Thursday, December 26, 2019

Analysis Of `` Separating, All Winter Sundays, And We Are...

The theme â€Å"Regret and Loss† in Separating, Those Winter Sundays, and We are Virginia Tech Those Winter Sundays, Separating, and We are Virginia Tech were written by three different authors, each having their own unique styles and personality reflected in their works. The short story Separating, written by John Updike was published in 1974, it was written in the third person point of view. John Updike was considered as one of the greatest American fiction writer of his generation due to his unique prose style, rich description and language. His short story, explores themes such as regret, anger and self-interest. Both We are Virginia Tech and Those Winter Sundays are written in first person point of view. Those Winter Sundays is a work of Robert Hayden, and was published in the year 1966. The poem explores the topic of sacrifice and regret; the tone being, one of bitterness. We are Virginia Tech is a convocation address, delivered on the 17th of April 2007, by Nikki Giovan ni. This convocation address, carries the message of hope, unity, and regret. Each of these work carry various emotions, displayed in a multitude of colored style and language which the writers explores throughout their work; the common theme being â€Å"Regret and Loss.† â€Å"We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it†¦,† is a line from Nikki Giovanni’s convocation address; it highlights one of the messages she tried to convey in her short narrative essay. That is, regret and a senseShow MoreRelatedExploring Corporate Strategy - Case164366 Words   |  658 Pages(or speciï ¬ cally written) to provide readers with a core of cases which, together, cover most of the main issues in the text. As such, they should provide a useful backbone to a programme of study but could sensibly be supplemented by other material. We have provided a mixture of longer and shorter cases to increase the ï ¬â€šexibility for teachers. Combined with the illustrations and the short case examples at the end of each chapter (in both versions of the book) this increases the reader’s and tutor’sRead MoreContemporary Issues in Management Accounting211377 Words   |  846 Pagesin certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York ß Oxford University Press 2006 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or underRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 PagesCredits and acknowledgments borrowed from other sources and reproduced, with permission, in this textbo ok appear on the appropriate page within text. Copyright  © 2013, 2011, 2009, 2007, 2005 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. This publication is protected by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in anyRead MoreProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 PagesLeadership Chapter 2 Organization Strategy and Project Selection 1.4 Projects and programs (.2) 1.4.1 Managing the portfolio 1.4.3 Strategy and projects 2.3 Stakeholders and review boards 12.1 RFP’s and vendor selection (.3.4.5) 11.2.2.6 SWAT analysis 6.5.2.7 Schedule compression 9.4.2.5 Leadership skills G.1 Project leadership 10.1 Stakeholder management Chapter 11 Teams Chapter 3 Organization: Structure and Culture 2.4.1 Organization cultures [G.7] 2.4.2 Organization structureRead MoreOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 Pagessituates organization theory within the scholarly debates on modernism and postmodernism, and provides an advanced introduction to the heterogeneous study of organizations, including chapters on phenomenology, critical theory and psychoanalysis. Like all good textbooks, the book is accessible, well researched and readers are encouraged to view chapters as a starting point for getting to grips with the field of organization theory. Dr Martin Brigham, Lancaster University, UK McAuley et al. provide a

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

What Would Our World Be Without Literacy - 1433 Words

What would our world be without literacy? Imagine a life where we could not decipher, let alone inscribe, those various symbols jumbled up together in countless combinations. No books, no newspapers, no letters, no instruction manuals†¦ Everyday, our ability to read and write enables us to exist, to survive and to grow. In fact, literacy is the foundation to all learning. Being able to read and write, as well as acquiring any other form of literacy, such as fluency in a new language, plays a fundamental role in the definition of our identity. Thanks to these abilities, we gain access to information essential to our development; information to which we may relate to or not, consequently contributing to our search of who we are. Literacy is a skill we take too easily for granted. Most of us have learned to read at a very young age thanks to dedicated parents and patient teachers; we were taught our language’s alphabet, their sounds and the words they create. Our ability to read and write has been part of who we are for as long as we can remember. Rarely do we encounter problems such as being unable to follow street signs or to fill out an employment form. In fact, according to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook, 99% of Americans are literate. Unfortunately, not all populations are, or have been, so fortunate. Individuals around the world do not have access to the tools necessary to learn these skills. On the contrary, they have to fight expectations,Show MoreRelatedHow Texting Affects Teen Literacy1624 Words   |  7 Pages How Texting Affects Teen Literacy When most people think about teen literacy, they refer to texting. Most people think that texting harms teenagers, but in reality it does not. Text messaging is perhaps one of the things people do most daily, especially teenagers. These days teens are nearly inseparable from their phones. Teenagers are growing with an increasing rate with these cell phones. Teens depend on their cell phones to get through day to day things dealing with personal and professionalRead MoreThe Importance Of Literacy748 Words   |  3 PagesTaylor Ellwood once said â€Å"Literacy isnt just about reading, writing, and comprehension. Its about culture, professionalism, and social outlook.† Some might say that this is absurd or untrue but in a world of learning and knowledge literacy is necessary to the advancement of humanity. Merriam Webster defines â€Å"literate† as the ability to be able to read and write text. This though is not elaborate enough to help readers understand the true comple xity of the word. Literacy is much more elaborate thanRead MoreLiteracy Is The Definition Of Literacy997 Words   |  4 PagesTo myself, the definition of literacy is having the ability and means to read and/or write. Although this seems as though it is a stereotypical and common definition, I have found during the course of my life that this definition holds to be true to my personal being. When I was younger, I used to think literacy was simply the literacy book that we read out of during English class. The more that I grew, the more I realized that literacy was having the ability to read the book- not the book itselfRead MoreDigital Literacy Essay1297 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿ Digital Literacy ENG122: English Composition II Angela Temple January 20, 2014 In today’s world it is a requirement to be digitally literate in order to be able to function in a capacity that enables one to be more successful whether it is at home, school, at our jobs or even looking for a job. Over the last few decades our environment has evolved into a digital environment. Being or becoming digitally literate is essential in being successfulRead MorePrinting Press and Its Effects839 Words   |  3 Pagesand Closure†talks about printing press and its effects .Through the chapter I found some interesting points connected to literacy. First,the idea of persons in a primary oral culture can entertain some sense of proprietary rights to a poem but with writing resentment at plagiarism begins to develop . We struggle in a copy right world and with removing words from the sound world , print encouraged us to think about mental held possessions as we express ourselves in narrative discourse.Writing isRead MoreLiteracy Is The Key Structure Of Com munication, And Communication1468 Words   |  6 Pageslearn to be successful. Literacy is one of them. Literacy is the ability to read and write, and without either one of them our world would fail. It’s the overall structure of communication, and communication is something that dominates our lifestyle today. Literacy can be met through other things besides reading and authorship. It can be found in newspapers, books, television sources and so much more. It is vital to understand literacy and how resources are related. My literacy skills began to developRead MoreThe Four Resources Model Is Developed By Alen Luke And Peter Freebody Essay1702 Words   |  7 Pagesby Alen Luke and Peter Freebody in 1999 to adapt to the increasing importance of technology that we see prevalent throughout society and in our daily lives. We live in a digital age in which technology is constantly reinventing itself and without the education that allows us to use these new age inventions, we are stuck frozen in a technologically advanced world unable to move forward. Luke and Freebody (1999) envision a school curriculum surrounding a print based environment in which classroom andRead MoreThe Cost of Computer Literacy1209 Words   |  5 PagesWhat are the costs of computer literacy? Some people argue that there are no such costs, but I believe there are a few which may be relevant. Does computer literacy affect the way we communicate, and if so, is this necessarily a bad thing? What is our future, as computer literacy be comes a necessity? What are the personal, financial, and social costs, as computer literacy becomes a necessity?brbrAccording to Websters New World dictionary, literacy is defined as the ability to read and writeRead MoreThe Literacy Of Literacy, By Deborah Brandt, And Malcom X Essay1428 Words   |  6 PagesI can recall many people who have enriched my literacy development in some way or another throughout my life. The most influential literacy sponsors in my life include my mother, myself, my high school English teacher, and even my librarian. Even the authors Deborah Brandt, and Malcom X have supported my claim. The essay, â€Å"Sponsors of Literacy† was written by Deborah Brandt, who connected her writing with her sponsors. Malcom X’s essay, â€Å"Learning to Read†, reminded me of one of the most importantRead MoreLiteracy Is The Foundation Of Education Essay1658 Words   |  7 PagesMost individuals have narrow definitions of literacy, considering it to b e merely possessing the abilities to read and write, but the definition should be much broader than that. Literacy is the foundation of education. I would define literacies as skills that we are continuously having to improve upon. Without the abilities to read and write, I would have an altered view of the world that I live in and the people who I share it with. Additionally, I would not be able to recognize letters or numbers

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Financial Statement Analysis for Cash Flow - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theFinancial Statement Analysis for Cash Flow. Answer: Financial statement analysis is a major factor for the financial analysts and investors in order to measure the financial performance of the companies as well as to know about their financial health[1]. In the process of financial statement analysis, the analysis of cash flow of the companies plays a crucial part as it provides the investors with the knowledge about the cash inflow and outflow of the companies along with their reasons. In the 2016 annual report of Adelaide Brighton Limited, the Statement of Cash Flows can be seen. In the cash flow statement of every business organizations, two of the major activities are cash flow from investing activities and cash flow from financing activities that play crucial part in determining the financial position of the companies. Cash flow from investing activities shows the amount of cash inflows and outflows due to various investing activities like loss or gain from investments, purchase or buy of assets and others[2]. Table: Cash Flow from Investing Activities (Souce:[3]) As per 2016 cash flow statement of Adelaide Brighton Limited, the company spent money for the payment of property, plant, equipment and intangibles. Another major head for cash outflow in investing activities of Adelaide Brighton Limited is payments of loans to joint venture entities. However, there are two heads in the investing activities of Adelaide Brighton Limited where there is inflow of cash; they are sale from property, plant and equipment (PPE) and income from repayment of loan. In this context, it needs to be mentioned that two of the largest investing activities are payment for PPE that is $86.5 million and sales of PPE that is $23.2 million[4]. Table 2: Cash Flow from Financing Activities (Source:[5]) Cash flow from financing activities shows companies raise capital from issue of shares. From the 2016 cash flow statement of Adelaide Brighton Limited, it can be seen that the company raised capital of $4 million from the issue of shares. On the other hand, Adelaide Brighton Limited has also made payment of $21 million to its borrowings. However, the highest item is of 178.5 million that is the payment of dividends to the shareholders. And the second highest item is of $21 million that is payment of borrowings[6]. From the above analysis, it can be said that Adelaide Brighton Limited has taken right investing and financing strategies as per the current business environment. The above analysis shows the fact that Adelaide Brighton limited depends less on the long term borrowings for raising capital[7]. It is evident from the above analysis as the company has taken less amount of loan in 2016. In addition, it can be seen hat Adelaide Brighton Limited has spent large amount by providing dividends to their shareholders. It implies that the company depends largely on equity financing for raising capital for their businesses. Thus, in the capital structure of Adelaide Brighton Limited, the proportion of share capital is more than term borrowings. There are several advantages of equity financing. First, it reduces the interest expenses of the company and it leads to reduced financial risks. Second, the company has to pay dividends only in case of profits[8]. Thus, it can be said that Adelaide Brighto n Limited has adopted the correct investing and financing strategy. Bibliography "Financial Statement 2016".Adbri.Com.Au/, 2017. https://adbri.com.au/-/adbri/lib/pdfs/2016/reports/ABL%202016%20AR%20-%20Financials%20FINAL.pdf. Brown, Reilly. "Analysis of investments management of portfolios." (2012). Higgins, Robert C.Analysis for financial management. McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2012. Maravas, Alexander, and John-Paris Pantouvakis. "Project cash flow analysis in the presence of uncertainty in activity duration and cost."International Journal of Project Management 30, no. 3 (2012): 374-384. Zack, Gerard M. "Financial Statement Analysis."Financial Statement Fraud: Strategies for Detection and Investigation(2013): 209-213.

Monday, December 2, 2019

The Value of Performance Related Pay free essay sample

The value of performance related pay Currently, many companies are utilizing the performance related pay (PRP) scheme. The PRP is often regarded as an effective method to achieve a better performance in both individual and collective terms. In the study of Cutler and Waine (1999), PRP affords employees with opportunities to increase return after the performance appraisal. It is quite different with certain salary schemes, such as those offering an automatic increase in pay but despite employees’ real performance. The PRP scheme is usually designed to increase employees’ commitment and motivate employees through implementing an incentive system and assessing employees’ work performance (Varone and Giauque, 2001). The reasons for utilizing PRP scheme are various. Apparently, it is vital for the management layer to maintain a high level of consistency between employees’ and employers’ interests. Unless the two originally separate interests being aligned, can the corporation operate normally. Since it is difficult to attribute the output to individuals, PRP is an appropriate approach to make the incentives of the company and employees consistent (Kruse, 1996). We will write a custom essay sample on The Value of Performance Related Pay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Besides, the intent to maintain the stability in the employment acts as another reason for the utilization of PRP schemes. The research by Chelius and Smith (1990) indicates the fact that the enterprise with a PRP scheme can have a higher level of stability in the workforce. Also, PRP’s effect on the enhancement of individual employee’s effort towards tasks and the corporate productivity promote its implement to a rather large extent. PRP’s effect on individual employee, team, organizational motivation and productivity The PRP scheme can affect a wide range of subjects. In terms of individual employees, the company with a PRP scheme tends to be more attractive and it is more probable for them to increase the input (Lazear, 1986). Since the pay level is related to the different levels of work performance and employees believe better performance would be accompanied by a desirable return that is valued by them, staff may be more willing to exert an effort  towards the task allocated. Moreover, the staff is more motivated to better the work performance due to the financial incentive and further achieve a higher level of job satisfaction. However, the function of PRP on a team-based task is often argued by different studies. For example, it may be difficult to distinguish the individual contribution levels when the job is completed as a consequence of the teamwork (Campbell et al, 1998), so the effect of PRP on the integral team can be weakened. Apart from that, Gielen et al (2006) state that it is possible for the team members to become a free-rider, due to the difficulty in evaluating the individual performance in a team and thus the a group-based PRP scheme may just have little effect on individual performance. In contrast, Varone and Giauque (2001) argue that the problem can be resolved if the reward is on a collective basis rather than an individual one. The reason is that if the reward can be important to the entire team, the team members’ involvement and motivation would be improved. Also, the PRP has an effect on the organizational motivation, but the situation is very complex. According to the expectancy theory proposed by Vroom (1964), when the management can meet the requirements, that employees have enough capacity to fulfill a task and the fulfillment of the task is related to certain outcomes that are valued by employees, staff can be motivated to accomplish the job. Therefore, if the PRP system is carefully designed and associated with returns which are needed by the staff, the company can achieve the goal of motivation. However, since the process of performance appraisal involves other subjects, the assessment outcome may be subjective. If the employees do not believe outcome of performance assessment, the aim to motivate employees may fail. Therefore, whether the PRP’s impact on motivation can be achieved or not depends on the objectivity of the performance appraisal. Many scholars believe PRP can produce positive outcomes towards organizational productivity. The enhancement of organizational productivity is fulfilled through the increase in individual or team productivity. The reasons for PRP improving the labor productivity are: in the case of asymmetry information regarding employees’ capacity and effort, the PRP can encourage the staff to exert an appropriate level of effort (Prendergast, 1999); besides, when employing new staff, the PRP scheme can act as a screen, merely attracting the able employees to compete for the job vacancy (Lazear, 1986). With the employees of high quality and their expectations about the rewards generated by accomplishment of the task, the organizational productivity can be increased to a higher level. Two classic PRP models Talking about the PRP models, the profit sharing plan and the merit pay plan tend to be the most influential. In terms of the profit sharing plan (PSP), it is defined as an agreement that can be freely entered into, through which staff can get a fixed amount of shares from the profit of the company in advance (Schloss, 1907). To be more precise, PSPs are usually designed and implemented for a variety of purposes. The PSP can be used to induce the staff to work for enhancing the corporate remuneration, thereby acting as a replacement for the employee monitoring system. For instance, with the use of the PSP, the staff may be motivated to monitor the co-workers’ performance in order to ensure the higher earnings (Bradley and Estrin, 1992). Besides, the management layer may utilize PSP as a tool to enhance the corporate outcomes, such as motivation and productivity (Art and Turner, 2004). However, despite the various expectations on the PSPs, its effectiveness is argued for a long time. Although some corporations may think that the increase in its productivity and profitability is due to the use of PSP, no one can give clear evidence to establish a link between PSP and the organizational performance. Besides, the PSP is often criticized by the fact that, due to the profit increase covering a large number of employees, the enhancement in individual rewards generated by the personal effort is usually of rather small amount and can be nearly neglected. So to exactly confirm the effectiveness of PSP, more studies and researches need to be completed in the future. When it comes to the merit pay plan (MRP), it is defined by Heneman (1992) as the procedure of distributing pay increase according to the individual work performance, which is often determined by the outcome of performance assessment. The MRP is a tool frequently used by the company to induce staff to exert a higher level of effort and achieve the organizational motivation to increase the amount of corporate earnings. Theoretically, poor performer would either be discouraged or attempt to enhance the performance to acquire the merit pay (Brody et al, 2001). By contrast, able staff would get a clear perspective of the relation between performance and rewards, and maintain a high level of productivity (Brody et al, 2001). However, being similar with the case of PSP, the function of MRP is also arguable. McGinty and Hanke (1989) suggest that the MRP can increase the corporate performance, but they do not work all the time. Researches have indicated that the criticism against the MRP is not related to its design in most cases but is linked to the process of performance assessment. Due to the involvement of the supervisor as the third party, the assessment outcomes can be subjective and unfair to certain employees being assessed sometimes. Although the company attempts to avoid the disadvantages, the subjectivity during the assessment process is somewhat inevitable due to some elements, such as leniency (Brody et al, 2001) and favoritism (Salimaki and Jamsen, 2010). PRP plan utilized by Suning Appliance The best example to support my arguments may be Suning Appliance, a retailer of electronic products in China. The reason to use this company is that my father previously worked there as a salesman. As he told, in the year of 2000, a certain amount of first-line salesmen were dissatisfied with the salary they received, since they thought they work much harder than others but merely got a same amount of pay. The motivation of the staff decreased dramatically and the sales of company were also affected. The thorny problem was not solved until the introduction of a new merit pay system in which the employees’ financial return was related to the work performance. Although the performance appraisal was sometimes criticized by the employees, it never triggered a big issue like the one happened in 2000.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Psychology-Chapter 7 Essay Example

Psychology Psychology-Chapter 7 Paper Psychology-Chapter 7 Paper Essay Topic: Literature George Miller found that the average person is able to keep about ____ digits in mind at a time. seven Tim can remember what he had for lunch yesterday. This is an example of aan episodic memory. The memory of things that happen to us or occur in our life are referred to as episodic memory. Recall of what your professor said in class is ____ memory, and recall of what you wore that day are instances of ____ memory. semantic; episodic General knowledge of history, algebra, and literature refers to ____ memory. semantic Tracy took tennis lessons when she was very young but had not played tennis for years when she decided to enroll in a tennis class at college. A moment after she picked up her racket, she realized with surprise that she had shifted it to the correct forehand grip without even thinking. Tracys ____ memory made this possible. implicit The memory that tends to fail when we are feeling stressed, distracted, and preoccupied is called prospective memory. The stages of information processing in memory are encoding, storage, and retrieval Which of the following could be used to store The Star Spangled Banner song in memory? acoustic code ____ means maintaining information over time. Storage While doing his homework, Joe noticed that he was having difficulty remembering a formula for his statistics assignment. He realized he would have to review it more often to be able to recall the information. Psychologist refer to his realization as metamemory. A psychology student wants to know how to remember the various aspects of operant conditioning. His teacher tells him to relate it to classical conditioning, which he already knows. This is an example of ____ rehearsal. elaborative The process of locating and returning information to consciousness is referred to as retrieval Sofia is taking a chemistry exam. She has not studied conscientiously, and the meanings of the chemical suffixes seem to be confusing. Sofias difficulty in remembering is most probably due to encoding failure. Psychologist believe that we possess a sensory register for each of our sensory systems. Photographic memory involves iconic memory and eidetic imagery. The memory that enables one to hold information for a limited time in their mind is called short term memory. To save information that is in short term memory you must repeat the information mentally or out loud. The way in which we conceptualize our worlds, our beliefs, and our expectations are built around cognitive structures called schemas. ____ is formed in long-term memory by organizing information into groups of classes according to common or distinct features. Hierarchical structure Remembering nonsense syllables is difficult because they are meaningless and require acoustic coding and maintenance rehearsal. In taking the position that only fill-in-the-blank tests are suitable for testing the knowledge of students, Professor Terry is mainly interested in measuring recall When old information interferes with the recall of new information this is ____; when new information interferes with the recall of old information this is ____. proactive interference; retroactive interference Psychoanalysts believe that dissociative amnesia involves repression Freud discovered that many patients could not recall episodes that happened prior to the age of three and that their recall was cloudy through the age of five. He identified this phenomenon as ____ amnesia. infantile

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Free Essays on Twelth Night Act 3

and wit. The result of which adds an interesting dimension to Viola by merit of her quick wit and clever thinking. The portrayal of Viola as a bright, self-sufficient, and accomplished female almost makes her a foil to the gullible and flighty Olivia. Scene one begins with Viola/Cesario returning to Olivia’s house to continue the Duke Orsino’s overtures. In the garden, she meets Feste the Fool. The conversation that follows is heated and reveals a great deal about Feste’s role in the play. Feste is shown to be not just a comic relief figure, like Sir Andrew; he is perceptive when others are not, as Viola notes after the encounter. The conversation is so spirited, because Feste and Viola actually have a good deal in common; both are paid servants who are much more than they seem to be, and hence p... Free Essays on Twelth Night Act 3 Free Essays on Twelth Night Act 3 Act three opens at the garden adjoining Olivia’s house. This garden is where lines 1 – 100 will occur. Often times the garden is portrayed onstage as a courtyard with real plants, a backdrop, or a combination of both. Several columns are usually added to Olivia’s house and the courtyard in order to add a Mediterranean atmosphere to Shakespeare’s Illyria. Twelfth Night takes place in Duke Orsino’s court, Olivia’s house, Olivia’s garden, and to a much lesser extent on a street and beach of Illyria. This allows for the production to have fairly elaborate scenery, because the set changes are simple and far enough apart to accommodate the minor adjustments that transform Olivia’s house into Orsino’s domicile. A play on gender and sexuality is the main action of Twelfth Night; however this scene focuses on the importance and duality of words. The primary action of act three, scene one occurs in the dialogue. What ensues is a brilliant example of Shakespeare’s mastery of the English language. Instead of the physical fighting found in Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet, Shakespeare creates a playful bandying of words and wit. The result of which adds an interesting dimension to Viola by merit of her quick wit and clever thinking. The portrayal of Viola as a bright, self-sufficient, and accomplished female almost makes her a foil to the gullible and flighty Olivia. Scene one begins with Viola/Cesario returning to Olivia’s house to continue the Duke Orsino’s overtures. In the garden, she meets Feste the Fool. The conversation that follows is heated and reveals a great deal about Feste’s role in the play. Feste is shown to be not just a comic relief figure, like Sir Andrew; he is perceptive when others are not, as Viola notes after the encounter. The conversation is so spirited, because Feste and Viola actually have a good deal in common; both are paid servants who are much more than they seem to be, and hence p...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

The key principles of human resource management Essay

The key principles of human resource management - Essay Example This essay discusses that there are more similarities between personnel management and human resource management than difference and this is mainly assumed by different number of authors. According to Torington, a personnel management is continues process of growth and evolution where more expertise people are required. In this evolutionary process HRM is adding only a dimension to a multi faceted role and is not assumed as a revolutionary concept. But the concept of HRM should not be undervalued or underestimated. Storey has regarded HRM as different approach and philosophy for the management. HRM provides a new platform for managing personnel. Difference between Personnel management and HRM are mainly comprises of meaning than of substance. Thus the real difference between personnel and HRM is not actually what the concept are but who are defining the concepts. Another important difference between the two approaches is appreciation towards the employees. Personnel management believ es that employees are the key to improve the performance whereas HRM assumes that the employees are essential for success of the organisation. HRM concentrates on strategic fits unlike personnel management; HRM emphasis on individuals whereas personnel emphasis on collectively; Personnel management provides a generalised HR solution and HRM a much more tailored solution; There is an increase need of HR specialist in case of personnel management whereas in HRM senior mangers perform the work of an HR. Personnel is associated with trade union and managing conflict and HRM with performance, capabilities and outcomes. HRM has a strong emphasis over horizontal and vertical integration. It operates at a strategic level and personnel management is more operationally oriented (Banfield & Kay, 2008, p.40). Function of the human resource management in contributing to organisational purposes The functions of HRM have changed over the years and are continuing to change. The function of HR is to enable organisation to achieve the objectives by way of taking initiatives and providing the required guidance as well as support on matters relating to the organisations employees. The main motive is to develop HR strategies and policies in the organisations. HR functions also play an important part in creation of the organisation environment which enables the employees to utilise their capabilities to benefit both the organisation and the individual. The function of HRM also tends to provide advice and services which enables the organisation to get work done through individuals. The sophisticated HRM aims to achieve a strategic integration (Armstrong, 2006, p.54). The HRM concerns most of the managers as well as

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Law enforcement 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Law enforcement 5 - Essay Example There are a number of considerable statistics related to domestic violence. One of the most notable recognitions is the potential that domestic violence incidents may ultimately lead to death. In this way it’s noted that 30% of all women murdered in the United States were murdered by intimates (Gaines 2011, p. 231). One of the primary recognitions is that in domestic violence incidents there is a strong tendency towards cyclical recurrence. These cyclical recurrences can then result in increased levels of violence that can potentially lead to death if police do not implement proper discretion. Another prominent consideration related to domestic violence is the Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment. Specifically, the Minneapolis domestic violence experiment argued that arrest was the most effective way deterring violence against women. The experiment considered statistics in Minneapolis within a six month time period. The findings compared â€Å"abusers who were either arrested, temporarily separated from their victims by the police, or given some sort of police counseling† (Lerman 1992, p. 217). The study indicated that only 10% of individuals who were arrested were repeat offenders. This is was the lowest rate among the three elements examined. While the Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment supports increased arrests, ultimately it seems that the most effective course of action is to not require that all individuals be arrested on domestic violence calls. While the Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment found that arrest was the most effective deterrent other studies have conflicted with these findings. Buzawa & Buzawa (1990, p. 150) indicated that there were significant disparities between forms and circumstances of domestic violence. Sherman himself, one of the contributors to the Minneapolis study, argued that it would be counter-productive to enact laws that demanded all individuals be arrested on domestic violence calls. While it

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Asian American and Jeremy Lin Essay Example for Free

Asian American and Jeremy Lin Essay â€Å"Linsanity† Jeremy Lin. Some say he is a god-send, literally. Others say he’s just a one hit wonder who’s had his fifteen minutes in the spotlight. However, many argue especially from the Asian American community, that he’s not just a fad or trend but a full blown star athlete, pushing the envelope not just for Asian Americans, but athletes across all social classes, races, and creeds. So really, with all the media hype and hysteria, who is Jeremy Lin? Why is he the chosen one? More importantly, what has he been labeled and how has he faced this discrimination? What is the cause of this â€Å"Linsanity†? Before the question, â€Å"Why Jeremy Lin? † can be answered, we have to start at his roots. Jeremy Lin was born August 23, 1988, to a Taiwanese emigrant couple. He grew up playing basketball in Palo Alto, Northern California. He excelled not only as an athlete in his young school years, but was also an exceptional student. He went onto Harvard, a fallback school, and continued his academics, majoring in economics. While at Harvard, Lin played for the Ivy Basketball League and quickly made a name for himself. This is where he first encounters racism and discrimination. In short interviews throughout his college days, Lin spoke of his opportunities and how his race had been a factor in his recruitment. Im not saying top-5 state automatically gets you offers, but I do think (my ethnicity) did affect the way coaches recruited me. I think if I were a different race, I wouldve been treated differently. He was never drafted after graduating college and continued to play basically for free as a D-League athlete with the Golden State Warriors. He never sees much action on the court in California and is quickly shuffled across the country during draft season. Rex Walters, an NBA veteran and Asian American says, â€Å"People who dont think stereotypes exist are crazy. If hes white, hes either a good shooter or heady. If hes Asian, hes good at math. Were not taking him. Lin had a brief stint at the Houston Rockets before being traded once again to the New York Knicks. Here, his time came to shine, and he lit a fire under everyone’s collective rear ends that had ever doubted him. It was as if the stars and the heavens lined up for a once in a million year eclipse; so too did Lin’s fortune. He took all his frustration, all his doubts, and all the racism he’s ever faced on and off the court, and brought it to the best, which included the Los Angeles Lakers, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the NBA Champions Dallas Mavericks. With every successive and progressively impossible win, his infamy grew and so did the media hype. â€Å"Linsanity† had come to full term. â€Å"Linsanity† and many other coined adjectives became headline news. His fame crossed oceans and racial lines making him an overnight media sensation. Shockingly but not surprisingly, during a victory celebration on February 10th of 2012 against the Lakers, Fox News columnist Jason Whitlock posted on his Twitter account, Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple inches of pain tonight, a sexual reference to an Asian male stereotype. A few days later after a loss to the Orlando Hornets, ESPN’s Max Bretos reported during a taping of SportsCenter, â€Å"We have found a Chink in the Armor†. Floyd Mayweather Jr., a professional boxer and fellow athlete tweets, Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because hes Asian. Black players do what he does every night and dont get the same praise. â€Å"Linsanity† was bringing in a negative backlash that Lin was all too familiar with. He looked past it, and went even as far as to forgive. I expect it, Im used to it, it is what it is, says Lin. On the â€Å"Chink in the Armor† slur, Lin responds, â€Å"I don’t think it was on purpose or whatever. At the same time, they’ve apologized, and so from my end I don’t care anymore. [You] have to learn to forgive. And I don’t even think that was intentional, or hopefully not. He was willing to brush it off and be the bigger man and not let it affect his game. But aside from the blatantly racial comments from the media, is â€Å"Linsanity† a breeding ground for unintentional stereotyping? As many members of the Asian American communities can attest, stereotypes of Asian Americans are seen everywhere. A case in point, the corporate world of advertisement tried to cash in on â€Å"Linsanity†. Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory tried capitalizing on Jeremy Lin by coming up with a new flavor called â€Å"Taste the Linsanity†. The ingredients were basically vanilla ice-cream with a hint of caramel and the addition of fortune cookies. Many members of the Chinese/Taiwanese American community cried foul in this instance, as it did play to some degree more or less on Lin’s Chinese/Taiwanese heritage. In response, an Asian American protestor went as far as to picket the Ben Jerry’s store on Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco. He held a sign that read, â€Å"Taste of Lebron – Watermelon and Fried Chicken in every scoop†. Now piggy-backing on another racial stereotype isn’t exactly politically correct, but it did bring awareness. â€Å"Taste of Linsanity† quickly made its way off of shelves and into trash cans. However, it wasn’t only corporate America playing on stereotypes for publicity. It was the Asian American community itself looking to address positive stereotypes. In the Youtube video â€Å"Superior Lintellect† by studio64comedy, creators Lawrence Kau and Kunal Dudheker (both Americans born of Asian descent) portray Lin solving complex math equations in his mind in order to best his competition during tough situations on the basketball court. Each playback of Lin’s on-court moves are narrated by a forced Chinese accent, and are accompanied with on-screen quadratic formulas and physics theory. It’s no doubt that Asian Americans are poking fun at the â€Å"Asians are good at math† stereotype. But yet in some ways, it just feeds fuel to the fire that stereotypes are okay. The question ultimately comes down to, â€Å"How far is too far? † and â€Å"Who can and who can’t stereotype against Asians? † In conclusion, Jeremy Lin is a unique individual. Yes, he is a Harvard graduate. Yes, he is an incredible athlete. Yes, he is a fiercely loyal Christian. And finally; Yes, He’s Asian. But despite all his unique attributes, why is his race the only thing that seems to overshadow his qualities? After all this time, when the name Lin appears on TV based on performance and skill, the media is still focused on what school he went to and what GPA he had or whether he was Chinese or Taiwanese. Is it the scarcity of Asian Americans in the media that makes it so socially acceptable to shift focus? Is it the Asian American fans all across the country coming to support him, regardless of team pride that focuses the media’s attention to his ethnicity? Is it the blatant ignorance of the general populace? Maybe it’s all of that and then some. But regardless of where all of this attention originates, it is safe to say that Jeremy Lin is on to something very special. He’s allowed Asian Americans into mainstream sports and has brought a positive light to an arena once absent of it. All racial jokes and stereotypes aside, no one can deny his ability and talent, doubt his fierce sense of faith, or question his moral fiber. Jeremy Lin is definitely an Asian American all Asian American’s can be proud of.

Friday, November 15, 2019

The Power of Perspective Essay -- Sociology Personal Narrative Papers

The Power of Perspective All I needed was a bow tie. Everything else was packed, and I was ready for the weekend, except that I needed a new bow tie. I assumed that some store on Boston’s posh Newbury St. would have one, and sure enough I found a store that sold tuxedos and wedding dresses. Upon entering the store, I noticed soothing classical music playing in the background as the few patrons meandered through the thoughtfully arranged display room. The sole operator of the store was busy with a customer, so I waited for some assistance. Being a scruffy college student, I apparently didn’t invoke any sense of urgency in the store clerk. After a few minutes, he asked me if I needed any assistance in a tone that suggested that I had rushed him through his previous sale, and that he didn’t think I would buy anything of significant value. If that was his assumption, I confirmed it when I informed him that all I wanted to buy was a bow tie. He reacted by saying, â€Å"Yo u must be a waiter?† I felt like saying, â€Å"Actually, I own my own tux, and I need a new bow tie for a black tie wedding in Virginia that went $25,000 over its $50,000 flower budget.†, but that would have been obnoxious, so I held my tongue. I’ve waited tables for many summers, so I was doubly insulted that he referred to my being a waiter in a derogatory manner. Walking away from the store, I thought a lot about what had happened. I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and I hadn’t shaved in a couple of days, so I looked like your generic college student (Boston is filled with about 100,000). I also only wanted to purchase a bow tie, which leads to two likely conclusions. I either owned my own tuxedo, or I needed it to complete a waite... ...e media’s ever-powerful influence. One of my aunts from Belgium was in recently in the U.S. for business and I was interested to speak with her about the current crisis. She was concerned because she viewed our news coverage as having an American filter, and thought that that might allow the American Government to take advantage of the country’s grief and fears. Now more than ever people have to be careful and try to understand that their perspective can be manipulated by outside forces. To stop the warping effects of groupthink, people have to take a step back from their position and really conduct introspective contemplation. It is very hard for people to try to change their perspectives, because it is part of who they are, but it’s not impossible. People need to be more conscious about how they interpret information, and avoid having a selective memory.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Compare absolute and relative morality Essay

There are two types of morality, absolute morality and relative morality. An absolutist believes that certain things are always right or wrong no matter the consequences or situation, while a relativist is more concerned with outcomes and believes something is either right or wrong based in certain circumstances or situations. An absolute command is a command that is true all the time, in all places and all situations. An absolutist thinks about what is the right thing of itself, for example murder, because killing someone regardless of the consequences of an action or the results might occur. this means they approach is deontological. The system is simple and easy to apply, as a crime will be a crime regardless of the circumstances. An example is stealing, stealing is always wrong no matter the culture of the person, what the reasons were or when it happened make no difference; stealing is universally wrong and everybody knows that. There are many strengths to absolutism. firstly, because certain things are neither judged right or wrong in all situations, it makes it easier to apply than relativism. for example, in absolutism, if someone was to steal, it would be seen as wrong, while in relativism if someone steals, it might be, because they cannot afford food for their baby, so all other circumstances need to be taken into account. Also, it enable us to have a UN Declaration of human rights, as it provides a universal code to measure everything against. However, there are many weakness to absolutism as ethics are deontological which means that it pays no regard to the outcome or consequences of an action, so for example, if a poor mother stole food to feed her hungry child, this act would be judged wrong, because absolute ethics believe a crime is a crime, even though surely the stealing is for outcome and her child’s life is more important. Also no one can really know what absolute morals are since all sources of morality are open up to people’s opinions and own interpretation. However relative morality judge things relative to the situation. it means there are no universally moral principles and there is no objective truth and if there is it cannot be found. There are many advantages to relativist, such as it is flexible and takes everyone’s opinion into account, as it is based on peoples’ point of view, so no one is wrong and it also takes certain circumstances into account. For example a relativist may believe abortion is wrong, but if a poor mother with hardly any money is pregnant they might allow abortion then, because it avoids the mother bringing a child into the world and giving it a bad life, so with relativism they are more concerned with the outcome. However, there are a number disadvantages to relativism, such as it is very difficult to apply, as judgements are always subjective and based and influenced by peoples’ thoughts, feeling and opinions, so everyone’s ideas of what is right and wrong will be different. Relativism is a lot more difficult to apply than absolutism. Also some acts have always wrong like genocide, so relativism doesn’t allow moral progress. In conclusion, absolute ethics and relativist ethics ways of judgement are both very different, both having lots of disadvantages and advantages. however in my opinion relativist judgements are better, because they take certain situations into account and acts like abortion cannot be wrong.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

History of Caura River Essay

The Caura area was once an Arawak settlement and it lay in the valley along the Tacarigua river approximately five miles north of the eastern main road. When the British captured Trinidad in 1797, nineteen lots were marked along the river area. This represented a strip that began from the Caura Valley entrance and lead right up to the head waters of Tacarigua River. This distance covered became known as Caura River. The location and climate in the mountain area lead to the inhabitation of settlers who initiated the cocoa and coffee estates in the region. The valley was one of the healthiest localities in Trinidad. In 1943, the government and Sir Bade Clifford acquired all the land in and around the village of Caura in order to build a dam to supply the entire north of Trinidad with water. The plan was to dam the Caura River and construct a three hundred acre lake in the village area. In 1946, all the buildings and people were cleared and workers began to lay foundations of the dam. No further work has been carried out on the dam and all that can be seen are remnants from this project. After this, there was an attempt to make Caura and aesthetically pleasing park. Caura recreational park is situated in a central portion of the Tacarigua river valley in the St. George County east which is an estimated nine kilometers from the Tacarigua town on Caura Royal road. The park is approximately one and a half hours away from Port-of-Spain and almost an hour away from Arima. Improved conditions of Caura Royal Road has led to easier access to site hence more visitors. Vegetation is not unique but is important for water shed management and aesthetic reasons. Vegetation is mostly secondary growth. It is estimated that 60 % of the park area is formed by natural vegetation. However, cultivative species such as the Diptoryx ordorata(tonca bean) and calabash are common. Bamboo is also plentiful and is planted in riparian zones for ricer bank stabilization. The vegetation and the present ecological factors encourage a diversity of wild life. There is a presence of many forest ornamentals and fruit trees due to agricultural estates. Mammals present include agouti, lappe, deer, armadillo/ tattoo, opossum, manicou or porcupine. Birdlife include parrots such as the common orange winged parrot and the yellow headed parrot. There is also a population of the blue crowned motmot. Organisms include guabine, tata, cascara, cray fish and mountain crabs. Reptiles and Amphibians include tree frogs, the common iguana and three of the four types of venomous snakes. These are large coral snakes, Mapipire zanara and mapipire balsian.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Religious Sexuality essays

Religious Sexuality essays This paper reviews the practice of female circumcision and its number of cultural reasons why it occurs, most importantly how does this religious ritual affect womens sexuality, and how female bodies are controlled by a male-dominated social order and the health impacts surrounding the psychology of female sexuality and the functioning of female sex organs. "When girls of my age were looking after the lambs, they would talk among themselves about their circumcision experiences. Every time the other girls talked about their infibulated genitals, I would feel ashamed I was not yet circumcised. Whenever I touched infibulated girls, they would tell me not to touch them since I was [still] "unclean."... One day I could not stand it anymore. I took a razor blade and went to an isolated place. I tied my clitoris with a thread, and while pulling at the thread with one hand I tried to cut part of my clitoris. When I felt the pain and saw the blood coming from the cut I stopped.... I was seven years old." (Abusharaf, 1998). The above account describes an overwhelming urge to conform to socially constructed symbols. Social labels in countries where circumcision is practiced are strong enough to cause a seven- year old to mutilate her-self. Where it is practiced, female circumcision is strongly promoted and closely safeguarded; it is regarded as an essential coming-of-age ritual that symbolizes virginity, cleanliness, fertility, and enhances the beauty of a woman's body. These are all symbols girls are taught to associate with circumcision at a very young age. Through interviews of various women found in articles, I hope to show how female circumcision is said to be symbolic as a rite of passage to womanhood, and in other cases a destruction of womens well being. The examples will reinforce the positive meanings associated with circumcision- purity, fertility, and womanhood. On the other hand showing how the consequences of not u...

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

SAT - PrepScholar 2016 Students Encyclopedia

SAT - PrepScholar 2016 Students' Encyclopedia SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The SAT is one of two major tests used for admission to 4-year colleges and universities in the United States. Colleges selecting for academic ability often use the SAT, or its counterpart, the ACT, as acriticalfactor when deciding whether or not to grant admission to prospective students. Table of Contents IntroductionFunctionOverall StructureCritical ReadingMathematicsWritingSAT Question TypesSAT LogisticsSAT PreparationSAT Scoring and PercentilesSAT / ACT ComparisonsSAT History Editor's Note: This article is the home page of the SAT PrepScholar's Students' Encyclopedia, 2016 Edition. This guide is updated annually to provide an encyclopedic range of facts on SAT topics with a focus on content relevant to students and parents. Introduction In addition to measuring academic ability, the SAT is meant to evaluate students' college readiness. Its Critical Reading, Mathematics, and Writing sections are designed to test the skills of math and literacy that students need to succeed in college level courses.Students may prepare for the SAT through their classroom learning and SAT-specific preparation, which may involve SAT books, tutoring, and/or online prep programs. Over 1.67 million high school graduatesin the class of 2014 tookthe SAT. Some middle school students also take the SAT as practice or to qualify for talent competitions, like the Duke Talent Identification Program and Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth program. The SAT is administered by the nonprofit organization, College Board. The current version of the SAT, which consists of three sections and allows for a maximum composite score of 2400, has been in place since 2005. Starting in March of 2016, a redesigned version of the test, commonly referred to as the new SAT, will be administered. The new SAT will feature changes in format, content, and question type, as well as returnto a pre-2005 1600 scoring system. According to College Board, these changes were made in order to more accurately reflect the skills students are learning in their classrooms, as well as to ensure greater equity in achievement across diversesocio-economic backgrounds. SAT commentators have noted that the new SAT will more closely resemble the ACT in many ways, perhaps reflecting College Board's attempt to remain competitive with the increasingly popular ACT. The current version of the SAT consists of three sections: Critical Reading, Mathematics, and Writing, which includes an essay. Each section is scored on a scale from 200 to 800 in 10 point increments. The lowest possible composite score is a 600 total, while the highest is a 2400 total. The sections aredivided into 25, 20, or 10 minute subsections, each of which is strictly timed. The total examtime is 3 hours and 45 minutes. The actual test-taking time is longer due to time given toproctor-led instructions and three 5 minute breaks. Students register for the SAT online through their College Board accounts. It is also possible to register by mail (this method of registration is required for students under the age of 13). The cost for students in the U.S. is $54.50, while international fees vary by country. Students for whom the registration fee presents a financial obstacle may be eligible for fee waivers, which waive both the cost of the test and official score reports sent to colleges. Students with documented disabilities may also request special accommodations, the most common of which is additional time. In the U.S., the SAT is offered seven times throughout the year, in January, March (or April), May, June, October, November, and December. Technically, students may register for and take the SAT an unlimited number of times.At least half of all students take the SAT twice, with others opt to take the SAT additional times. Students may use College Board's Score Choice to report only the score reports of their choice to colleges unless the college is one of the few that don't allow Score Choice. Students are statistically likely tosee score improvements when they retake the test. SAT preparation has also been shown to lead to significant score improvementson the test. Function The SAT is meant to be a standardized assessment of the academic and reasoning skillsthat students need to succeed in college. Muchof a college application is based on local data, such asGPA and course selection. The SAT is largely used to give anational perspective to students'abilityand college readiness. Many 4-year colleges and universities in the U.S. require the SAT or ACT as part of students' applications. Admissions officers consider SAT scores alongside other aspects of a student's application, including his/her grades, extracurricular involvement, teacher and counselor recommendations, and personal essay. Schools differ in how they consider SAT scores, soit benefits students to research their colleges' policies and incorporate theminto their SAT preparation and test-taking schedules...[Read more here] Overall Structure The SAT has three main sections, Critical Reading, Mathematics, and Writing. It tests the skills of reading comprehension, problem-solving with algebra, geometry, and probability, rules of English grammar, and expositorywriting. The main sections are divided into a total of ten subsections, which might be 10, 20, or 25 minutes in length. One of these sections is experimental, or variable, and is used to develop material for future tests and ensure scoring accuracy. The experimental section is unscored and may be Critical Reading, Math, or Writing. The SAT is allmultiple choice questions, with the exception of a 25 minute essay and ten student-produced Mathematics questions.Each section is scored on a scale from 200 to 800, with a maximum possible composite score of 2400. The entire test is 3 hours and 45 minutes, though administration is typically about 4.5 hours to include instructions and breaks...[Read more here] Critical Reading The Critical Reading section tests students' skills of reading comprehension and understanding of vocabulary. Itpresents short, long, and paired passages and asksquestions about main purpose, author perspective, and vocabulary, among otherquestiontypes. Critical Reading questions also require the ability to understand relationships within sentences and to insert appropriate vocabulary words when prompted. Critical Reading comprises 70 minutes with two 25 minute sections and one 20 minute section. It asks 48 passage-based questions and 19 sentence completions. Typical preparation for this section involves a review of literary terms, studying high level vocabulary words, and taking timed practice tests...[Read more here] Mathematics The Mathematics section of the SAT asks students to solve problems by applying or combining skills from pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, and probability. Interpretation of data from graphs and charts is also tested. Students who have taken a high school level algebra and geometry class have likely learned the requisite concepts to succeed on the SAT Math section. There are two 25 minute sections and one 20 minute section in SAT Math. In total, these sections contain 44 multiple choice and 10 student-produced questions, commonly referred to as grid-in questions. Students are allowed to use a calculator on this section, though most questions do not require complex calculations...[Read more here] Writing The Writing section targets skills of English grammar and essay writing. To succeed in this section, students must be able to identify and revise grammatical errors and improve the sequence of ideas within paragraphs. Highly scoring essays typically follow a 5 paragraph structure and support a clear point of view with well-developedand relevant examples. The Writing section consists of a 25 minute essay and 25 minute and 10 minute multiple choice sections. The essay is always the first section on the SAT, and the 10 minute multiple choice section is always last. Students receive a subscore for their essay, which counts for approximately 30% of their Writing section score. The multiple choice makes up the remaining 70%...[Read more here] SAT Question Types There are a total of 170 questions on the SAT, plus the essay. 160 of these questions are multiple choice, each with five answer choices. The other 10 are student-produced math questions, which are answered in a special section of the answer sheet.Most questions are arranged in order of increasing difficulty, with the exception of passage-based Critical Reading questions, which follow chronologically with the passage(s) to which they refer. SAT score reports show students how many questions they answered correctly and incorrectly by question type and difficulty level. Students can alsorequest College Board's Question and Answer service for an additional fee, which will give them a detailed report of how they answered each individual question on their test...[Read more here] SAT Logistics The SAT is offered seven times throughout the year, in January, March (or April), May, June, October, November, and December. The spring date, which alternatelyfalls in March or April, is not available internationally.The cost of the SAT is $54.50 and students typically register online through their College Board accounts. Students may request fee waivers if the test poses a financial barrier, as well as accommodations for documented disabilities. Additional fees apply for late registration, standby testing, registration changes, scores by telephone, or Question and Answer service. In order to report their scores to colleges, students must send official score reports through College Board. Depending on their colleges' policies, students may be able to use College Board's Score Choice option to select which score reports are sent...[Read more here] SAT Preparation SAT preparation has been shown to lead to score improvements on the test. The main methods of test preparation are self-studying from books, SAT classes, one-on-one tutoring, and, more recently, online programs (which may contain a one-on-one tutoring component). All of these approaches have strengths and weaknesses, and students benefit from choosing the method that is most effective for them....[Read more here] SAT Scoring and Percentiles Each section of the SAT is scored on a scale from 200 to 800. The minimum composite score is 600, while themaximum is 2400. Students receive one point for every correct answer, zero points for skipped answers, and a deduction of 0.25 points for wrong answers. Their raw scores areconverted to scaled scores through a process called equating, which takes into account the performance of all students who took the test on a given administration. In addition to their scaled scores, students receive a percentile ranking that compares their results with other students. Colleges rarely publicize that they requirea minimum SAT score, but they dotypically release data on the average SAT scores of accepted students. (Full article to come soon!)...[Read more here] SAT / ACT Comparisons The SAT and ACT are accepted equally by colleges as admissions tests. Historically, students on the East and West coasts took the SAT and Midwestern students took the ACT. More recently, the number of test-takers for each exam isapproximately equal. While both tests are meant to measure academic ability and college readiness, they differ in content, format, scoring, and overall structure. Students benefit from choosing the test that will help them achieve the stronger score for their college applications. (Full article to come soon!)...[Read more here] SAT History The SAT was first administered to college applicants in 1926. It was developed from an Army intelligence test used for recruitment during World War I. The SAT was initially developed in order to assess students' abilitiesregardless of social or financial background. The SAT has undergone numerous changes and revisions throughout the years, with a significant redesign set to take effect in March of 2016. The SAT has been at the center of both controversies and cheating scandals. Critics of the test maintain that it favors students from uppersocio-economic backgrounds whose parents have a high level of educational attainment. College Board maintains that the SAT is a fair standardized assessment of students' skills and college readiness, and that the redesigned SAT will further align with the content knowledge and skills students are learning within their classrooms...[Read more here]

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Developing a Manager Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Developing a Manager - Essay Example From an employee perspective, management cannot be seen as a function which is pivotal to the enterprise alone because a manager helps employees to improve their overall performance and effectiveness (Zott and Amit, 2004). Due to this reason, a manager needs to constantly communicate with its subordinate employees and must maintain a positive relation with them. Along with that, organizational plans, performance measurement, psychological and analytical tools and economic measures are some of the necessary components which need to be effectively managed by organizational leaders. This essay will focus on how important managers are to a company and how they can develop organizational employees into intangible assets. Within the context of organizational development, roles and responsibilities of a manager are never limited merely to integrate employee activities with business goals and they may not always be able to bring the best out of an individual’s talent. From a broader perspective, a leader focuses on employee management and tries to influence the business environment, reduces the communication gap between employees, elucidates organizational strategies and helps employees to achieve their performance objectives by fulfilling organizational goals. This helps in achieving quality for the company and helps in producing a highly committed and hardworking workforce. With regard to employee management, it is the core duty of the organization’s management to select an appropriate team which can help in building considerable team relation and in providing appropriate training for their team members and thus building a highly productive and agile workforce. According to Woods (2010) , it is the duty of the organizational managers to coordinate and communicate with their workforce in an effective manner and explain the vision and mission of a company and defines

Friday, November 1, 2019

Discuss the value of Information Technology and Management Information Research Paper

Discuss the value of Information Technology and Management Information Technology to you and your chosen profession (mine is Acc - Research Paper Example Nonetheless, management information systems are tools, which a manager uses to collect information about different aspects of the company, including sales and personnel, among others, and analyze it (Moghaddam, et al 2012). On the other hand, Accounting is an important aspect in all companies. Unlike IT and MIS, Accounting has been in existence for the longest time. This mainly addresses the financial state of a company. It involves bookkeeping, which involves bank statements, company ledgers, and the overall tracking of finances in the company, including money in, money out, and business assets. Today, there is a high level of interaction between different disciplines. Similarly, the fields of accounting, IT, and MIS show a high level of interaction, as the field of accounting adopts the skills and knowledge of IT and MIS in its processes. Nonetheless, the nature of IT and MIS make them to be applicable in diverse disciplines (Moghaddam, et al 2012). This paper therefore, will focus on the value of information technology and management information systems in the field of accounting. The field of accounting today has become dependent on information technology and management information systems, as it adopts various elements in these, to enhance the efficiency of its processes. In information technology, there are a myriad of new integration approaches, as well as effective methods of managing data. Therefore, use of information technology translates into increased efficiency in data retrieval and storage, and overall management of data in accounting. Therefore, this aspect of information technology is valuable in accounting, since it makes the different procedures and processes in accounting to be simple, and leads to an increased and focused use of computed information in the field. Therefore, with regard to efficiency in accounting, information technology has played the major role in achieving this. Nonetheless, with the advancements in information technology , it is expected that the field of accounting will as well adopt the new techniques in information technology, and therefore, increase its efficiency (Moghaddam et al 2012). Information technology has also led to the transformation of the field of accounting into a paperless phenomenon. Today, there is no more use of papers and pencil. Information technology highly adopts different equipment, which have also been adopted in accounting. For instance, there is the use of computers, faxes, and scanners, among other IT equipment in information technology. Most of these IT equipment are affordable, thus available in the accounting section of most companies. Nonetheless, these have resulted in increased efficiency in accounting procedures (Bahador, Haider & Saman, 2012). As observed, information technology utilizes various software. These software can also be adopted in most accounting processes. For instance, accountants use the program referred to as â€Å"spreadsheet† today to h elp in reporting and calculations in the field. Apart from the spreadsheet program, there are many more software, which are accustomed to accounting, and help in accounting procedures. Nonetheless, these are affordable and easy to use. These different software makes the work of accountants easier. Therefore, accountants use these to pay different types of bills in the company, recording all the transactions they have made, and use them in financial reporting, as well. Additionally, the use of these IT programs ensures

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Conduct of Monetary Policy in Kuwait Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Conduct of Monetary Policy in Kuwait - Essay Example In order to accomplish these broad goals, CBK has been adept in controlling the level of the domestic money supply and different interest rates. During the fiscal year 2005-2006, the broad definition of money supply or M2 amounts to KD14524.7 which represents a double digit increase of 17.2% from its previous level. This growth represents the ballooning of both quasi-money (18.6%) and narrow money (13.5%). The increase in money supply is attributed to the increase in both CBK's net foreign assets by 31.1% and the net foreign assets of local banks by 14.4% (Annual Report 2005-06 15). The strict monitoring of interest rates is primarily attributed to CBK's efforts in "ensuring their consistency with the domestic economic and monetary developments (Annual Report 2005-06 16)" and "their alignment with trends in major currencies (Annual Report 2005-06 16)." In general, this is to enhance the competitiveness and attractiveness of Kuwaiti dinar relative to foreign currencies.

Monday, October 28, 2019

Role of War in Society Essay Example for Free

Role of War in Society Essay Both The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli and Utopia by Thomas Moore examine the role and the importance of war to maintain a strong and successful society. More (via Hythloday) believes that war should be the last option and is not needed in a safe and happy government without the help of auxiliaries and mercenaries while on the other hand, Machiavelli believes that war plays a crucial war in a prosperous and thriving society using other troops and people to avoid war. Machiavelle uses his belief that war is the way to have a strong successful government to shape the society of Italy while More uses the belief of peace and forbearance of war to shape his utopian society. More and Machiavelli have opposing opinions on the values and how the way it can maintain a stability and prosperity in a society. Machiavelli believes that power is attained in a government through the conquering of war and that good law and government follows naturally from good military as we can see in Chapter 12. â€Å"The presence of sound military forces indicates the presence of sound law† (Machiavelli 37). This shows that he believes that a strong developing state directly involves the conquering of war. He believed that successful war is the very foundation upon which all states are built. Machiavelli praises Alexandar the Great, Cyrus, Scipio and Caesar as leaders who gained power through their conquering wars. â€Å"Anyone who reads Xenophon’s life of Cyrus must realize how close Scipio modeled himself on Cyrus, how much that imitation contributed to his glory, and how closely he conformed, in temperance, affability, humanity, and liberty to the thing that Xenophon wrote about Cyrus† (Machiavelli 42). In contrast, More shows his views on war through the Utopians. â€Å"Nothing more inglorious than that glory that is gained by war (More 64). The Utopians viewed war as the last resort and would avoid it at all costs. They hated war and found no glory in the practice of killing others. They would only engage in war to protect themselves and their people, to defend allies, and to relieve oppression. â€Å"No man is to be esteemed our enemy that has never injured us; and that the partnership of the human nature is instead of a league. And that kindness and good-nature unite men more effectually and with greater strength than any agreements whatsoever; since thereby the engagements of mens hearts become stronger than the bond and obligation of words† (More 64). This shows that agreement and unity was very important to the Utopians and they would do anything just to maintain it. They would also try their best to preserve good terms with the people or societies around them. In Machiavelle, all of the issues in the government are in a military point of view because the successfulness in war is crucial to the preservation of the government. â€Å"A prince must have no other objective, no other thought, nor take up any profession but that of war, its methods and its discipline, for that is the only art expected of a ruler. And it is of such great value that it not only keeps hereditary princes in power, but often raises men of lowly condition to that rank† (More 40). Military defense and the strategies required are primary to conquer in war and therefore sustain a happy society. Machiavelle uses the Prince to communicate the importance of war to the audience. â€Å"As for physical training, apart from keeping his troops well disciplined and exercised, he should do a great deal of hunting, and thus harden his body to strenuous exercise, meanwhile learning to read terrain.† This shows that he believed that having brute force would help his army in war to conquer the enemy. War is also what helps a prince to attain power and fortune therefore military and war should be his main priority while ruling. â€Å"..in times of peace he should think about it even more than in wartime. He can do this in two ways, by training the body and training the mind. As for physical training, apart from keeping his troops well and disciplined and exercised, he should do a great deal of hunting, and this harden his body to strenuous exercise..† (Machievelle 41) Princes should always and only think about war especially in times of peace. They need to always be prepared and be in a good state to go to war at any time. â€Å"As for exercising the mind, a prince should read history and reflect on the actions of great men.† Princes should examine the tactics that the past rulers used and put them into action. He should learn from them and learn from both their successes and loses and put them as an example for himself. More in his utopian society would rather use cunning to win rather than brute force because he considered strength to be trait belonging to animals. Unlike Machiavelle, when war is made, the utopians would try to use any technique just to stop war. First one is propaganda in which they would secretly post posters in the enemy territory offering big rewards to people that would assassinate the enemy leaders. The second technique they would use is to promise the throne to the enemy’s rulers brother if he helps the utopians. They would never let things debase to the point where a massacre would occur and would prevent it by not destroying too much of the enemy’s land. nothing more inglorious than that glory that is gained by war â€Å" (More 64). This shows how much the utopians are against war and how much they want to avoid it because they believe that it can ruin their utopian society. Machievelle also believed that one using one own army is best as seen through the example of Cesare Borgia. â€Å"I am never reluctant to cite Cesare Borgia and his deeds. The duke entered the Romagna with auxiliary troops, consisting entirely of Frenchmen; and with them he took Imola and Forli. But then when he found they were not to be trusted, he adopted mercenaries as less dangerous, and hired the Orsini and Vitelli. When he found they too were undependable, treacherous, and dangerous to his service, he got rid of them, and turned to the troops of his own.† (Machievelle 38) The danger with the auxiliaries was because they will always be loyal to their ruler in the end and will probably wait to attack you. Mercenaries on the other hand are better than the auxiliaries but still possess characteristics that are tricky and untrustworthy. Therefore, in the end, Machievelle states that using one’s own troops is the best as Cesare Borgia did in the end. In contrast, the Utopians use spies and bribery to try to stop war. They believe that mercenaries and auxiliaries are tricky but at the same time useful. â€Å"Their second preference is to make use of troops belonging to the nation they are trying to defend; and after them, they enlist as auxiliaries squadrons drawn from their other allies. Lastly they enroll their own citizens. But they always appoint one of their own men who has demonstrated his military capacity to be commander in chief of the whole army.† (More 140) The utopians would do anything to avoid war and they usually would use troops of other nations to fight in war and their troops could be the last resort. They would also avoid fighting on their own land and give the best care to their citizens. A counterargument would be that if ever an intruder invades the Utopian society, war would be initiated. â€Å"For you’ll never find yourself at wat except by your own choice, and peace, not war, ought always to be your first priority† (More 66) Yes if peace cannot be made, war would have to be initiated in the Utopian society but even so, peace is always their foremost choice before they initiate anytime of violence or way on another society. In conclusion, Machievelle’s and More’s contrasting views on war and the strategies and tactics used in war serve one purpose which is to create a stable and prosperous society. Machievelle believes that war using one’s own army is the most crucial factor in maintaining a happy society while More argues that avoiding war using bribery and mercenaries is what the government should be doing no matter what kind of tactics are needed to be used.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Sythetic Weed Essay -- Drugs, Teenagers

Synthetic weed This is the best stuff ever you have to try it! This is what some kids would say to one another. They are talking about this drug named K2. It is becoming a trend in most teenagers. Teenagers are being admitted to the hospital more often now. They have found something that is legal and can buy around there home town or over the internet. Parents have never heard of this stuff before. It is scary to think that you cannot even tell if a child is taking K2 because there is no drug test to tell you. I think that K2 is worse than the real marijuana. There are symptoms that do come along with taking this drug as well as long term symptoms. Some people may feel that K2 is not as bad as marijuana. But here are the facts on marijuana. The most illegal drug in America is pot. Not always and not in everyone will pot effect people. When taken pot can trigger a mild euphoria and increased sensitivity to body sensations. Some people experience perceptual distortions and they are usually pleasant. The effects of pot usually climax within an hour or two and then tend to fade all at once in three to four hours. Pot isn’t a single molecule that is a drug like alcohol or cocaine. There is a mixture of about 400 different chemical elements. There are about 85 cannabinoids that are unique to pot. The main cannabinoid is THC that is the main chemical in marijuana that triggers the drugs actions and effects on the body. (A) Some people who smoke their brains have more receptors to the THC than other people and that will affect the experience the users will have with THC to get the high. (b) THC is the chemical that is like a bomb when it goes off but it makes you feel good, it breaks up into about 80 separate by... ...ad K2 is but K2 is the worst of the two. Even though marijuana has more chemicals and the high lasts long than K2, K2 has more symptoms that are more dangers. Such as the heart beating fast more than a minute like marijuana. Also K2 you are vomiting and kids are being taken to the hospital more often now. K2 also has the keys that lock into the receptors better than marijuana and that way you can get a better high. THC is weaker than the chemicals used in K2 also. All of this information shows that it is bad for you. Anything you put in your body that is a chemical has side effects and should be used with caution. The one thing that I wish they would do to stop kids from getting admitted to the hospitals is to inform the kids what they are getting themselves into. Kids think it is good because it is legal but they are not being informed on the dangers.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Needs Assessment Essay

Students desire more than paper and pencil lessons. According to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), â€Å"Technology is driving change in the content of mathematics programs, in methods for mathematics instruction, and in the ways that mathematics is learned and assessed† (as cited in Van de Walle, 2004, p. 103). In this study, I want to investigate whether any differences occur in the overall effectiveness of student learning of fraction lessons when the information is presented using different types of visual media, in this case, computer versus overhead. The purpose of this study is to describe the impact of presenting fraction math lessons using computer based instruction versus overhead projection presentations. Eighth-grade math students will feel more engaged while receiving computer-based instruction versus eighth-grade students who receive overhead projection instruction. The participants are 12 math students at a Middle School. All of the students have basic computer skills. The twelve students are all eighth graders but their scores vary on the math section of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) standardized test. However, the test scores in class show that students struggle with fraction problems. Twelve students will be randomly divided into groups; one group of six students will have computer-based instructions on solving problems involving fractions and percentages, compounded percentages and multiple discounts and the other group of six students will have lecture based instruction using the overhead and paper worksheets. â€Å"The logic of needs assessment can be summarized as a simple equation: desired status – actual status = need† (Dick, Carey, & Carey, 2005). Currently, the desired status is for the math students to score 80% on in-class fraction test. The actual status is that students are scoring between 69 – 70 %. The need is to improve the scores about ten points. Students become bored taking notes and looking at the overhead information. Students using the computer are forced to be actively engaged. Using student’s interest in present day technology gives both sides an advantage in obtaining educational success. The question that still remains is does it give students an edge over paper and pencil taught lessons? A high school in Texas, San Marcos High, put the questions to the test. Teachers were initially impressed with on-line lessons. However, during the assessment phase, it was hard to determine if students were guessing the answers to the multiple choice questions or answering the questions correctly. When questioned why the school chose to use the on-line based lessons, Mr. Darnall, the math department head, states â€Å"Both of us really thought it was a way to capture the students’ attention† (Trotter, 2007). According to Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction, â€Å"in order for any learning to take place, you must first capture the attention of the student† (Kruse, n. d. ). Computer based lessons will satisfy this event. The students will be studied in their own groups. Data collection method included pre-test and posttest, interviewing, and observing students. Data will be collected in the form of daily worksheets and graded test. Also, students will completed a questionnaire about how involved they felt in each lesson. Answers from the questionnaire provided insight into the level of comfort student’s felt in using visual media to learn fractions. Students were observed during each presentation to look for a degree of understanding or misunderstanding. Triangulation is essential to cross-check information and presents an accurate view of the results. Three types of data to allow for triangulation are observing, interviewing, and examining records. These instruments were appropriate because these factors support the action of ensuring that the students have the prerequisite knowledge to begin instruction and supports informing the students what they will learn ( Dick, et al, 2005). Data will be analyzed through the use of descriptive statistics for measures of central tendency (mean, mode, median) and variability (standard deviation) (Gay, Mills, & Airasian, 2006). Interviews will be analyzed by grouping similar responses into clusters that address the same issue and develop total scores across an item cluster (Gay et al, 2006). References Dick, W. , Carey, L. , & Carey, J. O. (2005). The systematic design of instruction (6th ed). Allyn & Bacon. Gay, L. R. , Mills, G. E. , & Airasian, P.(2006). Educational research: Competencies for Analysis and applications (8th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Kruse, K. (n. d. ). Gagne’s nine events of instruction: An introduction. Retrieved February 23, 2008, from http://www. e-learningguru. com/articles/art3_3. htm Trotter, A. (May 9, 2007). School subtracts math text to add e-lessons, test. Education Week. 26(36), 10-11. Van De Walle, J. A. (2004). Elementary and middle school mathematics: Teaching Developmentally. MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Deception Point Page 11

Now Rachel was impressed. The President had protected himself with typical Herney aplomb. By hiring the ultimate team of skeptics – outsiders who had nothing to gain by confirming the NASA discovery – Herney had immunized himself against suspicions that this might be a desperate NASA ploy to justify its budget, reelect their NASA-friendly President, and ward off Senator Sexton's attacks. â€Å"Tonight at eight P.M.,† Herney said, â€Å"I will be calling a press conference at the White House to announce this discovery to the world.† Rachel felt frustrated. Herney had essentially told her nothing. â€Å"And this discovery is what, precisely?† The President smiled. â€Å"You will find patience a virtue today. This discovery is something you need to see for yourself. I need you to understand this situation fully before we proceed. The administrator of NASA is waiting to brief you. He will tell you everything you need to know. Afterward, you and I will further discuss your role.† Rachel sensed an impending drama in the President's eyes and recalled Pickering's hunch that the White House had something up its sleeve. Pickering, it appeared, was right, as usual. Herney motioned to a nearby airplane hangar. â€Å"Follow me,† he said, walking toward it. Rachel followed, confused. The building before them had no windows, and its towering bay doors were sealed. The only access seemed to be a small entryway on the side. The door was ajar. The President guided Rachel to within a few feet of the door and stopped. â€Å"End of the line for me,† he said, motioning to the door. â€Å"You go through there.† Rachel hesitated. â€Å"You're not coming?† â€Å"I need to return to the White House. I'll speak to you shortly. Do you have a cellphone?† â€Å"Of course, sir.† â€Å"Give it to me.† Rachel produced her phone and handed it to him, assuming he intended to program a private contact number into it. Instead, he slipped her phone into his pocket. â€Å"You're now off-the-grid,† the President said. â€Å"All your responsibilities at work have been covered. You will not speak to anyone else today without express permission from myself or the NASA administrator. Do you understand?† Rachel stared. Did the President just steal my cell-phone? â€Å"After the administrator briefs you on the discovery, he will put you in contact with me via secure channels. I'll talk to you soon. Good luck.† Rachel looked at the hangar door and felt a growing uneasiness. President Herney put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and nodded toward the door. â€Å"I assure you, Rachel, you will not regret assisting me in this matter.† Without another word, the President strode toward the PaveHawk that had brought Rachel in. He climbed aboard, and took off. He never once looked back. 12 Rachel Sexton stood alone on the threshold of the isolated Wallops hangar and peered into the blackness beyond. She felt like she was on the cusp of another world. A cool and musty breeze flowed outward from the cavernous interior, as if the building were breathing. â€Å"Hello?† she called out, her voice wavering slightly. Silence. With rising trepidation, she stepped over the threshold. Her vision went blank for an instant as her eyes became accustomed to the dimness. â€Å"Ms. Sexton, I presume?† a man's voice said, only yards away. Rachel jumped, wheeling toward the sound. â€Å"Yes, sir.† The hazy shape of a man approached. As Rachel's vision cleared, she found herself standing face to face with a young, stone-jawed buck in a NASA flight suit. His body was fit and muscle-bound, his chest bedecked with patches. â€Å"Commander Wayne Loosigian,† the man said. â€Å"Sorry if I startled you, ma'am. It's pretty dark in here. I haven't had a chance to open the bay doors yet.† Before Rachel could respond, the man added, â€Å"It will be my honor to be your pilot this morning.† â€Å"Pilot?† Rachel stared at the man. I just had a pilot. â€Å"I'm here to see the administrator.† â€Å"Yes, ma'am. My orders are to transport you to him immediately.† It took a moment for the statement to sink in. When it hit her, she felt a stab of deceit. Apparently, her travels were not over. â€Å"Where is the administrator?† Rachel demanded, wary now. â€Å"I do not have that information,† the pilot replied. â€Å"I will receive his coordinates after we are airborne.† Rachel sensed that the man was telling the truth. Apparently she and Director Pickering were not the only two people being kept in the dark this morning. The President was taking the issue of security very seriously, and Rachel felt embarrassed by how quickly and effortlessly the President had taken her â€Å"off-the-grid.† Half an hour in the field, and I'm already stripped of all communication, and my director has no idea where I am. Standing now before her stiff-backed NASA pilot, Rachel had little doubt her morning plans were cast in stone. This carnival ride was leaving with Rachel onboard whether she liked it or not. The only question was where it was headed. The pilot strode over to the wall and pressed a button. The far side of the hangar began sliding loudly to one side. Light poured in from the outside, silhouetting a large object in the center of the hangar. Rachel's mouth fell open. God help me. There in the middle of the hangar stood a ferocious-looking black fighter jet. It was the most streamlined aircraft Rachel had ever seen. â€Å"You are joking,† she said. â€Å"Common first reaction, ma'am, but the F-14 Tomcat Split-tail is a highly proven craft.† It's a missile with wings. The pilot led Rachel toward his craft. He motioned to the dual cockpit. â€Å"You'll be riding in back.† â€Å"Really?† She gave him a tight smile. â€Å"And here I thought you wanted me to drive.† After donning a thermal flight suit over her clothes, Rachel found herself climbing into the cockpit. Awkwardly, she wedged her hips into the narrow seat. â€Å"NASA obviously has no fat-assed pilots,† she said. The pilot gave a grin as he helped Rachel buckle herself in. Then he slid a helmet over her head. â€Å"We'll be flying pretty high,† he said. â€Å"You'll want oxygen.† He pulled an oxygen mask from the side dash and began snapping it onto her helmet. â€Å"I can manage,† Rachel said, reaching up and taking over. â€Å"Of course, ma'am.† Rachel fumbled with the molded mouthpiece and then finally snapped it onto her helmet. The mask's fit was surprisingly awkward and uncomfortable. The commander stared at her for a long moment, looking vaguely amused. â€Å"Is something wrong?† she demanded. â€Å"Not at all, ma'am.† He seemed to be hiding a smirk. â€Å"Hack sacks are under your seat. Most people get sick their first time in a split-tail.† â€Å"I should be fine,† Rachel assured him, her voice muffled by the smothering fit of the mask. â€Å"I'm not prone to motion sickness.† The pilot shrugged. â€Å"A lot of Navy Seals say the same thing, and I've cleaned plenty of Seal puke out of my cockpit.† She nodded weakly. Lovely. â€Å"Any questions before we go?† Rachel hesitated a moment and then tapped on the mouthpiece cutting into her chin. â€Å"It's cutting off my circulation. How do you wear these things on long flights?† The pilot smiled patiently. â€Å"Well, ma'am, we don't usually wear them upside down.† Poised at the end of the runway, engines throbbing beneath her, Rachel felt like a bullet in a gun waiting for someone to pull the trigger. When the pilot pushed the throttle forward, the Tomcat's twin Lockheed 345 engines roared to life, and the entire world shook. The brakes released, and Rachel slammed backward in her seat. The jet tore down the runway and lifted off within a matter of seconds. Outside, the earth dropped away at a dizzying rate.