Capsim Business Simulations

About 104,000 results (0. 31 seconds) Ad related to comp-xm guide . pdf Comp-XM Cheats – Get an ‘F' on Comp-XM. www. capsimcheats. com/ Uncover what Cheats will do for you Search Results examination guide 2011 – Capsim Business Simulations www. capsim. com/content/pdf/CompXmExaminationGuide. pdf A description for this result is not available because of this site's robots. txt – learn more. CompXM Study Guide pdf – Ebook Search & Free Ebook Downloads ebookbrowse. com/compxm-study-guide-pdf-d61636180Download CompXM Study Guide pdf documents from research. vu. edu at @EbookBrowse. Answer Capsim Compxm m. webtopicture. com/answer/answer-capsim-compxm. html28 May 2012 – Download: Capsim compxm exam guide 2011 pdf at Marks Web of Books †¦ many â€Å"help† guides online but they all cost †¦ 2010, answers †¦ Comp Xm – Free PDF downloads freedownloadb. com/pdf/comp-xmDownload free pdf files and documents about Comp Xm or pr eview the files before †¦ Comp-XM study guide Version of 5 April 2008 To do well on the nine †¦ Mgmt 4830 Strategic Management Lab 161. 28. 0. 228/management/mcarthur/index-4830. htmFor your Individual Competition and Comp-XM grades see the table in the space †¦ The US Securities & Exchange Commission's Beginner's Guide to Financial †¦ Downloadable table of Segment Ideal Spot locations for Comp-XM (. pdf file). Comp Xm www. statmyweb. com/s/comp-xmComp Xm Round 2 Answers . pdf Full Version – Fast PDF Database Search. Results for comp †¦ Comp xm study guide available at Joey Davila. capsim business †¦ CompXM Study Guide www. scribd. om/doc/93913489/CompXM-Study-Guide17 May 2012 – CompXM Study Guide – Free download as PDF File (. pdf), Text File (. txt) or read online for free. 2011_Comp-XM_Examination_Guide www. scribd. com/doc/†¦ /2011-Comp-XM-Examination-Guide26 Feb 2011 – 2011_Comp-XM_Examination_Guide – Free do wnload as PDF File (. pdf), †¦ Welcome to Comp-XM ® an integrated evaluation tool that will allow , you to †¦. Please refer to your Capstone or Foundation Team Member Guide for †¦ 2011 Comp Xm Examination Guide 2fishygirl On Scribd Scribd | UK †¦ omelayout. co. uk/†¦ comp-xm†¦ guide/2011-comp-xm-examin†¦ 2011 comp xm examination guide 2fishygirl on scribd scribd. 2011_Comp-XM_Examination_Guide – Free download as PDF File (. pdf), text file (. txt) or read †¦ Download: Capsim comp xm examination guide 2010 at Marks Web †¦ www. imarksweb. org/†¦ /capsim+comp+xm+examination+guide†¦ comp xm exam guide free PDF ebook downloads. eBooks and manuals for Business, Education,Finance, Inspirational, Novel, Religion, Social, Sports, Science, †¦

Roles of Management

Roles of management in business: Employees are the heart of any business, but management is the soul! They are the center of the operation. The role of management in business is critical to success and requires an individual who possess the following abilities. Goal setters: Whether it is completing all items on the to do list in the business planner, or scheduling the meeting with the marketing department about a promotion three months out, good managers know the importance of goal setting, and know how to get things done. Without goals, business remains stagnant and sales dwindle.With no game plan opportunities are wasted, and growth is impossible. Mangers play an important role in a business by defining objectives, setting goals and following up. Leadership abilities: Skillful leaders are always on! From a simple gesture such as greeting employees with eye contact and a smile, to more difficult maneuvers such as leading the team through achieving a difficult task, great management always understands that the workers are the most important asset to his business. Being an approachable leader is imperative to the success of a manager.When a manager is easier to approach, the business has a better chance of addressing critical issues that will influence the achievement of the goals. Leadership plays a key role in the managing of any business. Delegation skills: No one can do everything themselves nor should they ever try. Effective managers not only delegate, they know what is important to delegate and what is better left in their own hands. Some managers delegate everything and actually have little control over the operations of the business. This can lead to poor quality and sloppy ractices. Other managers are so tight with power they try and do everything alone, which is a big blunder. It undermines the staff, and sends a clear message to them not to interfere or provide input. This is missing the opportunities that can expand the business. It also goes nowhe re in developing a competent and well trained staff. Tenacity: the role of the manager is have a complete commitment to his/her business. Commitment to the goals of the organization, to the employees, customers, and also a commitment to themselves.To have a steady hand when things get tough, and the confidence to stick to the plan and follow through. When the manager takes on the role of total commitment to the business, the rest of the goals fall into place. People love success, and want to follow successful people. Confidence breeds success, and a successful manager is committed to winning. Goal setting, leadership, and dedication to the business, are all important roles a manager works on to run a successful business. Without direction and drive, businesses falter.Managers play an important role in a business because they are the goal setters, the go to person, and the steady hand, that brings success! Management is comprised of the people who lead, guide and shape an organizatio n. A formal meaning of management is described as â€Å"the process of working with and through others to achieve organizational objectives in an efficient and ethical manner† (Kreitner-Kinicki, 2006). Organizations often have different philosophical beliefs and vision, but a common trait all businesses possess is an established management framework, although these can vary in structure.Despite the varying factors of structure which may exist amongst organizations, the foundational role of management in a company bear a lot of similarities because they all have the need to be able to successfully meet their companies' objectives. Effective managers possess a unique set of problem solving tools which they keep in a â€Å"managerial toolbox†. These tools are a compilation of several skills and managerial techniques used to apply in situations to help make the best decisions and fulfill their leadership role.For instance if a conflict occurs between employees or an ethica l dilemma arises, managers can dig into their proverbial toolbox and effectively use these techniques to solve the problem. These proficiencies enable managers to be able to make good choices and help a company to succeed and grow. *Traditional Managerial Roles Managers need to be able to effectively follow through on organizational mission and work hard to meet their company's objectives. As a part of this function it is important for management to coordinate organization and planning.A good manager defines strategies, goals for the company to achieve and establishes a vision and direction. An important role management must play is the decision maker. This applies to financial, budgetary, personnel, policy and security judgments. These are not always easy decisions, but they must be made and management takes on that duty. Strategic planning is an essential task and managers work to set targets and progress to make sure benchmarks are reached in a timely fashion. This planning ultim ately culminates in meeting goals (and hopefully increasing! ) profitability.While ensuring financial stability is an important component of management, profits and budgets are not the only management duties that are performed. Managerial members are also highly engaged in leading and motivating, team building, dynamics and the overall development growth of the business. A good manager realizes the value of a company's employees and leads with the intent Every business or organization requires planning, direction, organization and control for it to set off and continue to grow. It is the role of management to perform such duties for the perpetual existence and increased productivity of the organization.Management plays a crucial role in business by doing some of the following: Planning. A business must have goals and objectives, as well as the course of action that must be taken to achieve them. Management make this happen. They set goals and objectives for the business. At the same time, they plan on how they will achieve them, and offer guidelines to the rest of the team members. Organizing. Management determines the internal structure of the organization, such as assigning roles to different people in different departments.After determining the course action, management must determine what kind of management structure they need to follow. This is where they design organizational charts and assign roles to different titles or people. Staffing. Managers are tasked to recruit, hire and train people to perform various functions in the business, as laid out in the organizational structure. They also make decisions regarding how much they should pay the employees as well as their benefits, if any. Control. This is one of the major roles of management.It is necessary to set performance standards based on the established goals and objectives of the organization. This is to be used as a yard stick to measure the performance and compare it with the projected outcome. And if deviations should occur, it is management's responsibility to take necessary action. A business cannot perform without some form of control and this is where management comes in. Direction. In order for an organization to fulfill its goals and objectives, and especially in the modern era of doing business, management must influence its employees to perform to their best and more efficiently.Management is therefore important in motivating, leading, supervising teams in businesses. This is where great leadership skills become essential. Conflict resolution. Somehow related to direction, management plays an important role of resolving internal conflicts as they arise in business. Without management, there would be no one to deal with the small issues that arise in most businesses. But because managers are the focal point in the business, they are constantly working to create harmony so employees can focus on the business goals other than interpersonal issues.

Organization behavior Essay

1.) Critically review learning theory. Learning theory is a routine that is carried out on a daily basis in order to have an experience in various fields of work. There are several theories that explain learning theory. One of the theories is Maslow’ Hierarchy of needs which explains that, when the need level is satisfied, it ceased to become a motivator and fulfillment of higher level is the next goal. (Francesco and Gold, 2005).The second theory is Hertzberg’s motivation hygiene theory which states that, employees’ growth and esteem needs are driven by the motivation factors, responsibility and achievement. This wills results into a job satisfaction at work place. (Francesco and Gold, 2005). The third theory is McClelland’s learned needs theory which explains that needs is learned through Childhood environment, social norms and assists in the understanding of individual motivation (Francesco and Gold, 2005). The last theory is ERG theory which contributes on Maslow theory. It has three categories of needs. Existence which is the physical and psychological need, relatedness which is the need to share ideas with others and feel secure and growth is the need to achieve to fulfill of self esteemed needs. The learning theories have assisted very many people at work place especially the people who are working in the organizations. (Francesco and Gold, 2005). There have been several philosophers who have tried to explain what is learning. Various theories of learning have been therefore have been discussed. Learning theories are the ideas about why or how changes occur. There has been a theory on the behaviorist orientation to learning .This theory is from theorist such as Thorndike, Pavlov and skinner. (Smith, 1999).This theory argues that people change their behavior from the kind of learning they get. People according to the theory are stimulated by the environment they live in. When people live in a good environment they learn to be good and vise versa. Behaviorists argue that people can be taught to produce behavior change in the desired direction. An educator trying to teach people to change should arrange environment of the person to get the desired response. People can learn through skill development and training as well as behavior according to behaviorists. (Smith, 1999). There is another theory on cognitive orientation to learning. Cognitivist such as Piaget, Bruner and Gagne believe that learning process is an internal mental process. Internal mental process includes receiving insight about information, processing the information, memorizing it and finally making a perception. (Smith, 1999).That is how the learning process is according to Cognitivist. People according to the cognitivist learn through the internal cognitive structuring. This structure helps people develop skills and capacity to learn better. Cognitive structure if followed can help a person develop intelligence learning and memory as function of age as well as learning how to learn. Whichever the theory that is followed learning is an important aspect of human being and people should strive to learn more to improve themselves. (Saljo,1979) 2. Positive and negative reinforcements, punishment and extinction in shaping behavior There are many types of positive reinforcements that Godot can use. First Godot can reward excellent behavior. This is normally a very effective method of reinforcing good behavior. (Verddelho, 1999)The implication here is that when an employee is rewarded for good performance, the employee feels motivated to do even better the next time. In the end this will lead to an improved performance which is good not just for the individual but also for the organization. The second positive reinforcement is recognition. Recognition here implies acknowledging excellent behavior of good work. In this case the meaning for this is that supervisors like Godot can simply acknowledge and commend a well performing employee like Diane. Recognition of good work has the implication of having positive congratulatory words for a job that has been well accomplished. This can simply be achieved by a simple word of mouth like ‘well done.’ Unknown to many supervisors, this simple act of recognition normally has a very positive effects on the motivation of an employee of an individual and can result in positive work behavior. (Francesca & Gold, 2008) The use of incentives is another positive reinforcement that can result in improved positive behavior. In this case incentives can be in form of extra or bonus pay for exemplary performance. Incentives can go along way in improving an individual’s performance on the job. (Francesca & Gold, 2008)This is more so if an individual is capable of making more money by displaying good performance method. In this case the issue of a tip was a good gesture to the employees since those with exemplary performance would feel encouraged to do more. One negative way of reinforcing behavior is through harshness. In this case, the employees will only perform well because of fear of reprimand by Godot and not because they feel a compelling need to work hard. This is a negative reinforcement because positive organization behavior should be forced but should come spontaneously. The implication here is that employees should not be coerced into behaving well but rather positive behavior should just come naturally. This therefore means that these employees should not work hard because of fear of being reprimanded by the supervisor but instead should do so because of a need to do so. (Dwyer, 2005) 3. Discuss the impact of these reinforcements and punishment has on behavior and on Diane’s behavior specifically Reinforcement theory suggests that a reinforcement/reward and punishment of certain behavior will most likely result in a repeat of that particular behavior. That is to say that if behavior is not recognized or appreciated chances of it being repeated will be low. . (Francesco & Gold, 2005)   However, the consequence of reinforcement is determined by whether it is negative or positive. Positive reinforcement will motivate employees and result in behavior that will increase an organization’s output and the opposite is true. . (Francesco & Gold, 2005) Diane works hard and her output is great. However, when she breaks a plate one day, Godot yells at her and even makes her pay for the broken plate and the cost of cleaning up the messed caused. Diane has been waiting all along for recognition but she only gets a negative reinforcement for her good output. As it is, it is better to motivate people for the right reasons rather than to punish them for the wrong reasons. (Skinner, 1957). Diane is punished for the wrong reason and fails to get reinforced for the right reasons. Negative reinforcement is not likely to motivate individuals and therefore this will in turn lead to them slacking in their work and thus the overall out put will be low. (Skinner, 1957).   It is because of this that she relaxes when carrying out her duties. Reinforcement suggests that behavior determines outcome and a person will be motivated to seek reinforcement and avoid punishment. When she got a chance to work at a fancy French restaurant at Sydney known La Maison, Diana a University Student could not spend her vacation at her parents home Queabeyan, since she needed money to change on her diet during her next semester . (Skinner, 1957). Ready to prove how good she was, she would balance several plates on her arm and the customers would compliment her on her efficient service, but one day she dropped a bowl of bouillabaisse appetizer on the carpet and hurriedly went for sponge while apologizing but   Godot shouted at her that he would deduct $24.95, $20 from her pay to compensate for appetizer and cost of cleaning rugs respectively, out of anger and confusion, next day Diana slowed down to avoid recurrence of same incident thus she carried   no more than two dishes at a time thus slugging her tips down (Skinner, 1957). Q4 .Effectiveness of hourly pay rates and tips as a method for reinforcing desired behaviors. Tips and hourly rates have been used as a mode of payment against other methods of payment like piece rate and monthly payments. There is a big variation in the effectiveness of the methods. When hourly rate is used as the mode of payment, it has been found to have an effect on quality and speed. These two factors are the one that determine the output of any activity (Encina, 2000). Payment in work acts as an incentive to the worker. Whenever the worker is paid well he will work well and poor pay means poor jobs. It is noted that the worker will always optimize what he has at hand. When he is paid hourly he will do he/her work according to the hour he is being paid. This will spoil the consistency (Encina , 2000). When tips are added to the hourly rate, the worker will optimize on the tips and he/she will improve on his hourly work to get more tips. Things are different when hourly pay is made without the tips as there will be no motivation. Paying on an hourly rate together with the tips may improve on speed but destroy the quality. The use of tips and hourly rate need a balance as what motivate the worker are the conditions of work. Diane on his part was being motivated tips (Encina , 2000). Apart from the pay, there are other factors that motivate worker during their work. Recognition during work is another factor that lender the effectiveness of work. A worker may improve his effectiveness due to tips. This will improve his/her efficiency. When a worker feels that his efficiency has improved, he will look for recognition.   Payment on hourly rates can improve the behaviors of the worker but additional inputs like recognition should be added. Diane opted to work in the right he will perfect the work and in return he will be recognized to get a better pay. For the behavior of an hourly paid worker to improve, incentives have to be added. This will help in improving the efficiency of work and altitude towards work will improve (Schildkraut 2003). The behavior of workers depends very much on the pay and recognition. As much as workers are paid hourly tends to improve the output, their behavior depends much on the supervision. Workers will always maximize on their man hours instead of employers manpower (Schildkraut 2003). Therefore to ensure that the behavior of the worker is good requires supervision. The supervision should not oppress the worker but instead it will help improve his behavior. The role of the supervisor for hourly paid worker is to help the worker to improve in his productivity. Though the supervisor will optimize on production, it should not destroy the quality of the work (Schildkraut 2003). In conclusion hourly rates can improve on the worker behavior but proper measures should be put in place to ensure that the objectives of the company or organization are met. The measure can include recognition after improvement, controlled supervision, and improvement after achievement. There should be no mistake of paying hourly for organization benefit but it should be to the worker (Schildkraut 2003).

Career Development Course Project- Resume Essay

Career Development Course Project- Resume - Essay Example I have participated in management duties including human resource activities. With my experience in service and management duties, as well as my education, I have prepared myself to be a valuable leader at a corporate structured restaurant. OBJECTIVE: I intend to continue my career in the restaurant business, my education contributing to my work experience in such a way as to provide my employer with the best possible background to have a high achievement. Through a position in management, it is my intention to continue to offer the highest quality customer service to the patrons of the restaurant or bar that I manage. QUALIFICATIONS: I have experienced most entry level positions in the food and beverage industry. I have also had experience in aspects of management, taking on the responsibility of management duties which have included human resource management. I have managed a bar which has included the experience of managing a staff, inventory, and customer relations. As well, I have experienced the planning and execution of catering both on and off site. SKILLS: Able to do scheduling; training bartenders and servers; able to make 10 drinks in a minute; able to do inventory for bars and restaurants; able to use Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project, Outlook and Access. The ultimate goal of my career will be to enter into the business world as the owner of a bar. To get to this place in my life, so that I have prepared myself for the experience and have the best possible chance at success, I have worked in the restaurant business, primarily behind the bar, and have pursued an education towards this goal. My primary joy in being in the food and beverage industry is in the interactions that I have with my customers. I believe that owning my own bar will give me the opportunity to give my patrons the kind of experience that I think they will most enjoy. Through creating a business venture that is designed to the way that I think customers

German Civilization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

German Civilization - Essay Example The history of Germany depicted itself as an integrated form of semi-autonomous state, which had multiple loose shackles both in terms of political and economic background. Taking into consideration the loose ends, the political parties within Germany were majorly involved in reinforcing the integrity and the identity of the nation from the cultural and the political perspective. In addition, the history of Germany also encapsulates history about its military forces, the flourishing pattern, which was reflected during the World War I. It was also the starting stage of Germany’s military expansion. Despite being defeated during the ‘First Battle of the Marne’, this small nation stepped upwards as a result of numerous planned military strategies. The success story of the German forces can also be described as a strategic win attained by the German generals over the Russians (Fulbrook 104-154). German history depicted multiple factors that led this nation to participate forcibly in World War I that occurred during the period of 1914. One of such initiating factor was the situational instability between the ‘nationalists’, ‘colonialist’ and the ‘imperialist’, which in turn triggered the flow of nationalist movements within the European nations. The situation was also accompanied by the exchange of huge number on warfare armaments that finally took the shape of World War I. In addition, to the reasons mentioned above, the intended murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand along with his wife who actually belonged from Austria was also an important factor resulted in the war. The murder was initiated by the Bosnian nationalists that resulted in complexities amid ‘Austria-Hungary’ in terms of releasing final warning against Serbia, which was directly ignored. The entire process decimated the stability factors and eventually ended up in initiating the World War I. The war

Article Critiques on Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Article Critiques on Finance - Essay Example For example, although, â€Å" 70% of Swedes and 61% of Americans aged 55 to 64 work, a mere 32% of Austrians and Belgians in the range do [so].† In analyzing certain trends, the OECD report has divided its members into four groups having similar characteristics. These groups are â€Å"English speaking’, ‘Northern Europe’, ‘Continental and southern Europe’ and ‘Central Europe’. The first two of these groups have been successful in maintaining high employment rates. This, as per the report is attributed to the fact that countries in these two groups have, â€Å"weaker job protection; less generous unemployment benefits and thinner tax wedges than the average†. The message here is clear, namely, that the best way to reduce unemployment is to get more people out to work by the simple expedient of loosening labour markets. Workers must have an incentive to work to make ends meet, which might not be enough motivation if unemployment benefits are too attractive, or conversely, if the take-home pay is not worth the difference in effort. Encouraging people to work until they are much older is one way of reducing the pension burden, but this is offset by the fact that, â€Å" wages are often based on seniority not productivity†. Hence a correct balance has to be drawn, especially since wastage through retirement is one of the methods of job creation. This article examines Europe’s attempts at a monetary union and whether in fact countries that have adopted the Euro have really benefited in terms if increased trade. When Britain stayed out of the merger, it was projected that should Britain join it would result in a possible increase in trade by as much as 50%, and living standards by up o 9%. However, studies carried out by Richard Baldwin do not support these estimates. Baldwin has worked out that the increase in trade on the Euro adopting countries is only between 5% to 15%, with the average being 9%. The three EU countries that did not join

Pathology Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Pathology Science - Essay Example The mechanical instability resulting from theses horizontal membrane defects is enough to cause haemolytic anaemia. Protein 4.1 or glycophorin C deficiencies are also attributed to the cause of hereditary elliptocytosis. Clinical symptoms range from an asymptomatic carrier status to various degrees of haemolytic anaemia. Chronic haemolysis in individuals also might accompany with complications such as splenomagaly, early gall bladder disease and jaundice. The disease has no reported sex predilection and is more common in individuals of Mediterranean and African descent. Diagnosis of the disease is based on the presence of elliptocytes in peripheral blood smear. The diagnosis can be confused with iron deficiency anaemias as the condition also shows the presence of elliptocytes in peripheral blood smear. However it is only less than 25% of the total erithrocytes in iron deficiency anaemias where as it is more than 25%, sometimes up to 60% in hereditary elliptocytosis. 1. Which inherited anaemia is characterised by red blood cells that are smaller than normal, pale in the centre and have a rounder shape? How does it arise, how common, how may the condition be alleviated? The inherited anaemia is hereditary spherocytosis. HS is caused by disruption of the cytoskeleton due to membrane protein defects. Spherical RBCs are the result of loss of erythrocyte surface area due to spectrin deficiency in the cytoskeletal framework. Spherocytic RBCs are removed rapidly from circulation by the spleen and leads to haemolysis. Spectrin deficiency is often caused due to the impaired synthesis of the protein but sometimes also caused due to deficiency of binding proteins that integrate spectrin into the cell membrane. Hereditary spheroytosis is considered to be the most common haemolytic anaemia among Northern European descent (Perrotta S,2008). Other ethnic group incidence and

Computer Network Principles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Computer Network Principles - Essay Example The connectivity involves library, departments, student halls of residence (Campus Area Network. 2007).The network devices and computing equipments have to be consistent and extendable, if the faculty staff increases. The school consists of 6 departments. Every department has different requirements, in order to employ network resources. The network layout of the school requires an expandable and efficient network which will fulfill the requirements of the school staff. Network security considerations will also be given for the special laboratories servers and lecturers. The connectivity and access level for each group is not same. Internet connectivity is limited; it means everyone is not allowed to access Internet. Scanners and printers are required by some departments in order to print and scan related documents. The network design with centralized administration is called a client / server architecture. This architecture is best suited for centralized administration. The same ne twork architecture is deployed in the school premises. The initial stride will is to classify the requirements. This will include the network devices and functionality for fulfilling the requirements for the school staff. The justification of the selected computing devices and the network equipments is required. The second stride includes the network design. The design will clearly identify, floor connections, office connections, servers, workstations, printers, scanners and cable types. The third stride is to implement a Wide Area Network (WAN) to connect other locations or Internet connectivity. The first floor includes Administration, Staff Office and the technical staff. The staff office will access the file server which is the ‘Students notes distribution server’ for uploading notes. Students are facilitated at the same time for downloading the notes. The lecturers will connect

NURSING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

NURSING - Essay Example A muscle is a vital type of soft tissues found in every organ of an animal’s body, the cells in a muscle of myosin, protein and acting all of which are vital in influencing the shape and size of an organ thus the entire organism (Blakey 77). Among the most vital muscles in the human body that enhance movement is the skeletal muscle. The skeletal muscle is responsible for the upright posture of humans. It connects bones through tendons, which act as levers thereby enabling movement. During a jog, both the arms and the legs move systematically. The lifting and dropping of the limbs during a jog arises from the ability of the skeletal muscles. The tendons in both the leg and the arm lift various parts of the limbs at the various synovial joints. Synovial joints foster the movement of various body parts in humans. Such are the most common types of joints in humans. A joint is a point in the body where two bones meet. Synovial joints have a slimy lubricant that enhances the efficiency in the contact of the bones in humans. Such joints as the elbow and the knee are among the most vital synovial joints that facilitate the movement of a body (Barnett 121). The synovial fluid requires adequate supply of blood from the arteries that share the anastomosis at the joint. Jogging engages the joints thereby heightening their activity. The heightened activity in turn increases the flow of blood through the arteries to the synovial fluid in the joints. Such is a desirable occurrence that enhances the functionality of the joints since they the synovial fluid replenishes itself thus keeping the joints functional. Regular jogging facilitates an adaptation tendency. The arteries expand thereby supplying the synovial fluid with adequate blood . This in turn enhances the production of the fluid thereby reducing the chances of people suffering from any form of joint aches breakages especially in old age. Among the movements at the joints in a

Human resource management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Human resource management - Essay Example In short, employee’s effort (F) towards an action is the valence (V), i.e., value attached to the outcome multiplied by the probability/expectancy (E) attached to their action that will lead to the desired outcome (Koontz, 2010). Considering this theory in McDonald’s context provides some very interesting findings. For instance, McDonald’s motivation and recognition schemes include bonuses for high performers, recognition as employer, team and manager of the term, champion awards, promotions etc (Lovewell, 2013). Considering that the motivation factors are varied among employees, most of the factors fall into either monetary, or non-monetary categories; and, McDonald’s attempts to provide opportunities for earning both types of rewards, thereby considering both extrinsic and intrinsic motivating factors. Employees that depend on intrinsic motivation look for recognition of their efforts and will thus strive to achieve the same by putting in more efforts; c onversely, extrinsically motivated staff is satisfied by the bonuses and other compensations such as company-sponsored dinner outings. Job evaluation is the process of systematic and relative comparison of roles to assess their net worth in order to derive a rational pay structure. Job analysis is the precursor for job evaluation and involves the decisions of many people that may be analytical and also subjective (Cole, 2002). For instance, Tesco has adopted a simple, clear and transparent job evaluation system that is based on subjective evaluation and divides its roles into six bands of work-levels. Work and responsibilities are also divided proportionately, with the lowest level being level-1 and highest at level-6. (Level pegging, 2009). Their pay bands are relative to the market standards for the same levels in other companies. This banding has resulted in flat organizational structure, thus reducing bureaucratic levels that were slowing down decision-making and implementing activities as well as increasing costs for the company. Other factors include providing competitive pay packages for their employees compa red to competitors in order to motivate and retain their experienced staff; providing greater flexibility to its managers to identify critical leadership talent and to promote internal candidates for higher roles; thirdly, to improve teamwork and thus productivity; facilitating job rotation and lateral movements of staff members etc. Rewards are meant to motivate employees at all levels, and companies design complex reward systems that include a variety of rewards. For example, monetary rewards such as bonuses, incentives, compensation benefits, and non-monetary rewards such as recognition, promotions, appreciation, additional responsibilities, special training and skill development programs are a few reward systems that contemporary organizations use. As Lovewell (2013) points out, McDonald’s uses service awards to recognize employees’ commitment and loyalty; it rewards high performance with rewards such as restaurant of the quarter, month, and year. To recognize thei r support staffs’ outstanding contribution, they give the President’s award. To appreciate individual performance, they have

Determined and Free

Determined and Free Will Essay At this point in my life I believe there is a balance in how many of our choices are determined and how many are free. The things that are determined for us are factors like what we are born into such as our ethnicity and social status. Also, if your parents are religious, you are raised under the influence of that religion. Most children embrace that faith as their own. These are life factors that you can change eventually, but usually due to societal influences you stay with these predetermined decisions. Certain determined things won’t ever be able to be altered. The color of your skin, and how you are treated because of it, is determined by where we are placed in life. Whether we are born with a medical condition or disorder is something we have no control over. Also, whether we have access to higher education or opportunity to move social classes. Many circumstances we don’t have power over are situational. The free will choices in our lives are day-to-day decisions that we make. However, these choices can have a major impact in our lives. I think there are many influences that can affect your free will, but the final decision lies in your own hands. You decide what social and personal influences infiltrate your decision, and in that is power. Things like your faith and morals shape who you are, so to make a decision with absolutely no influence is not necessarily of your own â€Å"free will†. Free will is having a say in your own decisions, it doesn’t matter what influences you unless you feel it limits you. I also believe that people differ in the amount of free will they have. The predetermined factors are generally the same for everyone, but the free choices are different. This is because people choose to let certain factors limit them, and others do not. If someone cares whether others judge him or her, they are less likely to decide to do something they really want if it is odd or embarrassing. Same method works if someone cares if their parents approve or not of their choices. These are limitations to your free will that you choose to adhere to.

Death in Cross Cultural Perspectives Essay Example for Free

Death in Cross Cultural Perspectives Essay There are different mourning ceremonies, traditions, and behaviors to express grief, but the concept of permanent loss remains unchanged in cross cultural setting. With this paper I will identify cross-cultural perspectives on death and dying, and will analyze multiple beliefs relating to death phenomenon. Furthermore I will identify different cultural mourning ceremonies and will analyze their impact on grieving process and coping mechanisms. Death is a universal phenomenon, but individual responses to death vary widely from culture to culture. In effort to explain the concept of death, many different cultures bring a significant symbolic meaning to the dying process in terms of rituals, ceremonies, and bereavement practices. Grieving and funeral rituals vary greatly across cultures and, in most cases, are associated with religious practices and beliefs. People tend to look at the death phenomena through the scope of their religious beliefs and often relate their personal experiences with death to cultural norms and traditions. Our culture affects the length of grieving process, mourning ceremonies, and even influence the way we cry during funerals. The mystery of death is often associated with fear and anxiety, thus it is easier for people to relate indefinite death concept to something that makes sense and brings comfort. Death in Latino culture According to Lobar, Youngblut and Brooten (2006), Latino death rituals are heavily influenced by religion, especially Catholicism, which underlines an importance of connection between the living and a deceased person, through prayer. Death is not something the majority of Hispanics fear, because many of them perceive death as a journey. The dying process is closely related to religious practices, such as prayers, hearing the confession of the dying, communion, and a blessing. Ongoing support is essential element of dying and grieving process, and in this particular culture it is unacceptable to let people die alone. The loyalty to a dying person and care that ill person receives during the last journey is very prominent in Latino culture. Death concept in Hispanic culture is closely related to family obligations, which is evident by the care that Hispanic family renders to a dying person during last moments. After death occurs, the family still prefers to stay with the body during burial preparation to pray and to watch over the body. Prior funeral a wake is held, which is a very social event where an extended family has a chance to get together, serve food and drinks, and enjoy each others’ company. Candles and flowers are essential decorating attributes of wakes and funerals. A funeral follows a wake, and during funeral family has a chance to say last goodbyes to their loved one. Emotional expression of grief is important attribute of Latino cultures which is often evident during funeral ceremonies where women cry loudly and use their body language openly. It is not unusual to put personal items into the casket with the person who has passed away for their journey in the afterlife, which also serves as an example of a finial gift from a family (Lobar, Youngblut Brooten, 2006). Burial follow a funeral, because majority of Hispanics oppose cremation, which is also related to their religious beliefs and importance of placing a body in the ground. Most Hispanics believe that someday the dead will arise and return to life, which significantly influences their burial preferences. It is crucial for Hispanics to be buried next to other family members to keep them company and to arise together someday (Lobar, Youngblut Brooten, 2006). Spiritual connection with the dead is also one of the important elements of Latino culture, which is demonstrated by frequent gravesite visits and praying to spirits. Death is always associated with separation, which leads to sorrow, and grief; however cultural perceptions and beliefs help to look at death from a different perspective and perceive death as a natural state that can be approached with love, respect, dignity, and tremendous family support. Latino culture supports their dying people during the last journey, and believes in afterlife, which gives them hope and helps to overcome unbearable grief of permanent loss. Death rituals in Africa African culture demonstrates a strong connection with deceased person, and believes that only a correct burial will bring a dead person peace. People n Africa strongly believe in spiritual life, thus their main goal during burial ceremonies is to address a spirit of a deceased person. An African funeral begins with removal of the body from home, which is done through a previously made hole in the wall of the home. Africans remove a dead body through the hole, instead of a door, to confuse a spirit and m ake sure that a spirit of a deceased person will not return back home, as a hole in the wall is immediately closed after removal of the body. In effort to confuse a spirit even more, they place thorns and sticks in a zigzag pattern along the way as body being taken to the place of burial. Blackely et al, 1994). In the religions of Africa, life does not end with death and people tend to believe in power of the dead, thus many families often pray to spirits and ask them not to come back and cause any trouble. Death is perceived as the beginning of connection with visible and invisible worlds. One of the funeral rituals include special preparation of a home, such as smearing windows with ashes and turning pictures and other reflective objects face down to ensure that deceased person is detached from a living, and to promote smooth transition into different world. The beds are usually removed from deceased’s bedroom and mourning women sit on a floor or a mattress. According to African culture, if correct funeral is not observed, a dead person may come back and bother the living. The funeral preparation takes approximately from seven to thirteen days, which gives the community members a chance to visit and give the last respect to a deceased (Mbiti, 1969). The funeral ceremony usually begins before the sunrise, because people believe that bad spirits usually sleep early in the morning. The pastoral care during funeral preparation is very important for comfort and encouragement. According to Blackely et al (1994), African funerals simultaneously mourn for the dead and celebrate life. An animal is usually killed during funerals to avoid bad luck, but it also has a practical purpose, such as providing food for family and neighbors. In many communities women and unmarried adults are not allowed to attend funerals, as well as close family members are not allowed to speak or take any vocal part in the funeral ceremony. The community involvement during African funerals is a great example of psychosocial and emotional support during mourning process, which draws people together and promotes healthy grief. Jewish rituals There are many different beliefs in Judaism, thus funeral rituals and ceremonies vary greatly. According to Jewish laws, practices, and beliefs, a soul returns to heaven immediately after death, thus the body has to be buried as soon as possible, usually within 24 to 48 hours (Lobar, Youngblut Brooten, 2006). Mourners show their grief by wearing a black ribbon and by performing only minimal grooming and bathing. Mirrors or other reflective objects may be covered and family remains with a deceased and talks about a deceased. Prayers, citations of Psalms and learned passages from the Talmud are essential elements of the Jewish funerals (Ribner, 1998). According to Clements et al (2003), a body should be treated with respect due to belief that it is a temple of a soul. There is a special ritual of body preparation, where women prepare a female body and men are responsible for preparing a male body. All jewelry must be removed from the body, and the body is washed twice, and is treated almost if it was still alive. The prepared body is laid on the floor with candles around it, and the body is never left alone. There is no embalming and the body is clothed or wrapped and put into wooden coffin, so the body and the box can return entirely to earth. Traditional Jewish funerals are symbolic representations of spiritual connection with God. The funeral ceremonies are based on purity, simplicity and dignity. According to Jewish tradition, wealthy and poor are equal before God, thus the body must be buried in the same type of garment regardless of financial and social status. According to Jewish religion, death is only a part of a process, and after death a soul continues on. Jewish people believe in afterlife, which gives them hope and helps to deal with grief. The importance of family is recognized throughout Jewish mourning ceremonies, which value family privacy during first seven days of mourning process, where close family gets together and have a meal of condolence that include eggs and bread. According to the belief, eggs symbolize life, which is a great example of attitude towards death and strong belief in afterlife (Madsen, 1999). Cross cultural perspective Death is a universal phenomenon, but funerals ceremonies and rituals vary greatly across cultures and religions. Many cultural groups carry their own beliefs and perceptions, which help them with the grieving process and adaptations strategies. Death carries a feeling of a permanent loss, which is very difficult for people to accept. According to Kastenbaum (2007), bereavement is a universal experience, which carries many painful responses, including depression, distress, fear, and misery. Our inner state feelings are universal, however or external expressions are different. Our culture and religious beliefs are essential elements of adaptation strategies and coping techniques. Believing in afterlife in Christianity, Judaism, and many other religious groups gives people hope, helps to alleviate grief, and promotes healthy adaptation process. Strong extended family support during mourning process helps to share unbearable grief among family members and serves as an excellent source of encouragement. Strong community involvement is extremely beneficial during bereavement, which helps to take care of financial struggles and provides psychosocial support. Cross cultural rituals help people express their grief according to their beliefs. Almost every funeral ceremony is family oriented, which is designed to bring extended family together, to celebrate life, and to set the background for healthy grief. There are many similarities and differences in beliefs and practices on death and dying. But for many cultures and religious groups a funeral is a final act of love, respect, devotion, and family gathering.

The Recruitment And Selection Process Business Essay

The Recruitment And Selection Process Business Essay In this report the topic that will be discussed is The Recruitment and Selection process and how it has moved on from the days of newspaper ads and block interviews. The introduction of the report will discuss recruitment and selection and the methods of recruitment and selection. The main body of the report will focus on companies today, and how they are recruiting and selecting with more innovative approaches that many companies are beginning to use in 2013. Then in the report there will be a section on some weaknesses about the ways in which companies are beginning to recruit and select. To conclude the report I will sum up everything on the topic of recruitment and selection and state my opinion. Recruitment and selection is one of the many roles played by a human resource manager in an organisation. In the human resource department they deal with what positions need to be filled, they take the possible candidates through a series of interviews, select the best candidate for the job, the training of the employees, they also tell the employees all about the services they offer and they make sure that the employees and the organisation are highly motivated. Organisations all over the world have realized that human resources is a very valuable asset to them and therefore necessary measures have been put in place to make sure that the organisation will gain and keep a highly skilled workforce which would guarantee that the organisation manage a competitive advantage over its competitors (Jones George, 2007). In recruiting and selecting it is very important to have a clear job description and personal specification. A job description will entail what the title of the job is, to whom the job holder will be responsible and for whom they will be responsible too. It will also entail what their roles and responsibilities will be. A person specification will look for what skills and characteristics the applicants will need for the job. When applying the two together they provide the foundation for a job advertisement. Recruitment is the process in which you source possible applicants for a job. The manager who is in charge of hiring the applicants can use the likes of job boards, social networking sites, recruitment programmes that may be linked with colleges and possibly job fairs. These may be used by companies to create an interest in jobs that are available in a certain company (Peterson, J. 2013). Selection is the process where when all the candidates have been selected the group of candidates will be broken down and one out of all of them will be selected for the job. This process may and can require a couple of different interviews and assessments of the applicants personality (Peterson, J. 2013). For the selection of a candidate, many organisations use a range of different tools and technologies to measure a candidates abilities and skills, allowing them to successfully choose the most qualified candidates that would benefit the company most to proceed to the interview process. By assessing a candidates skills this will enable the organisation to look into different qualifications within the interview.(Human Resource Management in Ireland 3rd edition (2006) Page 119). As part of the recruitment and selection process, it is very important to assess the candidates true interest in the company and their position in the organisation, which can then ensure you are hiring a long-term employee. A good way to retain employees in an organisation is to include things such as telling them about their salary and the benefits that they may offer within the good work environment. Today there are many different methods of recruitment such as: 1. Internal methods e.g. Internal promotion 2. External agencies e.g. Employment agency 3. Printed media e.g. National local newspapers 4. Other media e.g. Internet, TV 5. Education Liaison e.g. Careers fairs 6. Professional contracts e.g. Conferences, trade unions 7. Other methods e.g. Past applicants, word of mouth (Noel Harvey Lecture slides) There are a few different selection processes, which are as follows: The interview The objective of this, is to meet the candidate face to face to see if they are the right person for the job, to record some answers to critical incident-type questions, to discuss contractual terms and conditions etc. Psychometric tests Standardised test of performance attitudes or personality. There are a few different types for example: cognitive ability, personality, attitudes and values, and career choice and guidance. These tests can either precede or follow interview stage. Results can form basis of further interview questions, or interview can be used to feedback test results. Assessment centres Multiple-method design, usually incorporating testing, interviews, and work sample exercises, where candidates are tested by observers on job-relevant dimensions. Can last from 1-5 days. These are usually the final stage of assessment to reach outcome decisions. This is a good form of selection because it gives employers the opportunity to observe candidates over a longer period of time in formal and informal situations, and multiple assessments by several assessors over several exercises can eliminate some individual biases associated with one-to-one interviews.(Human Resource Management in Ireland 3rd edition (2006) Page 120) It is essential to recruit and select employees who are fully committed to the aims and objectives of the organisation. An employee who believes in what the company is about and what it wants to achieve, will try their best to accomplish the companys goals. They will want the company to be successful, and will feel the sense of achievement from being part of the companys success. By hiring the right high quality employees for the job, with the right qualifications and skills, who are determined to succeed, this will result in increased levels of organisation performance. Every company has recruitment and selection processes in place to hire their employees, for example Boston Scientific, ESB, Google, and Dunnes Stores etc. In recruiting today we are now in an era where technology rules. The whole process of the recruitment and selection has and is continuously changing and evolving as the years go by. Its changing as technology is changing. As stated in paragraphs above recruitment and selection strategies can vary but now employers are turning to more efficient, effective and modern ways of recruiting staff. Methods today are changing drastically for not just the employer but the employee too. Online recruitment is the way forward and in 2013 its what most companies are using to recruit and select. Online recruitment uses the power of the internet to match people to jobs (George Finnegan- Lecture slides). Some examples of the online recruitment methods are using social networking sites like Facebook and twitter, job boards and even mobile apps. Research shows that 2012 was the year for workforce innovation; companies were testing in the use of social media in branding and marketing their organisations. But in 2013 research has shown that now companies are taking social further and that this year 2013 will be the year of social HR, as many organisations are integrating with social technology to recruit, develop and engage employees (Meister. J, 2013). Employers have begun to find out more about who they may be recruiting and selecting by going online. The Death of the CV, in 2013 the traditional CV is being replaced by a persons personal brand and how they are portrayed online. Now that times have changed employers are checking out potential candidates backgrounds before they are even interviewed. The manager that is going to hire you will definitely look into some of the following sources about a potential employee. (Meister. J, 2013). They will check your Facebook profile. They will enter your name into Google and Bing to see what may come up. They will check up on your twitter account to see how many followers you have and to look through your tweets. They will check your LinkedIn profile, they will look into the quality and size of it community. They will also check your recommendations on your LinkedIn profile. Another innovative approach online that some employers are taking in recruiting and selecting candidates is through Gamification. This process is edging its way in through the back door. Here is an example of how the Marriott use it as a method of recruiting and selecting. The Marriott Hotel have come up with a hotel-themed game that is played online, its quite similar to Farmville. In this game the players (potential candidates) have to play and manage the responsibilities if they were to be an actual manager in a kitchen. The candidate playing the game will get to know a bit about the industry, also there is a reward system in place to make it more realistic for the candidates. The basis behind the game is first of all the Marriotts name is growing outside the market, and the younger generation coming up they are finding new ways to interest them in careers in hospitality. Gamification is now a popular tool being used in the recruitment process because it attracts possible candidates through these social games on Facebook and LinkedIn. The game My Marriot on Facebook is an opportunity for any company to use a social network like these as a platform to engage global perspective new hires and show them what it could be like to work for them in there co mpany (Meister. J, 2012). Another innovative approach used online to recruit is using YouTube a social media site it a very effective tool for recruiting employees today. It is used by managers who are hiring. They may talk about a role that they are looking to fill in their team. When using this method of recruitment it means that anybody who is a candidate for the job can get the chance to see where they might be working, who they may be working for and they may be working with. Another approach online that is being taken is RSS (really simple syndication). This website is used by applicants. Its a website that keeps potential applicants up to date with any jobs that have been posted online. There is a daily update about the posting of jobs without the applicant even having to return to the website. When the website is set up the RSS reader will continuously check websites for any new and available jobs that may have been posted online. It will then proceed to show these jobs to the applicant without them having to do a thing. This section of the report will discuss some of the disadvantages of online recruitment. Today online recruitment and selection is one of the most popular methods with most companies and it is the way forward in this process. There can also be some disadvantages to this method. The first disadvantage may be the high volume of responses to the job because now everyone around the world is able to gain internet access so easily they could see the job advertisement online. Many unqualified may apply for the job this may be time consuming for a company to go through each applicant. To avoid this happening make sure the job advertisement is specific to exactly what you are looking for. Another disadvantage is online recruiting is too impersonal because a lot of it involves emailing and telephone interviews this can make it come across as too impersonal. The employer may not get the chance to interview the possible candidate multiple times; this makes it hard for the employer to determine if the candidate would be correct for the job and for the company and its culture. Another disadvantage of online recruitment is security problems that may come about with the internet. People can create spams and fake profiles. Here are some of the more innovative approaches being taken by companies in 2013 towards filling vacancies in an organisation. These recruitment sources have become very popular also. This section of the report will discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of these different recruitment methods. Companies have now begun to use airplane banners in recruiting. The advantage of these is that it will grasp the attention of potential applicants. Although some may think it is an unprofessional approach even slightly intrusive. Companies have also begun to hang large banners and signs. The advantage of these banners is that they are cheap making them cost effective. But also they may be considered as an unprofessional approach and a busy location is always needed. Bill bored advertising is now another popular recruitment method. Its advantage is its a high volume attention grabber but its unable to display a large amount of information this could come as a disadvantage. Another popular recruitment method that is now being used is companies have begun to use competitions to recruit. The advantage of this would be the opportunity to evaluate skills before extending the job offer. It may be very time consuming though. The use of kiosks makes it easy for the person to apply for the job. The disadvantage of kiosks would be the unmonitored application flow. Many companies are now using movie ads because they attract people who are currently looking for a job. The disadvantage is that these ads may be intrusive and disturbing. Another recruitment method would be on site recruitment. Here the company can reach a wide variety and audience of people; it also saves time and deals with good public relations. There would be a disadvantage that it would deal with lots of unqualified applicants. To conclude this essay it entails a thorough analysis and discussion and on what the recruitment and selection process is and how it is one of the many roles played by a human resource manager. There is a definition of what recruitment is and what selection is and how they come together as a process. In the report it states many different methods of recruitment and different selection processes. It discusses why it is so essential to recruit and select employees who are fully committed. The report then goes on to discuss the innovative approaches that are now being used by companies in recruiting and selecting. This was the primary aim of the report. The main one and most popular being online recruitment. It discusses firstly how employers are now before interviewing possible candidates, finding out more about these candidates online. Then the report discusses a new innovative approach called gamification that is starting to become popular and how companies are using it as a tool for recruiting. The report also states some of the disadvantages of online recruitment. After discussing the innovative online approaches of recruitment and selection in the report, there is then a few other examples of innovative approaches that are being used in recruitment and selection in 2013. Here the advantages and disadvantages are discussed of each. In my opinion after researching this topic on recruitment and selection it gave me a better understanding and insight into how companies are going about recruiting and selecting today. As technology is evolving so are the methods and processes of recruitment and selection. In an article that was discussed in the report it stated that 2013 will be the year of social HR, as many organisations are integrating with social technology to recruit, develop and engage employees. The further I researched the more true this statement became. I feel after doing this research that online recruitment will be how all companies will be recruiting and selecting within the next few years. As technology gets more innovative so will the approaches to how companies will recruit and select. There where both pros and cons to online recruitment but within the next year I feel that any negative of online recruitment will be flushed out. There is no problem with using the old methods of recruitment and selection but as the new generation workforce coming up now they should be mostly aware and comfortable with the online methods that they are going to come across as they begin to look for employment.

Persecution :: essays research papers

The Growing Effects of Persecution   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the ages of Christianity, there have been many drawbacks to this cause. Many leaders among the Christian community were persecuted due to the disbelief of Christ being the Messiah among pagan worshipers, heathens, and even other credible religious leaders. This persecution more often led to death, or other horrifying results. But no matter what horrendous effects, there was always a brighter side causing the Christian faith to grow even stronger.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Because of Rome’s strictness in following the laws and rules, they were very tradition bound. Many of the Pharisees were determined that the Old Testament was the only acceptable basis of religious law that the people of Rome should follow. The believed that Elijah was the Messiah, and they were waiting for his return. They also didn’t expect a â€Å"Messiah† to act the way that Christ did, having anything to do with sinners was looked down upon. However, after Christ’s death and resurrection, the disciples were told to go out into the world and spread the good news of their salvation. This didn’t appeal to the Pharisees at all, and they immediately set out to stop this message of freedom. The religious officials continuously put Simon and Peter in jail, Stephen was stoned to death, and there have been accounts of John’s attempted murder in boiling hot oil. Many Christians were flogged, stoned to death, skinned alive, fed to lions, and many more gruesome things. Nero burned half of Rome and then blamed the Christians, he even dipped some in kerosene and then lit them on fire so that there was light for the sporting events. Peter was even crucified, but he didn’t feel he deserved to die the same way as Christ so he was crucified upside-down. Persecution was so bad that Christians were accused of having a â€Å"hatred for the human race,† cannibalism, and incest.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The response of the Christians has a lot to do with the influence upon the church. The Bible states in the book of Acts that after being beat by the Roman officials, Peter and James went out celebrating that they had been punished for spreading the news of Christ. After this event, and several escapes from prison due to divine intervention, Peter and the other Apostles were able to bring salvation unto many people. These events helped make the church what it is today. The church at this point in time was growing because of the faith that two groups of people displayed.

Virtual Reality :: essays research papers

When a sound source is visible and auditory cues conflict with visual cues, vision always predominates over audition. When a sound source presents no visible cues, the most important role of vision is in the monitoring of head movements. The visual field provides important feedback about the nature and degree of head movement so that deliberate disturbance to the visual field causes significant disruption in the ability to localize and invisible sound source. This is essential in ensuring the success of virtual reality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  All the applications of the technology of television have been dominated by entertainment. Because of this, the vast majority of televised scenes have been of familiar landscapes; domestic rooms; churches; courtrooms and even the open prairie. In each case, the viewer is able to bring a vast amount of his or her experience to bear in interpreting the missing third dimension.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  However, as applications of television broaden to include displays for molecular modeling programs for surgery for instance, the televised scenes become unfamiliar and interpretation of the depth cues become more difficult.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Just as in the cinema, the human eye’s persistence of vision means that we experience consecutive still images as a continuously flowing moving image. But, despite constant development in video display technology (better colour, higher definition images etc.), all television systems present a completely ‘flat’ 2-D image. Therefore, it is essential to understand various techniques used by virtual reality engineers to ensure a realistic visual stimulation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Depth Enhancement Techniques   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many applications of television technology, which would benefit from conventional 2-D display to 3-D systems, are deprived of this transformation due to other considerations. Nature has solved the lack of binocular vision in animals not equipped with two forward-facing eyes by furnishing them with a mechanism for extracting depth information from motion parallax cues. Humans cannot do this without artificial aid and so require the assistance of video depth enhancement systems like the Pulfrich Effect and Depth Enhanced Vision (DEV).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Pulfrich Effect is named after a nineteenth century discoverer who noticed that if a neutral density filter is placed over one eye, a swinging pendulum appears to swing in an ellipse. Depending on the direction of motion, objects on a video screen also appear to recede into the screen or advance out of the screen. This effect is due to the filter that causes the brain to process two identical retinal images at different speeds, which results in motion parallax being misinterpreted by the nervous system.

Grapes of Wrath :: essays research papers

Migrant workers went through a lot of struggles. They went through life and death situations, prejudice, and one of the most important things of all they had to keep their family and people together and keep believing that they would make it to a better life. The things they go through while immigrating change their views on life forever. Some for the good some for the bad. â€Å"They said, these god dammed okies are dirty and ignorant. They’re degenerate, sexual maniacs. They’ll steal anything. They’ve got no sense of property rights† (Steinbeck 363). One of the hardest things that immigrants went through was prejudice. Cops and towns men where always after the okies because they where dirty and didn’t have a stable home. The immigrants from Mexico experienced the same hardships. The farm owners hated them. They just wanted them to do their job and leave. The farm owners didn’t care that they had a family to feed, they wanted to screw them over and pay them as less money as they could. It’s weird how the same prejudice is still around. No matter how nice a person is if they don’t dress the same or have the same interests they are disliked. â€Å"As usual there had been violent incidents on the picket line. A union member had been run over† (Del Castillo, Garcia 84). People everyday that went on strikes put their lives on the line. They knew there was a threat when they protested. It was a life and death situation. Fight for your rights, or keep working for the minimal amount and not be able to support your family. Every immigrant has tough choices to make. In the early days they had to make life and death choices. In both stories they have strikes to give the immigrants what they deserve. In the grapes of wrath as well as Cesar Chavez, somebody dies from a strike. â€Å"The heavy club crashed into the side of his head with a dull crunch of bone, and Casy fell sideways out of the light† (Steinbeck 495). Casy died because he protested against how much money people should earn. The men came after him and the rest of the protesters. They killed them in fear of having to raise the prices. Casy was tired of working for 2 cents an hour. He could live off that. The only choice he had was to protest.

Zoe’s Tale PART III Chapter Twenty-Three

Something was nudging me awake. I swatted at it. â€Å"Die,† I said. â€Å"Zoe,† Hickory said. â€Å"You have a visitor.† I blinked up at Hickory, who was framed as a silhouette by the light coming from the corridor. â€Å"What are you talking about?† I said. â€Å"General Gau,† Hickory said. â€Å"He is here. Now. And wishes to speak to you.† I sat up. â€Å"You have got to be kidding me,† I said. I picked up my PDA and looked at the time. We had arrived in Conclave space fourteen hours earlier, popping into existence a thousand klicks out from the space station that General Gau had made the administrative headquarters of the Conclave. He said he hadn't wanted to favor one planet over another. The space station was ringed with hundreds of ships from all over Conclave space, and even more shuttles and cargo transports, going between ships and back and forth from the station. Phoenix Station, the largest human space station and so big I've heard that it actually affected tides on the planet Phoenix (by amounts measurable only by sensitive instruments, but still), would have fit into a corner of the Conclave HQ. We had arrived and announced ourselves and sent an encrypted message to General Gau requesting an audience. We had been given parking coordinates and then willfully ignored. After ten hours of that, I finally went to sleep. â€Å"You know I do not kid,† Hickory said. It walked back to the doorway and turned up the lights in my stateroom. I winced. â€Å"Now, please,† Hickory said. â€Å"Come to meet him.† Five minutes later I was dressed in something I hoped would be presentable and walking somewhat unsteadily down the corridor. After a minute of walking I said, â€Å"Oh, crap,† and ran back to my stateroom, leaving Hickory standing in the corridor. A minute later I was back, bearing a shirt with something wrapped in it. â€Å"What is that?† Hickory asked. â€Å"A gift,† I said. We continued our trip through the corridor. A minute later I was standing in a hastily arranged conference room with General Gau. He stood to one side of a table surrounded by Obin-style seats, which were not really well designed either for his physiology or mine. I stood on the other, shirt in my hand. â€Å"I will wait outside,† Hickory said, after it delivered me. â€Å"Thank you, Hickory,† I said. It left. I turned and faced the general. â€Å"Hi,† I said, somewhat lamely. â€Å"You are Zoe,† General Gau said. â€Å"The human who has the Obin to do her bidding.† His words were in a language I didn't understand; they were translated through a communicator device that hung from his neck. â€Å"That's me,† I said. I heard my words translated into his language. â€Å"I am interested in how a human girl is able to commandeer an Obin transport ship to take her to see me,† General Gau said. â€Å"It's a long story,† I said. â€Å"Give me the short version,† Gau said. â€Å"My father created special machines that gave the Obin consciousness. The Obin revere me as the only surviving link to my father. They do what I ask them to,† I said. â€Å"It must be nice to have an entire race at your beck and call,† Gau said. â€Å"You should know,† I said. â€Å"You have four hundred races at yours. Sir.† General Gau did something with his head that I was going to hope was meant to be a smile. â€Å"That's a matter of some debate at this point, I'm afraid,† he said. â€Å"But I am confused. I was under the impression that you are the daughter of John Perry, administrator of the Roanoke Colony.† â€Å"I am,† I said. â€Å"He and his wife Jane Sagan adopted me after my father died. My birth mother had died some time before that. It is on my adopted parents' account that I am here now. Although I apologize† – I motioned to myself, and my state of unreadiness – â€Å"I didn't expect to meet you here, now. I thought we would come to you, and I would have time to prepare.† â€Å"When I heard that the Obin were ferrying a human to see me, and one from Roanoke, I was curious enough not to want to wait,† Gau said. â€Å"I also find value in making my opposition wonder what I am up to. My coming to visit an Obin ship rather than waiting to receive their embassy will make some wonder who you are, and what I know that they don't.† â€Å"I hope I'm worth the trip,† I said. â€Å"If you're not, I'll still have made them nervous,† Gau said. â€Å"But considering how far you've come, I hope for both our sakes the trip has been worth it. Are you completely dressed?† â€Å"What?† I said. Of the many questions I might have been expecting, this wasn't one of them. The general pointed to my hand. â€Å"You have a shirt in your hands,† he said. â€Å"Oh,† I said, and put the shirt on the table between us. â€Å"It's a gift. Not the shirt. There's something wrapped in the shirt. That's the gift. I was hoping to find something else to put it in before I gave it to you, but you sort of surprised me. I'm going to shut up now and let you just have that.† The general gave me what I think was a strange look, and then reached out and unwrapped what was in the shirt. It was the stone knife given to me by the werewolf. He held it up and examined it in the light. â€Å"This is a very interesting gift,† he said, and began moving it in his hand, testing it, I guessed, for weight and balance. â€Å"And quite a nicely designed knife.† â€Å"Thank you,† I said. â€Å"Not precisely modern weaponry,† he said. â€Å"No,† I said. â€Å"Figured that a general must have an interest in archaic weapons?† Gau asked. â€Å"Actually there's a story behind it,† I said. â€Å"There's a native race of intelligent beings on Roanoke. We didn't know about them before we landed. Not too long ago we met up with them for the first time, and things went badly. Some of them died, and some of us died. But then one of them and one of us met and decided not to try to kill each other, and exchanged gifts instead. That knife was one of those gifts. It's yours now.† â€Å"That's an interesting story,† Gau said. â€Å"And I think I'm correct in supposing that this story has some implication for why you're here.† â€Å"It's up to you, sir,† I said. â€Å"You might just decide it's a nice stone knife.† â€Å"I don't think so,† Gau said. â€Å"Administrator Perry is a man who plays with subtext. It's not lost on me what it means that he has sent his daughter to deliver a message. But then to offer this particular gift, with its particular story. He's a man of some subtlety.† â€Å"I think so, too,† I said. â€Å"But the knife is not from my dad. It's from me.† â€Å"Indeed,† Gau said, surprised. â€Å"That's even more interesting. Administrator Perry didn't suggest it?† â€Å"He doesn't know I had the knife,† I said. â€Å"And he doesn't know how I got it.† â€Å"But you did intend to send me a message with it,† Gau said. â€Å"One to complement your adopted father's.† â€Å"I hoped you'd see it that way,† I said. Gau set the knife down. â€Å"Tell me what Administrator Perry has to tell me,† he said. â€Å"You're going to be assassinated,† I said. â€Å"Someone is going to try, anyway. It's someone close to you. Someone in your trusted circle of advisors. Dad doesn't know when or how, but he knows that it's planned to happen soon. He wanted you to know so you could protect yourself.† â€Å"Why?† General Gau asked. â€Å"Your adopted father is an official of the Colonial Union. He was part of the plan that destroyed the Conclave fleet and has threatened everything I have worked for, for longer than you have been alive, young human. Why should I trust the word of my enemy?† â€Å"The Colonial Union is your enemy, not my dad,† I said. â€Å"Your dad helped kill tens of thousands,† Gau said. â€Å"Every ship in my fleet was destroyed but my own.† â€Å"He begged you not to call your ships to Roanoke,† I said. â€Å"This was a place where he was all too subtle,† Gau said. â€Å"He never explained how the trap had been set. He merely asked me not to call my fleet. A little more information would have kept thousands alive.† â€Å"He did what he could,† I said. â€Å"You were there to destroy our colony. He wasn't allowed to surrender it to you. You know he didn't have many options. And as it was he was recalled by the Colonial Union and put on trial for even hinting to you that something might happen. He could have been sent to prison for the simple act of speaking to you, General. He did what he could.† â€Å"How do I know he's not just being used again?† Gau asked. â€Å"You said you knew what it meant that he sent me to give you a message,† I said. â€Å"I'm the proof that he's telling you the truth.† â€Å"You're the proof he believes he's telling me the truth,† Gau said. â€Å"It's not to say that it is the truth. Your adopted father was used once. Why couldn't he be used again?† I flared at this. â€Å"Begging your pardon, General,† I said. â€Å"But you should know that by sending me to send you this warning, both my dad and my mom are absolutely assured of being labeled as traitors by the Colonial Union. They are both going to prison. You should know that as part of the deal to get the Obin to bring me to you, I can't go back to Roanoke. I have to stay with them. Because they believe that it's only a matter of time before Roanoke is destroyed, if not by you then by some part of the Conclave you don't have any control over anymore. My parents and I have risked everything to give you this warning. It's possible I'll never see them or anyone else on Roanoke again, because I am giving you this warning. Now, General, do you think any of us would do any of this if we were not absolutely certain about what we are telling you? Do you?† General Gau said nothing for a moment. Then, â€Å"I am sorry you have all had to risk so much,† he said. â€Å"Then do my dad the honor of believing him,† I said. â€Å"You're in danger, General. And that danger is closer than you think.† â€Å"Tell me, Zoe,† Gau said, â€Å"what does Administrator Perry hope to get from telling me this? What does he want from me?† â€Å"He wants you to stay alive,† I said. â€Å"You promised him that as long as you were running the Conclave, you wouldn't attack Roanoke again. The longer you stay alive, the longer we stay alive.† â€Å"But there's the irony,† Gau said. â€Å"Thanks to what happened at Roanoke, I'm not in as much control as I was. My time now is spent keeping others in line. And there are those who are looking at Roanoke as a way to take control from me. I'm sure you don't know about Nerbros Eser – â€Å" â€Å"Sure I do,† I said. â€Å"Your main opposition right now. He's trying to convince people to follow him. Wants to destroy the Colonial Union.† â€Å"I apologize,† Gau said. â€Å"I forgot you're not just a messenger girl.† â€Å"It's all right,† I said. â€Å"Nerbros Eser is planning to attack Roanoke,† Gau said. â€Å"I have been getting the Conclave back under my control – too slowly – but enough races support Eser that he has been able to fund an expedition to take Roanoke. He knows the Colonial Union is too weak to put up a defense of the colony, and he knows that at the moment I am in no position to stop him. If he can take Roanoke where I could not, more Conclave races could side with him. Enough that they would attack the Colonial Union directly.† â€Å"You can't help us, then,† I said. â€Å"Other than to tell you what I just have, no,† Gau said. â€Å"Eser is going to attack Roanoke. But in part because Administrator Perry helped to destroy my fleet, there is no way I can do much to stop him now. And I doubt very much that your Colonial Union will do much to stop him.† â€Å"Why do you say that?† I asked. â€Å"Because you are here,† General Gau said. â€Å"Make no mistake, Zoe, I do appreciate your family's warning. But Administrator Perry is not so kind that he would have warned me out of his own simple goodness. As you've noted, the cost is too high for that. You are here because you have nowhere else to turn.† â€Å"But you believe Dad,† I said. â€Å"Yes,† Gau said. â€Å"Unfortunately. Someone in my position is always a target. But now of all times I know that even some of those who I've trusted with my life and friendship are calculating the costs and deciding that I'm worth more to them dead than alive. And it makes sense for someone to try for me before Eser attacks Roanoke. If I'm dead and Eser takes revenge on your colony, no one else will even try to challenge him for control of the Conclave. Administrator Perry isn't telling me anything I don't know. He's only confirming what I do know.† â€Å"Then I've been no use to you,† I said. And you've been no use to me, I thought but did not say. â€Å"I wouldn't say that,† Gau said. â€Å"One of the reasons I am here now is so that I could hear what you had to say to me without anyone else involved. To find out what I could do with the information you might have. To see if it has use to me. To see if you are of use to me.† â€Å"You already knew what I told you,† I said. â€Å"This is true,† Gau said. â€Å"However, no one else knows how much you know. Not here, in any event.† He reached over and picked up the stone knife and looked at it again. â€Å"And the truth of the matter is that I'm getting tired of not knowing, of those whom I trust, which is planning to stab me in the heart. Whoever is planning to assassinate me is going to be in league with Nerbros Eser. They are likely to know when he plans to attack Roanoke, and with how large a force. And perhaps working together we can find out both of these things.† â€Å"How?† I asked. General Gau looked at me again, and did that I-hope-it's-a-smile thing with his head. â€Å"By doing a bit of political theater. By making them think we know what they do. By making them act because of it.† I smiled back at Gau. â€Å"‘The play is the thing in which I shall catch the conscience of the king,'† I said. â€Å"Precisely,† Gau said. â€Å"Although it will be a traitor we catch, not a king.† â€Å"In that quote he was both,† I said. â€Å"Interesting,† Gau said. â€Å"I'm afraid I don't know the reference.† â€Å"It's from a play called Hamlet,† I said. â€Å"I had a friend who liked the playwright.† â€Å"I like the quote,† Gau said. â€Å"And your friend.† â€Å"Thanks,† I said. â€Å"I do too.† â€Å"One of you in this chamber is a traitor,† General Gau said. â€Å"And I know which one of you it is.† Wow, I thought. The general sure knows how to start a meeting. We were in the general's official advisors' chamber, an ornate room, which, the general told me beforehand, he never used except to receive foreign dignitaries with some semblance of pomp and circumstance. Since he was technically receiving me for this particular meeting, I felt special. But more to the point, the room featured a small raised platform with steps, on which sat a large chair. Dignitaries, advisors and their staff all approached it like it was a throne. This was going to be useful for what General Gau had in mind for today. In front of the platform, the room opened up into a semicircle. Around the perimeter stood a curving bar, largely of standing height for most sentient species in the Conclave. This is where advisors' and dignitaries' staff stood, calling up documents and data when needed and whispering (or whatever) into small microphones that fed into earpieces (or whatever) worn by their bosses. Their bosses – the advisors and dignitaries – filed into the area between the bar and the platform. Usually, I was told, they would have benches or chairs (or whatever suited their body shape best) offered to them so they could rest as they did their business. Today, they were all standing. As for me, I was standing to the left and just in front of the general, who was seated in his big chair. On the opposite side of the chair was a small table, on which lay the stone knife, which I had just (and for the second time) presented to the general. This time it was delivered in packaging more formal than a shirt. The general had taken it out of the box I had found, admired it, and set it on the table. Back along with the staff stood Hickory and Dickory, who were not happy with the plan the general had come up with. With them were three of the general's security detail, who were likewise not very pleased at all. Well, now that we were doing it, I'm not sure I was entirely thrilled with it either. â€Å"I thought we were here to hear a request from this young human,† said one of the advisors, a tall Lalan (that is, tall even for a Lalan) named Hafte Sorvalh. Her voice was translated by the earpiece I had been given by the Obin. â€Å"It was a pretense,† Gau said. â€Å"The human has no petition, but information pertaining to which one of you intends to assassinate me.† This naturally got a stir in the chamber. â€Å"It is a human!† said Wert Ninung, a Dwaer. â€Å"No disrespect, General, but the humans recently destroyed the entire Conclave fleet. Any information they would share with you should be regarded as highly suspect, to say the least.† â€Å"I agree with this entirely, Ninung,† Gau said. â€Å"Which is why when it was provided to me I did what any sensible person would have done and had my security people check the information thoroughly. I regret to say that the information was good. And now I must deal with the fact that one of my advisors – someone who was privy to all my plans for the Conclave – has conspired against me.† â€Å"I don't understand,† said a Ghlagh whose name, if I could remember correctly, was Lernin Il. I wasn't entirely sure, however; Gau's security people had given me dossiers on Gau's circle of advisors only a few hours before the meeting, and given everything else I needed to do to prepare, I had barely had time to skim. â€Å"What don't you understand, Lernin?† asked General Gau. â€Å"If you know which of us is the traitor, why hasn't your security detail already dealt with them?† Il asked. â€Å"This could be done without exposing you to an unnecessary risk. Given your position you don't need to take any more risks than are absolutely necessary.† â€Å"We are not talking about some random killer, Il,† the general said. â€Å"Look around you. How long have we known each other? How hard have each of us worked to create this great Conclave of races? We have seen more of each other over time than we have seen of our spouses and children. Would any of you have accepted it if I were to make one of you disappear over a vague charge of treason? Would that not seem to each of you that I was losing my grip and creating scapegoats? No, Il. We have come too far and done too much for that. Even this would-be assassin deserves better courtesy than that.† â€Å"What do you intend to do, then?† asked Il. â€Å"I will ask the traitor in this room to come forward,† he said. â€Å"It's not too late to right this wrong.† â€Å"Are you offering this assassin amnesty?† asked some creature whose name I just did not remember (or, given how it spoke, I suspect I could not actually pronounce, even if I did remember it). â€Å"No,† Gau said. â€Å"This person is not acting alone. They are part of a conspiracy that threatens what all of us have worked for.† Gau gestured to me. â€Å"My human friend here has given me a few names, but that is not enough. For the security of the Conclave we need to know more. And to show all the members of the Conclave that treason cannot be tolerated, my assassin must answer for what they have done to this point. What I do offer is this: That they will be treated fairly and with dignity. That they will serve their term of punishment with some measure of comfort. That their family and loved ones will not be punished or held responsible, unless they themselves are conspirators. And that their crime will not be made known publicly. Every one outside this room will know only that this conspirator has retired from service. There will be punishment. There must be punishment. But there will not be the punishment of history.† â€Å"I want to know where this human got its information,† said Wert Ninung. Gau nodded to me. â€Å"This information ultimately comes from the Colonial Union's Special Forces division,† I said. â€Å"The same group that spearheaded the destruction of the Conclave fleet,† Wert said. â€Å"Not especially trustworthy.† â€Å"Councilor Wert,† I said, â€Å"how do you think the Special Forces were able to locate every one of the ships of your fleet? The only time it assembles is when it removes a colony. Locating four hundred ships among the tens of thousands that each race alone has at its disposal was an unheard of feat of military intelligence. After that, do you doubt that the Special Forces had difficulty coming up with a single name?† Wert actually growled at me. I thought that was rude. â€Å"I have already told you that I have had the information checked out,† General Gau said. â€Å"There is no doubt it is accurate. That is not under discussion. What is under discussion is how the assassin will choose to be discovered. I repeat: The assassin is in this room, right now, among us. If they will come forward now, and share information on their other conspirators, their treatment will be generous, light and secret. The offer is in front of you now. I beg you, as an old friend, to take it. Come forward now.† No one in the room moved. General Gau stared at each of his advisors, directly and in the eye, for several seconds each. None of them took so much as a step forward. â€Å"Very well,† General Gau said. â€Å"We do this the hard way, then.† â€Å"What will you do now, General?† asked Sorvalh. â€Å"Simple,† Gau said. â€Å"I will call up each of you in turn. You will bow to me and swear your allegiance to me as the leader of the Conclave. Those of you who I know are truthful, I will offer you my thanks. The one of you who is a traitor, I will reveal you in front of those you have worked alongside for so long, and have you arrested. Your punishment will be severe. And it will be most definitely public. And it will end with your death.† â€Å"This is not like you, General,† Sorvalh said. â€Å"You created the Conclave with the idea that there would be no dictators, no demands of personal allegiance. There is only allegiance to the Conclave. To its ideals.† â€Å"The Conclave is near collapse, Hafte,† Gau said. â€Å"And you know as well as I do that Nerbros Eser and his sort will run the Conclave like a personal fiefdom. One among you has already decided that Eser's dictatorship is preferable to a Conclave where every race has a voice. It's clear to me that I must ask for the allegiance I once only held in trust. I am sorry it has come to this. But it has.† â€Å"What if we will not swear allegiance?† Sorvalh said. â€Å"Then you will be arrested as a traitor,† Gau said. â€Å"Along with the one who I know to be the assassin.† â€Å"You are wrong to do this,† Sorvalh said. â€Å"You are going against your own vision for the Conclave to ask for this allegiance. I want you to know I believe this in my soul.† â€Å"Noted,† Gau said. â€Å"Very well,† Sorvalh said, and stepped forward to the platform and knelt. â€Å"General Tarsem Gau, I offer you my allegiance as the leader of the Conclave.† Gau looked at me. This was my cue. I shook my head at him, clearly enough that everyone in the room could see that he was waiting for my verification. â€Å"Thank you, Hafte,† Gau said. â€Å"You may step back. Wert Ninung, please step forward.† Ninung did. As did the next six advisors. There were three left. I was beginning to get very nervous. Gau and I had already agreed that we would not carry the act so far as to accuse someone who wasn't actually guilty. But if we got to the end without a traitor, then we both would have a lot to answer for. â€Å"Lernin Il,† General Gau said. â€Å"Please step forward.† Il nodded and smoothly moved forward and when he got to me, viciously shoved me to the floor and lunged for the stone knife Gau had left on the table next to him. I hit the floor so hard I bounced my skull on it. I heard screaming and honks of alarm from the other advisors. I rolled and looked up as Il raised the knife and prepared to plunge it into the general. The knife was left out and within easy reach for a reason. Gau had already said he intended to reveal the traitor; he said he knew without a doubt who it was; he said the punishment for the traitor would include death. The traitor would already be convinced he would have nothing to lose by attempting the assassination then and there. But Gau's advisors didn't usually carry around killing implements on their person; they were bureaucrats and didn't carry anything more dangerous than a writing stylus. But a nice sharp stone knife carelessly left lying around would be just the thing to convince a desperate would-be assassin to take a chance. This was also one reason why the general's guards (and Hickory and Dickory) were stationed at the perimeter of the room instead of near the general; we had to give the illusion to the assassin that he could get in a stab or two before the guards got him. The general wasn't stupid, of course; he was wearing body armor that protected most of the parts of his body susceptible to stab wounds. But the general's head and neck were still vulnerable. The general thought it was worth the risk, but now as I watched the general trying to move to protect himself, I came to the conclusion that the weakest part of our plan was the one where the general presumably avoids being stabbed to death. Il was bringing down the knife. None of the general's guards or Hickory or Dickory was going to get there in time. Hickory and Dickory had trained me how to disarm an opponent; the problem was I was on the ground and not in any position to block the knife blow. And anyway the Ghlagh were a Conclave race; I hadn't spent any time learning any of their weak points. But then something occurred to me, as I lay there on my back, staring up at Il. I may not know much about the Ghlagh, but I sure know what a knee looks like. I braced myself on the floor, pushed, and drove the heel of my foot hard into the side of Lernin Il's most available knee. It gave way with a sickly twist and I thought I could feel something in his leg go snap, which made me feel sick. Il squealed in pain and grabbed at his leg, dropping the knife. I scrambled away as quickly as I could. General Gau launched himself out of his chair and took Il all the rest of the way down. Hickory and Dickory were suddenly by me, dragging me off the riser. Gau shouted something to his guards, who were racing toward the general. â€Å"His staff!† Gau said. â€Å"Stop his staff!† I looked over to the bar and saw three Ghlagh lunging at their equipment. Il's people were clearly in on the assassination and were now trying to signal their conspirators that they'd been discovered. Gau's men skidded to a stop and reversed themselves, leaping over the bar to get at Il's staff. They knocked away their equipment, but not before at least one of them had gotten a message through. We knew that because all through the Conclave headquarters, alarms began stuttering to life. The space station was under attack. About a minute after Il had made his clumsy attack on General Gau, an Impo battle cruiser named the Farre launched six missiles into the portion of the Conclave space station where Gau's offices were. The Farre was commanded by an Impo named Ealt Ruml. Ruml, it turns out, had reached an agreement with Nerbros Eser and Lernin Il to take command of a new Conclave fleet after Gau was assassinated. Ruml would then take the entire fleet to Phoenix Station, destroy it and start working down the list of human worlds. In exchange all Ruml had to do was be prepared to do a little flagrant bombing of Gau's offices and flagship when signaled, as part of a larger, orchestrated coup attempt, which would feature Gau's assassination as the main event and the destruction of key battle ships from races loyal to Gau. When Gau revealed to his advisors that he knew one of them was a traitor, one of Il's staffers sent a coded message to Ruml, informing him that everything was about to go sideways. Ruml in turn sent coded messages of his own to three other battle cruisers near the Conclave station, each captained by someone Ruml had converted to the cause. All four ships began warming up their weapons systems and selecting targets: Ruml targeted Gau's offices while the other traitors targeted Gau's flagship Gentle Star and other craft. If everything went as planned, Ruml and his conspirators would have disabled the ships most likely to come to Gau's aid – not that it would matter, because Ruml would have opened up Gau's offices to space, sucking anyone in them (including, at the time, me) into cold, airless vacuum. Minutes later, when Il's staff sent a confirmation note just before getting their equipment kicked out of their paws, Ruml launched his missiles and readied another set to go. And was, I imagine, entirely surprised when the Farre was struck broadside almost simultaneously by three missiles fired from the Gentle Star. The Star and six other trusted ships had been put on alert by Gau to watch for any ships that began warming up their weapons systems. The Star had spotted the Farre warming up its missile batteries and had quietly targeted the ship and prepared its own defense. Gau had forbidden any action until someone else's missiles flew, but the instant the Farre launched, the Star did the same, and then began antimissile defenses against the two missiles targeting it, sent by the Arrisian cruiser Vut-Roy. The Star destroyed one of the missiles and took light damage from the second. The Farre, which had not been expecting a counterattack, took heavy damage from the Star's missiles and even more damage when its engine ruptured, destroying half of the ship and killing hundreds on board, including Ealt Ruml and his bridge crew. Five of the six missiles fired by the Farre were disabled by the space station's defenses; the sixth hit the station, blowing a hole in the station compartment next to Gau's offices. The station's system of airtight doors sealed off the damage in minutes; forty-four people were killed. All of this happened in the space of less than two minutes, because the battle happened at incredibly close range. Unlike space battles in entertainment shows, real battles between spaceships take place over huge distances. In this battle, however, all the ships were in orbit around the station. Some of the ships involved were just a few klicks away from each other. That's pretty much the starship equivalent of going after each other with knives. Or so I'm told. I'm going by what others tell me of the battle, because at the time what I was doing was being dragged out of General Gau's advisor chamber by Hickory and Dickory. The last thing I saw was Gau pinning down Lernin Il while at the same time trying to keep his other advisors from beating the living crap out of him. There was too much noise for my translation device to work anymore, but I suspected that Gau was trying to tell the rest of them that he needed Il alive. What can you say. No one likes a traitor. I'm also told that the battle outside of the space station would have gone on longer than it did except that shortly after the first salvo of missiles a funny thing happened: An Obin cruiser skipped into existence unsettlingly close to the Conclave space station, setting off a series of proximity alarms to go with the attack alarms already in progress. That was unusual, but what really got everyone's attention was the other ships that appeared about thirty seconds afterward. It took the station a few minutes to identify these. And at that point everyone who had been fighting each other realized they now had something bigger to worry about. I didn't know about any of this right away. Hickory and Dickory had dragged me to the conference room some distance away from the advisor chamber and were keeping it secure when the alarms suddenly stopped. â€Å"Well, I finally used that training,† I said, to Hickory. I was amped up on leftover adrenaline from the assassination attempt and paced up and down in the room. Hickory said nothing to this and continued to scan the corridor for threats. I sighed and waited until it signaled that it was safe to move. Ten minutes later, Hickory clicked something to Dickory, who went to the door. Hickory went into the corridor and out of sight. Shortly after that I heard what sounded like Hickory arguing with someone. Hickory returned, followed by six very serious-looking guards and General Gau. â€Å"What happened?† I asked. â€Å"Are you okay?† â€Å"What do you have to do with the Consu?† General Gau asked me, ignoring my question. â€Å"The Consu?† I said. â€Å"Nothing. I had asked the Obin to try to contact them on my behalf, to see if they could help me save Roanoke. That was a few days ago. I haven't heard from the Obin about it since.† â€Å"I think you have an answer,† Gau said. â€Å"They're here. And they're asking to see you.† â€Å"There's a Consu ship here now?† I said. â€Å"Actually, the Consu asking for you is on an Obin ship,† Gau said. â€Å"Which doesn't make any sense to me at all, but never mind that. There were Consu ships following the Obin ship.† â€Å"Ships,† I said. â€Å"How many?† â€Å"So far?† Gau said. â€Å"About six hundred.† â€Å"Excuse me?† I said. My adrenaline spiked again. â€Å"There are still more coming in,† Gau said. â€Å"Please don't take this the wrong way, Zoe, but if you've done something to anger the Consu, I hope they choose to take it out on you, not us.† I turned and looked at Hickory, disbelieving. â€Å"You said you required help,† Hickory said.