TSUNAMI VICTIM

                                                 By Charles Choi | October 25, 2017 1:00 pm

Paragraph 1 Tsunamis have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the

                     past two decades.Now a new study finds that a 6,000-year-old

                     skull may come from the earliest known victim of these killer

                     waves.

Paragraph 2 The partial human skull was discovered in 1929 buried in a

                     mangrove swamp outside the small town of Aitape Papua New

                     Guinea, about 500 miles north of Australia. Scientists originally

                     thought it belonged to an ancient extinct human species, Homo

                     erectus. However, subsequent research dated it to about 5,000

                     or 6,000 years in age, suggesting that it instead belonged to a

                     modern human.

                     A Rare Specimen

Paragraph 3 The skull is one of just two examples of ancient human remains

                     found in Papua New Guinea after more than a century of work

                     there. As such, archaeologists wanted to learn more about this

                     skull to elucidate how people settled this region.

Paragraph 4 The scientists went back to where this skull was found and

                     sampled the soil in which itwas discovered. They focused on

                     details such as sediment grain size and composition.

Paragraph 5 In the sediment, the researchers discovered a range of

                     microscopic organisms from the ocean known as diatoms. These

                     were similar to ones found in the soil after a 1998 tsunami killed

                     more than 2,000 people in Papua New Guinea — for instance,

                     their shells of silicawere broken, likely by extremely powerful

                     forces.

Paragraph 6 These diatom shells, combined with the chemical compositions

                     and the size ranges of the grains, all suggest that a tsunami

                     occurred when the skull was buried. The researchers suggested

                     the catastrophe either directly killed the person or ripped open

                     their grave.

Paragraph 7 Tsunamis, which are giant waves caused by earthquakes,

                     volcanic eruptions or underwater landslides, are some of the

                     deadliest natural disasters known. The 2004 tsunami in the

                     Indian Ocean killed more than 230,000 people, a higher death

                     toll than any fire or hurricane.

Paragraph 8 The site where the skull was found is currently about 7.5 miles

                     away from thecoast. Still, the researchers noted that back when

                     whoever the skull belonged to wasalive, sea levels were higher,

                     and the area would have been just behind the shoreline.

Paragraph 9 The waves of the tsunami that hit Papua New Guinea in 1998

                     reached more than 50 feet high and penetrated up to three miles

                     inland. “If the event we have identified resulted from a similar

                     process, it could have also resulted in extremely high waves,”

                     study co-lead author Mark Golitko, an archaeologist at the

                     University of Notre Dame in Indiana and the Field Museum in

                     Chicago.

Paragraph 10 These results show “that coastal populations have been

                       vulnerable to such events for thousands of years,” Golitko said.

                       “People have managed to live with such unpredictable and

                       destructive occurrences, but it highlights how vulnerable people

                        living near the sea can be. Given the far larger populations that

                        live along coastlines today, the potential impacts are far more

                        severenow.”

Paragraph 11 Golitko plans to return to the area over thenext few years “to

                       further study the frequency of such events, how the

                       environment changed over time, and how people have coped

                      with the environmental challenges of living in that environment.”

                      He and his colleagues detailed their findings Wednesday in the

                       journal PLOS O.

                                         Retrieved and adapted from:

               <http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/dbrief/2017/10/25/first-tsunami-

                      victim/#.WfYiYmhSzIU>Accessed on October, 29th, 2017. 

Text 3

The Assistants, by Camille Perri

Chapter 1

In less than a second I was at his desk, notepad in hand. Behind me a wall of flat-screens flashed the news being broadcast by Titan and its so-called competitors. Robert had the uncanny ability to devote a small portion of his gaze to each screen simultaneously. In all he owned nine satellite television networks, one hundred seventy-five newspapers, one hundred cable channels, forty book imprints, forty television stations, and one movie studio. His total audience reached around 4.7 billion people, which came out to around three-fourths of the population of the entire globe. But the news was his baby. He was never not watching it, analyzing it, shaping it. That’s why he situated his office at Titan News headquarters, where he could keep close watch not only on his wall of flat-screens but also on his journalists. A man as powerful as Robert could have hidden himself anywhere, pulling at the strings of the world from a lounge chair in the Seychelles, unseen by his employees—but he needed to be here at the center of it all, at the hub.

Our office didn’t look like a newsroom that you’d imagine from movies or TV drama series. The floors below ours were more like that—the broadcast, print media, and digital newsrooms, each of which could have easily passed for something out of The Matrix. And there was an entire floor of flashy studios used for our non-stop news coverage and thrill-a-minute opinion shows. But our office on the fortieth floor was far less exciting, just row after row of desks and cubicles. Still, we were the brain of the whole operation, the source from which all orders trickled down. Titan’s chief editors and all of Robert’s most trusted deputies had desks on our floor so Robert could pull them into impromptus with the business leaders and celebrities he met with— and so he could foster relationships between them and the political-party representatives (yes, from both parties) who came to lobby him. I guess what I’m trying to say is, what the fortieth floor lacked in flash it made up for in influence.

(Taken from http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/317172/the-assistants-by-perri-camille/9780399172540/)

TEXT 1

What is administrative excellence?

Administrative Professionals perform some of the toughest functions in an office. Not only are you required to keep pace with ever-changing technology, you need to work with and through many people to meet deadlines, resolve conflicts, gather information, and coordinate schedules and logistics. Additionally, you are often the first point-of-contact for customers – your competence and professionalism in meeting their demands might be one of the most important factors in how your organization is perceived in the marketplace. To satisfy the needs of so many, your technical skills and your interpersonal skills must be well-balanced to generate efficient and effective results.

Administrative excellence pertains to the quality of work and the caliber of service that you provide in carrying out your responsibilities. Excellence by definition exceeds the routine expectations of managers, coworkers, and other customers, but it is a standard first set by you. It is something that many aspire to and work hard to deliver. I once read that excellence means "you are better today than you were yesterday, but not as good as you will be tomorrow." With that understanding, you can see there is no finish line. Excellence is a commitment to continually do and give your best.

Although we each have personal standards and differing values in terms of excellence, there are a few things that help to streamline administrative efforts in reaching high levels of job performance. Here are what I considered to be the "5Ps" of administrative excellence:

1. Perception – Self-awareness of behaviors and skills that maximize strengths and minimize weaknesses.

Know yourself and what you like and what you dislike about your job. Pay attention to those activities that excite and engage you. Typically, these are things that come naturally or easily for you – your strengths. Find opportunities to do more of what you love to do – you’ll be happier and more satisfied with your work. Take control and find solutions for those parts of your job that are less fulfilling so that your emotions and attitude don’t work against you.

2. Purpose – Understanding the importance of job responsibilities and identifying with the overall objectives of the team, department, and organization.

It’s one thing to know how to do your job, but it’s more important to know why you do what you do. Understanding your role in the bigger picture of organizational success helps to ignite feelings of inclusion and professional pride.

3. Progress – Ability to think progressively for continuous personal and professional improvement.

Challenge yourself to try new things and new ways of doing routine things. Don’t let yourself stagnate or become too comfortable – seize opportunities to showcase your skills or push self-imposed limitations. People rarely gain a professional edge when others can’t see or don’t know what they are capable of achieving.

4. Partnership – Willingness and ability to foster good relationships and teamwork with coworkers, managers, and customers.

Good relationships are the foundation for resourcefulness in your job. Treat others with respect. Do what you say you will do, offer to help others, exhibit a sense of urgency in responding to requests, and extend common courtesy – when others reciprocate, a trusting partnership is formed.

5. Professionalism – High standards of appearance, personal conduct, work product, and expertise.

Don’t leave doubts in the minds of others. Match image with skills and knowledge to help shape the thoughts and experiences of others. Continue to learn and produce accurate, timely work and your reputation and credibility will "speak for itself."

There are many other measurements of excellence. Find things that are unique about you and make your pathway to excellence your own. No one else will do it or achieve it in exactly the same manner. It’s often the small things that make a person stand out in a big way. Several years ago, a manager described his admin’s stellar performance in this way, "I don’t know how else to explain it…everything she does for me comes back just a little bit better than I expected it to." That’s a strong endorsement for administrative excellence – a little effort, a lot of admiration.

©Administrative Excellence – 2010 (Adapted from: https://adminexcellence.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/what-is-administrative-excellence/, in 12/01/2017)