysis of losses and quantify losses against costed values. The large contracts are divide into small but economic batch sizes that are suitable for the processing in cutting rooms.The details of these individual batches are entered on a cutting instruction , which authorizes the issue of fabric and provides essential information for the spreading and cutting. While the cutting instruction accompanies the material during its passage through the cutting room, the situation is monitored by entering data on the cutting instruction record. Management must control both the output of the cutting room, to achieve production targets, and also the various processes to ensure that materials are efficiently used. The fabric reconciliation record provides a comparison of the actual usage and costed usage and reports variances.This forms link between the cutting room activities and financial control projections as materials compromise approximately 40% of the manufacturing costs ,should be regarded as vitally important. Cutting Instruction is the main documentary output of cut order planning process.As a minimum requirement of cutting instruction it should have the following information 1.the fabric to be processed. 2.the marker to be used. 3.the number of plies authorized Fabric usage control The essence of fabric reconciliation is that for each lay a comparison is made between costed and actual usage of fabric,and the variance is reported.This document Plays an important role within management as it ties together what management planned to do with what they have achieved.Fabric reconciliation takes place after the fabric has been cut. Documentation management functions. Managers need to use documents but documents are no substitute for management.A manager who enters data on documents is not doing the work of a manager but is better described as a clerk. Documents are useful only when they allow managers make informed decisions which change the way the activities are undertaken. Cutting problems are NP-hard Thus, only small size problems can be solved optimally. These problems are solved using either integer linear programming or dynamic programming, or branch-and-bound, depending on the type of problem. But most of the cutting problems use heuristic algorithms. Although any given solution to such a problem can be verified quickly, there is no known efficient way to locate a solution in the first place; indeed, the most notable characteristic of NP-complete problems is that no fast solution to them is known. That is, the time required to solve the problem using any currently known  algorithm  increases very quickly as the size of the problem grows. As a result, the time required to solve even moderately large versions of many of these problems easily reaches into the billions or trillions of years, using any amount of computing power available today. As a consequence, determining whether or not it is possible to solve these problems quickly is one of the principal unsolved problems in computer science  today. Because (COP) is NP-complete, efficient algorithms for realistically sized problems will necessarily be heuristic in nature. This insight leads to the need for analyzing (COP) for characteristics that can be exploited for development of heuristic methods. Jacobs-Blecha et al. (1998) describes the heuristics developed for (COP), the reasoning behind these types of algorithm, and justification for the evaluation techniques. Heuristic development is based on the examination of typical industry cases that COP cost is dominated by total fabric length. It explains the experimental design that we used to establish this characteristic of the cost function. It should be noted that in some cases the cost factors that are consider in the model developed may have a significant role in the cost of cut order planning. For example, spreading costs may be very high due to negotiated labor rates; cutting costs may be driven up by manual or equipment parameters; or a large data base of historical markers may not exist, greatly increasing the cost of that process. However, they assumed that the statistical results, which confirm practitioners intuitions, are valid for the types of problem addressed by their work, and therefore the model can be modified to reflect this assumption. Note that under this assumption the only change in the model occurs in the objective function, where all terms go to zero except those involving the fabric length parameters. An alternative method for problem solution is to solve the linear relaxation and check the resulting solution for satisfaction of the integer constraints. However, this approach is not practicable: for realistically sized problems the number of variables prohibits explicit computation. Furthermore, most apparel manufacturers who would use these solution methods do not have sufficient computing capability on site to utilize sophisticated integer programming solvers. Therefore the development of heuristic algorithms to solve (COP) focuses on finding computationally efficient procedures for finding good (i.e., relatively low cost) solutions to (COP) for a robust set of problem instances. They selected two types of algorithm for the development of such heuristics, constructive and improvement. A constructive algorithm takes the input data and builds a feasible solution using intuition, clues from the spatial aspects of the problem, and guidelines found in the mathematical model. An improvement algorithm begins with an existing feasible solution and attempts to change the solution in some manner so that the cost of the solution is reduced while feasibility is maintained. The value of the cost function associated with the feasible solution produced by one of these heuristic methods can then be compared with some numerical bound, or other benchmark solutions. CUTPLANNER CutPlanner is a software package for use in the textile manufacturing industry for automatic cut order planning. CutPlanner takes a customers order for a clothing item and creates a cut plan for that item, including different sizes and different fabric types or colors, which minimizes production costs. A cut plan is an assignment of sizes and fabric types to markers. For each of these markers, the required number of plies is computed to fulfill the orders specifics. The objective of CutPlanner is to minimize total production costs. They consist of the costs for the fabric used, and several production costs incurred by making the markers, preparation of the cutting process, and the picking of pieces to be cut CutPlanner provides two different modes of operation to calculate material consumption: 1. Conventional mode: The user dictates the estimated yield values that specify the material consumption, which depends on the number of sizes in a marker. 2. Exact mode: CutPlanner engages an integrated automatic marker making engine to calculate the real material consumption. Here, the user does not have to supply any estimations: the software runs automatically. Genetic optimization of fabric utilization in apparel manufacturing. In apparel manufacturing, cut order planning (COP) plays a significant role in managing the cost of materials as fabric usually occupies more than 50% of the total manufacturing cost. Following the details of retail orders in terms of quantity, size and colour, COP seeks to minimize the total manufacturing costs by developing feasible cutting order plans with respect to material, machine and labour. A genetic optimized decision-making model using adaptive evolutionary strategies is proposed to assist the production management of the apparel industry in the decision-making process of COP in which a new encoding method with a shortened binary string is devised. Four sets of real production data were collected to validate the proposed decision support method. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can reduce both the material costs and the production of additional garments while satisfying the time constraints set by the downstream sewing department. Although the total operation time used is longer than that using industrial practice, the great benefits obtained by less fabric cost and extra quantity of garments planned and produced largely outweigh the longer operation time required. Cut order planning Cut order planning (COP) is the first stage in the production workflow of a typical apparel manufacturing company. It is a planning process to determine how many markers are needed, how many of each size of garment should be in each marker and the number of fabric plies that will be cut from each marker. Marker is the output of the process of marker planning, which is the operation following the COP.Planning process using commercial computing to arrange all patterns of the component parts of one or more garments on a piece of marker paper,. Following marker planning, the third operation is fabric spreading, which is a process by which fabric pieces are superimposed to become a fabric lay on a cutting table. The last operation is fabric cutting. Garment pieces are cut out of the fabric lay following the pattern lines of the component parts of one or more garments on the marker, and then transported to the sewing department for assembling to be a finished garment. COP, the most upstream activity, plays a significant role in affecting the fabric material cost and the manufacturing cost in the cutting department. Based on the requirements of customer orders in terms of style, quantity, size and colour, it seeks to minimize the total production cost by developing cutting orders with respect to material, machine and labour. In the cutting room, after the completion of COP and marker planning, spreading and cutting are then executed, and the time and costs required for these two operations will be affected by the quality of the cut order plans being developed. A good plan can improve the rate of fabric utilization. The COP usually begins with a retail order comprising the quantities, sizes and colours of garments to be manufactured. The following example demonstrates how a cut order plan is derived. For simplicity, only the quantities of garments and sizes are considered. The details of the customer order are as follows: Size Small Medium Large Quantity (in pieces) 300 600 400 The constraints on fabric lay dimensions are: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Maximum number of plies for each lay: 75 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Maximum number of garments marked on each marker: 5. The maximum number of garments produced per lay is 5ÃÆ'-75=375 pieces and the number of garments required by the customers is 300+600+400=1300 pieces. Therefore, the theoretical minimum number of lays is equal to 1300/375=3.47. This gives a practical minimum of four lays to cut the order. If the order is to be cut at the lowest cost, the lays need to be as long and deep as possible. One of the possible solutions is: Small Small Small Small Small Lay 1: 60 plies Medium Medium Medium Large Large Lay 2: 75 plies Medium Medium Medium Large Large Lay 3: 75 plies Medium Medium Medium Large Large Lay 4: 50 plies An alternative of lay 1 is to have a four-garment marker and to spread 75 plies. This would reduce the cutting cost but was rejected because of the fabric cost since there would be 15 more plies and high fabric end loss, which occurs on both end of each fabric ply (more plies mean greater end loss). This solution has demonstrated that sizes Medium and Large are in the ratio of 3:2. The marker for lay 2 can also be used for lays 3 and 4, thus reducing the costs of marker making. This example shows that numerous other possible COP solutions can be generated. The COP problem becomes more difficult when the numbers of garments and sizes increase. The problem will be further complicated when the parameter of color is also considered in the plan. In addition, labors are needed to operate the spreading and cutting machines. As the fabric cut pieces will be transported to the sewing room for garment assembly, COP needs to consider the fulfillment of the demand quantity of cut piece from the downstream sewing room. Current industry approaches in generating the COP range from manual ad hoc procedures by cut order planners to commercial software. However, many apparel manufacturers are still using rather primitive methods; they rely mainly on the expertise and subjective assessment of the planners to produce the plans. Therefore, the optimal COP cannot always be guaranteed. Commercial COP software is available for use, but the COP heuristics are usually kept by the proprietors as confidential. Apart from generating a COP with the right quantity of garments with right size and colour, there is little room for minimizing material, machine and labor costs. Near-optimal COP solutions to reduce both materials and labour and machine costs using a genetic optimization model based on adaptive evolutionary strategies. The objective is to assist the production management of the apparel industry in the COP decision-making process and improve the quality of the decisions. It has been pointed out that the COP problem is NP-completeness in nature and it is feasible to use a heuristic approach to solve the problem accordingly by using constructive heuristics with intuition start and fine-tuning the solution with another improvement heuristic (Jacobs-Blecha et al., 1998). Roll Planning of fabric spreading In the process of fabric spreading, the variance of fabric yardage between fabric rolls may lead to a difference in fabric loss during spreading. As there are numerous combinations the arrangement of the fabric roll sequences for each cutting lay, it is difficult to construct a roll planning to minimise the fabric wastage during spreading in apparel manufacturing. Recent advances in computing technology, especially in the area of computational intelligence, can be used to handle this problem. Among the different computational intelligence techniques, genetic algorithms (GA) are particularly suitable. GAs are probabilisti