The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Thirty-Five

Initiation night for the newest members of the Vitale Society had arrived at last. The cavernous room was lit only by golden candlelight from long tapers placed around the space and by the fire of high-flaming torches against the wal s. In the flickering light, the animals carved in the wood of the pil ars and arches almost seemed to be moving. Matt, dressed in a dark hooded robe like the other initiates, gazed around proudly. They'd worked hard, and the room looked amazing. At the front of the room, beneath the highest arch, a long table had been placed, draped in a heavy red satin cloth and looking like some kind of altar. In the center of the table sat a huge deep stone bowl, almost like a baptismal font, and around it roses and orchids were set. More flowers had been scattered on the floor, and the scent of the crushed blossoms underfoot was so strong that it was dizzying. The pledges were lined up, evenly spaced, before the altar. As if she'd picked up on his pride at how everything had turned out, Chloe pushed her dark hood back a bit and leaned toward him to mutter, â€Å"Pretty fabulous, huh?† Matt smiled at her. So what if she was dating someone else? He stil liked her. He wanted to stay friends, even if that was al there could be between them. He tugged at his robe self-consciously; the fabric was heavy, and he didn't like the way it blocked his peripheral vision. The current masked members of the Vitale Society wove silently among the pledges, handing out goblets ful of some kind of liquid. Matt sniffed his and smel ed ginger and chamomile as Wellas less familiar scents: so this was where the herbs had been used. He smiled at the girl who gave it to him, but got no response. Her eyes behind the mask slid over him neutral y, and she moved on. Once he was a ful member of the Vitale Society, he would know who these current members were, would see them without their masks. He sipped from his goblet and grimaced: it tasted strange and bitter. The soft rustlings of cloaked figures moving across the floor were silenced as the last of the goblets was handed out and the masked Vitales quietly retreated under the arch behind the altar to watch. Ethan stepped forward, up to the altar, and pushed back his hood. â€Å"Welcome,† he said, holding out his hands to the assembled pledges. â€Å"Welcome to true power at last.† The candlelight flickered over his face, twisting it into something unfamiliar and almost sinister. Matt twitched nervously and took another swal ow of the bitter herbal mixture. â€Å"A toast!† Ethan cal ed. He raised his own goblet, and before him, the pledges raised theirs. He hesitated for a moment, then said, â€Å"To moving beyond the veil and discovering the truth.† Matt raised his goblet and drained it with the other pledges. The mixture left a gritty feeling on his tongue, and he scraped it absently against his teeth. Ethan looked around at the pledges and smiled, locking gazes with one after another. â€Å"You've al worked so hard,† he said affectionately. â€Å"Each of you has reached his or her personal peak of intel igence, strength, and leadership ability now. Together, you are a force to be reckoned with. You have been perfected.† Matt managed to politely restrain himself from rol ing his eyes. It was nice to be praised, of course, but sometimes Ethan was a little too over the top: perfected? Matt doubted it was even possible. It seemed to him that you could always strive to be a little more, or a little less, something. You could always wish to be better. But even if he could, after al , be perfected, he suspected that it would take more than a few obstacle courses and group problem-solving exercises to do it. â€Å"And now it is time to at last discover your purpose,† Ethan continued. â€Å"Time to complete the final stage in your transformation from ordinary students into true avatars of power.† He took a clean and shining silver cup from the altar and dipped it into the deep stone bowl in front of him. â€Å"With every step forward in evolution, there must be some sacrifice. I regret any pain this wil cause you. Be comforted by the knowledge that al suffering is temporary. Anna, step forward.† There was a slight uneasy stirring among the pledges. This talk of suffering and sacrifice was different than Ethan's usual emphasis on honor and power. Matt frowned. Something was wrong here. But Anna, looking tiny in her long robe, walked without hesitation up to the altar and pushed back her hood. â€Å"Drink of me,† Ethan said, handing her the silver cup. Anna blinked uncertainly and then, her eyes on Ethan, tipped back her head and drained the cup. As she handed it back to Ethan, she licked her lips automatical y, and Matt tried to peer more closely at her. In the flickering candlelight, her lips looked unnatural y red and slick. Then Ethan led her around the side of the altar and into his arms. He smiled, and his face twisted, his eyes dilating and his lips pul ing back in a snarl. His teeth looked so long, so sharp. Matt tried to shout a warning but realized with horror that he couldn't move his lips, couldn't draw the breath to cal out. He knew, suddenly, that he had been a fool. Ethan sank his fangs deep into Anna's neck. Matt strained, trying to run toward them, to attack Ethan and throw him away from Anna. But he couldn't move at al . He must be under some kind of compulsion. Or perhaps something in the drink, some magic ingredient, had made them al docile and stil . He watched helplessly as Anna struggled for a few moments, then went limp, her eyes rol ing back in her head. Unceremoniously, Ethan let her body drop to the ground. â€Å"Don't be afraid,† he said kindly, gazing around at the horrified, frozen pledges. â€Å"Al of us† – he gestured toward the silent, masked Vitale behind him – â€Å"went through this initiation recently. You must brace yourself to suffer what is only a smal , temporary death, and then you wil be one of us, a true Vitale. Never growing old, never dying. Powerful forever.† Sharp white teeth and golden eyes shining in the candlelight, Ethan reached out toward the next pledge as Matt struggled again to shout, to fight. Ethan continued, â€Å"Stuart, step forward.† Elena smel ed so good, rich and sweet like an exotic ripe fruit. Damon wanted to simply bury his head in the soft skin at the crook of her neck and just inhale her for a decade or two. Snaking his arm through hers, he pul ed her closer. â€Å"You can't come in with me,† she told him for the second time. â€Å"I might be able to get James to talk to me because it's a question about my parents, but I don't think he'l tel me anything if someone else is there. Whatever the truth is about the Vitale Society and my parents, I think he's embarrassed about it. Or afraid, or †¦ something.† Without paying attention to what she was doing, Elena shifted her grip and held on to Damon's arm more firmly. â€Å"Fine,† Damon said stubbornly. â€Å"I'l wait outside. I won't let him see me. But you're not to walk across campus at night by yourself. It's not safe.† â€Å"Yes, Damon,† Elena said in a convincing imitation of meekness, and rested her head on his shoulder. The lemony scent of her shampoo mixed with the more essential Elena smel of her. Damon sighed with contentment. She cared for him, he knew that, and Stefan had taken himself out of the picture. She was stil young, his princess, and a human heart could heal. Maybe, with Stefan gone, she would final y see how much closer she was, mind and soul, to Damon, how perfectly they fit together. In any case, she was his for now. He lifted his free hand and stroked her head, her silky hair pliant beneath his fingers, and smiled. The professor's house was barely off campus, just across the street from the gilded entrance gates. They'd almost reached the edge of campus when a familiar presence that had been lurking nearby at last came very close. Damon wheeled to scan the shadows, pul ing Elena with him. â€Å"What is it?† Elena said, alarmed. Come out, Damon thought with exasperation, sending his silent message toward the thickest shadows at the base of a crowd of oak trees. You know you can't hide from me. One dark shadow detached itself from the rest, stepping forward on the path. Stefan simply gazed at the ground, shoulders slumped, his hands loose and open by his sides. Elena gasped, a smal hurt sound. Stefan looked terrible, Damon thought, not without sympathy. His face seemed hol ow and strained, his cheekbones more prominent than usual, and Damon would have bet that he wasn't feeding properly. Damon felt a twinge of disquiet. He didn't take pleasure in causing his brother pain. Not anymore. â€Å"Well?† Damon said, raising his eyebrows. Stefan glanced up at him. I don't want to fight with you, Damon, he said silently. So don't, Damon shot back at him, and Stefan's mouth twitched in a half smile of acknowledgment. â€Å"Stefan,† Elena said suddenly, sounding like the word had been jerked out of her. â€Å"Please, Stefan.† Stefan stared down at the path under his feet, not meeting her eyes. â€Å"I sensed you were nearby, Elena, and I felt your anxiety,† he said wearily. â€Å"I thought you might have been in trouble. I'm sorry, I was mistaken. I shouldn't have come.† Elena stiffened, and her long dark lashes fel over her eyes, hiding, Damon was almost sure, the beginnings of tears. A long silence stretched between them. Final y, irritated by the tension, Damon made an effort to ease it. â€Å"So,† he said casual y, â€Å"we broke into the campus security office last night.† Stefan looked up with a flicker of interest. â€Å"Oh? Did you find anything useful?† â€Å"Crime scene photos, but they weren't very helpful,† Damon said, shrugging. â€Å"The folders were marked with black Vs, so we're trying to figure out what that means. Elena's going to talk to her professor about the Vitale Society, see if it could have anything to do with them.† â€Å"The†¦ Vitale Society?† Stefan said hesitantly. Damon waved a hand dismissively. â€Å"A secret society from back in the day when Elena's parents were here,† he said. â€Å"Who knows? It may be nothing.† Drawing a hand across his face, Stefan seemed to be thinking hard. â€Å"Oh, no,† he muttered. Then, looking at Elena for the first time, he asked, â€Å"Where's Matt?† â€Å"Matt?† Elena echoed, startled out of her wistful contemplation of Stefan. â€Å"Um, I think he had some kind of meeting tonight. Footbal stuff, maybe?† â€Å"I have to go,† Stefan said tightly, and was immediately gone. With his enhanced abilities, Damon could hear Stefan's light footsteps racing away. But to Elena, he knew, Stefan had been nothing but a silently vanishing blur. Elena turned to Damon, her face crumpling in what he recognized as a prelude to more tears. â€Å"Why would he fol ow me if he doesn't want to talk to me?† she said, her voice hoarse with sorrow. Damon gritted his teeth. He was trying hard to be patient, to wait for Elena to give him her heart, but she kept thinking of Stefan. â€Å"He told you,† he said, keeping his voice even. â€Å"He wants to make sure you're safe, but he doesn't want to be with you. But I do.† Firmly recapturing her arm with his, he tugged her lightly forward. â€Å"Shal we?†

Hope Wireless HR Proposal Essay

In support of launching a total reorganization of Hope Wireless, the third leading wireless company in the United States, the Human Resource Department will review and enhance several processes to include but not limited to staffing, performance appraisal, training and development, total rewards, and organizational behavior and processes. The goal is to transition Hope Wireless from good to great; from not only being an American company but a global company. The goal of this strategic organization proposal is to attract and retain the most qualified employees, improved company performance, customer satisfaction, prevent churn and increase revenue. Employees are Hope Wireless number one resource and a long term investment in employees is a long-term investment for the organization. Part I – Hope Wireless HR Proposal Plan Hope Wireless offers a broad range of wireless and wire line communications services encouraging mobile freedom to consumers, business and government users. By the end of the first quarter 2013, Hope Wireless had served more than 55 million customers with an employee base of approximately 60, 000 people. This is over 15 million more customer than one year ago. Hope Wireless is widely recognized for offering the most innovative technology and cutting edge devices and the most sophisticated network of all mobile carriers. Hope Wireless’s business objective is to position the organization to be the leading wireless company in the telecommunications industry. Hope Wireless is striving to offer world-class customer service, proactively identifying and meeting the wireless needs of customers and to offer benefits unlike any other organization. â€Å"Organizations in which people work affect their thoughts, feelings, and actions in the workplace and away from it. Likewise, people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions affect the  organizations in which they work† (Brief & Weiss, 2002). Over the past five years, Hope Wireless has progressively earned numerous customer service awards but most importantly the American Customer Satisfaction Index award. The American Customer Satisfaction Index group rated Hope Wireless No. 1 amongst all national carriers in most improved customer service particularly over the last four years. â€Å"Customer satisfaction is an important goal for providers of both services and products, and customer surveys are a commonly used instrument for evaluating that satisfaction† (Ammar, Moore & Wright, 2008). Approximately five years ago, Hope Wireless was failing customer service surveys miserably and the customer satisfaction rate was fluctuating between anywhere from 65% to Part I – Hope Wireless HR Proposal Plan 72%. The telecommunications industry customer satisfaction goal is 85% or better. It was obvious across sites, states and countries that employees were not satisfied with their work environment and conditions. A supervisor task force proposed ideas to incite change across the organization. â€Å"Operation Smile† became a nationwide Hope Wireless initiative in addition to the â€Å"Go Fish† campaign. Operation Smile all employees to smile whether it was towards another employee or customer. Everyone in the organization was presented 20 SMILE cards of which agreements were electronically signed that each employee would award any employee they â€Å"caught† smiling. The quality analyst were charge to give a SMILE cards to employees they heard SMILING through the phone. The Operation Smile initiative alone increased the overall customer satisfaction rate by 9%, sometimes higher. Any employee who accumulated increments of 10 or more cards could earn exciting gifts. This was a six-month initiative that cumulated with a grand-prize drawing that varied depending upon the site and locality. The next morale boosting initiative which would have a direct positive impact on organization effectiveness was implementing the â€Å"GO Fish† campaign. Seattle’s Pike Fish market was the source of this idea as they are a living example of the principles supported by this initiative†¦.†being present† and â€Å"making someone’s day†. If an employee was present for the  customer or peer, they were awarded a fish by their supervisor or manager. The receiving employee would solicit a fish for their peer from a supervisor or manager. The quality analyst would award the fish if they witness an employee â€Å"being present† and â€Å"making someone’s day† towards their customer. Part I – Hope Wireless HR Proposal Plan Each team was also given a stuffed fish to throw to the person who received a fish. Whenever the random bell tolled, the person holding the fish would receive an immediate reward, most often a gift card. Just as the SMILE initiative, any employee who accumulated increments of 10 or more fish could earn very exciting prizes. This was also a six month morale boosting plan. Customer satisfaction results have continually progressed and have been maintaining ratings of 85% or better on a monthly basis. Hope Wireless began and continues to see a decrease in churn, decrease in employee turnover, increase in employee relations and retention and a dramatic increase in customer satisfaction. The aforementioned action plans greatly influenced employee morale and encourage positive customer behavior while increasing the effectiveness of the organization. â€Å"The loss of employees is a disruptive event. Organizations often pursue innovative ways to reduce employee turnover, often with limited success† (Murphy & Taylor, 2006). In addition to random initiatives, Hope Wireless offers on-going employee relation and retention resources such as the manager, site director open door policy, human resource specialist, employee assistance hotline, anonymous corporate security hotline and email address and a on-line suggestion box is set up in each site. Hope Wireless needs to supports diversity management by â€Å"ensuring that factors are in place to provide for and encourage the continued development of a diverse workforce by melding these actual and perceived differences among workers to achieve maximum productivity† (Mondy & Mondy, 2008). Hope Wireless needs to offer various employee resource groups in support of sexual preference, gender, race, veteran status, etc. The employee Part I – Hope Wireless HR Proposal Plan resource groups will be voluntary, open to all employees with them not being limited to having access to only one group. The Employee Resource Groups (ERG) will offer many benefits to employees such as unique development and networking opportunities, acquisition of practical skills and mentoring programs. In addition, ERG offers connections with people and information not generally accessible. The aforementioned connections to aid employees in positively impacting the organization by become part of the solution. Association with ERG provides allows employees exposure to company leaders, to serve and volunteer in the community as a representative of the organization and most importantly exposure to and learning about different cultures. Hope Wireless has utilized both internal staffing processes and temporary staffing agencies. Research has suggested employees that were hired on a permanent basis out-performed temporary worker. The permanent workers demonstrated ownership and allegiance to the company coupled with documented higher customer satisfaction ratings. The recommendation is to maintain the internal hiring practice. Hope Wireless is successfully trending in the right direction. The aforementioned initiatives, processes and resources, customer service ratings and referenced awards have aided and proven that Hope Wireless is now offering world-class customer service. In addition, the number of net-adds in one year’s time, demonstrates Hope Wireless’s ability to meet and exceed the mobile needs of customer base. Hope Wireless continues to strive for on-going growth and success. REFERENCES Ammar, S., Moore, D., & Wright, R. (2008). Analyzing customer satisfaction surveys using a fuzzy rule-based decision support system: Enhancing customer relationship management. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 15(2), 91-105. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/dbm.2008.2 Brief, Arthur P., & Weiss Howard M., â€Å"Organizational Behavior: Affect in the Workplace†, (2002), pp. 279-307. Mondy, R. W., & Mondy, J. B. (200*) Human Resource Management (10th ed.), Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall Taylor, Lloyd J., I., II, Murphy, B., & Price, W. (2006). Goldratt’s thinking process applied to employee retention. Business Process Management Journal, 12(5), 646-670. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14637150610691055 Part II – Hope Wireless Performance Appraisal Hope Wireless offers a broad range of wireless and wire line communications services encouraging mobile freedom to consumers, business, and government users. Performance appraisal methods are essential in support of â€Å"Human Resource planning, recruitment and selection, training and development, career planning and development, compensation programs, internal employee relations and assessment of employee potential† (Mondy & Mondy, 2008). The appropriate performance appraisal method for Hope Wireless, considering the type of organization and the number of employees is the rating scales method. â€Å"The rating scales method is a performance appraisal method that rates employees according to defined factors† (Mondy & Mondy, 2008). â€Å"Performance management systems are effective when they are based on goals that are jointly set and are driven by an organization’s business strategy† (â€Å"What Makes Performance Appraisals Effective?† 2012). Performance appraisal imperatives for Hope Wireless will include: Do It Now (resolve); Delegate & Empower (engage appropriate resource/make a decision); Be Accountable (ownership); Focus on Customers (attentive); Teamwork & Camaraderie (work and win as a team); Compete like Winners (always strive for the top); Develop Yourself & Others (stay abreast of the business policies/procedures; peer-to-peer coaching); Acting with Integrity (adhere to code of conduct) and Have Fun (enjoy what you do). The advantage of the rating scales method is that the process is controlled and uniform. With the large number of individuals employed by Hope Wireless, the rating scales method allow for easy comparison and contrast. ‘The rating scales method allows each employee to be subjected to the same appraisal process and rating criteria, with the same range of responses. Part II – Hope Wireless Performance Appraisal Rating scale methods are easy to use and understand. The concept of the rating scale makes obvious sense; both appraisers and evaluated employees have an intuitive appreciation for the simple and efficient logic of the bipolar scale. The result is widespread acceptance and popularity for this approach† (â€Å"Appraisal Methods†, n.d.). â€Å"Organizational culture change is dynamic and depends on leadership and  management. The concepts of organizational change focusing on process, culture change and leadership, and organizational culture change and the learning organization are central to organizational transformation and will be addressed next† (ConceiÃÆ' §ÃƒÆ' £o & Altman, 2011). â€Å"Training and development is the heart of a continuous effort designed to improve employee competency and organizational performance† (Mondy & Mondy, 2008). The training and development program projected for Hope Wireless will be inclusive of intense focus on the position of the front line employee. The front-line employee is the customer-interfacing employee which directly impacts the organization’s bottom line revenue. While training for the management team and other integral positions is very important, it is the customer interaction of which the organization thrives and allows the other positions to be vital and necessary. Taking into consideration the organization’s mission, goals and corporate plan, the training and development will be created to support the company’s culture. It is also important for Hope Wireless’s training and development plan to support the various job description tasks to include both internal and external customers. The final attribute in the training and development process is each employee’s personal training needs. This can be assessed by compiling knowledge, skills and abilities checklist and having each supervisor/manager administer the survey. Establishing training goals specific to each Part II – Hope Wireless Performance Appraisal Position will ensure effective training in support of expected execution. Goals should include purpose and objectives. Hope Wireless offers 60% instructor led training and development while 40% of the training is via on-line classes for all level of employees. The management staff will also receive enhanced development via team builders, instructor led leadership courses and off-site leadership classes. Career pathing at Hope Wireless will be facilitated through Hope University (HU). Hope University’s goal is to improve business performance innovative tools and resource to ensure on-going learning and development in support organizational success and employee career enhancement. â€Å"As a leader in learning and development, HU creates support tools that effectively  facilitate performer tasks while on the job (such as desktop decision-making tools) and knowledge-management solutions which allow organizations to capture and share their collective knowledge (like discussion forums, blogs, pod casts and case studies). These less traditional solutions are in addition to its more than 3,000 skills and knowledge development offerings and over 2.5 million hours of training delivered annually†(â€Å"Sprint†, n.d.) At Hope Wireless each employee is ultimately responsible for their career plan, with their manager’s and leader’s support. With expertise in performance support, development, and delivery, the HR staff has the knowledge and hands-on experience to help each employee reach their full potential through innovative and engaging solutions. On-line job development courses and interactive training classes are optional and available to any employee to be scheduled at Part II – Hope Wireless Performance Appraisal their leisure. The HR staff will provide assistance in identifying the appropriate classes in support reaching one’s career goals. Effective succession planning is the reward of training and development and career pathing. Both training and development and career pathing should be developed and executed with succession planning in the blueprint. Hope Wireless succession plan would include promoting from within as the potential candidate will be prepared to transition into the open position fully armed with the organization’s mission, goals and expectations. It will be important to focus on those individual who demonstrate the ethics, value and integrity of which the Hope Wireless culture represents. Potential leaders will be identified, partnered with existing leadership and provided the resources to enhance strong skillsets and enhance areas of opportunity. Company career goals will be identified along with the potential candidate identifying their personal career goals. Hope Wireless will extend every effort to fill key positions from within to enhance employee morale, avoid negative business impact and ensure continual career advancement. Part II – REFERENCES Appraisal Methods. Retrieved from http://www.performance-appraisal.com/ratings.htm ConceiÃÆ' §ÃƒÆ' £o, S., C.O., & Altman, B. A. (2011). Training and development process and organizational culture change. Organization Development Journal, 29(1), 33-43. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/862094636?accountid=35812 http://linked2leadership.com/2013/04/01/10-steps-to-create-a-killer-succession-plan/ Mondy, R. W., & Mondy, J. B. (2008) Human Resource Management (10th ed.), Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall Sprint. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.sprint.com What Makes Performance Appraisals Effective? (2012, October). Sage Journals, 44(4), 191-200. Retrieved from http://cbr.sagepub.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/content/44/4/191 Part III – Hope Wireless Compensation Plan â€Å"Compensation is the total of all rewards provided employees in return for their services† (Mondy and Mondy, 2008). In support of meeting and exceeding Hope Wireless’ business objectives, a comprehensive compensation and incentive plan will be outlined as follows for the front line customer-interfacing employees. Hourly rate for customer service (CS) agents is $12.00 per hour based on the average industry hourly pay of $10 per hour. Overtime will be paid at one and one half hours for every hour worked over 40 hours. This does not include vacation hours, specifically worked hours. Bonus compensation will be paid when the criteria has been met as outlined in the bonus plan for each group. Paid time off (PTO) will accrue at the follow rate: tenure of one to three years will accrue two weeks of PTO; tenure of four to six years will accrue three weeks of PTO and tenure of six plus years will accrue five weeks of PTO. Each employee will only be able to carry-over 40 hours of PTO at the end of each calendar year. Every year each employee will accrue two eight hour floating holidays for personal use, which are not transferrable. CS agents will begin with a balance of 140 HAP (Hope Attendance Points) to be used for unscheduled absences. A five to eight hour unscheduled absence will result in deduction of 10 HAP. An unscheduled absence of four or less hours will result in a deduction of five HAP. Business impact days that are designated by Workforce, will have a double point deduction. Those days will be  identified at least two weeks prior to applicable timeframe. The aforementioned benefits and compensation are in support of employee satisfaction, retention and securing employees commitment to the organization. The CS agents will be Part III – Hope Wireless Compensation Plan provided a comprehensive outline of the PTO/HAP policies to include unacceptable HAP balances, the consequences of exhausting all balances including PTO and HAP, etc. The CS agents will also have the option of enrolling in medical insurance of which Hope Wireless will remit 70% of the premium. The CS agents will also have the option of dental and optical insurance where Hope Wireless will remit 70% of the premium. Employees will also have the option to participate in pre-tax flex-spending accounts. A self- initiated pre-tax monetary amount will be deducted from each paycheck and placed in a fund for medical/co-pay expenses for the employee and covered relations enrolled in the medical insurance program. This is a great savings and perks for the employees. Hope Wireless offers all employees an exciting 401K plan of which Hope Wireless matches dollar for dollar up to five dollars per pay period. Stock options are also available in addition to the 401K plan, both of which will be outline on the company’s intranet benefit site. Enrollment in 401K and stock options are available year-round. Tuition reimbursement is available for courses applicable to customer service/leadership/management and will be paid up to 90% for two courses annually after outlined criteria is met and approved by his/her manager. Criteria can be found on Hope Wireless’ intranet benefit site. Base pay increases are performance based and will be determined yearly once the employee has been rated by Supervisor via the annual performance review. The pay increases will be based on current rate per hour, performance rating and active corrective actions and performance action plans. Pay increases will be com mensurate with current industry standards at the time of the rating. Part III – Hope Wireless Compensation Plan The Human Resource team has rendered extensive research of surrounding call centers, conducted surveys of sister sites and concluded the outlined  compensation plan is inclusive of the most desired benefits of the most tenured employees who consistently exceed performance goals. The targeted employees also have consistently exceeded customer expectations per customer surveys. HR’s partnership with middle management is also a key element to successful operations and employee retention. HR will also outline a process of which middle management can execute separate and apart from the aforementioned proposal. â€Å"Practical strategies for supervisors include clearly identifying role responsibilities, implementing flexible scheduling, supporting role integration, applying job sharing principles, and remembering to reward and recognize employees†(Winterstein, Mazerolle & Pitney, 2011). Hope Wireless’ mission is to exceed the expectations of every customer who is in contact with the site. In order to enjoy such a reputation, every employee has to be engaged, empowered, committed, satisfied in their role and have allegiance to the organization and their team leads. Meeting performance expectations will allow each employee their hourly base pay. Surpassing performance expectations invites the opportunity to earn a bonus. WOWING every customer, owning the business, caring about your co-worker, volunteering in the community on behalf of the organization, etc. earns rewards and recognition. Recognizing employees for a job well done is more important than many leaders realize. Employees often times provide feedback via company surveys that their manager only meet with them to share/discuss poor performance. Being â€Å"caught in the act† of outstanding performance/behavior is a pay-off for the organization that is immeasurable. Great behavior Part III – Hope Wireless Compensation Plan breeds great behavior. Receipt of recognition in front of an employee’s peers not only enhances one self-esteem but often times deem an employee a subject matter expert. A go to person. â€Å"Since managers prefer to keep their good performers and employees that they like, it is important to understand their treatment of those individuals in promoting their desired continued personal development† (Adams, 2005). Hope Wireless will not only engage in  on the spot â€Å"Caught in the Act† positive feedback cards issued by an employee’s manager, the use of â€Å"Caught in the Act† certificates, posters and emails will also be initiated. Certificates will be presented in team meetings; posters will be posted in the team work area and emails will be sent to recognized employee with the entire team copied. Hope Wireless Trinkets will also be available to the management team in addition to the creation of the Hope Wireless Fun committee. The Hope Wireless Fun committee will be charged with engaging a mix of employees to create and execute fun activities for the site to reward and motivate employees such as team prizes for the best performers, best customer service surveys, etc. Hope Wireless is committed to working and winning as a team and to have the best team of employees in the wireless industry. REFERENCES Adams, S. M. (2005). Positive Affect and Feedback-Giving Behavior. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 20(1), 24-42. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview Mondy, R. W., & Mondy, J. B. (2008) Human Resource Management (10th ed.), Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall Winterstein, A. P., Mazerolle, S. M., & Pitney, W. A. (2011). Workplace environment: Strategies to promote and enhance the quality of life of an athletic trainer. Athletic Training & Sports Health Care, 3(2), 59-62. doi:http://dx.doi.org Part IV – The Cultural Change The senior leaders of Hope Wireless prides themselves on being one of the top three wireless leaders. Hope Wireless has won sundry service awards and achieve many honors for most improved customer service. In addition, Hope Wireless offers innovative and competitive wireless devices of which the other wireless providers have been unable to match. While many of Hope Wireless’s policies and procedures will be addressed and enhanced as a result of this proposal, the last enhancement proposal is in support of the internal culture of the organization. The previous site director allowed employees to dress down daily. Dressing down allows denim, flip-flops, shorts, hats, etc. Employees who are dressed down are more relaxed and come across as such when speaking to customers lending to an unprofessional  environment and poor customer service interactions. A recent event involving an employee who had placed their sweatshirt hood on and laid their head on the desk while waiting on a call is the final motivation for the proposed change. While sleep, several customers came onto the sleeping employee’s line and dropped when no one responded. This resulted in an impact in customer service and service level. The news of the termination of the employee was wide-spread amongst the agent’s peers. This was the first step towards awareness that the organization will take immediate reaction to negative impact caused by an employee. â€Å"When people in an organization realize and recognize that their current organizational culture needs to transform to support the organization’s success and progress, change can occur. But change is not pretty and change is not easy† (Heathfield, n.d.). Part IV – The Cultural Change The first cultural change proposal is to initiate a change to the current dress code policy from daily dress down to dress down Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays ONLY, unless otherwise specified. Currently, employees are only required to wear professional business attire when corporate visitors are expected on-site. The proposed normal day to day dress requirement will be business casual. Business casual dress guidelines will require men to wear collared shirts, khaki or dress pants and no tennis shoes or sandals. Business casual dress guidelines will require women to wear non- provocative, non-tight-fitting clothing void of denim and stretch material. Denim will not be allowed for either women or men. Women or men will not be permitted to wear shorts on business casual days. Women’s skirts and dresses must be knee length and the women’s shoe requirement will require dress shoes, no tennis shoes or flip flops. â€Å"Top-down attempts to change organization culture have a number of unintended consequences, amongst which is an emotional fall-out that becomes manifested in higher rates of absenteeism† (Carr, 2002). Human Resource has elected to release management of the task of owning and communicating this change. Employee focus groups will be formed to access to proactive strategize the most effective communication and reaction to opposition toavoid   negative impact to business. Agent dissatisfaction often translate to poor performance and reliability in call centers. Severe opposition is expected in response to this proposed change. The tentative initial communication to employees will be socialized to employees in team meetings by members of the employee focus group. Often times, peer buy-in lends to continued peer buy-in to change in an organization. In support of the opposition, Human Resources will also partner Part IV – The Cultural Change With the Communication team to begin sending out catchy, funny emails and launch internal television advertisements of the dress code change to occur in 30 days. The â€Å"why† documents will be drafted to include the goal of delivering superior, professional customer service. Anonymous pictures will be included of relaxed desk posture of agents who are dressed down versus those who are dressed business casual. Relaxed posture translate to relaxed conversations. Human Resources will also be prepared to hold optional brown bag meetings to share â€Å"relaxed† remote quality observations where unprofessional customer service was rendered versus calls observed on a professional dress day. Human Resources will set the expectation that the Management team will be held accountable to execute this change and maintain application and consistency of the policy change. All policy amendments are supported by 30 day adaptation grace period after which the following reaction will be instituted. Management will render a documented verbal warning for the 1st dress code violation. The 2nd dress code violation will result in the employee being sent home to change with an impact to pay for the time missed and documented warning. The 3rd dress violation will result in a 1st written warning and will continue to progress to termination. Human Resources will be open for feedback will be open to negotiate with employees holistically to encourage receptiveness to the dress code change. â€Å"Timing can be crucial. Conflict tends to develop through stages, from awareness that differences exist to a hardening of attitudes and, possibly,  open hostility† (â€Å"Abc of Conflict and Disaster: Approaches to Conflict Resolution,† 2005). The employee focus group will be the first reaction to conflict of which employees will be encouraged to provide open and honest feedback to and amongst their peers. Part IV – The Cultural Change This will provide an immediate forum for employees to react versus allowing dissatisfaction and conflict fester and result in unnecessary and avoidable conflict.  The aforementioned changes outlined in this proposal outline a cultural change that lends to effective start-up, encourage growth, prevent decline, encourage renewal and upward mobility and prevent death of the organization. CONCLUSION The Human Resource planning and partnership outlined in the aforementioned proposal will institute efficient, effective, consistent, and revenue impacting operations. The Human Resource team for Hope Wireless has prepared the blueprint to propel the organization to becoming the #1 wireless leader in the industry. REFERENCES Abc Of Conflict And Disaster: Approaches To Conflict Resolution. (2005, August). BMJ: British Medical Journal , 331(7512), 344-346. Retrieved from http://av4kc7fg4g.search.serialssolutions.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com Carr, A. (2002). Organisational culture: Organisational change? Journal of Organizational Change Management, 15(4), 425. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197601624?accountid=458 Heathfield, S. (n.d.). How to Change Your Culture: Organizational CultChange. About.com Guide, (), Retrieved from http://humanresources.about.com/od/organizationalculture/a/culture change.htm

What Is Behcets Disease Health And Social Care Essay

Behcet ‘s disease or Behcet ‘s syndrome was first described in 1937 by a dermatology professor of Isabul, Dr Hulusi Behcet. Behcets disease is really common along China, Turkey, Japan, Iraq and Israel and is locally termed as the â€Å" old silk path † disease. Behcet syndrome is every bit rare as 1 in about 100000 people in the United Kingdom. The most dramatic characteristics include concerns and painful ulcers. Others include repeating oral cavity sores, ulcers, venereal sores, skin roseolas and lesions and oculus redness. It is a multi-system disease that may impact the cardinal nervous system and impact all variety meats. If left unattended it might onset more complications such as sightlessness, memory loss, impaired address, motion and balance. More effects may include swelling of the anchor, enteric complications and shot. Due to the disease doing redness to the blood vass it is at times regarded to as vasculitis. Vasculitis affects all types and sizes of blood vass. Veins and arterias, in countries such as the oral cavity, tegument, lungs, eyes, genitalias and the gastro-intestinal piece of land can be affected. Patients may besides develop pneumonic aneurisms due to lung bleeding. The disease does non fire itself out but instead it can acquire to a degree where the outbursts are less aggressive and do non happen really frequently. Other symptoms may happen after a comparatively long period from the first happening. In topographic points like Japan, it is the taking cause of sightlessness. Other symptoms include weight loss, deficiency of appetency, failing, sore pharynxs, concerns, musculus strivings, conceited lymph secretory organs and symptoms of unease. Immunosuppressants are the most common ways of handling the Behcet disease as the immunosuppressant render the system from wholly working. They are available in both signifiers of picks, tablets and besides injections. As it has been proved that immunosuppressant suppress the immune system, there is major side consequence that comes approximately. It causes increased exposure to infections. The standards used to name this syndrome includes two critical stairss ; the international standards of Behcet syndrome and O'Duffy standards both of which are non conclusive to kids who might hold a hazard of unwritten or venereal ulceration. Peoples with HLA-B51, an immune system antigen are most likely to develop this disease. It has nevertheless been proven that merely 5 % of the people with the antigen are affected. This gives rise to the fact that environmental factors can be a trigger to the oncoming of Behcet ‘s disease. Though the disease affects both genders it is proven that is more terrible in work forces. The exact cause of this disease is still unknown though it is said that bacterial or viral infection, immune ordinance, immune genetic sciences can play a critical function. The symptom of this disease manifests itself through four major ways which include hurting, heat, inflammation and swelling. This reaction of doing the blood vass to go inflamed has non yet been discovered and has left the physicians astonished as they do non yet cognize what triggers it. The immune system attacks the organic structure by mistake thereby harming the organic structure ‘s tissues. This disease is non contagious but built-in. It is believed that due to certain conditions that cause mutant to the cistrons is a taking factor in susceptible individuals. Research has found out that people who sufferer from strep infections is most likely to endure from this disease. Anyone enduring from this disease can take a normal life through regular exercisings, medicine, and remainder. Other ways can be thro ugh diets. Though this syndrome is non caused by an imbalanced diet, a good balanced diet including plentifulness of fresh veggies and fruits should be included. Rest and exercising should be enough every bit much as hurting or uncomfortableness may let. Though there is no any know remedy, patients can be put under medicine to stamp down hurting and prevent complications. It should be realized that serious complications can look months or old ages after the initial first symptoms appear. This disease has different effects on people. While some might hold less or mild effects such as oral cavity sores or venereal sores others have symptoms runing from meningitis to GI perforation. Whenever a patient is holding any of these symptoms they should maintain a record of the sorts of symptoms so as the physician can cognize the advancement of the disease. This is because different medicines are used on different symptoms. It is rather hard to name this disease as there are no specific trials that are used to prove for it. In this instance it might take clip possibly periods of old ages before a conclusive diagnosing is made as the symptoms might take a comparatively long period to attest. Treatment of this disease involves a batch of specializers as the disease involves assorted organic structure parts. Specialists who might be involved include eye doctors, gynaecologists, and urologists among many others. The chief end of ordering medicine is in bar of farther serious complications and reduces uncomfortablenesss. Medication and its strength vary among the patients depending on their symptoms and patients should inform the physicians on the sort of medicine they are on. Further research is being done to better drug intervention. Recent research is based on analyzing cistrons that may increase a individual ‘s opportunity in developing this disease. Researchs are besides being carried out on virus/ bacteria that can be a trigger to the oncoming of this disease. Though experimental, a drug such as Thalidomide is effectual in handling oral cavity sores. This drug can non nevertheless be used in adult females as it has childbearing effects. There are certain side effects to patients who use intervention to counter this disease. Some of these side effects include flu-like unwellnesss at the beginning of the intervention, hair loss, itching and depression. Progresss in pharmaceutical have resulted to an interferon alfa that can be administered to the patients merely one time a hebdomad and improves on the side effects. Other interventions for this disease are underway with a current considerable involvement in anti-tumor mortification factor ( TNF ) anti-body therapy. Through its variableness to natural classs and limited figure of instances for clinical probe, it has hindered curative efficaciousness thereby ensuing to ill controlled surveies. Some of the instances can be handled through local therapy while in other complicated instances such as GI perforation, enterocutaneous fistulous withers formations and cardiac jobs may necessitate surgical therapy. Corticosteroids should be a last resoluteness. There are researches on herbal redresss such as Cobirex. It has been found to hold ingredients that can assist estrange some of the jobs such as nim trees and barberry on jobs such as inflammatory and digestive conditions. Discussion The really chief constructs behind this instance study it to do certain that people understand how rare this disease is. It is really rare within the United States but world-wide ; it has the same socioeconomic effects among all people. It has a rare happening in bulk of the western states but it is prevailing in the Mediterranean basin. Due to its engagement of other organic structure variety meats and hence diagnosing by different specializers, this disease has proved to be really expensive both on persons and the society as a whole. In a cost analysis done in Turkey, the cost of Behcet disease survey had the highest one-year cost with the drug costs being the chief cost driver. It was noted that this disease has become an economical load to the wellness attention system and persons in general. There should be fiscal support from the authorities to both researches being done and besides to victims of this disease. Though there has been a noticed betterment in pull offing some of the symptoms such as mucocutaneous manifestations and oculus diseases other common and serious symptoms are yet to happen a solution and remain mostly debatable. Disability can be termed as any signifier as a consequence either accident or in signifier of illness that renders anyone unfit physically or mentally. Due to the effects that manifest themselves through Behcet ‘s syndrome, this disease can be termed as a disablement. It should nevertheless be noted that it depends on the functional restrictions that a claimant might hold. There is no reasoning that the more terrible the symptoms of the Behcet disease the more the restrictions in functionality. Therefore Social Security Disability Claims ( SSI ) should be available and provided for to these patients. In Canada, the authorities has disablement grants, disablement benefits and even disablement revenue enhancement credits. Disability Living Allowance ( DLA ) is widely recognized in the United Kingdom as a revenue enhancement free benefit to both handicapped kids and grownups. Those above the age of 65 are recognized to hold an Attendance Allowance. If the United Kingdom recognizes the being of such allowances, why so are at that place complains of people populating with Behcet ‘s disease and other rare arthritic diseases non having the same? It is the authorities ‘s duty to provide for such patients and give relation and accurate information on how to use for disablement allowances. There are many people populating with rare arthritic jobs and are clustered under holding disablements.

Needs Analysis Survey Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Needs Analysis Survey - Research Paper Example The Job to be analyzed is the customer service representative. The procedure to be used in collecting job data is questionnaire survey. Some of the questions to be asked during analysis include:†¢Ã‚  What are the formal qualifications of this job combined with the relevant field experience needed in this job?†¢Ã‚  What technical skills are needed in this job such as skills in computers or word processors? †¢Ã‚  Apart from the formal education, what other skills are needed for additional training in this job?†¢Ã‚  What special skills in reading and writing are needed in this job?†¢Ã‚  How long does the training of the specific skills necessary in this job take to perform the job satisfactory?†¢Ã‚  After how long should be skills be updated through training?†¢Ã‚  What is the level of decision making required by this position?†¢Ã‚  How will the training help in the positions the customer service representative oversees or directs?Individual analys isThe individual to be analyzed in this case are the customer service representatives.   The method to be used in collecting the individual analysis information is interviews.   Some of the questions to be asked during this analysis:†¢Ã‚  Do you think you need training in your job?†¢Ã‚  How often should you be trained and why?†¢Ã‚  Do you encounter problems which are difficult to solve?†¢Ã‚  Do you think they can be solved through training?†¢Ã‚  How many days a week do you think are sufficient for your training and for how long?†¢Ã‚  What are your strengths in this job?†¢Ã‚  What are the weaknesses you have in this job?

MUSIC J.S. Bach Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

MUSIC J.S. Bach - Term Paper Example as if a wonderful abode for an auditory refuge managed to build for him an enduring impression in which the heart of audience was drawn to a type of music that is readily capable of engaging human nature with profound sensibility. It would also amount to an inevitable appreciation of Bach regardless of the listener’s background on account of the flexibility his rendition took such as an instance when he came up with a musical composition which was styled in French at Luneberg. On hearing one of his pieces, one may not help but justify that his works exhibit certain elements that, though retaining their classical feature, are very distinct and timely compatible. With a slightly rigid texture and varying fluidity to incorporate in the music of the pop culture, Bach’s creation depicts a wider range of classic genre for which most of the modern-day alternative concepts have found substantial relevance with which to

Characteristics of stratification system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Characteristics of stratification system - Essay Example Fifthly, the inequality distinction has certain levels which may be low in less advanced stratification system, high in systems such as caste and slave societies while a mild level exists in medium stratification societies (UVAWISE para.3). Ascription and achievement are means through which members of the stratification rise through the ranks to acquire a defined position in the society. While certain stratification systems emerge due to attainment, others are acquired by natural belongingness to a specific class of the society. For instance, a notion that slaves are likely to beget slaves may make it difficult to rise up the stratification system. Legitimation is the inherent consent and acceptance of the society that the leaders of the stratification system bear the apparent right to occupy higher statuses. In a power stratification system, for instance, members of the governed community have undoubted consent that those in positions of power, thereby donating legitimacy to their existence. Four social systems emerge from legitimation and they include elites, regimes, political economies and value systems (UVAWISE

Foundationalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Foundationalism - Essay Example This essay shall briefly state the concept of 'foundationalism' with an example, and analyze some criticisms against foundationalism. The essay shall argue that foundationalism presents itself as a very weak and debate-able theory of epistemic justification for it to be accepted as plausible. The essay shall cite appropriately from researchers and other works, to support its argument. As can be deduced form its very name, 'foundationalism,' is a view that as states that, some beliefs become the foundation for others. It is worthwhile to enter into a discussion of the theory of foundationalism, because, only if one understands clearly what foundationalism is, can one understand why it presents a weak and debate-able theory for plausible epistemic justification. As stated earlier, is rooted in the idea that knowledge is 'justified true belief' (JTB). This means that all our knowledge has to be based on some sort of justified belief that is true. This concept of a chain of justified beliefs, one based on another and that based on another, leading to innumerable regress of justified beliefs, appeared unconvincing to some thinkers, and the foundationalists sought to solve this problem by introduction of basic beliefs and non-basic beliefs or 'inferentially justified beliefs'. For example, one knows that 1) plants are living things and 2) all living things need oxygen, then one can deduce from this, that 3) plants need oxygen. Statement three (plants need oxygen) then becomes the new, justified belief, which is inferred from the justified beliefs of the statements 1) and 2). This is called 'inferentially justified belief' while the first two are 'non-inferentially justified beliefs' and foundationalists hold "that there must be a kind of justification that does not depend on the having of other justified beliefs" which then becomes the foundation of all our beliefs and knowledge (Fumerton, 1). In other words, "if one has a non-basic belief, then-at rock bottom-it owes its justification to at least one basic belief" (Howard-Snyder, 1). Interestingly, foundationalists state that some beliefs need no further explanation; for example, when one is in pain, or feels a sense of pleasure - this needs no further justification because one knows that it is true. It is based on personal knowledge or empiricism. Similarly, there may be another belief that one cannot sleep because of the pain. This is derived form the belief that one is in pain, or derived belief. Relationships like the one mentioned, between basic and derived beliefs, in terms of justification, are more basic than others, since in "they cannot be justified by reference to other beliefs (call them the 'Derived Beliefs') whereas derived beliefs can be justified by reference to basic beliefs" (Fumerton, 1). Types of Foundationalism and Their Criticisms Descartes may be cited as "the paradigm of a classical foundationalist" (Fumerton, 1). Classical foundationalism holds that the basics or the 'foundations of knowledge' must be absolutely protected, and that they must be invulnerable to skepticism (University of Reading, Foundationalism

San Francisco Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

San Francisco - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that Ishi belonged to the Yana tribe who lived in the southern region of the Mount Lassen foothills of Northern California. They lived a peaceful life of hunters-gatherers as the hills and mountains were bountiful hunting grounds for their food sources. However, as time passed by, the Yana became the victims of the powerful Winton, who drove them from their homes because they desired the fertile valleys of the Sacramento region. Though they were isolated, they were resilient and fierce fighters who terrorized their enemies especially the Winton. When the white settlers arrived, their perception was influenced by the Wintus stating that the Yanas were dangerous and had to be eradicated from the area. It was during this critical period that Ishi was born. From his childhood, Ishi had lived his life in fear and was always on the run. He had witnessed the systematic annihilation of his tribesmen and as his world grew smaller and smaller he bega n to struggle for survival. During the 1840’s, the Anglo- Saxon era was ushered in and with it a misfortune for the Yana tribe. Gold found in the river beds of California and the exchange of land claims saw the tragic wiping out of the Yana tribe. Immigrant people flushed out the Yana tribe by hunting, land staking and livestock pastures. Hunger took its toll on the population of the Yana tribe that plummeted down. None of Ishi’s Yana tribe was believed to have survived.... He was discovered on 29th August, 1911 and he was taken into custody by the Sheriff. Ishi was highly traumatized and almost dead and was put in a cell. Professors Waterman and Kroeber took charge of Ishi and kept him at the university’s museum and with great difficulty they managed to communicate with him by learning the Yahi language. Ishi too learned all about life in 20th century America. In the present day scenario, with the advent of globalization, many cultures are being lost or wiped out akin to what happened to the Yana tribe. In our contemporary world even with the great advancement of Science and Technology, we still experience the power of greed and unrest which take its toll on those who are most unfortunate. 3 2)Critically discuss the World’s Fair (California Mid – Winter International Exposition) of 1894. Cite specific examples of how we can think critically about this fair (e.g. commodification, race, gender, modernity, nature, etc.)Â   Michael Ha rry of San Francisco announced that he had plans to open the California Mid-Winter Fair in January 1894 in San Francisco. The local citizens were committed to the cause of the project and contributed around $41,500. The chief purpose of this fair was to promote trade, real estate and investment opportunities between California and people from other races and countries. Barbara Berglund in her book titled ‘Making San Francisco American,’ sheds light on San Francisco’s rapid evolution from the much earlier chaotic times to becoming a prized jewel of America’s western empire. She specifically points to the nascent elite’s efforts to bring about social order through cultural and political means. (Barbara Berglund, 2007) The chief idea

Finance Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Finance - Literature review Example he larger it grows, the management therefore has an important decision to make on whether to pay the shareholders their dividends presently or hold onto the money and make a payment of an increased amount. Besides the two, a firm may opt to pay its shareholders in terms of stock dividends; this unlike cash does not offer liquidity but ensures capital gains by the investors. These and many other issues related to the payment of dividends make dividend policies of significant relevance to the management of the firm. For example, the expectation of the dividends by the shareholders, aid determines the value of the firm’s shares. Firms can choose from a number of dividend policy forms and theories to use in the management of their dividends. However, the choice depends on a number of factors key among which is the capital size of the firm (Stickney, 2010). Smaller companies may not have the financial advantage to pay hefty dividends to its shareholders yet still stay operational; they therefore require those policies that consider its market share and the overall level of the return on investment. Additionally, the market factors all of which in a way affect the business operations of the firm must also have adequate consideration before the payment of dividends. This explains the every fluctuating amount paid to shareholders after every financial p eriod. In a summary, dividend arises from the profits made in every financial period. After operating, the firm determines its profit, which is often after deducting the cost of conducting business and that of maintaining the business (Dyck & Neubert, 2010). The firm therefore divides the resulting amount to the shareholders based on the amount of shares each possesses. However, the investors do not share the losses of the company. It is therefore obvious that every operational factor in the market that affects the profitability of the firm directly affects the resultant dividend value and subsequently the share value.

Income Inequality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Income Inequality - Essay Example The main reason he foresaw an evolution was due to the recurrent nature of income inequality. In an income inequality situation, the richer keep getting richer due to a better income, while the poor keep getting poorer. The gap between the top earners and the low-income earners keeps widening in an income inequality situation. In America, almost 95% of the national wealth is under 5% ownership; this situation leaves 95% of the population to scrounge for the limited 5% wealth (DeNavas et. Al, 2005). For economic inequality study, a family makes the ideal study unit. In the study, the family’s income is under analysis, and then the family members ranked from the lowest income earner to the highest income earner. After the ranking, the incomes aid in establishing a Lorenz curve that is important in analysis of income. In order for a Lorenz curve to be correct, the incomes of the family members have to be divided into fifths (Lorenz, 1905). A Lorenz curve enables analysis of data by adding the percentage value of the lowest fifth to the next higher fifth, which becomes the first point of the curve. The second point in the curve comes about through adding the first point to the middle fifth of the derived incomes. The process of plotting continues until exhaustion of all cumulative values of member incomes (Lorenz, 1905). For a perfect Lorenz curve, all members in a family would earn the same amount and the Lorenz curve would be a diagonal with the lowest point being the lower left hand corner moving progressively towards the higher right hand corner. This diagonal shows an ideal situation and it is the baseline in determining income inequality. Since not all family members receive an equal income, the Lorenz curve turns out as a curve instead of a diagonal. The area between the curve and the diagonal dictates the measure of inequality from one member of a given family to the next member (Lorenz, 1905). Income

Scholarly vs. Popular Media Focused articles Essay

Scholarly vs. Popular Media Focused articles - Essay Example Both these articles provide insight about previous research, for example: Cerny and Janssen have reported a study conducted by Rieger in their own research and Tuller has reported a study that was published in Archieves of Sexual Behavior. Both provide opinion on a specific issue and both are published for example study conducted by Cerny and Jannsen state that bisexual males are highly aroused by bisexual adult content and Tuller states the males are aroused by both the genders. The list of similarities between popular and scholarly articles is quite small but there is a huge difference between these forms of articles. In popular articles different sub categories of an issue and the issue are tried to be explored in a limited amount of space and in case of scholarly articles, specific part of an issue or topic is discussed and in-depth information about that particular topic is provided, for example: the article on the study conducted by Cerny and Janssen is 10 page long and discuss es the sexual arousal patterns of males who have different orientation, where as the article written by Tuller is less than 1000 words long. There is a difference between the audiences of both the articles, popular ones are targeted towards everyone who may be and may not be educated, scholarly ones are targeted towards a specific audience who have an academic background related to the area being studied in the article For example: Cerny and Janssen’s article is for those students who study sexual behavior and the article written by Tuller is for the general population. The terminology and vocabulary that is used in scholarly articles is very technical and can hardy be understood by illiterates and those who do not belong to a specific field of education, for example: Cerny and Janssen have used terminologies such as psychophysiology. In case of popular articles, the vocabulary is easy to understand and any individual can understand the topic that is being

National Cranberry Cooperative Essay Example for Free

National Cranberry Cooperative Essay According to the data provided, there is 50 % of incoming berries which were wet harvested. In the absolute terms, this amounts to 750 bbls/h. The three drying machines can only handle 600 bbls/h altogether, meaning that 150 bbls of berries have to be stored in the bins each hour while waiting for the drying process. The second bottleneck is â€Å"located† at the separators. The three separating lines have the capacity to separate 1200 bbls/h, while there are 1350 bbls/h ready to be separated. Therefore, 150 bbls of dry berries have to be stores each hour. At the end of the day (7 PM) there are 2400 bbls wet berries waiting for drying and separating, while also 2400 bbls of dry berries still have to go through the separation process. Drying process of 2400 bbls of wet harvested berries takes 4 additional hours and is finished at 11 PM. Simultaneously the separation is in process (for the dry harvested berries). After the last 600 bbls of wet harvested berries are dried it takes additional half an hour to separate them for quality measures. Separation process is finished at 11. 30 PM. 4. When would the last truck unload and how long would it have waited? Due to the fact that the capacity of the bins is large enough for both, dry (4000 bbls) and wet (1200 bbls only wet + 2000 bbls wet dry) harvested berries to be stored before entering the production process, there is no waiting needed for the truck drivers. All the trucks are able to unload by 7PM. 5. Changes in order to improve performance (estimate the costs and benefits) Based on our analysis we propose three possible solutions that would resolve a problem of company’s bottlenecks.

The Limitations Of RDBMS Systems

The Limitations Of RDBMS Systems To combat the limitations of RDBMS and meet the challenge of the increasing rise of the Internet and the Web, programmers developed object-oriented databases in the 1980s. The main objective of Object-Oriented Database Management Systems, commonly known as OODBMS, is to provide consistent, data independent, secure, controlled and extensible data management services to support the object-oriented model. They were created to handle big and complex data that relational databases could not. There are important characteristics involved with object-oriented databases. The most important characteristic is the joining of object-oriented programming with database technology, which provides an integrated application development system. Object-oriented programming results in 4 main characteristics: inheritances, data encapsulation, object identity, and polymorphism. Inheritance allows one to develop solutions to complex problems incrementally by defining new objects in terms of previously defined objects. Data encapsulation or simply encapsulation allows the hiding of the internal state of the objects. Encapsulated objects are those objects that can only be assessed by their methods instead of their internal states. There are three types of encapsulated objects users and developers should recognize. The first is full encapsulation, in which all the operations on objects are done through message sending and method execution. The second is write encapsulation, which is where the internal state of the object is visible only for reading operations. The third is partial encapsulation, which involves allowing direct access for reading and writing for only a part of the internal state. Object identity allows objects of the database to be independent of each other. Polymorphism and dynamic binding allow one to define operations for one object and then to share the specification of the operation with other objects. This allows users and/or programmers to compose objects to provide solutions without having to write code that is specific to each object. The language important to OODBMS is data definition and manipulation language (DDML). The use of this language allows persistent data to be created, updated, deleted, or retrieved. An OODBMS needs a computational versus a relational language because it can be used to avoid impedance mismatch. DDML allows users to define a database, including creating, altering, and dropping tables and establishing constraints. DDMLs are used to maintain and query a database, including updating, inserting, modifying, and querying data. The OODBMS has many advantages and benefits. First, object-oriented is a more natural way of thinking. Second, the defined operations of these types of systems are not dependent on the particular database application running at a given moment. Third, the data types of object-oriented databases can be extended to support complex data such as images, digital and audio/video, along with other multi-media operations. Different benefits of OODBMS are its reusability, stability, and reliability. Another benefit of OODBMS is that relationships are represented explicitly, often supporting both navigational and associative access to information. This translates to improvement in data access performance versus the relational model. Another important benefit is that users are allowed to define their own methods of access to data and how it will be represented or manipulated. The most significant benefit of the OODBMS is that these databases have extended into areas not known by the RDBMS. Medicine, multimedia, and high-energy physics are just a few of the new industries relying on object-oriented databases. As with the relational database method, object-oriented databases also have disadvantages or limitations. One disadvantage of OODBMS is that it lacks a common data model. There is also no current standard, since it is still considered to be in the development stages. Who is currently using an OODBMS to handle mission critical data? The following information was gleaned from the ODBMS Facts website. The Chicago Stock Exchange manages stock trades via a Versant ODBMS. Radio Computing Services is the worlds largest radio software company. Its product, Selector, automates the needs of the entire radio station from the music library, to the newsroom, to the sales department. RCS uses the POET ODBMS because it enabled RCS to integrate and organize various elements, regardless of data types, in a single program environment. The Objectivity/DB ODBMS is used as a data repository for system component naming, satellite mission planning data, and orbital management data deployed by Motorola in The Iridium System. The Object Store ODBMS is used in Southwest Airlines Home Gate to provide self service to travellers through the Internet. Ajou University Medical Center in South Korea uses Intersystems Cachà ¨ ODBMS to support all hospital functions including mission-critical departments such as pathology, laboratory, blood bank, pharmacy, and X-ray. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland uses an Objectivity DB. The database is currently being tested in the hundreds of terabytes at data rates up to 35 MB/second. As of November, 2000, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) stored 169 terabytes of production data using Objectivity/DB. The production data is distributed across several hundred processing nodes and over 30 on-line servers. Below is a list of advantages and disadvantages of using an OODBMS over an RDBMS with an object oriented programming language. Advantages Composite Objects and Relationships: Objects in an OODBMS can store an arbitrary number of atomic types as well as other objects. It is thus possible to have a large class which holds many medium sized classes which themselves hold many smaller classes, ad infinitum. In a relational database this has to be done either by having one huge table with lots of null fields or via a number of smaller, normalized tables which are linked via foreign keys. Having lots of smaller tables is still a problem since a join has to be performed every time one wants to query data based on the Has-a relationship between the entities. Also an object is a better model of the real world entity than the relational tuples (attributes) with regards to complex objects. The fact that an OODBMS is better suited to handling complex, interrelated data than an RDBMS means that an OODBMS can outperform an RDBMS by ten to a thousand times depending on the complexity of the data being handled. Class Hierarchy: Data in the real world is usually having hierarchical characteristics. The ever popular Employee example used in most RDBMS texts is easier to describe in an OODBMS than in an RDBMS. An Employee can be a Manager or not, this is usually done in an RDBMS by having a type identifier field or creating another table which uses foreign keys to indicate the relationship between Managers and Employees. In an OODBMS, the Employee class is simply a parent class of the Manager class. Circumventing the Need for a Query Language: A query language is not necessary for accessing data from an OODBMS unlike an RDBMS since interaction with the database is done by transparently accessing objects. It is still possible to use queries in an OODBMS however. No Impedence Mismatch: In a typical application that uses an object oriented programming language and an RDBMS, a signifcant amount of time is usually spent mapping tables to objects and back. There are also various problems that can occur when the atomic types in the database do not map cleanly to the atomic types in the programming language and vice versa. This impedance mismatch is completely avoided when using an OODBMS. No Primary Keys: The user of an RDBMS has to worry about uniquely identifying tuples by their values and making sure that no two tuples have the same primary key values to avoid error conditions. In an OODBMS, the unique identification of objects is done behind the scenes via OIDs and is completely invisible to the user. Thus there is no limitation on the values that can be stored in an object. One Data Model: A data model typically should model entities and their relationships, constraints and operations that change the states of the data in the system. With an RDBMS it is not possible to model the dynamic operations or rules that change the state of the data in the system because this is beyond the scope of the database. Thus applications that use RDBMS systems usually have an Entity Relationship diagram to model the static parts of the system and a separate model for the operations and behaviours of entities in the application. With an OODBMS there is no disconnect between the database model and the application model because the entities are just other objects in the system. An entire application can thus be comprehensively modelled in one UML diagram.

Factors Affecting The Rate Of Photosynthesis Biology Essay

Factors Affecting The Rate Of Photosynthesis Biology Essay The purpose of this experiment is to observe the factors affecting the Photosynthetic rate of leaves, which is measured in two ways. Firstly changing the light intensity, this will determine the rate of increase or decrease in photosynthesis. Secondly changing the availability of nutrients (Concentration of CO2) to the plants, this will directly affect the photosynthetic rate. To test the light intensity, an elodea submerged in a beaker was placed at different measurement away from the plant, to see if oxygen (bubbles) is produced. To test the availability of nutrients, different molarities of Sodium Bicarbonate was diluted in 500 ml of water with Elodea, to see if rate of photosynthesis increased or decreased. The result shows, as light intensity increases, the rate of reaction will increase at a proportional rate until a certain level is reached. At a light intensity of 400 the average increase in rate of reaction was 746v. At 4 the average increase in rate of reaction was 8676v, a difference of 7930v, which shows the rate of reaction is greatly influenced by light intensity. As the molarity of Sodium Bicarbonate increases, the rate of reaction will also increase at a proportional rate with respect to light intensity. At 0.05M the average increase in rate of reaction was 0.80r. At 0.1M the average increase in rate of reaction was 1.90r, a difference of 1.1r, which shows the rate of reaction is also significantly influenced by the availability of nutrients. Both light intensity and availability of nutrients are important factors that affect the rate of photosynthesis. Aim To investigate how different factors affect the rate of photosynthesis. The variables that will be changed are different intensity of light and different molarities of Sodium bicarbonate and then measuring the rate of reaction (photosynthetic rate). Hypothesis Throughout this experiment the light intensity and different molarities of Sodium Bicarbonate will be varied. The variable that is measured will be time, for rate of reaction. As light intensity increases the rate of reaction will increase at a proportional rate. As the concentration of NaHCO3 increases the rate of the reaction will also increase at a proportional rate. Introduction Every species on earth needs some kind of energy source in order to survive. In animal cells, the mitochondria produce ATP from cellular respiration. However, the plant cells have a different type of center that produces energy-chloroplasts. Plants go through the process of photosynthesis. The main process of photosynthesis is the absorption of light by chlorophyll, found in leaves and the immersion of carbon dioxide from the environment, and together they produce oxygen and sugar (energy). The equation below represents the photosynthesis reaction: The purpose of this experiment is to test whether factors such as light intensity and level of Carbon dioxide, will affect the rate of photosynthesis, which are the two most important variables in the photosynthesis process. This was demonstrated by Robert Hill in 1938, known as The Hill Reaction. Robert Hill and his associates at the University of Illinois found that the photosynthetic rate varies with light intensity, and as the light intensity increases, the reaction rate also increases up to a certain point. Apparatus needed for the Experiment Elodea 20mm ² syringe Capillary tubing Stand Stopwatch Ruler NaHCO ³ Solution Bench lamp Distilled water Figure A) Potometer Method The apparatus is set (see Fig. A) with the syringe full of the 0.01M solution of NaHCO3 solution. Two marks 10cm apart are made on the capillary tubing. The syringe is placed 0.05m away from the lamp. Using the syringe plunger the meniscus of the NaHCO3 is set so that it is level with the first mark. A stopwatch is then started. The meniscus should gradually move down the capillary tube as the elodea produces oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis. As the oxygen is produced it increases the pressure in the syringe and so the meniscus is pushed down the tube. Light Intensity = 1 / Distance ² (m) When the meniscus reaches the level of the bottom mark the stopwatch should be stopped. Light intensities have been worked out using the following equation: 6. Using the same piece of elodea and the same distance between the lamp and the syringe the experiment (steps 1 to 5) should be repeated for the other concentration of NaHCO3. 7. The experiment (steps 1 to 6) should then be repeated at each different distance between the syringe and the light for all the NaHCO3 concentrations. The remaining distances are 0.05m, 0.06m, 0.07m, 0.08m, 0.1m, 0.2m, 0.3m, and 0.5m. 8. The entire experiment should then be repeated three times in order to obtain more accurate data and to get rid of any anomalies that may occur in a single experiment. In order to make this experiment as accurate as possible a number of steps must be taken. The same piece of elodea should be used each time in order to make sure that each experiment is being carried out with the same leaf surface area. The amount of NaHCO3 solution should be the same for each experiment. 20mm ² should be used each time. The distance should be measured from the front of the lamp to the syringe. Although taking these steps will make the experiment more accurate, its accuracy is still limited by several factors. From these recorded times I will work out the rate of the reaction using the following equation. Rate of the Reaction = 1 / Time (s) Results Table1. (Average of the 4 trails of Molarity against Light intensity): Molarity of NaHCO3 Light Intensity 1/d ² (m) 0.00 (Distilled water) 0.01 0.02 0.05 0.07 400 3571 1666 1099 523 200 278 1670 5183 988 600 375 204 4998 4485 1175 1005 473 156 5590 2300 1770 1445 621 100 9990 3150 2900 2552 1224 25 4762 3984 2850 1640 11 5945 4348 3780 2830 4 16480 11904 5196 6578 Using these results I worked out the rate Rate Of the Reaction = 1 / Time(s) x 1000 The rate was multiplied by 1000 to make the numbers easier to handle. Table2.Average of the 4 trails in rate of reaction: Molarity of NaHCO3 Light Intensity 1/d ² (m) 0.00 (Distilled water) 0.01 0.02 0.05 0.07 400 0.28 0.60 0.91 1.91 5.00 278 0.60 0.19 1.01 1.67 2.67 204 0.20 0.22 0.85 1.00 2.11 156 0.18 0.43 0.56 0.69 1.61 100 0.10 0.32 0.34 0.39 0.82 25 0.21 0.25 0.35 0.61 11 0.17 0.23 0.26 0.35 4 0.06 0.08 0.19 0.15 Light intensity against NaHCO3 Graph1. Analysis Discussion of Results Analysis: Distilled water: With the distilled water the rate of reaction went up from 0.1 to 0.4 when the light intensity was increased from 100 to 400. This is a 4 times rise which is quite large. The curve on the graph does however level out quite soon showing that the rate is being limited by the lack of NaHCO3 in the water. 0.01M NaHCO3: At a light intensity of 4 the rate is 0.06 but this rises to 0.6 when the light intensity is brought up to 400. The curve is very shallow and levels off towards a light intensity of 350 400. 0.02M NaHCO3: The amount of NaHCO3 is double that of the 0.01M NaHCO3 experiment. The rate also finishes off twice that of the 0.01M experiment. This would suggest that there was a directly proportional relationship between the amount of NaHCO3 and the rate of reaction. 0.05M NaHCO3: The curve for the 0.05M NaHCO3 is steeper than the previous curves. The rate rises to 1.9 at a light intensity of 400. 0.07M NaHCO3: The 0.07M NaHCO3 test produces a line which is steeper than all the previous curves. The plant is using the extra CO2 to photosynthesize more. As the plant has more CO2 the limiting factor caused by the lack of CO2 is reduced. This test did produce a big anomaly. The rate for a light intensity of 400 is 5. By following the line of best fit I can see that this result should be more like 3.5. The elodea for this test was very close to the light source. It is possible that it had been left here for a while which caused the lamp to heat the elodea up. This would have increased the rate of reaction of the plants enzymes which would have increased the photosynthesis rate. 0.1M NaHCO3: The 0.1M NaHCO3 produced the steepest line. Near the end of the line it looks as if the rate of reaction is hit by another limiting factor. The line goes up steadily but then between a light intensity of 300 and 400 levels off very quickly. This would suggest that at a 0.1M NaHCO3 is sufficient for the plant to photosynthesize at its maximum rate with its current environmental conditions. Increasing the NaHCO3 concentration after this level would therefore have no effect unless the next limiting factor was removed. Discussion: The hypothesis was that the rate of photosynthesis would increase if the light intensity and NaHCO3 levels were increased (please refer to Graph1). As the elodea absorbed the light and CO2 it produced oxygen gas which increased the pressure in the syringe. This pushed the air bubble in the capillary tube down. The chloroplasts produce ATP and reduce NADP to NADPH2 when exposed to light. It is at this stage of the reaction that oxygen is produced as a waste product, furthermore, the data collected was supported by the results obtained by Robert Hill and his associates at the University of Illinois, where they predicted, as the light intensity and NaHCO3 levels increased, the rate of photosynthesis will also increase up to a certain level (please refer to Graph2) As predicted when the light intensity increases so does the rate of photosynthesis. It was predicted that a level would be reached where increasing the light intensity would have no more effect on the rate of reaction as there would be some other limiting factor which limits the rate of the reaction. The rate increases at a steady rate as the light intensity increases until near the end of each line where the rate decreases. This is either because the photosynthesis reaction has reached its maximum rate of reaction or another factor is limiting the rate. As 6 different CO2 concentrations were used I can see that the first five reactions are not occurring at their maximum rate as there is the 0.1M NaHCO3 rest which is occurring at a faster rate then the other 5. The photosynthesis reactions of the other five tests must therefore be limited by the concentration of CO2 to the plant. As predicted when the NaHCO3 concentration is increased the plant in able to get more CO2 which causes the rate of reaction to go up. It was predicted that once the NaHCO3 had been raised above a certain level increasing the rate further would have no effect as there would be other limiting factors limiting the rate of the reaction. As the NaHCO3 concentration the water was increased the rate of photosynthesis also increased. The plant therefore made more oxygen as a waste product. At a NaHCO3 concentration of 0.1M once the light intensity gets above 300 the rate of reaction decreases significantly. This could be because photosynthesis is occurring at its maximum possible rate or because another limiting factor is restraining the rate of reaction. The fact that the curve levels off so quickly indicates that there is another limiting factor restraining photosynthesis. It could be temperature. These tests are being carried out at room temperature so the temperature would have to be raised another 15 °C before the enzymes in the plants cells were at their optimum working temperature. More tests could be done by using water that was at a higher temperature to see what effect this would have on the photosynthesis rate. It is however impossible to raise the plants temperature without affect other factors. For instance the actual amount of oxygen released by the plant is slightly more than the readings would suggest as some of the oxygen would dissolve into the water. At a higher temperature less oxygen would be able to dissolve into the water so the readings for the photosynthesis rate could be artificially increased. It is also possible that the photosynthetic reactions in the plant are occurring at their maximum possible rate and so cannot be increased any more. The light is probably not a limiting factor as all but one of the curves level off before the maximum light intensity of 400 is reached. The maximum light intensity that the plants can handle is therefore just below 400.Water will not be a limiting factor as the plants are living in water. They therefore have no stomata and absorb all their CO2 by diffusion through the leaves. Graph1. Light intensity against NaHCO3 MY RESULTS Graph2. Light intensity against NaHCO3 SOURCE Limitations and Improvement The accuracy of this experiment is limited by a number of factors. Some of the oxygen give off is used for respiration by the plant. Some of the oxygen dissolved into the water. Some was used by small invertebrates that were found living within the pieces of elodea. The higher light intensities should be quite accurate but the smaller light intensities would be less accurate because the light spreads out. The elodea will also get background light from other experiments. The lights are also a source of heat which will affect the experiments with only a small distance between the light and the syringe. This heating could affect the results. Using the same piece of elodea for each experiment was impractical as the elodeas photosynthesis rate decreased over time. By using a different piece of elodea for each experiment did create the problem of it being impossible for each piece to have the same surface area. This experiment could be improved in a number of ways. It could be repeated more times to help get rid of any anomalies. A better overall result would be obtained by repeating the experiment more times because any errors in one experiment should be compensated for by the other experiments. Each person should have done their experiments in a different room to cut out all background light. All the experiments should be done sequentially. A perspex screen could have been placed between the light and the syringe to reduce any heating effect that the light may have. The experiment could have been carried out with higher NaHCO3 to see if increasing the concentration would increase the rate of photosynthesis, or if a concentration of 0.1M NaHCO3 produces the maximum rate of photosynthetic reaction. Conclusion The intention of this experiment was to investigate different factors that affect the rate of photosynthesis. The hypothesis was, as light intensity increases the rate of reaction will increase at a proportional rate. As the concentration of NaHCO3 increases the rate of the reaction will also increase at a proportional rate. This was correct, supported by the data collected which shows at a light intensity of 400 the average increase in rate of reaction was 746v. At 4 the average increase in rate of reaction was 8676v, a difference of 7930v, which shows the rate of reaction is greatly influenced by light intensity. This was demonstrated by Robert Hill and his associates, with similar results to this experiment, which they found that the photosynthetic rate varies with light intensity, and as the light intensity increases, the reaction rate also increases up to a certain point.

The World at the Time of Sir Isaac Newton Essay -- History, Protestant

When most people hear the name Isaac Newton, they think of various laws of physics and the story of the apple falling from the tree; in addition, some may even think of him as the inventor of calculus. However, there was much more to Newton’s life which was in part molded by the happenings around the world. The seventeenth century was a time of great upheaval and change around the world. The tumultuousness of this era was due mostly to political and religious unrest which in effect had a great impact on the mathematics and science discoveries from the time Newton was born in 1646 until the early 1700’s. Newton’s birth in 1646 came at the tail-end of the 30-years war which was fought in Central Europe. The war began in 1618 in Bohemia over religious differences between Protestants and Catholics; however as time passed, the war became more political and soon most countries in Europe were involved (Ellis & Esler, 1999). The war ended in 1648 by a series of treaties knows as the Pease of Westphalia with France coming out victorious gaining land from both Spain and Germany (Ellis & Esler, 1999). The tension felt between the Protestants and Catholics was mirrored in England where there was a civil war beginning in 1640 and continuing until 1659. Early in the civil war Oliver Cromwell was chosen as leader of Parliament with his staunch Puritan beliefs; he soon became a leader of the Protestant side of the war. During this time, many considered England to be almost in anarchy with groups such as the Ranters, Levellers, and Diggers battling over various religious and political beliefs (Merriman, 1996). In 1649 Charles I, who had been King of England prior to the civil war, was beheaded and England became a Commonwealth and ... ... the true founder of calculus; however, much of the notation used today is courtesy of Leibniz because, according to many mathematicians, his notation is far superior to Newton’s (O'Connor & Robertson, Calculus History, 1996). So, how did the events around the world during the seventeenth century help Newton develop calculus? In England and much of Europe science became a part of public life of the seventeenth century (Merriman, 1996). Charles II created the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge in 1662 where many scientists studied and discussed their theories (Merriman, 1996). The Reformer’s victory in the English civil war gave Newton and other scientists their voice and the courage to study and find many of the scientific discoveries, as this was not the case with Galileo and many other scientists in Catholic countries (Merriman, 1996).

Free Siddhartha Essays: The River and the Mind/Body Dichotomy :: Hesse Siddhartha Essays

The River and the Mind/Body Dichotomy in Siddhartha In Herman Hesse's work Siddhartha, the primary physical symbol of division is the river. One side of the river represents "geist", or a realm concerned with the spiritual world. The second side represents "natur", the natural world where the flesh is engorged with pleasure and earthly satisfaction. Siddhartha begins on the spiritual side of the river. He is in training to become an excellent Brahmin like his father, much is expected of this intelligent and attractive young man. Yet Siddhartha feels a rumbling in his body and mind. His soul is not satisfied with the answers that he has received about problems in life. He feels the need to live his home in order to find these answers. He is willing to sacrifice security for insecurity and danger. His travels renew and strengthen his spirit. The structure of the story is centered around the apparatus of "iterative-durative time", a technique in which the author follows a loose linear chronlogy, with each part covering approximately twenty years, while only about one or two of those years are described in any detail. The effect easily lulls the reader into a perception of the passing time. He first spends time with a roving band of asceitics, forest-dwelling nomads that prefer to live a life of extreme sacrifice and self-denial. Siddhartha masters their art and goals, but shortly decides to move on after only a few years. He is not able to find his quest for salvation and understanding on such a path. Throughout his journey, his friend Govinda stays by his side. He decides to leave the town with him, come with him and practice with the ascetics, and then agrees to leave with him to seek out the Illustrious One, Gotama. Siddhartha does not find the answers to his spiritual queries here either, and decides to move on again. This time Govinda, his "shadow", decides to stay and make a niche for himself. Siddhartha strikes out on his own, crossing the center symbol of the river with the help of the boatman Vasudeva. After crossing the river he encounters an Indian woman who encourages him and allows him to kiss her nipple. His experience with the "natur" world has begun, hi s experiences of the sense being heightened and readied for a sensual deluge. He remains on the sensual side of the river for twenty years and in that time impregnates his seductive teacher and partner Kamala.