Essay on My Education and Career Goals in the Medical Field

Every night, as I sat on the table with my younger brothers assisting them with their homework, I hear a familiar sound at the door. As she walks her heels click, and I can hear her searching her bag for her keys, the next thing I know the keys are in the lock and as it turns me and my younger brothers’ jump. We run to the door and indeed we scream in unison â€Å"Mommy’s home†, one by one she gives us a hug and a kiss. My mother asks us how our day was, and if we finished our homework, she then looks to me and said â€Å"did you cook and assist your younger ones with their homework†; I replied â€Å"yes mom†. As I warm the food, I take my mother’s purse, jacket, and shoes put them away and prepare the table for her to eat dinner. As I glance at the†¦show more content†¦We traveled from Staten Island, NY to Manhattan, NY via the ferry, train and bus and we finally reach our destination. This was five years ago, now I will be a coll ege graduate in May 2010, my immediate brother is in his second year of college pursuing Engineering, and my baby brother will also be a graduate, from high school attending the University of Buffalo to pursue Law. I entered Buffalo State College at the age of 17; I was scared never in my life had I ever been exposed to anything so extravagant and dominating. Born and raised in a metropolitan city where you can feel the next person breathing down your neck and as you walk its either you brush up against 10 people on each city block or 10 people pushes you out of their way, I wasnt ready for the slow-paced life of Buffalo it simply wasn’t what I envisioned my college life to be. I eventually grew into its lifestyle and learned to adapt to my new environment. I love research, looking at the results of an experiment for the first time and knowing that my data, this newly found piece of information, is furthering our knowledge in a small area of science is an unutterable experience. My current major Health and Wellness consists of different aspects of science, health and wellness of everyday life. I was given the opportunity in high school to intern at the renowned New YorkShow MoreRelatedEssay about Unit 4 Assignment: Outlining Career Goals1496 Words   |  6 Pagescredentials current issues relevant to your profession, summary of your career goals, and where you see yourself in 5 years. Your paper should include an introduction, topic sentence, supporting statements for each paragraph, and a conclusion. You will be graded not only on the content but your writing and format. Please see the project rubric located in the course syllabus. 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International Association On Computer Science - 888 Words

As new technology is built and sports continue to thrive and expand on an international level, the integration between the sports world and developing technology cannot be overlooked. Although the field of sports informatics is relatively new, its development into a promising form of science is successfully emerging. The field is defined as a â€Å"collectivity of knowledge, scientific argumentation, and research methods that deal with problems and phenomena related to sport† (Lames, and Link). Given this broad definition, sport informatics possesses many attractive perspectives within sport, including but not limited to: â€Å"the measurement and reporting of physiological data, computerized performance analysis, and motor behavior and physiological adaptation† (Lames, and Link). In other words, the current approaches used by scientists in this field are described as creating a virtual environment for training specific perception tasks for a particular sport. Inevitabl y, this type of virtual sports environment possesses the power to redefine the athletic world as this new age of technology simultaneously redefines our culture. The International Association on Computer Science in Sport (IACSS) was created in 2002 for research in the area of sports development. The strongest factor that helps fuel this association’s success is its close links with other various sports data and informatics workgroups. It maintains relations with the International Association for Sports InformationShow MoreRelatedThe Privacy Preserving Data Mining1046 Words   |  5 PagesHorizontally Partitioned Data†, IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, ISSN (Online): 1694-0814, Vol. 9, Issue 5, No 1, September 2012. [2] Li Liu , Kantarcioglu, M. , Thuraisingham, B. â€Å"Privacy Preserving Decision Tree Mining from Perturbed Data†, System Sciences, HICSS 09. 42nd Hawaii International Conference, IEEE, ISBN: 978-0-7695-3450-3, 2009. [3] K. 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Organized Sports Benefits Essay Example For Students

Organized Sports Benefits Essay 25 million American children can not be wrong. Even though at least 20 millionof these kids will suffer injury by the age of 15, only 10% of the injuries areserious enough to require more than one visit to the doctor. I have been playingbaseball as well as other organized sports for almost 15 years; and in myopinion, sports develop friendship and self-esteem. I believe that coachesshould take a how-to class on what a coach should and should not do. Injuries occur for three main reasons. First, because parents push theirchildren past their natural ability level, thus it causes injury to the overworked body parts. Second, an accident occurs such as a turned ankle or a balltaking a bad bounce and hitting a player. The third, and most common reason, acoach teaches a player the wrong way to perform specific task. For example, whenI was 12 years old, my baseball coach taught me the wrong way to throw a curveball. After repeatedly throwing the wrong way, I tore a ligament in my rightelbow. If my coach at that time, would have taken some kind of class, he wouldhave known the proper way to teach the technique. Nevertheless, I feel thatsports should greatly benefit a childs self-esteem. Competition also buildsself-esteem because children grow both emotionally and physically and sportshelp to develop a positive view of both themselves and their athletic skills. Aslong as children feel that they are beneficial to the team, they are develop ingself-esteem because they see their personal role in the team as important to thewhole cause. If a child is not athletically gifted, he can always take up a morenon-competitive sport such as jogging or weight-training. This will also buildself-esteem because the child can see his improvement and relate to others atthe same time (Michelli and Jenkins). As well as building self-esteem, sportscan help develop life-long friendships. Children form all different ethnic andreligious backgrounds come together to play a game. This makes a good place forchildren to mingle with others of the same age. This can in turn give each childa sense of belonging and camaraderie between different races. Athletics alsoallow children to learn about their abilities as compared to other children ofthe same age. Children learn about talent that otherwise may have goneunnoticed. If I had not been involved in sports from an early age, I may havenever discovered the talent that I have in baseball. I loved pla ying baseballfrom the first day I stepped on the field. I feel that most every child has agood time being around children of their own age. If not for the fun of playingthe game, then for the fun of being around children that are different fromthem. In conclusion, children have fun while building self-esteem and making newfriendships. I believe that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages by far. That is why I believe we should let kids have fun, and learn about themselveswhile doing it.

Training Need Assessment and Provision Free-Samples for Students

Question: Prepare a Training andor Development Needs Assessment of an Organisational area that you are familiar with. Answer: Introduction: The assignment is a detailed study of assessment of training needs of the employees in a real life organisation. It presents before the Telstra board the need to train the customer care and the network employees to better their performances. The paper takes Telstra and points out areas of inefficiency of two departments, which are resulting in consumer grievances. The paper opens with a background study of the gap between the expectations of the stakeholders and the performance of Telstra. This requires a study of the training assessment need assessment of Telstra to understand the importance of performing according to stakeholder expectations. The subsequent section studies the external forces taking Telstra into account. It takes into account several articles from the leading editorials to authenticate the problems. Training and development need assessment forms the next section which also studies the need for the training keeping the articles in view. This is followed by an extrem ely small section merely mentioning the parties involved in the training needs assessment process. The study then selects observation as an appropriate method to assess training needs and evaluates it. The paper derives strength from theories of Kolb and other authors. There are also traces of organisation theories of Weber and Taylor in the work. The last section deals with the concept of organisation setting and takes the organisation setting of Telstra as an example. The paper has recommendations about assessing training needs through observation methods and its importance. The background: The reason for the training need assessment is the gap between the consumer expectation and actual performances delivered by Telstra customer service providers. Telstra is the biggest Australian telecommunication company, which provides mobile connection, internet services and online television viewing packages. The company has expanded its operations outside Australia into Europe and Asian countries as well. This international expansion brings it under impact of pressures from the external environmental forces like political, environmental and economical categories. The intense pressure of the consumers and government bodies on the operations of Telstra requires trained personnel who can provide uninterrupted service (De et al., 2013). Telstra has been the main service provider of telecommunication in the Australian backdrop. Such has been its work process in the past few years that people want to get associated with it. The customer base is gradually increasing for Telstra and to m aintain that in the best possible way, they need skilled people having best communication expertise. This is only possible through the conduction of trainings and assessing the need of the employees to better the service. Training need assessment: The training need assessment is the systematic process to identify the training needs of the employees. There are several processes to identify training needs like taking personal interviews, observation and meetings. The management and the senior managers participate in the training need assessment based on the business objectives, goals of the organisations and their achieved target. The training needs are assessed from time to time to ensure that the employees are efficient and capable of adapting to the changing expectations of the organisations. The analysis shows that government, an external and key stakeholder impacts Telstra by framing laws and codes of conduct for it and its competitors (aph.gov.au, 2017). The present day business environment needs employees to be skilful in ways of performing complicated tasks in the most efficient of ways along with being cost-effective and safe. At certain point of time, organizations need to arrange training for their employees when thei r performance are not resulting in the desired outcome. The classification of the needs for training is the foremost step in a uniform process of instructional plan. Analysis of a successful training need would identify the employee who requires training and the kind of training that is being required of. It is counter-productive in providing training to those individuals who does not require this or is being offered the wrong sort of training. Analysis of training needs assists in putting the resources of training to the best possible use. Types of training needs: The plan of the project is to assess the training needs of the employees at Telstra Communications Limited. There are several types of needs of training within an organization context. The management needs to determine the exact need or purpose of the training aligning with the need of the organization and the ways it would benefit both the employees and the organization in delivering quality service to employees. It is significant in understanding what exactly the organization is trying to accomplish, which in case of Telstra is offering a service that would be uninterrupted in nature. In case of person analysis, the management mainly deals with the probable participants and the instructors involved in the overall process. In this analysis, certain important questions are being answered like who needs training, what is their style of learning, existing knowledge level and certain other things. Another training need that can be taken into account is the task analysis. This mainly considers the job in hand and the requirements for performing the same. This analysis helps in seeking the specification of the key duties and the requirement of level of skill. This helps in ensuring that the developed training would be including relevant associations to the job context. For training suitability analysis the management generally analyses whether training is the only desired solution to the issue that has cropped up within the organization. Training can be considered one of the many solutions to the problems of employment, but not always the best one. Therefore, it is important from the organizations perspective to establish whether training would be effective in its convention. Organizations need to check the factor of cost benefit analysis. Effective training leads to return on the investment the company has made in scheduling of the training. The return value needs to be greater than the initial level of investment from the company. Resources Required: The department needs to consult with the HR departments to get the resources like finance, personnel and machinery, if required. The departmental heads first need to observe the employees and identify areas of weaknesses. Then they need to ask the HR department to provide them with the resources and assistance for training. Vodafone, the British telecommunication assesses the training needs of its employees and trains them to enhance their efficiency (vodafone.com, 2017). The concerned department should inform the start date and the end date in writing to the trainees, the departmental heads, the apex management and the HR department well in advance. However, the main resource of the training program is the training room that has all the equipments of an effecting training program, a trainer who is well versed with the objective of the training and the group of people who requires training for bettering their overall performance. All the people who are associated with the process of training should be well aware of the training need and objectives the things that the company wants to achieve through the successful completion of the overall training process.l completion of the overall training process. Feedback of the project managers: The project managers should assess the monitor and evaluate performance of the employees at work against set targets. The project manager must judge the performance based on organisational need analysis, person analysis and task analysis (Hunt, 2017). The analysis should be done on customer service offering power as well (Chang, 2017). The employees to be assessed must know that the process is to assess their training needs to offer them training to better their performance. It will only better their capabilities to compete with players like Vodafone (Coyne, 2017). Employees should be let known where they are lacking and why they need training and what benefit would they cater from such a training program. Understanding the overall process would make things a lot easier for both the management and the employees in successfully going through with the scheduled training. It has been found that employees feel de-motivated when being send to training, signifying their perception that tra ining is for poor performers. That is not always the case, as training provides more opportunity to learn and understand things in a friendly environment. The motivation level, attitude and skills of the employees will be judged. The need is to assess the training needs and create a positive and effective learning environment. The assessment can be made more fruitful and accurate by using material, processes, feedback and programme administration. The training assessor should also encourage peer participation and e-learning method to make the process more productive. Training and Development needs assessment: The above three articles point out that Telstra needs to train its employees dealing with network and customer complaints. The third article clearly pointed out the failure of the customer care department of the company to handle customer grievances. The fourth article pointed out the concern from the TIO which clearly pointed out the potential threat to the market position of Telstra. The TIO pointed out that Vodafone has bettered its services and the number of complaints against the company has fallen. This clearly shows that the competitors are strengthening their market positions to provide Telstra a stiffer challenge. The failure to provide with uninterrupted network and restore blockages questions the commitment of the company to serve consumers, one of the most important stakeholders category. The increasing consumer issues and the failure of the customer service department make the consumers switch their service providers. A reduction in consumer base will start affecting the revenue generation of the company, which will in turn reduce the market position. Given the strong impact of external stakeholders like government and mighty competitor like Vodafone, the company must train and upgrade its network and customer care employees. The company needs to train these people to ensure stakeholder satisfaction and retention of strong market position. An understanding has to created among both the departments along with proper communication that would make things more easy. Proper communication and cooperation would lead to generate possible solutions in dealing with the lessening of the customer issu es. A big company like Telstra certainly has the capability of finding solutions to issues like this. Reason for undertaking training need assessment: The reason for training needs assessment is to find out performance problems, failure to adapt to new market situations and customer service gap which in the long will affect the company. The failure of the network personnel to establish uninterrupted network facility and manage stoppages is liable to result in loss of consumers. They need be trained at functional and departmental level to manage heavy information traffic. Their training needs should incorporate training in new technology to increase their efficiency and performance. Telstra caters to a huge consumer base which necessitates it to have a customer assistance department which is capable of handling several types of customer complaints and providing them with practical solutions. The customer service department receives complaints related to network and service issues. Hence, they have to work in coordination with the network personnel. The training need here is to train both the departments on modern technology to handle consumer problems so that they can provide uninterrupted service. Participants: The training needs assessment and subsequent training should happen at three stages and engage three levels. The senior managers, middle level managers and the training and development practitioners should participate in the training. One main training need: The main training and development need is to train the two groups of personnel to cooperate with each other. The need is to help them to provide better service to the customers and handle their complaints to provide practical solutions. Cooperation and coordination are important factors for any group within an organization for bettering their service to customers. Lack of these sometimes jeopardize the overall organizational working process and provides an opportunity to the rival companies in marching ahead. Customers do have lot of options these days, which does not provide the companies with any window for relaxation or miscommunication within the internal departments. A little slip up in the process would lead to tarnishing of the goodwill created by Telstra over the years. The flow of information should be smooth so that every employee related to Telstra should know and understand the path on which the organization is moving. Recommendations: The management should first observe the performances of the network personnel and customer care employees. They must point out the gap between their expectations and the achieved level of performance. This model of the Learning Cycle (LC) was first proposed by Kolb and is used effectively in real life organisations to assess training needs (Kolb, 2014). The customer service employees should be provided training on modern communication tools to cater to the customer complaint in a more efficient way. For example, they should be trained to accept complaints over the phone and internet and to provide solution to both the types. The network employees should be trained to handle heavy network traffic and restore the system as early as possible in case of an interruption. They should trained in the modern telecommunication technology like new software to handle a huge network of data. They can also be trained to locate stoppages and act promptly to solve issues. Method of need assessment: Observation: The supervisors or a designated person should observe the employees of the two departments and measure their performances against the targets. This will allow the employees to continue their work which ensure continuous productivity. The observer compared to personal interview or questionnaire method can get to an actual view of their deficiency. He can also judge the level of coordination between the two departments. This justifies that observation method is the best method to assess the training needs. Assessment of Observation method: Advantages: Reliable data- The data obtained from observation is reliable and can be counted on for action. The observer observes the trainees at work and collects the data, hence collects authentic and actionable data. Direct practice for action- The employee demonstrates the actual performance which makes it easier for the observer to find out the gap in his performance. He can suggest or implement to improve the performance of the employees which saves both time and cost. Immediate results- The identification of performance gap helps the observer to take immediate actions in the workplace itself. The employees in question can rectify their mistakes and errors to better their performances. Disadvantage: The observer should be good and experienced to evaluate the performance of the employees. He should be able to recognise the faults of the employees and point out ways to improve them. Silberman Biech (2015) in their theory state that training activities should be designed to facilitate rectification of present performance gaps and increase productivity. Observation technique allows the observer to observe the employee and recognise their training needs. This also helps them to plan the training programmes to be followed. For example, in case of Telstra the network and customer care employees need to take both management and technical training. The above evaluation shows that the trainer can form an appropriate training schedule if he uses the observation methods. Kolb (2014) in his model of learning cycle (LC) described that work experience helps in learning while working. This proves that observation is the best way to assess training needs of the employees. Possible outcomes of improper training assessment: Goetsch Davis (2014) in his literature states that quality is a state where the products and services meet customer needs to increase their value. Kum, Cowden Karodia (2014) state that training is indispensible to get an efficient and target oriented workforce. This shows the need of accurate assessment of training needs. The possible outcomes of improper training needs will once lead to lack of efficiency and productivity. An article shows that the outrage of customers against Telstra is increasing due to its lack of services (Carter, 2017). Customers these days want better service quality along with new services that would benefit them immensely. Organizations like Telstra having huge customer base should from time to time come up with new strategies and policies for attracting new customers and keep satisfying the old ones. It would not take much time for the customers in swapping over to a different service provider if they are not happy or satisfied with the present. Organisational setting of Telstra: The organisational setting of Telstra is extremely complex because it is an international company. The board of directors is headed by the CEO who controls CFO, COO, Marketing Media, Procurement, Sustainability, Secretary, Channel Management, Business, International and new business and other second line management. The third level management departments consists of departments of critical importance which is report to the second level managers. For example, the MA, Treasurer, IR, Strategic finance and Telstra Retail directly report to the CFO. The organisation structure of Telstra is empowered to bring about continuous innovation and ensure high quality products. The structure also reflects the international presence of the company and has departments assigned with the responsibility of dealing with international business (theofficialboard.com, 2017). The companys business structure consists of eight subsidiaries which add to the complex but powerful organisation setting. The organisation structure of Telstra has the strong bureaucratic style of Weber which allows the heads of the departments to assess the training needs of the employees. The company manages its human resources aligned to the business needs in a scientific manner. The managers follow participative modus operandi to ensure that the employees get involved in the decision making process. This makes it easier for to observe the employee and recognise their training needs. Conclusion: The assessment of training needs is a very important way to recognise the deficiency in a companys work force. The need of the company requires the employees to update themselves with new technology and methods. Failure to do so results in inefficient performance and customer grievances which lead to competitive loss in the long run. The supervisors should observe their subordinates at work to recognise any training need. They must assess the training needs of the employees accurately to ensure that the latter receives the right training. The training needs of the employees should be regularised because it helps them to deliver high quality products as per customer expectation. This helps the company earn huge revenue and strengthen its market position. References: 8681.0 - Information Media and Telecommunications Services, Australia, 2013-14. (2017). Abs.gov.au. Retrieved 9 May 2017, from https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats%5Cabs@.nsf/0/4177B59603527529CA257E70001BE9E6?Opendocument Carter, L. (2017). Telstra outage continues as internet service complaints rise. abc.net.au. Retrieved 9 May 2017, from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-24/telstra-outage-continues-as-internet-service-complaints-rise/7441440 Chang, C. (2017). Telstra reveals network outage cause. NewsComAu. Retrieved 9 May 2017, from https://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/mobile-phones/customers-complain-of-another-telstra-outage/news-story/5bf14ad81101d463ccef2bb97af6ee47 Corporation, T. (2017). Org Chart Telstra Corporation. TheOfficialBoard. Retrieved 9 May 2017, from https://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/telstra-corporation Coyne, A. (2017). Telstra tops national telco complaints list. CRN Australia. Retrieved 9 May 2017, from https://www.crn.com.au/news/telstra-tops-national-telco-complaints-list-404044 De Nazelle, A., Seto, E., Donaire-Gonzalez, D., Mendez, M., Matamala, J., Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J., Jerrett, M. (2013). Improving estimates of air pollution exposure through ubiquitous sensing technologies.Environmental Pollution,176, 92-99. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS Parliament of Australia. (2017). Aph.gov.au. Retrieved 9 May 2017, from https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Completed_inquiries/1996-99/telstra/report/c07a Goetsch, D. L., Davis, S. B. (2014).Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson. Hunt, E. (2017). Telstra says system shutdown was due to 'embarrassing human error'. the Guardian. Retrieved 9 May 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/09/telstra-customers-lose-phone-and-internet-services-in-mass-systems-failure Kolb, D. A. (2014).Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. FT press. Kum, F. D., Cowden, R., Karodia, A. M. (2014). The impact of training and development on employee performance: A case study of ESCON Consulting.Singaporean Journal of Business Economics and Management Studies,3(3), 72-105. Silberman, M. L., Biech, E. (2015).Active training: A handbook of techniques, designs, case examples, and tips. John Wiley Sons. Vodafone is a leader in the global IoT services market. (2017). vodafone.com. Retrieved 9 May 2017, from https://www.vodafone.com/business/iot/vodafone-is-a-leader-in-the-global-iot-services-market

Aly AJ free essay sample

Why do they stand in line for hours just to meet them? Why do they spend so much money just to get a front row seat at their concert? Why do they practically scream their heads off when they see them come on stage? Why? Because they are Aly and AJ. Alyson Renae â€Å"Aly† Michalka (18) and Amanda Joy â€Å"AJ† Michalka (16) make up the teen pop duo Aly AJ. They have two CDs, plus they also have a holiday CD. Their debut album, Into the Rush, has sold over 800,000 copies, making it Platinum while their second album, Insomniatic, sold about 39,000 copies in its first week. All their song are written or co-written by the girls. On song writing AJ says, â€Å"We want our lyrics to feel like a conversation with the listener, so we dont sugar coat anything. We take things in and observe whats going on around us. We want people of all ages to be able to relate to the subjects. We will write a custom essay sample on Aly AJ or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † When performing, Aly and AJ play their own instruments, either the guitar or piano, and sing. In addition to music, the girls are also actresses. Amanda has appeared on many television shows. The shows she has guest-stared on are The Guardian, Oliver Beene, General Hospital, and Six Feet Under. Alyson made her acting debut on the Disney Channel show Phil of the Future. Aly and AJ have also acted in two movies together, Disneys Cowbelles and MTVs Super Sweet 16: The Movie. Despite all the other things going on in their lives, music is still the most important to them. â€Å"Music is our heart, our soul, and our roots. Its who we really are. We just want to be real, genuine, express the way we honestly feel, and let that come out in our music,† Aly says. Aly and AJ live their life writing songs, playing their guitars and piano, and performing their music live for their fans. Theyre inspiring. Theyre artistic. Theyre devoted. Theyre talented. Theyre compassionate. Theyre Aly and AJ.

5 Publishing Lessons I Learned Working With a Professional Marketer

5 Publishing Lessons I Learned Working With a Professional Marketer 5 Publishing Lessons I Learned Working With a Professional Marketer As a life-long fan of classic science fiction as well as emerging new voices from the genre, Fabrice Stephan's underlying passion is the exploration of technology through fiction, which he shares in his latest novel, Human Starpilots. In this post, he talks about the five biggest lessons he learned about publishing by working with a professional marketer.For indie authors, it’s a no-brainer that publishing is a challenge. Where you work as a teacher, in business, or any other trade, selling books is a brand new world.Anyone who’s already been through the process will tell you that writing is only half the work, while editing, publishing, and marketing makes the other half. Some publishing books might give you a â€Å"fool proof† recipe for success. And on some account, they are right: publishing a book on Amazon or other platforms is easy and fast. But once your book is up there, you’re lost in a crowd of other writers who have little to no sales. There mi ght not be a cost in publishing your book on Amazon, but, in this case there’s no gain, either.This was the point I had reached when I turned to Reedsy to find a professional marketer. I had published two nonfiction books and was in the process of publishing my new science fiction novel. The first two had been downloaded about 200 times, but hadn’t received any reviews or ratings - nice but limited progress that I had achieved using both Kindle Countdown Deals and price promotions via different websites. I wanted to give my third novel more of a chance to reach people.So I turned to Reedsy with a clear request in mind: I wanted professional help with launching my book. And I also wanted to learn more about the trade of book marketing in general. I found marketer Mark Leslie Lefebvre, who met my needs exactly and who went above and beyond my expectations in regards to showing me the ropes.Let’s take a tour of some of the lessons I learned along the way. Is working with a professional marketer worth it for indie authors? Join the discussion here. Lesson 1: Patience is a virtueWhen it comes to promoting your book, what you need to do is engage in consistent, small-scale promotional efforts that earn you as much money as they cost - and then to increase your investments as you make progress.In this way, promoting your book is a game of patience - and requires you to set lots of long-term groundwork before you start earning profits. Those profits might not come with your first book. With the second book you publish, you will build on your author brand. With the third, you’ll have more to offer potential readers. With the fourth,   fifth, sixth, etc - you will continue to build upon (and reap rewards from) your promotional efforts.So be patient, and stick it out for the long haul.Lesson 2: Reviews are keyOf course, the more the merrier when it comes to finding readers. However, when you’re just getting started in your publishing career, you do also want to be strategic about who you’re marketing to so th at you can attract the right kind of readers: in other words, readers who enjoy your genre, who are already looking to read a book like yours, and who will, therefore, be more likely to leave a positive review.For example, someone who reads mostly militaristic sci fi might not be interested in pure adventure sci fi without any space battles. If you advertise to them and they’re let down by your book, you’re more likely to receive a negative review.That’s where refining your target market plays a big role, and Mark helped me do that in spades - as you’ll see in the next three points.Lesson 3: Your cover needs to provide key informationI don’t think I need to tell other indie authors how important a good cover is. What Mark stressed with me is that you don’t only want your cover to attract the attention of readers, but the right readers: the kind of readers who will enjoy your book and leave reviews. Therefore, your cover should immediately g ive readers an idea of your book’s genre and it’s story. Lesson 4: Get your author bio rightMark also helped me work on my author bio to make it more personal, professional, and informative.Before... I have been trained as an engineer and I work, by day, in computer science since 1996. I have already published technical books on computer science. Fan of science fiction, both of the great classics and of the new voices, this is my first full-fledged novel. I was born in the USA, I lived in France, Denmark and Australia and I have settled now in Macon, France, close to Burgundy with my wife and my two kids.After... Fabrice Stephan is an engineer and is the author of multiple technical books on computer science. As a life-long fan of classic science fiction as well as emerging new voices from the genre, his underlying passion is the exploration of technology through fiction, which he shares in his novel Human Starpilots.Partially inspired by the classic Robert Heinlein novel Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, Stephan’s debut novel Human Star pilots explores a future world, where, desperate to escape ecological disaster on earth, humankind’s fate relies on the investment in a unique and limited group of only six pilots capable of surviving the training of managing hyperspace jumps learned from a borrowed Alien technology.And, if the risks and challenges these brave pilots faces wasn’t enough, contact and collaboration with the Alien Federation begins to reveal even more surprises.When he is not exploring other worlds through science fiction, or computer technology through his work, Fabrice Stephan has traversed much of the globe. Born in the USA, he has lived in France, Denmark and Australia before settling in Macon, near the border of Burgundy, with his wife and two kids.Lesson 5: Your blurb should target your audienceMark and I also reworked my blurb to make it more efficient and direct, and to ensure it spoke to my target readers.Before... In 2130, Earth ecology is failing fast. Its inhabitants are dying and the governments are hard pressed to contain the disaster. So when an Alien Federation suddenly contacts Earth and offers assistance, everyone jumps on it. There are further surprises: those aliens prove, once their DNA analysed, to be distant cousin from us. The Federation will provide to Earth advanced technology and support against the climate change with a single condition: To trade among stars, they need pilots capable of managing hyperspace jumps and only rare humans have what it takes to survive the training and become one. To receive support, Earth has to find and provide starpilots to take its share of the load. After a careful selection, six are chosen to fly to the far away planet Adheek. There, they will try to learn their new trade. If they fail, Earth will collapse. If they succeed, it may have a chance. But no one has prepared them to what they will face to gain that chance.This debut novel was inspired by the classic â€Å"Have space suit, will travel† fro m R Heinlein and by the science-fiction work from LE Modesitt. It is a tale of adventure in a far land, of going beyond one’s own limits.After... Only augmented pilots can cross space. But at what cost? In 2130, Earth’s ecology is failing fast. Its inhabitants are dying and the governments are hard pressed to contain the disaster. An Alien Federation contacts Earth and offers assistance. We accept their offer to trade among the stars and receive their support. In exchange, they aliens, who prove to be distant cousins, need pilots capable of managing hyperspace jumps and only rare humans have the right genes and capacities to withstand them. After a careful selection, six are chosen to fly to the far away planet Adheek. There, they will compete with students from other planets to try and learn their new trade. If they fail, Earth will collapse. If they succeed, it may have a chance. But no one has prepared them to what they will face next. If you want to recapture that sense of wonder from reading Robert Heinlein’s â€Å"Have space suit, will travel† and the tale of adventure and going beyond one’s own limit from L.E. Modesitt Jr, then you won’t want to miss this thought provoking novel. The 5 major lessons I learned working a professional marketer. #indieauthor In the end, working with Mark totally changed my perspective on selling books. Time, consistency, targeting, focus, and forbearance - these are all elements you need. And only a professional can help you settle in the rhythm you need to survive the publishing world.

Secondhand Smoke in Asthmatic Children Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Secondhand Smoke in Asthmatic Children - Article Example Results of the study conducted by Dr. Robert McMillen and others (2003), show that 70% of US adult smokers do not prohibit or do not have smoking prohibitions at home which puts their spouses', children's and other inhabitants' health at risk. The same study confirmed that parent's cigarette consumption influence their children's exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) (McMillen, 2003). According to Randall (2006), secondhand smoke, also known as passive smoke, is the involuntary breathing of other people's smoke. In his study, he found out that more than 40% of British children live in a house with at least one person smoking. And secondhand smoke being worse than firsthand smoke, these children is even more in danger of acquiring illnesses such as asthma. Asthma is said to be the most common chronic illness in children (Hansen, 2002). And because studies show that a large number of US homes do not prohibit smoking inside the house, there is a great possibility that the children acquire or inhale some of the secondhand smoke from cigarette and tobacco.

Workforce Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Workforce Leadership - Essay Example (Upstate: AHEC, 2008) The state of the U.S. economy contributes a lot to the restructuring and downsizing of manpower within the health care institutions. (Chadwick et al., 2004; Bazzoli et al., 2003) Particularly, the limited number of health care practitioners in line with the increasing number of patients admitted to the hospital could result to ‘burnout’ employees. For these reasons, studies have shown that one of the best solutions in preventing the main causes of human errors in the field of medicine is by having good leadership skills. (Moore & Simendinger, 1999) In order to determine how leadership could minimize and lessen the number of medical errors and the incidence of preventable deaths, the researcher will conduct a literature review with regards to the importance of collaborative efforts in achieving human resource management activities; the impact of implementing a good leadership within the health care vicinity as well as the negative impact of bad leadership over the lives of the patients who are admitted to the hospital. Prior to the main discussion, the researcher will discuss the significance of body language in leadership behavior and office politics. Winston and Patterson (2006) defined a good leader as someone who could not only influence, select, equip and train his/her follower(s) that has different sets of abilities and skills but also enables their follower(s) to willingly participate with the leader when it comes to achieving the health organization’s goal. According to Dessler (2001), leaders with a competent leadership skill are individuals who are capable of inspiring another person who often times have the â€Å"drive to achieve their goals; the desire to lead; self-confidence; cognitive ability; honesty and integrity; as well as having sufficient knowledge in doing business.† On top of these personality traits, a leader should

Developing an Innovation Strategy for a Healthy Lifestyle at the Essay

Developing an Innovation Strategy for a Healthy Lifestyle at the Co-operative Food Group - Essay Example Innovation entails coming up with new ideas and implementing them into new process, service, and product, resulting in the dynamic growth of the organization or national economy and increase employment opportunities. Innovation is not a one-time process, but it is a long and cumulative process that requires the organization to engage in decision-making processes that range from generation of new ideas to implementing them (Child, Gakkai, Kagono, and Urabe 3). Fuglsang (6) states that the definition of innovation comprises of two aspects: innovation and creativity, exploitation and exploration, or selection and variation. In other words, innovation is viewed as comprising of two integrated processes. New suitable inventions or ideas have to be discovered in a creative manner. The interaction between those two processes is very vital for the success of the innovation (Fuglsang 6). Blue Ocean The proposed innovation strategy for adoption by CF captures the blue ocean innovation concept as well as low cost strategy with regard to operations ambitions. In the blue ocean innovation approach proposed by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, competition as a market force threatening smooth operations, CF will find it advisable to explore new product and market profiles without the traditional limitations of competition (Kim and Mauborgne 3). Overcoming the completion limitation, referred to as red ocean, will facilitate CF accessing unlimited opportunities in new markets. Coupling this approach to the low cost leadership strategy, the blue ocean innovation will ensure that the operations at CF remain sustainable, particularly in the financial constrained operations space experienced today in Europe. Four main areas of the innovative strategy will be encompassed in the model as enumerated below. The proposed model below enumerates the approach that Cooperative Food needs to embrace in order to highlight healthy products brand image, eliminate competition and reduce operation costs. Critical Analysis In view of the major players that CF has, different approaches may prove effective to deal with specific competitive threats posed by each of the competing sides. The identification of the major competitive threats is perhaps important in the enumeration and quantification of the competitive input required at CF. some of the main market players likely to pose competitive threats to CF include ASDA, TESCO, Morrisons, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s. ASDA presents a particular market competition threat by its popular consumer involvement strategy referred to as ‘Chosen by You’ category of products which enter on the company’s menu through recommendation by the customers (Cooperative Food 6). With respect to capturing customer demands, the magnitude of this competitive threat illustrates the success levels likely to be attained by CF if a more customer caring and customer response approach formulate marketing concepts adopted. As an illustr ation of the ASDA wrought competition expected in 2012, over 1,000 such customer requested additions will enter into the competitive aspect. CF must therefore adopt more

How Important And Relevant Is Mertons Strain Theory?

How Important And Relevant Is Mertons Strain Theory? In this essay I will analyse the importance and relevance of a structional functionalist view of deviance seen through the lens of strain theory and a symbolic interactionalist perspective through the use of labelling theory. Strain Theory attempts to explain why crime is resolute amongst the lower classes who are subjected to the least opportunities for economic achievement (O Connor 2007). It focuses on the positions that individuals occupy in a social system, not on the characteristics of the individual. Labeling theory explains why sustained delinquent behaviour stems from destructive social interactions and encounters (Siegel Welsh 2008). These theories work in harmony as the former theory explains why deviance begins and the latter gives an explanation as to why deviance continues through the lifespan. I will be describing and evaluating these theories to further answer the question of: just how important are these two theories for the understanding deviance? The sociology of deviance is the systematic study of social norm violation that is subject to social sanction according to (Henry 2009 p.1). Deviant behaviour is behaviour that does not follow common perceptions, when people are deviant they do not conform to expectations. It is difficult to give an exact definition of deviance as many major theorists have cast a vast variety of perspectives on what it really is. Some sociologists believe that deviance is the violation of any social rule, whereas other sociologists argue that deviance does not have to be a real behaviour for it to be labelled deviant (Thio, Calhoun Conyers 2008). Downes Rock (2003) state that deviance is everywhere and not only that but it leaves traces everywhere. Theories of deviance are rarely catapulted into political settings to be accepted or rejected in their entirety; rather they trickle in from many sources. The influence of ideas is always changing due to the instability of political circumstances (Downs Rock 2003). The increase in deviance may be due to the fact that people are confused about the correct values and morals to hold. As a result of this ever evolving world there are new variations of deviant behaviour occurring on a daily basis, ranging from minor violations of the law such as not paying a television licence to major deviance like abuse scandals in regard to the Catholic Church. These acts are considered to be deviant as they are acts which the rest of society deems as unacceptable (Tierney 2006). Traditional values such as religious views have been shattered to pieces because of ongoing scandals in the Catholic Church. Individual pursuits drive people; religion has no impact on the expected standards of people in todays materialist driven society, which in turn leads to an increase in deviant behaviours. The Functionalist perspective stems from the work of Durkheim who believed that peoples social roles or functions hold society together (Flynn 2009). In contrast to this is the Symbolic interaction approach where the emphasis is on the way people construct the meaning of others acts (Becker McCall 1990). Durkheim believed that crime is not only functional but it is necessary, it only become dysfunctional if the rates are either too high or too low (Covington 1999). The functionalist analysis of deviance begins with society as a whole; it looks for the source of deviance in the nature of society rather than in the psychological nature of the individual. Durkheim believes society is held together by shared values, and if these values are not constantly reaffirmed through the generations it may signify the collapse of society. One may put forward the argument that shared values are not a fundamental part of society today. It proves difficult to reaffirm values through generations when the family when parents are working long hours. Parental influence over children has declined; due to this children seek values from available sources such as the television or internet, resulting in the promotion of materialistic values which are in turn the norms today. If the community collapsed, and the collective conscience failed the result was a state of anomie (Covington 1999). In essence anomie represents the problems in society caused by social deregulation. Merton developed an anomie theory based on Durkheims earlier work which referred to a deinstitutionalization of norms that happens when there is a disjunction between the importance of cultural goals and institutional means (Featherstone Deflem 2003). Mertons strain theory argues that structures in society may encourage deviance and crime, it is a structural functionalist explanation. Functionalist theories offers the basis for policies that are wide-ranging in their scope (Downes Rock 2003), however Gouldner (1970) believes that Functionalism thinks of systems as mutually interacting variables rather than in terms of cause and effect, thus one may infer that it is impossible to implement policy to stop a particular effect if the cause is not highlighted. Theories of deviance are extremely important as Downes Rock (2003) believe that all theories of deviance have implications for policy making. That said however the ease of implementation of polices may prove difficult. For example doing something about anomie would be far more difficult than tackling vandalism by technical means (Downes Rock p. 317 2003) However, Mertons anomie theory is of great relevance to the realm of policy as it infers a definite cause and effect statement relating to the disjunction between goals and means (Downes Rock 2003). The main principle of Social Strain Theory is that some social structures exert a definite pressure upon certain persons in society to engage in non-conforming rather than conforming conduct (Thio, Calhoun Conyers 2008 p.33). This is not to say that certain social structures leave the individual with no other choice but to turn to crime, rather inadequate regulation leaves the individual with a different perspective on means to financial gain. I agree that this system is a great source of inequality and subsequent deviance in our society today that the less powerful groups are labelled so negatively and punished severely. Every crime should be treated in the same manner, regardless of whether they are from an underprivileged area or a high flying business person. An impact of cycle of deficient regulation may also be seen in Beckers Labelling theory. This theory was greatly influenced by the symbolic interaction approach as it is people who determine and give meaning to labels. The justice system operates on behalf of powerful groups in society; hence one has to ask the question what behaviours are criminal? The two strands of this theory are a concern to address how a particular behaviour comes to be labelled as deviant and secondly what is the impact of this label. (Becker p.9 1963) states that The deviant is one whom that label has been successfully applied: deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label. In relation to deviance Labelling theory places the importance on the reaction to behaviour not the behaviour itself (Macionis Plummer 2007). It was this belief that leads Becker to place labels on types of behaviour, but who are the people labelled as deviant in society. To put it simply, labelling theory is concerned with what happens to criminals after they have been labelled, also suggesting that actual crime rates may be heightened by criminal sanctions. Unlike the Functionalist perspective, Symbolic Interaction is concerned with the process that underline social life and consequently the mechanisms by which meanings are given to those processes. It centres on the creativity capacity of humans and their ability to share interactions with others (Walklate 2007). In relation to deviance it is concerned with how certain behaviours come to be understood as deviant. Becker argued that behaviours of less powerful groups for example the poor, or disadvantaged are more likely to be criminalized than those who are privileged such as the white and wealthy. This happens because there is an assumption that crime is a social label along with the creation of law which are made by people in positions of power and enforced on people without power (Hopkins Burke 2002). The judicial system criminalizes less dominant and less powerful member of society, thus Becker argues that some rules may be cynically designed to keep the less powerful in their place (Hopkins Burke p.137 2002). Becker (1963) disagreed with the notion that those who break the law will be labelled as a criminal. He brought our attention to the fact that in many cases the innocent are accused, along with this only some of those who break the law are punished and brought through the system (Hopkins Burke 2002). Becker used a concept developed by Merton called the self fulfilling prophecy which is what labelling theory is most widely known for. When a situation is given a false definition it evokes a new behaviour in the person which as a result makes the false assumption comes through (Hopkins Burke p.142 2002). Becker felt that most criminals were in the first place falsely defined as a criminal, not only are their actions defined by society as deviant, the label is then extended to them as a person (Hopkins Burke 2002). Mertons concept of strain refers to pressure the lower economic classes feel when they try to achieve societys goals of monetary success (Flynn 2009). Merton felt that in society, people were focused on achieving high financial success which although exceptionally productive on one hand, on the other was a direct source of stress and strain for the individual (Cohen 1966). In effect there is a distortion between culturally induced aspirations for economic success and structurally distributed possibilities of achievement. This is in accordance with labeling theory view where the people who commit deviant acts are probably under strain from society to achieve monetary success. An example of this would be in relation to higher education, people without the means or cultural knowledge to aspire to respected professions are more likely to engage in deviant behaviour than those with access to achieving their goals (Flynn 2009). Within labelling theory there are two important concepts, those of primary deviance and secondary deviance. Merton thinks that the sense of strain that men feel is an accumulation of frustration, despair and injustice (Cohen 1966). Structural and Individual strain are the two main types of strain in society that promote deviance and crime. The former refers to the cycle of deficient regulation in society that has a negative impact on how an individual evaluates their needs, means and opportunities (Flynn 2009). The latter concept is defined by OConnor (2007) as frictions and pains experienced by the individual as they look for ways to meet their needs. Primary deviance in labeling theory involves acts committed by someone without a criminal identity such as an underage drinker. This act provokes little reaction from others around us, therefore it does not have any impact on the persons self concept (Macionis Plummer 2007). Secondary deviance develops through peoples actions towards the person committing the deviant act they may be pushed away and stigmatized making the crime worse, it is caused by the criminal label (Hopkins Burke 2002). It evolves from primary deviance being labelled, which is more likely to happen if you are from a less powerful group (Macionis Plummer 2007), thus mirrors Mertons argument about distortion between economic success and possibility of achievement (Flynn 2009). Merton noted that there were five possible responses or adaptations to strain that happen when people are not in a position to legally attain internalised social goals (Hopkins Burke p.107 2002). This is a perfect example of how labels are the cause of further deviant behaviour. Durkheim and Merton are one in believing that strain results in deviant behaviour, however Durkheim felt the main causes of strain were changes in society. Adapting through conformity is a self explanatory explanation whereby people both the cultural gaols of society and the means of achieving them (Burke 2002), this ensures the continuality and stability of society (Thio, Calhoun Conyers 2008), people do not break laws when achieving their means. Retreatism is considered the most uncommon adaptation by Merton, they reject social goals and the means to attain them (Hopkins Burke 2002), their behaviour is not normal and are considered true aliens (Thio, Calhoun Conyers p.37 2008). Ritualism is similar to conforming behaviour; they adhere to rules for their own sake with an emphasis on means of achievement rather than outcome goals (Hopkins Burke 2002). Innovation is a response to the pressure placed on the individual for success. The innovator embarks on novel routes to achieve success due to barriers for them to achieve success by socially approved means. They have the potential to be seen as deviant (Hopkins Burke 2002), as they engage in illegal means to achieve success. The final response is rebellion, whereby people not only reject but also want to change the existing social system and its goals (Hopkins Burke 2002). The very word rebellion connotes negative meaning thus showing the existence of labeling and stigma as used by Merton. People are stereotyped as being incapable of following normal behaviour and the general population treats them differently, resulting in discrimination in employment, and in many other areas of social life The internalization of labels by offenders may very well produce a career in criminality because of the negative reactions they receive (Hopkins Burke 2002). However, in contrast as Merton argued Cohen agreed that the root cause of the original emergence of delinquent behaviour was the economic pursuit of money success (Downes Rock 2003). A lot of labels come about through the stigmatization of a particular behaviour. Stigma is powerful negative label that has the potential to radically change a persons self concept (Macionis Plummer 2007), thus it is an influential force in the field of labelling. Slattery (2003) notes that a stigma can either be ascribed or achieved, you can be born with one or earn one. Similar to this is strain theories focus on negative relations between people, focusing on how the individual is not treated as they would like to be treated (Agnew 2002). Labelling theory has several limitations; firstly because labelling is very relative it does not take into account some behaviour like murder which is condemned virtually everywhere. Consequently it is most useful to apply to less serious behaviours like youth vandalism. Secondly, labelling may be seen in two ways- it could encourage more criminal behaviour of it could curb it because of people do not like to have a stigma attached to them. (Macionis Plummer 2007). Finally another limitation of labelling theory is that it does not tell us what are the root causes of primary deviance so how do these people become deviant in the first place? They cannot be labelled deviant if they have not engaged in that type of behaviour. Both labeling and strain theory emphasize the role society has to play in crime. Deviance is shaped in its transactions with events and people around it. Labelling theorists in particular have occupied themselves with the workings of the social reaction to deviance (Downes Rock 2003). Dissimilar to this is Durkheims perspective of deviance as performing functions that are essential to society through, encouraging social change, promoting social unity by responding to deviance, clarifying moral boundaries and affirming cultural norms and values (Macionis Plummer 2007). Sumner (1994) argued that deviance is not applicable to sociology today. He believes that the sociology of deviance died in 1975. Similarly Miller, Wright and Dannels (2001) claim to find empirical support for it and signify the death of deviance in respect to the world today. However, on the other hand Goode (2002) claims that at a certain stage in its history, the sociology of deviance developed a large number of ideas, concepts, and theories that influenced related fields. These ideas included: stigma which influenced disability and transgender studies, anomie in social theory, labelling in ethnic studies and the sociology of the underdog in queer theory. Regardless of the fact that sociology of deviance did not create these concepts, the field did help project them onto the intellectual map. Goode concludes that The social construction of deviance is once again controversial, relevant, central to our lives, and fundamental to our understanding of todays world (Goode 2002). I must agree with this statement as not a day goes by without some type of crime or deviant behaviour brought to our attention. Cohen (1966) believes that rules in everyday life provide a blueprint for every human gesture; consequently every rule then creates potentiality for deviance. However, as mentioned previously- are we really all aware of societal norms and values? I believe that society today has failed to provide a blueprint or clear rules for people to live by, hence leading to the unprecedented rates of crime and social deviance. Strain theory and labelling theory do not pay much attention to psychological factors involved in deviant behaviour, this is a limitation to both I feel. I would question the generalizability of strain theory as it emphasises the focus of materialism for society today. However, much crime is committed by people who simply want to get by in life, to survive. They feel they have no other option but to commit crime to put food on the table. Crime may not necessarily be about reaching the top in society, it may just be about getting by. Labeling theory is a lot more individual in its focus; it is more concerned with peoples reactions when placed in a designated role by society.

Harlem Renaissance :: essays research papers

Harlem Renaissance What is a renaissance? A renaissance is a movement or period of vigorous artistic and intellectual activity. There was a famous renaissance in Europe during the transition from medieval times to modern times that is still taught today. There was, also, a not so well known renaissance that occurred in the United States from the 1920’s to the 1930’s in Manhattan. This renaissance was called â€Å"The New Negro Movement†, but was later called the Harlem Renaissance. During this time, there was an unprecedented outburst of creative activity among African-Americans that occurred in all fields of art. The renaissance started off as a series of literary discussions in lower Manhattan (Greenwich Village) and upper Manhattan (Harlem). Many African-Americans had a considerable impact on modern day arts during this renaissance. Alain LeRoy Locke was considered the leader and chief interpreter of the Harlem Renaissance. His efforts to debunk race-based myths of the inherent intellectual, social, and spiritual inferiority of African-Americans that emerged in the post Reconstruction era are thought to be some of his greatest accomplishments. He sought to destroy commonly held myths through his writings and by identifying, selecting and promoting a talented group of well-educated African-Americans to become leaders and role models in their communities. To achieve greater understanding and harmony between the two races, Locke declared that "...there is a growing realization that in social effort the cooperative basis must supplant long distance philanthropy." This meant he felt that Negro people would have to develop self-sufficiency and no longer rely on seemingly altruistic efforts of other people. Langston Hughes was one of the poets who published many works of literature during this time. He acquired a medal give by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People known as the Spingarn Medal in 1960. With this medal, he joined the ranks of famous African-Americans who spoke out or showed that racism was wrong such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks, and George Washington Carver. Another person who played a role in the Harlem Renaissance was Countee Cullen. At New York University his works attracted critical attention. His first collection of poems, COLOR (1925), was published before he finished college. Countee was a part of the fresh generation of new writers that came out during the renaissance. In 1927, Countee published two more volumes of verse - Copper Sun and The Ballad of the Brown Girl - and edited an anthology of Negro poetry called Caroling Dusk.

The Barnhouse Effect

Let me begin by saying that I don't know any more about where Professor Arthur Barnhouse is hiding than anyone else does. Save for one short, enigmatic message left in my mailbox on Christmas Eve, I have not heard from him since his disappearance a year and a half ago. What's more, readers of this article will be disappointed if they expect to learn how they can bring about the so-called â€Å"Barnhouse Effect. † If I were able and willing to give away that secret, I would certainly be something more important than a psychology instructor.I have been urged to write this report because I did research under the professor's direction and because I was the first to learn of his astonishing discovery. But while I was his student I was never entrusted with knowledge of how the mental forces could be released and directed. He was unwilling to trust anyone with that information. I would like to point out that the term â€Å"Barnhouse Effect† is a creation of the popular press, and was never used by Professor Barnhouse. The name he chose for the phenomenon was â€Å"dynamopsychism,† or force of the mind.I cannot believe that there is a civilized person yet to be convinced that such a force exists, what with its destructive effects on display in every national capital. I think humanity has always had an inkling that this sort of force does exist. It has been common knowledge that some people are luckier than others with inanimate objects like dice. What Professor Barnhouse did was to show that such â€Å"luck† was a measurable force, which in his case could be enormous. By my calculations, the professor was about fifty-five times more powerful than a Nagasaki-type atomic bomb at the time he went into hiding. Read aslo  The Professor is a Dropout.He was not bluffing when, on the eve of â€Å"Operation Brainstorm,† he told General Honus Barker: â€Å"Sitting here at the dinner table, I'm pretty sure I can flatten anything on earth—from Joe Louis to the Great Wall of China. † There is an understandable tendency to look upon Professor Barnhouse as a supernatural visitation. The First Church of Barnhouse in Los Angeles has a congregation numbering in the thousands. He is godlike in neither appearance nor intellect. The man who disarms the world is single, shorter than the average American male, stout, and averse to exercise. His I.Q. is 143, which is good but certainly not sensational. He is quite mortal, about to celebrate his fortieth birthday, and in good health. If he is alone now, the isolation won't bother him too much. He was quiet and shy when I knew him, and seemed to find more companionship in books and music than in his associations at the college. Neither he nor his powers fall outside the sphere of Nature. His dynamopsychic radiations are subject to many known physical laws that apply in the field of radio. Hardly a person has not now heard the snarl of â€Å"Barnhouse static† on his home receiver.The radiations are affected by sunspots and variations in the ionosphere. However, they differ from ordinary broadcast waves, in several important ways. Their total energy can be brought to bear on any single point the professor chooses, and that energy is undiminished by distance. As a weapon, then, dynamopsychism has an impressive advantage over bacteria and atomic bombs, beyond the fact that it costs nothing to use: it enables the professor to single out critical individuals and objects instead of slaughtering whole populations in the process of maintaining international equilibrium.As General Honus Barker told the House Military Affairs Committee: â€Å"Until someone finds Barnhouse, there is no defense against the Barnhouse Effe ct. † Efforts to â€Å"jam† or block the radiations have failed. Premier Slezak could have saved himself the fantastic expense of his â€Å"Barnhouseproof' shelter. Despite the shelter's twelve-foot-thick lead armor, the premier has been floored twice while in it. There is talk of screening the population for men potentially as powerful dynamopsychically as the professor.Senator Warren Foust demanded funds for this purpose last month, with the passionate declaration: â€Å"He who rules the Barnhouse Effect rules the world! † Commissar Kropotnik said much the same thing, so another costly armaments race, with a new twist, has begun. This race at least has its comical aspects. The world's best gamblers are being coddled by governments like so many nuclear physicists. There may be several hundred persons with dynamopsychic talent on earth, myself included. But, without knowledge of the professor's technique, they can never be anything but dice-table despots.With th e secret, it would probably take them ten years to become dangerous weapons. It took the professor that long. He who rules the Barnhouse Effect is Barnhouse and will be for some time. Popularly, the â€Å"Age of Barnhouse† is said to have begun a year and a half ago, on the day of Operation Brainstorm. That was when dynamopsychism became significant politically. Actually, the phenomenon was discovered in May, 1942, shortly after the professor turned down a direct commission in the Army and enlisted as an artillery private. Like X-rays and vulcanized rubber, dynamopsychism was discovered by accident.From time to time Private Barnhouse was invited to take part in games of chance by his barrack mates. He knew nothing about the games, and usually begged off. But one evening, out of social grace, he agreed to shoot craps. It was either terrible or wonderful that he played, depending upon whether or not you like the world as it now is. â€Å"Shoot sevens, Pop,† someone said. So â€Å"Pop† shot sevens—ten in a row to bankrupt the barracks. He retired to his bunk and, as a mathematical exercise, calculated the odds against his feat on the back of a laundry slip.His chances of doing it, he found, were one in almost ten million! Bewildered, he borrowed a pair of dice from the man in the bunk next to his. He tried to roll sevens again, but got only the usual assortment of numbers. He lay back for a moment, then resumed his toying with the dice. He rolled ten more sevens in a row. He might have dismissed the phenomenon with a low whistle. But the professor instead mulled over the circumstances surrounding his two lucky streaks. There was one single factor in common: on both occasions, the same thought train had flashed through his mind just before he threw the dice.It was that thought train which aligned the professor's brain cells into what has since become the most powerful weapon on earth. The soldier in the next bunk gave dynamopsychism its first token of respect. In an understatement certain to bring wry smiles to the faces of the world's dejected demagogues, the soldier said, â€Å"You're hotter'n a two-dollar pistol, Pop. † Professor Barnhouse was all of that. The dice that did his bidding weighed but a few grams, so the forces involved were minute; but the unmistakable fact that there were such forces was earth-shaking.Professional caution kept him from revealing his discovery immediately. He wanted more facts and a body of theory to go with them. Later, when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, it was fear that made him hold his peace. At no time were his experiments, as Premier Slezak called them, â€Å"a bourgeois plot to shackle the true democracies of the world. † The professor didn't know where they were leading. In time, he came to recognize another startling feature of dynamopsychism: its strength increased with use. Within six months, he was able to govern dice thrown by men the length of a barracks distant.By the time of his discharge in 1945, he could knock bricks loose from chimneys three miles away. Charges that Professor Barnhouse could have won the last war in a minute, but did not care to do so, are perfectly senseless. When the war ended, he had the range and power of a 37-millimeter cannon, perhaps—certainly no more. His dynamopsychic powers graduated from the small-arms class only after his discharge and return to Wyandotte College. I enrolled in the Wyandotte Graduate School two years after the professor had rejoined the faculty. By chance, he was assigned as my thesis adviser.I was unhappy about the assignment, for the professor was, in the eyes of both colleagues and students, a somewhat ridiculous figure. He missed classes or had lapses of memory during lectures. When I arrived, in fact, his shortcomings had passed from the ridiculous to the intolerable. â€Å"We're assigning you to Barnhouse as a sort of temporary thing,† the dean of s ocial studies told me. He looked apologetic and perplexed. â€Å"Brilliant man, Barnhouse, I guess. Difficult to know since his return, perhaps, but his work before the war brought a great deal of credit to our little school. When I reported to the professor's laboratory for the first time, what I saw was more distressing than the gossip. Every surface in the room was covered with dust; books and apparatus had not been disturbed for months. The professor sat napping at his desk when I entered. The only signs of recent activity were three overflowing ashtrays, a pair of scissors, and a morning paper with several items clipped from its front page. As he raised his head to look at me, I saw that his eyes were clouded with fatigue. â€Å"Hi,† he said, â€Å"just can't seem to get my sleeping done at night. He lighted a cigarette, his hands trembling slightly. â€Å"You the young man I'm supposed to help with a thesis? † â€Å"Yes, sir,† I said. In minutes he conve rted my misgivings to alarm. â€Å"You an overseas veteran? † he asked. â€Å"Yes, sir. † â€Å"Not much left over there, is there? † He frowned. â€Å"Enjoy the last war? † â€Å"No, sir. † â€Å"Look like another war to you? † â€Å"Kind of, sir. † â€Å"What can be done about it? † I shrugged. â€Å"Looks pretty hopeless. † He peered at me intently. â€Å"Know anything about international law, the U. N. , and all that? † â€Å"Only what I pick up from the papers. â€Å"Same here,† he sighed. He showed me a fat scrapbook packed with newspaper clippings. â€Å"Never used to pay any attention to international politics. Now I study them the way I used to study rats in mazes. Everybody tells me the same thing—'Looks hopeless. ‘ † â€Å"Nothing short of a miracle—† I began. â€Å"Believe in magic? † he asked sharply. The professor fished two dice from his vest pocket. â€Å"I will try to roll twos,† he said. He rolled twos three times in a row. â€Å"One chance in about 47,000 of that happening. There's a miracle for you. He beamed for an instant, then brought the interview to an end, remarking that he had a class which had begun ten minutes ago. He was not quick to take me into his confidence, and he said no more about his trick with the dice. I assumed they were loaded, and forgot about them. He set me the task of watching male rats cross electrified metal strips to get to food or female rats—an experiment that had been done to everyone's satisfaction in the nineteen-thirties. As though the pointlessness of my work were not bad enough, the professor annoyed me further with irrelevant questions.His favorites were: â€Å"Think we should have dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima? † and â€Å"Think every new piece of scientific information is a good thing for humanity? † However, I did not feel put upon for long.  "Give those poor animals a holiday,† he said one morning, after I had been with him only a month. â€Å"I wish you'd help me look into a more interesting problem—namely, my sanity. † I returned the rats to their cages. â€Å"What you must do is simple,† he said, speaking softly. â€Å"Watch the inkwell on my desk. If you see nothing happen to it, say so, and I'll go quietly—relieved, I might add—to the nearest sanitarium.I nodded uncertainly. He locked the laboratory door and drew the blinds, so that we were in twilight for a moment. â€Å"I'm odd, I know,† he said. â€Å"It's fear of myself that's made me odd. † â€Å"I've found you somewhat eccentric, perhaps, but certainly not—† â€Å"If nothing happens to that inkwell, ‘crazy as a bedbug' is the only description of me that will do,† he interrupted, turning on the overhead lights. His eyes narrowed. â€Å"To give you an idea of how crazy, I'll tel l you what's been running through my mind when I should have been sleeping. I think maybe I can save the world.I think maybe I can make every nation a have nation, and do away with war for good. I think maybe I can clear roads through jungles, irrigate deserts, build dams overnight. † â€Å"Yes, sir. † â€Å"Watch the inkwell! † Dutifully and fearfully I watched. A high-pitched humming seemed to come from the inkwell; then it began to vibrate alarmingly, and finally to bound about the top of the desk, making two noisy circuits. It stopped, hummed again, glowed red, then popped in splinters with a blue-green flash. Perhaps my hair stood on end. The professor laughed gently. â€Å"Magnets? † I managed to say at last. Wish to heaven it were magnets,† he murmured. It was then that he told me of dynamopsychism. He knew only that there was such a force; he could not explain it. â€Å"It's me and me alone—and it's awful. † â€Å"I'd say it wa s amazing and wonderful! † I cried. â€Å"If all I could do was make inkwells dance, I'd be tickled silly with the whole business. † He shrugged disconsolately. â€Å"But I'm no toy, my boy. If you like, we can drive around the neighborhood, and I'll show you what I mean. † He told me about pulverized boulders, shattered oaks, and abandoned farm buildings demolished within a fifty-mile radius of the campus. Did every bit of it sitting right here, just thinking—not even thinking hard. † He scratched his head nervously. â€Å"I have never dared to concentrate as hard as I can for fear of the damage I might do. I'm to the point where a mere whim is a blockbuster. † There was a depressing pause. â€Å"Up until a few days ago, I've thought it best to keep my secret for fear of what use it might be put to,† he continued. â€Å"Now I realize that I haven't any more right to it than a man has a right to own an atomic bomb. † He fumbled t hrough a heap of papers. â€Å"This says about all that needs to be said, I think. He handed me a draft of a letter to the Secretary of State. Dear Sir: I have discovered a new force which costs nothing to use, and which is probably more important than atomic energy. I should like to see it used most effectively in the cause of peace, and am, therefore, requesting your advice as to how this might best be done. Yours truly, A. Barnhouse. â€Å"I have no idea what will happen next,† said the professor. There followed three months of perpetual nightmare, wherein the nation's political and military great came at all hours to watch the professor's tricks.We were quartered in an old mansion near Charlottesville, Virginia, to which we had been whisked five days after the letter was mailed. Surrounded by barbed wire and twenty guards, we were labeled â€Å"Project Wishing Well,† and were classified as Top Secret. For companionship we had General Honus Barker and the State Dep artment's William K. Cuthrell. For the professor's talk of peace-through-plenty they had indulgent smiles and much discourse on practical measures and realistic thinking. So treated, the professor, who had at first been almost meek, rogressed in a matter of weeks toward stubbornness. He had agreed to reveal the thought train by means of which he aligned his mind into a dynamopsychic transmitter. But, under Cuthrell's and Barker's nagging to do so, he began to hedge. At first he declared that the information could be passed on simply by word of mouth. Later he said that it would have to be written up in a long report. Finally, at dinner one night, just after General Barker had read the secret orders for Operation Brainstorm, the professor announced, â€Å"The report may take as long as five years to write. He looked fiercely at the general. â€Å"Maybe twenty. † The dismay occasioned by this flat announcement was offset somewhat by the exciting anticipation of Operation Brain storm. The general was in a holiday mood. â€Å"The target ships are on their way to the Caroline Islands at this very moment,† he declared ecstatically. â€Å"One hundred and twenty of them! At the same time, ten V-2s are being readied for firing in New Mexico, and fifty radio-controlled jet bombers are being equipped for a mock attack on the Aleutians. Just think of it! † Happily he reviewed his orders. At exactly 1100 hours next Wednesday, I will give you the order to concentrate; and you, professor, will think as hard as you can about sinking the target ships, destroying the V-2s before they hit the ground, and knocking down bombers before they reach the Aleutians! Think you can handle it? † The professor turned gray and closed his eyes. â€Å"As I told you before, my friend, I don't know what I can do. † He added bitterly, â€Å"As for this Operation Brainstorm, I was never consulted about it, and it strikes me as childish and in insanely expensive. General Barker bridled. â€Å"Sir,† he said, â€Å"your field is psychology, and I wouldn't presume to give you advice in that field. Mine is national defense. I have had thirty years of experience and success, Professor, and I'll ask you not to criticize my judgment. † The professor appealed to Mr. Cuthrell. â€Å"Look,† he pleaded, â€Å"isn't it war and military matters we're all trying to get rid of? Wouldn't it be a whole lot more significant and lots cheaper for me to try moving cloud masses into drought areas, and things like that?I admit I know next to nothing about international politics, but it seems reasonable to suppose that nobody would want to fight wars if there were enough of everything to go around. Mr. Cuthrell, I'd like to try running generators where there isn't any coal or water power, irrigating deserts, and so on. Why, you could figure out what each country needs to make the most of its resources, and I could give it to them without costi ng American taxpayers a penny. † â€Å"Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom,† said the general heavily. Mr. Cuthrell threw the general a look of mild distaste. Unfortunately, the general is right in his own way,† he said. â€Å"I wish to heaven the world were ready for ideals like yours, but it simply isn't. We aren't surrounded by brothers, but by enemies. It isn't a lack of food or resources that has us on the brink of war—it's a struggle for power. Who's going to be in charge of the world, our kind of people or theirs? † The professor nodded in reluctant agreement and arose from the table. â€Å"I beg your pardon, gentlemen. You are, after all, better qualified to judge what is best for the country. I'll do whatever you say. He turned to me. â€Å"Don't forget to wind the restricted clock and put the confidential cat out,† he said gloomily, and ascended the stairs to his bedroom. For reasons of national security, Operation Brainstorm was carried on without the knowledge of the American citizenry which was paying the bill. The observers, technicians, and military men involved in the activity knew that a test was under way—a test of what, they had no idea. Only thirty-seven key men, myself included, knew what was afoot. In Virginia, the day for Operation Brainstorm was unseasonably cool.Inside, a log fire crackled in the fireplace, and the flames were reflected in the polished metal cabinets that lined the living room. All that remained of the room's lovely old furniture was a Victorian love seat, set squarely in the center of the floor, facing three television receivers. One long bench had been brought in for the ten of us privileged to watch. The television screens showed, from left to right, the stretch of desert which was the rocket target, the guinea-pig fleet, and a section of the Aleutian sky through which the radio-controlled bomber formation would roar.Ninety minutes before H-hour the radios announ ced that the rockets were ready, that the observation ships had backed away to what was thought to be a safe distance, and that the bombers were on their way. The small Virginia audience lined up on the bench in order of rank, smoked a great deal, and said little. Professor Barnhouse was in his bedroom. General Barker bustled about the house like a woman preparing Thanksgiving dinner for twenty. At ten minutes before H-hour the general came in, shepherding the professor before him.The professor was comfortably attired in sneakers, gray flannels, a blue sweater, and a white shirt open at the neck. The two of them sat side by side on the love seat. The general was rigid and perspiring; the professor was cheerful. He looked at each of the screens, lighted a cigarette and settled back. â€Å"Bombers sighted! † cried the Aleutian observers. â€Å"Rockets away! † barked the New Mexico radio operator. All of us looked quickly at the big electric clock over the mantel, while t he professor, a half-smile on his face, continued to watch the television sets. In hollow tones, the general counted away the seconds remaining. Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one . . . Concentrate! † Professor Barnhouse closed his eyes, pursed his lips, and stroked his temples. He held the position for a minute. The television images were scrambled, and the radio signals were drowned in the din of Barnhouse static. The professor sighed, opened his eyes, and smiled confidently. â€Å"Did you give it everything you had? † asked the general dubiously. â€Å"I was wide open,† the professor replied. The television images pulled themselves together, and mingled cries of amazement came over the radios tuned to the observers.The Aleutian sky was streaked with the smoke trails of bombers screaming down in flames. Simultaneously, there appeared high over the rocket target a cluster of white puffs, followed by faint thunder. General Barker shook his head happi ly. â€Å"By George! † he crowed. â€Å"Well, sir, by George, by George, by George! † â€Å"Look! † shouted the admiral seated next to me. â€Å"The fleet-it wasn't touched! † â€Å"The guns seem to be drooping,† said Mr. Cuthrell. We left the bench and clustered about the television set to examine the damage more closely. What Mr. Cuthrell had said was true.The ships' guns curved downward, their muzzles resting on the steel decks. We in Virginia were making such a hullabaloo that it was impossible to hear the radio reports. We were so engrossed, in fact, that we didn't miss the professor until two short snarls of Barnhouse static shocked us into sudden silence. The radios went dead. We looked around apprehensively. The professor was gone. A harassed guard threw open the front door from the outside to yell that the professor had escaped. He brandished his pistol in the direction of the gates, which hung open, limp and twisted.In the distance, a spe eding government station wagon topped a ridge and dropped from sight into the valley beyond. The air was filled with choking smoke, for every vehicle on the grounds was ablaze. Pursuit was impossible. â€Å"What in God's name got into him? † bellowed the general. Mr. Cuthrell, who had rushed out onto the front porch, now slouched back into the room, reading a penciled note as he came. He thrust the note into my hands. â€Å"The good man left this billet-doux under the door knocker. Perhaps our young friend here will be kind enough to read it to you gentlemen, while I take a restful walk through the woods. â€Å"Gentlemen,† I read aloud, ‘as the first superweapon with a conscience, I am removing myself from your national defense stockpile. Setting a new precedent in the behavior of ordnance, I have humane reasons for going off. A. Barnhouse. † Since that day, of course, the professor has been systematically destroying the world's armaments, until there is n ow little with which to equip an army other than rocks and sharp sticks. His activities haven't exactly resulted in peace, but have, rather, precipitated a bloodless and entertaining sort of war that might be called the â€Å"War of the Tattletales. Every nation is flooded with enemy agents whose sole mission is to locate military equipment, which is promptly wrecked when it is brought to the professor's attention in the press. Just as every day brings news of more armaments pulverized by dynamopsychism, so has it brought rumors of the professor's whereabouts. During last week alone, three publications carried articles proving variously that he was hiding in an Inca ruin in the Andes, in the sewers of Paris, and in the unexplored lower chambers of Carlsbad Caverns.Knowing the man, I am inclined to regard such hiding places as unnecessarily romantic and uncomfortable. While there are numerous persons eager to kill him, there must be millions who would care for him and hide him. I li ke to think that he is in the home of such a person. One thing is certain: at this writing, Professor Barnhouse is not dead. Barnhouse static jammed broadcasts not ten minutes ago. In the eighteen months since his disappearance, he has been reported dead some half-dozen times. Each report has stemmed from the death of an unidentified man resembling the professor, during a period free of the static.The first three reports were followed at once by renewed talk of rearmament and recourse to war. The saber-rattlers have learned how imprudent premature celebrations of the professor's demise can be. Many a stouthearted patriot has found himself prone in the tangled bunting and timbers of a smashed reviewing stand, seconds after having announced that the arch-tyranny of Barnhouse was at an end. But those who would make war if they could, in every country in the world, wait in sullen silence for what must come—the passing of Professor Barnhouse.To ask how much longer the professor wi ll live is to ask how much longer we must wait for the blessings of another world war. He is of short-lived stock: his mother lived to be fifty-three, his father to be forty-nine; and the life-spans of his grandparents on both sides were of the same order. He might be expected to live, then, for perhaps fifteen years more, if he can remain hidden from his enemies. When one considers the number and vigor of these enemies, however, fifteen years seems an extraordinary length of time, which might better be revised to fifteen days, hours, or minutes.The professor knows that he cannot live much longer. I say this because of the message left in my mailbox on Christmas Eve. Unsigned, typewritten on a soiled scrap of paper, the note consisted of ten sentences. The first nine of these, each a bewildering tangle of psychological jargon and references to obscure texts, made no sense to me at first reading. The tenth, unlike the rest, was simply constructed and contained no large words—b ut its irrational content made it the most puzzling and bizarre sentence of all. I nearly threw the note away, thinking it a colleague's warped notion of a practical joke.For some reason, though, I added it to the clutter on top of my desk, which included, among other mementos, the professor's dice. It took me several weeks to realize that the message really meant something, that the first nine sentences, when unsnarled, could be taken as instructions. The tenth still told me nothing. It was only last night that I discovered how it fitted in with the rest. The sentence appeared in my thoughts last night, while I was toying absently with the professor's dice. I promised to have this report on its way to the publishers today.In view of what has happened, I am obliged to break that promise, or release the report incomplete. The delay will not be a long one, for one of the few blessings accorded a bachelor like myself is the ability to move quickly from one abode to another, or from one way of life to another. What property I want to take with me can be packed in a few hours. Fortunately, I am not without substantial private means, which may take as long as a week to realize in liquid and anonymous form. When this is done, I shall mail the report. I have just returned from a visit to my doctor, who tells me my health is excellent.I am young, and, with any luck at all, I shall live to a ripe old age indeed, for my family on both sides is noted for longevity. Briefly, I propose to vanish. Sooner or later, Professor Barnhouse must die. But long before then I shall be ready. So, to the saber-rattlers of today and even, I hope, of tomorrow—I say: Be advised. Barnhouse will die. But not the Barnhouse Effect. Last night, I tried once more to follow the oblique instructions on the scrap of paper. I took the professor's dice, and then, with the last, nightmarish sentence flitting through my mind, I rolled fifty consecutive sevens.