The Blue Sword CHAPTER FOURTEEN

She woke up with a jolt, hearing her name, â€Å"Harry,† and for a moment she did not know where she was, but was convinced she was a prisoner. It was only Jack, standing in the doorway of the bedroom. She sighed and relaxed, conscious that much of her panic was caused by the fact that her right hand had closed only on bedclothes. Jack was looking at her quizzically; the white-knuckled right fist was not lost on him. â€Å"It's right here,† he said, nodding to his left, where Gonturan hung from a peg on the wall, next to silver-hiked Dalig and long Teksun. She unbent her fingers one by one, and with her left hand smoothed the bedding. Senay and Terim sat up and quietly began pulling on their boots, and Narknon lay down with an offended grunt over the pillow Harry had just vacated. There was food on the table again, and silent Ted stood to one side, poised and waiting to fill a plate or a cup. Harry came into the front room with her left arm close to her side and her hand across her stomach; Gonturan was hanging over her right shoulder. â€Å"Jack,† she said, â€Å"do you suppose I could borrow a – a belt from you? I seem to have †¦ lost mine.† Jack looked at her and then at the saffron- and blue-sashed waists of her two companions. â€Å"Lost?† he said, knowing something of Hill sashes. â€Å"Lost,† said Harry firmly. Ted put down his coffee-pot and went off to search for a leather Outlander belt. The sky was red when two dozen grim Outlanders set out beside three Hillfolk, one wearing a brass-buckled Outlander belt, heading north and west away from the Outlander fort. â€Å"We include one first-rate bugler,† said Jack cheerfully. â€Å"At least we'll know whether we're coming or going.† His men were dressed in the Homelander uniform of dull brown, with the red vertical stripe over the left breast that indicated Damarian duty. Harry permitted herself a twinge of nostalgia for her first sight of those uniforms, in the little clattering train, sitting opposite her brother. She asked, â€Å"Is it indiscreet, or merely putting a good face on it that you're wearing your proper uniforms?† Jack replied, staring toward the mountains, â€Å"It is that most of us have little useful clothing that is not of army issue.† He turned to her and smiled. â€Å"And besides, familiarity also breeds comfort. And I think, just now, we might do well to think of morale whenever we can.† They jogged steadily, with much jingling of tack from the fort horses; Harry had forgotten how noisy bits and chains and stirrups were, and felt that the Northerners would hear them coming from behind the mountains. They stopped just before dawn, in a valley at the beginning of the foothills. â€Å"Tonight,† said Senay, â€Å"we must go east into these hills, for there my village is.† Harry nodded. Jack looked uneasy. â€Å"Harry,† he said, â€Å"I'm not sure my lot will be very welcome in Senay's home town. If you like, we can ride a little farther along the way, so as not to lose time, and meet you near the pass – at the foot of the final trail to it, perhaps.† â€Å"Mm.† Harry explained this to Senay, who looked at Jack and then Harry with surprise. â€Å"We will all ride together,† she said. â€Å"We are comrades.† Harry did not need to translate. Jack smiled a little. â€Å"I wonder if Corlath would approve.† Terim had caught the king's name, and asked Harry what was said. â€Å"He would say the same, of course,† Terim replied. â€Å"It is true we are often enemies, but even when we are enemies, we are nearer each other than we can ever be to the Northerners, at least so long as only human blood runs in our veins. It is why this war is so bitter. We cannot occupy the same land. It has always been thus.† â€Å"We don't occupy the same land particularly well ourselves, however human we may be,† said Jack, and when Terim looked inquiringly at him, Jack put it in Hill-speech. Terim chewed his lip a minute. â€Å"Yes, we fight, and usually we do not love each other; but we are still the same. The Northerners are not. You will see. Where their feet step, it will be as if our land were sown with salt.† Jack looked at Harry, and Harry looked at Jack. â€Å"I am not sure of this,† she said. â€Å"I know the wizardry their folk produce is different than the Hillfolk's, and †¦ I know that any possibility of a part-blood Northerner is looked on with disgust and †¦ fear. You call someone half-North, thidik, and they may be forgiven for trying to kill you. Evidently,† and Harry's voice was very even, â€Å"Hill and Outlander blood is supposed to cross more gracefully.† As Jack stared at his horse's neck, Senay leaned toward him, and touched his horse's mane. â€Å"We are like enough, Jack Dedham; we all follow Harimad-sol.† Jack smiled. â€Å"We all follow Harimad-sol.† Harry said, â€Å"Jack, you are not following me. Don't you start.† Jack looked at her, still smiling; looked up, for his stolid gelding Draco was a hand and a half shorter than Sungold. But he did not answer. They rested most of the day and started off again an hour before sunset, following Senay's directions. The desert was behind them now, and so neither the sun nor the conspicuousness of traveling through empty country would force them to march only by night. It was near midnight when two men stepped into the path before them, and held up torches that suddenly burst into fire. Everyone blinked, and the Outlander horses tossed their heads. Then a voice behind one torch said sharply, â€Å"Who are you, who travel to the town of Shpardith?† Senay replied, â€Å"Thantow, have you forgotten me so quickly?† Thantow walked forward, holding his torch high, and Senay dismounted. â€Å"Senay you are,† he said, and those near behind could see him smile. â€Å"Your family will be pleased to see you return to them,† although his eyes wandered over them, and the jingling of bits was very loud in Harry's ears. â€Å"These are my comrades,† Senay said simply, and Thantow nodded. He muttered a few words to his companion, who turned and trotted off, the light of his torch bobbing dizzily till he disappeared around a bend of the rocky way. Harry dismounted, and Narknon reappeared from the darkness to sit under Sungold's belly and watch the goings-on, and make sure she wasn't being left out of anything interesting. Senay turned to Harry and introduced her reverently as â€Å"Harimad-sol,† whereupon Thantow swept her a very elegant Hill bow, which included the hand gestures of respect, and Harry tried not to shuffle her feet. They all moved forward again, and after a few minutes the narrow path opened up. It broadened slowly till it turned into a round patch of grass encircled by a white path that gleamed mysteriously in the torchlight. A little breeze wandered around them, and the smell was like roses. Thantow led them around the white path, and at the end of the circle opposite was a tall building of brown and grey stone, built into the mountainside, with moss and tiny, carefully cultivated trees bordering its roof. In the windows of this building lights were appearing. As they approached nearer, the wooden door crashed open, and a child in what was probably a nightgown came flying out, and unerringly sprang into Senay's arms. â€Å"You've been gone weeks and weeks,† the child said accusingly. â€Å"Yes, love, but I did tell you I would be,† said Senay, and the child buried her face in Senay's diaphragm and said, â€Å"I missed you.† Three other people emerged from the still-open door. First was a tall old man carrying a lantern, and limping on one leg; a younger woman strode behind him, then hurried forward to say, â€Å"Rilly, go inside.† Senay gently disengaged the reluctant Rilly, who backed up, one foot at a time, toward the house, not caring whom she might run into, till she bumped into the doorframe, fell through it, and disappeared from view. The young woman turned back to Senay, and embraced her long and silently. When the old man came up to them, he called Senay daughter. Harry blinked, for this man was certainly the local lord, the sola, of this place; but then, to be able to send his daughter so far to the laprun trials, perhaps it was not surprising. The third person was a young man, Senay's brother, for they both looked like their father; and he patted her arm awkwardly and said, â€Å"How was it?† He looked about sixteen. Senay smiled at him. â€Å"I was well defeated,† she said, in the traditional phrase, â€Å"and I wear my sash so,† and her fingers touched the torn rent. Harry sighed. â€Å"This is Harimad-sol,† Senay said, â€Å"who wielded the sword that cut my sash. She took the trials.† The old man turned to look at her sharply, and Harry met his gaze, wondering if he would comment on her obviously Outlander cast of features under the Hillman's hood; but he looked at her a moment, the lantern light shining in her eyes, and then bowed himself, and said, â€Å"My house is honored.† Only then did his eyes drop to the blue hilt just visible beyond the edge of her cloak. He turned to look at the rest of them, and his quiet face gave nothing away as he looked at two dozen Outlander cavalry standing uneasily at his threshold. â€Å"These are my comrades,† Senay said again, and her father nodded; and the woman, Senay's stepmother, said formally, â€Å"They are welcome.† Terim and Jack followed Harry and Senay into the house, while Jack's men and horses were led along the stone ridge of mountainside that the sola's house was built against, to a long low hall. â€Å"It is the village meeting-place,† Senay explained. â€Å"Many of our Hill towns have them, near the sola's house, for there we can all come together to talk or to celebrate; and when it is necessary we can shelter our friends and stable their horses.† Harry nodded slowly. â€Å"And if you must †¦ defend?† The old man smiled without humor. â€Å"There are caves, and twisting paths that lead pursuers to walls of stone or cliffs; and we can disappear if we must. You would not have come easily to this place if Senay had not guided you. The Hills are not good country for conquerors; there are too many holes in them.† â€Å"Yes,† murmured Jack. The room they entered was a large one; there were rugs on the floors and walls, and a long low table beside a long window, although it was closely curtained now. â€Å"Rilly,† said her mother firmly, â€Å"you may stay up for a short while, but you must put your robe and your boots on.† Rilly disappeared again. Servants entered the room bringing malak and small fat cakes, and Rilly reappeared and snuggled down by Senay, who put an arm around her. Harry waited, wondering if she would have to explain their errand; but Senay said with the same simplicity as she had explained the Outlanders as her comrades: â€Å"We go to stop the Northerners who come through the Madamer Gate. Who is there that can come with us?† Sixteen riders joined them in the morning when they set out once more, and Harry began to feel a trifle silly riding at the head of what was becoming at least a company if not an army. But it was obviously expected of her to ride first, chin in the air, staring forthrightly ahead. It's better than one mad Outlander on a Hill horse, she thought. What would I have done if Senay and Terim hadn't followed me, if Jack hadn't been at the fort? â€Å"Jack,† she said. â€Å"Mmm?† â€Å"Have you ever seen Ritger's Gap?† â€Å"No. Why?† â€Å"I am wondering, in a foresightful commanding sort of way, how ridiculous a few dozen of us strung out across it are going to look when – if – the Northerners do in fact decide to use it.† Jack grimaced. â€Å"Not very – silly, I mean. I believe it's a very narrow place; there's a valley spread out on the far side of it, but the gap itself we should be able to bottle up for some time, even the few of us.† Harry expelled her breath. â€Å"I do keep thinking how much of a fool's errand this is.† Jack smiled. â€Å"A noble and well-meaning fool's errand at least.† That night Harry dreamed: Ritger's Gap, the Madamer Gate, was a thin cleft of rock, no more than two-horse width; on the south side was a small rocky plateau, which then fell away abruptly into the forested mountainside. On the north was a wide bowl of valley with some dull brush and loose rock covering it; uneven footing, she thought in her dream, and no protection. Not a battlefield of choice. The valley led slowly up to the final narrow gap in the rock. She turned in her dream, and saw a little string of riders, the leader on a tall chestnut horse that gleamed like fire in the sun, striding up the path to the rocky plateau. She had seen these riders before, toiling up that mountainside. The familiarity of the vision comforted her; perhaps she had, after all, made the right choice when the path had forked. Perhaps she would justify Luthe's faith in her. And Corlath? She woke with a start. There was the greyness before true dawn in the sky, but she arose nonetheless and began to stir the fire. She noticed, with a flash of fear and anger, that her hand trembled; and then the fire burned up, and in its red heart she saw two faces. First was Corlath's. He stood quietly, staring at something she could not see; and he looked sad, and the sadness wrung her heart as though she were the cause of it. Then his face became the flames of a campfire again, but they flickered and rearranged themselves and became the face of Aerin, who smiled wryly, and it came into Harry's mind that perhaps Aerin had something to do with Senay and Terim following her, and Jack having sent Richard alone to argue for the General Mundy. Harry smiled a little, weakly, herself, at the face in the fire. Aerin looked away, as if something had caught her attention, and there was a blue glint at her side, which might have been Gonturan's hilt, or only the snapping of a small fire. â€Å"Do we ride out early, then?† said Jack, his voice rough with sleep. â€Å"Yes,† said Harry. â€Å"I don't like my dreams – and I †¦ suspect that I am supposed to pay attention to some of my dreams.† Their voices caused other sleepers to stir, and by the time the sun rose up over the crest of the Hills on their right, they had ridden some miles. â€Å"We will be there by tomorrow,† said Harry at their midday halt; and the grimness of her own voice surprised her. She was sitting on the ground as she spoke, and Narknon came to her, and wrapped herself around her shoulders and back like a fur cloak, as if to comfort her. There was a scuffle, suddenly, to one side, and Harry whipped around, one hand on Gonturan. A tall woman strode out from the trees, two of Jack's soldiers, looking tousled, slightly annoyed, and slightly afraid, standing on her either side. One of them held half a loaf of bread and the other a drawn dagger; but he held it like a bread knife. The woman was dressed in brown leather; there was a woven blue belt, sky blue, a color that comforted the eye, around her waist, and a dull crimson cap on her head; and she wore a quiver of arrows over her shoulder and carried loosely in her hand a long bow, with blue beads the color of her belt twisted just below the handgrip. â€Å"I am Kentarre,† she said. â€Å"Forgive the abruptness of my arrival.† â€Å"The filanon,† breathed Senay, standing stiffly at Harry's side. â€Å"The who?† muttered Harry; and then to the tall woman, â€Å"You have just proven to us that we need to post sentries, even to eat a mouthful of bread. We thought ourselves alone here, and our haste to our own ends has made us careless.† â€Å"Sentries, I think, would not have stopped me, and you see – † and Kentarre held up her bow – â€Å"I come in peace to you, for I cannot notch an arrow before any of your people might stop me.† She spoke Hill-speech, but her accent was curious, and the inflections were not predictable. Harry found she had to listen closely to be sure she heard correctly, for she was not that accustomed to the Hill tongue herself. Perhaps it was her attention that caught the unspoken â€Å"even† before â€Å"I cannot notch an arrow,† and she smiled faintly. Kentarre stood quite still, smiling in return. Narknon came to sit, in her watch-cat disguise, at Harry's feet. She gave Kentarre one of her long clear-eyed looks and then, without moving, began to purr. One mark in your favor, thought Harry, for Narknon's judgment is usually pretty good. â€Å"What do you wish of us?† she said. Kentarre said, â€Å"We have heard, even in our high Hilltops, where we talk often to the clouds but rarely to strangers, that she has come who carries the Lady Aerin's sword into battle once more; and we thought that we might seek her, for our mothers' mothers' mothers followed her long ago, when Gonturan first came to Damar in the hands of the wizard Luthe. So we made ready for a long journey; and then we found that Gonturan, and the sol who carries her, were coming to us; and so we waited. Three weeks we have waited, as we were told; and you are here; and we would pledge to you.† In the last sentence Kentarre's lofty tone left her, and she looked, quickly and anxiously, into Harry's face, and color rose to her cheekbones. Harry was doing some rapid calculations. Three weeks ago she had sat in a stone hall and eaten breakfast with a tall thin man who had told her that he had no clear-cut fortune for her, but that she should do what she felt she must do. Harry met Kentarre's gaze a little ruefully. â€Å"If you knew so well when we would be here, perhaps you know also how pitifully few we are and how heedless an errand we pursue. But we would welcome your help in holding the Northerners back for what time we may, if such is also your desire.† The last finger of the hand holding the bow gently spun one of the blue beads on its wire; and Harry thought that Kentarre was not so much older than herself. â€Å"Indeed, we do wish it. And if any of us remain afterward, we will follow you back to your king, whom we have not seen for generations, for in this thing perhaps all of what there is left of the old Damar must come together, if any of it is to survive.† Harry nodded, thinking that perhaps Kentarre's people would be convinced to go without her when the time came, for Corlath was likelier to be pleased to see them without his mutineer in their midst; but such thoughts were superfluous till they found out if any of their number would survive a meeting with the Northerners. Kentarre turned and stepped briskly back into the woods. â€Å"The filanon,† Senay murmured again. â€Å"The which?† Harry said. â€Å"Filanon,† she repeated. â€Å"People of the trees. They are archers like none else; it is said they speak to their arrows, which will turn corners or leap obstacles to please them. They are legends now; even my people, who live so near their forests, have believed that they no longer exist, even if the old tales are true, and once the filanon, with their blue-hung bows, did live high in the mountains where no one else went.† She paused a moment, and added, â€Å"Very rarely one of us has found one of the blue beads; they are thought to be lucky. My father has one that his father found when he was a little boy. He was wearing it the day the gursh – boar – gored him, and he said that it would have had him in the belly, and killed him, if the blue bead had not turned the beast at the last.† Jack said, â€Å"Tell me, Captain, do you always take in the loose wanderers you find in the woods if they offer to fall in with you?† Harry smiled. â€Å"Only when they tell stories that I like. Three weeks ago I was talking to a †¦ wise man who told me that †¦ things would happen to me. I am inclined to believe that this is one of them. Besides, Narknon likes her.† Jack nodded. â€Å"I prefer to believe you. Although I have my doubts about your tabby's value as a judge of character.† He blinked at her once or twice. â€Å"You're different, you know, than you were when you still lived with us Outlanders. Something deeper than the sunburn.† He said this, knowing its truth, curious to see its effect upon the young woman he had once known, had once watched staring at the Darian desert. Harry looked at him, and Jack was sure she knew exactly what was passing through his mind. â€Å"I am different. But the difference is a something riding me as I ride Sungold.† She looked wry. Jack chuckled. â€Å"My dear, you are merely learning about command responsibility. If you were mine, I'd promote you.† They finished their noon meal without seeing anything more of Kentarre; but as they mounted, many of them looking nervously around for more tall archers to burst from the bushes upon them, the materialization suddenly took place. Kentarre stood before Harry with a dark-haired man at her elbow; he carried a bow too, but among the blue beads at its grip was one apple-green one; and his tunic was dun-colored. Then Harry without turning her head saw that the path was lined with archers; she nodded blandly as if she had expected them to appear like this – which in fact she rather had – and moved Tsornin off. Kentarre and the man fell in with her and Jack and Senay and Terim, and the rest of the archers followed after the last horses had passed. Kentarre walked with as free and swinging a pace as Sungold. There were about a hundred of her new troop, Harry found, when they stopped again. With them were about twenty hunting-cats: bigger-boned, with broader flatter skulls than Narknon's, and more variety of color than Harry had seen among Corlath's beasts. Narknon herself kept carefully at Harry's heels: even the indomitable Narknon seemed to feel discretion was the better part of valor when faced with twenty of her own kind, and each of them a third larger than herself. Harry and her company found a little rock bowl, sheltered from the northwest wind that had begun to blow that afternoon, and all of them clustered in it, around several small fires. The archers unstrung their bows and murmured to or over their arrows, and the others watched them surreptitiously. Bows seemed as outlandish to the sword-bearers as feathers on one of their horses. Jack's men felt absently for revolvers that weren't on their hips. At dawn they set off again, and now Harry felt that she rode into her dream; perhaps she would wake up yet and find herself in the king's tent, with unknown words on her lips and Corlath's hands on her shoulders, and pity in his eyes. They rode, the archers striding long-legged behind them, up a narrow trail into the mountain peaks; up the dark unwelcoming slopes to the border of the North. The cold thin air bit at their throats, and the sun was seen as scattered falls of light through the leaves. The ground underfoot was shaly, but Tsornin never stumbled; his ears were hard forward and his feet were set firmly. Harry tapped her fingernail on the big blue stone in the hilt of Gonturan and thought of a song she'd sung as a child; the tune fluttered through her mind, but she couldn't quite catch the words. It made her feel isolated, as though her childhood hadn't really happened – or at least hadn't happened as she remembered it. Perhaps she'd always lived in the Hills; she'd se en Sungold foaled, and she had been the one first to put a saddle on his young back, and had trained him to rear and strike as a warhorse. Her stomach felt funny. They reached Ritger's Gap, the Madamer Gate, before sunset, spilling out across the little plateau that lay behind it, with trees at its back and only bare rock rising around it to the mountaintop, a few bowlengths above them. There was a long shallow cave to one side, where the mountain peak bent back on itself, and low trees protected much of the face of it. â€Å"We'll sleep in something resembling shelter tonight,† said Jack cheerfully. â€Å"At least as long as the wind doesn't veer around and decide to spit at us from the south.† Harry was listening to the northern breeze; it sneered at her. â€Å"It won't,† she said. Jack cocked an eyebrow at her, but she said no more about it. The plateau was loud with the panting of men and horses; they had hurried to arrive, just as her dream had told her they would, or must; the last hour, men and horses had had to scramble up, side by side. Harry leaned against Sungold's shoulder, grateful for the animal solidity of him; he turned his head to chew gently on her sleeve till she petted him. After a minute of staring around her she slowly followed Narknon as the cat paced up to the Gap itself and stared into the valley beyond. Even Narknon seemed subdued, but perhaps it was the day's hard miles. Two riders abreast could pass the narrow space in the rock, perhaps, but their knees would touch. On this side of the Gap, the plateau sloped up to the shoulders of the narrow cleft and down the other side, where men and clever-footed horses might climb. Harry stared through, and became conscious of Sungold's warm breath on the back of her neck. Narknon leaped down from her perch beside the cleft, turned her back on it, and began to wash. Harry stood in the Gap itself, and leaned against the spot Narknon had vacated. A pebbly slope dropped down away from her to a scrub-covered valley between the mountain's arms; there was a lower valley wall on the far side, but it fell away into foothills. Harry felt her sight reaching away, into the harsh plain beyond the dun-colored valley and scattering of low sharp hills; and on the edge of the plain she saw a haze that eddied and drifted, like a tide coming in, exploring the shore before it, reaching out to stroke the little hills before it swe pt over them. Harry turned and went back to her company. She said to no one in particular, â€Å"They will be here tomorrow.† It was a silent camp that night; everyone seemed almost superstitiously afraid to polish a dagger one last time in too obvious a fashion; much quiet checking of equipment went on, but it was a shadowy sort of motion. No one met another's eyes and there was no bright ring of metal on metal. Even footfalls were muffled. Jack's bay gelding Draco and Harry's Sungold had become friends over the days of carrying their riders side by side. The Outlander horses were always set out on a picket line while the Hill horses wandered where they would, never far from the human campsite; and Sungold and Draco stood nose to nose often, murmuring to each other perhaps about the weather and the footing of the day past; perhaps about the eccentricities and preoccupations of their riders. Tonight they stood near together with their heads facing the same way – watching us, Harry thought, looking back at them; or watching that awful northwest wind. Sungold nicked one ear back, then forward again, and stamped. Draco turned his head to blow thoughtfully at his companion, and then they both settled down for a nap, one hind leg slack, their eyes dim and unfocused. Harry watched enviously. The north wind gibbered. â€Å"Draco, who knows almost as much about battles as I do, has told young Sungold that he should get a good night's sleep. I, world-weary warrior that I am – that's hard to say after too many hours in the saddle – am about to say the same thing to you, my brilliant young Captain.† Harry sighed. â€Å"Do stop calling me Captain. Carrying Gonturan is enough; and she's not your legend.† â€Å"You'll get used to it, Captain,† said Jack. â€Å"Would you deny me one small amusement? Don't answer that. Go to sleep.† â€Å"Perhaps if I could stand on three legs and let my eyes glaze over, it would help,† she replied. â€Å"I do not feel like sleeping and I †¦ dread dreaming.† â€Å"Hmm,† said Jack. â€Å"Even those of us who aren't compelled to believe in what we dream aren't happy about dreams the night before a battle, but that's †¦ inevitable.† Harry nodded, then got up to unroll her blanket and dutifully laid herself down on it. Narknon couldn't settle either; she paced around the fire, wandered over to touch noses with Sungold, returned, lay down, paced some more. â€Å"I'll send Kentarre and her people into the woods on either side of the Gap, looking down on the valley; we can all mob together here – and see what comes.† â€Å"Splendid,† said Jack from his blanket, as he pulled off his boots. â€Å"I couldn't arrange it better myself.† Harry gave a breathless little laugh. â€Å"There isn't much to be organized, my wise friend. Even I know that.† Jack nodded. â€Å"You could send us through that crack in the rock two at a time, to get cut in pieces; I would then object. But you aren't going to. Go to sleep, General.† Harry grunted. Harry's eyes stayed open, and saw the cloud come across the moon, and heard the whine of the north wind pick up as the clouds strangled the moonlight. She heard the stamp of a horse from the picket line, and an indeterminate mumble from an uneasy sleeper; and Narknon, who had finally decided to make the best of it by going to sleep, snored faintly with her head on Harry's breast. And beyond these things she heard †¦ other things. She had set no sentries, for she knew, as she knew the Northerners would face them tomorrow, that they were not necessary. It was a small piece of good fortune that every one of her small company might have the chance of sleep the night before the battle, and it would be foolish not to accept any good fortune she was offered. But as she lay awake and solitary she heard the stamp of hooves not shod with iron, the shifting of the bulk of riding-animals that were not horses, the sleeping snores of riders that were not human. Then her mind drifted for a few almost peaceful minutes; but she heard a rustle, and as her drowsy mind slowly recognized the rustle as a tent flap closing she heard Corlath's voice say sharply, â€Å"Tomorrow.† She sat up in shock; Narknon slithered off her shoulder and rearranged herself on the ground. Around her were the small dead-looking heaps of her friends and followers, the red embers of campfires, the absolute blackness of the curve of rock and the shifting blackness that was the edge of the trees. She turned her head and could faintly see the silhouette of horse legs, and she heard the ring of iron on a kicked rock. Jack was breathing deeply; his face was turned away from the dying fire glow, and she could not see his expression; she even wondered if he were feigning sleep as a good example for her. She looked at Narknon, stretched out beside her; her head was now over Harry's knees. There was no doubt that she was sincerely asleep. Her whiskers twitched, and she muttered low in her throat. Harry lay down again. The wind sniggered around the rocks, but overhead it flung itself, laughing shrilly, through the mountains, into the quiet plains of Damar, bearing with it the inhuman whispers and moans of the Northern army. Harry shivered. A finger of breeze touched her cheek and she recoiled; it ran over her shoulder and disappeared. She pulled the blanket over her face. She must have slept, for when she pushed the blanket away from her face again the mountain was edged with dawn and her mouth tasted sticky. She sat up. Narknon was still asleep. Jack's eyes were open. He was staring grimly at nothing; she watched his eyes pull into focus to look at her. He sat up, saying nothing, and put his elbows on his knees, and rubbed his hands over the grey stubble of hair on his head. Other bodies were stirring. There was a small spring-fed pool in a fist of rock where the front of the shallow cave was sheltered by the trees; one of Jack's men filled a tin at it and brought it to one of Kentarre's archers, who had produced a slender tongue of flame from last night's ashes. Harry stared dreamily at the little fire till something black came between her and it, which proved to be Jack, kneeling down at their own bed of embers. Harry got up, kicking her blankets off, and went to fetch another tin of water. Jack smiled at her when she returned. She tried to smile back; she wasn't sure how successful she was. While they waited for the water to boil, Harry walked to the Madamer Gate and stared through it. The top of her head stood above the rock cleft, and the north wind howled down on her; her scalp felt tight and cold. The haze still hung where she had seen it the evening before, at the beginning of the foothills; but this morning she felt she could see flashes of color and motion within it. The color was the color of fear. The wind chewed into her and she went back to the cave. They were all sitting, hunkered down around their tiny fires; and they were all watching her; or all but Jack, who was shaving. She admired the steadiness of his hand as he bent over a ragged bit of mirror propped against a rock on the ground. She stopped just before the shadow of the cave began. â€Å"Stay out of the wind while you can,† she said. â€Å"It's not †¦ the right sort of wind.† Terim looked up, as if he could see the shape of the wind itself, and not only the way it shook the leaves and bounced pebbles from the rockfaces. â€Å"The Northerners send their wind to chill us,† he said. Harry remembered the creeping touch on her face the night before. â€Å"Yes,† she said slowly. â€Å"To chill us – but I think also to discover us. I prefer that we tell it no more than we must.† At midmorning Harry saddled Sungold, unrolled the tops of her boots and lashed them to her thighs, settled her leather vest with particular care across her shoulders, and Gonturan against her hip. Shield and iron-bound helm hung ready from the front of the saddle; Sungold turned to look at her. The saddle looked strange, unbalanced, without the bulky knapsacks strapped around it. Draco chewed his bit, and Tsornin pointed an ear briefly at the sound. Shortly before noon Harry sent Kentarre and her archers and their big soft-footed cats out beyond the Gate, into the last trees on the mountains' shoulders rising above the haggard valley. Harry watched anxiously, for the covering of stunted trees was not good, and she felt that every blue bead would be visible; but the archers disappeared as if they were no more than thrown pebbles. Harry was sure that whatever approached them knew the Gate was held against them – knew and smiled at the tale the wind brought; but she could do no more. Jack saw them for the first time just before Kentarre led her archers away. He was staring through a narrow black spyglass; his hands were as steady as they had been with his razor. Harry could keep hers from chafing and plucking at each other only by thinking about it constantly; she clamped them on her sword belt. They felt damp. Harry had been watching those coming toward them all morning and it took her a moment to understand Jack's sudden grunt of comprehension. The fog had flowed into the mouth of the valley, and now it resolved itself into a mass of dark moving shapes which still seemed to cast more shadow than they should, for they were very near. â€Å"Mount,† said Harry. The wind chuckled wildly as it tore at their hair, and pinged madly off metal as helms were settled in place, and dragged at the fingers of gloves, and sword tips, and horse tails. Sungold stood with his nose in the Gate; Draco stood at Harry's knee, stolidly, ears pricked. Harry could feel Tsornin tremble, but it was impatience; and she bit her lip in shame for herself and pride for her horse. Terim's horse tossed its head anxiously and switched its tail; Terim's face beneath the helm was unreadable. Narknon reappeared from wherever she had spent the morning, licking her chops; she hadn't been satisfied with porridge this morning. She polished her whiskers carefully, then came to the head of the column, to sit between Tsornin and Draco. â€Å"Narknon, my dear,† said Harry, â€Å"why don't you go sleep by the fire for now, till †¦ till we come back? This isn't your sort of hunting.† Narknon looked up at her, perfectly aware that she was being addressed; then she lowered her gaze again and stared out across the valley. â€Å"The filanon's cats went with them,† said Jack. â€Å"You'll hurt her feelings if you try to leave her behind.† Harry said fiercely, â€Å"This is not the time to make silly jokes.† â€Å"On the contrary, Captain,† replied Jack. â€Å"This is exactly the time.† Harry swallowed and looked out at the Northerners again. At the front of the army before them was a rider on a white horse. The horse was magnificent, as tall as Sungold, with the same proud head and high tail; red ribbons fluttered from its forelock and crest. His reins were golden glints against its snowy neck; and the rider's heavy sword was a great golden bar at his side. Beside him a dark rider on a mud-colored beast carried a banner: white, with a red bird on it, a bird of prey with a curved beak. â€Å"No army can move that fast,† said Jack. â€Å"No,† said Harry. The white horse screamed and Sungold answered, rearing; Harry punched his neck with a closed fist, and he settled back, but his haunches were tensed under him, waiting to hurl them forward. â€Å"Very well,† said Harry. â€Å"We will go to meet them now.† A rain of arrows fell from the sky into the dark sea at their feet, and some of the dark many-shadowed shapes fell, and weird cries drifted up to the watchers at the Gate. â€Å"At least arrows pierce them,† Harry heard Terim say. Sungold's ears lay flat to his head, and he pranced where he stood. Harry could hear the horses moving up close behind her; Senay and Terim stood with their horses' front feet half up the rock slope on either side of the Gap. â€Å"Jack,† said Harry. â€Å"You wait here; we'll come back when we're ready for a breather, and you can argue with them for a while.† â€Å"As you say, Captain,† said Jack. And he whispered, â€Å"Good luck, Harimad-sol.† Harry gestured to Jack's trumpeter, and they sallied out under a banner of bright brass notes, for they carried no other. Sungold leaped down the slope, and the white stallion reared and neighed; his rider turned him and galloped to one side, and the lightless mass of the army surged up the sides of the valley. War-cries rang in harsh throats, twisted by ill-shaped tongues. The ground before the Gate was in Harry's favor, for there was little room to maneuver, and no room for the overwhelming numbers of the Northerners to sweep around their small adversaries and crush them. Each side must fight on a narrow front; it was a question merely of how long the Hillfolk had the strength to fight, for there were always replacements for any Northerner who fell or grew weary. Harry pulled Gonturan from her scabbard and swung her once, shrilling through the air, splitting the northern wind into fragments that fell, crying, under Sungold's feet. â€Å"Gonturan!† yelled Terim. â€Å"Harimad-sol and Gonturan!† called Senay, not to be outdone; and then the Hillfolk met the Northerners. Sungold plunged and struck with teeth and hooves as Gonturan cut and thrust; and Harry felt the yellow wave rising in her mind and was glad of it, for her intellect was of little use, and that the wrong sort, just now; and she noticed that Gonturan was wet with blood, but that the blood seemed an odd color. Clouds massed to cover the sun, but they kept breaking up and drifting away again, and the Hillfolk fought more strongly for this proof that the black army was not all-powerful. Harry was dimly aware that Draco's head was at her knee again, and there was a momentary lull when her right arm could drop and her small shield rest heavily on her leg, and she said, â€Å"Where did you come from?† â€Å"It looked as if you never would come back and give us a chance, and we got tired of waiting,† said Jack; and then the battle swelled around them again, and the clank of metal and the bash of blows rose up and smothered them. There was a smear of blood along Sungold's neck, and as he tossed his head, foam flew backward and ran down Harry's forearm. Those they fought were hard to see clearly, even from as close as a sword stroke. Harry saw better than most and still she could not say why she was sure that those she faced were not all human. Some glittering eyes and swift arms were human enough; but others seemed to swing from curiously jointed shoulders and hips, and the eyes were set oddly in odd-shaped skulls – although perhaps the skulls were all right, and the helms were deliberately misshapen. Some of the horses too were true horses; but some had hides that sparkled like scales, and feet that hit the ground unlike hooves, and teeth that were pointed like a dog's. Minutes passed and Gonturan had a life of her own; and the next time Harry saw Jack, Draco crashed into them from one side and Jack's stirrup caught at her ankle; and he yelled, â€Å"You might think of retiring for a few minutes, Captain; we've upset them, and we deserve it.† Harry looked around puzzled, but it was true; her handful had driven the dark army back; they were halfway down the valley again. â€Å"Oh,† she said. â€Å"Umm. Yes.† â€Å"Back!† shouted Jack, standing in his stirrups. â€Å"Back to the Gap!† The trumpeter picked it up, for he had followed Jack when the colonel struggled to reach Harry, as he had followed Colonel Dedham often before in years and battles past; and never yet had he received a wound that hindered his playing, although the border skirmishes he was acquainted with had little prepared him for this day. He was tired and bloody now, and it took him a moment to fill his lungs to make his trumpet speak; but then the notes flew out again, over the heads of the combatants, and Harry's company collected themselves to fall back to the Gap. Harry saw Senay near at hand, and then the others, one at a time, turning, half aware, in their saddles, hearing the notes of the retreat; some picking up the cry and throwing it farther; the filanon had a long clear singing note that they passed among themselves. As the Hill and Outlander horses wheeled to gallop away and Harry prepared to fol low them, suddenly the white stallion was before her. This one almost looked like a real horse, she thought; but its teeth were bared, and they were the sharp curved fangs of a flesh-eater. Its bit came to a sharp point on each side of its jaw, so it could slash an opposing horse with a sideways twist of its head. Its long ears were flat to its skull, and its blue eyes rolled. It reared and screamed its stallion scream again, and Sungold answered; but when her horse's front feet hit the earth again, he leaped forward; and Harry saw the other stallion's rider sweep his golden sword up in challenge. Gonturan glittered in the sunlight; but when they met, the blow was of more than physical strength. The other rider's sword drew no blood, but Harry reeled in her saddle; the noise the sword had made against her fresh-stained and pitted shield sent waves of fear through her, and her yellow war-rage went grey and dim. Sungold reared and shrieked; the white stallion was not quick enough, and when the chestnut swerved away there was blood on the other's neck and shoulder and rein. This seemed to drive the white horse mad, and it came again; Harry heard through the deadening thunder in her ears that the other rider laughed. She raised her eyes to where his should be, under his blazing white helm, and saw spots of red fire; below that, teeth were bared in a grin in a jaw that might once have been human. The power that washed over that face, that rolled down the arms and into the sword and shield, was that of demonkind, and Harry knew she was no match for this one, and in spite of the heat of Gonturan in her hand her heart was cold with fear. The two stallions reared again, and reached out to tear each other; the white stallion's neck was now ribboned with blood, like the real ribbons he wore in his mane. Harry raised her sword arm, and felt the shock of the answer; the hilts of the swords rang together, and sparks flew from the crash, and it seemed that smoke rose from them and blinded her. The other rider's hot breath was in her face. His lips parted and she sa w his tongue; it was scarlet, and looked more like fire than living flesh. Her arm was numb. The contact lasted only a moment; Sungold wrenched himself and his rider free, and Harry's legs held her on his back from habit, while she struggled only not to drop her sword. Sungold bit the white stallion just above the tail, and the horse kicked; too late, for Sungold again twisted out of the way and bit him again on the flank, and the blood flowed from the long wicked gash. The white stallion threw up his head and lunged forward, away from his enemy. Harry heard the rider laugh again, although he made no attempt to rein his horse around for another attack; an attack that Harry knew would be her last defense. He could wait. He knew the strength of his army and the size of the force that chose to try and block it, for the wind he sent had told him. But it was then, as the white stallion ran from them, and the banner-bearer turned to follow its leader, that from the black ground-swell a long stripy body rose and flung itself snarling at the mud-colored beast. Sungold was leaping forward again before Harry was aware of her legs closing around him; for it was Narknon. The cat slashed at the rider, and dropped away again, and then sprang at the beast's face and seized its nose in her teeth; purple blood welled out and poured down Narknon's matted sides. The beast reared, trying to tear at the cat with its clawed forefeet, but Narknon twisted in mid-air. The beast came to the ground again as its rider made a sword cut at the cat, but it missed, for Gonturan got in its way. And the beast reared up once more, mad with pain, and flung itself over backward; and neither beast nor rider rose again, and the red-and-white banner was trampled underfoot.

Psychological Testing Essay

The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children measures simultaneous and sequential processing skills as well as subscales that measure academic achievement. The age range this test investigates is ages 2-12 years. There are ten mental processing subtests as well as six achievement subtests. Only three of the subtests are administered to all ages groups, making the sub-testing age-specific. The older the child in question, the longer the tests will take. The sequential processing scale measures short term memory and problem solving is organized around sequences. The simultaneous scale measures several problems that need to be solved at the same time. Achievement scales measure applied skills of the individual. b) Intelligence in children of preschool age is very unstable whereas their intelligence begins to stabilize as they reach school age. The assessment tools for infants are different to school-going children in the sense that they measure development rather than academic foundations. These tests measure how quickly the child is developing in terms of motor skills, linguistic development, adaptive behavior and social interaction. It has to be given that school-aged children have a higher vocabulary and language skill that can be better tested than the infant who is still using monosyllabic noises rather than words. Motor skills also develop more rapidly as well as reasoning skills. c) Mental age does not refer to the actual age of the person in question. A person with a mental age of 5 years may actually only be 4 years chronologically and vice versa. Due to this anomaly, data derived from IQ testing does not follow a bell-curve on data sheets. The deviation IQ is implemented to smooth out inconsistencies. Instead of actual scores, the person is allocated a percentile score so that it can be placed more realistically on a normal curve chart. Mental age does not necessarily increase over time in the same way that chronological age does and this age difference gradually decreases around adolescence. For these reasons a deviation IQ is used as opposed to actual raw scores. d) Originally named the Binet-Simon test, the Testing underwent several revisions over time with the most significant change being that it included the first Intelligence Quotient after 1916 when it became the Stanford-Binet test. The Binet-Simon test was initially used to determine the intelligence of retarded children, came to the conclusion that rather than portraying a chronological age, the children displayed a mental age instead. The 1986 version of the test include a wider perimeter sample group in order to decrease inequities that occurred in race and gender previously. It had been engineered for children alone but in 2003 was amended to accommodate adults as well. Design changes were made also to accommodate and measure behavior at age levels. e) Fluid and crystallized intelligence both form part of general intelligence. Fluid intelligence relates to reasoning and problem solving and is largely thought of as being independent of learning or experience. It is therefore an inherent or instinctual intelligence. Crystallized intelligence on the other hand refers to the intelligence that you gain from experience and what you have learnt in life. This intelligence is something that increases with age due to experiences and the assimilation of knowledge through what we have learned. Fluid intelligence therefore decreases with age and peaks during adolescence while crystallized intelligence will continue to grow. f) The general intelligence factor (g-factor) is meant to be a measurement of the persons overall intelligence. The two-factor theory was initiated by Spearman who derived a g-factor from two functions: a generalized ability and a specific ability. Therefore according to Spearman a person’s intelligence could be determined by a general intelligence as well as a specific intelligence (s-factor). Multi-factor intelligence theories implement the individual ability to be intelligent in various fields. Thurstone found that there were multiple areas in which a person could display intelligence and derived 7 factors that he called primary abilities: word fluency, verbal comprehension, spatial concept, numerical facilitation, memory by association, reasoning and perceptual speed. g) Individual tests require one-one-one consultation and measure verbal and non-verbal abilities. The Stanford-Binet and the Wechsler tests both require this environment. Group tests are most often administered to large groups and do no require one-on-one consultation. These tests are most often aptitude tests or cognitive abilities. Scoring in these terms is most often more objective than in individual tests and also simplify the role of the coordinator. Group testing is not culture-specific as opposed to individual testing which can be more culturally loaded and also more subjective. It is not as easy to establish a relationship with the person in a group testing environment as it is when the person is tested individually. h) Army alpha and beta tests were prototypes initially used in group testing to place soldiers during the First World War. Alpha groups were those who were proficient in the English language. Those who were not initially considered alpha groups were those who were placed in beta groups who were intelligent but not native English speakers. This hypothesis was that people’s intelligence was inherited. This method was first used to identify where in the army the person was likely to be placed, given their responses to the tests and the results. The beta test decreased its use of verbal knowledge presumably because they are non-English and it used mainly pictographic references. i) Aptitude and achievement tests are both standardized. Aptitude testing assesses the ability of the person to learn in certain areas. These tests are developed in order to determine which field of proficiency the person is most likely to excel in. These also measure numerical and literal ability as well as mechanical and abstract reasoning. Achievement tests on the other hand measure how well a person has achieved a skill. It is mostly used to ascertain academic levels and therefore is useful in determining whether a person is inherently able to learn something or not. An aptitude test will be able to validate that a person is most likely to achieve highly in a certain area and not as highly in others. j) The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children is an individual test that does not require reading or writing. It measures verbal intelligence and response times which can be useful in the diagnosis of Attention Deficits or other such disorders/abnormal patterns. This form of testing is significant in that it supplies the coordinator with information as to how fast the child can assimilate and react to questions. It also ascertains the quality and efficiency of vocabulary as well as word processing. The test is significant also in that t determines the respondent’s concentration levels and possible problems in their attention span. This is useful in that answers require verbal reactions. k) Physical disability does not necessarily mean that there will be discrepancies in the IQ of the person. Testing a person who is deaf for instance, requires a different approach to testing as well as a different means for the test. These individuals need a non-verbal based test and verbal ability is therefore a non-entity in their testing. A blind person on the other hand will not benefit from spatially based tests or units that require sight. The tests used to identify IQ would have to be verbally based and not pictorial. This considered, a speech impaired individual will also not have the same verbal component as someone who is able to speak. However, this does not mean that a mute person is not able to understand verbal interjection. For this reason, the IQ test has to be tailored to the specific disability reflected by the individual. l) Certain cultures encourage some skills more than they do others. The culture fair test is non-verbal and does not therefore test linguistic understanding insomuch as if the person tested is not an English speaker, they cannot be expected to understand English word and sentence structure. The culture fair test therefore measures analytical and reasoning ability and makes use of abstract and unusual visual spatial pictographs. From this the spatial and pictorial representations are believed to be universal to all cultures and thus understood well from one culture to the next. It was initially meant to reduce cultural or ethnic bias that can be produced when a test is designed to be effect for a certain culture. It is also independent of educational foundations and therefore measures inherent skill rather than acquired skills. 2 a) Personality testing identifies certain traits inherently part of an individuals psychological make-up. These tests basically help you determine what personality attributes you have and therefore help to identify what career types may be more pertinent to whom. Aspects of the personality often denote what particular attributes the personality has and thus what lifestyle s better suited to whom. Jung and Myers-Briggs typology identify different personality types that are said to help the individual determine their best career path. The ability test measures a person’s ability to learn new skills and also their potential in certain fields. Ability tests also seek to ascertain what the person has learnt or assimilated in terms of whatever they are studying, for example, school tests. b) Personality traits are characteristics of the individual and certain personality qualities that are inherent to the person. There are theories that propose that all traits are present in all people but to varying degrees (lesser or more). Idiographic personality trait view maintains that each person has a unique psychological structure that is not shared by anyone else. For this reason, it is impossible to compare any two people. The nomothetic view however, sees people as unique in their combination of traits. This means that while they do share personality traits to various degrees this can be compared by degrees of each trait in comparable people. c) Items are chosen depending on the specific group that is being studied. For example, screening of normal behavior in police officer applicants will be given items that pertain to the criminal justice system. The group is split into two: one group is what the coordinator would think of as displaying abnormal reactions/behavior and the other would be normal. Items are distributed equally in both groups and reactions towards the stimuli are recorded. The empirical criterion key does not assume that respondents are able to observe their own behavior but rather sees the objects or items as stimuli that require a response. Those they believe to be normal are used as a scale by which abnormal behavior can be compared. d) Forced-choice format gives a more well-rounded result then standard testing. The forced choice format basically allows the respondent one of two statements that they most likely agree with. The advantage of this is that it not only gives an accurate representation of reality, but it prevents the choice from becoming monotonous. It is easier to score these kinds of questions than if the respondent was asked multiple choice questions. As a design this format prevents the respondent from being consciously manipulated and therefore makes sure that the answers are truthful. This form of questionnaire is also shorter, preventing the individual from becoming tired and losing focus on the questions that are being asked. This prevents answers from becoming distorted. e) Response sets or response style refers to the person’s propensity to answer the same response for all or most of the questions. For instance, if the person responded ‘yes’ to the above question and then ‘yes’ again, regardless of the nature of the question. This is usually counterbalanced in tests because there are times when the person is biased towards a certain question based on its contents. Counterbalancing this response requires the same question to be asked in a different way and later in the questionnaire. This situation of response bias is also termed ‘acquiescence’ as the person performs this unconsciously or with lack of interest in the nature of the questions. f) Factor analysis is used to describe variables in a research situation. For instance, we have a research questionnaire that we now have to translate into data specific terms. We have the variables that were studied and the scores for each variable. In psychometric intelligence testing we could have any number of variables that determine the overall factor. An example of this would be that while we are aware that there are multiple factors within the intelligence study, all these factors contribute to the g-factor or general intelligence factor. In this case ‘g’ is the only factor that is common in all persons. What this analysis does is ascertain what particular factors which people are most affiliated with. Basically we could determine which factor is specific to which person. g) Objective self reporting methods of personality assessment is based on standardized questionnaires with limited responses available as well as a fixed scoring system. It is based on nomothetic principles and is therefore less ambiguous then the progressive methods. Progressive personality assessment techniques use intuitive responses and the intuitive scoring is also use. This personality assessment is based on idiographic principles which make it entirely different to the objective method. The problem with progressive techniques is that there is no fixed scoring system, however the problem with the objective method is that it does not leave room for intuitive or interpretive responses which are natural human conditions. h) Word association tests require the coordinator to present the group or person with a word. The person responds to this with the first word that comes to mind. This is a free association and therefore does not give the person the chance to think about their answer. A table measures the test word, the response time and the response. Responses to the words can be either the opposite in meaning; an association with the word (green-yellow); or even a definitive answer. The basis of this test is that it provides a pattern of how the individual sees words and how they associate with things. The association of about 100 words will give the coordinator a pattern of response that can be determined as normal, abnormal or as an anomaly. Most people will have a set pattern of responses. i) The interaction between a need and a press is called a thema. There is a need that is ensued by a press. To simplify this, Murray identified 28 needs and forces that press them into fruition. This makes the relationship interactive and determined by this interaction is the thema. The thema therefore can be linked to other units of these interactions to form serial thema. The greatest portion of the persons thema is dependent on the amount of press and needs that are present in that specific thema. This theory is used to determine personality types that are identified by specific needs and forces of press. Murray conducted this typology on Adolf Hitler in order to ascertain the needs and forces that culminated in his erratic behavior. j) Interest inventories conduct in-depth investigation into a person’s likes and dislikes and this helps to determine what type of career path is best suited to the individual. Clearly you should not study or undertake careers in which you would have to partake in activities you intensely dislike. Neither would it be advisable to become involved in vocations that you are indifferent to. The key would be to become involved in a career that contains more of your inventories ‘likes’ than ‘dislikes’. These interest inventories help you to discover what it is exactly that you like or dislike. This particular form of inventory is highly related to personality in the sense that certain personalities are more likely to enjoy certain key activities. An example of this would be an artist or writer enjoying solitude in a way that an actor might not. 3 b) Test name: Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. Test uses: The Stanford Binet was initially indicated for the correct placement of children in educational settings. It is now one of the most widely used intelligence tests. It is useful for determining cognitive skills and intelligence in children and adults. Population test was designed for: As already stated, it was designed for children in educational settings in order to ensure that they were placed in the right class environment. Administration of test: The time it takes to administer this test depends on the age of the respondent and how many subtests are administered. It may take from 45-90 minutes standard but may take longer depending on the conditions at the time and the variables concerned. The respondent is timed at each subtest and is determined by estimated entry level. Timing is approximately 5 minutes per test. Depending on the age, the articles measured include: fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing and working memory. Characteristics of normative samples: The Stanford Binet normative sample reflect the 2000 U. S census and bias reviews are conducted on race, ethnicity, gender, religion and socio-economic status. Because it is a standardized test, normative or mean scores are derived per age group and the representative sample is matched to the individual standing. It was standardized on a national representative sample of 5 000 subjects. Reliability information: Reliability in this test is considered high. The internal median consistency score was . 97. Subtest reliabilities differ from age-group to age-group. Reliability coefficients ranged from . 91 to . 98, with coefficients for the five factor indices ranging from . 90 to . 92. Subtest coefficients ranged from . 84 to . 89. Validity information: correlations in the validity were considered high with an approximate value of . 90 compared to earlier Stanford Binet editions and high compared to other tests. Strengths of the test: This test can assist in the diagnosis of learning disabilities as well as determine the level of competency for young children compared to a normative structure. It can be used to determine developmental stages and knowledge and can be used in all age-groups from pre-school to adults. Weaknesses of the test: Due to the lack of co-operation sometimes shown in very young preschoolers the test results may not be indicative of true ability because of their lack of interest in partaking in the study. Different age-groups are administered different subtests which may also be considered a criticism in terms of its universal application.

Psycho-sexual theory Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Psycho-sexual theory - Research Paper Example Phallic stage is the third and comes between the ages of three years to the age of six years. Here the child starts to get to understand their bodies and the bodies of other people who may include other children and their parents. At this stage, the children start exploring and get the difference between male and female genital organs. Latent is the fourth stage in the theory context of psychosexual theory which continues from the age of six when the child goes to school all the way to puberty stage, here the libido context is transferred from the child to the parent of the same sex, friends and clubs. The final stage of the theory is the genital stage, this starts at the age of puberty all through to adolescence to the entire life of the individual. Here the individual now develops self-interest in the friends and people of the opposite sex. The focus in this gist is on the pleasure of the genitals. From the stages discussed above, the individual develops high libido interest and en ergy as a result he is mostly attracted to the company or people of the opposite sex and is so inferior whenever he/she comes into contact or deals with any matter to do with people of the opposite sex (Sigmund 27). ... The lady is a traitor but not she is willing to, but because the Quantum company has taken her lover and the deal they agreed that if she does not cooperate with them well they will kill him. Here the context of psychosexual theory comes out well clear in that vesper is ready to do anything including turning against her company employers will and grant the favor to the Quantum who are the opponent just to rescue her lover in hostage. This shows that the genital energy that is in possession of a woman is so strong and has taken over her control. In the team designed by vesper and bond, vesper to some kind finds the ego of bond as skeptical and not willing to cooperate with him in the poker game in the casino. Afterwards she helps bond in his struggle with albano, she does so by knocking the gun away. In these occasions, Vesper shows his concern to this man which verify her erogenous interest in the male individuals. James bond in return opts to kiss the blood off the hand of Vesper ju st to show his concern for her. The context also reveals and comes out well when James Bond is struggling to connect the defibrillator, which is external and automatic to his key wire, despite the fact that Vesper is a traitor, she assists him in connecting and relieves him from the stress. She also portrayed the interest on bond by saving him when the Le Chifffres girlfriend poisoned him. On the other hand, James bond also portrayed interest by the act of kissing the blood on her hands which resulted to because of saving him when he was struggling with Steven Obanno. Chiffres work for the Quantum Company and he had disappointed them for misappropriating their funds in the poker games. Bond wins the poker game and as a result, chiffres becomes so annoyed that he

Consumer behaviour Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Consumer behaviour - Assignment Example According to Hoyer and Macinnis (2009, p. 1), consumer culture that explains consumer behavior includes amongst other things consumer diversity, social class and household influences, psychographics entailing lifestyle, personalities, and values as well as social influences. Businesses and organizations should strive to understand consumer’s behavior in order to tap the positive attitudes and change the negative attitudes to suit their products. Bill is a proud owner of a chain of GYM centers meant for enhancing users’ fitness. These chains of gym centers focus on market (Hoyer & Macinnis, 2010, p 10). Bill is interested in building user loyalty hence be sure of their registration annually. In addition, the business the business would wish to apply the created loyalty into initiating customer relationship marketing. What’s more, this chain of gym centers have been experiencing high number of customers that register but fail to come, those that attend irregularly, as well as those that do not renew their registration (Kardes, Cronley & Cline, 2010, p. 15). ... 3) defines consumer behavior as the holistic decisions that consumer makes regarding acquiring, consuming, and disposing of goods, services, time, as well as ideas over a time. Consumer behavior is an important aspect for Bill and his chain of gym centers to understand thereby providing services that conform to users’ needs and wants. Provision of such services is the only secrete of attracting more users as well as reducing defection and irregularity of attendance. Bill needs to understand reasons as to why there is irregularity in attendance, defections, and the fact that most users do not re-register after the expiry of their sessions (Kardes, Cronley & Cline, 2010, p. 15). There is need also to identify various factors that influence such behaviors as well as the changing factors within the society for instance, increase in lifestyle diseases hence the need to regularly engage in exercises to reduce weight and other bodily aspects attributable to such lifestyle diseases. T he following describes how Bill and his chain of gym centers will improve and change users’ attitudes and perceptions through consumer behavior in order to tap more sales and profitability. 2.1 Improving and Change Gym’s Users through Consumer Behavior Improving and changing of gym users is effectively attainable through consumer behavior. One of the ways of improving and changing users’ of the gym through consumer behavior is by creating and developing marketing mix that satisfies users. Bill’s chain of gym centers is market oriented hence the need to have an effective and efficient marketing mix that provides satisfaction to the users. However, it should be noted that developing a marketing mix that fully provides user satisfaction is cumbersome and challenging. Bill should

Choose a set of military images or objects and consider how they have Essay - 1

Choose a set of military images or objects and consider how they have mobilized popular opinion in support of war - Essay Example It is only though the lens that the civilized world has come to known the grotesque realities that is bestowed mostly upon the innocent civilians. Be it the Vietnam War, the World War II, and the Afghanistan war, the consequences have always been the same. In such situations, photographers of courage, and practically, photographers of luck have played vital role in mobilizing an entire public opinion in either way. Nevertheless, history has been the testimony of the fact that images speak loud. This paper presents few such images and their cause and effect in influencing the opinion of people in the event of a war and its subsequent outcome. The images have been captured under different conditions and times, although all have a common element of historical value. All of them represent the times during which they were clicked and in some or the other way bore importance in prominent aspects of history. When Eddie Adams shot this picture of a South Vietnamese General- Nguyen Ngoc Loan shooting a suspected Vietcong guerrilla, he might have never known how intensified would be the ripples that this image would generate. â€Å"It earned Adams a Pulitzer Prize† (Coward 2004). Although the image brought out anti-war feelings as â€Å"public approval certainly cannot be taken for granted† (Handel 1992), what it did was to escalate the Tet Offensive which was a massive campaign against the Republic of Vietnam forces and the U.S. and its allies. Although the fate of a war is never known, bitter feelings on any side always tend to extend the war as might have been in the case of the Vietnam war which went on till a few more years. Although Adams’ first comment was- â€Å"The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera.† (Robbins 2010), he later on apologized to Nguyen for whatever humiliation the photograph did to his reputation. On the 11th of September 2011, when an airliner hit the North Block of the World Trade Center, Richard Drew was

E-Business Report on HMV.CO.UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

E-Business Report on HMV.CO.UK - Essay Example "e-commerce is just, when all is said and done, another kind of business. As with businesses that have come before it, there are countless "right" answers, endless combinations of business models and infinite permutations of key themes and approaches. There will be no magic bullet. No matter how often consultants and academics pretend that business is more science than art, every practitioner knows that business is almost all art, just as the genius of nearly every corporate strategy lies in its implementation." (Rayport, 1999). Indeed, these are strong words that have to be taken seriously when it comes to doing business on the Web. The reason behind these truthful remarks lies in the fact that not long ago, shortly after the increasing popularity of the Internet as a new technology, the infamous "Dot-Com Bubble" made e-marketers think and act much more cautiously regarding the real potentialities of the new technology as a profit-making tool. Rayport states it as follows: "Business models themselves do not offer solutions; rather, how each business is run determines its success. So the success of e-commerce businesses will hinge largely on the art of management even as it is enabled by the science of technology. The scarce resource will be, as it is in practically all of business, the building block of free enterprise: entrepreneurial, and increasingly managerial, talent." (Rayport, 1999). The "Dot-Com Bubble" sprang out of Amazon's new concept of dintermediation that would eventually make successful any online enterprise by eliminating the middleman. (InternetNews.Com, 2001). The concept of reintermediation was not considered into the new marketing mix as InternetNews.Com states it clearly: "Disintermediation is not a myth, but it is just one half of a process that any significant change in technology brings about. The other half is reintermediation, the introduction and reshuffling of players in the supply chain. Access to suppliers and information resources has become easily available; expertise and service cannot be downloaded." (InternetNews.Com, 2001). In spite of the negative effects of the "Dot-Com Bubble", Teri Robinson (2002) finds some lasting benefits of the sudden crash in the e-market. In her article published in E-Commerce Times, Robinson interviewed AMR Research analyst Louis Columbus who emphasised that the concept of integration surfaced to centre stage as a result of the "Dot-Com Bubble". Columbus said that "enterprises found that to develop a comprehensive e-commerce strategy, their applications had to work together seamlessly." (Robinson, 2002). The concept of integration is fundamental for any e-business model in the widest meaning of the word. It means integration at all levels of business operations. On the other hand, Robinson finds other key indirect benefits that surfaced as a real issue as a result of the e-market crash known as the "Dot-Com Bubble": "Referring to the Internet as a once-in-a-generation

The Circle of Memory in My Papa's Waltz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Circle of Memory in My Papa's Waltz - Essay Example Readers now begin to wonder, does the waltz dance ignites a painful memory for the speaker or happy memory? Does the waltz dance bring out the father’s clumsiness and a moment of fun with the speaker, or does it bring out issues of alcoholism and child abuse? Therefore, waltz becomes the center of the themes that it portrays while at the same time, becoming the center of controversy. One way, that depicts the use of waltz to complicate the father-son relationship, is through the argument that the speaker remembers his father's bouts of drunken behavior and how they affected him as a child. Another side of argument views that the waltz depicts the love between the father and son, since the former, despite his heavy drinking after a day’s hard work, got time to spend and dance with his son. However, in the first argument, the speaker remembers how his father slapped him around due to his inebriated state, also, that he became violent after drinking too much. Memory plays a vital role in the poem as the speaker is a grown man who remembers his childhood experiences. The subjective lens of memory reveals that the speaker perceives his father's â€Å"waltz† differently now than he did as a child. The speaker also expresses how he felt confused by his father's behavior as a child. As a child, the speaker views his father's violence as actually being a display of emotion and affection. He explains how his childhood perception of his father allowed him to confuse his father's violence with dancing. The waltz symbolizes how the speaker views his father's behavior differently as an adult as he acknowledges how his father had a strange, troubling way of expressing his love and affection. The circle of memory is inseparable from the speaker's view of the waltz as a strange, tenuous bond he had with his father. This represents confusion, not only to the reader, but also to the speaker. Since the poem is a memory of when he was young, the waltz seems to represent something different from when the speaker was young. As stated earlier, the use of waltz in the poem is purposely used to complicate the relationship between the father and the speaker. This also implies that the speaker is also confused by the meaning of the dance. His view about the dance then seems to have changed now that he is fully grown. However still, confusion lingers on his memories. The waltz reveals that the speaker's memory of his father changes over time, and hence that the â€Å"beat† of his father's fist is part of the beat of the speaker's memory. The father's movements reveal that he is intoxicated as he is moving around the room aimlessly. Similarly, the speaker's memory wanders in aimless circles in his attempt to decipher the full meaning of his father's behavior. The speaker's endeavor to find certainty regarding his father's waltz reveals his desire for objectivity. The following lines reveal that he desires to be as objective about his view o f his father in the same way that death is objective about life: â€Å"The whiskey on your breath / Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy† (Roethke & Snodgrass 1-4). The speaker realizes that finding objectivity is an arduous task as his father's ambiguous display of emotion leaves him confused. He comes to terms with how his perception of his father lacks the necessary objectivity of factual truth. The poem illustrates

The cold war Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

The cold war - Essay Example oviet ideology with regards to the way in which a state must be ordered and the manner of economic interaction that must be practiced was diametrically opposed to the approach that the United States and its allies proposed. As the dust was settling over Europe after the Second World War, the issue of rebuilding the shattered remains of these nations was foremost on the minds of the Allied powers. As such, the United States was specifically interested in setting up governments that were like its own model; a democratic capitalist society. Yet, due to the fact that the Soviet Union believed that democracy was merely a mechanism through which the moneyed aristocracy could lord over the resources and effect an even greater level of capitalist robbery this approach was scorned. Instead, the Soviet Union attempted to set up puppet states that were directed by Moscow and practiced a very similar, if not identical, form of communism. This led the United States to feel that the Soviet Empire was gorwing and threaetneed the very existence of Western Europe; and indeed the rest of the world. As the Soviet Union began to espouse a more and more aggressive line of expansion, the United States felt as if they were e ntering a zero sum game in which the Soviet Empire would eventually control much of the globe. All of this culminated in a decision by Washington, and its allies, to promote a direct level of opposition to this and seek to engage third parties as a means of promoting them towards Washington and away from Moscow. Furthermore, ideology also plays a powerful role with respect to the fact that economic competition between the opposing theories of communism and capitalism extended far beyond Europe and soon encompassed the entire globe; where the Soviets sought to garner support for a revolution of the proletariat and the United States sought to spread seeds of capitalism - oftentimes by force. The proxy wars and the political and economic posturing of both

Sociology of Gender Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sociology of Gender - Essay Example The next summary is of the film, Two Spirits, directed by Lydia Nibley and produced and written by Russell Martin and Lydia Nibley. It traces the real life story of Fred Martinez, a Navajo teen, whose life came to an abrupt halt at 16 years, when he was brutally murdered by another young man named Murphy. The film interestingly follows a historical timeline as it explores Fred’s carefree and brave life as a nadleehi (a male-bodied individual with a female personality) and at the same time investigates traditions that were once extensively prevalent among the indigenous people of North America. With the looming threat of an entire tradition being wiped out from among the natives, the film slowly returns to the brutal crime that took place on 16th June, 2001 in Cortez. It explores the murder site where Murphy, viciously bludgeoned Fred to death with a rock, just for being different and later bragged about it to his friends saying he, â€Å"bug-smashed a fag†. Following na rratives by Paula Mitchell, Fred’s mother, Richard La Fortune, activist of the Yupik tribe, and Cathy Renna, a leader in the LGBT community, the viewer gets a very clear picture of the vile nature of the hate crime that was meted out to young Fred. This film is created so that people can understand, accept and be compassionate about issues of gender diversity and at the same time recognize and celebrate it, in view with the wiser, traditional American cultures. The director’s attempt through this film seems to be – ‘to transform through sharing’. The last article for review is the introduction chapter of the book titled, ‘The Lenses of Gender: Transforming the Debate on Sexual Inequality’ written by Sandra Lipsitz Bem. ... This chapter reviews the historical transformation of America’s social consciousness with regard to philosophy and treatment of women. It traces historical beliefs regarding women in religious light and how it later took biological leanings. It depicts how these beliefs were further challenged by the women’s rights movement in the mid-nineteenth century and later by feminist advocacy in the early 1960s. However, the author believes that even within these changing times there exist â€Å"lenses of gender† which seek to infuse male power into social institutions and social reality, methodically and invisibly. Identifying the three lenses of gender as being – androcentrism, gender polarization and biological essentialism, the author considers them to be ways by which culture is reproducing male power. If a path can be devised to stop these discourses and enculturation, the author trusts that the feminist agenda in America can finally be achieved. Why do men h old the most powerful economic and political positions across the globe? Functionalist theorists believe that society is made up of interdependent parts, each of which plays their part in maintaining the smooth functioning of society. Their inherent belief in stability and social control is further enhanced by the common values and belief systems that the people share. This conviction in the idea of social equilibrium is asserted by values regarding family, marriage and gender roles. The conflict theorists are often viewed as being complete opposite to functional theorists because of their view that consensus is only achieved in society through exercise of power and control. They view patriarchal systems as

On the side walk bleeding Essay Example for Free

On the side walk bleeding Essay In General, The things that make it difficult to read a book is being able to sit and concentrate only on that book, and actually reading it to the point where you know exactly what you’re reading and what’s going on and not forgetting what you read. To me in order to stay totally glued to the book you are reading it has to be something in your genre of choice, stuff that you like to read a lot. The things that made it difficult for me during this quarter and the books that I read was he page number in the books that I read it was almost impossible to finish the books that I had in 2 weeks. What influenced my choice in books was the type of books that I was into, I liked fictional books about street life family’s that have had it all and in the end, End up with nothing at all. Part B; Reading Rate : The total of pages that I have read over the total 8 weeks that we’ve been in school is 1151 pages, the number of pages that I averaged over a weekly reading rate was 143 pages. In my opinion my average weekly reading rate to me is pretty good to me knowing that my books had so many pages. I believe that my reading habits have improved over time from my first book until now. My homework of 2 hours of reading per week has grown a bit since I began reading the book I am on now , a plan of improvement is definitely needed if I want to reach the goal of 25 books before I graduate, My plan is to try harder on finding books that attract my attention. Part C; Thematic Reflections: One theme that I pondered while reading the â€Å"Coldest Winter Ever By Sister Souljah† Was Money is the route of all evil, I think that this is one of my themes because it shows that you can do a lot with money as far as making it, how you make it or get it or whether you can  prove how you earned it, the family in my book had it all until they got busted for spending too much money at once. They were being followed all the time whether they moved or not did not matter because the police would always know where they were, The other theme that caught my attention in the book â€Å"The Skin I’m In By Sharon G. Flake† is Don’t judge a book by its cover I chose this theme because no matter what Malika did someone was always judging her. No one ever tried to get to know her they were all just mean to her off back, bullying her. And she was the sweetest girl. Part D; Set Goals: The goals I would like to set is reading more books and not being lazy but just getting it done, with no distractions, another thing I would like to do is find more books like the books that I’ve been reading.

Modified Biogeography Based Optimization

Modified Biogeography Based Optimization Modified Biogeography Based Optimization and enhanced simulated annealing on Travelling Tournament problem. Abstract: This paper shows the implementation of Modified BBO and Extended BBO on Travelling Tournament Problem. We modified the migration step of BBO by using probabilistic measures into it. Conventional BBO is used to solve deterministic problems but when we are dealing with real world problems which are non deterministic Conventional BBO failed to achieve the desired/expected results. Modified BBO is able to handle non deterministic problems which occurs in TTP and considered it as noise. The physical significance of noise in our modified solution is any existing parameter which can affect the fitness of the habitat. We also implemented various models of Extended BBO (Linear and Non linear models) on TTP to achieve desirable results. In this paper we compare the performance of our modified BBO to conventional BBO on TTP problem and compare results with previous methodologies. Introduction BBO is Global optimization method which represents organism distribution in our biological system in terms of mathematical model .BBO is an evolutionary algorithm whose working principle is based upon migration mechanisms of species from one habitat to other depending upon the fitness of the habitat which are favorable to them .The habitat which have high HSI (high suitability index ) have high value of species count .Therefore habitat which have high value of HSI have high emigrating rate; it is ready to send its SIV to other habitat, while the habitat having low value of HSI have low value of species count and their immigrating rate is high ;that is it as ready to accept species towards itself .HSI of a habitat can be affected on the basis of SIV (suitability index variables) which are independent variables. The above diagram illustrates the basic mechanism and relation between immigration curve and emigration curve. Here I is maximum Immigration rate, E is maximum emigration rate, is equilibrium number of species, is emigration rate and is Immigration rate. Modified BBO for TTP: Firstly the question arises why there is need of Modification of BBO .We are dealing with biological issues which are dynamic in nature so we have to modified our solution which can take care all dynamic constraints of nature. Let we have two habitats and .These habitats have their fitness’s as and .Let noise involved in two habitats are and .Due to affect of noise the measured fitness is instead of .If we consider has more fitness than ,and let n1 has huge value than n2 and both high value than and .Therefore the overall fitness becomes: 1.1 1.2 Therefore HB1 accepts the SIV from HB2 as condition of BBO gets satisfied as immigrating habitat fitness is less than emigrating habitat. But population of HB1 is already high due to its high HSI because its fitness is more if don’t consider noise .this immigration should not be done .The BBO migration procedure will corrupted .That’s why we need to modify it. In order to calculate the uncertainties, we use the concept of noisy BBO[]. U= 1.4 E= +1.5 U = 1.6 Where U is the uncertainty of the state estimate, m is the estimated fitness, z is the measured fitness, is the variance of the process noise, and is the variance of the observation noise. The uncertainty and the estimated fitness are the values from the previous iteration step before the most recent fitness measurement is updated. The process noise is assumed to be zero, therefore the uncertainty U is only related and . U = 1.7 U = 1.8 Because 0, now +1 > 1. Therefore +1 .With each step in the Kalman algorithm, the uncertainty U will be reduced according to and . Small value of uncertainty leads to high accuracy of estimated fitness. If limit tends to infinity, than Kalman filter gives an estimate value of the fitness which is equal to the real value. Proposed Modified BBO algorithm: Select habitat with the Probability . If is selected For j=1 to n Select with the probability. If is selected Use rand (0, 1) to select SIV from the habitat and pass it through Modification phases. Choose the best feasible solution based on optimal selection from the output of three Modification Phases. Replace selected SIV with End of if End End of if The above Algorithm solves all the issues that is related with Deterministic Problems. We Map this approach to different variants of BBO that can be classified as its Models. Equations used : The above equation is generalization of Baye’s rule. Probability of a habitat with fitness after accepting a selected SIV greater than fitness given that. is simply equal to where P(switch) is given by : When x > y we obtain: if x The PDF of p is as follows The PDF of q is as follows. In the Modification step we talked about three ways by which we can increase the performance of BBO. These three ways can be described as: No-reevaluation phase: In this phase we have two Habitats as immigrating habitat and act as emigrating habitat. We consider two instances of as and Firstly is going to accept optimal SIV from and then accept another best suitable SIV from and after that their performance get measured on the probabilistic measures as: = Immigrating Habitat Re-evaluation: () Emigrating habitat Re-evaluation: () From the above phases we choose the best option for the immigration step. Secondly we Map this Modification approach to all the variants of Extended BBO and implement it on TTP problem. We Modified the Immigration step and apply this Modification to all the linear and non linear Models of BBO to check whether we are able to achieve the optimal results or not. We Test our algorithm to obtain various results which provide optimal solution for TTP problem. We also apply efficient simulated annealing in order to refine our solution obtained so far. We use this technique after we produced the Schedule, so that we can optimize our solution. Efficient Simulated Annealing is applied to schedule after these five moves: 1. Swap Homes(S, 2. Swap rounds(S, 3. Swap Teams(S, 4. Partial Swap Rounds(S, 5. Partial Swap Teams(S, After these Simulated algorithm is applied on the schedule which is obtained after implementation of above moves in order to obtain best feasible schedule. The cost objective function is used in order to calculate the best feasible schedules Results of implementation of our Modified algorithm for TTP Performance comparison of best feasible cost produced by linear and non linear-models

Impact of Ben Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman Essay

The Impact of Ben Loman’s Character on Theme and Character Development in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman Some characters in literature who only appear briefly in the work can have a tremendous impact on the literature. These characters have a significant presence in the literary work. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Ben Loman is that character. Ben is the brother of the main character Willy. Though Ben has a brief part in this play, he affects the theme and development of other characters. The theme of Death of a Salesman is to be honest to yourself and to live the right dream. Ben had a tremendous impact on this theme in the play. Ben went into the jungle when he was 17 and came out of it rich. Following the theme of the play, Ben was honest to himself and knew what h...

The Ethical Issues of Sex Pre-Selection Essay -- Exploratory Essays Re

The Ethical Issues of Sex Pre-Selection Although science is at a peak for overwhelming and astonishing outbreaks, the ethical issues concerning these â€Å"out breaks† have been inadequately addressed. As the options that couples that are desperate to have a child expand, so do too the expectations of whom the child becomes. Couples are able to choose a donor, of either gender, based on characteristics that they see fit to their liking. Although imperfect, couples now have the ability to choose their child’s gender. â€Å"Medicine tends to be patient-driven at the moment.† Said Charles Strom, MD, PhD, director of medical genetics at Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago. â€Å"A patient needs something and physicians do all they can to provide that service, and that sometimes makes one shortcut the ethical considerations.† With our vast opportunities in reproductive technology, â€Å"one thing that’s not been well defined is what really constitutes research and what is [merely] improvement in clinical design,† Dr. Strom said. (Foubister) Sperm retrieval, in which an elec...

Industrial Revolution Essay -- essays research papers

The most far-reaching, influential transformation of human culture since the advent of agriculture eight or ten thousand years ago, was the industrial revolution of eighteenth century Europe. The consequences of this revolution would change irrevocably human labor, consumption, family structure, social structure, and even the very soul and thoughts of the individual. This revolution involved more than technology; to be sure, there had been industrial "revolutions" throughout European history and non-European history. In Europe, for instance, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries saw an explosion of technological knowledge and a consequent change in production and labor. However, the industrial revolution was more than technology-impressive as this technology was. What drove the industrial revolution were profound social changes, as Europe moved from a primarily agricultural and rural economy to a capitalist and urban economy, from a household, family-based economy to an ind ustry-based economy. This required rethinking social obligations and the structure of the family; the abandonment of the family economy, for instance, was the most dramatic change to the structure of the family that Europe had ever undergone-and we're still struggling with these changes. In 1750, the European economy was overwhelmingly an agricultural economy. The land was owned largely by wealthy and frequently aristocratic landowners; they leased the land to tenant farmers who paid for the land in real goods that they grew or produced. Most non-agricultural goods were produced by individual families that specialized in one set of skills: wagon-wheel manufacture, for instance. Most capitalist activity focused on mercantile activity rather than production; there was, however, a growing manufacturing industry growing up around the logic of mercantilism. The European economy, though, had become a global economy. In our efforts to try to explain why the Industrial Revolution took place , the globalization of the European economy is a compelling explanation. European trade and manufacture stretched to every continent except Antarctica; this vast increase in the market for European goods in part drove the conversion to an industrial, manufacturing economy. Why other nations didn't initially join this revolution is in part explained by the monopolistic control that the Europeans exerted... ...ine in 1763; this cooling chamber condensed the steam so the cylinder itself didn't have to be cooled. Patented in 1769, Watt's steam engine had the efficiency to be applied to all kinds of industries. He was not, however, good at doing busines and it was only when he had teamed up with the businessman, Matthew Boulton, that the steam engine began to change the face of English manufacture. By 1800, Watt and Boulton sold 289 of these new engines; by the middle of the next century, the steam engine replaced water as the major source of motive power in England and Europe. The changes that the steam engine wrought, however, is a story for another day. And it is here, with 289 steam engines pumping and steaming around England that we'll leave the story of the Industrial Revolution-half-completed, you might say. The nineteenth century saw the exporting of the Industrial Revolution to Europe in the decades after 1830, and the explosion of factory-based, technology driven manufacture. The Age of Absolutism and the waning years of the Enlightenment saw Europe just beginning a new phase in its history, one that would irreperably severe it from the traditions and certainties of the past.