Representation of Age - 742 Words

Representation refers to the construction in any media (especially mass media) of aspects of ‘reality’ that can either mirror or subvert societal expectations. They are often based on negative stereotypes allowing the audience to feel secure and familiar. By definition, all media texts are re-presentations of reality. They are intentionally composed, lit, written, framed, cropped, captioned, branded, targeted and censored by their producers, they are entirely artificial versions of the reality perceived in the current world. Every media form, from a home video to a glossy magazine, is a representation of someones concept of existence, codified into a series of signs and symbols which can be read by an audience. However, it is important to†¦show more content†¦State of mind does, illness and loss of contact with the outside world is a strong contributor. Jessica Lange’s character, Fiona Goode (age 65) in the third season of American horror story (2013-14) subverts this stereotype. Fiona Goode (Jessica Lange). Fiona is the Covens Supreme, a witch born every generation who embodies countless gifts and magical abilities; the Supreme is the head of the Coven. Fiona Goode is the leader of the Salem witch descendants. She lives a glamorous life of luxury in Los Angeles. She returns to Miss Robichauxs Academy after the murder of Misty Day with the intention of teaching the young witches to fight, and reconciling with her estranged daughter, Cordelia. She yearns for eternal life and looks for any way to get it. Fiona, being the Supreme witch, embodies countless magical abilities including, but not limited to, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, vitalum vitalis (resurgence), clairvoyance, concilium, descensum, resurgence, divination, and transmutation. As the Supreme, Fiona has mastered the Seven Wonders, seven magical abilities that signify a w itch as the Supreme. Fiona grows terribly ill and develops terminal cancer due to a new Supreme rising within the Coven. She tries at all costs to regain her youth. At first, she attempts to obtain immortality by seeking it from an immortal voodoo priestess, Marie Laveau. After failing miserably, she believesShow MoreRelatedQueer Representation Of All Age Media Essay2321 Words   |  10 Pages Queer Representation in All Age Media Growing up as a Catholic, Puerto Rican gay boy in the 90s and early 2000s, I struggled to discover my queer identity as well as queer representation in the media I consumed. Being gay was something that was never discussed. If it was brought up, it was usually in hushed tones (I remember being introduced to my uncle s close friend each holiday) or as something negative (I still remember the sting of being called a faggot in elementary school)Read MoreQueer Representation Of All Ages Media Essay2163 Words   |  9 PagesQueer Representation in All Ages Media Growing up as a Catholic, Puerto Rican gay boy in the 90s and early 2000s, I struggled to discover my queer identity as well as queer representation in the media I consumed. Being gay was something that was never discussed. If it was brought up, it was usually in hushed tones (I remember being introduced to my uncle s close friend each holiday) or as something negative (I still remember the sting of being called a faggot in elementary school)Read MoreExamination and Problematization of the Representation of Old Age and Aging in Up2218 Words   |  9 PagesI will examine and problematize the representations of old age and aging based on the way the protagonist of this film, Carl Fredriksen, has been portrayed. I will explore the way in which this film, simultaneously, relies on representations of elderly men to maintain socially acceptable bounds, and poses challenges to these same social boundaries to create a narrative of alternative masculinity in old age. I will focus on discourses of declining in old age, Ageism, self-reinvention, and conceptsRead MoreA Review Of Gaming s Lgbt Representation1115 Words   |  5 PagesA Review of Gaming’s LGBT Representation â€Å"In Qunandar, Krem would be an Aqun-Athlok. That’s what we call someone born one gender but living like another,† says The Iron Bull. â€Å"And Qunari don’t treat those Aqun people any differently than a real man?† Krem asks. â€Å"They are real men. Just like you are.† The Iron Bull finishes. Above is a conversation between two characters in Bioware’s 2014 smash hit RPG, Dragon Age Inquisition. This conversation took the transgendered community by storm. Krem, second-in-commandRead MoreGender Representation Of The Media1549 Words   |  7 PagesMedia Benchmark- How is gender represented in the media? Women A representation is when a media text such as a newspaper, magazine or film represent ideas or events to us in a distorted view. A representation is not the true picture; it is re-presented after a specific event has occurred. The representation will be opinion based and it will invite the audience to identify with them. All of the representations have a mode of address too depending on their target audience depends on how they representRead MoreThe Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths955 Words   |  4 Pagesprison or police custody. In doing so the report highlighted the substantial over representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Criminal Justice system and provided detailed analysis of underlying factors. The reports findings were believed to be the foundation of change. However, regardless of a range of policy changes and crime prevention programs in repose to the report, over representation in the criminal justice system remains. The issue is one o f the most significantRead MoreFashion Industry on Women ´s Body Image973 Words   |  4 Pageswhat is seen and heard about how the perfect body should appear, children of young ages are now feeling insecure and obsessed with their bodies before they reach teenage years. This ‘ideal image’ the fashion industry continues to enforce only focuses on very thin models who seem to be in shape and are very healthy. Furthermore, many people think of the influence from the fashion industry as being human representations (models). Because of the rising problem with the image of beauty within the fashionRead MorePostmodernism Has Changed The Representation Of Women1721 Words   |  7 PagesThis literature review will explore how and to what extent postmodernism has changed the representation of women in images. Postmodernism was a time period after modernism, being at the centre of culture. What is to be regarded as postmodern, those things that are seen to occur as ‘na tural’ are in fact shaped by humans, thus making it cultural. Postmodernism was brought as a result from the 1960’s onwards, being a reaction against anti realism modernism. Feminist artists and theorists have combinedRead MoreGender Representation Of The Science1317 Words   |  6 Pagesinto science profession and women are more likely to become teachers. In this article, men and women shows a stereotypical representation in online science education resources, it highlights the mood that is needed to generate a balanced representation both genders. Even though, the representation of the men and women is stereotypical, aiming for a more balanced representation will reflect the true image of gender distribution in science. With this balance, it shows the upcoming generation that bothRead MoreThe Effects Of Deferred Imitation During The Sensorimotor Period1037 Words   |  5 Pages 1993, p. 467). Deferred imitation and mental representations were concepts by developme ntal psychologist Jean Piaget in his theory of infant cognitive development. Deferred imitation refers to a child’s ability to imitate the actions that they have seen others perform, following a delay, (Slater, Lewis, Anzures Lee, 2011). Piaget proposed that the emergence of deferred imitation during the sensorimotor period, is a sign of mental representation, (Jones Herbert, 2009, para. 14). His proposal

The Role Of Effective Qualitative Research Methods And...

The following report was requested as part of the Business Degree at UWS, the report request comes from the module of business research skills. The first part of this report will focus on the role of effective qualitative research methods and approaches. This will include the features of data, design and analysis, it will also discuss the strengths and limitations of qualitative research. The report will then look at how to apply a qualitative analysis technique in relation to the provided transcript of an interview, the interview is between an interviewer and an academic who is based at UWS. The research question was to explore the current thinking and future trends within the area of business and operations management. This final part†¦show more content†¦The most qualitative research involves a number of characteristics Gray (2014): It is conducted through intense contact with a ‘field’ or real life. The researcher’s role is to gain a ‘holistic’ or integrated overview of the study, including the perceptions of participants. Themes that emerge from the data are often reviewed with the informants for verification. The main focus of the research is to understand the ways in which people act and account for their actions. An Effective research design is the methodology and procedure that a researcher follows, remembering that in qualitative research the methods must be flexible. Each method that a qualitative researcher follows has a way of data collection, has a research design and has a way to analyse the data. Research design defines the study type, research question, hypothesis, variables and data collection methods. the key features of each method are dependent upon the approaches used, by the researcher. The most common sources of qualitative data

Poetics in 330 BC. Shakespeare Free Essays

Plays have been written ever since Aristotle discussed the origin and function of theater in his famous treatise Poetics in 330 BC. Shakespeare, William the supreme English poet and playwright, recognized in much of the world as the greatest of all dramatists. He was also the first person to have a script for his plays, macbeth is thought to be the first, written in 1606 and published in 1623. We will write a custom essay sample on Poetics in 330 BC. Shakespeare or any similar topic only for you Order Now As the play unfolds, Macbeth’s ambition causes him to change his nature towards evil.At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was portrayed as a courageous soldier who fought for his King without mercy. But once the witches planted the seeds of greater things and Lady Macbeth fuelled his ambition, which lead him to become greedy and power hungry. What is ambition? Ambition is described as eager for success, power or fame. For Macbeth. Ambition was what drove him to become great, it forced him to change his nature towards evil. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was portrayed as a courageous soldier who fought for his King without mercy. But once the witches planted the seeds of greater things and Lady Macbeth fuelled his ambition, which lead him to become greedy and power hungry. Macbeth was led down to an unescapable road of doom by an outside force, namely fate in the form of the three witches. There was no supernatural force working against Macbeth, which therefore makes him responsible for his own actions and inevitable downfall. Macbeth is indeed responsible for his own actions, which are provoked by an unwillingness to listen to his own conscience, the witches, and his ambition. The witches tempted Macbeth with their prophecies, which made Macbeth ¡Ã‚ ¦s heart and mind slowly filled with ambition and his huger for power. The witches predicted, at the beginning of the play, that Macbeth would soon become the Thane of Cawdor and eventually the outright King. They tell Macbeth this, simply to ignite what would finally end up being a burning desire for success. Lady Macbeth then help Macbeth by inserting ill thoughts into his mind, and provided suggestions as to how to become King. At first, Macbeth rejects the horror in his mind but eventually he succumbs to evil for his ambition is far too great. The effect of the witches on the action of the play can be summarised by these words:  ¡Ã‚ §while the influences of the Witches’ prophecies on Macbeth was very great, but it was quite clearly shown that it was only an influence and nothing more ¡Ã‚ ¨ (from a book called Macbeth Analyse). What I want to say was that Macbeth was just morally weaker than other normal human beings such as Banquo, who have very little ambition, Macbeth should been more responsible for his own actions and not blaming his downfall on the witches and his wife. Thanks to Lady Macbeth who acts as a ruthless, overpowering woman who dominates her husband and his actions. She makes Macbeth’s decisions for him without giving him any say in his own actions, and she orders her husband to do what she determines to be best for him. It was Lady Macbeth who contrives the plan to kill King Duncan, because she knows that Macbeth would never commit such an act on his own without her prodding. At this present stage, Macbeth still has a conscience and he was very hesitant about killing the King but his weak nature over powers his conscience. Throughout the entire play Macbeth had by many imagination due to his guilt. Like seen the vision of the dagger, the ghost of Banquo, his vivid imagination and his constant worries also provokes him, this showed that he still has a conscience. This was also evident in his terrible dreams, which gives the solid theme that he has indeed â€Å"Murdered sleep†. Macbeth’s personnel ambition and his insatiable lust for power drives him to his downfall. Although Macbeth’s ambition was not in itself evil. Macbeth ¡Ã‚ ¦s new knowledge, which he obtained from the witches, makes him uncomfortable, as he realises the implications. His first thoughts considering murdering Duncan appeared, and he was scared. But his ambition, his desire for power over comes his fear, for him to pursue the murder. After he commits the murder, Macbeth Say,  ¡Ã‚ §The voice cried  ¡Ã‚ ¥sleep no more ¡Ã‚ ¦ to all the house  ¡Ã‚ ¥Glamis ¡Ã‚ ¦ hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more. ¡Ã‚ ¨ Knowing that has committed such a vile act makes him uncomfortable. It will be difficult to act innocent and to deal with his guilt. However when he reaches the kingship, his ambition grow like never before, with his new found power, Macbeth begins to gain strength which he never before possessed. He starts to take charge of his own actions, and Lady Macbeth loses control of him. He no longer needs her to make his decisions for him. This becomes evident, as he planned the murder of Banquo and hired the murderers himself without consulting his wife at all. In fact, Lady Macbeth urges him to forget what has happened in the past and move on. Macbeth, however, with his new sense of control, refuses to submit to her command. He goes on with his plans to kill Banquo because he was the only one that know about witch ¡Ã‚ ¦s prophecies other than himself and his wife, he was also scared that his later generations will become king at the same way that he become king (murdering Duncan). He later decides to kill Macduff’s family as well, because he had decide from now oh he ¡Ã‚ ¦ll act whatever his heart told him to. Lady Macbeth was no longer involved in the decisions of Macbeth’s life, decisions over which she formerly exercised total control. She was left behind with no part in his life, as Macbeth heads off with new plans of his own. Towards the end of the play when Lady Macbeth went insane and kills herself but still unable to remove the â€Å"damned spot† When she died, Macbeth shows some good which may have been. He wishes for a normal life for which he would have lived to an honourable age but he realised that can ¡Ã‚ ¦t be done. Even when Macbeth hears that the prophecy has become true of Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane, he rejects this idea and fights on until he realised that Macduff wasn ¡Ã‚ ¦t born in a natural birth but instead was â€Å"Untimely ripped† from his mother ¡Ã‚ ¦s womb. When Macbeth hears of this he realises what he has done and how the witches tricked him, he was absorbed in his own ambition and can not pull out of it. He realise it was too late so he fights on only to be slain by Macduff. Macbeth was a virtuous man, corrupted by power and greed. His ambitions led him to treason, murder and brutal killings by ordering the deaths of individuals, including his friends. The witches, to some extent are responsible for these temptations, as they had the power to provide temptation and to induce wrongful doings. His ambition grew within his head until his thirst for power caused him to lose it all to the blade of Macduff ¡Ã‚ ¦s sword It is my opinion; Macbeth is by no means but a butcher. Unfortunately his great ambition destroyed him and his relationship between his wife, friends (Banquo) and King Duncan. He was simply tempted by the witches to commit these acts with the only motive being personal glory and achievements. Usually, when not being manipulated, Macbeth was a good, loyal and courageous man, who was held by others of the community, in high esteem. How to cite Poetics in 330 BC. Shakespeare, Essay examples

Manufactures and Trade Computer Software - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Manufactures and Trade Computer Software. Answer: Introduction: Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company that was established in 1975. The company was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Along with this, headquarter of Microsoft is located in Redmond, Washington. The company manufactures and trade computer software, personal computers, electronics products, etc. to its customers. Microsoft develops, and licenses lots of software products for computer devices (Geisst, 2014). At present, Microsoft is the largest provider of computer software as well as services all over the world. It is true that Microsoft is well recognized in the world. There are numerous current and future key that influence the industry both locally as well as globally. For example, the major current issue is that the company is still unable to make its proper position in the mobile market. The market share of Microsoft is approximately 3.5% in the mobile market. The mobile market share of Microsoft Corporation is lower as compare to its competitors including Apple Inc. Google, etc. The mobile market share of Apple Inc. and Google are 14.8% and 80.2% respectively (Slayton, 2013). Moreover, Microsoft has only 3% market share in the tablet market. At present, around 99% smartphones run on Android or iOS. This thing shows that the windows OS is the only OS that does not have its charisma in the marketplace. This fact may influence the future growth of the company. The below diagram is useful to show a clear picture of the mobile market share of Microsoft and its competitors: On the other hand, the second key issue is related to the ecosystem of the Microsoft Corporation. The ecosystem of the company is incompetent to offer competitive advantages to the organization. Moreover, the Windows Store of Microsoft is very small as compare to Google play and App store. It does not launch new services like to its competitors. Recently, it just launched a free online version of office that is named as MS office online. This issue may influence the future growth of the organization. It is because of Microsoft is a technology based company; but it is slow in advanced technologies. Due to its weak ecosystem, the company is unable to attract new customers and retain its existing customers for the growth of the organization (Frommer, 2012). Apart from this, it may reduce the productivity and profitability of the company in upcoming years. This thing is dangerous for the market reputation and image of Microsoft Corporation. So, Microsoft must focus on healthy ecosystem t o survive in todays more competitive business era. In addition to this, the other key issue is that the company is not in the touch of its customers. Microsoft did not made efforts to be competitive in the marketplace. There are lots of examples that can show the reluctance of Microsoft. For case, Microsoft took approximately three years to launch its smartphone after the iPhone (Apple Inc.). It waited roughly two years to release its first tablet after the Apple Inc. iPad. These things portray that the competitors of Microsoft are very far reaching. They quickly launch advanced technologies products and services to attract and retain their customers. The promptness of its competitors not only increased their market share; but increased the market image as well. To reduce the impact of this issue, Microsoft should be aware and be competitive in the marketplace (Cocotas, 2012). The below graph is helpful to show the position of Microsoft in the marketplace: On the other hand, Microsoft has been provided the license of Windows operating system (OS) to lots of third-party manufacturers including HP, Lenovo, Dell, Samsung, and so on. Now, all these parties are offering cheap products to customers. This thing reduced the productivity and profitability of Microsoft. Due to its ridiculous mistake, Microsoft has lost control in the marketplace; and still facing the situation of high competition in the markets. This mistake may influence the future growth of the company. Consequently, Microsoft must suspend its surface line and develop new products to be more competitive in the marketplace (Harrison, 2011). In this way, the above discussed are the major key issues that are affecting the growth and success of the company in a negative manner. These issues may affect the future growth of the company. So, Microsoft should develop and implement effective strategies to overcome these issues and to accomplish the goals of the business in an effectual manner. References Cocotas, A. (2012). FINALLY: Microsoft Has Stopped Losing Market Share In Mobile Phones. Available At: https://www.businessinsider.com/finally-microsoft-has-stopped-losing-market-share-in-mobile-phones-2012-7?IR=T [Accessed On: 7th May 2017] Frommer, D. (2012). Microsoft Isnt Just Losing Smartphone Market Share: Its Mobile User Base Is Actually Shrinking. Available At: https://www.fromedome.com/2012/04/microsoft-mobile-subscribers/ [Accessed On: 7th May 2017] Geisst, C.R. (2014). Encyclopedia of American Business History. USA: Infobase Publishing. Harrison, E. (2011). Why Nokia and Microsoft are getting together? Available At: https://www.creditwritedowns.com/2011/02/why-nokia-and-microsoft-are-getting-together.html [Accessed On: 7th May 2017] Slayton, Z. (2013). Who Is The Next Generation of Cool in Mobile? Available At: https://www.collaborative.com/blog/who-is-the-next-generation-of-cool-in-mobile/ [Accessed On: 7th May 2017]

Employee Motivation

Table of Contents Introduction Understanding employee motivation A brief review of motivational theories The complexity of employee motivation How organizations motivate their employees Conclusion Reference List Introduction A substantial number of organizations have embraced strategic human resource management practices in the modern economic times. The reason for embracing strategic human resource management is that it is comprehensive and responsive to all the issues of management that arise in organizations.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Employee Motivation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Most of the literature on organizational management point to the fact that employees are the most critical resources in organizations. This statement is backed by the fact that employees are the key pillars behind applicability and functioning of the non-human resources in organizations. Therefore, one of the areas th at are given a lot of attention in strategic human resource management is the management of the expectations and demands of employees in organizations. While the management of employees is termed as one of the most complex tasks, it remains to be the most vital role for organizational managers (Armstrong Baron 2002: 42). The complexity of managing employees comes from the fact that managing employees entails the management of their needs, expectations, as well as their emotions. Modern human resource managers in organizations are charged with managing performance (Boudreau 1998: 3). According to Miner (2003: 250), motivation is one of the key functions of organizational performance in contemporary organizations.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A common question that is posed to people seeking human resource management positions in organizations revolves around the techniques that ca n be used to motivate employees (Katou Budhwar 2006: 1223). In this paper, it is argued that employee motivation is a complex exercise, yet the most critical function of organizational performance in modern organizations. This paper explores motivation as one of the key components of performance management in organizations. The paper begins by developing the real value and meaning of motivation. The paper transits to the exploration of the manner in which employees are motivated. This is done through digging deep into motivational theories and real examples of how organizations implement employee motivation programs. Understanding employee motivation As observed in the introduction, employee motivation is one of the key components of performance management. Different organizations adopt different techniques of motivating their employees. There exists no defined and static way of motivating employees in organizations. What is evident in contemporary organizational management is that organization’s managers build on motivational techniques, while choosing best practices in employee motivation. This is due to the variation in operational structures and design of human resource development practices in each organization. It is critical to define motivation in order to give a clear room for putting the term in the context of organizational management. Motivation can be defined as a psychological feature that is meant to make people act towards a given set of objectives.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Employee Motivation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Digging deeper into the meaning of the term motivation, it comes out that motivation is coined from the verb motive. Motive can mean desires, needs, demands, drives, and wants within a person (Gollwitzer 1996: 476). Basing on this premise, motivation can be defined as the process of stimulating a person to behave in a way that favours th e accomplishment of certain goals. Therefore, the observation that motivation is a process implies that it is a continuous exercise. This is likened to the fact that the needs of people are complex and keep changing with the environment under which they are placed at a given time. Moving back to the organizational context, it has been observed that the factors that stimulate the behaviour of employees include the desire for success, the desire for money, the need for recognition, and the desire for teamwork and job satisfaction among other individually and group derived needs (Armstrong 2007: 395). Bruce (2006: 1) observed that the need for motivation in organizations is inevitable. One of the main roles of organizational managers is to ensure that employees discharge performance in the best of their skills and abilities. Therefore, the role of organizational leaders is to ensure that they arouse interest in the employees, which is vital for gearing the employees toward improving th e standards of performance when discharging their roles in the organization. Up to this point, it can be said that the role of motivating employees lies squarely with organizational leaders. What ought to be asked is whether organizations can attain their goals without the embrace of motivation.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A simple answer to this question is that performance management is the core pillar of performance in modern organizations. This is evident across almost all industries in the world today (Bruce 2006: 2). According to Management Study Guide (n.d.: 1), the process of employee motivation can be understood better by putting three stages into consideration. These stages are: a need or drive, a stimulating ground in which the needs of employees are aroused and the satisfaction of the needs of employees, which is often accompanied by the accomplishment of the organizational performance goals. The second stage implies that the employees may have needs that are not visible or understood by the management. Therefore, it is the role of the human resource managers to provide a ground on which the employees feel comfortable to raise their demands in which their needs are depicted. It can, thus, be said that motivation is the source of employee morale, which comes from the feeling that their need s have been met. The needs are best met through development and implementation of a desirable incentive plan. Of critical relevance in employee motivation is the increase of the level of attachment of the employees to the organization (Management Study Guide n.d.: 1). A brief review of motivational theories A critical observation of management denotes that employee motivation is an exercise that has been in application in organizations even before the 20th century. The existence of motivational theories that date back to the pre-classical times to the classical theories of motivation and the contemporary motivational theories denotes that motivation is a vital and an applicable theory in organizational management. The classical theories of motivation were prevalent during the 1950s, the time when most organizations in Western Europe were setting up proper structures to enhance competitiveness. The three main motivational theories that were developed in the mid 20th century and which have remained relevant into modern organizational managers include the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, Herzberg’s two factor theory and the theory X and theory Y (Management Study Guide n.d.: 1). These theories provide the main ground on which the modern concepts and models of motivation are derived. It can be noted that the contemporary organizational environment depicts an increase in the number of factors that are affecting organizational management, yet the classical theories remain to be the core pillars on which the foundations of motivation are based (Hoffmann 2007: 11). The contemporary theories of motivation try to absorb emerging issues of management. This is due to the observation that the contemporary environment in which employees work is quite dynamic. Contemporary theories bring out the significant changes in human behaviours and non-human factors and how they play out in the motivation of organizational employees. These theories include: the goal s etting theory, the reinforcement theory, the expectancy theory of motivation, the equity theory of motivation, and the McClelland’s theory of needs among other theories and models of motivation. One of the main differences between the classical theories and the contemporary theories is that the contemporary theories of motivation are applied within the spectrum of human resource management. This implies that the contemporary theories are more responsive to organizational change compared to the classical theories, which were based on the principles of personnel management (Hoffmann 2007: 11). There is another category of employee motivation theory known as content motivational theories. These theories are often based on the needs of the workers in organizations. The needs of employees keep shifting and so do these theories seek to explore how employee motivation can be attained within such an environment. Motivation is mostly seen as a factor that comes from the internal drive of the employees, which comes from the satisfaction of the demands of the workers. The role of managers is expansive under these theories. Managers are charged with an extra role of ensuring that employees air out their views about the developments in the external and internal environment of the organization. Changes in the internal and external environment of the organizations result in shifts in the demands and needs of employees. The change may be positive, meaning that it has a minimal impact on the employees and their needs. The change may also be negative, meaning that it attracts new demands and needs of the employees. Most of the contemporary theories of employee motivation mentioned in the above paragraph can also fit in this category of motivational theories (Naoum 2001: 230). The complexity of employee motivation Ankli and Palliam 2006 (7) observed that the most critical question that comes to the mind of people when talking about employee motivation is whether employees can be motivated. According to Meyers et al. (2004: 991), research in the field of organizational motivation is still highly fragmented, which makes it difficult to develop a common understanding of how motivation ought to be implemented by organizational managers. Instead of building on each other’s findings, researchers prefer to explore their researches on factors that impact on employee motivation solely. This is one of the sources of difficulties in comprehending the issue of employee motivation. The other concern about the applicability of employee motivation comes from the fact that the operational environment in which organizations prevail is quite dynamic and often results in changes in the needs of employees. The dynamics of the environment can result in scenarios where the needs of employees override the capacity of the organization to fulfil or respond to the needs and demands. An example is the recent global economic recession where the financial needs of employ ees rose significantly, yet most organizations suffered massive financial losses and could not meet the financial needs of their employees. However, it has been observed that organizations apply diverse tactics of managing the needs and expectations of employees (â€Å"Keeping employees motivated during difficult times† 2009: 53-54). According to Ankli and Palliam (2006: 8), the needs of employees may be satisfied directly or indirectly, which means that motivation is exercised irrespective of the conditions that are facing the organization. In fact, the real test of the potential of human resource managers to motivate organizations is seen during times when organizations are facing tough economic times. This implies that other tactics, other than the direct fulfilment of the employee needs and demands, have to be applied. A lot of uncertainties take course in organizations during tough times. This raises the level of anxiety among employees, who worry about the potential of the organization to meet their needs. In such events, organizational managers are forced to reassure the employees through application of motivational models that are meant to retain the employees. This is a daunting task, considering the fact that other organizations may be offering attractive opportunities to the skilled employees. This can come out clearly when trying to explore the relationship between motivation and employee retention. What is evident in the study of employee motivation is that motivation is a complex activity that has to be effectively approached by the organization in order to meet the goals of organizational performance (â€Å"Keeping employees motivated during difficult times† 2009: 53-54). In their exploratory research, in which they sought to establish the sources of employee motivation in organizations, Ankli and Palliam (2006: 8) found out that motivation is directly linked to the behaviour of employees. Therefore, motivating employees entails th e effort to change the behaviour of employees. By factoring the aspects of organizational behaviour in organizational performance appraisal, it comes out clearly that motivation is a complex process since it is not only bases on changing behaviour, but also a set of behaviours. In a number of circumstances, the behaviours may be generative and circular. The aspect of employee behaviour change in motivation invites organizational managers to divide motivation into distinct categories of factors that affect the needs and demands of employees, and by extension affecting the behaviour of employees (Ankli Palliam 2006: 8-9). According to (Beswick 2007: 1), the linkage between employees and rewards, on the other hand, depicts a broader picture of the concept of motivating employees. The rewards go hand in hand with motivation. However, it is not clear whether all rewards fulfil their intended purpose. Rewards may fail to achieve the desired objectives, especially in scenarios where organ izational managers have not fully inspired the employees to bring out their needs and demands (Management Study Guide n.d.: 1). How organizations motivate their employees As noted earlier in this paper, organizational performance management is one of the most critical parameters that determine the ability of an organization to compete with other organizations in the industry and the collective economy in which an organization operate. Performance management cannot be fully explored without the explication of performance appraisal. According to Benson and Dundis (2003: 315), one of the key components of organizational appraisal systems is motivation. By extension, it can be said that motivation lies at the centre of performance management. A deeper look across most organizations in the contemporary world reveals the emphasis on strategic human resource management (Latham Pinder 2005: 485). One of the strategies of managing employees, which receives a vast amount of attention in most organizations, is motivation. This can be understood by factoring in the theory of hierarchy of needs by Abraham Maslow. Irrespective of the fact that it is a classical theory, the Maslow’s theory provides the ground on which motivational practices are devised and implemented in contemporary organizations. The main feature of the Maslow theory is the needs of people (Benson Dundis 2003: 316). Evidence across a substantial number of organizations across the globe reveals that motivation often begins with the unearthing of the needs of the employees and the devise and the implementation of plans to satisfy the needs of the employees. The question that should be posed at this point is whether motivation is only founded on the needs and satisfaction of the needs. This is not the truth; however, it is evident that motivation cannot be fully attained in any organization without satisfying the needs of employees. It is the needs of employees that have to be opened up in order to r eflect the increasingly challenging and competitive environment in which organizations operate (Latham Pinder 2005: 485). Having noted that the modern operational environment is very dynamic and challenging, it is apparent that modern managers ought to be proactive in the application of motivation in organizational functioning. There are a lot of changes in the functional environment of modern organizations. These changes include the emerging technologies and the need for organizations to adopt the technologies, mounting competition between firms and the dynamic economic conditions. Organizations that have proven to have the power to thrive in the current economy are those that balance the needs of employees and the organizational dynamics. Benchmark organizations like Apple Incorporated, Microsoft Corporation and Tesco among others are often reported to invest vast amounts of resources in human resource development. Part of the human resource development activities that are given maximum attention is the motivation of employees through physical rewards (Latham Pinder 2005: 485). Mà ¼ller (2011: 2) argued that the rise of the Apple Incorporated into the scale of production that it enjoys today is largely attributed to the motivating factor in the organization. One can simply inquire about the mode of organizational motivation that is utilized in Apple Incorporated. An exploration of the theories of motivation reveals that no organization can rely on a single source of motivation. Apple embraces both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. The balance between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation is crucial to the balancing of performance in the company. This is backed by the 50/50 theory of motivation by John Adair, which emphasizes on the need to strike a balance between extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. According to Adair (2006: 43) intrinsic factors of employee motivation include job design and the culture of the organization, while ext rinsic factors include positive and negative incentives. Most organizations, Apple included, are trying to draw away negative incentives, such as threats. The argument behind this development is that negative incentives have proven to be unsustainable since they only shape behaviours and actions of employees in the short-run. In the long-run, negative incentives often degenerate into revolt by the employees, thus failing to attain its key goal of motivating employees (Wang Lim 2008: 701-702). According to the motivational crowding theory, extrinsic motivational factors undermine the worth of the intrinsic factors of motivation in organizations. Extrinsic motivational factors, like the fear of sanctions, put a lot of pressure on the employees, and may kill the will and the desire of the employees to work for results (Dzuranin Stuart 2012: 3). Mà ¼ller (2011:3) observed that the organizational culture of Apple Incorporated is moulded around innovation. As part of the intrinsic fact ors, the company often ensures that the employees are presented with all the possible resources that are required to advance the projects of the company. A similar practice is embraced in Microsoft Corporation. This is justified by the billions of dollars that are spent by these companies in enhancing research and development. Once the intrinsic factors have been accomplished, it becomes easy for Apple to factor in the extrinsic factors of motivation. Not all attributes of extrinsic motivation give attention to the motivational practices in the Apple Company. The company ensures that all its employees are retained in order to enhance organizational projects, which results in innovation. The company has an elaborate benefit scheme that ensures that its employees are remunerated accordingly. The company also offers its employees other non-performance driven incentives like insurance cover and product discounts. This creates an enabling room for a competitive organization (Mà ¼ller 20 11: 4). Motivation is, thus, one of the main success factors for Apple Incorporated. The company has demonstrated its ability to sustain organizational motivation, thus remaining to be one of the most flexible organizations in the world today. This gives the company an upper hand when it comes to competition and attraction of employees in the competitive global labour industry. Organizations keep competing for employees who have outstanding skills; therefore, lack of motivation among employees in one company can be used as an attracting factor in another company. Organizations value experienced employees and they are often willing to go an extra mile to maintain skills and experience (Mà ¼ller 2011: 3). While a substantial number of organizational management researchers argue for tangible rewards as one of the most embraced ways of motivating employees, the reality on the ground shows that both the tangible and intangible rewards are utilized by organizational managers. The most co mmon tangible reward that is used to motivate employees in organizations is financial rewards. However, it has been noted that employees do not only value financial rewards. In order to fully motivate the employees, as opined by the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the financial rewards often come first because they help employees to fulfil their basic needs. However, the other level of motivation, which is the fulfilment of the psychological needs of the employees, is also critical. Employees value the sense of belonging and feel more motivated when they are appreciated by the organizational management. This is better understood through an exploration of the psychological theories of organizational behaviour. Research on organizational performance has revealed that both tangible and non-tangible resources complement one other, especially in the production setting in organizations (Dzuranin Stuart 2012: 3). Conclusion Employee motivation if one of the most valid practices in org anizational management. Most theories of organizational management point to the critical relevance of organizational employees to the existence and sustainability of organizational operations. This paper has explored the topic of employee motivation deeply. The paper sought to answer three main questions, which are: What is employee motivation? Can employees be motivated? How can employees be motivated? As observed in the paper, there are positives and negative to each side of the questions posed. It can be concluded that the concept of employee motivation is one of the critical features in the management of performance in organizations. The definition of employee motivation brought about the aspect of needs, demands and aspirations, which must be guarded in order to propel the organizational employees towards attainment of the goals of organizations. In an attempt to factor whether employee motivation is a possible exercise, it came out that employee motivation is an activity that has been implemented by organizations for a long period, ranging from the pre-classical times to the contemporary managerial era. This was backed by the existence of theories of employee motivation theories, whose development can be traced from the early years of the 20th century. Motivation is a complex activity, though it remains critical to the performance of organizations. The first aspect of complexity in employee motivation is the fact that the needs of employees are diverse, which makes it daunting for organizational managers to meet these diverse needs. This compounds the problem of attaining the desired level of motivation in employees. The second complexity of employee motivation resonates from the fact that the contemporary operational environment of most organizations keeps changing at paces that cannot be easily anticipated, thus swaying the needs of the employees. In spite of the complexities, organizations keep inventing techniques of managing the needs, aspirations a nd expectations of their employees. This is due to the fact that motivation is one of the core tools for developing an efficient workforce, which can help organizations beat the odds of competition. Reference List â€Å"Keeping employees motivated during difficult times† 2009, Leader to Leader, vol. 2009 no. 51, pp. 53-54. Adair, JE 2006, Leadership and motivation: The fifty-fifty rule and the eight key principles of motivating others, Kogan Page, London. Ankli, RE Palliam, R 2012, ‘Enabling a motivated workforce: exploring the sources of motivation’, Development and Learning in Organizations, vol. 26 no. 2, pp. 7-10. Armstrong, M Baron, A 2002, Strategic HRM: The key to improved business performance, Chartered Inst. of Personnel and Development, London. Armstrong, M 2007, A handbook of employee reward management and practice, Kogan Page, Philadelphia, PA. Benson, SG Dundis, SP 2003, ‘Understanding and motivating health care employees: integrating Maslow ’s hierarchy of needs, training and technology’, Journal of Nursing Management, vol. 11 no. 5, pp. 315-320. Beswick, D 2007, Management implications of the interaction between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic rewards, paper presented at a Seminar, University of Melbourne, Melbourne. Boudreau, JW 1998, ‘Strategic human resource management measures: Key linkages and the peoplevantage model’, Strategic HR Metrics and PeopleVantage, WP, pp. 98-128. Bruce, A 2006, How to motivate every employee: 24 proven tactics to spark productivity in the workplace, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. Dzuranin, A Stuart, N 2012, ‘The effect of tangible and intangible noncash rewards on performance and satisfaction in a production setting’, Management Accounting Quarterly, vol. 13 no. 4, pp. 1-9. Gollwitzer, PM 1996, The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behaviour, Guilford Press, New York, NY. Hoffmann, S 2007, Classical motivation theories â⠂¬â€œ Similarities and differences between them, GRIN Verlag GmbH, Mà ¼nchen. Katou, A Budhwar, P 2006, ‘Human resource management systems on organizational performance: A test of mediating model in the Greek manufacturing context’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 17 no. 7, pp. 1223-1253. Latham, GP Pinder, CC 2005, ‘Work motivation theory and research at the dawn of the twenty-first century’, Annual Review of Psychology, vol. 56, pp. 485-516. Management Study Guide n.d., What is motivation? Web. Meyers, JP, Becker, TE Vandenberghe, C 2004, ‘Employee commitment and motivation: A conceptual analysis and integrative model’, Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 89 no. 6, pp. 991-1007. Miner, JB 2003, ‘The rated importance, scientific validity, and practical usefulness of organizational behavior theories: a quantitative review’, Academy of Management Learning Education, vol. 2 no. 3, pp. 250-68. Mà ¼ller, C 2011, Employee motivation and incentives at Apple: Do incentives really help to motivate employees?, GRIN Verlag GmbH, Mà ¼nchen. Naoum, S 2001, People and organizational management in construction, Telford, London. Wang, H Lim, SS 2008, ‘Real options and real value: the role of employee incentives to make specific knowledge investments’, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 29 no. 7, pp. 701-721. This essay on Employee Motivation was written and submitted by user Haley Pennington to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here. Employee Motivation Worker motivation is very vital in any organization as it is required in influencing worker performance. Maximum output can be gotten through creating a culture in the organization that sparks motivation. In order to motivate workers, it is necessary to consider three captivating theories: reinforcement, equity, and expectancy.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Employee Motivation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Each of them has its own peculiarities, strengths, and weaknesses. In this very paper, we are going to analyze the integrated approach to employee motivation, presented by Nucor Corp. Nucor Corp has focused their management on individuals, who are at the business’s forefront. Every player is incorporated into the running of the business so that he/she can feel him/herself as part of the larger Nucor’s family. To Nucor, the top managers are required to trust the lower staff with the running of the business and delegate duties to them depending on their contribution to the businesses’ success (Kreitner et al., 2008, p.238). To achieve leading positions, which Nucor Corp wants to take, it is considerable to analyze reinforcement theory, equity theory, and expectancy theory separately and clear up how each of them is used within this concrete corporation, and what are the consequences of their usage. One of the most significant questions, which any manager may ask every day is what actually can motivate employees. Is it high salary? Hardly, people usually try to compete their norms in order to get the necessary sum of money. This is why it won’t motivate the workers to demonstrate their best qualities and use their potential fully. Is it comfortable workplace? Well, of course, it plays certain role, but still, does not affect too much. If a manager wants to find more ideas in order to awake the potential of his/her workers, it is better to analyze three known theories concerning workers’ motivation. Nucor Corp is one of the most advanced organizations, which think about its customers and workers. The managers of Nucor help to learn how it is better to organize their work and make each member of their company be beneficial. Performance of workers will only be great if the workers themselves feel satisfied with their work and benefits that come out of their efforts. To achieve this, intrinsic factors have to be put in place to motivate them to work to their best. These are what Ventrice call â€Å"motivational factors† (2003, p.176). Nucor attempts to achieve these factors through the three theories: reinforcement, equity, and expectancy. Nucor has established a set of positive and negative reinforcements, which are used to steer performance in its workers. Giving out rewards likes bonuses and praises for good performance fall under positive reinforcement, while negative reinforcement encompasses removal of a move that is dis liked. Punishment of an uncouth behaviour also falls under reinforcement principle (Putzier, 2001, p. 83-85).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Reinforcement theory refers to influencing the attitude and behaviour of the employees. Employees need to be rewarded as per their contribution, bad work should be penalized and good one rewarded. Integrating the employees into the mainstream of business makes them feel as if they own the business and they therefore have strive to give the best out of their abilities. What a worker earns should be commensurate to his or her involvement in creating the profit. This is exactly what Podmoroff simply refers to as â€Å"collective responsibility† (2005, p.44). The company provides different scholarship programs, which help to encourage young people to join and develop their abilities. The managers give the workers freedom to find out , analyze, and solve problems, and then, reward their productivity by means of financial and other kinds of support. Penalties and fines should be inflicted on poor or substandard work. This is why it is necessary to know about contingencies, which are described by Montana and Charnov. They admit that there can be positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, extinction, and punishment. â€Å"According to reinforcement theory the manager can really make a difference, but for that to happen the manager must have substantial control over the work environment.† (Montana Charnov, 2000, p. 249) Without any doubts, penalties are something that any company should not forget about. Of course, encouragement plays a considerable role, however, it is also important not to give these workers too much without reasons. The best way to motivate employees therefore is when organization’s regulations state that what is carried home is pegged on the results. Whenever attention is nee ded at Nucor, professional response is amassed and solution sought, blame game follows later when the problem has been fixed. This is contrary the case in most companies where the bottlenecks facing a company are either left to whoever caused the problem. Competitions among the departments of one and the same organization – this is what may drive worker to demonstrate their best results and use their potential to its full extend. Such competition will certainly increase chances of the company to take leading positions in their spheres. Equity theory is one more important concern for lots of managers. According to this theory, unfairness is one of the most powerful means to motivate workforce and achieve the desirable results. Of course, unfairness should be properly grounded. If one worker of the same team will be encouraged, and other won’t, it may cause much misunderstanding and other unpleasant actions.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Employee Motivation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This is why striving for equity is considered to be significant factor in people work. Nucor has perfected the art of putting the equity theory in practice. The top management has taken it as their responsibility to treat every worker as equal partner regardless of their level in the company hierarchy (Kreitner et al., 2008, p.239). The contribution of every individual in respected, honoured, and rewarded. Collective responsibility takes a centre stage. The contribution that a senior manages gives the organization matters as much as that given by a junior employee. By working together as a team, every member of the big family sees himself or herself as a vital integral part of the larger body that the organization needs to spar its success. Top managers are the policy makers and path clearers while the junior employees and the means or rather the force that makes the implementation of the p olicies and goals (Ruthankoon et al., 2001, pp.333-341). That is the major reason equity plays a leading role as far as motivation is concerned. No single party can operate without the other. The major role of the equity theory at Nucor Corp is its ability to involve every individual into the comparison of own achievements with the ones of his/her collaborators and the analysis of the rewards, each of them get in the result of own work. The received compensation is a good stimulus for any worker to demonstrate the best skills only and help the company to grow and develop. Another, not less significant theory to motivate workers is the expectancy theory. This theory turns out to be the best motivational tool that Nucor has put in place. It lies in the fact that any worker may easily determine the outcomes they prefer the most and can certainly make real. Employees feel very much motivated if they are rewarded according to the content of work or rather participation to an organization ’s success. Their abilities are appreciated and taken into consideration by managers in order to find more ways to grow. The more active and result oriented the worker is, the higher the rewards are. If every employee strives to give his or her best, the overall organization outcome will be great and so are the benefits to the higher management. This strategy tries to moderate the wide disparity between the executives and simple factory workers (Wiley, 1995, pp.264-278). As individuals tend to increase his earnings by participating as actively as possible, their efforts add up to the companies turn over. Such fact seems to be a wonderful what out to counter demoralized employees during bad economic down turn.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Glanz gives the expectancy formula and illustrates how employees should be rewarded for their participation in running the organization. â€Å"Force=Expectancy* Valences * Instrumentalities†. In this context, Force in the motivation level in a worker, Expectancy is the belief that the individual has in him that he is able to do a certain work, Instrumentality means certainty that the employee has that he is able to deliver as expected and, finally, Valence, that is the value in that particular employee (Glanz, 1996, pp.9-14). In general, it can be said that employee motivation is considered to be a vital prerequisite for those companies, which want to achieve success and become of the most powerful organization in the concrete sphere. Team building among the staff, rewards for really excellent work, as well as penalty for shoddy work – this is what can certainly motivate demoralize workers. Well-executed principles of equity and expectancy are equally of great help bot h within an organization that is edging out and within the company that is at its prime time. The three theories discussed in this paper can be collectively be referred to as â€Å"need theories† (Gostick et al., 2009, p.79), where all the individuals feel that the demonstration of their potential, their competitions, and perfect job will bring certain results and awards. With the help of these theories, workers may comprehend that their job is something that plays a considerable role into the general development of the company. Nucor Corp is one of the best examples of how the theories under consideration should be used and analyzed. The top management and the junior staff believe that whatever they hold dear has been fulfilled, and therefore they owe the organization a positive attitude and good behaviour at work. Such a step has the potential of creating a culture and environment that automatically sparks growth and development (Buckingham et al., 1999, p.201). To sum up i t is now apparent that when people are rewarded, they will strive to repeat whatever led to that and consequently where they are punished, they will try to desist from acts that lead to punishment. Reference List Buckingham, M. and Coffman, C 1999, First, Break All he Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently, First Edition. Simon Schuster: New York. pp.201-255. Glanz, B 1996, Care Packages for the Workplace: Dozens of Little You Can Do to Regenerate Spirit at Work, First Edition. McGraw-Hill, New York. pp.9-14. Gostick, A. and Elton, C 2009, The Carrot Principle: How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their People, Retain Talent and Accelerate Performance, Simon Schuster, Inc, New York. p.79. Kreitner, R. and Kinicki, A 2008, Organizational Behavior. 8th Edition. McGraw-Hill, New York. pp.238-239. Montana, PJ and Charnov, BH 2000, Management, Barron’s Educational Series. Podmoroff, D 2005, 365 Ways to Motivate and Reward Your Employees Every Day: With Little or No Money, Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc, Ocala, Florida. p.44. Putzier, J 2001, Get Weird: 101 Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work, First Edition, AMACOM, Broadway, New York. pp.71-85. Ruthankoon, R. and Ogulnlana, SO 2001, Testing Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, ECAM, vol.10, no.5, pp.333-341. Ventrice, C 2003, Make Their Day: Employee Recognition That Works, First Edition, Berrett Koehler Publishers, pp175-179. Wiley, C 1995, â€Å"What Motivates Employees?†, International Journal of Manpower, vol. 18, no.3, pp.263-280. This essay on Employee Motivation was written and submitted by user Cardiac to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

General Robert E. Lee Essays - Fitzhugh Family Of Virginia

General Robert E. Lee Essays - Fitzhugh Family Of Virginia General Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee was born in Stradford in January 19, 1807. His father was Light Horse Henry. He had three brothers and two sisters, yet he was the youngest. His family was also was very rich. Robert E. Lee went to United States Military Academy. He spent much of his time in his library. His classmates admired him because of his leadership and devotion. He graduated in 1829. He had a high honor at West Point, he even became a superintendent at West Point. He improved the buildings and courses. Robert married Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee. His children?s names are Major General Custis Lee, W.H.F. Lee, Captain Robert E. Lee Jr., Mary Lee, Mildred Lee was the youngest, and Agnes Lee. Robert E. Lee married two years after he graduated in 1829 and married in 1831. Mary is George Washington?s granddaughter. Lee was away so much of the time they almost never got to see each other. They had to write letters to keep in touch. Lee mostly traveled alone. Mary inherited many slaves and they stayed with her while she was alone. After the war Lee went home and nursed his sick wife. Mary had arthritis and was put in a wheelchair. Lee was a very brave, honest, and smart man. He was a soldier, yet a nurturer. Lee wouldn?t allow anything said bad about Grant. War broke out on the border of Texas between United States and Mexico. The Generals were impressed with Lee?s supervised buildings of bridges. In 1855 Lee became a lieutenant cournal of the calvary and was assigned Texas frontier. He protected settlers from attacks from the Apache and Comanche Indians. Lee hated slavery like the North, but he lived in the South. The South hated Lincoln and the North and the South started to separate. Abraham Lincoln asked Lee if he wanted to be a general for the North, but Lee said ?No.? He wanted to stay in his home state, Virginia. Lee was the first military advisor to President Jefferson Davis. On May 1861 Lee became a General. He helped draw plans for the Confederate forces in Virginia. In the Spring of 1864 Lee first met Grant in battle. There was a series of bloody battles called the Wilderness campaign. Grant destroy the Confederates with large forces and guns. Finally in 1865 Lee became general and chief of all Confederate forces. After General Johnston was wounded, Lee became a General. Lee helped plan many battles such as when they fought General Burnside. Richmond fell in April 1865, Lee?s army retreated west ward. The north surrounded the Confederates. Lee surrendered on April 9th, 1865. Grant tried to make the surrender easy. Grant allowed the Confederate soldiers to take their horses home for spring plowing. Lee said, ?It is well that war is so terrible or we would grow to fond of it. Lee made his last ride down enemy lines on his horse Traveler. Lee won but he also lost. Lee lost because he lost the war, but he won because the war was over. Lee became a private citizen for first time in forty years. He could have been rich, but he came president of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia. This school was named Washington and Lee University. Lee urged students and friends to keep the peace and to accept the outcome of the war. His attitude was extremely important a time when bitterness and hatred swept across the North and the South. In Lee?s home in Lexington Virginia on October 12, 1870. He died from an illness. Some people felt his death as a personal loss. He is buried in the chapel he built on campus in Lexington, along with other members of his family. They call this chapel ?The Shrine of the South.? It is visited by thousands of people. Lee?s home is preserved in Arlington National Cemetery. Lee?s is a legal holiday in most of the southern states near Washington D.C. January 19. Lee?s tombstone is called Valentine statue.

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Revenue Recognition - Research Paper Example Modern financial accounting is highly dependent on double entry bookkeeping. However, the origin of double entry bookkeeping is not clearly known of yet literatures suggest that in almost every civilization, financial record keeping was followed. Franciscan Friar, Luca Pacioli is often associated with double entry bookkeeping because he published a book on the same in 1494. In the book, he spoke of debit and credit as well as of liabilities and assets. Pacioli also advised in the book about periodic profit calculation and yearly closing of books (Previts, Parker & Coffman, 1990). Around sixteenth century, noticeable changes were proposed and incorporated in the bookkeeping techniques for the purpose of recording various kinds of transactions. During this period, usage of specialized subsidiary books such as separate cash book increased greatly. By the end of seventeenth century, evolution of periodic preparation of financial statements was witnessed. Additionally, the eighteenth century marked personification of different accounts and transactions for rationalizing debit and credit rules that were applicable to abstract and impersonal accounts (Jones & Riahi-Belkaoui, 2010; Previts, Parker & Coffman, 1990). The period also pointed at evolution of three methods of treating fixed assets. Firstly, assets were carried forward in financial statements at original cost and difference between revenue payments and receipts was shown in profit and loss account. Secondly, fixed asset accounts were closed on the balancing date and the difference between debit and credit balance due to original cost and other expenditures was carried forward. The third method was to evaluate appreciation and/or depreciation in the asset value and the difference was reflected in profit and loss account. However, it was only around 1930s, the depreciation charges and methods became more evident in practice (Edwards, 2013). Post industrial revolution in nineteenth century, cost

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The Concept of e-Healthcare Information Security and Issues in e-Healthcare Information Security - Essay Example The problem with electronic based healthcare information is that efforts need to be made to stop people who are not authorized to access the information from accessing it. It is essential to ensure that people are not only physically, but even virtually stopped from accessing this information if that are not authorized to do so. There are several issues linked with the security of electronic healthcare information such as the inconsistency between the laws that govern healthcare and the policies of different healthcare institutes (Shoniregun 23). Another issue is that just because of politics and lack of proper culture different healthcare systems such as the e-healthcare information systems and the physical employees are obstructed from successful implementation of the system. Same issue is experienced when the healthcare system tried to integrate different electronic healthcare systems such as guidelines for practicing as a clinical and the decision support system (Shoniregun 24). The information of electronic healthcare is derived from a diverse range of sources which makes the information monitoring analysis and security quite difficult. Other than that the internet and other technologies have further added to the challenges of securing and managing healthcare information that is electronic in

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Whole Life Cycle Costing Application Barriers Construction Essay Ellingham and Fawcett (2006, p. 18) indicate that the net present value method for evaluating an investment cashflow was first developed about 50 years ago and is widely used in many spheres. In property and construction projects it has acquired a special name: whole-life costing. In fact, whole-life costing is simply the application of net present value analysis to construction projects. Most people will confused about the term of life-cycle costing, whole life costing, and whole life-cycle costing. As stated in Boussabaine and Kirkham study (2004, p. 4), prior to the 1970s, investment decisions made by most clients, developers and professionals was solely on the basis of capital cost. It appear a thought that spending more in capital cost will realize substantial cost savings in long term compared with a cheaper alternative, which we known as terotechnology. This concept was largely ignored because the lack of available data and collection mechanisms, and it shown that investor had no interest in the subsequent operational cost of the building. In the early 1970s, the term cost-in-use appear in the industry. It was recognized the concept of cost in use could apply to building and critical structures as to calculate the expenditure related to the operation of an asset. However, it also failed to consider the necessity for accurate future cost forecasting. It required some kind of technology to facilitate this problem (Boussabaine and Kirkham, 2004, p. 5). Until the mid to late 1970s, life-cycle costing emerged as a solution to this problem. It fostered a wide-ranging approach to cost appraisal, encompassing all perceivable cost from construction through to eventual disposal the whole life. By using a variety of forecasting techniques, the analyst was able to demonstrate how increase capital cost could be offset by long-term cost savings (Boussabaine and Kirkham, 2004, p. 5). As stated by Ashworth (1989), LCC is clearly a technique, which (at least in theory) has a potential for the correct financial evaluation of construction works. In should be noted that the concepts of LCC are not new. The principles are based upon economic theories, which have been used in investment appraisal in many areas of industrial and commercial activity.White and Ostwald (Korpi and Ala-Risku, 2008, p.241) show that LCC was originally designed for procurement purposes in the US Department of Defence and Woodward (Korpi and Ala-Risku, 2008, p.241) indicates that LCC is used most commonly in the military sector as well as in the construction industry. Towards the late 1990s, the concept of whole life costing and whole life-cycle costing emerged. The terms whole life costing and whole life-cycle costing are interchangeable (Boussabaine and Kirkham, 2004, p. 6). Whole life-cycle costing is a relatively new concept to the construction industry. It is essence an evolution of life-cycle costing techniques that are commonly used in many areas of procurement (Boussabaine and Kirkham, 2004, p. 3). Theoretically speaking, there is no different between LCC, WLC and WLCC. Schade (2007, p. 2), in reporting Flanagan and Jewell study, emphasizes that it is just a change of term form cost in use to life cycle costing and further to whole life cycle costing. Problem Statement According to Boussabaine and Kirkham (2004, p. xi), the construction industry has recently experienced a paradigmatic shift in its approach to product deliver and the achievement of customer satisfaction. Where previously the design and construction teams placed a heavy emphasis on delivering buildings at the lowest capital cost, a greater awareness and desire to consider cost over the whole life of the building have prevailed. Clients now want buildings that demonstrate value for money over the long term, and are not interested simply in the design solution which is the least expensive. These changes have lead to and highlighted the important of whole life-cycle costing approaches to the design, construction and operation of buildings. Schade (2007) claims that, production cost is the main cost factor in construction and is often set to the minimum in commonly, which does not necessarily improve the lifetime performance of buildings. Therefore, it is important to show the construction client in the early design phase the relationship between design choices and the resulting lifetime cost. Boussabaine and Kirkham (2004, p. ix) also note that the award of public construction contracts based on simply the lowest capital cost bid is no longer recognized as good practice; best value must be taken into account and thereby WLCC should be fully appraised as part of the decision making process. The research of Swaffield and McDonald (2007, p. 132) identify that contractors quantity surveyors generally did consider LCC when procuring new products/elements for Private Finance Initiative projects, but in certain circumstances, such as during exceptionally busy times or when working within tight construction budgets, LCC were not considered and procurement decisions for some product/elements were made on the basis of lowest capital cost. As Byron A. Ellis (2007, p.1) said, Designers, engineers and constructors are under pressure from owners to minimize total project cost. Unfortunately, many owners do not understand the concept of total project cost. As a result, they seek to minimize acquisition (first) cost. Economists Alchian and Allen (Byron, 2007, p.1) argue that the term cost should never be used by itself; they noted that it should always be identified with total, average, or marginal. According to Fischer et al (Tah and Aouad, 2007), although the significance of LCC has been recognized as early as 1980s, the current implementation has not been very satisfied due to two major barriers: first barrier is the historical data of building operation and maintenance. Second barrier is the complexity of the procedures and algorithms of calculating the LCC. For example, a building concern thousands of elements and construction method and maintenance activities. A simple change in the building material might take long hours of recalculations, it is therefore difficult to assist users to manipulate the large design and LCC analysis. However, even the idea of WLCC analysis is to help the owner to examine a economically alternative, there will always have the possibility of misleading the decision making by the error result of WLCC due to lack of data or unpredictable changes. There have no such as 100% accuracy for WLCC analysis because the limitation of forecast ability of human being are impossible to forecast everything that could be happen in future. This paper addresses the problems above by providing a detail discussion of WLCC for assisting and simplifying the application of the technique based on the WLCC in construction industry. At the same time reveal the popularity of application of WLCC in Malaysian construction industry. Aim To identified the barriers of applying whole life-cycle costing and investigate the popularity of implementation of whole life-cycle costing in Malaysian construction industry Objectives To review the important of usage of whole life-cycle costing in construction industry. To identify the barriers of application of whole-life cycle costing in construction industry. To analyse the factors affecting the accuracy of whole-life cycle costing. To investigate the popularity of application of whole-life cycle costing in Malaysian construction industry. Scope of Study The concept of Whole life-cycle costing (WLCC) can be use as many sector, to narrow the scope of study, the study will only be focus on the construction industries. Besides that, case study would not conduct to the project for the calculation of WLCC because it will be extremely difficult to obtain the large quantity of information across the long term of a building life cycle and data such as the project operation and maintenance cost, replacement cost, disposal cost could be confidential to its owners. Thus, to manually collect this data has to be very costly and time consuming and the missing of any result above will cause inaccurate of result. This study will focus on reviewing the important of application of WLCC into construction industry. The first issue to be study in deep is the discussion on the principles, advantages and purposes of WLCC analysis. The second issue is to identify the error and the difficulties of applying WLCC due to lack of necessary information and unpred ictable changes. The third issue is to do a research on the understanding of WLCC among owners and their frequency of applying WLCC. Research Methodology The methodology should be targeted at a consistent whole life-cycle costing (WLCC) approach and calculations and should not be aimed at reducing costs but at making more informed and consistent economic, financial and environmental decisions. The study was conducting in four stages. The first phase is the literature review. Second phase will be interview pilot study to the issue. Third phase will be constructing questionnaires. The last phase is to writing the research report. First stage: The literature review started with the important of application of WLCC and required data for a WLCC analysis. Searching of article about WLCC and the searching key words would be whole life-cycle costing, whole cycle costing and life-cycle costing. And the information of search will be limited into construction industry to filtered unnecessary information. The main sources for the literature research were databases, such as Emerald, web of science, Google and library of college Tunku Abdul Rahman. Second stage: Data collection will take form of a structured postal questionnaire. However an initial pilot study may be conducted to test the validity of the questionnaire through interviews with relevant parties. Third stage: Questionnaires will be conduct and send to respondent. The main ideas of the questionnaires are to test the owners of understanding about WLCC, and also research on the preferable of low initial cost or low WLCC when owner make decision of choosing alternatives. The questionnaire should be highlighted more prominently, to make it easier for respondents to participate in the final questionnaire survey. Last stage: This stage involves writing up the content of the dissertation and should cover the chapters proposed in the following section. The result of interview and questionnaires will be analysis and conclude. Example of WLCC analysis will provide by searching through media resources and calculate by myself with simple and reality assumption based on the WLCC principles.

Carl Jung and The Great Gatsby Essay -- Great Gatsby Essays

Carl Jung and The Great Gatsby    The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic story about the shallow aristocracy of the 1920's American society, is the topic of much interpretation. This paper presents the proposition that the "Roaring Twenties" were years dominated by an SP (part of Carl Jung's archetypal psychology that will later be explained in more depth) society and the characters in The Great Gatsby reflect and were deeply affected by this fact. Daisy will be analyzed herein, as well as the effect that an SP society had on her actions and development.      Ã‚   The human psyche has been the basis of study for millennia. Dating back to Hippocrates around 370 BC, the earliest belief was that people are fundamentally predisposed at birth, that their psyches are programmed. The idea continued to manifest in mainstream sciences up until about the 19th century AD. There arose, in the early 20th century, the notion that people are born without predisposition, and are molded by their environment from the time of infancy. John Watson, and early American behaviorist, proposed that he could shape a child into any form he wanted, provided that he had control of the child from infancy. Similarly to the notion of psychological malleability was the belief that people are driven by a single basic motive. Sigmund Freud claimed that we are all driven from within by instinctual lust. There were also the existentialist psychologists, such as Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, who had people seeking self-actualization. Finally, in 1920, Swiss physician Ca rl Jung disagreed. In Psychological Types he wrote that "people have a multitude of instincts, what he called 'archetypes', that drive them from within, and that one instinct is no mo... ... II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Keirsey, David. Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   < http://www.paulsann.com/thelawlessdecade/20_s.html> 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   < http://www.paulsann.com/thelawlessdecade/20_s.html> 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   < http://www.homework-online.com/tgg/quotes.asp> 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   < http://www.homework-online.com/tgg/quotes.asp> 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   < http://www.homework-online.com/tgg/quotes.asp>       Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925. Keirsey, David. Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence. Moniaci, Jonathon. "The Great Gatsby" < http://www.homework-online.com/tgg/index.asp> Sann, Paul. "The Lawless Decade"   < http://www.paulsann.com/thelawlessdecade/20_s.html>    Carl Jung and The Great Gatsby Essay -- Great Gatsby Essays Carl Jung and The Great Gatsby    The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic story about the shallow aristocracy of the 1920's American society, is the topic of much interpretation. This paper presents the proposition that the "Roaring Twenties" were years dominated by an SP (part of Carl Jung's archetypal psychology that will later be explained in more depth) society and the characters in The Great Gatsby reflect and were deeply affected by this fact. Daisy will be analyzed herein, as well as the effect that an SP society had on her actions and development.      Ã‚   The human psyche has been the basis of study for millennia. Dating back to Hippocrates around 370 BC, the earliest belief was that people are fundamentally predisposed at birth, that their psyches are programmed. The idea continued to manifest in mainstream sciences up until about the 19th century AD. There arose, in the early 20th century, the notion that people are born without predisposition, and are molded by their environment from the time of infancy. John Watson, and early American behaviorist, proposed that he could shape a child into any form he wanted, provided that he had control of the child from infancy. Similarly to the notion of psychological malleability was the belief that people are driven by a single basic motive. Sigmund Freud claimed that we are all driven from within by instinctual lust. There were also the existentialist psychologists, such as Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, who had people seeking self-actualization. Finally, in 1920, Swiss physician Ca rl Jung disagreed. In Psychological Types he wrote that "people have a multitude of instincts, what he called 'archetypes', that drive them from within, and that one instinct is no mo... ... II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Keirsey, David. Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   < http://www.paulsann.com/thelawlessdecade/20_s.html> 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   < http://www.paulsann.com/thelawlessdecade/20_s.html> 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   < http://www.homework-online.com/tgg/quotes.asp> 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   < http://www.homework-online.com/tgg/quotes.asp> 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   < http://www.homework-online.com/tgg/quotes.asp>       Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925. Keirsey, David. Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence. Moniaci, Jonathon. "The Great Gatsby" < http://www.homework-online.com/tgg/index.asp> Sann, Paul. "The Lawless Decade"   < http://www.paulsann.com/thelawlessdecade/20_s.html>   

Succubus Shadows Chapter 17

My initial time with the Oneroi had been a mix of true and false dreams. As time went on – and I really had no way of saying how much of it did go on – the majority of them seemed to be true ones. They were either visitations of awful memories or more glimpses into my current life, meant to demoralize me and make me homesick. I was still torn apart, still feeling more animal than human or succubus or†¦whatever. Yet, the fleeting pieces of rationality within me wondered at the sudden lack of handcrafted visions. One might argue the Oneroi were being lazy. They were just giving me recycled material, and whenever I did see my friends in the world, I got the impression that it was less a dream and more like the Oneroi flipping me onto a TV channel to make sure I stayed distracted and gave them something to feed off of. It almost felt like they were trying to keep me busy because†¦well, they were busy. But why? What had happened? What had Dante been about to tell Roman and the others? Was it enough to make the Oneroi pull some of their attention from me? Or were these simply more mind games meant to leave me in turmoil? I kept hoping I'd see a follow-up to what had happened with Dante, but the Oneroi had other parts of the life I'd left behind to show me. Or, well, parts I hadn't left behind. Simone was still impersonating me, and the Oneroi wanted me to know. Adding insult to injury, she was helping Maddie and Seth with the wedding. The three of them were out cake shopping, and honestly, I was almost more surprised to find Seth there than I was Simone in her disguise. He'd pretty much kept away from the wedding planning as much as possible, using the pretense that he was no good at decisions and was happy to let Maddie run things the way she wanted. I didn't doubt the first part of what he said but wondered about the second. In my heart of hearts, the one that believed he was still in love with me, I secretly hoped he was passing it to Maddie just because he was indifferent to it all. I wanted to believe that he really didn't care about the planning because he didn't care about the wedding. It was clear, however, that I cared. Or rather – Simone cared. Considering my reluctance at dress shopping, you would have thought Maddie might notice the sudden increase in zeal. Nope. Maddie was too caught up in her own bubble of happiness and welcomed â€Å"my† assistance. So, the three of them set off on a cake adventure, visiting all the bakeries Maddie had compiled and ranked on a list pulled from hours of Internet research. â€Å"You want it creamy,† said Simone, licking icing off her fingers at a bakery in Belltown. Actually, it was more like sucking. â€Å"This is a little too sugary.† The threesome sat at a table where they had been provided with a plate of samples. â€Å"That's the point,† said Maddie. She was eating a bite-size piece of chocolate cake in a much less pornographic way. â€Å"Mega sugar rush.† â€Å"Yeah, but if you get too much sugar, it just tastes grainy. You want it to slide right over your lips.† She turned to Seth. â€Å"Don't you think so?† Seth had taken a bite out of a piece of marble cake. â€Å"It is kind of grainy.† Simone gave him a knowing smile, one that seemed to say, See? I know you better than anyone else in the world. Seth held her eyes for a moment, but his expression was unreadable. He turned toward Maddie. â€Å"But we can do whatever you want.† â€Å"No, no,† she said, not sounding too disappointed. â€Å"This is for both of us. I want it to be something you like too.† Seth gave her a mischievous smile. â€Å"Does it matter? It all gets shoved in the face anyway.† Maddie's eyes went wide. â€Å"No, it doesn't! Don't even think about doing that.† â€Å"Guess you won't know until the time comes, huh?† His smile had grown. Seeing him play with her made me (figuratively) squirm, but I took comfort in seeing a flash of annoyance in Simone's eyes. Maddie was succeeding where Simone couldn't. That was how it should be†¦or was it? Maddie's unwitting triumph over Simone meant she had†¦well, triumphed over me. Or had she? Simone looked like me but wasn't truly me. Damn. This was all so confusing. â€Å"Seth wouldn't do that,† said Simone, resting her hand on his shoulder in what was supposed to be a friendly way. Maddie couldn't see it from her vantage, but Simone's fingers lightly brushed the back of his neck. â€Å"Not if he wants a good honeymoon.† She spoke lightly, but there was a sly undertone there. Having her sex life brought up in public made Maddie blush. Seth had shifted uncomfortably, but the reason was unclear. Simone's fingers? The mention of sex? Maybe both. Simone removed her hand, seeming innocent to all the world, except Seth and me. Maddie seemed eager to change the subject from the romantic goings-on of a honeymoon. â€Å"I think you should at least pick the cake flavor,† she said. â€Å"I'm choosing so much else.† â€Å"I don't know,† said Seth. He still seemed uncomfortable. â€Å"I don't care if you do it.† â€Å"Yeah, but she wants you to,† said Simone. â€Å"Come on, make one firm decision here. You can't go wrong. Maddie'll eat anything you pick.† Loaded statement. Neither Seth nor Maddie acted as though they read anything into it, but I had a feeling Simone had intended it as a reference to Maddie's very buxom figure. â€Å"Exactly,† said Maddie. â€Å"What's your favorite flavor?† â€Å"I bet I can guess,† said Simone. â€Å"Chocolate.† â€Å"Strawberry,† said Maddie. Losers. It was vanilla. â€Å"Vanilla,† said Seth. Maddie groaned. â€Å"Naturally. Well, there's one decision made.† She rose from the table. â€Å"Let's try a few other places and get the rest of this taken care of. Not much left after this.† They reached the door, and Maddie stopped to glance at Simone. â€Å"Oh, hey. Will you do me a favor? Will you take Seth tux shopping?† â€Å"What?† asked Seth. No neutral face now. He was shocked. Maddie grinned. â€Å"If you don't have a keeper, you'll show up at the church in a Billy Idol T-shirt. And it's bad luck if I go with you.† â€Å"I thought that was just for the bride,† said Seth. â€Å"I want to be surprised,† Maddie countered. â€Å"Of course I'll go,† said Simone, putting her arm around Seth again in that â€Å"friendly† way. Maddie beamed, and the bakery faded away†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦transforming into Erik's store. Erik sat at a small table with Jerome and Roman, and – so help me – they were drinking tea. Even Jerome. Roman was visible, which made me think Jerome must have decided they no longer needed to fear the eyes of higher powers who might wonder why my â€Å"human† roommate kept tagging along with Seattle's archdemon. Erik was tapping his tea cup thoughtfully. â€Å"If your theory is right, it would explain a lot.† These words were directed at Roman. â€Å"The dream quality of the visions. Mr. Jerome's complete inability to find her.† Jerome's slightly arched eyebrow was the only indication of his displeasure over the word â€Å"inability.† Erik continued, eyes on his cup as he pondered it all. â€Å"And you're right†¦of all the creatures you suggested, Oneroi or Morphean demons make the most sense.† Oh! I thought in triumph to the Oneroi. How do you like that, bitches? My friends are on to you. No response came. No dissolving of the dream, as I would have expected. â€Å"But why her?† asked Roman irritably. I had a feeling he'd taken credit for the dream idea, shielding Dante from Jerome's wrath. â€Å"Why a succubus? Don't they only care about human dreams?† â€Å"They're tied to Nyx,† pointed out Erik. Oh, yes. My friends were smart. Smarter than Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys put together. Maybe even Matlock too. â€Å"The ‘why' is irrelevant,† said Jerome, speaking at last. â€Å"Whether it's Oneroi or Morpheans is also irrelevant. If something's taken her to the world of dreams, she's completely inaccessible.† Roman frowned. â€Å"Why? Can't you just go in there and pull her out now that you know?† Jerome gave his son a smile that almost, almost seemed genuinely amused. â€Å"You're half-human, and it shows. Greater immortals can't go there. We don't dream. Only humans do. The way is barred to us.† â€Å"Because you have no hopes or imaginings of what might be,† said Erik. His manner and tone clearly indicated he believed such a thing to be a failing for angels and demons. â€Å"You need a soul to dream.† â€Å"Well, if I'm half-human, then I'll go there,† said Roman obstinately, cutting off any retort Jerome might have given. â€Å"I dream. So I can enter, right? And I can take on whatever's there.† There was so much determination in his voice that I half believed he could take on an army of Oneroi right now. â€Å"You have no idea what you're talking about,† said Jerome. â€Å"Clearly. Do you have any idea what the dream world is like?† â€Å"Do you?† asked Roman dryly. â€Å"I thought you couldn't go there.† â€Å"Dreams are what fuel human existence. Dreams of power, love, revenge, redemption†¦the dreams of mankind are vast, uncountable. Humans dream both waking and asleep. Those hopes and fears are what put them at risk – they gamble their lives and souls on dreams. You go into the world of dreams, and it's like stepping into a blizzard. Every snowflake is some human imagining flitting by so quickly, you can't even see it. All you see is a blur, a tangle of longings and chaos. If Georgina is there, she is one of those snowflakes. You would never find her soul.† Heavy silence fell. Finally, Roman said, â€Å"That was like poetry, Dad.† â€Å"But he's correct,† Erik told Roman. More silence. Roman glanced between the two of them incredulously. â€Å"So that's it? It's hopeless? You're giving up without even trying to find her?† â€Å"Trying is hopeless,† said Jerome. Demons might not dream the way humans did, but I suspected even he could picture what his superiors would do when they found out he'd lost a succubus. â€Å"Human magic could access the world of dreams, but it'd do no good.† He glanced at Erik, who nodded. â€Å"Someone lost among all that couldn't be called back. Not even the strongest ritual could do it. Her soul would never hear anything we could muster.† Roman's face was a mixture of emotions. Anger. Disbelief. And†¦resignation. That didn't surprise me. Jerome's face did, however. He had stiffened at Erik's words, a spark of insight flashing in those cold, dark eyes. â€Å"But you could do the ritual, correct?† he asked Erik. â€Å"You're human. You're strong enough to open the way.† Erik eyed him warily. â€Å"Yes†¦but by your own admission, it would achieve nothing. The connection you had to her was theoretically strong enough to possibly summon her back, but you can't enter. All we'd have is a useless doorway.† Jerome stood up abruptly. He glanced at Roman. â€Å"Find your own way home.† The demon vanished with a showy poof of smoke. And I vanished back into the Oneroi's prison. They stood there in the dark, glowing from what they'd taken from me. In dreams, though I suffered, I never felt the horrific effects they caused until I returned from them. That was when the agony, energy loss, and confusion hit me. Yet, this time, I wasn't completely lost to despair. â€Å"You were wrong,† I said. I tried to put some smugness in my voice, but it came out hoarse from my exhaustion. Good God. I was so, so tired. I guess dreaming didn't necessarily mean sleeping. â€Å"My friends have figured it out. They know where I am.† As always, One and Two were nearly impossible to read. â€Å"What makes you think that was a true dream?† Excellent question. â€Å"Gut instinct,† I said. â€Å"You believe you can trust it?† asked One. â€Å"After all this time? After so many dreams? How can you tell what's real and unreal?† I couldn't. I knew when the memories were true – for now – but the â€Å"real world† scenes were harder. Maybe it wasn't my gut so much as my blind optimism that believed what I'd just seen was real. Two guessed my thoughts. â€Å"You hope. And we've fed that hope, making you think you have a chance. So you will wait. And wait. And wait.† â€Å"It was real,† I said firmly, as though that would make it so. â€Å"Even if it was,† said One, â€Å"it meant nothing. You saw for yourself. There is no way to bring you back.† â€Å"Maybe that was the lie,† I said. â€Å"Maybe the rest was true. You mixed it. They figured out where I was, but you didn't show me the part where they learned how to rescue me. They're going to do that ritual.† â€Å"They will fail. Nothing can pull your soul from here.† â€Å"You're wrong.† I didn't even really know what I was saying. My essence felt like it was tearing apart, and really, the only thing I knew to do was to keep contradicting them. â€Å"And you are naive. You always have been. Lesser immortals carry that weakness over from their human days, and you're one of the worst. Our mother nearly used your weakness to free herself from the angels. Now it will be your downfall.† â€Å"What do you mean Nyx almost used it?† The Oneroi exchanged glances – very, very pleased ones. â€Å"Your dream. Your fantasy,† explained Two. â€Å"The one she promised to show you if you freed her. You wanted so badly to believe it was possible, that you nearly gave in.† For a moment, I didn't see them or that perpetual blackness. I was in a dream of my own creation, not theirs. The dream Nyx had sent to me over and over had been one of my future, with a home and a child – and a man. A man I loved whose identity remained a mystery. Nyx had never shown me the ending. Never shown me the man in the dream. â€Å"You are so full of shit,† I said. â€Å"You claim Nyx shows the truth – the future. But how could that vision have been true if I'm also supposed to be locked here for all eternity? They can't both be true.† â€Å"The future is always changing,† said One. â€Å"That was true when she showed it to you. Your path shifted.† â€Å"Oh, come on! What's the point of having a vision of the future if it can change at any moment? That's not a truth or a lie. That's a guess. And I never believed her anyway. What she showed me was impossible – even if I wasn't here with you two assholes.† â€Å"You will never know if it was,† said Two. Then, he reconsidered. â€Å"Actually it was possible, but you will live with the knowledge that it's a future that's been taken from you.† â€Å"You can't take what I never had,† I growled. â€Å"Succubi can't have children. I could never have that kind of life.† What I didn't add was that one startling thing had come from the dream. In it, I'd had two cats. At the time, I'd only had one – Aubrey. Not long after, I'd found Godiva, who was the other cat in the dream. Coincidence? Or had I truly been on the path to that future, only to have it ripped from me now? As always, the Oneroi could see into my heart and knew what I was thinking. â€Å"Do you want to see?† asked One. â€Å"See what?† â€Å"The man,† said Two. â€Å"The man in the dream.†